To Save our Legacy

Chapters

Chapter 2- Stranger once again.
Chapter 3- A home to share.
Chapter 4- Meet the human.
Chapter 5- Getting up to speed.
Chapter 6- Begin anew.
Chapter 7- A missing crystal.
Chapter 8- A lost city.
Chapter 10- A higher purpose.
Chapter 11- 'Royal' duties.
Chapter 12- The search begins.
Chapter 13- Crystal memories.
Chapter 14- Crystal Hunters. Part 1.
Chapter 15- Crystal Hunters. Part 2.
Chapter 16- The reason we fight.
Chapter 17- The reason we hurt.
Chapter 18- The reason we are.
Chapter 19- Maretime Bay Day. Part 1.
Chapter 20- Maretime Bay Day. Part 2.
Chapter 21- Occupational hazards.
Chapter 22- History does not repeat itself.
Chapter 23- Amongst the dust.
Chapter 24- Izzy, ain't it?
Chapter 25- Learning curve.
Chapter 26- The Slave.
Chapter 27- Sisters in the end.
Chapter 29- A city in the sky.
Chapter 30- A royal birthday.
Chapter 31- Sleepover 101.
Chapter 32- The Lantern Thief.
Chapter 33- Starstruck.
Chapter 34- Divers of the lost treasure.
Chapter 35- Family.
Chapter 36- Hivebound.
Chapter 37- Nightborn.
Chapter 38- Hidden, best forgotten.
Chapter 39- The Sinner. Part 1.
Chapter 40- The Sinner. Part 2.
Chapter 41- The Sinner. Part 3.
Chapter 42- The Sinner. Part 4.
Chapter 44- Trust in me.
Chapter 45- Live with it.
Chapter 47- Slipping away.
Chapter 48- The monster in your closet.
Chapter 1- A successful plan.
Chapter 9- A ghost from the past.
Chapter 28- My power, my worth.
Chapter 43- The Sinner. Part 5.
Chapter 46- The things you take for granted.

Chapter 2- Stranger once again.

It took me a few minutes to regain my composure, my tears drying up alongside any remaining strength in my body. Sunny stood respectfully aside during my emotional outburst. It was only when she noticed that I had stopped crying that she approached me cautiously, extending a trembling hoof to touch my shoulder.

“H-Hey… um,” she began, sensing my slight twitch as a sign that I was listening. “I think it would be better if we headed back downstairs. We’ll wait for my friends to arrive, and then we can discuss what just happened, sound good?” Her voice was hesitant, but she lightly stroked my shoulder in a reassuring manner. Despite the scare I had given her, she still tried to make me feel better.

Finding myself too exhausted to protest, I returned a limp nod and wiped away the last of my stinging tears. Reassured by my willingness to cooperate, she stepped back, now facing my full height for the first time.

“Wow…” she mumbled, astonished, her eyes wide and sparkling with the last rays of the afternoon sun. “Okay, just… follow me and… careful with your head, else you might bump into something, hehe…” She laughed timidly while retracing her steps toward the elevator. As expected, my height must have unnerved her, as it did with many ponies back then. Not to mention that time travel and a few days roughing it in the wild didn’t exactly improve my appearance.

Honestly, at that moment, I couldn’t have cared less.

“Lead the way,” I croaked, my voice hoarse from all the crying. It took a considerable effort, but I managed to calm my breathing, and the itching in my eyes began to fade. Now that her rear was in front of me while she headed for the elevator, I could better discern her cutie mark. It depicted a shooting star with a pair of smaller stars near it. Not many earth ponies possessed star-themed cutie marks; that was more of a unicorn thing. I took careful notice of it.

Filled flanks (yes, I did peek), trimmed fluffy fur, brushed mane and tail, strong earth-pony muscles, adorable snout, beautiful eyes... I didn’t know what I was expecting; she just seemed to be… average, for a pony that is. It was a relief to see that ponies had not changed at all over the years.

‘You showed me how much things can change in a few years, Starlight. That was NOT a pleasant ride.’

We stepped into the elevator, neither of us saying another word, feeling the weight of the uncomfortable silence between two hesitant strangers. She looked on edge, stealing small glances at me, only to quickly return her sight to the floor and pretend nothing had happened. Her front hooves shuffled nervously against each other, now more so due to my proximity.

I took a last sideways glance at the crystals before the elevator began its gentle descent down the tower. I just couldn’t believe it. Starlight and I had been so sure that it would work.

“It doesn’t make sense. It just doesn’t make any sense. It can’t end like this.” I repeated softly to myself, again and again. Sunny, her sensitive ears twitching, pretended not to hear.

Once the elevator completed its journey, Sunny hopped out with agile ease and pointed a trembling hoof towards the same couch I had caught her napping on. “Um, w-would you mind waiting there while I prepare some snacks for us and my friends? It’ll only take a moment,” she asked with an inviting smile, yet her shaky voice betrayed her nervousness. Once again, I simply nodded and took a seat on the left side of the couch without a word.

After holding her gaze on me for another second, she found my position satisfactory and, albeit hesitantly, trotted towards the kitchen, leaving me alone with my gloomy thoughts. For a few minutes, I just sat there, unsuccessfully trying to get my thoughts in order and hastily attempting to come up with a new plan. My eyes were drawn to the banner bearing Twilight’s cutie mark. A renewed sense of hate filled my very being.

‘It was you, right? You couldn’t leave things as they were. You had to mess it up! AGAIN!’

My anger rose once again, threatening to burst and seek retribution over the poor mare’s furniture. At the time, it was the only explanation I could come up with for the catastrophic end my brilliant plan had met. All that effort wasted…

I had half a mind to just stand up and leave the mare be. I had already caused enough trouble as it was, and I really didn’t want to deal with Sunny’s friends, especially after she told them what she had caught me doing. No doubt they would totally freak out when she told them what happened. Better to get out of their manes and return to the chamber. Fewer problems for them and me. I needed time to think of an alternative approach. I couldn’t just surrender. I wouldn’t surrender, not after all I had left behind.

‘I need books, anything that can point me in the right direction. I don’t know for sure how much knowledge survived the fall of Equestria… Perhaps Canterlot or some other big settlement managed to remain, even if it’s just a couple of ruins. I need to try!’

Just as I was about to stand up and be on my way, the front door burst open, followed by a yellow-furred earth pony stallion rushing in. Breathless and sweaty, he started looking around the room in a mad search for the orange-furred mare, his eyes full of worry.

“Sunny! SUNNY!! I came as quickly as I could. What was that explosion?! The whole town was shaking! Sunny?!” He kept searching everywhere, his aqua-green mane and tail following his movements erratically as he turned around and around trying to find the earth pony.

So desperately was he searching for her that it took him a few seconds to notice the strange creature sitting on the couch as if it owned the place. Our eyes met, and his expression immediately shifted from worry to disbelief. But I didn't have the strength for more than a passing glance. Tired of the awkward moment, I turned my attention back to the banner. Now that he had arrived, I could not escape without being seen.

‘Dammit, I only needed a second…’

“Over here, Hitch! I was just preparing something to eat,” Sunny called from the kitchen. A moment later, she returned, carrying a tray with a few glasses of water and an assortment of snacks on her back. Hitch ignored her call and kept staring at me with a dumbfounded expression.

“Sunny… what’s that…” he started to ask.

“It’s fine, Hitch, he’s a… guest. Yes! A guest. We have some VERY important things to discuss, but we should wait for the rest of the gang to arrive,” Sunny revealed while carefully placing the tray on the small coffee table in front of the couch. “Help me gather some chairs, would you?” She turned towards the yellow earth pony once everything was secured in place.

“... Sure thing, Sunny,” he mumbled, keeping his golden eyes fixed on me until he had turned around completely. I could now see a kind of shoulder strap with a golden star fixed on it. His cutie mark resembled a shield with a blue horseshoe inside.

‘A sheriff… just what I needed. At least she didn’t call me a trespasser,’ I thought to myself, realizing that my situation was only getting more and more complicated. I sighed and, without anything better to do aside from scowling, continued to immerse myself back into my planning.

Shortly after he had left to help Sunny, the door burst open again. This time, two pegasi mares entered the foyer and found the two earth ponies on their way to bring in the chairs from the backroom.

“Sunny, Hitch! Thank hoofness you’re okay! We had to stay back and help a few ponies who fell after the shockwave! What in Tartarus happened here?!” demanded the snow-white pegasus, whose mane and tail as well as her wings sported a variety of colors ranging from dark blue to brilliant rose in a beautiful gradient pattern. Her cutie mark resembled a two-toned lightning bolt with a tiny crown above it. Looking closely, I could find many similarities with another pegasus I knew.

‘Oh, please. One was enough! No more, please!’

“Yeah. I was just visiting a small shop for sale near the market when suddenly the whole town just, like, started shaking! I almost dropped my phone!” added the smaller pegasus. This one had light pink fur with a lighter hue near her fetlocks. Her wings were a bit different than I was used to, them being more… puffy, I guess? Her mane and tail were the same color as Sunny’s. Her cutie mark resembled a two-toned musical note with another tiny crown inside.

‘Similar to the other pegasus, perhaps they’re related?’ I wondered, tiredly enduring the two pegasi’s astonished looks after they realized I was sitting there as if I were a piece of furniture.

“Girls! It’s great to see you!” Sunny called out to the pair of pegasi, dragging another chair in front of her. “Mind helping us set up the chairs for the meeting?” she requested, pushing the chair all the way in front of the table.

“Uuuuh… Sunny, there’s a… in your… couch?” blurted the white pegasus, as still as a stone. The other one reached under her wing and pulled out a rectangular device. Pointing the back end at me, she tapped it a few times. It took me a moment to realize what she was holding.

‘There’s no way…’

“Is that a smartphone?!” I inquired aloud before I could catch myself.

The pink pegasus recoiled from my outburst and jumped back as though I had just caught her with her hooves in the cookie jar. Losing her stance, she fell on her rump and, in her scare, dropped what I could now safely call a smartphone. The bright light of the screen, now facing up, sealed my suspicions.

‘An honest-to-Faust digital smartphone… and it’s not mine!’

I barely managed to hold in my laugh, thinking about the absurdity of the situation. Yet, I couldn't help the smirk that appeared on my lips. This didn’t go unnoticed by the now-fuming pegasus.

“What’s so funny, huh?!” the mare demanded angrily, sounding bothered by the jump scare. She reached down and retrieved her phone in a swift move, choosing to store it back under the safety of her wing.

“Nothing, please forgive me,” I proffered, resting my back against the couch pillows once more. If only they knew how much effort it had cost me to explain human technology to the ponies after my arrival in Equestria. I could only mentally chuckle at the new reality in front of me.

‘I wonder if they finally used my own as a template… I mean, I guess without magic, technological advancement gained a new level of importance.’

The pink pegasus shot me one final disdainful glance before seating herself beside the other pegasus. Sunny and Hitch returned from the back room, each carrying a chair, and they completed the semi-circle around the table.

The earth pony mare volunteered to speak first. Her initial nervousness had dissipated in the presence of her friends. “Okay guys, we’re still missing Izzy, but she shouldn’t be long. Meanwhile, let’s do some introductions! I’ll start. Ahem… Hi there! My name is Sunny Starscout. I’m just a humble earth pony who likes to make smoothies, hehe, and I guess I also try to make the world a better place! Even if I try too hard sometimes…” She finished, sounding a bit embarrassed.

‘At least she doesn’t look uneasy around me now,’ I mentally celebrated.

My observation was confirmed when she, after her introduction, chose to sit next to me on the couch.

The yellow earth pony had taken the chair closest to the door, effectively blocking my escape route.

‘Hmm, smart pony…’

Ignoring my pointed look, he grabbed one of the glasses Sunny had provided and introduced himself. “I’m Hitch Trailblazer, the sheriff of Maretime Bay. I won’t assume anything, but based on your appearance and the situation we’re in, I find it hard to believe you’re a ‘guest’ as Sunny claims.” He made no effort to hide his suspicions, his narrowed eyes promising to keep tabs on my every move.

“Hitch, stay calm,” Sunny requested, making calming gestures towards her friend. “Let’s focus on the talking part of the meeting, please.”

Hitch snorted dismissively and leaned back in his seat, his eyes never leaving me.

“Thaaank you. Now, who’s next?” Sunny turned towards the two pegasi sitting next to Hitch.

With a sigh, the ivory pegasus introduced herself. “I’m Zipp Storm… and I’m afraid I share my buddy’s suspicions. I’ve never seen anything like you before, and the Unity Crystals don’t react like that unless something big is happening…” She too narrowed her eyes at me. Unbothered, I remained neutral, absentmindedly munching on a sandwich Sunny had prepared. Strawberry jam, very tasty.

‘Sorry, pegasus, you’re not going to get me. No no.’

The pink one gave a passing glance towards Zipp and followed her lead with a pronounced accent. “My name is Pipp Petals, and I also concur with my sister.”

‘So, they are sisters.’

Reaching for her wing again, she extracted her phone and held it in front of her. “Also, would you mind taking some pictures with me later? That would be, like, a BOMB on my feed. Pretty please?” She pleaded, innocently batting her eyelashes and wearing a winning smile.

“Pipp! Now is not the time!” Her sister scolded the tiny pegasus.

“Come oooon! Can you imagine the views I would get? It would be the perfect thing to announce my new single!”

From the heat of the conversation, it seemed they were about to start fighting, but thankfully Hitch was brave enough to intervene before the situation escalated.

“Girls! That’s enough!” He scolded the sisters. Still giving nasty looks at each other, they laid back in their seats, sticking their tongues out at each other in a foalish manner.

“SO!” Sunny interceded, trying to ease the atmosphere. “With that out of the way, why don’t you tell us your name?” She looked expectantly at me, using her front hooves to balance herself as she inched closer, her curiosity unrestrained.

She looked really adorable. Sadly, I had no intention of revealing my identity to these ponies.

‘That would only complicate things more, especially with Sunny studying ancient Equestria. Time for some improvised excuses… I’m so tired of them.’

I scanned everypony. Their looks mirrored Sunny’s, except for Hitch, who still gave me the stink-eye.

“Well… you see…”

*SLAM*

Before I could even begin, the door was almost torn off its hinges. A purple unicorn with a cobalt-blue mane and tail stood panting at the door, clearly having run all the way from town.

“Ugh! Finally… phew! Sorry, Sunny, I rushed as soon as I could. Everypony was panicking and…” Before she could finish, her eyes met mine, and whatever she was about to say was erased from her muzzle. Her expression changed to one of astonishment and… slight perturbation.

‘I’m getting tired of these looks. I don’t look that weird… right?’ I asked myself, recalling the numerous times I had found myself in this situation.

“Hi, Izzy! Don’t worry about it. I can imagine the town is a bit restless after that shock,” Sunny addressed the new pony with a friendly wave. “Still, it’s great to have you here. Now we’re all present!” Sunny beckoned the unicorn with her hoof towards the remaining free chair.

But instead of taking a seat, the unicorn mare slowly approached me, her eyes never leaving mine. She looked deeply puzzled. Halfway there, she suddenly stopped, and her features morphed into one of fear.

“Y-you…” She stuttered, her right trembling hoof pointing at me.

“Me...” I responded, a bit nervous at her sudden change of demeanor.

“Y-y-you have… n-no s-sparkle….” She managed to blurt out, her fear blossoming into outright panic. “YOU HAVE NO SPARKLE!” She wailed, looking really perturbed, her pupils reduced to a pair of pinpricks behind several strands of her long mane.

‘No sparkle? What does she mean by th- Oh. Yeah, that’s going to be a bit difficult to explain.’

I realized why she was so bothered. It had also been a shock for Twilight the first time she realized that particular aspect of my alien anatomy.

The remaining ponies mirrored Izzy’s confused and uneasy demeanor.

‘Yeah, better clear this up fast.’

“You’re right, Izzy.” I conceded in a calm voice. “I don’t possess any magic of my own, which I think you’re referring to. That doesn’t make me any less alive, though.” I explained to the pony audience with a tiny chuckle.

‘Although, after what happened today, I almost wish that was the case… oh no. Not going there, brain. Shut up and focus!’ Those thoughts were the last thing I needed at the time.

My quick explanation failed to appease the unicorn. “Bu-but, everything alive has some kind of magic inside of them! Even when it went missing, there was still something there! It makes us what we are!” She rebutted nervously, looking towards her friends for confirmation.

“Close, but not quite there, Izzy. Sorry, but now is not the time for magic lectures.” I closed the topic with a calm tone. It didn’t manage to ease her completely, but at least she stopped screaming. Nodding in defeat, she shakily crossed the remaining distance and took a seat to our left.

Sunny was about to say something, but I decided to cut her off. I was growing tired and wanted a quick way out. “Look, guys. I know you must have a thousand questions for me, but if I’m honest, I’m feeling like crap right now and really don’t have the energy to answer all your questions. So, this is what we’re going to do: I’m going for a quick trip to the bathroom, with your permission of course, Sunny, to clean myself up a bit and refresh my mind. In the meantime, you can talk with each other and try to calm yourselves down a bit, hmm? When I return, each of you gets one question. We can finish with the rest another time, yes?” I proposed while standing up and addressing each of them.

Nopony protested, and Sunny courteously pointed towards the back of the room, past the elevator.

“Thank you, everypony.” With that said, I took my leave. But before that, I noticed Hitch nervously twitching in his seat. I could imagine what he wanted.

“You can accompany me if you want, sheriff. Heaven forbid I leave your sight for a second.” I teased. “Hopefully, it will stop your balls from itching, am I right? I’ll even let you hold my purse while I do my business.” I spoke with a mischievous grin. The girls barely managed to hold in their laughs while Hitch glared daggers at me.

‘That’s right, nothing like a bit of humor to lower the awkwardness of the room. I’m really fed up with that.’

No doubt grumbling obscenities under his breath, Hitch came down from his seat and followed behind me, drilling a hole in my back with his scowl.

I had no trouble finding the restroom. Hitch stood aside while I entered. I looked at him as I passed by and teased with a naughty grin. “Do you mind lending me a hoof? I promise I won’t bite~” Faust forgive me, I just couldn’t resist.

“Just… shut up and be quick about it.” He grunted grumpily while sitting on his haunches, ready to stand guard for little ol’ me.

“As you command, sheriff.” I obeyed with an exaggerated bow as I closed the door. The bathroom had a simplistic, if not girly, design, but that was to be expected considering Equestria’s general tendencies. I approached the sink and looked at my reflection in the mirror.

‘... Yeah, I look like crap.’

My brown hair was messy and greasy, a bit longer than I usually preferred, reaching well down my neck. My chocolate-brown eyes looked back at me, worn out and with the beginnings of bags under them, no doubt from the lack of sleep. Funny, considering I had just woken up from a thousand-year-long slumber. I guessed I was just that lazy.

I had just turned twenty-eight when I set on my ‘journey’. The Equestrian herbivore-friendly diet and having to walk everywhere did absolute wonders for my physique… as far as a lab rat physique can go. Still, I looked good enough to prevent ponies from running away from me screaming… most of the time.

I took off my worn-out blue jacket and cerulean shirt and proceeded to wash my face, upper torso, and armpits to remove some of the smell and filth.

‘I don’t know how Sunny managed to not scrunch her muzzle in disgust. Ponies are way more sensitive than me to strong smells.’

While cleaning myself, I became lost in my memories once again.

I waited near the entrance to the royal palace, listening to the bustle of the city below. In my left hand, I absentmindedly rolled around a small blue gem between my fingers, part of my latest and most advanced prototype fresh out of the R&D department. It was sure to be a hit when Twilight and I presented it at Fillydelphia’s M&S National Congress next month. As I lazily flipped the gem around, lost in thoughts about tomorrow’s work in the lab, I heard him calling.

“Hey there, dude. How’s it going?” A blue-feathered griffon with amber-colored chest fur greeted me, approaching the entrance with a suave gait. He was wearing a pristine military uniform, a corporal’s uniform, no less. Not a speck of dust or grime on it.

“Nice costume you got there, Gallus. Where’s the dress party?” I greeted back with a smirk, holding out my fist. The young griffon rolled his eyes and bumped it with his talons.

“Yeah, yeah, very funny. They’re already busting our flanks enough at boot camp for you to start making jokes. I swear, some days I really wish I’d stayed at the Friendship School.” He moaned, his sky-blue predatory eyes showing a hint of exhaustion. I had always kept my distance from military affairs since coming to this magical land, but I could sympathize with the poor griffon’s plight.

Together, we started walking towards the inner square of the castle past the gates, heading to the left-side gardens for a break.

“I can see that now, bluebird. Still, you knew what you were getting into when you enlisted,” I said, noting his slightly saggy posture.

Gallus shook his head with resolve. “I don’t regret it, not for a second. The inter-racial inclusion initiative has done wonders for integration in the EUP. Now we’re more diverse and ready than ever!...” His enthusiasm quickly faded. “... I just wish Silverstream didn’t give me such a hard time for joining.” He looked down at the paved road sadly. The energetic hippogriff had also written to me about the issue.

“I know, Gallus. Just try to understand where she’s coming from. Her people had it rough with the Storm King’s invasion. No wonder she doesn’t want any of her loved ones involved in anything that could risk their lives.” I tried to reason. “Especially if what Smolder told me was true...” I nudged him on his side, an embarrassed grin appearing on his beak while the feathers on his cheeks turned a shade redder.

“Hehe, yeah… that was a surprise for both of us. But it’s going smoothly if I do say so myself.” He affirmed, sticking his chest out in pride.

“I’ll believe it when I hear it from the other party…. OUCH!!” I rubbed my arm where Gallus had punched me, now giving me a scowl but barely able to hide his smile.

“Shut up, space monkey. You’re in no position to talk about relationships.” He jabbed with a knowing leer.

“Touché.” I conceded. We arrived at the center of the gardens and found a nice bench at the side of the central plaza, where an ornate fountain depicting a heroic unicorn from times long past refreshed the surrounding area. Fully aware of what was expected of me, I reached out and started scratching the feathers at the back of his head. His eyes rolled back, a happy grin splitting his beak.

“Mmmmm... thanks, dude. I really needed that...” He half whispered, half moaned, getting lost in his happy place.

“You’re welcome, bluebird.” I answered, starting to relax myself. Humans do enjoy petting other creatures as much as they like being petted; it is a universal law.

We stayed like that for a few minutes, Gallus on the verge of falling asleep. We had been very good friends since his arrival at the school a few years ago, having met before that during a not-so-fortunate encounter back in his hometown. I knew for a fact he kinda liked these things, even if he wouldn’t admit it to anycreature.

The sound of multiple hooves marching in formation dragged me out of my thoughts. Searching around, I witnessed a small unit of around twenty ponies and two yaks marching in tight formation around the plaza. Their drill instructor, a black-furred pegasus with a looming scar splitting his features and wearing an appropriate drill instructor uniform, set a brisk pace. I took careful notice of the equipment the recruits were dressed in, and what I saw baffled me, finding something far from the standard guard uniform. In my stupor, I stopped petting Gallus and shook him out of his happy place.

“Gallus… hey, Gallus!” I kept shaking him. Grumbling a bit, he reopened his slightly glossed eyes.

“Mmmmmgg, why did you stop?” He moaned, still half asleep. Wordlessly, I pointed towards the unit that had just started another lap around the plaza.

“Gallus, what are they wearing? I’ve never seen that kind of equipment in the Royal Guard, and is that a… shield on their backs?” I asked the sleepy griffon while squinting my eyes to see better.

It took his half-asleep brain a moment to reboot and process my question. Yawning shamelessly, he answered me with a slurred tone. “That’s the new equipment that arrived last week at camp. Supposed to be some… what did they call it?... Anti-riot equipment or something like that? They’re beginning to train a couple of the third home-defense battalion units with them. They came with new routines, too.”

I could only hold my baffled sight on the retreating soldiers, my mind a mess, dragging out old memories of my lost homeworld.

‘Anti-riot units? Since when is that a thing?!’

As if young Gallus was reading my mind, he continued explaining the new situation, now sounding more awake. “Yeah, it surprised me too when I heard it. Apparently, the Royal Guard alone isn’t enough to prevent the growing conflicts escalating, and general unrest from the population centers is at an all-new high. The princess consulted with the high-ups and thought it would be more effective to create a specialized division to cope with the growing issue.” He explained, also sounding a bit bothered by the measures taken. “... Not gonna lie, it’s a bit unnerving that things have reached this point.” He concluded with an uncertain tone.

Me? I simply couldn’t believe what I was hearing. I had heard about the recent issues happening alongside a few major settlements near the west coast, but I never imagined it had gotten this bad. And all under my nose!

‘This isn’t looking good… It's not looking good at all! I need to speak with Twilight about this. Pronto.’

*Knock Knock*

“Hey, you awake in there?!” Hitch’s call snapped me out of my daydreaming. Glancing back at my reflection in the mirror, I shook myself awake and swiftly finished washing my face.

“In a minute!” I called out. Satisfied that I had done the best I could with my disheveled appearance, I turned off the tap and dried myself with a nearby towel. 'I hope Sunny doesn’t mind...'

With a sigh, I opened the bathroom door and stepped outside, feeling refreshed but not necessarily better. A good night’s sleep was the only real cure for my exhaustion. Hitch was waiting nearby, glaring at me and tapping the floor impatiently with his forehoof. Ignoring him, I made my way back to the living room where the girls were chatting quietly.

Sunny saw me return and immediately patted the side of the couch, beckoning me to sit back in my original place. Seeing no reason to refuse, I complied and waited expectantly as everypony settled back into their seats.

“So, who’s first?” Sunny prompted, looking eagerly at her friends. Before they could discuss the order, Hitch rose from his seat and stepped forward.

“I’ll go first,” he declared, his voice firm. “What were you doing at Sunny’s house, and what did you do to the Unity Crystals?!” His tone was accusatory, and his posture was tense, as if ready to pounce.

“Um, Hitch… that might not be the best way to start…” Sunny began, but I interrupted her. Better to get this over with quickly.

“I broke in and tried to tamper with the crystals,” I stated flatly, barely reacting to the bombshell I had just dropped. The stunned expressions on Sunny’s friends were priceless.

‘Didn’t expect me to be so blunt, did you?’ I grinned devilishly.

Sunny raised a forehoof to her forehead, looking dejected. “W-what…?”

“Y-you did what…?”

“Huh...?”

The girls stammered in disbelief, their voices overlapping, when Hitch’s loud scream silenced them all.

“YOU DID WHAT?!!!” he yelled, pointing an accusing hoof at me. His eyes bored into mine, and his trembling limbs suggested he might leap at me any second. I raised an innocent eyebrow and flashed a sly smile, which only seemed to infuriate him more.

Ignoring Sunny’s feeble attempts to calm him down, Hitch jumped from his chair and yanked my left arm hard, dragging me towards the door.

“That’s it, you’re coming with me! I will not have criminals loitering around my friends!” he barked. “You, my friend,” he jabbed me in the ribs, “are going to pay for what you’ve done!” He snarled, his grip unyielding. I didn’t see any hoofcuffs, but his strength was motivation enough for me to avoid resisting.

After all, this was my goal from the beginning.

We had barely taken a couple of steps when Sunny hurriedly intervened, almost tripping over her own hooves. The rest of the mares followed, forming a barrier between Hitch and me. Sunny strained her not-so-toned earth pony muscles, pushing Hitch to the side as the others surrounded him, their voices loud and insistent as they tried to change his mind.

Hitch’s permanent scowl and nasty side-glares in my direction indicated he wasn’t being swayed.

‘With any luck, I’ll spend the night in the brig and avoid further questions. They don’t need to know about my true objectives. As far as they’re concerned, I’m just a weird monkey-like creature who meddled with things he shouldn’t have.’

While the ponies argued, I took the opportunity to look around the room. I hadn’t had a chance to take a closer look after breaking in. My eyes fell on a map of Equestria hanging on the wall, surrounded by boxes labeled and filled with papers and other items, some carelessly scattered on a wide desk.

Curious, I stepped closer to the map. Multi-colored sticky notes with strings pointed to various locations on the continent. Straining my memory, I couldn’t recognize any of the documents, many of which were dated long after I had hidden myself away to begin my journey through time.

‘Hmm, this might be useful,’ I thought, noticing a piece of paper sticking out from the mess. Carefully, I extracted it and scanned its contents. It was a diagram I instantly recognized.

‘No way…’

In the top right corner were two marks: Twilight’s cutie mark and another consisting of circles arranged around a central one, resembling a flower. But it wasn’t a flower. That symbol held significant meaning for those of my kind. It was the symbol I had chosen as my own, engraved or embossed on my tools and clothes, and used as a signature, much like how ponies used their cutie marks.

So absorbed was I in the drawing that I didn’t notice the background conversation gradually go quiet, nor Sunny’s hoofsteps slowly approaching from behind. She stood to my left, head tilted in curiosity about what had caught my attention.

To my dismay, it only took her a minute to make the connection. The diagram I was holding was a copy of one of my own. One of the first prototypes we had ever designed for advanced applications. It depicted a gauntlet, with a series of small gems connected to each other, and encrusted in the frame.

A human hand-shaped gauntlet.

‘The Mk 1.2 Atlas Gauntlet…’

I remembered the name I had given it, a reference no living creature of Equus would ever get. One of my first attempts to completely integrate the use of magic into my own person. More efficient and comfortable than holding a bunch of gems in my fist. I had designed it to fit my human hand, but my plans included all matter of different limbs from the numerous creatures of Equus.

A gasp drew my attention out of the diagram towards the mare at my left. I saw with raising panic how she recognized to whom those diagrams belonged. I could see it in her eyes, darting from the symbol on the paper and the ragged one engraved on my left chest pocket of my trusty jacket.

‘She’s figured it out… fuck me sideways!’

“I-It’s you…” Sunny mumbled in disbelief, her eyes wide with astonishment as she stared at me.

“N-No, I’m not…” I stammered, pathetically attempting to deny my identity. But the mare was far too sharp to fall for such a weak excuse.

‘Now I’m in deep, DEEP trouble.’

Taking a step back, she pointed her hoof at me and screamed, “IT’S YOU! OH MY GOSH, IT’S YOU!!” She trembled on her hooves, looking as though she might faint from the excitement.

“What are you talking about, Sunny? Who is he?” asked Izzy, now joined by the rest of the girls around the desk.

“Yeah, what’s going on, Sunny?” probed Zipp with a concerned expression. Pipp scanned everypony wordlessly, clearly as confused as her sister.

“I-It’s…” Sunny tried to speak, her overflowing excitement rendering her speechless. She took a deep breath, barely able to keep still on her hooves. “It’s… ahem, HE, is Alexander the human!” she eagerly announced to her friends. All they returned were even more confused looks.

I had harbored a tiny glimmer of hope that she had mistaken me for some other creature, even though I had always been the only human in Equestria. Sadly, luck didn’t seem to be on my side that day. I looked away with a defeated sigh, mentally preparing for what would surely follow.

“What are you talking about, Sunny? I don’t remember ever hearing that name before,” a now somewhat puzzled Hitch inquired, finally losing his glare in light of the new revelation.

‘Something’s something, I guess...’

Sunny couldn’t contain her excitement any longer and started trotting in place. “He appeared in many of my father’s notes!” she began. “A creature from a land far, far away who one day suddenly appeared in Equestria. He was friends with Princess Twilight and the Element Bearers! He helped protect Equestria numerous times, and his advanced knowledge from his homeland helped us advance our own by many, MANY years! Guys?!” She finished, gasping for air like a drowning fish and searching for any sign of recognition from her friends. None of them seemed to know who I was. Now that the cat was out of the bag, that didn’t improve things, either.

She turned back to me and stood up on her hind legs, her fluffy chest pressing against my own as she clung to my jacket with her hooves. Her aqua-green eyes fixed on mine, filled with wonder and curiosity.

“You’re Alexander, the so-called Prince of Knowledge, right? You disappeared a long time ago, never to be found again. B-Because you had traveled here, right?!” she asked loudly, shaking me slightly.

But I didn’t answer her, fixing my gaze elsewhere on the floor. Shame and sorrow drowned my entire being. ‘It’s been a long time since I’ve been called that…’

“Alexander…?” Sunny’s voice softened, noticing my sinking mood, her eyes now filled with worry at my lack of response.

I couldn’t stand it any longer.

“Hitch, I think we should get going,” I informed the sheriff in a low voice, gently pushing the clinging mare away from me. She fell back onto all fours and gave me a look of both sadness and disbelief.

“B-But…” she started to say, sounding dismayed. None of her friends moved a muscle, unsure of what to say or do.

“Now, Hitch!” I repeated, more loudly this time. Not meeting their eyes, I walked past the ponies and headed for the door, barely able to hold back my tears. Hitch, as puzzled as the rest, wordlessly began to follow me, his concerned gaze shifting to his friend, who now had a faraway look on her face, a limp hoof hanging in the air in a feeble attempt to make me stay. The rest of the girls still didn’t move an inch, not knowing what to do.

I reached for the handle and angrily opened the door. A crisp night breeze blew from the sea, moving a few loose strands in my field of vision. A waxing gibbous moon shone above the water, painting the calm sea in swirling patterns of whitish hues. Far down the road, the town was asleep, barely any lights aside from the street lamps could be discerned from up here.

‘Better for me, I don’t want to draw any attention while getting to the police station,’ I thought, thanking the goddess and beginning my march down the road, not waiting for the stallion who was supposed to take me into custody.

Hitch hurriedly trotted to keep up with my pace, his face now one of concern more than anger. Before I could take more than a couple of steps down the dirt path, a voice screamed from the porch.

“WAIT! Please wait!” Hearing the loud pleading behind me, I strained my neck and saw Sunny running out of the lighthouse, the rest of her friends fast on her tail.

She screeched to a halt and stood in front of me, her features full of guilt and anguish. With a shaky voice, she apologized. “Wait, please! I-I’m s-sorry if I’ve said something wrong. I j-just…”

She was on the verge of tears, something that was far from my current target. She wasn’t at fault for my sudden change of attitude, and I would definitely appreciate a curious pony when I found one. My soft heart ached seeing her like that. I placed a hand in front of her muzzle, signaling her to stop. She did so and locked her eyes onto mine, now adorned with a few shy tears that shone in the moonlight. I had always been a sucker for those weaponized sad pony eyes. Now, it was no different.

I cupped her cheek with my right hand and started petting her with my thumb. That seemed to relax her a bit, as it had done with many a pony before. In a calm tone, I tried to soothe her concerns. “It’s fine, Sunny, you did nothing wrong. It’s just… It’s been a long day, and I have a lot on my mind. I think it’s better if I spend the night in the brig. I don’t want to blow up in front of you all, no more than I already have…”

She kept her sad eyes on me, while unconsciously pressing her muzzle sideways against my hand. “I-I just…”

I used my thumb to quiet her once more and spoke honestly. “I’m sorry for breaking into your house, Sunny… and messing with the Unity Crystals. I can understand how important they must be for all of you. I was desperate and acted recklessly… I hope you’ll be able to forgive me.”

Just as I was a sucker for the sad eyes, ponies were big on sincerely regretful apologies, and I truly felt like crap for giving her the scare of her life. It said a lot about their general character.

Now that we were outside, I gazed once again upon the broken lighthouse. The moonlight was enough to illuminate the deep crevices and broken parts of the structure. A crazy idea appeared in my mind.

‘Let’s see if I can still do some good today.’

After following my gaze for a second, Sunny looked back at me confused, unsure of what had drawn my attention. Before she could begin to wonder, I announced in a determined tone, “Let me try and compensate you, Sunny.”

I took a step forward, now standing in the middle of a semicircle of ponies. Drawing from my deep library of spells, I extended my left arm while clutching the gems in my pocket with my right. Clenching my teeth, I mentally prepared myself for what would surely be a huge drain on my reserves.

‘As if I hadn’t had enough for today… Very well, focus!’ I prepared, steeling myself for the task ahead.

“Reparo!” I screamed, pointing my free hand towards the lighthouse. The freshly recharged gems in my pocket powered up immediately, obeying my command. I scrunched my face, expecting the usual energy surge and the electrifying sensation that always accompanied high-tier spellcasting. However, that didn’t happen. Instead, the gems started flashing. I couldn’t see them, but I felt their radiating heat fluctuating rapidly.

In sync with the rhythm of my gems, the Unity Crystals began to flash too, a buzzing hum rising behind.

‘A-Are they somehow synchronizing? But that’s not possib-’

Before I could finish my thought, a blinding light emanated from the top of the lighthouse. So bright, we all had to shut our eyes and turn our heads away. The intense light enveloped the whole building, the buzzing sound growing louder and louder, almost making my bones vibrate.

There was no colorful explosion or tremor this time. Instead, when our eyes adjusted to the light, we saw the entire broken structure transforming before our eyes. The piercing brightness only allowed us to discern the contours of the morphing lighthouse. Accompanying the light, a familiar sound rang above the loud buzzing: the characteristic chime of crystal magic.

The bursts of clinking sounds corresponded to new additions to the structure. The tower grew wider, and the house-like base expanded.

We watched in amazement at the unfolding spectacle. It continued for another minute, none of us moving or even blinking. I certainly hadn’t expected this.

‘The Reparo spell does NOT work like that, not even close!’ I panicked, keeping my eyes fixed on the transforming building.

After what felt like an eternity, the light and buzz suddenly ceased, revealing the transformed lighthouse. It was an entirely different design.

The ground plan had changed; the lower house now featured a tall arch-like entrance adorned with colorful glass decorations and an engraving of the Unity Crystal above the door. Two new side rooms jutted out from the main building, surrounded by vibrant maroon-leafed trees that hadn’t been there before.

The tower had lost its striped pattern. Instead, a semi-transparent cylinder extended from the lower house to the upper gallery, which now had wing-like side ornaments and another depiction of the Unity Crystals crowning the top. The exterior had become crystalline, reminiscent of the structures in the Crystal Empire. The magic rainbow once again poured from inside the tower up towards the night sky, gently illuminating its surroundings with a pale glow.

We stood still, open-mouthed, and the ponies’ eyes were wide, reflecting the light from the crystalline lighthouse. At the same time, they all snapped out of their stupor and turned to me, wordlessly demanding an explanation.

I flinched at their intense looks, knowing a million questions were about to burst from their muzzles.

‘Okay, time for a smooth escape; I really don't want to deal with this right now.’

Just as they were about to bombard me with questions, I turned around and resumed my trek towards the town. “Well, look at that,” I said nonchalantly. “At least it saved you from the pain of rebuilding it. I hope you like the new design, Sunny, because I have absolutely NO idea how that just happened. I’ll see you tomorrow, girls, or maybe not, we’ll see.” I waved my hand in a parting gesture. “Are you going to show me the way, sheriff? I might sneak away otherwise…” I teased as I approached the point where the path divided.

After a moment of indecision, Hitch hastily bid farewell to his friends and galloped to my side. The girls were still too astonished to react properly, no doubt choosing to explore Sunny’s new abode instead.

Both of us walked side-by-side in silence. A few minutes later, we arrived at the town’s entrance, marked by a tall decorated arch with the town’s name. The streets were completely deserted, as expected at this hour. We marched towards the main street, where I could see market stalls stored away, small restaurants, and shops lining the road. I even thought I saw a cinema among the businesses.

Electric street lights provided gentle illumination to the paved stone streets. Tramway rails ran along the avenue.

‘Huh, now that’s something new. Equestria only had a railroad system last time I checked.’

We kept walking, reaching what seemed to be the second level of the town. No lights were flicked on by the resident ponies as we passed, meaning we would reach our destination without causing a fuss. The town reminded me of Ponyville, only more modernized in some aspects, at least by human standards.

At that moment, Hitch tried to start a conversation. “Hey, um, how did you…” he began hesitantly.

Unluckily for him, I just wasn’t in the mood. “I’ve no idea what to tell you. That wasn’t what I intended. The spell doesn’t work like that. Sorry,” I answered flatly, dismissing any attempt to further our talk. Besides, we were approaching what I believed was our destination.

Shuffling a bit, he nervously added, “Oh, um, it’s okay, just wondering… Oh look, we’re here.”

He quickened his trot to surpass me and stopped in front of what resembled an office, its colors ranging from dark blue to milky white, with a huge golden star-shaped badge above the windowed doors, clearly marking it as the sheriff's office. A small board fixed to the wall displayed pictures of several ponies with short descriptions. I took special notice of a red-furred stallion with a blonde mane, his photo placed more prominently than the others, emphasizing its importance.

Hitch opened the doors and motioned me inside. He flicked the lights on and continued across the office to open the door of what would be my resting place for the night, a metal-barred cell, fit for holding a single prisoner. Walking past the front desk and a bunch of cabinets filled with numerous files, I reached the cell and stepped inside, dropping my rear on the way-too-small bed.

Hitch gazed at me sadly, a guilty expression on his features. “I’m sorry it has to be like this, but…”

Once again I chose to interrupt him. “You don’t need to feel sorry, sheriff. You’re just doing your job. I’m truly deeply sorry for what I did. This definitely is not my usual behavior.” I sympathized as I raised my gaze from the floor to peer into his sorrowful eyes.

“Have a good night, sheriff, we’ll speak more in the morning.” I finished while laying down completely on the bed, my feet and arms dangling limply from the sides. Thankfully, I had already enjoyed plenty of chances to get used to small beds by then.

Without anything else to add, Hitch wished me a pleasant night and promptly left the building, flicking off the light and leaving me to mull in the darkness. He made sure to lock down the office just in case. After a last glance through the glass doors, he moved away and out of my view.

Breathing a heavy sigh through my nostrils, I allowed myself to sink deeper into the bed, as deep as a jail bed can go. Now that all the excitement and awkwardness of the day had passed, I finally had the chance to reflect upon my situation.

‘My plan has failed, I’m currently behind bars. I have no immediate way to return home, and I now have a bunch of overcurious ponies bombarding me with pointless questions… Heh, it almost reminds me of the first night I spent in Equestria. The weirdest day in my entire life.’

Turning around to face the wall, my thoughts drifted once again to my friends, all of whom I had left behind. For the first time since I had awoken from my journey, the true weight of my decision buried me under a choking blanket of pain and longing. My breath became erratic, and my eyes filled with tears.

‘What have I done…. Oh, Faust, what have I done?’ I repeated to myself over and over. For the second time that day, I openly wept, eventually falling asleep.

Seeing the two figures moving away towards the town, I was left standing there, now doubt looking like an idiot. But so many things were going through my mind that I barely had the chance to react. I watched the human take the left road on his way to town, Hitch hurriedly catching up and mirroring his gate.

The girls and I just stayed there without saying a word.

“Sunny…?” A voice woke me up from my trance. I peered to my right and caught Izzy approaching, wearing the same expression as the rest of us. “Um, it’s getting pretty late. How about we return inside and see how the new lighthouse looks?! It sure seems it has changed quite a bit! Also, do you mind if we crash with you tonight? I don’t think anypony wants to take the walk back home, or flight... you know what I mean,” She asked with a pleading look.

I was more than willing to comply. “Of course Izzy, you’re all welcome to spend the night. It’ll be a great way to inaugurate the new lighthouse! Assuming the beds haven’t disappeared, that is,” I gazed back to the sisters, both returning approving nods.

With nothing much to do, we turned back and proceeded towards the renewed lighthouse, my mind full of thoughts, most of them worries.

‘That was Alexander, the human of legend. One of the smartest and greatest scientists Equestria has ever had. His work is present in most of our technology. So many books were written. And yet, time seems to have erased most of his legacy…’

I still couldn’t bring my head around the fact that the supposedly deceased human prince had suddenly appeared seven hundred years later to break into my home.

‘... He looked dejected, almost defeated. Something went very wrong up there... And yet, he didn’t seem so bad at the end. He was polite, and accepted his punishment without protest…’

I continued muttering in my thoughts. A sudden feeling came to the front of my mind, that being the feeling of his hand on my cheek, gently stroking my fur to help calm me down. A small smile found its way to my muzzle at the recent memory.

As I said, only most of them.

Author's Note

Another one for you. Feel free to point out any mistakes or wierd expression you find. My goal is to improve my writting after all. Hope you enjoy it.

Chapter 3- A home to share.

A long time ago, in the enchanted land of Equestria, a young alicorn princess harbored an insatiable curiosity about the unknown, driven by a desire to explore realms beyond her own. Determined to unlock the secrets of alternate realities, she enlisted the help of her faithful assistant. Together, through tireless research and experimentation, they crafted an unprecedented spell designed to pierce the veil between worlds.

As the chosen day approached, the princess’s excitement was palpable. She could scarcely contain her anticipation for the groundbreaking event that was about to unfold. She confided in her closest friends, sharing both her exhilaration and a touch of apprehension. United in purpose, the five mares joined the alicorn in the grand Thrones Room at Friendship Castle, taking their places around the central table with a mixture of nervousness and eager anticipation.

Swallowing her final reservations, the princess levitated the spell scroll before her, her horn glowing with concentrated magic. The objective was straightforward: to create a stable rift through which they could glimpse other realities. However, the simplicity of the goal belied the complexity of the spell, an intricate weave of arcane equations and ancient incantations that had never before been attempted. Confident in her meticulous preparation, the young alicorn initiated the spell, her calculations having been checked and rechecked multiple times.

At first, a small flicker of light shimmered above the table, but it quickly morphed into an unstable vortex, growing more turbulent by the second. Panic surged through the room as the alicorn struggled to regain control. The portal, intended to be a mere window, had become a chaotic maelstrom threatening to spiral out of control. Summoning all her magical prowess, the princess fought to close the rift, her focus unwavering despite the mounting pressure.

After a minute of intense exertion, the vortex was finally sealed, and the roaring winds that had whipped through the room subsided. Relief washed over the princess; she had averted a potential disaster. However, the absence of celebratory cheers from her friends caused her to pause. Turning to face them, she noticed their gazes fixed on a point across the room, away from the Cutie Map and the thrones.

Puzzled, the princess stepped away from her throne and circled the table, her mind racing with thoughts of what might have gone awry. As she reached the spot where her friends were staring, her speculations came to a jarring halt. Her breath caught in her throat as she beheld a strange, bipedal creature, its eyes wide with fear and confusion, darting around the room as if struggling to comprehend its surroundings.

A sense of dread settled in the pit of the alicorn's stomach as she grasped the full gravity of the situation. She approached the trembling creature, her friends watching with bated breath. With a gentle voice and a warm smile, she attempted to bridge the gap between their worlds.

“Hello there, um… Are you okay? Can you understand me?”

The bewildered being, evidently from another dimension, removed its glasses and wiped them on its shirt. After placing them back on its face, it blinked rapidly, struggling to process the sight before it. Its response, a single word tinged with disbelief, encapsulated the strangeness of the moment.

“...... Huh?”

"Hehe, yeah, that was quite an experience. Not exactly the most dignified arrival, but at least I didn’t run around screaming like a lunatic," I mused, chuckling as I reminisced about my unexpected journey to Equestria all those years ago. It was the most bewildering day of my life. One moment, I was trudging home from college, exhausted from a long day peering through a microscope. The next, I found myself tumbling through an unstable dimensional rift, landing in a world of colorful ponies.

A crazy day, indeed.

Sleep had eluded me in the brig, haunted by memories and recurring nightmares. Frustrated after yet another failed attempt to rest, I paced the small perimeter of my cell, lost in thoughts of my lost past and humming a fitting tune.

The sun had risen hours ago, its early rays filtering through the tiny barred window above my bunk. I had expected Hitch to arrive at dawn to, hopefully, release me, but he hadn’t shown up. To make matters worse, I was famished. My recent meals in the field had been anything but plentiful.

‘I hope he brings breakfast. I swear, I’ll steal his doughnuts from under his snout if I must.’

Hunger had put me in a foul mood. Thankfully, I didn’t have to wait much longer. A few minutes later, the sheriff opened the front doors and stepped inside, casting a quick look around for me. His features relaxed when he found me, bored to tears, sitting on the bed.

To my surprise, a second pony followed him into the office. From my vantage point, I discerned that she was an earth pony mare, likely in her fifties. Her coat was a soft peach pink, and her mane and tail were a golden shade of blonde, styled in curls that gave her a mature, sophisticated look, despite not technically being old.

Her appearance was further enhanced by stylish, bright-pink glasses perched on her muzzle and pearl earrings that clicked softly, an unusual accessory for ponies, as far as my experience went. A necklace of spotless white pearls, identical to her earrings, adorned her neck.

Her cutie mark depicted what appeared to be a rising stock diagram, reinforcing her image as a businessmare.

'Definitely a businessmare.'

I wasn’t sure how to feel about her unexpected presence. She didn’t seem surprised by my appearance, unlike most ponies. Perhaps Hitch had already informed her about me, indicating that this wasn’t a coincidental visit.

'Just great...' I mentally cursed. Despite my hunger, my spirits were higher than yesterday. But I wasn’t in the mood to deal with a businesspony.

Hitch approached the cell door, carrying a paper bag in his muzzle. The incoming aroma revealed its contents to be a variety of freshly-baked pastries.

'At least the good sheriff remembered breakfast.'

Passing me the bag through the bars, Hitch turned his attention to the mare, who was now slowly approaching my cell. She seemed a bit nervous, which was understandable.

Once she was close enough, Hitch introduced us. "Miss Cloverleaf, this is… Alexander, isn’t it?" I nodded. "Yes, Alexander. Our new… temporary resident."

Turning to me, he continued, "Alexander, this is Miss Phyllis Cloverleaf, head of Canterlogic Industries and a member of the Town Council, our local government system, in case you were wondering."

'I wasn’t, but whatever…'

"It’s a pleasure to meet you, Mister… Alexander. Forgive me, but it’s a rather unusual name," she said with a polite laugh.

'I’m not a pony, what did you expect?' I mentally scoffed, struggling to rein in my bad mood before I said something regrettable.

Instead, I decided to be polite. "Don’t worry about it, Miss Cloverleaf. I get that a lot. It’s a pleasure to meet you, too." I extended a fist through the bars, which she hesitantly bumped in a pony-style greeting. "Before we start what I’m sure will be a very interesting conversation, is this going to happen with me behind bars, Sheriff?" I asked, glaring slightly.

Hitch shuffled his hooves. After a moment of indecision, he took the keys from his side bag and reached for the cell gate. "Don’t try anything funny, you hear?" he warned while unlocking the door.

Bothered by the mistrust, I replied sarcastically, "Damn, I’m busted. I was just planning to knock you both out and run around town naked, screaming about the end of days. Shame you caught me in time, Sheriff." Phyllis giggled at Hitch’s unamused expression.

She stepped between us. "Don’t worry, Sheriff. You’ve informed me already of his situation, and he doesn’t seem the aggressive type." Hitch gave her a skeptical glance, but she ignored it. "I wanted to discuss your situation. As a Town Council member, I need to be informed about what happens in our town, and the presence of a strange creature is concerning."

Hitch brought us some chairs. I began munching on my breakfast, a couple of freshly baked doughnuts. I offered one to Phyllis, but she declined.

"No, thank you. I’ve had my fill this morning," she said politely.

I shrugged and continued eating, waiting for her to start. After collecting her thoughts, she began.

"First, welcome to our town, despite the circumstances," she said, wincing slightly. "Before the reunification of the Crystals, we rarely welcomed new faces. It’s a treat to do so now, especially with the other tribes traveling around Equestria again." She smiled warmly.

“Thank you kindly, Miss Cloverleaf.” I offered a respectful half-bow. “It’s always a relief to feel welcome in a new place, especially given my… different appearance. Unfortunately, visiting new places hasn’t always been smooth sailing for me.” My posture sagged slightly as memories of numerous unpleasant first encounters surfaced.

“I can only imagine, my dear… but fear not!” she declared with resolve. “I’ll personally ensure that your stay here is nothing short of pleasant and productive! Now, this brings us to the second matter at hoof: your incarceration…” The atmosphere in the room grew tense. This was a delicate topic for all present. I had undeniably broken into Sunny’s home, making me subject to their laws.

Choosing to face the issue head-on, I spoke. “I understand that my actions have serious consequences. I’ll accept whatever judgment you deem fair.” I stated with genuine respect. “The last thing I need is more trouble with the law.” I concluded solemnly, looking repentantly at Phyllis and Hitch, who had just re-entered the office carrying three steaming mugs of coffee.

A smile returned to the mare’s face at my words. With a relieved sigh, she continued. “Phew! That’s a relief to hear, my dear. You’ll need to clear the details with the sheriff here, but seeing as nopony was injured and no charges were pressed, I don’t see any reason to keep you behind bars… right?” She turned towards Hitch while accepting a mug.

Hitch, though untrusting, reached with his forehoof to deliver my mug. “We’ll see about that…” he muttered under his breath.

Phyllis’s sharp ears caught his words. She repeated louder and more sternly, “Isn’t that right, Sheriff Hitch?”

Caught off guard, he quickly corrected himself. “Y-Yes! Of course, Miss Cloverleaf. He’ll be out in no time.” He conceded with a nervous grin, fidgeting in his horseshoes. “I just need to fill out some paperwork and clear a few details...” He handed me my mug nervously and retreated to his desk to begin the paperwork.

‘No doubt about who’s in charge here. I’ll remember that.’ I made a mental note.

“Once again, thank you for your consideration, Miss Cloverleaf. I’ll be sure not to waste this new opportunity.”

Phyllis returned my smile warmly. “You’re welcome, sugarcube. And speaking of opportunities, it’s the perfect moment to address our final topic!” She seemed more enthusiastic now, clearly eager about her proposition.

“I’m not sure I follow, ma’am…”

“Oh please, do you really think I don’t recognize the symbol on your jacket? I own the largest technology company this side of Equestria, and I’m fully aware of whose work our basic designs are based on. I can’t imagine how you ended up here, but I see this as a perfect chance for cooperation… don’t you think?” She ended with an alluring smile.

‘Great, she’s recognized me and wants me to work for her. Tough luck, lady, I have more pressing matters at hand.’

“I appreciate the offer, Miss Cloverleaf, but I can’t give you an answer right now. I have urgent issues to resolve and haven’t decided where to take permanent residence. I will seriously consider your proposal, but now is not the time for such decisions.”

Her ears drooped in disappointment. With a sigh, she concluded our conversation, “I’m saddened to hear that, darling, but I understand. If you ever change your mind, the offer stands. Now, I’m needed elsewhere this morning, so I must bid you farewell.”

Finishing her coffee, she stood and approached the door, leaving her empty mug carelessly on Hitch’s desk, staining a stack of papers. I didn’t miss Hitch’s brief glare.

Turning back before exiting, she addressed us both with a bright smile. “Farewell, gentlecolts. I’ll see you around town. I hope you have a wonderful stay, Mister Alexander. Sheriff.” She nodded and briskly left the office.

Once alone, Hitch gave me a pensive look. “Look, you’ve behaved adequately since I brought you here, and none of the girls has pressed charges. Given Phyllis’s insistence, I’ll do the risky thing and let you go. Don’t make me regret it. Are we clear?” He warned, stomping his hoof on the desk.

“Crystal clear, sheriff. No more issues from me.” I replied sincerely.

‘Especially after I leave this place. So much to do, so little time…’ I mussed, standing up and discarding the empty bag in a nearby trash can.

He trotted around the desk to the doors. “Very well. Here’s what we’re going to do. No doubt the girls will want to see you again, especially after the lighthouse… incident. There are many things we still need to discuss, like where you’ll stay and what you’ll do next.” Hitch stated, crossing the doors to the busy street.

It was a bright day, the sea breeze carrying a salty taste and the call of seagulls adding a pleasant coastal feel. Ponies were immersed in their midmorning activities—vendors called from their posts, foals played and screamed in delight. It was a typical rural pony town, a peaceful scene soon to be disrupted by the presence of a tall, furless creature.

As we stepped onto the street, dozens of heads turned in our direction. Before Hitch could warn me about ponies being skittish—something I was painfully aware of—a full-blown panic ensued among the townsfolk.

“HEY, HEY! Calm down everypony, there’s nothing to fear!” Hitch shouted, rushing towards the panicking crowd. I stood there, unfazed by the familiar scenario, humming the same tune from my cell.

After a few minutes, the ponies stopped running in fright. Hitch managed to explain my presence and reassure them that I posed no threat. Satisfied with the lowered sense of unrest, he returned to my side and signaled me to follow him to the lower levels of the town.

Ponies moved aside, giving us a wide berth and eyeing me with fear and uncertainty. One pony, however, was not convinced and, upon seeing us, began screaming at the top of his lungs.

“AAAAAHH, IT’S A…… A……. AAAAAAAAHH!” He shrieked, trotting in place before turning tail and jumping over the railing. My heart stopped for a moment, only to relax at the sound of water splashing below.

‘Faust dammit! I thought for a second that…’

I couldn’t finish my train of thought after hearing Hitch’s apologetic voice.

“I’m sorry for this, Alexander. I imagined something like this might happen, but I thought that by walking at your side, the ponies wouldn’t react too... impulsively.” Hitch winced, avoiding my gaze guiltily. “Even though the races have started to reintegrate, we still seem to have serious issues when dealing with strangers.” He lowered his head, his ears pressed against his scalp, looking downright downhearted.

“Don’t worry about it, Hitch. I’m used to it by now.” I consoled him with a gentle pat on his withers. “Let’s just head straight to the lighthouse, lest somepony ends up injured or worse.”

I quickened my pace, and Hitch matched my stride after mulling over my words for a moment. We passed many small establishments and two-story apartment houses on our way out. Many of them had torn posters and signs depicting unicorns and pegasi in menacing and intimidating ways. It was ridiculous, considering how the average pony is the most adorable creature to ever exist.

Upon closer inspection, I noticed more of the same propaganda posted on walls, street lamps, and other visible places. However, it seemed the earth ponies had started to remove this harmful propaganda in light of the new relationships between the tribes.

‘It’s as good a start as any,’ I mentally observed.

By the time we reached the lower exit of the town, I had glimpsed a few unicorns and pegasi among the town’s regular earth pony population. There were no issues or disagreements, just friendly conversations. The sight warmed my heart and lifted my spirits. ‘Let’s hope it stays this way. I doubt the ponies could survive another major catastrophe like last time… or the time before that.’

My mission now seemed more important than ever. I had to ensure history didn’t repeat itself and break the cycle the three tribes seemed to have fallen into.

‘I hope these guys understand. If not, I’ll have to find an alternative. One way or another, magic will be freed, and peace will be fully restored.’

We started our path uphill, the rainbow beam continuing its endless path towards the sky. The new crystalline lighthouse shone with a myriad of colors, making it considerably more visible than its predecessor. As we neared our destination, I discerned the four mares from yesterday standing around a foldable table, cheerfully conversing while pointing at different parts of whatever was on top of it.

Hearing us approach, Sunny strained her neck to look behind her. At the sight of us, a bright smile spread across her face. She enthusiastically galloped toward us, shouting our names in excited greeting.

In a moment, Hitch found himself enveloped in a warm hug. With an embarrassed smirk, he embraced Sunny’s gesture. After the short exchange, Sunny turned towards me. Her body language suggested she wanted to give me a hug but decided to restrain herself, looking conflicted about how to approach me. With an amused shake of my head, I decided to allow her to do as she intended.

“Bring it in, Sunny. I know how much you ponies like your hugs.” I chuckled while kneeling to give her better access.

The smile returned to her muzzle. Not a moment too soon, she wrapped her forelegs around my upper torso, pressing her head against mine. It could have been my imagination, but I could have sworn I felt a slight nuzzle from her. At that moment, I registered her scent. Sunflowers. Peculiar, but far from unpleasant.

Before I could ponder further, she pulled back and looked at both of us excitedly. Trotting in place with unrestrained energy, she hurried us towards the table where the rest of the girls patiently waited.

Catching Hitch’s bemused look, I simply shrugged. “Might as well see what this is all about.” I proposed while following Sunny.

A moment later, the golden earth pony shook his head in defeat and proceeded behind us. Once we reached the small group of ponies, the mares greeted us with a good morning and scooted aside to give us space around what I now discerned was a small model of the new lighthouse. Who had crafted it so quickly and with such detail, I couldn’t begin to guess.

Once we were settled around the table, Sunny spoke with a lively tone, “Guys… welcome toooo… the house of our dreams!” She loudly proclaimed, her eyes sparkling in wonder. A cacophony of stomping and cheering followed her announcement. All of them looked very excited about their new shared home.

Not wanting to dampen the mood, I decided to intervene. “How did you find the new lighthouse, Sunny?” I asked, remembering that the girls had stayed behind yesterday to explore it.

She turned her glowing face towards me, giving me the most excited, cheerful look I had ever received from a pony since my arrival in Equestria. “It’s absolutely perfect! It has everything we need! There’s room for everypony to stay in if they want to. OOOHH!! This is gonna be GREAT!!” She celebrated with a cute dance. Her excitement was contagious, and I couldn’t help but smile.

‘She reminds me a lot of somepony else…’

“That’s great news, Sunny! This way, we don’t have to be apart if we don’t wish to.” Added Hitch, addressing everypony. They all felt relieved and hyped about being able to stay together.

Izzy gasped as she realized something. “Now we can spend every minute of every day together, for the rest of our lives! Heheheheee!” She squealed loudly. Her friends chuckled nervously at her claim.

“Hehe… what?” Mumbled Zipp in an uncertain tone.

With a singsong voice, her sister sang while dramatically posing in the air. “It's going to be iiiicooooniiiic-kuh!”

I found myself enjoying their antics. It reminded me of my younger self with another group of inseparable friends. Feeling the mood drop drastically, I shook my head to dispel the dark thoughts.

‘Not everything is lost, Alex. Now is not the time for that.’

“You guys are in luck, as I happen to be pretty hoovesy.” Hitch proudly stated, smugly twisting a wrench around his hoof, only for it to crash against the lighthouse model, breaking it into several pieces.

“Ooh, whoops? Hehe, sorry…” He sheepishly apologized, lowering his head in shame.

Shaking her head in amusement, Sunny addressed the group. “There's a lot to get done, but we can do anything if we work together. Now, I think if we just—” She was rudely interrupted by her friends grabbing materials from around the table and stampeding towards the building in a mad rush. We were left standing there, looking like idiots.

Taking a moment to recover, Sunny’s expression returned to one of happiness. “Enthusiasm! I like it! Wait up, roomies!” She called after her friends, running towards the main entrance.

After a few steps, she stopped and looked back at me. I was left standing there, unsure of what to do. I didn’t want to impose, so I began to turn back towards the path leading to town when I heard her calling to me.

“Hey Alex, aren’t you coming?! There’s much to do if we want to turn this place into the perfect ‘homebase’, hehe.” She happily beckoned me to accompany her.

I didn’t return her enthusiasm, hesitantly responding. “I don’t know Sunny. This looks like a thing between your pals and you. I don’t want to get in the middle of...”

But I was abruptly interrupted by her outburst. “ARE YOU KIDDING ME!? THIS…” She sharply pointed towards her home, “... only became possible thanks to you! There’s NO way you’re sneaking your way out of this. Now stop being a stick and get your rear over here!” Her tone didn’t leave room for protest.

‘Being a stick? That’s a new one.’

I had planned to take a look around town, see if I could find anything useful to help start my new plan, and maybe scare a couple of ponies out of their fur if I had the chance. Of course, I also wanted to return to the chamber—perhaps something useful had been left behind after it was sealed. I hadn’t thought of taking a closer look at my awakening; not that I was in any state to make intelligent decisions after my groggy reanimation.

But it seemed that would have to wait if Sunny had anything to say about it.

Not wishing to antagonize the mare, I chose to comply with a sigh. “Very well, Sunny. Lead the way.” I surrendered to her beckoning and motioned with my hand.

She giggled enthusiastically, waiting for me to catch up. She stuck right by my side until we entered the new building together, the doors closing behind us, leaving me virtually trapped.

Taking a closer look inside, I noticed considerable changes in the interior that matched its crystalline outer appearance. An idea suddenly popped into my head. “Hey Sunny...” I started while looking down at her.

“Yes, Alexander?” Her ears perked attentively.

‘Oh, that I have to remedy.’

“Okay, first of all, just call me Alex, please. ‘Alexander’ is too much of a mouthful.” She giggled while nodding in agreement. “Second, now that I can take a closer look, I think a better term to describe your new home would be a ‘brighthouse.’ ‘The Crystal Brighthouse.’ How does that sound?”

Her eyes lit up, her smile growing wider. “That sounds amazing! Oh my gosh, it’s perfect! Wait ‘til the girls hear it!” She trotted in place while we finished crossing the foyer to stand in the middle of the vast hall that now engulfed the central structure of the building.

However, what awaited us inside was a mess of ponies running around, redecorating, moving furniture, painting walls—you name it.

‘Oh boy…’

“Hello, Pippsqueaks! And welcome to the ultimate DIY home makeover!” Pipp shouted while hovering in the middle of the main hall. Her phone in her hoof, she seemed to be live-streaming the event.

After a moment of hesitation, Sunny rushed over to join her friends. However, their disorganized efforts caused them to crash into each other, creating a chaotic storm of torn paintings, mismatched colored walls, construction materials littered everywhere… and ridiculous amounts of glitter covering every surface.

I sighed heavily. “This is going to be a loooong day,” I lamented while standing near the door, trying to avoid getting dragged into the blizzard of overexcited ponies, who had by now started singing a typical ‘out of nowhere’ Equestrian song about positive feelings and friendship.

I had never felt the need to join the many musical numbers that took place during my years in ponyland. Whatever harmonious magic induced such events seemed to have no effect on me. ‘Thank goodness for that. My singing is terrible. Like, window-shattering, suicide-inducingly terrible.’

With my self-preservation instincts screaming at me NOT to step in, I leaned against the wall, passing the time by watching the ponies running back and forth, each carrying out their own version of ‘home makeover,’ frequently crashing into one another and undoing each other’s efforts.

Sunny stood in the middle of the chaos, darting her head around, trying unsuccessfully to coordinate her friends and mitigate as much damage as she could. She looked completely overwhelmed.

“Guys, please! Just stay put for a moment and let us come up with a plan for…” She pleaded, trying to be heard without any apparent success.

‘Poor Sunny. This is actually HER home, but I guess she doesn’t want to hurt her friends’ feelings.’ I observed, feeling dejected at her poor efforts to bring the rampaging ponies together.

*Splat*

The sudden noise of something soft crashing into the nearby wall brought me out of my stupor. I turned to see what used to be a pancake, now flattened against the wall, missing my head by inches.

‘What in the world…?’

I followed the sugary projectile’s path to what looked like a robot standing in the middle of the kitchen, randomly launching breakfast dishes everywhere. Izzy stood beside it, completely ecstatic. “What about my automatic breakfast butler robot?” She asked to nopony in particular, immediately jumping into another mess and leaving that monstrosity behind to paint the kitchen walls with smushed batter.

‘Where did that thing come from?!’ I wondered, dumbfounded even though I was accustomed to Equestria’s recurring nonsense.

“Ponies!” Sunny wailed in a final attempt to bring order. Things were getting out of control, and the small equines were now outright panicking.

The erratic flight path of a panicking Pipp caused her to crash into a small portrait hanging on the opposite wall from my position.

I saw the blood drain from Sunny’s face. “NO!” She cried, launching herself off the ground, barely managing to catch the portrait before it hit the marble floor. Once tightly secured between her forelegs, she sat there, sadly inspecting it for any damage.

With the storm having diminished, I used the chance to walk safely towards Sunny, my mind set on helping her restore order. But before I could reach her, she cast a fearful glance around the room and hurriedly escaped up the twin ramps, away from the chaos. The sound of a door closing forcefully revealed her hiding place behind a pair of wooden doors in the middle of the corridor stretching through the upper floor.

Similar situations in the past had taught me what was most likely to happen now. Knowing she could use a friendly presence, I chose to follow her steps upward, leaving the mass of lost ponies to fend for themselves for a short while. ‘Here comes the big comforter… No, that came out wrong.’

I neared the doors and rested my head against the hardwood. I managed to hear her sad voice muttering dejectedly. “I don’t understand… I thought working together would be easy, but it’s super messy…”

I quietly opened the doors and entered what I could only describe as the main bedroom, a circular room with several beds placed around a central transparent column, the rainbow energy pulsating inside it in its endless path skyward. Numerous paint splotches, torn paper, and insane amounts of glitter indicated this room hadn’t been spared from the chaos either.

Sunny stood near one of the beds, tearfully staring at the portrait with a defeated gleam in her eyes. In a faint voice, she whispered, “I wish you were here. You always knew how to bring out the best in me…”

The message behind her words and the way she gently brushed her hoof over the portrait spoke volumes about whom it might depict.

‘Oh, crap. I need to tread very, very carefully here.’

I chose a sympathetic approach. That always seemed to work with ponies in most circumstances.

“Hey, Sunny.” I softly called her. She was so absorbed in the picture that she hadn’t noticed my approach. Her droopy ears flicked to attention, and she tore her gaze away from the portrait to regard me with surprise.

“Oh, h-hey there Alex, are you enjoying the makeover effort? Our friends seem to have taken it really, um… seriously, hehe…” She finished with a fake smile while rapidly brushing the beginning of tears from her eyes.

“I saw what happened back there, and that’s not taking things seriously, Sunny. That was a total mess.” I clarified while taking a seat on the bed, patting the place beside me for her to sit.

She accepted my invitation and slowly dragged herself over the mattress to my side. Once she was comfortable, I placed an arm around her, gently pressing her against me. I had learned well about the effect physical contact had on ponies. Unlike humans, ponies usually welcomed it and saw it as a sign of trust and comfort. It wasn’t rare to find friends, family, and even acquaintances sharing a gentle nuzzle or a friendly hug in Equestria.

As I expected, she visibly calmed down at my touch and proximity. Her big, teary eyes searched mine. “You’re right. It’s a complete disaster. I was so excited to finally share a place with my closest friends, to work together and create something wonderful! But I guess I was wrong…” Her head dropped, her sniffling growing louder as she struggled to hold back her tears. She kept her gaze on the ground before returning it to the portrait still tightly grasped in her hooves. I looked over her shoulder to get a better view of the picture. It was a family photo, with a filly Sunny riding on the back of a blue earth pony, the old lighthouse captured clearly in the background on a sunny day. Bright smiles adorned both their faces.

‘Her dad, perhaps?’

Glued cracks around the frame showed it had suffered damage before. However, it seemed no further damage had come to it during the makeover rampage.

Sunny continued brushing the picture of the stallion. “My dad always knew how to bring out the best in me. Ever since my mom passed away, he was always there for me. Teaching me about how all of ponykind used to live together in harmony, and always encouraging my efforts to change everypony’s mind...” She somberly explained, a teary smile breaking through her sadness for a brief moment.

With a gentle scratch between her ears, I readied my pep talk. “Perhaps that’s what your friends need right now. For you to step up and bring them together, to bring out the best in them. Regardless of all their enthusiasm and differing opinions, this is your home, Sunny. It’s time for them to slow down, and listen to you.”

Pushing against my hand in bliss, she voiced her main concern. “But… I don’t want to hurt their feelings. We only just recently had the chance to be together as friends. I don’t want to lose that. I don’t want to be left alone again…”

Moving my fingers to scratch around her right ear, I softly reassured her. “You won’t, Sunny. I don’t know exactly what you guys have been through together, but from what I’ve glimpsed, I can assure you that they all love you and will most certainly listen to you.” A resounding crash from the main hall interrupted my speech. Turning our sights to the door at the same time with a wince, I continued. “And right now, they could really use a bit of guidance… and I believe you are the perfect pony for the job.” I affirmed with full confidence, giving her my most encouraging smile. She returned her gaze to the portrait one last time, her indecision swiftly changing into determination.

‘If I had a bit for every time I’ve done this…’ I thought with merriment as Sunny energetically stood up.

“You’re right!” she declared boldly. “My friends need me! I’ll bring them together, and we’ll turn this place into the most amazing shared home base in the history of Equestria!” She pumped her front leg in determination before carefully placing the portrait on a nearby table and whispering, “Thank you, Dad.”

Facing me, she rewarded me with a bright smile, her eyes filled with appreciation. “And thank you, Alex. I really needed that. Since my dad passed away, I’ve had nopony else to help me through these kinds of situations…” She nervously fumbled with her forehooves. “I guess my many years of trying and failing have done a number on my confidence, hehe.”

Now understanding the context behind the photo, I softly replied, “You’re welcome, Sunny girl. Now get out there and bring some order to your house.” Not a moment too soon, she hastily turned towards the doors and galloped straight into the chaos that continued to persist after our conversation. Getting up with a stretch, I also began my path downstairs.

“Okay, everypony, just STOP!” I heard Sunny shout in a commanding voice from behind the doors. As if a switch had been flicked, the cacophony of screams and chaotic sounds came to a screeching halt, giving my poor ears a much-needed break.

‘Finally, thank Luna.’

I peered through the railing to see Sunny standing in the middle of the mess, fixing her friends with a serious expression. All of them looked relieved that the turmoil was finally over.

“Look, I love how much energy you’re bringing to this, but this is supposed to bring us together, not pull us apart. And right now…” She said while sweeping her hoof at the surrounding disaster.

“Yeah, it’s a mess,” admitted a guilty Zipp with an embarrassed look, attempting to disentangle herself from a bunch of decorative wallpaper and string lights keeping her limbs tightly pressed against her frame.

“Y-yeah, I-I-I didn’t want to say anything, but…” added Izzy, sharing the same expression as Zipp.

“I’m in way over my head over here!” yelled Hitch while desperately hugging a wooden board as if it were his lifeline.

“THIS IS A TOTAL MAKEOVER FAIL!!” Pipp wailed while dramatically laying on the floor, but making sure to keep her phone up and recording.

Before the mood could sour further, Sunny energetically intervened. “It’s not a fail! It’s a… work-in-progress! Yes! Come on, everypony. We can do this. Together!”

Shooting a confident look to her friends, Sunny managed to lift the depressing atmosphere encompassing the room. With renewed determination, the ponies followed her lead and started again, this time working together and singing their song with rhythm and cooperation.

Once again, I chose to sit on the sidelines and watch their efforts to redecorate their new place. It only took them a couple of hours of productive teamwork to clean up the brighthouse, unleashing their own creative views and spicing it up in their unique way. Each pony had taken a corner of the building as their own, with the same approach applied to the main bedroom. Four beds were placed around the exterior wall, each belonging to one of the girls. There was one free space since Hitch had a house of his own down in Maretime Bay.

I could understand Hitch preferring not to bunk with the mares. It’s one of those unspoken rules that transcends entire galaxies.

When they were happy with the changes, the ponies called it a job well done. Pipp called the ponies to her side and used her phone to take a celebratory group selfie. “Say ‘bestieeees’!”

I had to give it to these ponies; their coordinated efforts paid off, and in record time no less. I couldn’t help but take a good look around the renovated place. ‘It’s the perfect place for them.’ I sighed nostalgically.

A sharp call brought me back from my musings. Sunny was calling for me from down the main hall. Following the sound of her voice, I arrived to find the group all looking at me expectantly.

“Sooo, what do you think, Alex? How do you think it turned out?” asked an excited Izzy.

‘They want my opinion? Uh, okay…’

“It looks fantastic, guys. A great team effort.” I congratulated the team of ponies with a small clap. Their resultant cheerful smiles and light whooping were very endearing to watch.

With a cute dance, Sunny addressed her friends, “Alex has come up with a great name for our new home. What do you think of naming it… ‘The Crystal Brighthouse’? Sounds awesome, right?” She inquired with barely-restrained cheer.

A chorus of approvals was all the answer she needed. Happily trotting in place, she shared a brilliant smile with her friends, their now-home baptized and ready to host them.

After a few minutes of friendly talking, Zipp decided to change the subject and focused her attention on me, who was currently resting my back against the railing of one of the twin ramps leading to the upper floor. “So, now that that’s out of the way, how about we finish yesterday’s round of questions, hmmm?” She proposed with a questioning eyebrow.

The rest of the ponies waited for my approval. Seeing I was overwhelmed, I caved with a sigh and gave the go-ahead.

“Great! Why don’t we go to the living room? We’ll be more comfortable there. I’ll hurry and bring some refreshments.” Sunny offered while galloping towards the kitchen.

“I’ll help you, Sunny.” Izzy volunteered while prancing behind her friend. The rest of us proceeded towards the back of the building.

“Oh, my GOSH! This is gonna be so exciting!” Cheered Pipp, phone at the ready to record anything of worth, which, given my situation, was most likely everything.

“Finally, we’ll get a good explanation regarding what happened the other day, this time without any sudden interruptions, right, Mister Cranky Sheriff?” Zipp warned while narrowing her eyes at the golden earth pony.

“Yeah, yeah, I also need the full version if I’m to determine if he’s in the clear or not.” He raised his forelegs in surrender while rolling his eyes.

I gave him a side glance. He seemed to have forgotten the pointed warning that Miss Cloverleaf had given him regarding my incarceration. Choosing to simply ignore the comment, I moved on to sit in the middle of one of the three couches surrounding the table near the fireplace.

The pegasi sisters sat on the left couch while Hitch chose the right couch. After waiting a few minutes, listening to the sound of Pipp tapping on her phone in the rather awkward silence, the figures of Sunny and Izzy carrying trays full of snacks and drinks for everypony appeared from behind the open entrance.

The unicorn chose to sit with Hitch, while Sunny motioned me to scoot over so she could sit by my side with a pleading gaze. With a mock roll of my eyes, I complied with her non-verbal request. She smiled in appreciation and laid down in the typical pony-loaf position, looking nothing short of adorable.

Now that everypony was present, I rose from my seat and cleared my throat. “Well, I guess you’re all well past due a proper introduction,” I began in a formal voice.

Seeing them all here with me, after learning a bit about each of them by witnessing their interactions… the resemblance was undeniable. I looked at them and saw the shadow of my pony family, the group of mares I had called my own and shared the best years of my life with. I trusted them with my life, and at that moment, I felt I could trust these ponies too. They deserved to know after all the hassle I had put them through with my rude appearance.

With a deep breath to calm my nerves, I gave them what they desired. The full truth.

“My name is Alexander Kintobor, founder and first doctor in Bioarchaeology, head of Equestria’s ISIT department, bearer of the Element of Perseverance, and Equestrian Prince of Knowledge.” I proudly announced, chin up and confident posture. Just as I had done before, I stuck with that name. The joke had run too far by then to change it.

As had happened the day before, muzzles fell to the floor and eyes widened in undisguised surprise, except Sunny, whose eyes were now full of wonder.

‘Weren’t expecting that, huh? This ought to be fun…’

Author's Note

Ding! Ding! New chapter! I wanted to thank you all for the positive feedback and adding the story to your favorites (and other bookshelves, same gratitude 🙃). I know gen 5 isn’t everyone’s favorite, but still, I want to try and write the best story I can (and hopefully give it a bit more dignity in my opinion).

Many chapters to write, many themes to explore. Hope you enjoy the ride.
Until next time, hopefully soon (college’s a bitch).

P&P.

Chapter 4- Meet the human.

The myriad of astonished faces gazing at me with comic levels of disbelief would have been worth capturing in a picture. It was a shame I hadn’t been able to take my phone with me. The fewer items I carried, the fewer chances there were for the satis spell to go haywire. Time magic and all that—tricky business.

Seeing that these ponies would become my immediate companions in this new age, I decided to stop beating around the bush. I told the open-mouthed ponies the whole truth about myself, hoping it would ease my situation and provide better context. I was going to miss the chance of breaking them up a bit by brutally force-feeding them the truth. They always make the funniest expressions.

‘See, AJ? I can be honest when the time calls for it… I hope you won’t give me a metaphysical kick in the ass. That would be a scare if I ever had one.’ I inwardly chuckled as I waited for the paralyzed ponies to regain their wits.

From the group of open-mouthed ponies, the first responses to my claim started to be vocalized… loudly.

“A PRINCE?!!!” shouted Pipp, almost falling muzzle-first off the couch, catching herself with her wings.

“An Element Bearer?!!” followed Sunny, sounding as surprised as she was excited.

“A human!!... which… we knew already!” concluded Izzy with an embarrassed smile.

To all their affirmations, I simply nodded as if it wasn’t such a big deal. Their eyes seemed ready to pop out of their sockets from the surprise.

The funniest of expressions indeed.

To my right, I could hear Hitch murmur in an alarmed tone. “D-Did I just imprison a member of the Equestrian royalty as if he was a common troublemaker?”

Zipp only managed to zip her mouth...

‘That was terrible, Alex. Shame on you.’ I chastised myself, practically hearing her facepalm if I had spoken out loud.

Seeing the jumpy ponies fidgeting excitedly on their seats, I could only chuckle at their collective reactions. However, I didn't want to create a fuss either, so I quickly acted to clear the confusion.

“The last two are more like honorary titles; there’s no such thing as an ‘Element of Perseverance,’ Sunny… and I’m most certainly not a member of the royal family. My lack of wings and horn is a dead giveaway.” I began to clarify. “My actions in Equestria led to many ponies calling me by those titles. It was humbling, but in absolutely no way was it official.” A lie. A blatant lie about a certain aspect of my previous life which I wanted nothing but to keep hidden at the time.

The ponies still hadn’t fully recovered their bearings. In a whisper, Sunny mumbled to herself at my side. “It’s unbelievable, THE one and only human to ever exist in Equestria, a living legend…”

I didn't care for the way she was referring to me. I deserved to be called many things, but a legend was definitely NOT one of them. A bit bothered by her choice of words, I quickly corrected her.

“Now now, Sunny, none of that for me, please.” I softly booped her snout, making her go cross-eyed. “I just happened to be a… well, you could say I’m an endangered species of sorts who found himself in the land of ponies. And considering the options before me, I chose to cooperate rather than face the not-so-desired alternatives. You gotta understand it was an unprecedented event. We were all essentially lost back then.”

With a tiny nod, Sunny voiced her understanding and urged me to continue. “My friends and I accomplished many wonderful things, and as I’m sure you’re well aware, more than once saved the country with the Power of Friendship!” I proclaimed exaggeratedly, waving my hands in a mocking manner. “But barely any merit should be attributed to me… okay, perhaps some should be, but... you know...”

I didn’t particularly like praise, even less coming from those outside my close circle who had no true context about what might or might not be going on. Since the moment I crashed into Twilight’s castle, all I ever had to offer was my mind and the knowledge I carried from my homeworld. That’s as much as a scientist such as myself could, and was willing to give in a land of ponies and magic and dangerous creatures and whatnot. Heroism and legends were great and numerous amongst ponykind. I guessed it was cool to get your own statue in the town's plaza, as long as your life wasn’t the price you paid. Self-preservation instincts and all that fuzz gain a new level when you’re facing deadly creatures straight out of humanity's most deranged legends.

Don’t get me wrong, I was always willing to fight and die for my friends if the need arose. All of us would for each other. It was that bond that made us unstoppable. A profound trust, a level of understanding, of companionship—something I would have been very unlikely to develop with other humans back on Earth. A family away from my human family, something I cherished more than my life.

Something I sacrificed for the future of ponykind, threatened by my own hand…

However, few were the occasions where I had to truly wield a weapon. I’ve always despised violence, which considering the world I come from, you could even find in your average cereal box. I hated it then, and hated it even more so in the land of peace and tolerance that Equestria preached to embody.

“What do you mean not a living legend?!” Sunny’s offended rebuttal interrupted my musings. “Do you even know how many lives your work has helped to improve? How much knowledge your discoveries provided? How many ponies you have inspired? My father always told me that it was thanks to you and your friends that ponies… no, all of Equestria’s races entered a new era of peace and prosperity. You and the Element Bearers brought everycreature together! How can you brush off something like that?!” Sunny energetically rebutted, now even looking a bit annoyed at my dismissive attitude.

With calming gestures, I tried to ease her anger. “Okay, relax, Sunny. We can talk more in-depth about it later, but for now, it’s time for questions!” I cheerily announced with a loud clap, a gesture which got more than one head to tilt curiously to the side. “Why don’t you start, Zipp? You’ve been very quiet.” I proposed to the white pegasus, who was lightly smashing her forehooves together to try and imitate the sound of a clap. Good luck with that…

Having become the center of attention, she nervously lowered her forelegs and shuffled on her seat for a bit. “Fine, just… give me a moment to get my thoughts in order.” She exhaled sharply and closed her eyes for a moment, pressing her temples with her hooves before opening them again, full of inspiration. “So, based on all I’ve heard in the last two days, the most pressing question I have for you is: Where did you come from?! I mean, how did a supposedly living legend end up here?!”

A reasonable question, but she was still missing the point. “A better question would be from when do I come from. Right, Zipp?” I offered with a raised eyebrow. “After all, someone doesn’t become a legend if only a few years have passed… most of the time, that is.” I nonchalantly answered.

“Are you telling us that you’re a time traveler?” Hitch inquired with a further tone of disbelief, perfectly understandable in this case.

“Ten points for the earth ponies!” I announced with another clap. “If my calculations were correct, I should have traveled around a thousand years into the future.”

I saw Sunny fidget in her seat from the corner of my eye. “Well, I think it was closer to seven hundred. That’s how many years have passed since magic disappeared,” Sunny pointed out, drawing from her extensive knowledge of times past.

I struggled to maintain a neutral attitude at her claim, for that was all but good news. “W-Well, I guess I fell a bit short then. Nothing I can do about that now, hehe.” I shrugged innocently. In truth, my calculations had been absolutely accurate, considering I had one of Equestria’s greatest minds with me to fill the gaps. Something or someone had dragged me out of my sleep prematurely. Another mystery to add to my growing list of concerns.

‘Let’s hope it was a mistake on our part, unlikely as it is. Nopony was supposed to know of my stasis, aside from those who helped me with the procedure…’

Pipp energetically waved a hoof in the air to get my attention. Understanding the gesture, I nodded at her to proceed with her question. “Okay! So, um… just a teensy-tiny detail I need explaining… HOW IN CELESTIA’S NAME IS BEING A PRINCE, A PRINCE, AN HONORARY TITLE?!!!” She screamed while flying up to my face. For some reason, my ‘unofficial’ recognition seemed to have really upset her.

“Wow, wow, chill out, puffy wings!” I nudged her out of my personal bubble, not that the ponies dug the concept much to begin with. “Equestria’s nobility encompassed many families from all around the country, but it was always the case that the true leading figures were chosen for the nobility, not born into it. For the most part, at least.” I added, thinking of Flurry Heart’s case.

I realized at that moment I would never get the chance to see her take up her mother’s mantle if that had indeed been the case.

Bringing my mind back to the matter at hand, I continued. “For all our merits and achievements, many of us could have ended up being suited to receiving such titles. Heck, more than once, I was offered the chance.” That was true; if anything, they had been insistent. “Still, I never had any interest in taking any kind of position within the royalty. I left the immortal rulers to immortally rule over the ponies. I’m a scientist, and a national hero if you will, but nothing more, regardless of what the creatures around the world began to call me.”

I swiftly turned towards Sunny, beating her to her question. “The same goes for the Element Bearers. The original aspects of Harmony were the six that the girls acquired. Mine came after as a… recognition of sorts over my experiences and personal growth while living amongst ponies. I never received any fancy collar with a gem. Heck, at the time of our last great battle, so many heroes had risen to defend Equestria that I doubt being or not being an Element Bearer had any relevance at that point, more so especially considering what happened to the Elements of Harmony themselves shortly before that battle.”

It had been a battle, alright. I was so, so close to… no, never mind.

Over the years, I had the chance to meet many different creatures, each representing their own virtues much like the girls upheld the tenets of Harmony. I was considered one of them in the eyes of the ponies and was often referred to as such. Perseverance is a defining feature for a human who ended up stranded in a foreign world and managed to thrive.

“Izzy, your turn,” I said, turning to the purple-furred unicorn and signaling her to begin.

After a moment of deep thought, evident by the way her snout furrowed, she asked, “Well… from what Sunny told us yesterday after you left, you seemed to be doing something with the crystals. I highly doubt smacking them around would have been of any use, so… did you use some form of magic? And how did you know how to manipulate them in the first place? Almost all knowledge of them has been lost!”

‘Dammit, that’s a hard question… okay, let’s see.’

The moment of walking over eggshells had begun. I had to play it smart while not sounding defensive. “First of all, that’s two questions, Izzy. Minus ten points for the unicorns.” Her ears drooped with a sorrowful ‘awww’. “Secondly, yes, I did use some kind of magic. Or at least, I tried to.” I patted the bunch of gems tucked away safely in my left pocket. I realized then how Hitch hadn’t bothered to search for anything that could aid my escape when he put me behind bars. ‘Some sheriff…’

Sunny wanted to dig deeper. “B-but I thought humans had no magic whatsoever. How could you…?” She still looked a bit shaken by my previous response. Gently placing my hand over her muzzle, she got the message to stop and take a second.

“You’re right, Sunny. I possess no magic of my own. However,” A smug smirk grew on my lips. “I happen to be somewhat smart, if my eleven-plus published papers are of any relevance… Actually, they aren’t, ‘cause of, you know, time travel, Equestria’s downfall, many lost documents. Bah! Whatever.” I made a mental note to correct that issue in the future. I had worked hard on those publications! “Without magic… well, I’m not afraid to admit I felt defenseless and very jealous of my friends’ abilities.” I admitted, surprising my companions. In their eyes, I saw a glimmer of sympathy. Their own recent lack of magic granted them a level of insight the ponies of old didn't possess. “So, instead of turning into a supervillain, like some expected, I chose to correct the situation by applying what I like to call the ‘human approach’.”

I now had the undivided attention of all the ponies present. Sunny had taken a small notebook from somewhere and had begun to scribble down everything I said. ‘Heh, now that I’ve seen before…’ I chuckled inwardly, feeling another cold dagger piercing my heart.

Now deep into story mode, I laid back on the couch, careful not to disrupt her frenetic writing, and continued. “Since I possess no inherent magic, I had to come up with a way to gain the ability to wield it.” A real headache to solve, but in the end, it was worth it. “It also happened that the same problem I faced was present in the vast majority of the different creatures of Equus. Even between the pony races, the differences in magic usage and control were noticeable.” I tapped a finger on Sunny’s hornless forehead for emphasis. “So, seeing how things were, I thought, ‘Alex, you’re a Biologist who graduated second in his class. You’ve studied for many years and learned plenty about how living things function. Why don’t you use that knowledge and do something about this?’ I got to achieve my selfish desires and helped further an entire civilization on the side. A win-win, don’t you think?”

I only got a single answer from the group of astonished ponies, coming from Sunny as she shook her hoof in an attempt to ease the pain of having written a couple of pages in under a few minutes. “That was your main reason? Really?” She asked with a confused tilt of her head, a hint of disappointment hidden in her tone.

Settling into a more comfortable position, I regarded her with a pointed look. “Can you blame me? I found myself completely alone, defenseless, and overwhelmingly underpowered compared to everycreature around me.” Not that I expected a pony to understand such sentiment. Still, I tried my best to offer my point of view. “Humans don’t like being in such a vulnerable position. Where our natural gifts can’t take us, we cheat nature and mold it to fit our desires. I used my knowledge of biology, the pony’s knowledge of the numerous types of crystals that littered the continent and other magical gimmicks, and a healthy dose of crazy imagination, and came up with a substitute for a horn, a wing, or a hoof for that matter.”

I took my blue gem from my pocket and presented it to them while continuing my explanation. “My early discoveries promoted the birth of a new branch of Equestrian science, from which I became the first and only doctor, as far as I know. My goal was always to help as many as I could, including myself.” I narrated while slowly twirling the gem between my fingers. “My investigation focused on the integration of magic usage on as many different creatures as possible, so the abysmal differences that separated us wouldn’t take such a hard toll on society. Reduce the unfairness as much as I could, you know? The world was changing, the races were getting closer than ever before! It was the perfect chance for the Inter-Species Integrative Technology Project to boost that effort…”

I stopped twisting the gem and grasped it tightly between my index and middle fingers, allowing them to get a good view of the gem. “This here in my hand, is my latest and most advanced prototype. It allows me to cast spells of my own choice, not ones pre-engraved on its crystalline composition like those found in unicorn thaumaturgy, or making use of a particular gem’s natural affinity for some kind of magic, like a fire ruby. It interprets my intentions and uses its stored magic to act accordingly.” I explained to the big-eyed ponies, eyes fixed on my most advanced prototype. “Not so different from a unicorn’s horn, right, Izzy?” I shot to the unicorn mare.

She slowly nodded, a sense of understanding making itself present in the ponies’ eyes. I didn’t want them to regard me as a selfish prick either. I always had the best intentions in mind for everycreature… for all the good it did in the end…

After a moment of silence, only interrupted by Sunny’s furious scribbling, Hitch decided to voice the most difficult question thus far. “But… the magic of the crystals has been lost for many years. You clearly came here with a plan. You clearly knew what you were supposed to do, and we can all see that it didn’t turn out as you expected.” He spoke in a hard tone. “How did you know how to manipulate those crystals in the first place?” He finished with a stony look of conviction, finally able to squeeze the truth that was denied to him yesterday.

‘I guess he’s not as dumb as I believed him to be.’ I thought to myself as I sighed.

I was too far in to start playing dumb, but I couldn't spill the beans either. The future of my plan depended on the absolute lack of interruption or intermission, theirs included. I had no choice but to compromise.

“In light of what transpired the other night, Hitch, I’m afraid I can’t tell you anything about my mission, nor can I discuss the nature of my arrival here.” I solemnly declared, crushing his hopes of learning about my crazy plan. “Things haven’t gone as I expected, true, and I fear for the safety of all of you as a consequence. As the current guardians of the Unity Crystals, it’s YOUR job to keep them safe from anycreature who would do harm to or with them.” I changed modes to that of a scolding parent. “I’m serious about this, guys. Under NO circumstance should I have been allowed to get access to them so easily. You are risking your magic, and most likely your future alongside it, with your carelessness.” I scolded the present ponies, all ears dropping and guilty looks spreading on their faces while averting their gazes to the floor.

At that point, I decided I had revealed enough. Until I could figure out my next step, they would have to simply trust me. I put my faith in them and they in me, and we both benefit while not stepping into each other’s way. “Look, I’ve already told you way more than I was planning to. I want you to understand that I never had any nefarious intentions of any kind. What I tried to do, and still plan to do, is fix a terrible mistake from the past, the past that I came from.” I announced loud and clear in hopes they would at least understand the importance of my mission. “It’s great to see all of you together, representing the best that ponykind has to offer. The bringers of a new age of friendship and prosperity for all ponies. A new beginning that should have never been necessary from the start…” My mood fell a bit as my own guilt beat me incessantly.

Izzy was quick to catch up. “B-But Alex. You’re our friend!” She exclaimed from her place. “You can trust us to help you fix whatever you believe is wrong! I-I mean, things have only just recently started to turn for the better.

Ponies have been stuck in that state of segregation for so long, born solely into fear and mistrust, that we have practically forgotten what it was like to be together as one.” Her ears drooped and her mood matched my own. “Now, everypony is very excited about the new reality, but we can’t be sure if it will only improve, or if it will revert to what it was before.” She started standing up from her couch and walking towards me with tearful eyes.

It brought me out of the loop a bit just seeing how deeply she was taking it. Once she was in front of me, she continued. “Being able to use magic again after centuries of nothing but dread and superstition has been a very, VERY, enlightening experience for everypony.” She revealed with a hopeful smile. “We can finally start healing. N-Nopony cares to even remember what caused our separation in the first place, b-but please, please, help us prevent it from happening again, p-please…” She caught me off guard with her loud sniffing, on the brink of falling apart. “I don’t know if we can…” She couldn’t take it anymore. The poor mare started bitterly crying.

Not fully grasping why she was taking it so hard, I did the only thing a man can do when in front of a crying pony. I gently grabbed her in my arms and settled her on the free space opposite of Sunny. With gentle pets on her mane and neck, I tried my best to reassure her. “Shhhh, it’s okay, Izzy…” I cooed while pressing her head against my chest. “I can only imagine how bad it was before you guys were able to fix things.” I had only witnessed the tail end of the rupture, unaware of how far the conflict had escalated. But I didn't need to be a genius to understand it had to be bad, borderline traumatic for some.

I gently grabbed her head with both hands to meet my gaze. “I want you to understand, Izzy, that preventing it from happening again is my first and foremost reason for being here. To save as much as I can from what we once were, and safeguard all that you’ve achieved.” I stated with all the honesty I could muster. “But, I need to tread carefully, Izzy. It wasn’t by chance that Equestria suffered as much as she did.”

I continued to tenderly pet her, digging my fingers deep into her fur. After a minute or so, her breathing steadily slowed and the hiccups ceased, but the tears continued falling. She had broken free of my grip and buried her muzzle in the crook of my neck like many ponies loved to do in the past, a gesture of closeness and reassurance common amongst quadrupeds. Now that she was close, I could discern her natural scent. It reminded me of wildflowers and tree sap.

Sunny rose from her side of the couch and approached the crying unicorn, tenderly nuzzling her in an attempt to ease her pain. Izzy, having partially recovered, reciprocated with her own set of caresses. I understood then how close these two were.

“It wasn’t so bad, you know. I mean, before magic returned.” Zipp suddenly started from her seat on the couch, her eyes reflecting a deep contemplation. Both she and her sister looked slightly red-eyed, evidence of recent tears. Pipp gazed up at the white pegasus, uncertainty clouding her features. I shared her confusion, prompting Zipp to elaborate.

“As far as we pegasi were concerned, we were pretty content with our situation,” she continued, her voice gaining strength. “We lived peacefully in our own city and had few issues with the other races. Everything we needed was in our home above the clouds. It had always been that way. No pegasi ever stood to try and change it.” Memories seemed to flicker behind her distant eyes. “Barely anypony even remembered that there had been an ancient Equestria at all. Do you recall Miss Fair Lecture mentioning anything during history class?” Zipp asked her younger sister, who responded with a guilty shake of her head. “No, we were on our own, looking down on the other races and minding our own business. We used years upon years of lies and tricks to keep the ponies content…” Her brow furrowed as her thoughts darkened. “But now that I think about it, perhaps it was to keep ponies from wondering…” She concluded, looking down at her sister, who lovingly leaned against her in a show of sisterly support.

I had finally managed to calm Izzy enough for her crying to stop, yet she made no attempt to leave my side. I didn’t protest either, choosing instead to run my thumb idly over the rim of her ear, much to the mare’s delight.

I raised my voice to address everypony present. “So much has been lost, and it happened so quickly... An endless tirade of lies and conformism, choosing to stay isolated, teaching foals to fear one another, and to accept that this was the best choice…” I gently pushed Izzy aside so I could stand up. “My original plan failed, and I didn’t correct the issue that brought us here in the first place. I need to do some research, try and come up with feasible alternatives. Until I can get a better understanding of the situation, I won’t go into more detail than I already have.” I reiterated my previous claim. “Please understand, I WILL ask for your help when I deem it necessary. But until the time comes, protect the crystals, and keep proving to everypony that THIS is the true path.” I boldly exclaimed, looking pointedly at all of them, a sentiment of pride warming my heart at the sight of the five ponies hanging on my every word. Not a shadow of doubt darkened their features. They were as committed to their roles as I was to mine.

‘A new generation of heroes. A new set of Elements to represent their greatest traits. To guide ponies into a better future. It shouldn’t have come to this. So many questions need answering... Yeah, it’s going to be a rough couple of months, if not years…’

Feeling positively drained after the interrogation, I decided to call it a day. “Okay, I think that's enough for today. Know that I can count on you to help me solve the biggest issue, but until then… I don’t know, keep being you, I guess. Sometimes, that’s all it takes.” I smiled proudly at the ponies, the mood starting to rise again.

Turning back to address Sunny, I asked in a formal tone, “Now then, Sunny. Considering I find myself several hundred years into the future, with my home surely a crumbling mess halfway across the country, I humbly ask for your permission to stay in the Brighthouse until I can find a place of my own. I can sleep here on the couch without issue.”

‘My back won’t agree with that come morning...’

The sparkle returned to Sunny’s eyes at my request. With her tail happily wagging against the couch pillows, she eagerly agreed. “Of course you can stay here! We’ll all be together! The new Guardians of Harmony, fighting for a better future! I can’t… no, I won’t allow you to go anywhere else, mister. Not after everything you’ve done for us… us ponies, I mean.” A determined look now adorned her features, leaving no room for protest.

Chuckling at how she had turned the tables, the rest of the ponies offered no protest. Izzy’s mood drastically shifted, now regarding me ecstatically while jumping off the couch. “OOH!! You can totally bunk with us! It’ll be the biggest, most lengthy sleepover in all of history, hehehe!” She celebrated loudly, doing a cute dance in place. The rest of the girls didn’t look so convinced.

However, there was a huge flaw in her proposal, one I swiftly set to correct, “Whoa, whoa, slow down there, Izzy. I meant I would stay here in the Brighthouse somewhere, but not in the same room as all of you. You know it’s forbidden, right?” Her blank stare told me she didn't know. “‘The day the male chooses to share sleeping arrangements with the opposite sex, will be the day the Earth will crumble, and the sun shall fall from the sky!!’... Book of Genesis, fourteen something, I think...” I dramatically announced, barely able to hold my laughter at the absurdity of what I had just blurted.

Izzy shamelessly burst out laughing, nearly falling back onto her rear. “BWAHAHAHAHAHA!! Where did that come from? It's hilarious!! AAAHAHAHA!” The rest of the girls also started laughing, trying and failing to mask their merriment with a hoof over their muzzles, none of them having a clue about the meaning of my words either. Not that I had expected them to. Poor Hitch was as lost as a unicorn in a cornfield, darting his eyes around in search of any semblance of meaning.

I hadn't expected such a reaction from her, but I was far from disappointed. ‘And that, ladies and gentlemen, is how you offend a third of a planet’s population at once; another great job, ponies.’ I thought, chuckling at their clueless merriment.

Once Izzy had gotten everything out, Sunny, rolling her eyes at the silly unicorn, offered me an alternative. “I was thinking of something else, Alex. You can use my dad’s old room. It’s been empty since he… passed away…” She offered, her ears dropping in sadness. However, she wouldn’t allow herself to sink deeper into her sorrow, shaking her head vigorously to dispel the painful memories. “It should be big enough for you, and it still contains many of my father’s discoveries from his research on Ancient Equestria. I’m sure they’ll be very helpful to you.” She turned up the dial on her cute-meter and shot the full strength of her pleading eyes at my defenseless form.

I had no option but to cave in. I nodded in agreement, to the mare’s delight. “Thank you, Sunny. I’ll be sure to make the most out of it. If the rest of you have any concerns…” I addressed the rest of the group. At the complete lack of negative responses, I closed the chapter. “Very well, for better or worse, I’m afraid you’ll have to deal with my ugly face in the mornings for now.” A collection of eye rolls shot down my attempt at some comedy. “Ahem. Thank you, guys… For everything.” I finished with a smile of gratitude. Nothing but a healthy dose of pony hospitality to make me feel right at home.

The ponies returned their own sets of inviting smiles, followed by trapping me in the middle of a pony-patented group hug. Poor Hitch fidgeted in the background while the mares surrounded me, looking a bit unsure of how to proceed.

I wouldn’t miss the chance to tease him for the world. “Too much of a stallion to join us, huh sheriff? More for me, then.” I teased the poor stallion, too much of a stud for a group hug. You gotta learn that no amount of masculinity survives in Equestria. Best to adapt and be carried by the stream.

With an annoyed huff, he begrudgingly rose from the couch and joined in the hug, awkwardly reaching with his forelimbs behind Izzy and Zipp’s withers.

Once the group hug broke down, we could call the exhausting twenty questions game officially over. The new home base for the ponies was done and ready to host them, but it was still missing several crucial things, those being each pony’s personal belongings. Those from beyond the limits of Maretime Bay still within each pony’s own abode, waiting to be relocated alongside their owners. The pony sisters took the initiative and set about leaving for their hometown so they could retrieve their belongings and finally settle in. Hitch, ever the responsible sheriff, also took his leave, alleging some pressing matters back at the police station needed his immediate attention. I suspected he was still too embarrassed after the group hug and went for a cowardly escape. I made sure to remember to tease him about it on the hour.

Izzy chose to keep working a bit more on her little corner of the Brighthouse which she had claimed as her workshop, citing she had ‘many crafting materials to meticulously classify’. As it happened, she was a ‘master crafter’ and praised as a living legend amongst those of the upper crust of the artisans guild…

A peek towards her working area only revealed a complete mess of glitter, cardboard pieces, sequins... and glued macaroni? Very professional indeed. I could only hope to glimpse what breathtaking wonders could be conceived from such a prestigious mind and… particular choice of materials.

My sarcasm went completely over her head, so I just wished her good luck. With a spring in her step, she went on her merry way.

Sunny, seeing as everypony else was busy, took the chance to show me where her dad’s room was located. She led me up the ramp and headed left from the main dormitory.

Behind the wooden door, a small room awaited me, with an old bed that looked big enough to fit my bigger frame, albeit just barely. A wooden carved bedside table with two drawers and an antique lamp above it sold the overall rustic aesthetic of the room. In addition, a tiny work desk faced the bed, with numerous boxes carelessly stacked over it and forming a tower in the near corner. A medium-sized cabinet stood against the wall opposite the door, with a window to its right. A pleasant view of the cliff face and the surrounding sea could be seen through it. That would surely bring gorgeous sunrises.

All in all, it was small, cozy, and had everything I needed at the moment. Simply perfect.

Sunny entered first and pointed to the many boxes placed around the desk, letting me know that inside of them were stored many files, clues, journal entries, and other documents of interest, all from her dad’s time as a historian and archaeologist of the old world. She told me he had reached far during his trips around Equestria, but little to nothing had survived the passage of time. Still, from what little I caught from the material scattered over the table, he had worked his best to build the best picture he could muster with so little evidence. I had to give it to her dad.

With a nod of appreciation, I took a moment to run my eyes over the pieces of evidence that were out of the boxes and spread all over the desk. They seemed unrelated to each other at first sight. I would have to put them back in order at some point if I wanted to make any progress with them. I held special interest in whatever events transpired since my entering into stasis up to this day. The rest of history either I had already learned or I had lived it.

‘Work for a later time.’

“Hey, um…” Sunny’s hesitation dragged my attention away from the research material. She was nervously pawing at the floor. “D-Do you mind if we talk for a bit? There’s something I want to show you...” Sunny asked softly, sounding unsure about whether she should proceed.

I saw no reason to deny her. “Of course, Sunny.” I agreed, giving her a small scratch behind her ear. A scratch behind a pony’s ears always worked wonders. With a happy flick of her tail and a cheery grin, she promised to return shortly and left me alone in my new room.

I tiredly sat on the bed and took my shoes off. The renovation and our ‘little’ talk had taken their toll on me. I looked around the room, drinking in the sights and smells of what would become my new residence, enjoying the weak warmth of the late sun filtering through the worn-out curtains. A relieved sigh escaped my lips, mentally thanking Faust for the prospect of not having to spend more nights out in the open.

‘I’ve always been more fond of a lab robe than field boots,’ I thought to myself. But then, an outstanding image came to mind, one I had learned to enjoy with one who would become one of my best friends in ponyland. ‘Still, nothing can compare with the Equestrian night sky. Wherever you are, Luna, your night is still as beautiful as ever…’

Before melancholy had the chance to invade my thoughts, Sunny returned, carrying a cardboard box decorated with tiny drawings typical of a foal, with colorful ponies and rainbows scattered haphazardly over the exterior. Patting the bed beside me, I scooted over a bit to leave enough room for her. With a silent nod of appreciation, she climbed onto the mattress and placed the box on her lap. I gently nudged her to lean back against my side. Ponies had a worse time than us when trying to sit as humans do, and I didn’t want the contents of the box to spill all over the floor. The way she was treating the contents betrayed their fragility.

Smiling with gratitude, she accepted the gesture and shifted to a more comfortable posture. She opened the box, and I don’t exaggerate when I say that the contents inside left me speechless.

‘Are those…?!’

My fuzzy mind struggled to process what lay before my eyes. Sensing my sudden change of mood, Sunny raised her head to give me a knowing look. I guessed she was expecting this kind of reaction.

One by one, she carefully extracted what appeared to be small figurines of my dearest friends, my pony family. Six figurines of the six greatest ponies to ever live. They looked hoof-made, carved from pieces of oak wood, and a bit worn from age and use.

Smiling fondly, memories of her fillyhood passing before her eyes, she placed them neatly between us. Once the box was empty, she gently placed it at the head of the bed where it wouldn't be in the way and turned sideways to face me fully.

“My dad and I made these when I was only a filly,” she explained while gently brushing her hoof over Rarity’s figurine. “He taught me about how all of ponykind used to live together in peace. How the great Element Bearers, alongside the Princesses, fought against evil forces that sought to conquer the land and steal all of the magic. He told me inspiring stories of a time when fear and mistrust were but a fickle thing, when everypony… no, everycreature, could be whatever they wished, live wherever they wanted…” She recalled with a hint of longing, her eyes beaming with memories of her youth and her late dad.

“Nopony wanted to believe him,” she continued. “For them, the status quo between the tribes had always been and would always be like that. The other ponies were out there to get us, to put an end to our way of living.” Sunny’s head dropped, and she sighed sadly, her voice slightly breaking. “W-when he p-passed away, I t-tried to take up his mantle. For the last few years, I tried again and again to erase the stereotypes, to open minds and fill them with clarity… to try to make them realize how stupid all of that nonsense they were preaching actually is!” She softly pawed at the bedsheets, her ears flat against her head, and her spirits dropped further with each word that came from her muzzle.

My heart ached for her. For a moment, she appeared to have aged a century before my eyes. I guessed she must have been very close to throwing in the towel before she and her friends managed to do the unthinkable. That is a sentiment I could very well get behind, for it had been the same for the girls and me in our wasted efforts to ease the rifts between the ponies before they could escalate to the breaking point. No matter the peace talks, bribing, or friendship lessons, nothing would work. Her influence was too strong, her words striking true and hard on the ponies' hearts.

“But now we have magic... and we have you!” Her teary eyes left the mattress to search for mine. “We can make this work. We can leave our mark! We can teach ponies across the land about the wonders of ancient Equestria! To spark their curiosity, to encourage them to search for a better way…” She exclaimed with renewed spirits, sounding livelier than before, a sense of determination and passion now defining her features.

Her forelegs rubbed nervously against one another. “My, um… ‘eccentricities’ cost me many friends over the years. Until I met the girls, Hitch was actually the only one who bothered to speak to me beyond asking for a smoothie…” Her hoof ran over the small figurines. “These toys here became my only friends for most of my fillyhood. Can I… ask you to tell me more about them? The Element Bearers, I mean. I know you were very close to them, and I always wanted to know… what were they like?” She nervously requested while shuffling her hooves further. I guess she understood the weight of her request and didn’t want to bring up any touchy subjects.

Luckily for her, I was more than willing to talk about the greatest heroes Equestria ever saw, the ponies who became my family away from my family. Being ‘close’ to them sounded like a gross understatement.

“Of course I will, Sunny. Let’s do them one by one, okay? There’s a lot to tell about them.” I proposed as I collected my thoughts about how best to comply with her request. Her tail began to waggle in delight behind us, her full attention now focused on me.

Running my fingers over the six figurines, I gently took Pinkie Pie’s and softly enclosed it in my hands as I began to tell my story. “Pinkie Pie, the Element of Laughter… Heh, the happiest, most cheerful, energetic, and compassionate pony I’ve ever met or likely will ever meet, and I’m positive that went for anypony you asked about her. She was always there for her friends, ready to bring a smile out of you, even during the darkest of days when you just felt like disappearing. Whether it was a joke, a hug, or a simple kind word, she always managed to brighten up my day, to make me feel wanted and special in a foreign world such as Equus was to me. The same she did for me she did for everypony she called her friend, which summed up to be everypony. For many years she worked at Sugarcube Corner, a local bakery in Ponyville, until she met Cheese Sandwich, her soulmate. Together, they dreamed bigger and decided to dedicate themselves to bringing the greatest parties ever to all of Equestria, and beyond. Her only goal was to spread happiness and smiles wherever she went. She was… a very special kind of pony.” I finished, an endearing smile making its way up my face at the memories of her numerous antics and bouts of randomness that broke my poor over-logical mind more than once.

With a melancholic sigh, I took the Applejack figurine into my hands. Each word I spoke about them drove the nail further into my heart, a constant reminder that I would most likely never see them again. “Applejack, or ‘AJ’ as she liked us to call her…well, she was strong, honest, and brave, which should come as no surprise for the Element of Honesty. Her willingness to treat everypony as family and her total dedication to those close to her made her an endearing figure in Ponyville. She had a tendency to always say the unfiltered truth, hence the tenet she upheld, and it caused her several problems over the years.” I chuckled, recalling a few of them when brutal honesty was NOT the solution. “She and her family ran Sweet Apple Acres, one of the biggest and most successful apple farms in Equestria, famous for their Zap Apple Jam and Sweet Apple Cider… One of the most righteous mares I’ve ever had the pleasure of meeting, she made sure I always felt welcome in her family, a family that extended to all of the girls and me.”

Sunny listened with rapt attention, her big eyes bearing into mine with profound curiosity. I took Rarity’s figurine next. “Rarity Belle, or just Rarity as she preferred to be called, was the Element of Generosity. In the beginning, I didn’t fully understand how she fit that description since her manner and status initially appeared to match that of high-class ponies, who were not known for possessing those traits. You know, muzzles so stuck up they would bump into everypony that walked in the opposite direction?” Sunny nodded, more capable of imagining the kind of pony I was describing. “It took me a few days to realize that, behind her sophisticated complexion and refined manners, lay a heart of solid gold. She was always willing to share her time and her passions with others, while she approached her fashion business with compassion and creativity. Over time, she expanded her business across the whole world, extending her particular style of fashion to every race on the planet, a fair accomplishment considering her origins with a single boutique exclusively for ponies. No amount of fraternizing with the higher classes ever changed her generous attitude… for the most part, at least. She ran three different boutiques. But to her, Carousel Boutique in Ponyville was her most cherished establishment and highest priority. She was, in fact, responsible for making the clothes I’m wearing right now.” That reminded me that I really had to look for new clothes. While sturdy, Rarity’s hoofwork would only last for so long. Meanwhile, Sunny timidly brushed her hoof over my jacket, barely believing that these humble clothes were hoof-stitched by one of her idols.

Allowing her to do as she pleased, I chose the Fluttershy figurine next. “Fluttershy, the Element of Kindness. Always shy and collected around others, she preferred the company of her animal friends over most other ponies. She was very hesitant around me at first, but once she opened up, she became the kindest, sweetest mare that I could ever

imagine, always willing to help me in any way she could. Sometimes, I swear she felt like a mother hen to all of us. Her kindness was a crucial part in resolving most conflicts without violence, often acting as a bridge between enemies, or between her friends when disagreements got heated. She despised violence with all her heart, often outright refusing to fight in a stance that some might confuse for cowardice. But deep down, she knew well how others were capable of rising above the need for violence and embracing friendship. In her spare time, she ran a local wildlife reserve for endangered species near the Everfree Forest, and took great care of many different endangered species alongside some of the pets of Ponyville’s residents…” A sly smirk stretched my lips. “Between you and me though, she was absolutely gorgeous, as much as she denied it. That pony was built like a supermodel.” I finished with a cheeky grin, a slightly embarrassed one appearing on Sunny’s muzzle alongside a faint blush.

Now picking Rainbow’s toy, I continued. “Rainbow Dash, or just ‘Dash’ as she constantly insisted we referred to her, was the bravest of us all. Athletic, headstrong, and extremely loyal to her friends, which was rather apt for the Element of Loyalty. Always willing to stick with you until the end, not caring what the odds were or what others might think. Her stubbornness often got her in trouble, as did her tendency to face danger head-on. In fact, Applejack and Dash would often find that their collective stubbornness got them both into a fair amount of trouble together. Still, she dedicated herself as a weather manager in Ponyville before she was accepted into Equestria’s most famous stunt-flyers team, the Wonderbolts, finally getting to live her dream of becoming the fastest flier who ever lived… She helped me a lot during the first few months after my arrival in Equestria in her own special way, even if her constant pranks were a bit too much sometimes.” A small giggle escaped Sunny’s mouth.

Lastly, I took Twilight’s figurine into my hands. I spent several moments checking it over, the years spent with her allowing me to easily discern the inconsistencies of the wooden toy against my memories of her. After a shake of my head, I set to finish my storytelling. “The Element of Magic, Princess Twilight Sparkle… although don’t ever let her catch you calling her that. She never got used to the title… What can I say? She was the best of us, our leader and our guiding light when times became desperate. Smart like no other, her skills with magic had turned her into one of the most powerful unicorns in the history of Equus. Before becoming a princess, she spent her days in Ponyville’s Golden Oak Library, studying the magic of friendship and whatever other topics that picked her curiosity. Strange was the occasion when you could find her with her muzzle out of a book, for she always seemed to be buried deep in an engrossing read. I was delighted to find a fellow bookworm when I met her. And she was delighted to stumble upon a scientist from another world when I crashed into her castle.” Another snicker escaped my nostrils, for it had been an absolutely crazy experience to meet the ponies that day. “We would often talk into the wee hours about our favorite books and authors… and practically every topic we could come up with. Still, she always made time for us and was always willing to lend a hoof to any problems we had.”

I softly ran my fingers over the crude facsimile of her wings, smiling to myself as I did so. “Little about her changed when she ascended to become an alicorn. Now as the Princess of Friendship, she along with us sought to spread the magic of friendship throughout Equestria, and beyond eventually. More than once, she confessed to me that being a princess wouldn’t have been her first choice, but she trusted the judgment of her mentor, Princess Celestia, and took on her role with determination and passion. When the time came, she inherited Equestria’s throne from the alicorn sisters, and things got way more complicated for us all. Her inexperience led her to often ask for her friend’s counsel. The thing was, though, we were all inexperienced as well, which in turn led to us making many wrong choices over he reign. However, the early years of her rule were very promising, as she along with us led the ponies into a new era after having been ... stuck as you might say, for many years while the world evolved all around their bubble…” A darker tone filled my narrative. “However, as hard as we tried, Equestria was going through many important changes, some of which I was directly responsible for. Ponies don’t react well to changes. We had hoped for the best and dedicated ourselves fully to the effort… But, things turned south very quickly, to the point where she and I ended up not seeing eye-to-eye right before my journey here.” I sighed heavily, feeling a deep sense of shame and regret for what I could easily call the greatest mistake of my life. “If only we had been more careful…” I simply couldn’t continue as the painful memories assaulted my waking mind. Over and over again they bore into me, constantly reminding me of the things we could have done differently, should have done differently, and of how we failed all those ponies who blindly trusted us.

‘Blind trust… Perhaps that was also part of the problem…’

Sunny noticed my hesitation and gently placed her hoof on the hand holding Twilight’s figurine, her expression silently relaying that I didn’t have to continue if I didn't wish to.

“Thank you, Sunny. There’s much, MUCH more I could tell you about them, and all matter of other creatures that I had the pleasure to meet and befriend.” I thanked her while returning the gesture, taking her hoof in my hand, and gently caressing the rim with my thumb.

“About what you said earlier, about not being an Element Bearer…” She started with hesitation, her relaxed features letting me know she enjoyed my little gesture..

“Yes…?” I encouraged her, continuing my ministrations to her hoof. My fingers brushed against what I found out was some kind of bracelet adorned with numerous small crystals, partially obscured by the slightly longer fur around her fetlock. I remembered Izzy wearing something similar.

‘Some kind of friendship bracelet, perhaps? Like the ones that Pinkie Pie used to make…’

“It’s just, I-I can’t really understand how you’re not one of them. I mean, after everything you did, I would have thought you would have been granted the title.” I underwood then how she wasn’t completely aware of what being an Element Bearer entitled.

“Sunny, being a Bearer of an Element is not a ‘title’ you’re granted, like a knighthood. It’s a role you’re chosen for, one that you must fulfill to the best of your ability while representing an ideal that you must uphold. Element Bearers represented the best of the best that ponykind had to offer, to showcase the epitome of what harmony should be about.”

She absorbed everything I revealed to her with rapt attention. “The girls were chosen to uphold those aspects of harmony during a time of crisis…”

“The return of Nightmare Moon.”

I rewarded her well-known knowledge of Ancient Equestria with a vigorous scratch under her chin, eliciting a bright smile from her.

“Dead on, Sunny.” I congratulated her. “Their roles reached beyond simply defeating evil with a magic beam of friendship and whatnot. They led by example, and helped guide the ponies into a better tomorrow. But, you don’t need a magic gem embedded in a necklace to do that, am I right?” I gave her a pointed look, lightly tapping her naked chest, referring to her efforts in changing the earth ponies’ opinions of the other races.

A sheepish grin appeared on her face. With a nod, she conceded my point.

I continued my explanation. “During one of our many meetings, the girls asked me what element would represent me the best if I had been deemed worthy of it. I told them that one of humanity’s most defining characteristics, one that very accurately defined my evolution during my years with them, would be our perseverance. We have a naturally strong will to keep pushing forward, to reach the very end and on to the next thing we choose to do. It started off as a mock title of sorts, a simple joke, but I guess more and more ponies saw the truth in it. Perhaps I wasn’t that far off… Still, I never received a magic necklace or anything like that, but I did appear on some of the Royal Castle’s stained windows, so not everything was a loss.” I concluded with a chuckle.

It was getting late by then. The sun had given way for moonlight to shine through the window, bathing the room in a soothing light that, after spending many an evening with Princess Luna, I came to deeply appreciate like the ponies should have in times long past.

A big yawn from Sunny hinted to me that it was about time to go to bed. However before I had the chance to comment on it, she swiftly removed her hoof from my grasp and gently pushed me back on the bed. Not wasting a moment, she laid on her left side next to me and snuggled deeper into my side, her head halfway up my chest.

I was virtually trapped under a fluffy pony. Woe is me…

“Well, regardless of what others might have thought, I think you are deserving of… the title. You helped so many ponies… and now, you’re here to help us… too.” Her speech slurred as sleep slowly caught up with her. “… I’m so sorry things got so bad that you had to make that kind of sacrifice, but… I hope once you get to fully trust us, you’ll… consider the chance of…. being part of… our own fami….” She couldn’t finish that sentence, as her gentle breathing told me of her passing into the dream realm.

‘And now, I’m legally obligated to remain in this position so as to not disturb the slumbering pony. Well, it could be worse…’

I placed my arm over her sleeping form, and while gently petting her back fur, I continued to hum the same song I had been during the day, patiently waiting for my own sleep to take me.

“For auld lang syne, my dear. For auld lang syyyne. We'll take a cup o’ kindness yet. For auld lang syne…”

“Hey guys, I brought the books you asked for, as well as some snacks. You’ve been cooped up in here for the better part of a day. Don’t you think you should take a rest?” The not-so-tiny-now purple dragon commented while entering one of the private side rooms at the end of the Canterlot Castle humongous library, deftly carrying a stack of books and a tray of refreshments.

Twilight and I had submerged ourselves into the numerous books the library possessed on the matter we were investigating, in an effort to search for a definitive solution for the growing conflicts that spanned the country. A solution born from a deranged idea I had hostess the previous day.

Recent events had… forced our hand, and hoof as well, I guess, to try and change our approach to the matter of the rifts spreading throughout Equestria. We had all taken it very hard, with me on the brink of attempting something very stupid afterwards. But poor Twilight was simply on the verge of a panic attack, the weight of her throne drowning her as the situation escalated further and further.

Seeing her completely absorbed in her readings, I directed my attention to the young dragon and spoke with a thankful smile. “Thank you, Spike. Let me take those books.” I offered while reaching for the pile of tomes he was carrying.

With a grateful nod, he allowed me to take on the burden of the books while he placed the tray of refreshments on the nearby table. “Do you guys need my help with anything else? It’s been kind of boring now that all the girls are back in Ponyville as well as all the students…” He asked with a hopeful gleam in his green eyes. He had grown considerably taller and bulkier since that little baby dragon I stumbled upon after my arrival, now standing with his head well over my upper chest, his wings seemingly growing in size every time we crossed paths.

Now finally aware of his arrival, Twilight unstuck her attention from her books and regarded the young dragon with a caring smile. “Thank you Spike, you can help us look for any reference to magic-modulating crystalline substances in those books over on the other table if you would be so kind.” She pointed towards a disorganized pile of tomes and scrolls that littered the table in the corner of the room, immediately returning her attention to the book before her after.

With a salute, Spike went to his task. We had come up with many ideas, but none of them would allow us to nip the problem in the bud and mitigate the damage, not without outright turning Equestria into a dictatorship. That is, until that crazy proposal escaped my thoughts for Twilight to catch.

While I would have preferred to focus on taking care of the instigator, because I knew there had to be an instigator for so many conflicts and radical ideas to start suddenly appearing all across the land; Twilight was of the opinion that we had to plan bigger following my initial proposal, to make sure that no more accidents occurred, ensuring that peace and harmony continued amongst the citizens, as it had before for so many centuries.

“I still don’t think this is the best approach, Twi.” I addressed the alicorn at my side. “What you’re proposing is downright maddening. Creating some kind of dead man’s switch for the pony’s connection to magic, to ensure it can only be accessed when true harmony is upheld? It sounds a bit too much. We need to understand the reason why these new tendencies have established themselves within the population before attempting anything so drastic!”

But her mind had been set long ago. “Oh, I know why they have established, alright.” She shot back, not skipping a beat on her reading. “Ponies all over now think that they can fend for themselves without considering each tribe’s special gifts. That ALL the changes and improvements we have integrated are reason enough to give the kick to the old ways. And NOW they think they no longer need the help of the other tribes.” Her tone betrayed her scorching fury for such a belief. “All our efforts have gone towards trying to fill the gaps that separated us from each other, and from those outside of Equestria. And, after all that, they now think they are better than everypony else? Well, I for one am NOT going to tolerate that!!” She shouted, sounded very agitated. After the incident, I feared she might have started to lose focus on what we sought to achieve. I couldn't blame her, for the same had happened to me, only I had decanted for a… more drastic solution before seeing reason.

I was about to protest, but Twilight wasn’t done yet making her argument. “Centuries ago, we were at the mercy of beings that abused us, toiled with us, and treated us like helpless prey. And to beat them, we abandoned our hatred and mutual distrust for one another to band together as all pony should under the princesses leadership. Now SHE wants to sabotage that achievement, to send them back into the dark ages of suspicion, and ignorance, and fear? After all that trust I had put on her?! NO!” She wailed, her hoof slamming into the desk to drive home her point. “I will do whatever it takes to undo the damage she has caused!!” Her resolve was absolute, her mind set and unmoving to proceed with the plan.

With a sigh of dejection, I tried once again to make her see reason. “Twilight, this isn't what we planned. We cannot force that kind of behavior. You’ve seen how poorly ponies deal with sudden changes. This only will radicalize them further! I’ve told you before of what I saw in that place, what I saw ponies being turned into…” With a full-body shiver, I stood up from the couch and approached the chair she was currently sitting on.

I placed my hand on her scalp and tenderly stroked under her mane in an effort to calm her down, without much success. Although in truth, I was doing it to calm my own nerves moreso.

Twilight accepted my touch, her eyes softening when recognizing what place I was referring to. “Yes, Alex, you’ve already told us what you saw there, and I promise I WON’T allow something like that to happen again. But, all of our friends and I have already tried, over and over again, to get our citizens to put this all behind them. The situation is only getting worse, and the other world leaders are starting to sever ties with us and give us a wide breadth. Tartarus have it! Many creatures have even started to discreetly migrate back to their home countries! Not even Celestia and Luna had to deal with something like this during their reign!” The energy flowed straight out of her along her drive, leavening behind a defeated alicorn. “I’m so lost right now, Alex. I’m so, so lost...”

I kept up my caressing while trying my best to comfort her. “I know, baby, I know. I’m also on edge right now. I can’t believe the message behind my efforts has ended up being misinterpreted like this. This is NOT what I wanted. I-I would have never…” My voice began to break at the memory of the incident. No amount of reassurance or therapy would ever release me from that guilt. The blood would forever taint my hands…

Hearing me falling apart, Twilight hastily turned on her seat and captured me in an armed and winged hug. “No more of that, Alex. We already discussed what happened, and who’s to blame. We can’t allow something like that to ever occur again, it goes against everything we believe and have fought for. Whether it was her instigation that started it or not, we have to think bigger. We have to protect my little ponies, even if we’re protecting them from themselves. Denying their access to magic is a monstrous thing to do. I know that, I truly do… but think of the alternative. Think of what could end up happening if we don’t do this. You, better than anypony else, should know what I’m talking about if the stories you told me about your world are true.”

I sighed and instantly knew which stories in particular she was referring to, ones that had inspired me to voice my initial proposal in the first palace, only for the striking resemblance to make me backpedal almost instantly. “Why can’t things be as simple as launching a magic beam like it used to be, huh?” I muttered dejectedly, trying to dissipate the dark thoughts.

A sad smile adorned her face, following my words. “Yeah, it would make things way simpler. But not everything can be fixed that way. Magic MUST be protected, from anycreature who would try to use it for evil… even if that includes protecting it from us. If Harmony won’t help us anymore, then we have to be the ones that make the hard choices. The ponies will see. They have to learn, one way or another.” She concluded her point, leaving no chance for me to change her mind. With a gloomy smile of my own, I returned to my previous seat with a parting kiss on her ear.

“I don’t know how you guys plan to regulate the ponies’ connection to the world’s magic. I don’t think anypony would like a new Tirek incident, or something similar.” Spike shot from his seat on the other side of the room.

“You’re right, Spike.” I interjected. “We’re attempting to mess with something of extraordinary complexity. Playing around with the laws of nature always risks serious consequences. We have to be extremely careful, or else we’ll end up upsetting the balance of the world, or even something worse. Magic can be extremely volatile when handled incorrectly.” I explained, with Twilight giving a muted nod of agreement.

“Well… as far as I can remember, Discord is the only one who can mess with reality like it was his plaything. I mean, whatever chaos he unleashes can be reversed without much of a problem… usually, anyway…” Spike half-seriously stated.

My breath caught in my chest and my heart nearly skipped a beat. At the same time, Twilight's head rose so fast from her books that I could have sworn I heard her neck snapping, a wild gleam now appearing in her eyes. I had learned to fear those eyes. They normally led to something catastrophic happening.

“YES!! YesyesyesyesYES!!” She cried while jumping from her seat, looking livelier than I had seen her in quite some time.

I didn’t share her enthusiasm. With a defeated sigh, I readied myself for what would surely become a crazy week, especially if that wretched draconequus was involved.

“Oh boy, here we go again...”

Author's Note

Not much to add. Thanks for the continued support and the interesting comments. I have a lot to plan and a series to rewatch. Until then, stay tuned.

Chapter 5- Getting up to speed.

On a beautiful morning, where the radiant summer sun shone unchallenged above the cloudless sky, warming up the morning seabreeze that filtered through the curtains of the open window, I found myself immersed in the brighthouse’s expanded kitchen, fixing up some early breakfast to start the day. A pair of slices of my infamous pan-tumaca being my go-to early morning pick-me-up. I never really bothered to explain the translation from my mother language to the ponies here, but hell yeah they made for a simple yet delicious breakfast. And it’s not like I was going to find any bacon, actual bacon, in your average supermarket… Did ponies here have actual supermarkets? They surely didn't back then, but who knew?

But I digress. Earlier in the morning, I had managed to wake up after a surprisingly good night’s sleep, and had to disentangle myself from a still slumbering Sunny’s grasp without disturbing her rest. I wouldn’t erase that peaceful smile she wore in her sleep for the world. No nightmares plagued my dreams this time thankfully. I had slept much better than the last couple of nights in the wild and the brig. A fluffy pony snuggled to your side will surely do the trick.

‘Well, at least where my state of mind is concerned. My back isn’t exactly agreeing with my choice of position’ I mused to myself. Resting with half your body dangling from the bed isn’t exactly what most physiotherapists would recommend for your back’s long term health.

Still, I had a pleasant dream at least. A shame Luna wasn't around to actually remind me of what it consisted of. We had some wild times together back then with the crazy stuff my human mind could conjure. Ponies, even immortal ones, were simply too innocent…

All in all, I felt refreshed and ready to tackle what I hoped wouldn’t be a long day like the previous one.

As I was set on my cooking, adding the last of the squashed tomato to the toast, and mentally sorting my daily goals for that day, I heard the telltale clopping of hoof steps approaching me from behind as the mystery pony descended from the ramp and into the main hall. A quick look to my left revealed the mystery pony to be a drowsy-looking Izzy, wearing a drooling, sleepy face and a grave case of bed mane obstructing most of her face.

After surprisingly finding me standing against the kitchen table, considering the amount of mane covering her line of view, she approached me at a half-asleep pace.

“Mmmmmmorning, Alex...” She tiredly groaned in slurred greetings, her long mane remaining in disarrange to partially cover her drowsy eyes and the big yawn that followed. For a moment, I thought she was going to bump into the kitchen counter.

Thankfully, that didn't end up being the case. Coming to a stop at my side, she caught a whiff of my breakfast. Her hunger cramps worked her mind into a similar goal. With a shine from her horn, she opened the fridge and pulled out a gallon of milk and a banana. She repeated the process, this time pulling a cereal box labeled ‘Crispy Hooves.’

‘Damn, that’s a creepy name for a cereal brand.’

“Guten Morgen!” I enthusiastically greeted her back, tussling her disheveled mane. “I see you aren’t an early riser, eh? Yeah, I can’t blame you. I used to set like, five or so alarms to make sure I actually got up on time for college.” I joked while recalling the good old days back on Earth.

Who am I kidding? They’re trash compared to the times I spent in Equestria.

Izzy, drowsily humming in acknowledgment, started slicing the banana with her telekinesis and depositing it along with the cereal into a bowl full of milk. “Yeah well, that’s what you get for being an independent artist!” She suddenly blurted out with raised spirits. “A visionary of the subtle arts, such as myself, never has to get up early if they don’t want to.” After a few moments of haphazard mixing, she trotted her way to the island and took a seat on one of the tall stools. With a hungry look in her eyes, she started wolfing down her chosen breakfast after taking a seat beside me.

Feeling like messing with her, I decided to tease a little. “Well, there’s a thing I always say to aspiring artists…”

“… Yeah?” She asked with a curious tilt of her messy head, her mouth full of half-chewed breakfast deliciousness.

I cleared my throat and switched to an asian accent “Venti matcha, with two pump’ classic syrup, please.” I remembered that video from Earth and just couldn’t resist.

With an offended snort, she threw the banana peel at me. I half-seriously raised my arm to defend myself, snickering at her reaction.

However, her mock offense promptly evaporated by expression touring a bit sour. In a bored tone, she softly commented. “Meh, unicorns weren’t exactly interested in my crafting back in Bridlewood. Actually, they had NO interest in any kind of art, apart from the biweekly poetry sessions at the Crystal Tea Room.” She sulked for a bit, speaking of her hometown below the canopy of the renamed Bridlewood Forest. “We were just a big bunch of boring, superstitious ponies, with barely any spark to brighten our way...”

My heart went out for her. “Wow, that must have been hard for you, being so energetic and…” I didn’t exactly know how else to refer to her at that moment, fearing I would speak out my lane and upset her. Also, my mind still wasn’t at its fullest after recently waking up.

“Annoying?” She finished for me, her ears dropping alongside her mood.

I didn't waste a second to firmly correct her. “Oh no, Izzy, that’s so incredibly far from the truth.” I clarified, leaving behind the half-chewed slice of toast to reach her side. “Believe me, I’ve met many annoying ponies in my time, and I can assure you that you’re nothing remotely like them. In fact, I think Equestria is desperately going to be in need of more of your enthusiasm in the coming days. After all, you and the girls have an important mission, as I told you all yesterday.”

Bending my knees a bit in front of her, I sympathetically messed with her mane, eliciting a small, thankful giggle from the sleepy unicorn.

“Thank you.” She offered me her warmest smile. We shared a tender moment for a bit, which I promptly crashed by booping her snout.

Crossed eyed, the need to sneeze overcame her surprise, filling the kitchen with the sound of a horsey snort.

“Hey…” She weakly proteste, rubbing her itchy nose with her fetlock.

“That’s what you get for being so adorable.” I snickered at her offended pout, rising back on my feet to resume my breakfast.

“Ha!” A very proud Izzy got off her seat and fell into an alluring pose. “Were you expecting any less?~” She purred with a healthy dose of bedroom eyes, only for her disheveled mane to cascade back down her forehead and grant her a striking resemblance to the girl from The Ring.

“Ugh. Can’t a mare flirt properly anymore?...” She complained, blowing the rebel strands of blue with purple hints at the end back into their proper place.

“Points for effort though.” I chuckled at her failed number, earring yet another pout from the purple mare.

I liked Izzy. From the very short time I had known her, I found myself enjoying her presence. She was fun and a bit loopy, and had that sassy touch that I really enjoyed in the world of innocent, naive ponies. Her shameless advances, albeit in a joking manner, gave her a distinctive charm which I had only glimpsed in a scarce number of ponies. Also, I had to compliment her looks. She was actually a smidge bigger than your average unicorn which, considering the size difference between your average human and this world's equines, only worked to earn points in my list. The way she styled her mane, not the sorry nest of vultures that she was currently wearing, reminded me more of what a human woman would sport than a typical pony-styled mane.

And yes, she had a nice rear, it had to be said.

Once she had fought to bring some semblance of order into her messy mane, she followed my example and returned to her breakfast. “Eh, I guess you’re right. Now that everypony seems… you know, alive and more willing to try new things, I’m sure I can steal their breath away with my work!” She pumped her hoof in victory. A second later, her eyes widened in realization. “Oh! That reminds me, I need to make you a friendship bracelet! Something like this!” She twisted said hoof to show me hers. A simple string bracelet decorated with numerous gems of various sizes and colors.

“Sure thing, Izzy, I’ll make sure not to lose it.” I agreed with her proposal.

‘Not gonna lose it like I used to do with the ones Pinkie used to make me. Faust, that really angered her…’ I remembered with a full-body shudder. Angry Pinkie was always bad news.

We continued munching on our breakfast for a few minutes, a tranquil silence settling between the both of us, only interrupted by the distant sound of the waves crashing against the cliff on which the brighthouse stood and our hearty munching.

Another set of clopping hooves perked our ears and made us both turn our heads towards the kitchen entrance in unison. Sunny was now approaching us with her own messy bed-mane and a warm, greeting smile. “Morning guys… oh! Is that tomato toast, Alex? It smells delicious.” She greeted me while sniffing the air.

“Sure is, Sunny.” I called back with a wave. “Want me to fix some for you?” I offered, returning the smile while pointing to the counter behind me.

“Mm mm.” She politely shook her head no. “Thank you though. I have to open the smoothie stand in a couple of minutes anyway, I’ll have some breakfast there. Izzy, are you still pla….” She started to ask her friend when a knowing look from the unicorn froze her solid.

Izzy coyly turned to look back and forth between us, a mischievous smirk on her features.

‘Oh, I know what you're thinking, you cheeky little…’ I mentally snickered, narrowing my eyes in a similar fashion to hers.

Sunny also understood the meaning behind the expression and dryly countered with a deadpan look, “Izzy… no.”

She couldn't hold it any longer. “Pfffft hahaha! Come on guys, I was kidding!” The cheeky unicorn burst into laughter.

Sharing a similar humor, I decided to roll with the joke, “Don’t you worry Izzy, I’ll save you a spot for tonight.” I proposed with a seductive look and a naughty wink.

Izzy was more than willing to play along. “Oh myyyy.~” She purred. “Sorry honey, but today I’m leaving for Bridlewood to gather the last of my things. I plan on returning before Saturday morning, though. I don’t want to miss the royal parade. After that, weeell…” Having finished her breakfast, she moved to place her bowl in the sink, making sure to noticeably and shamelessly brush her flank and tail against me on her way, gifting me with a good look at… well, everything.

‘Such a tease…’ I mused to myself with a roll of my eyes.

“Ahem!” A sharp cry from Sunny dissolved the playful atmosphere. “Well, that’s great, Izzy.” SHe addressed her unicorn friend. “We’ll be waiting for you to return. What about you, Alex? Any plans for today?” She inquired with a faint blush on her cheeks. I quickly washed the dirty plate and left it to dry, returning my sight to her, barely containing my mirth.

“I was thinking about taking a stroll around town, see if I can familiarize myself with the layout… and also cause a panic attack for Hitch to handle, hehe.” I rubbed my hands evilly, thinking back to what happened yesterday morning. However, something Izzy had said suddenly clicked.

“Wait.” I called for the unicorn before she could exit the premises. “Izzy, what did you mean by ‘royal parade’?” I asked the mare, slightly startled at her particular choice of words.

“I was talking about the royal farewell parade for Zipp and Pipp. You know, since they’re leaving their home at Zephyr Heights’ palace and… well, being royalty and all, I'm sure the queen will have planned some…” It was then that the realization struck hard. “Oooooh, hehe…” She rubbed her fetlock nervously, averting her sight to everywhere but my raised eyebrow. “Yeah… perhaps we forgot to mention that little detail…” She let it drag on, an embarrassed smile appearing on her face while she lowered her gaze after seeing my absolutely shocked reaction.

I was far from happy at their ‘little mishap’. “A little detail, Izzy?! Having two princesses in front of me without me knowing is a little detail to you?!” I sharply turned to the other mare in the room, slightly startling her. “Sunny, why didn’t you tell me about this?!” I demanded, accusingly pointing a finger at her.

With a nervous chuckle she answered while rubbing her withers. “Well, we thought it was better for them to tell you. I-I mean, I know for a fact that Zipp doesn’t like being treated like royalty, but I’m not sure about Pipp. P-Perhaps it slipped her mind?...” She tried with a nervous grin which lasted but a second against my furious scowl. “Please don’t be angry at them, Alex, there was a lot going on with your arrival and the new brighthouse!” She pleaded.

Not wanting to make a world of it, I sighed and let it go. “Fine, just… please, don’t keep these things from me. I need to be aware of everything that’s happening around here. The fact that there’s actually a royal family that isn’t from the alicorn dynasty is something I really, really need to take into account.” There weren’t any plans for establishing another royal dynasty last time I checked, nor any family had risen to claim the privilege in the short power vacuum during the transition to Twilight's takeover of the thorne. It seemed the pegasi had tried to take the matter into their own hooves and become completely independent from the rest of the country. That was the only reason I could come up with for the pegasi to establish a new government.

Leaving that huge piece of information to later digest, I put my plan in motion. “Well, no matter. I’ll be on my way now. I’ll see what I can find around town.” I explained, earning approving nods from the mares. “I'm also going to need a job if I’m going to fully integrate myself into pony society here… and no, Sunny, I’m not going to accept charity or anything like that. I have more than enough skills to make myself useful.” I sharply cut her off before she could protest.

‘I’m a graduated Biologist, and a doctor in Bioarchanology with a fair number of years of experience in the field. I think that’s enough to find me something, even if it’s just loading boxes… please don’t let it be loading boxes, my back hurts enough already.’

Sunny was NOT happy with my rebuttal, but seeing my will unwavering, she caved in.“Fiiine, good luck with that, Alex. If you don’t manage to find anything, come see me at the smoothie stand and we’ll think of something, alright?” Sunny said while trotting her way out of the kitchen and up to the bedroom, most likely to fix herself up a bit before leaving.

Seeing no reason to deny it, I thanked her and wished her a good day. Repeating the same with Izzy and wishing her a safe trip, I strode out of the doors and into the beautiful morning.

I took a deep breath, enjoying the salty taste of the seaside breeze, the raw purity of the air a trait I welcomed in earnest once I had arrived in Equestria after years of breathing the polluted air from my home world.

With barely a cloud in sight, the blue sky stretched all the way to the horizon beyond the sea to the east and behind the tall peaks of the Zephyr Range. The gentle, salty breeze from the endless blue lazily rocked the leaves that adorned the nearby trees. Laid before me was the dirt road I would take to once again reach the town. With a tiniest bit of apprehension, I set off at a leisurely pace, admiring the unfamiliar flora that littered the sides of the road. Small critters stuck their heads from the foliage, their foraging momentarily interrupted by the threat of a big, unfamiliar creature nearby.

At this time in the morning, many ponies had already begun their day, hurrying on their way to work, opening up their stalls, foals in small groups scampered on their way to school, their parents calling for them to slow down.

Just an average morning in an average town.

I felt bad for having to ruin that normalcy again, but I really needed to take a look around, either for a job or something else that might help me in my most pressing goal. I still was planning on leaving in search of clues. I had to check the state of the capital amongst many other things. Perhaps one of the princesses had managed to survive after all this time…

Who I wished it would’ve been was as obvious as day, a vain hope as they came.

‘I need to be sure about this. The situation regarding the Unity Crystals has drastically changed, and I need to be really, really careful. The ponies are only just starting to retreat from the cliff edge. I cannot jeopardize that.’

I crossed the arch that marked the entrance to the lower level of the seaside town, the lingering ponies quickly taking notice of me. Fortunately, this time there were no panicked ponies running away screaming nor were there any hastily closing-up doors or windows awaiting me. The ponies around me tensed up and chose to give me a wide berth, but remained mostly calm and collected. With a friendly smile, I chose to ignore their behavior. I was more than used to it but then, and they were sure to come around, eventually.

Passing by the local cinema and the market, I took one of the side roads towards the second level. I managed to remember the way to Hitch’s office, choosing to now take a closer look at the ‘Wanted’ poster in the front wall of the building. Still proudly displayed in the forefront, the photo of a red-furred earth pony with a golden mane defied the bystanders around them with its angry leer. Scribbled under it was a reward, advertised for any information on his location, and a bigger reward for his capture. The list of his infractions was surprisingly long.

‘Numerous public order offenses, damage to private property, corruption, abuse of a position of public trust, conspiracy to defraud, illegal manufacturing of dangerous weapons… Damn, this guy’s got it rough… Sprout Cloverleaf, huh? Well, I’ll certainly keep my eyes open for you.’

Leaving behind the wanted poster and a mental note, I pushed the double doors open and entered the office, only to find Hitch lazily sitting back on his chair while absentmindedly fooling around with the desktop telephone in his hoof, his distracted humming abruptly stopping at the sight of my unamused face and raised eyebrow. He sheepishly returned the telephone to its rightful place and gave me an embarrassed smile. “Hehe, slow morning, I guess. Not much to do around here.”

“I can see that.” I drily answered while looking at the small cell where I spent my first night in town. It was currently unoccupied, and would remain as such if I could help it.

Searching around the office, I made my intentions known. “I remember from yesterday that you had a map of the town somewhere…. ah, there it is.” I found the map hanging on the wall beside the drawer. I moved to stand in front of it while signaling for Hitch to come closer.

“You need something from it?” He spoke with a questioning head tilt.

“I was planning on taking a walk around town and familiarizing myself with my new surroundings. Do you mind pointing out to me any locations you think I should know about? You know, things like the hospital, bank, town hall, whatever you think is worth checking out.” I replied while trying to memorize the town’s layout. It seemed to be composed of three levels, the highest one containing the Canterlogic facility as well as… some kind of museum? And a thermosolar power plant too. I would’ve thought they’d have preferred to harness power from the wind or the sea considering where the town stood. The lowest level seemed to connect with the beach that surrounded the entire bay.

Horseshoe Bay and the city that once bordered it had been a preferred tourist destination as well as the second most important trading port with Northern Essia. Whatever remains of it had been erased by the ages, and now the coastal town which only occupied a third or so of the semicircular inland indentations was as much civilization as you would find. Although not stipulated as such, the humongous trading port had given past to a ridiculous harbor barely able to fit two small vessels. The skeleton of the late city was still distinguishable from the artificial looking protuberances of land at the southern end of the bay, built by the very same settlers to fit the expansion of the coastal metropolis.

A metropolis that once housed over a hundred thousand souls. By what I could discern from the map, Maretime Bay could fit five thousand ponies give or take.

Some of the icons in the legend used for different elements of the map seemed different to what I was used to. With Hitch’s assistance, I created a mental checklist of places I should visit to get myself started.

“Thanks a bunch, sheriff, I’ll check out those places as soon as I can.” I offered a thankful nod once I had absorbed the layout. “Also, I was planning on getting a job. I’m gonna need the bits if I’m going to pay rent.” I added as I finished memorizing the individual locations and planning a route.

“What rent? I don’t remember Sunny saying anything about that.” Hitch curiously inquired. It was true, she hadn’t mentioned the need for any monetary compensation, but I still felt like I should at least pay for some of the household expenses if I was going to be staying with her.

“I’m going to try to convince her to allow me to pitch in with some of the expenses, like groceries and such. I’m also going to need certain things to help with my investigation and planning, whatever research material to crack those crystals while open… metaphorically.” I reassured the sheriff when I saw his big eyes widening in concern. The memory of the room they were hosted brought an idea to mind. “Now that I think about it, how about installing some cameras in the crystals’ room in the brighthouse? Wouldn’t hurt to have them under surveillance, right?”

Hitch nodded in agreement. “It’s a good idea, I’ll see if I can get my hooves on more of them to install them around the brighthouse too… with the girls’ permission, of course.”

“I don’t want to catch one of them pointing at me from behind the bathroom cabinet or something like that.” I joked. His flustered expression was very amusing.

With an annoyed huff, he returned to his desk. “Yeah right, like I have nothing better to watch. I’m gonna get started with my paperwork before doing my rounds. I’ll see you this afternoon.” With a parting wave, he sat back on his desk and started to look over some files.

Chuckling in amusement, I said my goodbyes and began my tour around town, the town hall my first destination.

‘Let’s see… All the way up the street and to the left, and I should arrive near the town hall. Better try and get some sort of citizenship. I’m still technically an Equestrian citizen, but that’s going to be a bit hard to demonstrate.’

Judging from the reactions I got from the ponies, none of them seemed to know who I was. Only Sunny and Miss Cloverleaf had sniffed out my identity. I thought it would be better if I just registered as a new citizen until I could prove who I really was, if I ever got the chance to do so.

A new beginning didn't sound that bad if I’m being honest. My backpack was bursting at the seams with my previous life. The notion of preserving the important stuff and discarding the rest to begin again was truly tantalizing, especially considering that my chances of returning to the past were below zero. If we hadn't had enough time to properly plan my journey forwards, it goes beyond saying what came out from the one back to the past.

While on my way to the town hall, I found myself on the receiving end of a multitude of cautious and wary faces, the majority of them from earth ponies, but the few pegasi and unicorns I crossed paths with didn’t extend to me anything better.

'Well, at least they are suspicious of me and not of each other. Better that than the alternative, that’s for sure.'

As I was about to turn left at the end of the main road, I walked near a group of mares who seemed to be trying out different sunglasses from a nearby stand, the unamused face from the salespony speaking volumes. One of them, an earth pony with pale yellow fur and a pink mane and tail, quickly took notice of me and regarded me with a disgusted look, as if I had strangled her puppy or something. It caught by surprise.

‘Woah, her color scheme reminds me a lot of Fluttershy’s, but that scowl she’s giving me in no way resembles my friend. Sorry if my existence offends you Karen, but you’re gonna have to deal with it.’ I mentally scoffed. I only spared her a blank side look and leisurely stepped onto the side street.

What awaited me once I reached my destination could be summarized as a tedious hour of paperwork. After a comical entry into the town hall, where the staff members armed themselves with staplers and pencils of various kinds in a cute effort to fend me off, I was directed to the Council representative for civil affairs, A quick explanation of why she had never seen me or my kind before, she granted me a temporary residency permit until a more permanent solution could be found.

After that, I decided to check out the bank. I had to retrace my steps and reach the mid-section of the lower level. On my way, I passed in front of a small two-storey building, seemingly undergoing heavy renovations. Its bright pink façade was a striking sight, with two large ‘M’ letters stylized like musical notes decorating the main entrance, in addition to a small sign protruding from one end, advertising whatever business it would soon become.

‘What’s this? Some kind of music store?’

Intrigued, I decided to ask the earth pony standing nearby, nervously observing the renovation efforts with jittering hooves.

Her coat was a light turquoise, while her mane and tail were two shades of red and magenta, her cutie mark depicting a horseshoe with a nail polish brush inside. She seemed on edge, darting her eyes around the facade, possibly looking for imperfections in the building’s front-facing side.

“Excuse me, mind telling me what this new store is supposed to be about?” I softly called to her, trying to not scare her.

I was met with partial success, as she jumped from my voice and quickly turned around to search for its origin. Her eyes turned to pinpricks at the sight of me, now looking ready to bolt at any second. Thankfully, she quickly regained her bearings and, with a gulp and a shake of her head, she addressed me in a more-or-less calm voice.

“Oh, hey there…” She nervously greeted me. “Sorry for the jump, I guess I was a little too absorbed in my work, hehe. What was your question again?” She inquired, looking more relaxed now that she saw I wasn’t showing any aggressive behavior.

“I was just wondering what this new store is about. It looks like some kind of music shop?”

With a polite giggle, she corrected me. “Oh no, no. This is being refurbished into a mane salon, and a karaoke stage for anypony willing. I’m actually going to start working on it as soon as it’s finished, I was just checking that everything was going accordingly…” She finished while returning her attention back to the building.

‘A mane salon? I could really use a haircut myself soon, my hair’s getting a bit too long for my taste. Thank goodness the stasis stopped all bodily functions; I can only imagine what I would have looked like after hundreds of years of my hair growing non-stop.’ I chuckled at the disturbing image.

“Well, I’ll be sure to remember. I might need to swing by soon anyway. I guess I’ll see you around… um…”

“Jazz Hooves, a pleasure to meet you.” She introduced herself, extending a hoof.

I grabbed it with my hand and introduced myself with a shake. “Alexander, but just call me Alex, or ‘the new guy,’ whatever you prefer.” I jocked with a smile, eliciting a small giggle from her. “Well then, I’ll let you resume your worrying over the renovations. Still a lot of things to be done, I’ll wager. I’ll see you around, Jazz.” I said my goodbyes while restarting my march down the road.

“See you soon!” She reciprocated with a vigorous wave of her foreleg. Not a bad start, considering my previous encounters with ponies.

Now with a livelier step, I continued with my tour.

Another day of being Sunny Starscout, another day spent at the smoothie stand. Not that it was a bad thing or anything, but today was being, well…

“Uuuughh, what a boring daaayyy…” I moaned to myself while tiredly laying against my stand’s counter, a cute, wheeled stand, it’s wooden frame painted in shades of aquamarine and touched of white with a huge, custom-made sign in the shape of a smoothie atop of it to attract thirsty customers. I had run it since my humble origins selling lemonade when just a filly, and I’m proud to say it bloomed into a successful enterprise. I was very fond of it, and more than happy to attend my fellow townsponies with a fresh, healthy drink, more so now to fight against the summer heat.

That was the norm for me. However, that day my fruit delivery was late for some reason, and without any fresh ingredients I couldn’t open up shop. It broke my heart to send away my usual customers, but I simply had no fresh produce to use, and I wasn’t gonna sell them cupped ice!

So now, the only thing I had left to do was to wait for my fruits and veggies to be delivered while slowly getting cooked under the scorching sun.

Well, perhaps I was exaggerating a little, but I really disliked having nothing to do while watching everypony go around their day, busy with their jobs or whatever else they were doing.

Bored to tears, I decided to check my phone to see if there was any news regarding the girls. Now that they were all away in their respective hometowns, I could only chat with them through the group chat we had created for us. WIth a longing sigh and wished I had them here.

‘I could really use a bit of conversation right now. Even after reuniting the crystals, I still haven’t made any more friends in town. I miss the girls…” I lamented, downhearted and bored. Not a healthy combination.

My mind went to the memories of my friends. We were a small bunch, and we had barely known each other beyond our trip around Equestria, but after all we had been through, I wouldn’t change a thing. It feels great to be able to share your passions, your fears, and your wonders with somepony else who you can trust will listen to and support you.

A buzz from the phone brought me out of my daydreaming. It was the pegasi sisters.

11:34.Hey there Sunny. How’s everything back at the fort?

11:34. Nothing new around town. Just waiting for my fruit to arrive. Seems the delivery pony has forgotten about little ol’ me. 😞

11:34. Sheesh, sorry to hear that. Must be a bummer.

11:35. Hey Sunny, I just remembered. I have, like, a 1000 phones I’m not using at the moment back home. Think I should bring one for Alex??

11:35. That’s a great idea Pipp!!! Thank you so much!😍😍

11:35. Anything 4 u Sunny girl 😊 I’ll be sure to pack a few for him to choose. Just hope he doesn’t mind the decoration.😝

11:36. We’ll talk later Sunny; we are now in the middle of packing the rest of our things. And knowing my sister, that’s going to take a while….

11:36. HEYY!!

11:36. 🤣🤣

11:36. See you back at Mbay Sunny. Good luck with the smoothies.

11:36. Bye Bye Sunny girl. 😘

11:37. See you soon girls!! 😊😊

I turned off the screen, my mood now much brighter thanks to them. With literally nothing else to do, I kept glancing left and right looking for the delivery pony.

‘It’s almost midday and still no sign of my delivery! Most ponies have already eaten breakfast by now! I know Freshy Mix is taking the afternoon shift, but still…’

A weird figure in the corner of my eye suddenly caught my attention. Twisting my head, I saw my new human friend casually walking near the railings. He seemed to be vividly taking in the sights, a calm smile on his face and his eyes filled with curiosity.

‘He looks so happy and peaceful… I mean, that’s great news! I thought the ponies here would give him a hard time. He already has enough to deal with as it is...’ I bit the inside of my cheeks. ‘I hope he isn't trying to bottle things up. We all know how that ends up.’

I was about to get his attention when one of the old unicorn containment traps suddenly appeared from the ground sensing his proximity. The color drained from my face. I thought all of them had been deactivated!

Pushing myself up the counter I tried to warn him. “ALEX!! WAIT!!!” I screamed at the top of my lungs.

Thankfully, my warning rang true as I saw him taking a big jump back and landing in some kind of cheap ninja defensive position. Though the initial scare, I had to admit he looked very funny like that.

Practically sensing his distress from where I stood, I left the stand and hurried towards him. He was clearly agitated, abandoning the comical pose at the sight of me and regarded me with a worried look.

“What in the hot-’n-spicy kentucky-fried fuck was that? I almost ended up jumping off the railing!” He loudly inquired with a piercing, annoyed voice.

I pointed towards the big X mark on the floor in front of us. “You need to be careful, Alex! That over there is an old unicorn containment trap! If you step on one of them, a metal box comes out of the floor and traps you inside! A-And considering your bigger height… oh my hoofness.” I then realized what could have just happened.

His anger rose exponentially after catching my explanation. “And why the actual fuck is that thing still active?! It could have split me in two!!” He was clenching his fists in rage. I never had seen him act like that. It was kinda rather scary, not gonna lie.

I sat on my rump and tried to calm him down. Placing a hoof on his clenched fist, I spoke softly. “I’m so sorry Alex. I-I thought all of the traps had already been deactivated! Oh my gosh! Y-you could h-have...” Instead of reassuring him I only ended up losing my composure, small tears lining the corners of my eyes at the gross image that my mind conjured.

I started to hyperventilate, terrible outcomes of what could have happened running wildly in my mind. But, before I had the chance to completely lose it, I felt a comforting touch on my scalp.

I raised my head, and through teary eyes, I saw him gently petting my mane, a more calm expression now adorning his features.

He got down on one knee, and held my head with both his hands, forcing my gaze towards his concerned eyes. Continuing his ministrations, he spoke with a soothing voice. “It’s fine, Sunny, it’s okay.” he softly apologized, moving to brush his fingers over my ears. “I’m sorry for lashing out like that. It’s just… I’ve had enough close calls in my life to start again now. I didn’t mean to scare you. Come on, let me see that beautiful smile of yours.” He asked while giving me one of his own.

His touch did wonders to help calm down my nerves; without his help. I wouldn’t have been able to think straight again for a while.

Now with my nerves settled, I could register the alien sensation on my mane and fur. ‘Mmmmm that… Okay, that actually feels great. I guess I’m gonna have to freak out more often, hehe.’ I mentally chuckled while leaning into his caress.

“Thank you, Alex, mmmmm…” I could help the tiny moan that escaped my lips. “I’m going to have a serious talk with Hitch about this. It’s dangerous for everypony on the streets.” I finally answered with the smile he was looking for. However, I didn’t make any attempt to move from where I was sitting, gently turning my head to guide his hands.

After a few more moments, I heard him chuckle, “Heh. I can see that your tail is wagging. I can guess you really like this, huh? These cursed soft hands of mine seem to create addicts wherever I take them…”

I couldn’t help myself. It felt really, really good. Making a great effort to extract myself from his caressing, I stood up to give him an embarrassed smile. “S-sorry about that, it felt really nice a-and…” Before I could begin rambling, he signaled me to stop with his hand.

“You’re good, Sunny. I did manage to cultivate a fun little club of sorts back in the day when it came to my hands. I guess you’re the founding member of a new club, huh?.” He reassured me while raising an inquiring eyebrow.

I could only giggle at the comment. I wasn’t going to pass up the chance, mind you.

Looking behind me, he caught sight of my work place and pointed to the stand. “Oh, isn’t that the smoothie stand you mentioned?”

“Yes, it is! Although I’m afraid I can’t prepare you one to try right now. The delivery pony bringing my order of fresh fruits hasn’t arrived and…” I contemplated while following his gaze. “You know what? I’m tired of waiting! I’ve been here all morning wasting my time for nothing!” My fruition manifested in hard stomp on the stony road. “I’m closing for now, and I’m going to let Freshy take the late shift, see if the delivery arrives by then. You and I are going for a walk by the beach, how does that sound?” I asked, bringing up my fearsome puppy eyes.

He didn’t need much convincing. “That sounds great, Sunny. I still haven’t visited the beach. Lead the way.” He motioned with his hand.

With a celebratory trot in place, I quickly closed down the stand, grabbed my things on the way out and began to lead him towards the entrance to the beach.

‘Oooh, I have sooooo many questions for him! This is going to be great, hehehe!’ I celebrated excitedly while making sure I was carrying my trusty notebook.

It took us a minute or so to reach the side path that led down to the beach. Sunny vibrated in excitement, a noticeable spring in her step as she cheerfully greeted everypony we passed by.

The cool breeze from the sea and the warm rays from the summer sun made for the perfect combination to take a relaxing stroll. A few families were spread out along the shore, the foals playing tag in the water or building impressive sandcastles with the help of their parents.

Not wasting a moment, Sunny turned to regard me with what I had learned to recognize was a fangirling expression.

“Hey, Alex! Miiiind if I ask you some more questions? There’s a lot to be learned from you, and I really, really, really, really want to know more about you, and Ancient Equestria, and your adventures with the Element Bearers, and…” She carried on while talking a mile a minute.

With calming gestures, I prompted her to slow down. “Now now, slow down, Sunny. I’m more than happy to answer all your questions, but…” I agreed with her request. However, before she had the chance to open her muzzle to retort, I continued. “I think I’m entitled to have some questions of my own answered, don’t you think?”

With a confused tilt of her head, she asked. “What do you mean?”

“Well, I’m sure there’s a very interesting story behind the reunification of the Unity Crystals, am I right? I also have a lot to relearn about current and past events, as well as how this new society of ponies works. I’m sure many things have changed in all these centuries. So, mind bringing me up to speed?”

With a vigorous nod, she started to retell the story of how she and her friends managed to not only find the crystals that, for many years, had been hidden away and the knowledge of their existence pretty much forgotten. With great pride, she also recounted how the journey to that point had also managed to bring her and her new friends together, and the rest of ponykind along with them.

However, a small piece of her story got my immediate attention. “You said that there was a stained-glass mural at the abandoned station in Zephyr Heights, and that it depicted three ponies, one of each race, and their respective crystals?”

“Mmh hmm! Although part of it was broken. That’s what led us to initially believe that there were only two crystals instead of three!”

‘Interesting… I’ll have to look into it. I wanted to visit Zephyr Heights anyway, see how it turned out so many years after its construction. A shame I hadn’t been there for the inauguration.’

I added yet another mental reminder to carry out such a visit to my growing list of things to look into. “Please, continue Sunny.” I urged.

She did so in earnest. Their journey reminded me a lot of something the girls and I would have been through in the past. It sounded like this one had been their inauguration journey, if you can call it that. But, at the end of her story, I had to abruptly stop our stroll along the coast. Speechless, I dragged my sight from the calm sea down to meet hers and shakily struggled to ask. “W-what did you just say?”

Feeling my change of mood, she nervously repeated the part of the story. “A-After the pieces of the portrait were joined together by each representative of the tribes, the unity Crystals buried under the rubble began to glow. Then, they rose to the sky, taking me with them. While I was dangling in the air, they started to revolve in circles around me, and I couldn’t really see well what was happening. Before I knew it, the crystals had stopped swirling, and they joined together above me, summoning a huge surge of magic followed by a beautiful aurora that stretched from the lighthouse towards the horizon. When I had finally been lowered back down to the ground, I could see the unicorns’ horns and the pegasi’s wings glowing, as magic finally returned to everypony. My friends called to me, and urged me to look at myself and… there they were, a pair of golden wings at my sides, and a beautiful golden horn on my forehead. Somehow, I had turned into an alicorn! I-I stayed like that for another hour or so, until they suddenly disappeared…”

I was left absolutely breathless, any semblance of thought coming to a screeching halt.

‘That’s not possible. That… is not fucking possible!’

“Alex, i-is something wrong?...” She nervously inquired, but I was barely able to respond.

“Sunny… what you are telling me… is impossible. That magic you just described, i-it shouldn’t… it can’t… the knowledge necessary for it, it s-shouldn’t exist.” I had to sit down, my legs suddenly feeling like jelly. I was having a very hard time coming to terms with what I had just been told.

“B-but, why not? It didn’t harm me or anypony else, it just came and went! Why do you say it shouldn’t exist, is it dangerous?!” She stepped back to stand in front of my sitting form.

I wasn’t able to answer her, the reason for it rang thunderously in my mind, erasing any other thoughts.

‘It shouldn’t exist… because I burned it all.’

Coming down from the vocational resort, I arrived at a rather private stretch of beach. It wasn’t very big, nor was it a big vacation spot either. Its prices made sure only a fraction of the population could afford it, if you catch my drift. A few hammocks were spread along the moon-shaped bay. In a pair of them near the northern end of it, laid two alicorn princesses. Well, ex-princesses to be exact. Chuckling at the image of the two greatest icons of Equestria’s pony population resting on their backs like your average tourist, I approached them from the side.

They were both taking in the sun, wearing comically large sunglasses whale seeping from some kind of tropical juice.

With an amused snicker, I greeted the sisters. “Now THAT’S how you rule a country!”

A giggle came from the older one. Taking off her glasses, she looked over her withers to greet me. “Not anymore, my little human. That’s your problem to deal with now.”

“Our sister is right, my friend. As you well know, we both stepped down to allow young Twilight to take up our former position of ruling Equestria. We thought it was past time for a change in leadership.” The youngest sister answered from her place without bothering to remove her glasses.

I gave a hearty laugh. After sharing a tender nuzzle with Celestia, I walked towards Luna’s hammock to repeat the gesture. “Yeah, I can see that you’re both enjoying retired life.”

“Why, yes! Now we get to live alongside our ponies. Just enjoying a normal life for a few more decades, and then we’ll die! Isn’t that exciting!!” She exclaimed with a bit too much joy.

Open-mouthed I could only ask. “….. for Faust’s sake Luna, that is way too depressing to even think about. Why are you so happy about something like that?” That had caught me completely off guard, recent… happenings souring the topic to unprecedented levels.

Behind me, Celestia rose to correct her sister. “What I think my dear sister is trying to say is that, for the first time in countless centuries, we have the chance to be, well, normal ponies. Ponies that live their lives, have fun, and find love… all things that our position as rulers denied us. We are the same as everypony else now, and now that we are no longer the sovereigns of this land and thus no longer bound to the sun and the moon, we shall pass away, as everypony eventually does. Although that doesn’t mean we’re in a hurry to do so, right Luna?”

“Oh, absolutely not, sister. We have spent many a year in our banishment and now is the perfect chance for us to experience life once again.”

That still sounded a bit too creepy for my taste, but I guess being immortal until your role is fulfilled will get you to think like that… A particular way of thinking I would grow accustomed to very quickly.

Shaking my head to refresh my thoughts, I told the sisters the true reason behind my visit.

“Well, as great as it is to see you again, I’m afraid this is not exactly a passing visit. I’m sure you have heard of the rising, um… ‘issues’ amongst the west coast settlements that are now spreading all over the country…”

With a dejected nod, Celestia confirmed my guess. “Yes, Alexander, we have read about the most recent developments in the newspapers, and have heard about it from a few of the local residents. I can’t imagine what might be causing them. My little ponies haven’t behaved like that since before my sister and I ascended to the throne…”

From the other side, Luna added. “‘Tis true that we find the recent news most disturbing. We cannot fathom how such rifts are spreading amongst our ponies. We now enjoy a new golden age, with the creatures of Equus once again joining together in peace and harmony. ‘Tis true our ponies don’t tend to deal well with sudden changes, but whatever the origin it might be, it is spreading far too fast for that to be the sole concern. Have you or your friends managed to find the cause, young human?”

“I’m afraid we haven’t, Luna. From what we can tell, it seems that many ponies have… how to say it… started to question their role in society, and have even begun to regard the other races with suspicion and mistrust.” That was as close as I could come with to try and describe what we had glimpsed from the general fog of unrest.

“It’s as if they’ve started to think that they are no longer necessary for Equestria to function… or they think they’re inferior. I’ve even heard whisperings that some have even started to see the ISIT program as a kind of replacement for whatever tasks the other races had to historically fill in. That’s absolutely not what I intended.” I strongly affirmed. “I firmly believe that each of the pony tribes and every other species on the planet has a role to play in the future of Equus, and no amount of technology I provide is going to sway my opinion on that. But… all that unfiltered suspicion, mistrust and apprehension…” Concern dripped from my very word, earning worried frowns from the alicorns at my side. “H-Have either of you ever seen anything like this in your time? We could really use any hindsight you can provide. It honestly feels like we’re starting to lose control of the situation…”

The sisters looked at each other, an uncertain expression adorning their features. After a moment of voiceless debate, they came to an agreement. Celestia incorporated from her hammock and motioned for me to sit beside her.

I obeyed and soon found myself surrounded by her wing in a one-sided hug.

“Very well, my little human. As it happens, there was a time, way before the three tribes united, when peace between us was indeed a fickle and fleeting concept. It was a time when greed and mistrust ended up costing many lives. Where our ancestors, blind in their greed and envy, committed the atrocity that brought an end to our home.”

I believe I couldn't have been more physically invested in her storytelling, giving her my one hundred and ten percent attention.

“Let me tell you the story of our birthplace, the Kingdom of Ustaryn…”

Chapter 6- Begin anew.

I needed a few minutes to bring myself out of my stupor. Sunny kept nudging my arm with her snout, her darting eyes alarmingly searching for an answer to my claim. After shaking myself awake and calming my breath, I attempted to reassure her, promising her that she wasn’t a danger to herself or her friends.

Perhaps I was mistaken, and whatever happened to Sunny was a completely unrelated event, but until I could explore the issue further, I wouldn’t be able to fully confirm my suspicions.

‘Probably best to take the cautious approach on this one for now, or else things could get very bad very quickly.’

Her panicked breathing had slowed, and I could tell she had calmed down a bit. Now she would be a little more comfortable with some more questions. “Sunny, can you… show me this ‘transformation’? It might aid my investigation if I could observe how it manifests.”

I saw her desire to comply in her beautiful eyes but, with a frown, she lightly shook her head. “I haven’t been able to since it happened… the only reminder that it happened at all is this streak in my hair, see?” She dejectedly pointed to her head, her hooves highlighting the rainbow-patterned streak in her mane.

‘This just gets more and more complicated… Ugh, I’m too old for this shit… literally, actually.’

I run a hand through her soft, silky main, following the rainbow-colored path across her scalp. Sighing privately to myself, I tried to reassure her once again. “Sunny, I promise that we’ll find out the truth behind this transformation thing. Once we’ve figured things out, I can hopefully guide you a little on how this all works using my knowledge from the past, maybe even help find a trigger for unlocking it consciously.”

I did possess a fair amount of knowledge regarding alicorn magic, but the most dangerous aspects of that knowledge were deliberately kept hidden by the princesses, a knowledge that, in the wrong hooves, could have caused cataclysmic damage. I tried on many occasions to get access to that knowledge, but I was always turned down. It was hard not to feel a little resentful that I wasn’t trusted to handle such knowledge, but I ultimately realized that protecting a nation trumps a blow to my pride.

Sunny described her transformation flawlessly, and the only conclusion I could draw from her description was that she indeed had acquired an alicorn form. Translucent wings and horns. However much of an ascetic or truly practical assets they were, we would have to wait for it to happen again.

If alicorn-level power came with them, it would be imperative for me to intervene. Such raw magic without proper guidance could only end in catastrophe. A wondrous gift which turns you into a loose cannon if not handled properly. Twilight had to undergo her own training after being ascended as a flesh n’ blood alicorn. I would've preferred her or any of the other princesses to be hee and teach Sunny if her powers turned out to be the real deal.

She would have to settle for me.

Sunny looked a little disappointed, probably because she was expecting some more immediate answers to her predicament. I held one of her hooves in my hand. “I know it sucks not having answers, but can you trust me enough to put those questions aside for now until I have some real ones?”

A moment of silent debate later, Sunny nodded. After we had reached an understanding, we parked the issue of her alicorn powers for the time being. We would’ve more than enough time to brak our heads cracking that one. Drained by the emotional rush, I made use of the location we were currently in and decided to go for a quick swim on the tranquil sea, my nose having well noticed that both me and my clothes urgently needed some cleaning, however sad excuse a swim at the beach is for a cleaning method.

‘I’ll see if Izzy can whip up something for me. I doubt there are any clothes available in the stores fitted for humans, and I highly doubt the owners will be willing to accept commissions from me for the time being.’

Sunny, also itching to leave the touchy subject behind for the time being, chose to accompany me in my swim. We spent the next few hours messing around, playing in the water and relaxing under the sun, trying to leave behind our worries and talking like two good friends whose friendship was rapidly blooming. Just as I had experienced with Izzy, I liked being around Sunny. Albeit more relaxed than the wacky unicorn, she also had a very charming personality, and both her speech and actions oozed an all-encompassing hope that fueled her every dream. How she had handled her friends during the makeover efforts spoke volumes about her ability as the leader of this new group of friends, a role which she had unconsciously filled during their journey, even if she hadn't realized it herself.

A shadow of a certain alicorn princess flicked through my vision every time I saw her. The resemblance, while not complete, was enough for me to easily discern the parallelisms.

A cold dagger dug into my heart every time it happened.

While we dried our bodies over the warm sand, a few curious foals left their shovels and buckets behind and approached me after a period of hesitation, inquiring about my weird looks with their characteristic foallike curiosity, much to the concern of their parents who watched with worry from afar. I gladly answered all their questions, and let them play around with my hands and hang from my shoulders. A few gentle pets and playful tickling turned them into real fans very quickly.

One of them even asked for my username on numerous social media sites, whose existence I was completely unaware of. He had extracted a smartphone of his own from his mane, wanting to add me into his friend’s list.

‘Cliptrot? Ponygram? Prancebook? Faust above…’ I could only sullenly lament to myself after hearing the excited foals boast about their online misadventures.

Years spent on Earth had taught me the wonders and horrors of social media being exposed to younger minds. I prayed to Faust to please don’t let it be the case here.

Foalish shenanigans aside, I had a great time, much better than the past few days had been roughing it in the wild and meeting the new ponies. During the final days before my journey into the future, I barely had any chance to just relax and have some fun with my friends. We were all worried sick, pressured to the point of bursting, and really, REALLY afraid of the terrifying events going on around us. The waking hours were spent with nothing but work and concern, watching helplessly as Equestria crumbled around us.

Memories that shook me to my very core. Sunny’s presence did wonders to soothe my nerves and distract me from the dark thoughts of longing, regret, and guilt lurking behind the darkest corners of my mind, waiting to bring me down like they had managed to succeed several times before. I had learned how to deal with these kinds of thoughts in the past, and promised my loved ones to never allow myself to suffer alone like that, for they were my family and I could always count on them.

Faust dammit I was only making it worse…

But I simply couldn’t afford any self-doubt about the importance of the mission. Lots of mentalization had been required to keep myself from simply losing my wits the moment I entered stasis. It was simple and very clear, and nothing, absolutely nothing could stand in my way.

However, as the saying goes, one’s worst enemy is oneself. As the days went by, the harder and harder it was for me to accept my new situation. I kept silent, for theirs wasn’t the responsibility to keep me from crashing down. I only hoped the new gang would help me, as the old one did numerous times.

‘I don’t want to add my burdens to their growing list of problems. They already have enough of them as it is… but I don’t think I have much of a choice now that they’re elbows deep… Come on, Alex, don’t lose yourself now! Stay focused, search for the solution! For them!’

It was when the sun had started to set behind the tall mountains in the distance, and the temperature had begun to drop, that Sunny and I decided to call it an afternoon and return to the Crystal Brighthouse, much to the disappointment of the younglings whose collective ‘awwws’ almost bought them a couple more minutes with the freaky tall creature. I didn't miss the sigh of relief from their parents the moment we announced our leave. They’d come around eventually, I had no doubt.

On our way back to my new permanent residence, we took a small detour around midtown and grabbed some takeout on our way back from a place Sunny recommended, neither of us in the mood to cook dinner for five hungry equines and a slightly less hungry human. You guys simply don’t understand how much a pony can scarf down when their mind’s into it. It’s way worse than in those Japanese mangas I swear…

The ambience was certainly quieter than this morning, the setting sun providing a warm illumination punctuated by the light coming from the numerous houses where families and friends sat down for dinner. The tramway car passed us on its way to the town's upper level, carrying the last ponies returning from work near the business district right around the town hall’s location. A curious contraption, resembling those of the major cities around the seventies or eighties you’d see in the old movies. Very charming.

And it ran on electricity. Can you believe that? Ponies using electricity and not magic to pull their weight! Yeah, sure, the absence of magic for several centuries surely called for a complete change of paradigm, but it was just such a foreign sight for me.

And how much work it took me to make the ponies see the benefits of it over the total dominance of magic in virtually every corner of their society.

On our way up the cliff-end hill where the brighthouse stood, I took a moment to enjoy the scenery. Horseshoe Bay overlooked the easter waters of the Celestial Sea, separating the lands of Westria, where Equestria propre, the Crystal Empyre and many more micronations and city-states were located, and Essia, land of griffons, dragons and many other creatures whose historical enmity with the ponies had limited relationships with the continent we now inhabited. If this world’s history was something, it was convoluted.

The golden rays from the hiding sun reflected on the surface of the water, painting beautiful forms and shapes that changed with the undulation of the waves coming to their inevitable end against the stony walls of the twin cliffs that delimited the bay.

Noticing my halt, Sunny trotted back to stand beside me, her eyes sparkling with wonder as mine did, immensely enjoying the canvas of warm hues before us. By force of habit, I placed my hand on her back and gently rubbed it up and down. She returned a grateful smile and pressed herself against my side, our previous quarrel on the beach now all but forgotten, but surely to return in due time.

“I often forget the little things, like a beautiful sunset…” I spoke softly, enjoying the feeling of her firm against the palm of my hand. Therapeutic in all senses, at least for me.

“Yeah… Sometimes, you just need to take a moment. It helps a lot more than what ponies might think.” Sunny agreed, matching my tone of voice suited for the tranquil moment. I moved my hand to scratch behind her ears, which didn't take long to elicit a small full-body shudder from her, her smile only getting wider. That’s what you get from having superficial nerve-clusters around your scalp and ears.

After a few more moments of contemplating the gorgeous sights, we resumed our way up the hill. Sunny was still eager to still engage me in some conversation. “So, how was your day before I found you? I hope nopony gave you a hard time.”

I appreciated the concern. She was going her way to make sure I felt welcomed in this new place, a sentiment I appreciated in earnest. “Well, I had a brainwave, and decided to go to the town hall.” I spoke with a friendly pat of appreciation. “A quiet regal building, all things considered. I remembered that Equestria at least used to have a functioning immigration system, and I wondered if there was still one around now. Luckily, there was… kinda. There were a LOT of questions involved, but they gave me a temporary residence permit, which will just have to do until I can get something more permanent organized.”

Sunny was impressed. “That was some quick thinking! Now that you have that permit, you shouldn’t have a problem accessing most of the town’s infrastructure and social programs.” She congratulated me on my initiative with an eager grin.

I returned the gesture. “Thank you. That permit was the easy part.” I continued my retelling of that day's adventures. “You should have seen me talking to the ponies at the Maretime National Bank when I asked to open a personal account without having a single bit to my name. They had to call a manager over since it wouldn’t let them open an account with zero bits.” I snickered under my breath at the ridiculous outcome. “I then noticed that he was meticulously watering a potted plant instead of actually doing his job. I told him that if he wanted to consult the branch manager, I would wait for him!”

Sunny almost fell over laughing at my retelling of the conversation I had. Absolutely ridiculous, but what else can you expect from Equestria? I also found that, while bits still were the official currency of Equestria, they now came in both coins and bills, which was a hundred times more practical when dealing with large denominations.

“They still couldn’t open an account for me, so that’s a bit of a bummer.” I lamented, although my sorrow was short lived. “Although, you know, Sunny? Even considering that, I think I’m feeling like I’m more or less settled in now. It’s a good feeling.”

Sunny was in agreement. “I think so, too. What’s the next step in your plans?” She couldn't help but wonder.

I still didn’t feel fully comfortable sharing the full version with Sunny and her friends. My intentions with the Unity Crystals and the future of magic could be very easily misinterpreted as malicious, and that would only wreck what little progress I had made since I had awoken. I had to be tactful and wait for the appropriate time. I also didn't want to keep them in the dark forever, mind you. I could only pray they saw my side of things and understood why I had to do what I intended with the crystals.

“Well, I think my next order of business should be trying to learn a bit more about the Unity Crystals themselves. I don’t plan on messing around with them again, Sunny, so please don’t worry about that. Getting zapped twice before was enough punishment.” I rubbed the phantom pains from my forearms. “But, I do feel that there’s much more to them than I initially thought, and I think that some intensive study is required to understand them better.” A reasonable approach, yet I already knew that that particular endeavor was going to be a royal headache to accomplish. All I carried with me was my knowledge. Equipment, references… heck, actually experts on the matter to assist me…

I might as well do as Izzy said and smack them around to see what happened.

“Also, I think I should begin cataloging and organizing your dad’s journals, as well as any evidence he managed to collect. I want to see if I can make any sense of what happened during my absence, and perhaps find some clues that might help me in my overall mission.”

Those summed up to be whatever years happened between my entering into stasis and today. How much had Twilight managed to hold Equestria together before breaking up like this? It had to be at least a couple of years, I hoped; but it was painfully obvious how most of that time had been spent in isolation for each of the three tribes.

And what about the other races? Are they still around, is the world in peace? ‘Casue if they suddenly went knocking on our door for a fight the ponies were virtually defenseless. I mean, I surely could pull my weight, but best if the griffons didn't get any sudden ideas.

Altoghut, if something like that was bound to happen ,it would’ve done so a LONG time ago. Why it hadn’t? That was another mystery for me to solve.

The list was growing uncomfortably long.

Sunny nodded in agreement, “That’s very reasonable. In the meantime, my friends and I will keep protecting the crystals and… well, as you said, just be ourselves and keep showing other ponies the wonders of being united in peace as we once were. I’m sure us all working together will return Equestria to its former glory!” She passionately exclaimed while pumping her front leg in emphasis.

Her excitement was contagious, as it saw me grinning enthusiastically in return. “I’m sure you will, Sunny. I couldn’t have asked for a greater set of helping hooves than you and the team.” I gave her an encouraging pat.

“Well, don’t forget that you are now also part of the team, mister!” She corrected me with a knowing wink.

“Whatever you say, Tangerine.” I answered, replying with a wink of my own. In return, I got a playful nip to my hand, causing me to almost drop the food I was carrying.

Once we reached the brighthouse, Sunny quickly entered first with me walking in just behind her. “You can put the takeout food on the kitchen table, Hitch should be joining us later for dinner.” She instructed, motioning for the aforementioned location. “In the meantime, I’m going to take a shower. I have sand in places I didn’t even know I had. It’s coarse and it gets everywhere.”

I sympathized with that feeling, yet I was glad I didn't have fur like the ponies do. Cleaning all that sand off gotta be an adventure on its own.

After she turned around and left, I thought to be a polite houseguest and started to set the dishes for dinner. Once everypony’s place had a plate and utensils, I felt like killing time and stepped into the living room, tiredly sinking into the too-low-for-my-height sofa. I used a simple summoning spell to pull the TV remote into my hand, its shape a striking resemblance to remotes back on Earth, only with hoof-friendly buttons adapted for their size.

“Let’s see what passes for TV in ponyland, shall we?” I asked myself. After channel surfing for a good ten minutes, I came to the conclusion that most of the content was also very similar to what we had back on Earth in general terms. Both for the good and the bad stuff. The quality of the cameras, as well as the special effects and sound, had greatly improved since the rough attempts that had only started to appear in Equestria at the time of my arrival. The times of a pony playing piano for an audience enjoying a mute film were thankfully behind us, although that kind of screenplay did have a charm of its own. Progress’ progress, I guessed.

After a few more minutes of senseless zapping, I heard the bathroom door opening upstairs. “I’m all done, Alex. The shower is yours if you want to clean up a bit!”.

“Thanks, Sunny!” I voiced loud enough for her to hear and abandoned the TV in favor of taking the ramp up towards a much-needed bath. The interior had drastically changed from the bathroom I remembered before the lighthouse’s transformation.

‘Definitely much bigger, presumably to better accommodate all of us.’ I inwardly reasoned.

I took off my salty clothes and stepped into the shower. To my dismay, the only shower gels available were Sunny’s, so it looked like I was going to smell like sunflowers for the time being. Without giving it much thought, I started to clean myself, taking special care to wash the nasty scar under my left pectoral…

I also took the chance to wash all my clothes in the nearby sink. It wasn’t as efficient as a washing machine, but it would have to do. A quick wind spell was all I needed to get them nice and dry in very little time. Thank goodness Rarity made sure all her creations were shrinking-proof.

By the time I was done cleaning away the sand and salt, Hitch had already arrived. From the muffled conversion and her tone of voice, it seemed Sunny was heatedly scolding the sheriff regarding the matter of the still-active defenses spread around town. As I walked in, I could see that they were both distributing our dinner, Sunny not missing a beat on her admonishing and Hitch’s expression one of shame. “I know, I know, Sunny. We’ve just been so busy rebuilding the town.” The poor stallion tried to defend himself. “Look, I promise to take care of it as soon as I can… before anypony ends up getting hurt, or worse.”

“Nice to see you again, sheriff.” I greeted, as I entered the kitchen, providing a short break for the bruised sheriff.

He stepped back to address me, his guilty expression only worsening. “Alex, I’m terribly sorry about what almost happened. We’ve all been so busy fixing the town after Sprout’s little… ‘incident’, and welcoming new ponies, that we’ve clearly not been vigilant enough to remember the defense systems.” He spoke ashamed, gently pawing the marble floor with his forehoof. “But be assured that I will personally deal with the problem. It’s absolutely unacceptable to have those things still active and endangering our citizens.”

His resolution was more than enough reassurance for me. “Thank you, Hitch. From what Sunny told me, it could have ended very badly for me if one of those traps had managed to ensnare me. Now that I think about it, I never actually thanked you, Sunny.” I returned to the earth pony waiting with her scolding features lessening as I spoke. “So, I’ll do it now. Thank you, Sunny, you might just have saved my life earlier.”

With a faint blush, she waved her foreleg dismissively, trying to lessen its importance. “Don’t mention it, Alex. I couldn’t let our newest friend get hurt, right?”

I nodded in gratitude. Without anything else to add, we started eating our dinner, casually talking about our day, and listening to Hitch’s perspective of the story regarding the reunification of the crystals.

Lessons were learned, and friendships were made. All in all, it sounded like a very heartwarming journey. I paid special attention to both the locations described and how the different races behaved in their own corners of the country.

First, there were the earth ponies, who had become absolutely terrified of the other pony races, all of whom lay beyond their enclosed town of Maretime Bay. Their isolation fueled a mindset of suspicion and fear towards them, eventually leading them to set up defenses, which they conjured using technology like the trap I encountered earlier. Thankfully, their xenophobic tendencies only went as far as simple traps, self-defense gadgets and something Hitch called a ‘Splatapult’, mostly deterrent-spirited and without a mind of hurting anypony. They had nothing truly dangerous, like firearms, munitions or explosives.

Then, there were the pegasi, now comfortably living under their own monarchy that had ruled over their city-state, Zephyr Heights, for the last few centuries, according to what Zipp had explained to me the day prior. They were proud, warrior-spirited, and regarded the other races as inferior, demeaning the earth ponies as dumb, and the unicorns as dangerous due to shared fear of their magic. Luckily, no ruler from the self-proclaimed Zephyr Dynasty had thought it a good idea to try and subjugate the other tribes. The winged ponies just seemed very content with just minding their own business while keeping a watchful eye on their land-bound cousins. Sunny recounted how the pegasi had embraced cellular communications technology, digital information delivery systems, and social media, the last of which I had already been made aware of earlier, way more than the earth ponies and the unicorns had. Hitch agreed with Sunny that their city was a great example of how far the pegasi had come in terms of technology.

That’s what their city had been designed for, after all…

Finally, there were the unicorns, arguably the most magical of the three tribes, but now greatly reduced in number to just a small community of superstitious, grumpy ponies with barely any drive to even get out of their bed in the mornings. Their economy was practically non-existent, but in spite of that, they had attached great importance to physical possessions, part of their ridiculously long list of superstitions and beliefs. Hitch indicated how he thought that the unicorns had very clearly been held back by those very backward beliefs, and how they reacted very strongly against anything they considered counter to their superstitions. I found it interesting that they had renamed the forest they inhabited to ‘Bridlewood’. I had no knowledge of such a place before my journey, nor could I be sure of up to where the original forest had expanded in all these years. That’s what several centuries and zero supervision do to your geography.

In all the years that had passed, none of the pony tribes had been willing to try and start a dialogue between them, much less any trade or sharing of information, except for a few brave ponies who ventured out to see what lay beyond their city’s limits. There had been a few shy attempts to reconcile with the other races, but none of them had borne any fruit, nor had any taken place in the last century or so according to Sunny. For centuries, they all just lived apart, lost in their own lives without caring about anything outside their borders. A huge contrast from the ponies I had come to know during my early years in Equestria.

‘There’s much to do if we’re to restore things to how they were. The effects of so many years of living in isolation will take a huge effort to reverse…’

Having finished our dinner, I did what any conscientious houseguest would do. “Sunny, mind if I cleared the table and washed these dishes? You paid for the food, it's only fair I do the washing up.” A grateful nod from the earth pony was my answer. Sunny and Hitch then both yawned in tandem.

“I’m feeling kinda tired, so I think I’m gonna call it an early night.” Sunny remarked after the yawn had run its course. “Hitch, you can crash on the sofa if you want.”

Hitch nodded in appreciation. “Thanks, Sunny, I’m feeling kinda beat too. I’ll see you both in the morning.”

They both sleepily waved to me and went on their sleepy way. I returned to the kitchen to collect the plates and utensils, put the condiments back and get the sink ready for a good scrubbing session. A few minutes later, I was done, the dishes now placed on the drying rack along with the rather ornate utensils. On my way up the ramp, I wished Hitch a good night, only getting a half-asleep grunt in return from the living room.

Once in my new room, I removed my shoes and shirt and sat in the chair facing the small window, admiring the moon and the surrounding night sky. With nothing to distract me, my thoughts returned to those of my old friends. Memories swirled around, matted with feelings of guilt and self-loathing chewing hard at my self-esteem. But before I could lose myself deeper into the dark thoughts, I shook myself awake and proceeded to tuck myself into the barely-fitting bed.

Fewer nightmares accompanied me during the night, meaning I had managed to get a more or less decent rest. But even then, I still awoke with my hand pressed firmly against my scar, still feeling the phantom pain sensation that would forever follow me. Such a cruel destiny for the one who had drawn the short straw…

Not wanting to delve too much into it, I quickly got out of bed and, after a good morning stretch, redressed and prepared to face the new day ahead of me.

After a hearty breakfast of refined sugary breakfast cereals with the ponies, Hitch decided to accompany me back into town. It was very early in the morning, and only a few equines were walking the streets on their way to work. Suddenly remembering a possible job opportunity, Hitch informed me of a group of ponies that might require my help. Not warning to waste a fresh opportunity, we took a side path towards the outskirts of town.

With Hitch’s help, I managed to convince the few electrician ponies working on repairing the thermo-solar energy plant to let me lend a hand. My speciality wasn't electronics per se, but I still managed to help them repair and reinforce the wiring, and fix the electrical transformers that seemed to have overloaded after the previous magical outburst from the Unity Crystals when they had joined together. You can thank my sister for my average knowledge in electronics and programming.

Magic overloading circuits was one of the MANY headaches I had to deal with at the beginning of the ISIT program and the integration of modern technology in an Equestria stuck in an aborted industrial revolution. I was able to quickly scavenge some knowledge from my past projects and advised them on how to prepare in case something similar were to happen again.

With that sorted, I walked away with a few bits for my trouble, and the trust of the local electrician ponies, who kindly offered me a chance to work with them again if the need arose. Hitch himself was rather impressed that I had that kind of technical knowledge in my pocket. However, since I had already made clear that that field wasn’t my true speciality, I asked him if the town’s hospital had some kind of clinical laboratory I could enroll in, since that is what my studies back on Earth specialized in and the best palace I could make use of my abilities.

Upon his affirmative answer, I parted ways with him and, while he headed for his office to begin the morning load of paperwork, decided to visit the hospital and ask about the possibility of working there, as I possessed plenty of previous experience in lab work, both form my days in college and after my arrival in Equestria. Much more than in anything related to electronics, at least when it came to handwork, that is. Fifteen minutes later, I arrived at the main entrance and asked for the director, a stallion named Rusty Scalpel.

‘Mmfff, that name doesn't inspire a lot of confidence for a place like this, that’s for sure.’

I had no references that could support my previous experience, for obvious reasons, so I asked for a trial to demonstrate my skills.

After giving myself a few minutes to familiarize myself with their lab’s equipment, I set about analyzing various samples and running various protocols, the same as I had done dozens of times before. The technology, while considerably more modern than the one I used in the old days with the lab ponies, was not that different to my workplace back in the human world.

Ah, the sweet times of being an underpaid predoctoral assistant…

My performance and aptitude for the work, added to my general knowledge of the three tribes of ponies, convinced the lab staff and the director that I was a desirable candidate to hire. Apparently, they urgently needed somepony with specialized knowledge about the other races now that they had started to migrate into the town, either for avisist or with more permanent plans in mind. Guessed ponies were in a rush for some beach and sun rays while it was still summer.

Because I would need to leave town several times during my research, I decided it best to negotiate an hourly contract since I wouldn’t always be available for work, granting me the flexibility I required for focusing on different fonts at the same time, if you will. Thus, we were able to come to an agreement and, seeing as I was already there and my future coworkers were eager to meet me, I decided to work a couple of extra hours to finish familiarizing myself with the lab’s environment and personnel.

The ponies working there looked at me mesmerized, some of them furiously taking notes on my strange methods, but I was like a fish in the water. It wasn't a huge lab, but neither was the hospital, although some renovations would be in order both to deal with the influx of ponies and the particular necessities of each of the immigrant tribes. I made a note to have a meeting with the director to help him deal with that.

By the end of the morning, I had made friends with several staff members, and I had promised to teach them all some more of my lab tricks when we had a chance to.

With a few more bits in my possession, I decided to return to the Maretime National Bank, and try once again to open an account. Still a bit reluctant due to my low capital, they nevertheless allowed me this time to open one in the branch and were so kind as to inform me that I would soon be able to make transactions, as well as withdraw or deposit money at the other branches located in the other cities in the near future. Evidently, the financial companies of each tribe were beginning to negotiate and reach new agreements to promote the mobility of resources and capital between them, which was a very good thing to hear. The fact that the three of them still embraced the Bit as common currency would only facilitate the transition.

On my way back to the brighthouse, I caught sight of Sunny rushing around town in roller skates while towing a small cart full of smoothies.

‘Skating ponies… that’s a new one for me. How can she balance herself on four legs?….. Way better than humans can, now that I think about it.’

Merrily chucklin at the curious sight, I continued my path out of town towards my new home. All that walking would help me get back in shape. Sleeping for seven centuries straight isn’t what the doctor would recommend if you wanted to remain fit. Some morning runs along the beach and easy exercises would get me back to my old self in no time.

‘Better not push it too hard, either, since now I’m technically… how much would it be… seven hundred and… forty six, I think?... Bah, not that it matters anymore…”

Once in the main hall, I heard a ruckus coming from one of the corners of the lower floor, Izzy’s designated space to be more precise.

Poking my head in to investigate, I came across the very same mare, who appeared to be taking various items out of a saddlebag and placing them around her work area.

“Hey there, Izzy! How was the trip?” I greeted her while stepping into her workshop.

She turned around and enthusiastically greeted me back. “Helloooo there, Alex! I’m finally back!” She boldly announced with a funny pose. “The trip was nice, nothing special to it, really…” her posture suddenly sagged. “The unicorns seemed a bit more excited now that all the ponies are starting to interact together… they also looked somewhat relieved when I told them I was moving to Maretime Bay…” She sighed sadly and finished with her ears and head dropping.

“Heh. Well, it’s their loss!” I cried, walking all the way to the dejected unicorn. “If those dull unicorns can’t deal with la Izzy, then la Izzy will graciously leave them in the dust, and move to where she’s wanted, which just happens to be right here with us!” I exclaimed, followed by some gentle encouragement with a few affectionate rubs on her wavy mane.

Her sorrow mood was promptly evaporated by my touch, and her smile illuminated the room again. I continued my caressing, to her obvious enjoyment. “Ho ho! Now that’s something I can get used to! Mmmmmm…” She cooed while directing my hands with her head movements.

Chuckling at her antics, I stopped my petting and ushered her. “Come on, you silly filly, let's finish unpacking your things.” With a fake pout at being denied more pets, she was more than happy to let me lend a hand, and continued organizing her stuff while I took what remained out of her bag and handed each item to her. It mostly consisted of crafting materials and utensils, some of them fabricated by the mare herself. I couldn’t help but be impressed, especially since I knew for a fact she had had to come up with all of this with her hooves instead of her horn.

Once done, she reached for the side of her desk and grabbed a small string bracelet with numerous gems sewn into it.

“Here you go! Your very own friendship bracelet, courtesy of ‘la Izzy’ Eeeheheheh! Now we all have matching sets!” She excitedly exclaimed, doing a happy trot in place while showcasing hers, partially obscured by the slightly longer fur of her fetlock.

I grabbed the offered bracelet, putting it on my right wrist and carefully examining the gems it contained. A close look revealed them to contain a fair amount of magic inside. Not the types of gems I would’ve chosen for the task, but I realized I could use them as an impromptu substitute for a piece of equipment I had previously made. One that I planned to recreate eventually, and which centerpiece rested in my left pocket.

The lightbulb didn't take long to lit over my head. “Thank you, Izzy, it looks great. Although, now that I think about it, I might need your help with a small project of mine…” I voiced my plans with a mischievous smile.

“Owww, that sounds ominous... I’m in! What’cha need? I can craft anything your tiny brain could possibly imagine!” She answered while puffing her chest in mock pride.

With a roll of my eyes, I explained my idea. “I was thinking of using the bracelet’s gems as well as my own to create a sort of Atlas Gauntlet, similar to the one I used to carry in the past.” I explain, the blueprint already formed in my mind. It only was a matter of available materials, which Izzy’s large collection would surely be able to provide. “Although this one would be, for now, a less refined version. I’m gonna need a glove with a special layout. Mind if we take a look around, and see if we can find anything that might suit me?”

With her tail wagging in excitement, she dragged me all around her workplace, showing me the different materials she had at her disposal. I ended up choosing a piece of material that closely resembled synthetic leather and a few scrap parts that contained traces of magic-conducting metal. Once we had everything we needed, we started to, as Izzy called it, ‘unicycle’ my gauntlet.

It only took us a couple of hours. The result was a rough and inefficient version of what was arguably one of my greatest-ever creations. For now, this inferior version would have to suffice. We managed to integrate the bracelet into the design along with the gem I carried from the past. These would be attached to the glove and would be in conductive contact with each other via the magically-conductive metal bands. The power output was laughable, and magic-conversion efficiency a sad excuse of what my most advanced prototypes could deal with.

But it would do for the time being. The rest was up to my concentration and skill.

“Thank you very much, Izzy. This turned out pretty decent if I say so myself." I thanked the unicorn who was now looking in awe at our recent creation, her smile almost falling out of her face.

To be honest, it looked more like a cheap imitation of the Infinity Gauntlet, if you know what I’m referring to. It wouldn’t allow me to erase half the universe, for now… but at least I could defend myself and be of more help to the group. Just as it was my original intention when I first sought to build it, many many many MANY years ago.

“Can I see how it works?!! Pleasepleasepleaseplease!” Izzy pleaded with her own set of puppy eyes, launching herself into me for enhanced effect.

This time however, I was prepared to resist her adorableness. “I’ll show you, Izzy, but I think it would be best if we wait for Sunny and Hitch to arrive. I'm meeting them for an impromptu picnic in half an hour, would you like to accompany us?”

Izzy snorted in mock derision at such an obvious question. “Duh! Of course I’m up for a picnic with my bestest of friends!” She beamed at my invitation.

While we waited for the rest of the ponies to arrive, I talked to Izzy about fixing up a few additional pieces of clothing for me. While claiming not to be her field of expertise, I allowed her to examine the clothes I was wearing more closely, and I had her look over a few sketches I had drawn of them. She accepted the challenge and, of course, wouldn’t hear a thing about payment.

“What kind of friend would I be to ask you for payment when, firstly, you don’t have any money at the moment, and secondly, you’re my friend?!” She rebutted, going as far as looking offended that I had ever suggested paying her.

I was quick to reassure her. “I didn’t mean it like that, Izzy. I actually managed to gain a few bits from doing some honest work today. “I pulled aid bits from my pocket for her to glimpse. “Also, offering payment for a service done for a friend doesn’t mean you’re being a bad one by accepting it. This is your vocation, after all. If you wanted to, you could give them a special discount, or something similar, what we called ‘mate’s rates’ back on Earth. I wouldn't think bad of you for doing so, you silly filly.”

She still looked unsure. “I don’t know… it sounds wrong to do something like that to a friend… I don’t want to lose any of you. I’m willing to do anything necessary to keep my friends happy!” She wailed in distress.

What can you expect from a pony living in a world like that, where all the friendship lessons my pony family had learned and showed to the world were all but an old mare's tale?

I couldn’t help myself and gave her a big hug. “Thank you, Izzy, that is very kind of you. Why don’t we talk more about it with the rest of the gang, and see what their opinion on the matter is, hmm? I’m sure it’ll help.”

I felt her nod against my chest, her breathing now slow and gentle. After parting from the hug, we spent the next few minutes talking about my new job and what she meant by 'unicycling'. I found it a very interesting and creative concept, and I encouraged her to keep going with it. She also showed me a few of her trinkets, spread haphazardly around her workshop. All of them had something in common: they were created using recycled materials and given a new purpose, whether it was artistic, aesthetic, or functional.

“Wow, Izzy, they look great! Perhaps I could commission something from you to decorate my room, how does that sound?”

With a furious wag of her tail, she nodded enthusiastically, a brilliant smile on her muzzle at the prospect of creating something for me.

So engrossed we were in our conversation that we didn’t hear Sunny entering the brighthouse.

“Izzy, you’re back!!” She yelled at the sight of us.

“Sunnyyyy!!!” Cried a very happy Izzy, rushing towards her friend and glomping her with a jump, the two mares now on the floor squealing in delight.

It was a really heartwarming moment to witness. These two really hit off after meeting each other at the beginning of their journey. After disentangling themselves, and another hug from Sunny for little ol’ me, we gathered our things and set off for the picnic. Sunny confirmed that Hitch would be joining us shortly, as he had some pressing matters to attend to in the office first. She was kind enough to prepare some vegetable sandwiches as well as a few snacks, along with some of her famous smoothies that she had brought with her on her way back from her smoothie stand.

We settled on a beautiful hill not too far from the brighthouse, the gorgeous sights of the sea and the coastal town making for a very picturesque scene. The girls talked about the things they had done while being apart, myself politely listening in the background while admiring the sights around us.

A few minutes later, Hitch arrived, carrying a bag with what smelled like more treats for our picnic. After a cheerful greeting from Izzy, we began with our meal.

The food was stupendous, as was the company. The ponies were engrossed in their chit-chatting, laughing at the memories of their very first journey, and sharing thoughts about the future. It reminded me a lot of my time with the girls…

After we finished our meal, I found myself once again assaulted by Sunny’s questions, her and then the rest wanting to learn more about my time in ancient Equestria. Furiously scribbling down in her notebook, Sunny recorded some of the anecdotes and adventures I recounted from during my early years in the land of the ponies. They all looked absolutely thrilled, Sunny especially, her eyes almost bulging out of their sockets in amazement.

‘Heh, yeah, I’ve been in all manner of crazy adventures.’

Izzy also eagerly encouraged me to show them our latest creation that was currently resting in my left pocket. With an amused roll of my eyes, I showed the earth ponies my prototype gauntlet.

“It looks similar to the one in the diagram with your signature! Is that….” She began to wonder while cautiously poking it with a hoof.

“It is, Sunny. This is a simplified, rough version of the Atlas Gauntlet. It allows me to store magical energy and cast any spell I wish with the only limitations being the amount of magic stored and how much energy output the gems can handle.” I explained in my best attempt of a lecture voice.

“Now, that’s something alright!” A surprised Hitch responded.

“Can you show us how it works?! Pleasepleasepleaseplease!!” Pleaded Sunny in a similar manner to Izzy before, Izzy eventually joining in with the sad puppy look in a fearsome double combo.

It was too much for me this time. With an amused chuckle, I put on the gauntlet and cast a few simple levitation and wind spells, to the ponies’ delight.

“It’s AMAZING! And so… practical! No wonder this was described as an outstanding revolution in my father’s notes!” Sunny cheered after my little demonstration.

“Yeah, almost makes this old thing feel outdated.” Izzy added while poking at her horn.

Hah, if only she had known the severity of that EXACT train of thought…

With a sad smile, I explained the nature of that issue. “Actually Izzy, that was one of the problems I had to face when I first introduced the technology. Many ponies started to think that, with the new advances I provided, the need to turn to the other tribes for help was unnecessary, and that it was much easier to take the matter into their own hooves and go on without assistance. I’m afraid the new technology ended up only aggravating those developing rifts between the ponies.” I recalled with a defeated mutter. Leagues away from their original intent, but ponies were adamant on considering substitutes more than aids.

“My original goal was to breach the species barrier both in and out of Equestria, and grant the chance for everycreature to live their best life regardless of possessing or not wings or a horn or neither.” I continued with my description, the ponies listening with rapt attention. “But my purpose was gravely misunderstood, and that ended up having terrible consequences…” I finished with a dejected sigh, my thoughts returning to the infamous incident that completely altered our efforts to restore harmony between ponies.

The ponies rose to give me sympathetic pats, with Sunny going as far as giving me another big hug while reassuring me that they under absolutely no circumstance would think less of me.

‘We’ll see if that stays true after you hear the full version, Sunny. I’m not exactly what you might call an epitome of righteousness…’

Thanking them for their support, we spent the better part of the afternoon chatting about various topics, the ponies telling me more about their respective hometowns. Sunny never left my side, now snuggling closer with my arm around her while I absent-mindedly rubbed my thumb over the fur of her shoulder. She was adamant of staying close to me, and I was more than happy to grant permission. I mean, who wouldn't want a cute pony at their side, right?

When it started to get a bit chilly, we packed up and headed back to the brighthouse. Without much to do with the rest of the afternoon, Sunny decided to show me one of her favorite movies. She described that it was about a group of explorers going into the mysterious Bridlewood Forest to recover a valuable relic from the hooves of its dangerous inhabitants. Biting on my jacket sleeve, she led me towards the living room and took a seat to my right. Izzy, who was sitting to my left, could only laugh at the many inconsistencies the movie showed about her race. It seemed a bit exaggerated to me, too.

After the credits rolled, we grabbed a light dinner from the kitchen and headed to bed, the ponies reminding me to wake up early to watch tomorrow’s royal parade. That reminded me that I was going to have a couple of words with the pegasi sisters when they returned.

Not feeling very sleepy, I spent the next hour starting the process of cataloging Argyle’s documents and diary entries. From what little I stopped to read in-depth, many of them described famous events and characters from the post-Nightmare Moon era. He made a big effort and tried to depict them as close to the actual truth as possible, but it seemed many centuries and the general disinterest to preserve history had caused many important details to end up gravely distorted or outright lost to time. Still, I was convinced I could make great use of them, especially those going over the period of time after my absence.

However, a quick look at the immediately available documents revealed only but a trickle of half-cooked theories and possibilities. I guessed how, when your country is literally crumbling around you, the last thing you think about is leaving recorded evidence behind. A real shame. For me, it meant that I would have to look somewhere else for information, something already within my goals but now gaining a new level of importance.

Regardless of that, I’d look them over and, with Sunny’s permission, add my personal touch to correct or expand on the vents he had described. Who knew? Other ponies might want to learn about it eventually, now that they weren’t preoccupied in senselessly hating one another.

When I felt my eyelids starting to drop over my tired eyes, I knew it was time to call it a day. Undressing to my underwear and getting under the covers, my mind drifted once again to the memories of my past, but also to a lesser extent recalling the events of the last few days. Thoughts of my new friends and my new surroundings filled my sleepy mind. Now that got a tiny smile out of me, something I found myself doing more and more without the need to fake it. Ponies and their never ending friendship and support would get you out of the deepest hole.

‘Baby steps, Alex, baby steps.’

Since the moment I embarked on my journey, I knew there was little-to-no chance of ever returning to the past. Long hours of lone meditation had been undergone for the sole purpose of dealing with that aspect of my mission, to the point I almost called it over several times at the prospect of having to renounce everything. After Starlight’s incident with time travel, the prospect of traveling back in time was a very delicate matter. I truly didn’t want to lose hope, but under no circumstances I would attempt to return if that endangered my friends’ lives, new ones and old ones.

‘But before I even contemplate any of that, I need to first complete my mission. Then… then we’ll see.’

I woke up to Izzy loudly knocking on my door, urging me to hurry up or I would miss the parade. Sensing her urgency, I bounced out of bed and took a quick shower to wake myself the rest of the way. Once fresh and awake, I went downstairs to join the others who were already sitting in front of the TV, expectantly waiting for the parade to begin. For the first time, I got to see some images of Zephyr Heights, its white and gold shades reminding me a bit of Canterlot while what little I could discern from its layout reminded me of a modern human city.

‘Woah, the pegasi sure dig the big screens, huh?’ I mentally chuckled at the sight of the several brief shots of the pegasi filling up the streets to bid farewell to their princesses, and the humongous screens filling every connectable wall retransmitting the very same thing we were watching on TV.

How did TV actually work, I wondered. The ponies didn't have satellites or anything alike as far as I knew. A question for another time, although I could bet my arm it had something to do with magic or something. It was always magic, even while they couldn't even access it.

The cameras focused then on the main chariot, where the pegasi sisters sat at the sides of an older pegasus mare, who I assumed must be the Queen. Sunny confirmed my suspicions, mentioning that her name was Haven. The Queen was standing firm and royal, with Pipp enthusiastically waving to the hordes of ponies clamoring for their princesses. Zipp, on the other hand, looked like she wanted to be swallowed up by the earth, her expression uncomfortable and eyes nervously darting around, shying away as best she could from the cameras and screaming fans.

After a few minutes, the sisters seemed to have gotten into a small argument, with her mother intervening and giving Zipp a sharp look which settled the pair down.

“Look! There they are! Hi, Zipp! Hi, Pipp!” Exclaimed Sunny while waving her forelegs at the TV.

“Are those pegasi crying?” Asked a flummoxed looking Hitch.

Izzy sighed dejectedly. “I know exactly how Pipp and Zipp feel right now… I remember it like it was yesterday” Added Izzy, dreamily referring to her visit to Bridlewood.

“Uh, Izzy? That was yesterday.” Sunny gave her friend a deadpan look.

“Was it? Ooow…” Izzy’s eyes widened in realization. That silly mare could be so random at times. “Ooh, look! The queen!” Izzy suddenly cheered when the cameras focused on the pegasi leader. I could only chuckle at her antics, rubbing her neck affectionately.

The Queen was giving some kind of parting speech, showing numerous pictures of the sisters growing up, usual motherly business for all equinekind to see, and to the painfully visible embarrassment of Zipp.

Once she was done embarrassing her daughters, the main course of the parade was finally at hand. However, while trying to unveil a concealed monument in honor of their daughters leaving the city, an accident involving a flying out-of-control pegasus unleashed chaos that quickly spread throughout the parade.

We all started cracking up at the ridiculous sight that lasted for a few minutes, the announcers wincing at the numerous bumps and crashes the out-of-control pegasi suffered while flapping around the place like headless chickens. Not like you could ask more of them, considering they had only regained their wings a couple of days ago.

Thankfully, it seemed nopony was hurt in the end. The cameras ended their transmission with the sisters flying away from the parade carrying their things, which meant they would arrive here in a matter of hours.

With the parade over, I said goodbye to my friends and headed back to town. I intended to work for a few more hours in the lab and get to know the staff a little better. We all arranged to meet after lunch to welcome back the sisters.

A quiet morning awaited me. The hospital didn't have many patients at the moment, so there wasn't much work to do. I took the chance to teach the lab ponies a few more tricks I learned from my time on Earth, as well as get to know them better. When it was time for lunch, I went to the lower level of the town and headed for the local market, see if my nose caught something appetizing.

I ended up buying two vegetable sandwiches and a soft drink from a vendor near the beach accessway. The ponies acted a bit calmer in my presence, many giving me a shy smile or a small wave as I passed by. A contrast improvement to my first day.

I perched my back against the boardwalk railing and quietly ate my lunch as I watched the ponies go by the street, lost on their own lives and worries. One of them turned out to be Jazz, who was trotting absentmindedly while meticulously consulting some papers. Feeling like chatting for a bit, I yelled a call of attention that made her look back at the road and, after casting a puzzled look around, she saw me waving at her from where I was resting. With a friendly smile, she came over to chat with me while putting away the papers back in her saddlebag.

“Hi there, Jazz, how’s the new business going?” I greeted the earth pony mare after swallowing another bite of the sandwich.

“Good morning, Alex! It’s going great, actually. I believe we’ll be ready to open tomorrow, if not the day after. I’m just waiting for the manager to return to Maretime Bay and give the final go-ahead.” She greeted back, contagious enthusiasm dripping from every eager word coming from her beaming muzzle. “I was just revising the last of the paperwork on my way to get some lunch. Thankfully, once this is over, I can finally focus on bringing style and fashion to our customers. Oh, I’m so excited!” She finished with an excited trot in place.

“Hehe, I can see. Well, I don’t want to keep you away from your meal, Jazz. I’ll try and visit during the opening, sound good?”

She beamed further at my proposal. “Of course, Alex! I’d be delighted to see you there! Perhaps you’ll be my first customer, although I’m not sure if hoof polishing or mane styling is what you’re looking for…” She regarded my alien hands with uncertainty.

“Don’t worry about it, I’ll visit nonetheless…” A pair of distant figures in the sky brought my attention skywards. “Oops, that’s my call. I’ll see you around, Jazz.” I spoke a hasty goodbye as I saw the two flying figures approaching from the west heading north towards the Crystal Brighthouse, most likely the sisters returning. Another pair of figures lagged behind. From what my poor eyesight could discern, it looked like they were carrying heavy packing with how uneven and tired their flight pattern seemed.

‘A princess’ worth of personal belongings, I reckon…’ I facepalmed inwardly.

“See you there, Alex!” She said her goodbyes with a wave of her foreleg.

Returning one last of my own, I quickened my pace back towards my new home. The sisters had ended up arriving a bit sooner than I did to our shared residence. I could hear the cheerful greeting of my friends as I neared the front entrance.

“….and that pony crashed against the balloon and, like, ALL went absolutely nuts! I thought for a moment our surprise would be ruined!” I could hear Pipp animatedly retelling the events we had glimpsed this morning on TV.

Feeling a bit impish, I started messing around with the royal sisters once I had entered the building and gained their attention. “Well, well, if it isn't their royal Majesties, who grace us with their presence. Please, tell me, Your Highnesses, to what do we owe this tremendous honor?” I shot with an exaggerated posh voice and a profound reverence.

“Uuuuuh, what are you doing?” Asked a flummoxed Zipp. Pipp, on the other hand, didn’t seem too bothered, giving me an approving smile at my choice of titles.

“Well, as it happens, I had to learn from our friend Izzy here that two of the ponies to whom I was introduced the other day were actually PRINCESSES, and didn’t even bother to tell me so! I think that’s a rather important piece of information to omit when introducing yourself, don’t you think?” I jabbed with a raised eyebrow, arms crossed and an unamused expression on my features.

“Hehe, yeah, perhaps we should have told you. It kinda slipped my mind, to be honest.” Replied an embarrassed Zipp, nervously pawing at the floor.

“I, for one, think we were just a bit too shocked with your sudden appearance. We were worried sick for our friend here and…. I guess we didn’t consider it important at the moment. Also, please take heed of the fact that you were a complete stranger who, just before our arrival, had broken into Sunny’s house! Not the typical kind of pony I would freely share all my personal info with!” Answered Pipp harshly while looking a bit bothered at my accusations.

I didn't want to start a fight either. “Yes, yes, I know, it wasn’t the first meeting I would have chosen either. Just… please make sure to inform me of these kinds of things, they could be important. A royal family outside the Alicorn Dynasty is something I have to take into consideration going forward. There wasn’t anything remotely similar to this during my time in ancient Equestria.” I implored the sisters, now losing my teasing attitude.

Zipp, looking quite unsure after my exaggerated greetings, continued to avoid my gaze. “Sorry about that, Alex… If I’m honest, I don’t really like being treated like royalty. I’ve had enough of that back home and I would REALLY appreciate it if you would just treat me like a normal pony… please?” I heard her ask while approaching me. Her eyes bored a tired, desperate look once they left the marble floor to meet mine.

I could plainly sense the gravity of her plea. ‘Woah, she really doesn’t like the royal treatment… Now THAT I can understand.’

Her sentiment was a kindred one, and I saw no reason to deny her. “Very well, Zipp, you won’t hear another royal greeting or anything similar from me from now on. I concur, it gets very tiresome very fast...” I remembered tiredly the numerous times I was referred to as royalty regardless of how many times I asked not to be. Regardless of how official or permanent said titles were, it rubbed me wrong. Every. Single. Time. Even worse when it came from loved ones.

At that moment, Sunny chose to intervene in an attempt to diffuse the awkward atmosphere that threatened to fall over us. “Okay, ponies, now that we’re all back, how about we help you finish unpacking and… I don’t know… watch a movie or play some board games?”

The ponies turned to cast a fearful look towards the huge pile of luggage littered in the corner of the room. I could almost hear the nervous sweating dripping from their brows.

“Yeaaaah, that’s gonna take a while…” Muttered Izzy.

“I only brought the essentials, I swear!” Wailed Pipp in response to the annoyed looks her friends were giving her.

With a resounding facepalm, I ushered my friends to get a start on it. “Come on guys, the sooner we all start, the sooner we all finish…”

Two hours later, and a LOT of trips up and down the ramps, we had managed to get everything more or less in place. The rest would be her problem.

‘I’m too old for this shit...’

We spent the rest of the afternoon catching up on what we had done while being apart, myself politely listening in the background since my day had been all but exciting. A simple, average day around town, one I had not enjoyed in a loooong while. The ponies in their chattering sounded very eager to start their new life together, at least.

“So, you’re the manager of the new mane salon, huh? I met with Jazz Hooves not long ago, she seemed very eager to start.” I mentioned, surprised after hearing Pipp mention the new business in town.

“I am! I have SO many new ideas I want to try! The moment I saw the building for sale, I knew I had to act quickly. Now the ponies of Maretime Bay can enjoy the latest trends while showing off their EXUBERANTLY-stylized manes, courtesy of moi. It’s going to be REVOLUTIONARY!! Also, it’ll help me practice my new hits. Mane styling AND music, now that’s something this town desperately needs, right Zipp?” She boldly declared while standing up and taking a victory pose. Her enthusiasm was clearly visible, not like the one coming from her sister.

“Uh huh….” Answered the white pegasus with a tired roll of her eyes, the rest of the ponies giggling at the sisters’ antics.

After a quick dinner, the ponies began to retire to their respective beds. However, before she could speed away flying, I asked Zipp to remain in the living room and have a word with me. There was an issue I wished to address with her.

“Okay, I’m here. Is… anything wrong?” Zipp began after returning from the kitchen. I motioned for her to take a seat at my side. With a confused look, she complied without a word.

“I’m going to be blunt, Zipp. The way you looked during the parade? It was almost as if you were wishing for somepony to please take you out of your misery. It was kind of painful to witness you like that, to be honest… and your earlier reaction to my mock greetings? I’m going to take a wild guess and presume you don’t particularly like the royal treatment.”

Even if she had already confirmed it before, I wanted to get the whole picture. She lowered her gaze with a dejected sigh. “It’s been like that ever since I was a little filly. Since I’m the older sister, I have the duty of inheriting my mother's throne. But…” Her wings folded over her chest to partially conceal herself in shame. “Over the years, I’ve learned that’s not what I want to do with my life, no matter how many times I’m told or how much my mother insists on it. I like freedom, exploring, and now that I can, flying! I love spending time with my new friends!”

A spark of life lit her eyes with every one of her passions, only to wither away when she continued. “Governing, attending meetings, passing laws… none of that appeals to me. I've spent so many years pretending to be what I'm not, that now that I can enjoy more freedom, I don't even know what to do with my life! I don't even know who I am anymore...”

Feeling her pain as if it was my own, I placed a reassuring hand on her back. “Have you talked to your mom or your sis about this?”

She leaned a bit closer, accepting the gesture. “More times than I can count, but my mother always says the same thing. She believes duty is above whatever personal desires I have.” For a moment, it was almost as if she had aged a century before my very eyes, so tired she was of having the same discussion with her family.

“Don’t get me wrong, she loves my sister and I with all her heart, and we both love her, but it’s SO frustrating to be ignored over and over again! My sister always complains about my attitude regarding taking the throne. She thinks she would make a better queen, even if I believe she doesn’t fully understand the responsibility. ‘Ruling a kingdom is NOT like being an influencer, Pipp!’ That’s what I always tell her, but she just sticks her tongue to me and ignores me!” Her muzzle scrunched in annoyance.

“Sisters will be sisters, right?”

She could only nod tiredly in agreement. “But, now that I’m here with all of you, I can escape my mother’s incessant attempts to get me to act ‘more royal-esk’ and learn how to govern, but I’m afraid that that won’t last forever.” Her ears were now completely pressed against her scalp, her posture sagging and just looking very tired.

I gave her a few sympathetic rubs between her wings, a sweet spot exclusive for winged ponies. I had the perfect example in mind to encourage her. “You know? In the beginning, Twilight Sparkle didn’t want to become Equestria’s ruler, either.” I started. That immediately got her attention, her eyes now focused on me.

“What are you talking about?” She inquired, changing her posture to completely face me.

“When she first ascended as an alicorn, she shared royal duties with the rest of the princesses. Her main goal? To spread friendship and harmony all over Equestria with the help of her friends, teaching ponies all around the magic of friendship. But when the time came for her to inherit the throne, things became very different. She couldn’t stop panicking, and she kept droning about how she wasn’t ready, that she would fail her mentors and everypony else. She always had a knack for overreacting, that mare, but it was true that she was thrown into the position without much consideration or preparation… she really wasn’t given a chance per se. That’s something I always complained about when speaking with Celestia and Luna about the matter. I believe they were too rash with their decision...”

Zipp looked astonished at my words. “Woah, that must have been hard for her…”

A stiff nod sealed the message. “It was. Much more than she wanted to admit to us. But we were always there for her. She made the wise decision to not deny the company and counsel of her closest friends, and together we managed to reign over Equestria with pride and confidence, for a while that is…”

I turned to regard her with a more serious look. “Zipp, nopony, and I mean NOPONY can tell you what to be or not to be, not even your mother.” Her features became aghast at my claim, but I remained firm. “You need to be honest with yourself. It’s your future and the future of the pegasi at stake. Be their leader, their guide in this new world we are slowly building, the princess they want you to become… or don’t be anything. But whatever you choose, you have to be one hundred percent sure, Zipp. Don’t make the mistake of becoming something you loathe. That can only go wrong…”

The look on Zipp’s face turned to a pensive one. “I’ll… think about what you said, Alex… thank you.”

“You’re welcome, Zipp, now off to bed you go.” I ushered her to join her friends in the main bedroom with a pat on her rump.

“What about you?” She asked me while standing up and stretching her wings.

“I’m going to stay here for a bit longer. There are some things I need to mull about, and I would rather do so without Izzy’s snores hammering my ears.”

With a small laugh and a parting wave, Zipp flew up the ramp.

I was left alone in the living room. I leaned back on the sofa and looked up at the ceiling. The glow of rainbow energy could be distinguished through the glass cylinder above me, casting slow waves of rainbow colors into the surrounding walls.

With a tired sigh, my thoughts went to my current situation. ‘Well, here I am. Several centuries into the future, with a new group of friends and my original plan completely ruined. Now, I have to start all over again. I need to learn what happened during my absence, and look out for any others that might remain in Equestria outside the three pony states… Sigh, after Twilight’s coronation, I thought I could finally retire from adventuring, but I guess that won’t be the case. The only thing left to do, is to go forward. Always forward…’

Author's Note

Aaaand that’s it for Act 1. Now that everything’s in place, it’s time to go deeper. Stay tuned for Act 2 and the mystery of the missing crystal.

Chapter 7- A missing crystal.

Act II: Guilt

The last few days had been nothing short of… interesting, to say the least. Four days after everyone had returned from their home cities, I was woken up in the middle of the night by numerous panicked screams coming from the girls’ bedroom. With my heart beating a mile a minute, I rushed through the corridor in my underwear towards them, clumsily putting on my gauntlet in case I had to protect them… only to find the girls running around the room screaming, trying to escape from what appeared to be a… floating blanket?

“What in Celestia’s name is going on here!?” I shouted, seeking to raise my voice over the screaming ponies and understand what in Tartarus was going on in there.

It turned out to be one of those silly pony-shenanigans situations I had grown well accustomed to with my pony family. It seemed Izzy was still struggling to gain full control of her magic. That summed up to her tendency to sleepwalk, well…

What followed was an important lesson, learned by Izzy herself, about the importance of being a good roommate, and not making a complete mess of your roommate’s stuff.

‘Using a toothbrush as an ear cleaner? For Faust’s sake, Izzy…’

I had to check and recheck my meager amount of personal belongings in case the purple menace had damaged them or misplaced anything. And also had to schedule some beginner classes with her to help guide her control of magic. A quick learner, that unicorn, almost as if she had had magic since birth like she should have.

On the other hand, none of them had ever experienced anything similar, so I wasn’t really surprised the girls still had some things to learn when it came to sharing a home together. Still, nopony was injured and a lesson was well learned, a win-win in my book. With the return of magic, I was positive this little innocent coastal town was bound to become a new Ponyville eventually with how things were slowly building.

I had also been given a brand-new smartphone from Pipp, although she claimed it was an ‘older model’ and that she wasn’t using it at the moment.

‘If that is an old model, then I’m a fossil from the Cretaceous Period.’ I chuckled inwardly. ‘Well, it’s free, so I’m not gonna look a gift horse in the mouth… or pony. Whatever.’

The phone worked very similarly to the one I arrived in Equestria with. Similar to the early twenty twenties model, if only a bit bunkier with the hoof holster sprouting on the back of the protective casing. After opening the case, I found its electrical architecture very similar to the one I had shown to the ponies in my early years, although I almost gave poor Pipp a heart attack in the process of dismantling the phone she’d hoofed me five minutes earlier. It took me a while to reassure her that I knew what I was doing. I mean, they were based on my own in the first place.

After a few minutes, I had saved all my friends’ contacts, and I asked Izzy if she could tweak the decoration a bit, as so many shining gemstones really hurt my eyes if I used it for more than two minutes straight. Also, it weighed like a brick, a literal brick.

In other news, Pipp finally got her desired photos with me for her social media. I asked all the present ponies, especially our resident influencer, that in case they wanted to talk about me to anypony else or share something on the ‘Canternet’ about me, to please not to mention anything regarding my origins or my true purpose here. As far as everypony should be concerned, I’m just a weird guy who arrived in Maretime Bay by accident and who wanted to stay here for the time being, and not a long lost prince of a bygone area here to threaten their new way of life.

A barrier to such information was safer for me, safer for them, and also saved me a lot of future trouble had I not asked them to restrict what information they gave out. I didn’t want to risk it until I had a better grasp of the situation at hand. Afterwards, we would see. I also kinda enjoyed being your average citizen once again, just friendly greetings and normal treatment, not ‘Your Highness’ this and ‘My Prince’ that. Zipp understood well what I meant, we both were fed up with it already in our short lives.

The pony demanding the pictures with Maretime Bay’s new resident? Not so much.

A few selfies later, I was ‘trending-trotting’ on all Pipp’s social media accounts. She happened to be a very popular influencer in Zephyr Heights, and was slowly building her fanbase beyond her home city, including ponies of the other tribes as the information highway normalized between the three settlements for all ponies to share the same virtual space. Princess, popstar icon, and Canternet influencer in her free time…

Yeah, that pony had a busy life if I ever saw one. Although… more often than not she looked a bit too engrossed when dealing with her followers. bad habits like constantly checking her phone and trying to turn everything into new content for her fans. ‘Hiiiii, Pippsqueaks~ Today I’m gonna show you how Princess Pipp peels an apple!!’

It's an actual thing, I caught her in the kitchen the other day.

My long experience around the cyberspace back on Earth taught me well about the dangers of losing yourself on the internet, even more so in those days when the migration to the Two Point O internet was underway, around the time I crossed the barriers between the worlds. The streamers’ age was declining while VR and AR slowly dominated the content in the early thirties’ when I left my home planet. Crazy times which I’d rather much prefer not to relive here in a technological-advanced Equestria.

I made a mental note to have a talk with her in the future.

The next day after the impromptu selfie session, the ponies and I attended the opening of Mane Melody, Pipp’s new mane salon and karaoke bar for brave-enough ponies. In only a few minutes after the doors opened for the very first time, several ponies, including our friends, were quick to request a change in mane style, hooficures, etc. Pipp had branded it a ‘glow up’, and had become her main call to amass a healthy number of customers for the opening.

It goes without saying her Canternet figure helped wonders to spread the announcement far and wide, so it wasn't much of a surprise to see so many ponies waiting impatiently before the new salons’ entrance even before Pipp had arrived that morning for the inauguration.

The pegasus in question was simply vibrating. She, along with her coworkers, soon found themselves hooves full with numerous clients asking for the very best where mane treatment was concerned.

Actually, something funny had happened halfway into their opening rush. Her reaction when the same yellow-furred earth pony that had given me the stinky eye the other day, whose name I learned was Posey, punctuated her new mane style with a solid ‘meh’, was simply hilarious. Pipp, fighting herself to remain steady, was seconds away from tearing her to pieces. I think I’ve never seen an eye twitching so hard as hers while she ‘thanked’ the earth to pony for her honest review.

But aside from that mishap, the ponies left pretty content with her work, and many happy clients made their satisfaction known in their reviews, both online and in person. That is until Miss Cloverleaf entered the salon like a thunderstorm. I could have sworn the temperature decreased by a couple of degrees as ponies began shaking in their horseshoes. Very dramatic, but what can you expect from the small, colorful equines?

Miss Cloverleaf wanted to try the new establishment and see if it met her… standards. Being a member of the town’s council, and the head of the largest company in town on the side, undoubtedly gave her a great deal of influence. Also, judging from the whispers of ponies in the salon, she seemed to be a very difficult pony to please, possessing a track record of businesses closing shortly after her visits .

Poor Pipp was so nervous when Phyllis asked her to ‘surprise her’, that she ended up messing it up right from the start, cutting a good chunk out of the mature mare’s mane in a swift, yet accidental move.

You can guess what followed. It was up to us to act as a distraction while her sister helped her with a nervous breakdown down a nearby alley.

While Sunny pretended to work on her hoof, I distracted Phyllis with some friendly conversation on the topics we both specialized. She was quite disappointed with my definite refusal to work at her company, a company that was currently on hold since their factory had shut down, but still. I nevertheless promised her that I would check in from time to time to see her progress when it resumed, and lend a hand where I could.

Poor Sunny for her part, had no idea what she was doing with the mare's hoof. Luckily, Phyllis was blindfolded with two cucumber slices that prevented her from seeing the absolute mess.

A few minutes later, Pipp stormed back into the salon with a confident look on her face and a steely determination to tackle the issue head-on. After many aggressive combing techniques and numerous styling products, she ended up leaving Miss Cloverleaf with exactly the same mane cut she had when entering the establishment.

Faust’s luck was on our side, since that was exactly what Phyllis was looking for, and she reflected it on a review attesting to that. Crisis averted, although I would have liked to see that unlimited free pizza restaurant that had allegedly closed down due to Phyllis’ sharp reviews…

After the turmoil was over, I asked for a little haircut; nothing fancy, just a little off the top to keep it from getting in my eyes. I always preferred short hair as a matter of personal preference, as well as for lab safety, like if it ended up catching on fire or worse…. which did happen once. Pipp did a great job, especially considering it was her first time dealing with hair like mine.

That same afternoon we all gathered at the beach for some quality time together. It was there when, completely out of nowhere, that I saw it for the first time.

“Mother of Faust.” I muttered in complete disbelief. “Sunny, how did you do that?!” I demanded the surprised mare-now-turned-alicorn. She had just been playing tag in the water with Izzy, both having the time of their lives when, out of a sudden, the same translucent horn and pair of translucent golden wings materialized with a *whoosh* Particles of light exploded outwards at the same time her new assets materialized, trickling down into the rolling waves of the afternoon low tide.

“Oh, my, glitter, Sunny, it’s happened again!! You look absolutely marvelous!!” Exclaimed Pipp while pulling her sunglasses away from her eyes, launching herself into the air and bathing the flummoxed earth pony in photos.

Sunny flapped her wings testingly and exited the water to land in front of me. “I-I don’t know Alex, I-I was just having fun with Izzy and suddenly I f-felt this pressure on my head, like something wanted to urgently escape my body, a-and after relaxing and letting go… these things appeared.” She worriedly pointed at her forehead and sides.

I could barely believe what I was seeing. It wasn't like those cheap imitation spells that would grant you wings or a horn for a limited time. The project I immersed myself with during my days in Canterlot had never left its planning phase, so I never had the chance to see a finished version on a pony, if the thing before my eyes was the actual same thing to begin with!

I cautiously approached her and ran my fingers over her translucent wings. “Can you feel this?” I asked the concerned mare as the tips of my finger traced her individual feathers..

“Y-yeah, I mean, kinda.” She shuddered in light of the new sensations. “It’s like suddenly gaining a new sense. It feels very weird, like If my body wasn’t supposed to feel it, but it does nonetheless. Is it bad?” Her apprehension was rising as the rest of the ponies surrounded her with visible concern. Zipp took out her phone and started taking notes… or, that’s what it looked like she was doing.

“Oh no! Is she going to be sick, or… or… will she EXPLODE?!!” Izzy wailed with a dramatic wave of her forelegs, only working to unnerve the ponies further.

Her unwelcome attitude was only bringing Sunny closer to a nervous breakdown, so I decided to diffuse such nonsense immediately, “Don't be ridiculous, Izzy, she’s going to be fine. It’s just… this is a type of magic I don’t think anypony here has ever seen before, and we have to be cautious around it.” I left her wings be and slightly pulled back to assess her entire frame. “Okay Sunny, tell me. What were you thinking about when this happened? Can you remember how you were feeling?” I inquired while slowly walking around her to get a more complete view of her new body parts. Only her new assets, you pervs. I promise.

Two average pegasus-sized wings, and an average-sized horn jutting form below her mane, although there was neither a flowing mane present nor had there been a change to the size of her body. The limited nature of these changes led me to conclude for the moment that they were not permanent, theory reinforced by the fact she had gained this form and lost it previously.

She nervously pawed at the sand while coming up with an answer, “W-well, I was having a great time just messing around with Izzy. I was just thinking about how to get her back after splashing me, and I was looking around to see how I could create a big-enough splash to get back at her. I was also thinking how easy it would be to do if only I had the same magic as my friend… and then it suddenly happened, I was an alicorn again! I don’t understand, Alex…” She concluded with her frightened gaze down in the sand, her ears pressed against her scalp.

I placed my hand on her chin and nudged her head up to meet my eyes. With a soothing voice, I tried to reassure her. “It’s fine, Sunny. I was expecting something like this. This type of magic is usually triggered by a specific thought or emotion.” I explained in short, rubbing my thumb along her furry cheek. “With practice, I have no doubt that you’ll be able to unleash your powers on your terms, as well as control them. Alicorn magic was the MOST powerful type of magic in the Heptarchy… and chances are it still is. So,” I proposed firmly. “Starting tomorrow, we will begin with some practical lessons. I will try to help you as much as I can, but the hard work will be on you. Do you understand, Sunny?”

She timidly nodded under my intense gaze. I didn’t want to sound too strict or pushy, but with that kind of power, she urgently needed guidance to learn how to control it, before it overwhelmed her and drove her crazy or something worse. It wouldn't be the first time it happened, or the second, or even the third… And we were under no means prepared to deal with an alicorn-level treat, removable wings and horn or not.

Now more relaxed under my reassurance, I encouraged her to start with her lessons right now, try and fly a few laps above the coastal waters, just in case she suddenly fell out of the sky have something to cushion her. After some awkward flapping and an initial lack of brain-to-wing coordination, Sunny managed to rise and move slowly but steadily through the air, Zipp and Pipp at her sides as her wingponies. Her expression of pure bliss soon overcame her initial fear, and it could have lit up the entire night sky with how bright she shone.

“Hey, Alex… is she really going to be okay? You didn’t look very convinced back there...” Hitch worryingly inquired while standing next to me as we watched our friends soar through the sky at low altitude, their laughs resounding all over the beach.

I sighed softly, not feeling like lying and claiming I held all the cards. “I hope so, Hitch. This type of magic was something I never expected to see on a pony. If she stays true to herself and doesn't allow it to consume her, she should be perfectly fine.” That’s what you would tell to everypony with such power, and we all know it doesn't always end right regardless of the amount of warnings. “She doesn’t come off as the power-hungry type to me, and with that kind of magic, that can only be a good thing.”

The mare in question ran laps back and forth the beach, the two pegasi close to her side and providing tips and pointers every once in a while. Izzy for her part galloped through the shallow end of the beach behind her soaring friend, screaming words of encouragement for the flying earth pony. “Still, I’ll keep a close eye on her. I’ve seen the kind of power she now possesses used to achieve wonderful things… but it also can cause pain and destruction in the wrong hooves. Unfortunately, this particular type of magic escapes my current understanding… and that’s yet another thing I need to look into.” I sighed again, more heavily this time.

‘It’s going to be a loooong year.’

Normalcy fell into our daily lives for the rest of the week, the ponies with their things and me beginning both cataloging Argyle diaries as well as testing some rough approaches to acquire a better understanding on the Unity Crystals, focusing more in the theory than the practical side of the planned experiments for the time being.

However, said normalcy was shattered during the morning of my twelfth day after my arrival. That morning while I was at work, strange things began to happen… well, stranger than normal for Equestria. I was working my morning shift in the lab, going through some blood samples from recently admitted patients when I heard a crash behind me. One of my newest coworkers, a brown-coated unicorn with faint lines black lines along his fur and a short spiky mane and tail, had dropped a vial of non-specific blocking serum from his levitating grasp. The vial shattered on impact and made quite a mess from our working place.

“Come oooon, Gaster! You have got to be more careful with those things!” I lamented the sorry state of the lab as I lightly scolded the shocked-looking pony.

“M-my magic! I-it’s failing somehow! I can’t keep it steady!” He alarmingly exclaimed while pointing at his horn, which was flaring up in random bursts of magic, only to immediately dissipate. It looked at first glance like it was… glitching, for lack of a better word. As if the flow of magic was becoming uneven.

‘That can’t be good…’ I lamented to myself as I sighed tiredly while closing my eyes and pinching my brow. Not two weeks in and things had started to turn south.

“See, this is why I took an hourly contract… I’ll go back to the brighthouse and take a look. You all wait here and under NO CIRCUMSTANCES use your magic to manipulate anything. Stay safe, everypony.” I instructed my coworkers while removing my improvised, fitting lab coat and headed towards the exit on the ground floor of the modest-sized hospital.

I heard one of them calling out to me to wait, but now wasn’t the time to delay. I’d never seen magic glitching like that before, but since said magic had effectively become a prisoner of the Unity Crystals, I couldn’t assume anything.

Rushing my way up the stairs and out of the main entrance, I crossed paths with a bunch of panicking ponies, none of them understanding what was going on while witnessing their wings and horn failing.

The situation wasn’t any better on the streets. Ponies back and forth saw their magic suddenly disappearing, and while there wasn’t yet an outright pony-patented panic wave, there would be one soon if this wasn’t solved quickly. As I jogged to my destination, I observed unicorns clumsily dropping whatever they were carrying, pegasi diving for emergency landings with unsteady wings, and earth ponies trying desperately to help others while trying to keep the situation under control, seemingly unaffected by whatever was happening. Expected, since their magic manifested passively rather than actively.

I focused my sight beyond the far side of town, expecting to see the magical rainbow trail, which thanks to my closer examination of the crystals the other day, I had determined to be some form of Prisbeam energy, similar to the one manifesting from the Elements of Harmony when triggered by their bearers. Instead, it was utterly gone from the sky.

The sight froze my steps, leaving me standing there, looking dumbfounded. “What the actual fuuuuck…”

Shaking myself back to reality, I chose the obvious path and hurried to return to the brighthouse to assess what in Tartarus was going on with the crystals.

“Okay… huff… huff… let’s see if I’m still in shape. Accelero!”

After a few warm-up breaths and stretches, I cast my acceleration spell and began sprinting towards the town center to cut though the middle of the town. On my way, I rushed past many ponies who were still struggling to assert control over their magic. Nopony seemed to have been seriously injured aside from some nasty bumps, but their scared and confused faces spoke volumes about the current situation. It wouldn’t be long for the situation to get completely out of hand.

I quickly recognized one of those ponies as Izzy, who was standing near a small park at the side of the main street, pushing her magic to its limit while freezing a big statue in the air, preventing it from crushing a unicorn work-pony. The mare in question was desperately raising her foreleg above his head in a doomed attempt to prevent the disaster.

Casting a desperate look around, Izzy caught sight of me in the corner of her eye and frantically shouted my name.

“ALEX!!! HELP ME!!! I-I can’t keep it steady for much longer!!” She desperately pleaded, gritting her teeth and giving it her all.

Fearing her magic would frizzle out at any moment, I quickly ran to her side and readied my magic by pointing my gauntlet at the cowering pony. With a low hum, my LIMstone powered up with a whitish glow after interpreting my intentions.

“Depulso!” I yelled my spell at the exact moment Izzy’s magic flickered out. Not a millisecond too late, the energy wave coming from my hand impacted against the work-pony, pushing her away from the falling statue. From the force of the impact, and the size of the crater made in its wake, I deduced that its weight had to be a few hundred kilos at least.

‘That could have ended very, very badly.’ I thought while helping the trembling unicorn up after the shock.

A moment later, Izzy was at our side, looking over the poor pony as she searched for any injuries.

“Izzy, what in Faust’s name is going on?! Have you done something to the crystals?!” I demanded to my friend after making sure the work-mare was uninjured. I asked her not to cast any more magic until the issue was solved, and to spread the message among her coworkers. With a shaky nod and teary eyes, she went on her way to do my bidding.

A deeply concerned Izzy dusted herself and turned to me. “N-no, none of us have touched them like you asked. I was just on my way to get a smoothie when suddenly everything went nuts! I have no idea what’s going…” A loud scream for help interrupted her, her ears flicking as we both looked up to see Pipp in free fall closely followed by Zipp and Sunny, who had somehow managed to manifest her powers after the first test run on the beach.

Before they could catch her, Zipp’s wings started to fail too, forcing Sunny to switch targets and hold the now-falling Zipp in a rough levitation spell. We had spent the last few days practicing simple spells, and she had managed to summon her alicorn powers at will on a couple of occasions, but not once under her own command. Most of her casting had been a spur of the moment event rather than a conscious effort, like that levitation spell holding the flailing pegasus in place, threatening to fail at any moment.

“Dammit all! Aresto momentum!” At the sight of the falling pegasus, I tried to cast a spell that would at least slow down Pipp’s fall, only for absolutely nothing to happen after my cast.

“Shit! Izzy!” I shouted at her to try and stop Pipp’s falling.

“Mine isn’t working either!” She desperately returned, only getting a few useless sparks to come out of her horn and quickly dissolve in the air. “Come on Pipp! Believe you can fly, and you will!” She screamed her pathetic advice to her panicking friend. Even without being operational, her wings were enough to slow down her fall considerably, but the crash would be ugly.

‘Think think think THINK!!!’ I urged myself while looking around for anything that might help us. At the sight of an ice cream and slush cart, a crazy idea surged in my mind.

“Izzy! Plan B!” I called her while pointing at the cart. The lightbulb shone on her head a moment later.

“That’s absolutely crazy!” She cried while rushing towards what I hoped would be our solution.

“‘You don’t say! Open the compartment and plug the tap!” I pointed to her as I stood behind the cart. With some effort, I managed to turn it around while Izzy opened the compartment leading to the frozen juice tanks and plugged the taps connected to them, causing its contents to explosively burst out in a mess of smoothie juice that hopefully would cushion Pipp’s fall.

A deranged plan only meant to work in a world born from a child’s imagination. Thankfully, Equestria was exactly that kind of place.

Pipp’s out-of-control flight was duly ended by the burst of frozen fruit juice, and with a resounding *splotch*, a now-drenched Pipp unearthed herself from the pile of frozen delicacy, an expression of profound indignation written in plain view on her muzzle as fruit juices dripped from her chin.

“Ow, ow, owwww… couldn’t you guys figure out another way that wasn’t so… sticky?” She whined while poking her head out of the multicolored mess, her mane and tail completely drenched alongside her pink fur.

“Sticky... or delicious?” Queried Izzy while taking a big lick out of the smoothie pile.

‘Blegh.’ I furrowed my nose at the sight.

“Guys! Are you alright?!” I caught Hitch’s alarmed voice calling to us, closely followed by a high-pitched barking. The sisters’ pet flying Pomeranian, who had somehow managed to travel all the way from Zephyr Heights after they had left with their things, closely followed the sheriff. At the sight of us, he quickly rushed to check if we were all alright with his puppy-like worry.

“Yes, yes, we're alright, Cloudpuff, don’t you worry.” I soothed the worried dog, who darted around us sniffing in search for any injury with a few gentle pets.

“Is everypony okay?!” Asked Sunny as she came in for a soft landing on the ground, releasing Zipp from her levitation spell, which had miraculously held the entire time, near her sister. Without wasting any time, she rushed towards me with worried eyes.

“We’re all fine, Sunny. Congratulations on that quick casting, by the way.” I took a moment to congratulate her on her quick thinking, eliciting a tiny blush on her cheeks and a disguised smile. “No serious injuries, right Pipp?” I inquired about the pegasus who desperately tried to wring the melting funk out of her soaked mane.

“It was so freaky! One second, my wings were totally fine, and then the next, they totally started spazzing out!!” She wailed while unsuccessfully attempting to rid herself of the sticky mess. Cludouff didn't waste a second to sample the tasty flavors on her fur with some vigorous lick, pushing the mare further to the brink.

The rest of the ponies voiced similar experiences. A critical look around the area showed the same thing happening to most of the town’s citizens. Pegasi were flapping their wings uselessly while remaining rotted on the ground, and unicorns were barely getting a spark out of their horns. Sometimes, one would get a couple of meters worth of acceleration in the air, only to fall limply back to the earth.

I turned my sight back towards Sunny. “What about you, Sunny? Did you experience anything similar with your alicorn magic?” She had been getting steadily better during the short training sessions we had scheduled the last few days, although she hadn’t yet fully grasped the trigger that caused the summoning of her wings and horn, so we in truth had to train during the moments her powers revealed themselves. Nothing beyond powering and depowering as well as magic sensing and discerning, warming her new sixth sense up before moving to more serious business.

Still, she had at least been trying to summon them at will with concentration and a ‘clear target’, as she had explained to me, but had met with only limited, if any success at all.

“I could feel my magic glitching, but it never fully disappeared. I think it's better now.” She answered with an experimental flap of her ethereal wings.

A soft humming from my left revealed Izzy powering up her magic, her horn now regaining its characteristic luminescence. “Oh, look! Magic seems to be coming back to me, too! Looks like this topsy-turvy magical crisis has been averted.” She cheerfully celebrated, her horn launching a few magical sparks into the air.

“Just because our magic’s back doesn’t mean it’s BACK back. If it fizzled away once, the same thing could happen again.” Reasoned Hitch, looking at us with concern.

Now a bit more riled up, Zipp exclaimed. “None of this makes any sense! So long as there’s unity between ponies, the crystals are supposed to keep our magic stable, that’s what you said… right, Alex?” She looked at me in search of confirmation.

“As far as I know, that was the original intent. Magic in Equestria isn’t something that flickers on and off like that. Not without a very good reason, at least.” I agreed, confirming her assumption.

Zipp continued with her reasoning, “Pegasi, unicorns and earth ponies have never been tighter. If anything, our magic should be stronger than ever!”

“You’re right,” Added Sunny while taking a step forward, “So, if magic is going haywire, it can’t be about friendships… oh no…” Her face suddenly contorted into one of panic.

“There’s clearly a problem with the Unity Crystals. I’ll ask you all once again. Have ANY of you touched them or done anything with them recently?!” I gave the surrounding ponies an inquisitive look.

“You were the only one up there since the brighthouse appeared. Are you sure you’re not the cause of this?” Zipp asked while returning the leer, the rest of the ponies looking at each other with baffled expressions.

“Nothing that could have triggered something like this. I’ve just settled for external observations and what little recordings I can get done with the available equipment I have. I’m sorry, but I’m just as lost as you guys are…” I turned in the direction of the brighthouse, the Prisbeam energy still gone from its top. “We have to go and check what’s going on... Accelero!” I concluded, casting my spell and speeding through the slowly recuperating citizens, with the rest of the gang falling in tow behind me.

I burst through the twin doors, climbed my way up the ramps and reached the elevator inside the girl’s bedroom. A few moments later, the rest of the ponies were at my side, tiredly panting at the impromptu exercise.

“Arff… aaargh… wow, Alex, you gotta teach me that one… ah… aah.” Puffed an exhausted Izzy between breaths.

“Come on ponies… ah… into the elevator…” Sunny weakly prompted us to step into the renewed elevator, now bigger and modernized to accommodate the wider structure. We weren't sure how it worked. Some kind of levitation spell seemed the most likely mechanism in contrast to the old pulleys and levers, but I hadn’t bothered to check it closely to confirm my suspicions. It had this futuristic air to it, I don’t know.

What only a few hours ago would have been a captivating sight of the levitating crystals joined together as they launched their Prisbeam energy straight into the sky, now was a mess of littered notes and equations from my previous attempts to get some research underway, and two of the three Unity Crystals scattered carelessly on the floor near the upturned desk were said notes had been previously organized.

Sunny reacted the first, hastily approaching them and gently taking them in her hooves, the color draining from her face against the fact she could only count two of the inseparable three-piece set. Only the unicorn and earth pony crystals remained, their shine still present, flickering on and off randomly, but considerably dimmer than before.

‘It looks like they're still active, although it’s obvious that their effect is diminished now that they are separated.’ I speculated as I looked over her shoulder to the very same crystals she was grasping as if they would turn into dust any moment without notice.

The rest of the ponies searched the room while Sunny regained her bearings, under and over my scattered work, not leaving any corner unchecked. But alas, their efforts proved fruitless.

The pegasus crystal was gone.

Sunny started hyperventilating after their negative results on the brief search, repeatedly muttering denials regarding the tremendous issue we now faced. Izzy was quick at her side, trying in vain to reassure her earth pony friend while looking as worried as the mare in question.

“Let’s not get our manes tied up in a bunch, ponies.“ Hitch cut in in an attempt to ease down the ambient atmosphere that was rapidly approaching panic. “The crystal could just be lost.”

“Did you install the cameras as I suggested?” I asked the sheriff as I left a panicking Sunny’s side.

A sideways movement of his head told me the answer. “Sorry Alex, I didn’t have any spares in the station, and the order I filed with Canterlogic still hasn’t been delivered…” He explained with his gaze lowering in shame. With the old factory closed after the incident with Sprout, any new products had been put on hold until the owner herself could bring some semblance of order into her company.

“Fuck! And I was just starting to make some sense of them…” I muttered angrily. Most of my knowledge of the crystals revolved around their pure crystalline structure and composition. Most of the arcane matrices, spell arrays and more magical aspects of their creation were up to Twilight’s expertice. Her unchallenged knowledge of magic was far bigger than mine, so I was more than happy to delegate, especially after my opinion on them had experienced a striking one-hundred-and-eighty-degrees turn. However, by the time I had left for the future, while their design was almost complete and the magic engraved into their structure, I never had the chance to see them actually working.

“I didn’t think the crystals could be separated like this… this looks like it was intentional.” Sunny blurted out as she shook herself awake from her stupor, still clinging to the two remaining gems. “These crystals are a symbol of ponykind’s ability to live in harmony. If somepony separated them, it’s because they want magic to fizzle out until it's gone… for life to go back the way it was before!”

It was simply unfathomable. Who in this crazy world could wish for that?! My tone lowered a couple of octaves. “We can’t allow that to happen, under no circumstances can magic disappear again. Not now, not ever.” I spoke with harsh resolution. “And certainly not after all the sacrifices we’ve had to make!”

‘Faust curse it, this is the last thing I need right now!!’

Sunny rose and boldly exclaimed, following my initiative. “We were able to unite the crystals once before. We can do it again!” She pumped her free hoof victoriously. “Let’s find the crystal thief and get that crystal back!”

The ponies cheered in agreement, Izzy bringing about a magnifying glass from… somewhere, announcing the beginning of the investigation.

Before we had the chance to prevent it, Pipp had already taken out her phone and started live-streaming to her ‘Pippsqueaks’, making sure to tell them aaaall about what had just happened, and making a special emphasis on how screwed we actually were.

“Pipp!! You’ll only get them to start panicking!!” Zipp loudly scolded her sister while reaping the phone out of her hooves.

“Hey!” An indignant Pipp protested. “They deserve the truth! My Pippsqueaks MEDITATE when they’re overwhelmed. They. Don’t. Panic.” She stated while trying to reach for the phone her sister was keeping out of reach.

The rising cacophony of panicked screams from the town, barely noticeable from where we stood all the way up there from the town, made me think otherwise.

“Nopony should be scared, because WE are going to solve this by beginning our search right here, where the break-in happened.” Sunny proclaimed while regarding us all with her confidant look, taking the reins of the situation.

Speaking from the other side of the room, Zipp pulled a detective hat out of… nowhere…

‘These ponies, I swear sometimes…’

… And proceeded to take a closer, conscious look at the crystal room, now re-titled the crime scene. “No matter how hard a thief tries, they’ll never be able to leave the scene exactly as they found it…”

“Are you a detective now, Zipp?” I asked, amused at her looks and new attitude.

“Ooh, I would like fifty of those hats, please!! Where’s it from?” Inquired an overly-excited Izzy. For a moment, I feared she was going to jump Zipp to nab her hat.

“Detective Zipp always comes prepared.” The white pegasus smugly stated, not missing a beat on her scrutiny of the place.

“Detective Zipp?” Teased Sunny with a coy smile.

“That’s right.” Replied Zipp while removing her hat in a mock salute. ”Because I Zipp my way through a mystery until I track down the perpetrator and bring them to justice!”

However, her sister didn’t sound too convinced. “Uhhh, I wouldn’t be so sure, sis.” She cut her sister’s bold claim with her blank look. “How many successful cases have you solved, Detective Zipp?” She jabbed with a smug grin.

“Well…” Poor Zipp began with an embarrassed expression. “This would technically be my first case…” Her eyes ran nervously through the room while she rubbed her withers with her hoof.

“Technically? Well, that just means you haven’t flunked any previous investigations, am I right?” I commented with a smirk of my own.

“Heh, yeah, you’re right. Take that, sis!” Zipp, reinvigorated by my dubious affirmation, was sure to rub it on her sister. Pipp’s only response was a tired roll of her eyes.

I gestured for the ponies to form a circle around me. “Okay then, let’s start investigating. Any ideas?”

“I think I might have something…“ Surprisingly, Pipp was the first to provide a lead, earning a frustrated leer from her older sister which she promptly ignored. Searching for a moment in her phone, she turned to show us her findings.

Zipp, losing the venomous look sent to the smaller pegasus, was quick to recognize the image we were looking at. “Oh, yeah. Pipp filmed this before we left this morning.” Her eyes narrowed in concentration for a moment, quickly lighting up in inspiration. “Ah! Look. See from the rainbow light shining behind her? The crystal hadn’t been stolen yet! Look closely. What else do you see?” She pointed at the image of her sister recording against the bedroom window.

Apart from a flower vase and some books littered on the window-ledge I didn’t see anything suspicious, and neither did the rest of the ponies if their crooked muzzled were of any indication.

“Ummmmm, a pretty flower vase?” Tried Izzy with an adorable dip of her head.

“Perhaps you’re referring to the gorgeous way the light’s brushing against my cheeks?” Proposed a very smug Pipp while taking an exaggerated pose.

‘This pony sure is something…’ I mentally cringed at her antics.

“Ugh, just follow me and I’ll show you.” Zipp, bothered by our lack of understanding, rose on her wings while signaling for the elevator.

Once down and near Pipp’s bed where the recording had been taken, Zipp pointed with her wing towards the very same vase from the video. “See? The vase has been moved!”

Comparing the image from her phone and the actual vase, it seemed it had been indeed rotated sideways, the flowers placed in different positions. Perhaps the perpetrator had accidentally bumped into it while using the window to escape?

“Accio!” I shouted as I casted my summoning spell towards the vase. Now in my hands, I could get a closer look, Zipp doing the same over my shoulder.

After a few seconds of careful examination, I extracted what appeared to be a long strand of whitish hair entangled around the plant’s stem.

I returned the vase to its previous position and lowered the clue for the rest of the ponies to get a good look on.

“Hmmmm, it doesn’t belong to anypony I can think of right now…” Sunny was the first to propose.

None of the rest fared any better. It was too long to belong to a pony’s fur, of that I was sure. “A mane or tail strand perhaps?”I muttered to myself.

A bark from Cloudpuff, who was patiently waiting on Pipp’s bed while watching us make our way through the initial phase of the chase, gave me an idea. a crazy, convoluted idea, but Equestria excels in allowing those kinds of ideas to, not only work, but to excel in doing so.

“This isn’t going to get us anywhere. How about we ask Cloudpuff to follow the scent? He was able to track you down all the way here, right?” I proposed to the sisters, both being the caretakers of the little flying dog. A flying dog. That had been a new one for me too the moment he suddenly barged into our home in search of the pegasi siblings.

“I don’t know… are you up for the task, Cloudpuff?” Asked Zipp as she dangled the hair strand in front of him.

After a few sniffs, he suddenly tensed and, following with a few barks of attention, he began running towards the exit of the bedroom and down the ramps.

“We’ve got a hit! Let’s roll!” Exclaimed Zipp, already on her wings while ushering everypony out of the bedroom. The ponies followed her lead without a thought, I wasn’t going to be so stupid as to leave in a hurry without preparing myself. So, while the ponies made their way out of the brighthouse behind the miniature Pomerarian, I made for a small detour towards my room. Poor Pipp was whining all the way out about not being able to pack her ridiculous amount of ‘bare necessities’ as she was practically pushed to the door by Sunny.

‘Heh, she reminds me a lot of Rarity…’

Once inside my room, I could visibly discern how that somepony had also broken inside, judging from the sorry state of the papers and journal entries I had meticulously organized the precious days. After a quick check, I confirmed that nothing notable was missing, but what progress I had achieved the last few nights was now ruined.

“Uuuggghh, one day I’m gonna lose it for good…'' I cursed with clenched fists, but now was no time to dwell into that.

I grabbed my modified saddlebag, now converted into a backpack thanks to Izzy’s help, and packed a few of my most recent clothes, also courtesy of Izzy, as well as a few blank sheets of paper, a couple of pens, a small blanket, and my new phone, followed by me putting on my trusty jacket and old, but surprisingly not worn out sneakers. From the kitchen, I grabbed a couple of bottles of water and a few leftovers from yesterday’s dinner, not knowing where Cloudpuff would lead us or for how long.

All set, I then cast my acceleration spell and ran outside to catch up with the group. My stomach clenched uncomfortably at the prospect of leaving the other two crystals behind unsupervised, but it wasn't like we had any Royal Guard, or even any kind of police force besides the sheriff to keep an eye on them, so the best I could do was lock the doors behind me.

I had just left behind the decorative arch denoting the town’s southern entrance when I got a glimpse of the dust cloud the running ponies were leaving behind.

“Hey! Wait for me!” I yelled, trying to call them. Sunny and Zipp heard my call and signaled the group to slow down a bit.

“Alex! We thought you were behind us!” Sunny worriedly shouted without stopping her galloping.

“Ah… ah… Yeah, I… ah… had to grab a few things… argh… I’m too old for this…” I breathlessly replied while trying to keep up with the ponies, a species considerably better equipped for running. We were now leaving behind the path that led towards the town and heading for the lush forest that surrounded the bay.

“Come on, Alex! Give those weird legs of yours a shake and keep up!” Zipp called out from above.

“Very… ah… easy to say when… huff… you have wings, Zipp! Do I have to… aaah… remind you I’m technically seven-hundred and… mmfff… forty-six years old?!” I shouted with a mock glare. That only got her to laugh loudly, causing her to miss her course for a moment and almost lose her balance. Sunny and Izzy slowed down a bit to run at my sides, sympathetic smiles on their faces as they made sure I wouldn't be left behind.

“You’re doing great, Alex! Just get your breathing even and think happy thoughts!” Izzy advised me as if it were such a simple thing to do.

“I’m a lab rat for Faust’s sake, I am not made for cross-country…”I muttered irritably, attempting to get my breath under control as she had instructed.

‘Aaah, so much for Rainbow’s training regime… Let’s see where this dog leads us.’

“This dog’s leading us nowhere…” I mumbled angrily. We ran non-stop until we had reached the forest proper, and changed into a fast trot as the terrain became more uneven. Hitch was at the front, not losing sight of the sniffing Cloudpuff, ears up and muzzle twitching in his persecution of the scent.

Zipp and Sunny were in front of me, cautiously looking at the sides of the dirt road in search of dangerous animals, not that I could remember knowing about ever being dangerous animals in this part of the country, but it had been so long since those days that I couldn't be sure of anything anymore. Pipp dragged herself at my side while looking completely miserable, while Izzy fast-trotted at the rear, absentmindedly humming a catchy song while taking the sights, surely familiar for her having grown up in a forest.

“Ugh, you’ll let me know when we hit the fun part, right?” Pipp mumbled sarcastically, her mane a crow's nest and littered with leaves… like the rest of the ponies after the hard trek through the forest, but she was the only one verbally, and repeatedly voicing it.

Zipp gave her sister a tired look and sighed loudly. “The good news is that whoever stole the crystal must be getting tired.”

We were several hours in, magic having flickered on and off several times, rendering the winged ponies flightless as a safety measure. The forest we were traversing had spread until reaching the central mesa that lightly lifted the innermost part of the Equestrian peninsula above sea level, meaning that if we continued on this path, we would reach the geographical center of the country in another day or so with a brisk pace.

With an angry mutter, Pipp took out her phone from her underwing hostler and started live streaming, telling her fans about how terrible of a search this was turning out to be, only for a sharp tone to ring followed by a screen warning, the phone going silent immediately after.

A look of pure horror adorned her face. “NO! My phone died! And I don’t have a charger because SOMEPONY didn’t give me enough time to PACK ANYTHING!!” She began to cry exaggeratedly, her forehoof storming into the ground in rage.

Her sister was having none of it. “If we don’t find who did this, we’re going to lose the trail and maybe our magic altogether! I THINK that’s more important than a phone charger!”

“But now I can’t even call for help if we need it!” Rebutted Pipp with tears in her eyes. Not true, since our phones were still charged. At least mine was.

Seeing the situation escalating, Sunny stepped in between the arguing sisters and tried to diffuse the animosity growing between them. “I know you’re all sacred. I am too… but we can’t let fear tear us apart. The only way through this is by sticking together!”

I chose then to add my two bits, speaking from experience. “Listen to her, ponies. If there’s anything I’ve learned from my adventuring times, it’s that the fastest way to failure is by allowing fear and anger to divide us.”

It had been early morning when we had made for our hasty run out of town, meaning the sun was close to setting, and the last thing I wanted was to begin traversing the forest in the middle of the night. “I think we should stop for today. It’s starting to get late, and the forest isn’t a place you want to wander about in the dark of night. We’ll resume the search tomorrow at first light.”

“B-but, the trail…” Zipp began to protest.

“The trail is going nowhere Zipp.” I interrupted her, “If my memory serves me right, we should be halfway around the Zephyr Peaks by now. If we follow the river upstream, we’ll emerge near some of the closest locations which used to be inhabited, which are the most likely places where the thief will have run to, if we are even on the correct trail after all…” I casted a dubious side look at the oblivious pup. “Dodge City should be around two days west of our position, and the other possible location I can think about is…” I couldn’t finish my reasoning, since the landmark I was searching with my gaze wasn’t as visible as it should be.

It wasn't visible, period.

‘The Zephyr Peaks are to our right, and the sun is setting in front of us… Where the actual fuck is Cantenrhorn Peak?!’ I thought to myself, hardly believing what I was seeing, or rather, what I wasn’t seeing.

“Alex?” Sunny checked on me with a small tap of her hoof against my arm.

“… It doesn’t matter, just… let’s get some rest. We’ll continue tomorrow.” Not wanting to start making assumptions, I retraced my steps and made my way through the vegetation in search of a clear spot in the dense forest.

Looking at each other worriedly, the ponies followed me without protest. Except Pipp, who still gave her sister the nasty look while uselessly checking over her dead phone, trying to miraculously bring it back to life with enough whining and pleading.

After a few minutes of searching, we managed to find a small clearing sheltered under an arrowhead-shaped rocky formation covered in moss and ivy. It was damp and smelly, but it would have to do.

Izzy levitated a few dry branches into the center of the clearing while the rest of the ponies sat on their haunches in a circle around the wood pile, wearing dejected and positively tired expressions. Not the most stellars of beginnings, but beggars can't’ be choosers either. I reached for my bag and grabbed the leftovers I had brought with me, sharing them with the group. It wasn’t much, and it was cold, but it would keep us going for the time being.

“Incendio.” I muttered with a wiggle of my finger, the pile of branches bursting up in flames immediately afterward. The ponies all scooted a little closer to warm up and began their dinner. For a few minutes, we ate in silence, listening to the crackling of the campfire and the sound of wildlife in the distance.

“Hey, Alex…” Izzy began from her place at my left.

“Hmm?” I prompted her to continue.

“What’s with the strange words you keep saying before you cast a spell? I don’t need to say any words to get the magic going.”

A smile made its way up my face. “Now that’s a VERY interesting question, Izzy.” I congratulated her with a brief ear rub for taking notice of my strange methods. She answered with a small victory whoop.

The ponies leaned closer to hear my explanation, Sunny now wearing her characteristic nerdy look I had grown to adore.

“You see, during my early days in Equestria, I found myself profoundly envying my friends and their ability to cast magic, both actively and passively. With these sentiments fueling me, I sought to find a way to gain that ability for myself.” I began to recall from my times in Ancient Equestria. “After loooong weeks of studying, I found how many different types of gems throughout Equus possessed the ability to absorb, store, and emit magical energy filling the environment. More importantly, how their crystalline composition could be altered to store and hold magic in specific ways, meaning that some of these gems could be enchanted to perform a certain task. Like a heating stone which releases magic in the form of heat, as well as gems that can freeze, levitate, detect, scan, and a hundred other different spells and functions individually performed. Most of Equestria’s rough technology back then was based around that principle.”

The ponies were immersed in my lecture, successfully having diffused the moody atmosphere.

“Knowing that, I sought to try and apply a bit of human knowledge to the mix. It took many, MANY attempts, but with the help of Twilight and many other eggheads, I managed to create what I later would baptize as a LIM gemstone.”

“LIM gemstone?” Repeated a puzzled Sunny.

“Language Integrative Matrix. A complex mix of language-integrative spells alongside modifications to the crystalline composition of specific gem types, all tied up together in a spell matrix. It was a kind of a language-recognition gem, but considerably more complex. It could understand instructions, mostly spoken but could also understand thoughts and the will of the user, and create an output according to those instructions.” I removed my gauntlet and pointed to the central gem.

“The gem I showed you before is one of those. It allows me to cast any spell I manage to learn, albeit in a different way than a unicorn would do. Since I lack that… ‘sixth sense’ all unicorns possess when dealing with magic and spellcasting, I had to take a more practical approach, which means shouting words that held certain meanings for the gem to recognize. However, when I first attempted to cast my first spells, I found the gem completely unresponsive to my commands.”

“Why was that?” This time it was Pipp who interrupted me with a question.

“It took me a while to figure it out, but I eventually found out that I was suffering from an ‘overly-logical mental blockade’, or so Twilight referred to it.” At the absolutely baffled faces the ponies gave me, I quickly sought to explain further. “You see, while I myself believed I could cast magic, my brain did not fully agree with me. Back in my home world, there was no magic whatsoever, so no human, including me, ever truly believed they were supposed to be able to cast magic. So, when I actually had the chance to fulfill every little kid’s dream for myself, my own logic said ‘no, mihijo, eso no se puede hacer.’ I lacked…let’s call it, a ‘conviction’ to do so, and so the gem didn’t recognize my desires.”

Chuckling at their crooked smirks at the first time hearing my mother language, I rolled the gem in my fingers a couple of times while I continued. “However, there was a fictional book series called Harry Potter back home that depicted a fictional world where humans could utilize magic, and they did so by casting their spells with voice commands while using a wand for direction, very dramatic if you ask me. I grew up reading those stories, so a tiny part of my brain associated those words, which deviate from a dead language called ‘Latin’, with the ability to cast magic. This mental shortcut sort of cheats my overly-logical brain to think that by using those words, I should be able to cast the spells. It's like fooling myself to do something I didn’t fully believe in. That, summed up to a LOT of training, ultimately got me casting spells far and wide, physical limitations aside of course. The downside is that I had to spend many an hour trying to find the correct words that gave the best results…. and that’s about it. Cool, huh?” I finished my long lecture with a smirk.

The ponies were silent for a few moments, mulling over my words.

Izzy was the first one to answer. “Woah, that’s… very cool and… weird, I guess? I mean, as long as it helps you...”

“Is that part of what you tried to integrate into Equestria? Part of your efforts to bring everyspecies closer?” Sunny followed with her own query.

“Amongst other things, yes, it was part of that.” I answered with a friendly scratch behind her left ear. eliciting a shy smile out of her.

Zipp however seemed a bit bothered by something from my speech. After a few more moments of mulling, a light bulb lit over her head. “Wait a minute, did you just say, ‘back in my home world’?”

The rest of the gang quickly turned to gaze at me once again, their astonished expressions reaching new heights when they realized the implications of what I’d said earlier.

I decided to mess a bit with the pegasus. “Oh, I did, didn’t I? Oops, it seems I forgot to tell you that tinsy tiny small detail. It happens to the best of us… right?” I teased with a shit-eating grin.

‘Even if it’s going to take me a while to explain, I can’t help myself. Serves you right, pegasisters!… no, that word doesn’t sound right for some reason…’

I was left completely speechless. An alien? From another world? ANOTHER DIMENSION ENTIRELY? In my father’s notes, the human of legend was depicted as a creature from a faraway land who stumbled into Equestria by accident. It neglected to mention that small detail that he was an honest-to-Faust WORLD TRAVELER.

I had soooo many questions. So many that my head began to hurt just trying to keep up. The same could be said for my friends, who hastily assaulted him with a barrage of their own.

Unfortunately, he dodged all our questions by mentioning that it was very late and that we should rest, and that would talk about it another time when the situation wasn’t so dire. Albeit begrudgingly, we had to concentrate on catching the thief instead of learning about his home world full of humans, and ponies too, perhaps? The future of magic depended on it!

Disappointed, we spread out around the dying campfire. The sisters huddled together near the rocks that would serve as a poor shielding against the cold forest wind. Hitch did the same at the other end of the makeshift barricade, with Cloudpuff snuggling against his chest with a groan of joy.

Alex lowered himself on his back on the other side of the campfire, while Izzy shamelessly curled up next to him. He didn't seem to mind, giving her a little poke on her snout, electing a small giggle from the unicorn. He then wrapped his arm around her, and Izzy took the opportunity to snuggle in deeper, burying her muzzle at the curve of his neck with a happy exhalation.

Both had grown closer during the past few days, frequently talking to each other and hanging around the brighthouse. I mean, not that he wasn’t spending time with the rest of us, but still, between his work at the clinical lab and his investigation of the crystals, I believed we weren’t spending as much time together as I would have liked.

“Are you coming over Sunny? I just so happened to find a very snuggly alien. Isn’t that great?!” She prompted me to join her.

With a mock roll of his eyes, Alex invited me to approach his free side.

With a bit of hesitation, I slowly reached my human friend. He seemed to notice my apprehension and, with a soft voice, he reassured me.

“Come on Sunny, are you scared that the big, scary alien is going to eat you in your sleep?” He teased in a mock tone.

“Ooooh that’s kinkyyyy… ouch!” Izzy teased us, only to receive a small bump on her head.

A soft giggle escaped my lips at their antics. His reassuring eyes were enough to calm down my previous nerves and, without wasting any more time, I laid down and curled myself against his side.

He was very warm, which only enhanced the experience given the chilly breeze coming down from the nearby mountains. I couldn’t help myself, and I snuggled in deeper following Izzy’s example, burrowing my muzzle in the crook of his neck near his jacket hood.

“My my… not even a month in and you’re already sandwiched between two gorgeous mares, you sure are a ladiestallion.” Izzy playfully jabbed him with a small wiggle of her rump against his legs.

“Go to sleep, Izzy. Tomorrow's going to be a looong day.” Alex answered with a tired groan, electing yet another amused giggle from Izzy.

That got a tiny smile out of me. Both Izzy and Alex seemed to be hitting it off quickly. I was happy for them, of course. What kind of friend would I be if I wasn’t?… But I guess it kinda made me feel a little bit left out…

‘Ugh, those are just silly thoughts Sunny, stop acting so foalish. He’s free to spend time with whomever he wishes. You’re nopony to want to hoard his attention like that…’

Before I could delve further into my thoughts, I felt his hand gently petting my fur, from the nape of my head all the way to my flank. A shiver ran through my body as I felt his delicate touch against my coat. Those hands of his were truly a marvel. I gave him a small nuzzle in appreciation, and he continued until I noticed his breathing deepening, and his muscles relaxing as he finally fell asleep.

As I was about to follow him, Izzy began whispering to me. “Psst, Sunny, are you awake?”

“Now I am Izzy, what do you want?” I whispered back, trying to not wake the slumbering human or the rest of our friends who also sounded like they had passed into the realm of dreams.

“Can I ask you a weird question?”

“Go ahead, Izzy…” I replied sleepily with a lazy yawn.

“Is it just me, or does he smell really good?”

“Izzy!!” I thoughtlessly raised my tone at her words, giving her a smack with my tail. I quickly strained my head to check if I had woken Alex with my outburst. He didn’t seem bothered, his breathing still deep and rhythmic.

Izzy replied with an amused snort at my reaction. Still whispering, she added. “Come on, it’s not like I’m lying…”

‘Ugh, sometimes I swear that mare… and yet, she isn’t lying. He does smell pretty nice.’

And with those last thoughts, I joined my friends in peaceful slumber, breathing in his scent and listening to his heartbeat, letting it lull me to sleep.

Author's Note

Sorry for the delay. My editor and I are hard at work reviewing and fixing the previous chapters.
Enjoy.

Chapter 8- A lost city.

I can't quite recall what I had dreamt that night, memories and nightmares intertwined in a vortex that more than once brought me out of my slumber with a hand over my heart and panting like a dog. Those nights had been numerous during the last months before my journey into the future, and still plagued me in this new time occasionally, giving my new friends a scare or two. But that hadn’t been the case that day, for a peaceful, dreamless sleep worked the stress out of my tired body, the exhausting march from the day prior no doubt having left no room for anything but rest in my poor body.

However, for as much as I’d wished to sleep for a year or two, I was suddenly dragged away from my dreams by a rustling from nearby bushes. My ears had grown accustomed to the usual sounds of nature: a crunch of a twig, the occasional tweet of a bird, the wind brushing against the leaves of the nearby trees. But something wasn't right.

The forest around us had turned deadly quiet aside from that noise that had triggered my fight or flight instinct.

With my mind still half asleep, I waited in complete silence, not even bothering to raise my head to take a groggy look around, just hoping to discern the origin of the sound which I believed had come from somewhere too close for my liking.

A few moments later of silent searching, I heard it again. There was no doubt about it. It was coming from the bushes on the other side of our impromptu camping site. It was subtle, but no wind was blowing at the moment, nor the chitterin of a small critter reached my ears. Whatever was inside of them was making an effort to not be detected.

None of the other ponies had woken up, which was weird considering their ears are more sensitive than a human’s. I guessed they were truly busted after yesterday’s excursion. Now more awake, I peered down in search of the warm, furry mass that was constricting my movements down and found myself entangled between Izzy’s and Sunny’s forelegs, both of them wrapped over my chest, heads halfway up my with placid, sleepy smiles adorning their muzzles. The way their snouts were almost touching got a little smile out of me.

It was an adorable sight; ponies were gifted like that.

Feeling bad for them, I had no choice but to rustle them. I would take no chances with us so far from home on uncharted territory, or at least what was now uncharted territory.

‘Sorry girls, I’ve gotta check what that rustling is. The last thing I want is a-’ Just as I was about to nudge the sleeping mares, a low, visceral growl interrupted my train of thought.

I recognized that growl instantly, having faced said creatures on more than one occasion. A petty nuisance with proper equipment, but a serious danger for our unprepared team.

“-timberwolf ambush. FuckfuckFUCK!! UP!!! EVERYPONY UP!!!” I screamed to the slumbering ponies while roughly shaking off the two mares sleeping beside me.

My screams surely reached all the way to the three pony settlements, as the ponies promptly flew from their sleeping arrangements, looking frantically at their surroundings with no time to rub the sleep from their crusty orbs.

“WHAT’S GOING ON?!!” “What was that about?!!” “NO! NOT THE MANE!!” The group of ponies began wailing incoherently while trying to make sense of the situation.

“Alex, what’s wrong?!!” Asked Sunny, the first to herself awake all the way and regain her bearings.

“Timberwolves, an ambush, on our six” I informed the group, turning to face the rustling bushes and motion with a closed fists. The gems on the gauntlet began humming as they charged with magical energy.

“If any of you know how to fight, get ready! They’re planning on making us their next meal!” I urged the ponies, sending a silent prayer to Faust for any self-defense knowledge they might harbor.

‘Yeah, right. Centuries of isolation surely has taught them how to tackle outside threats. For fuck’s sake, this is why I hate fieldwork!’

It seemed I was going to be alone for that one, with a home-made, half-assed gauntlet as my only true method of defense. Its limited power output and my embarrassing lack of recent practice meant our chances were pretty low.

Just as I finished directing the group towards our attackers, four timberwolves emerged from the underbrush, their ambush now foiled. They split into groups of two and began to slink towards us, pushing us back towards the rocks that had served as our shelter during the night.

‘Only four in the front. The fifth will remain hidden until the chance comes. The rocks at our back will not allow it to ambush us from behind, but that leaves us cornered.’

"A-Alex, w-what are those things?" Izzy asked in terror, barely able to power up her horn with the shaking of her fuzzy body. The rest of the gang fared no better.

"I-I've never seen anything like them… Hitch?" Sunny asked his friend who protectively stepped between the pegasus sisters and the predators, his sheriff training kicking in and seeing him in a fighting pose.

"Don't look at me! I know some things about critters, but I've never seen anything like this! A-Alex, any weak spots? Anything!?" The terrified sheriff implored me while getting into the defensive position.

The dim sunlight filtering through the trees caused the green glow of their eyes to stand out against their wooden bodies. Vicious growls emanated from their salivating mouths, patiently waiting for the right moment to strike.

As if having a quartet of snarling predators wasn't scary enough!

Neither group seemed more likely to attack first, just prowling in a wide circle around us, waiting for the appropriate chance to tear us a new one. Had I possessed my usual pair of gauntlets, I could’ve made an easy job of them, but with only the rough version Izzy and I had whipped up from literally scraps, I could only alternate my aim between the two of them while searching for any signal of their next actions.

‘Celestia, how I miss my blades right now…’

I had little time for a rushed explanation."They’re magical constructs originating from the Everfree Forest, created from an over-accumulation of wild magic that causes them to arise from branches and other bits of wood and leaves. If you destroy them, they reform again after a few minutes. The only way to get rid of them is to burn them! Incendio!!!" I shouted my incantation, causing a fireball to erupt from my gauntlet and impact one of the timberwolves in the right group, completely obliterating it.

The others saw this sign of hostility and decided not to wait any longer. With a blood-curdling howl, they went on the attack.

I focused on the sole survivor of the right group, who threw himself with unbridled rage at me, a vengeful gleam for his comrade in his glowing eyes. I needed a few moments to cast a spell as powerful as that again, moments that I did not have. Placing my free arm in front of my face, I managed to prevent the timberwolf from tearing it off with its jaws.

"Aaaagh!!! Fucking mutt!!!" I screamed in pain, pushing the timberwolf to the ground with my body weight in an attempt to immobilize it. The cloth from my trusty jacket saved me from the worst of its woody teeth, but it still stung as a bitch, not the best thing when you needed to concentrate for spellcasting.

On the other side of the clearing, the other group of timberwolves was facing a brave Hitch who, flying his rear legs as a certain cowmare was well known for, was desperately trying to whack them to kingdom come with a good buck.

Zipp meanwhile was flying around and swooping down on them in hit-and-fly attacks. Her sister didn't join the battle, preferring to stick to the rock wall, wings clinging to her body and rooted legs trembling with fear.

“Izzy, now!!” I screamed at the unicorn behind me, pointing at the head of the trapped timberwolf under me, his jaws still clamping down on my arm.

Understanding my message, she breached through her petrified state and charged up a basic beam, releasing the magical energies against the wooden canine. Her aim was true, shattering its face into a million pieces. Still, I knew that wouldn’t hold it for long. In a few minutes, it would be up and biting again.

‘Two down, two to go.’

Beside us, Sunny also remained out of the scuffle, eyes clenched in concentration, clenched teeth and muttered curses saw her trying to summon her alicorn form. By the frustrated expression on her face, it seemed she wasn’t making any progress.

A nearby sound of splintering wood signaled to me that one of the other attackers had been obliterated. I looked over, I could tell it had been from a double kick from Hitch’s rear legs. Before I had any chance to congratulate the brave stallion's aim, the remaining timberwolf jumped and clamped his jaws around one of Zipp’s wings as she made for a dive. The poor pegasus screamed in agony, and immediately crashed onto the ground, leaving a trail of blooded features on ehr wake. The now victorious timberwolf rose above her and prepared to bite at her jugular.

“NOT MY SISTER, YOU SMELLY PIECE OF SCRAPS!!!” A shout came from under the rock cover, a pink blur launching immediately after, crashing into the timberwolf and pushing both of them away from the fallen pegasus.

Something had snapped in the petite pegasus, sisterly love dragging her from her stupor and cannonballing her to Zipp’s rescue. But now Pipp was the one in danger of being torn to pieces. It only took the timberwolf a second to recover, now regarding a disoriented Pipp with hateful eyes at being denied its feathery meal.

However, her actions gave me the time I needed. The gauntlet was half charged and ready, and the pain had turned into a numb throb by then. The timberwolf was seconds from getting the pounce on Pipp, the roughed-up mare rising a foreleg over her in a vain last attempt to defend herself.

But I only needed one.

“Diffindo!!” I shouted, my severing spell activating while I was still recovering on the ground, an arc of magical energy rushed towards the predator, cutting into him like he was made of butter as well as a couple of trees behind it until the spell lost its power. The green glow faded from his eyes, and his remains fell to the ground and disintegrated into hundreds of pieces which mixed with the remains of the fallen trees.

With the commotion now over, I took a moment to catch my breath. Timberwolves normally hunted in packs of five, but it seemed the remaining one had chosen to flee after seeing his packmates being completely obliterated, though I wasn’t going to lower my guard just yet.

‘We are still half a day’s journey from the Everfree Forest, what were they doing so far from it?! Perhaps the magical outburst from the crystals’ joining attracted them somehow?’

I couldn’t finish my train of thought as the piercing screams of agony from Zipp reached my ears. She was curled into a ball, clutching her wounded wing in her hooves and loudly crying in pain. Her sister, now having regained both her wits and balance, was at her side, trying to get her to calm down and assess the damage.

I quickly got on my feet and ran towards the wounded pegasus, the rest of the ponies gathering around.

I grabbed her front legs and pushed them apart to get a glimpse of her wounded wing. Blood stains spread across the appendage and stained her white fur a crimson red. The timberwolf had managed to drive its teeth deep into the muscle, and the weight it exerted as it pulled downward had generated deep gouges along the entire length of the patagium and wrist.

‘Nope, this isn’t looking good at all.’ I mentally cursed, my mind already going through my modest repertory of healing spells.

But I wouldn’t be able to do shit with Zipp fighting me to protect her bloody wing. "Zipp! Zipp! I need you to calm down and let me help you. I can fix it, but I need you to calm down. Do you trust me?" I asked her as I stroked her between the ears in an attempt to reassure her.

With teary eyes, Zipp nodded and, letting go of her damaged limb, she painfully stretched out her damaged wing as far as she could to give me better access, her entire body shivering uncontrollably. His sister cried bitterly at the sight of Zipp’s sorry state, as did the rest of the ponies behind me.

"Great. Let's see… Ugh, come on, Alexander, think!!” I bumped myself in my forehead to ease the clog in my thought that prevented me from coming with the appropriate spell. “Okay, I should be able to use one of my healing spells for this. It won't hurt, but it will feel very strange, like a tremendous need to scratch your wing. Fight it, don't interrupt the spell or you might lose the wing. Do you understand me?" I asked her with a serious look, gems humming with energy as they began powering up.

Another teary nod. I signaled to Pipp to hold her down just in case.

"All right, get ready." I instructed as I concentrated. My gauntlet hummed with power. I didn't have much magic left in storage, but it should be enough. Luckily, it wasn't an overly complex or draining spell. What I had should be enough, and I could always use the other trick, albeit I’d rather not to.

“Vulnera sanentur.” I muttered, a soft glow emanating from my hand and spreading throughout Zipp’s wing. I could feel her muscles tensing at the uncomfortable feeling, but with clenched teeth and the help of her sister, she managed to resist the urge I had too experienced on more than one occasion.

Slowly, the tears and gashes on her wing began to mend and the blood returned to its rightful place. After a minute of continuous casting, her wing was as good as new, leaving me a smidge dizzy but overall happy to see her out of danger.

I had to give it to her, she had soldiered through the process. This pony was not a petty-princess-on-her-petty-castle type of royal.

Still not fully believing it, Zipp rose on her hooves and gave a few experimental flaps of the previously-damaged appendage. In the absence of any pain or discomfort, she turned to regard me with a look of bewilderment and profound gratitude.

With a shaky voice, she spoke, “T-Thank you, Alex. Thank you so much, I-I can’t…”

Before she could rant any longer, I placed my hand over her muzzle to gently silence her. “You’re fine Zipp, don’t mention it.” I muttered softly as I gave her an encouraging smile.

With our friend out of danger, I too got back on my feet and addressed the astonished-looking ponies around me. “Is anypony else hurt? Hitch? Izzy?” I prodded the still teary-eyed equines, now visibly deflating with their friend freely flapping her wing in disbelief, her sister close to her side and examining the feathery limb.

“Nothing broken here, just a few scratches and bumps.” Hitch answered while dusting himself repositioning his shoulder strap and badge. His fur was messed and dirty, splinters and scraps of vegetation clinging to it, a reminder of our recent fight. But he didn’t look in need of medical attention, although all the energy we had replenished during the night had promptly vanished in the scuffle.

“I’m okay, too.” Cried the unicorn besides the sheriff. “I just need a minute to keep my heart from bursting out... pheeew, that was a close one!” Said Izzy, followed by her wiping the nonexistent sweat from her forehead.

“Thank goodness.” I allowed myself a breath of relief, but the work was still not done. “Izzy, if you would be so kind as to levitate the broken timberwolves and burn them in the campfire. They will reassemble in a few minutes if we don’t get rid of them for good.”

With an affirmative nod, she hopped on and got to it, powering her horn and gathering the woody scraps and into a neat pile which she unceremoniously dropped over the cooling embers of the campfire. With new fuel, it wasn't long until it roared with life again.

Only one pony was still in need of check up, one which hadn't moved an inch from where she had spent the fight. “How about you, Sunny? Is everything in place?” I turned to look at my friend, only to find her shedding angry tears and sobs, her face full of rage and shame.

Pursing my lips, I was quick to see that something was not right with her. “Sunny?” I tested the earth pony, taking a step closer to her.

“I’m sorry…. I’m so sorry! I-I… *hic*… I couldn’t summon my powers, I-I tried… *hic*… a-and tried b-but…” The mare exploded. “WHAT USE ARE THESE ALICORN POWERS IF I CAN’T USE THEM TO PROTECT MY FRIENDS!!!?” She lashed out in frustration, furiously stomping the ground in a full-on tantrum.

Once in reach, I placed my hand under her chin and forced her to gaze at me, my thumb gently stroking her cheek fur, now matted with tears.

“Sunny, nopony expects you to have full control of your powers at the moment. We have only practiced for the past few days…” I attempted to calm her tantrum.

She wasn’t convinced by my words. Repeating her previous steps, she set out to demonstrate what she had tried to bring out her powers. “Still!! I tried focusing like you told me, tried to feel them inside me and get them…”

*WHOOSH*

With a humming echo and a blinding light, her alicorn form manifested in front of us all.

The sight of her shimmering assets only finished driving her mad. “ARE YOU KIDDING ME!!? NOW YOU DECIDE TO APPEAR!! YOU USELESS PIECES OF SH…”

“SUNNY!! THAT’S ENOUGH!!” I screamed to cut her ranting short and regain her attention. She immediately ceased her cursing and returned a tearful look, ears pressed against her scalp.

With a long sigh to calm my nerves, I took her head in my grasp and hugged it hard against my chest, allowing her to lose the last tendrils of frustration on me. She grabbed my jacket with both forehooves and continued bitterly crying, staining my shirt with angry tears, muttering obscenities about the injustice of the situation and how one of her best friends could have died while she just stood watching.

I could hear the crackling of the rekindled campfire between her sobs, Izzy now having finished her task and hurrying to reach her sobbing friend. I allowed Sunny to let out all her frustration, gently rubbing over her scalp and neck. The rest of the ponies surrounded us and waited in respectful silence, feeling her pain as their own.

After a few more minutes, her sobs started to quiet down, and her breathing became even against the fabric of my clothes. I kneeled and held her gaze level with mine.

“Sunny, your powers are still new to you. We have barely begun to scratch the surface of what they’re capable of.” I reasoned sweetly. “You were panicking, fearing for our friends and trying to force something that should come out naturally. With experience, you will improve. But for now, don’t push yourself too hard.” I reassured her, drying her tears with my thumbs.

“B-but, without them, I’m completely useless; I-I can’t fly, o-or cast magic, and I’m not trained in hoof-to-hoof combat like Hitch! I can’t do anything…” She tried to lower her pearls in shame, but I held them in place.

“Sunny, I could give you an all-day lecture about how wrong you are, but I think I’m going to let our friends do it for me. If you don’t want to believe my words, at least believe in theirs.” I gently turned her sight in the direction where the ponies had congregated. All of them wore looks of sympathy and concern.

Zipp, ecstatic with her wings stretched fully without a shadow of pain, took a step closer to Sunny and gave her a friendly nuzzle. “Sunny, please don’t ever say things like that again.” She softly chided. “You’re our friend, our leader! You brought us together in the first place and you always try so hard to keep us like that. We understand that you’re still getting to grips with this whole alicorn magic thing... and that’s okay! We won’t ever ask you for anything more than what you are now, Sunny, and we absolutely WON’T think any less of you just because you can’t manifest your powers. Right guys?” She turned her neck back towards the rest of the group, receiving numerous cheers of support.

A tiny smile began to lighten her muzzle. With one last sob, she launched herself over Zipp, trapping her in a big-hoofed-and-winged hug. The rest of the ponies joined the group cuddle, softly delivering their own encouraging words.

The sight warmed my heart. THIS! This is what we strived for. True friendship and understanding between races, not pitting and demanding what others can’t provide, nor looking down at those who can’t reach where we can.

Now out of immediate danger, I powered down my gauntlet and allowed the gems to recharge. Daily casting had allowed me to improve my ‘magical stamina’ a little bit, if you want to call it that. Training and frequent casting meant I could deal with more spells without getting too tired compared to what I was initially capable of. I had lost shape during my slumber, that was painfully obvious to me. With the danger passed for the time being, I now had to deal with the adrenaline crash that always followed, delivering its painful reminder regarding the injury I had been inflicted by that cursed timberwolf. Coming down hard, the pain of two full rows of teeth clamped deep into my arm returned to cheer up my morning.

With a hiss of pain, I sat back on the floor and removed my blood-stained jacket. Its thickness had prevented the timberwolf's sharp teeth from penetrating too far into my skin. But even so, my arm showed numerous bite marks that bled lightly down its length. Without enough magic available at the moment, I would have to wait for a bit until I could use a healing spell… and even then, healing spells don't usually work well when you apply them to yourself.

I had to time myself with the casting. The core gem of my gauntlet, the one I had brought with me, whilst holding shared characteristics with the other ones, it wasn't meant to be able to cast much more magic outside its intended purpose. Enough to get me out of a tight spot like the one we had just gone through, but I feared it wouldn't be able to hold for much longer if I didn't pace myself.

My gesture attracted the ponies’ attention, getting them to disentangle themselves from the group hug and approach my sitting form. I grabbed my bag and pulled out one of my spare shirts I had unceremoniously crumbled inside to create a homemade bandage.

“Alex! Your arm!” Shouted a concerned Izzy, the rest of the ponies wearing similar expressions.

With calming gestures, I reassured them of my condition. “I’m fine guys, only a few scratches. After recharging for a bit, I’ll cast a healing spell on myself, so don’t worry about me.” I eased their concern while tightening the knot around the wounded area. “What we should focus on doing now is to keep moving. I fear the noise of the ruckus and the smell of blood might attract other, much deadlier creatures.”

I zipped up my bag and rested it on my back. With a grunt, I stood up and dusted myself off. With the early sun peeking from the east, I oriented myself facing northwest and signaled the ponies to begin the march anew. With reluctant side-looks, they followed without a word.

Cloudpuff, who had stayed out of danger during the fight, managed to find the trace again, although taking into account yesterday’s wonky trek, I couldn’t bring myself to trust his tracking skills too much. A more prominent question was on my mind, however. One that had been bothering me for a while now.

‘Where the actual fuck is Canterhorn Peak?! We should be able to see it from here!’

I decided to briskly head in that direction, Cloudpuff more or less taking a similar path. The rest of the ponies spread themselves out around me in a protective circle. I was warmed by their concern, but considering our current situation, I wasn’t really the one needing protection.

I frequently checked on Zipp as we continued on our way. Her wing seemed totally fine on the outside, although I advised her not to fly for a few more hours and to allow the tissues to fully rearrange themselves. Not that the glitching magic would allow her in the first place.

We kept up our march until midday, at which point I recommended we take a brief stop to rest and grab something to eat. I had chosen to settle near a few berry bushes, and both Pipp and Izzy volunteered to gather some for us to eat. I then took the chance to heal myself.

“Episkey” I muttered, this spell stinging more than the previous one. My pained hiss attracted Sunny’s attention, giving me a sympathetic smile and a reassuring rub. I returned the gesture in kind, appreciating her concern. A moment later, the bite marks were gone.

‘Faust above, I love magic so much.’

“Alex…” Sunny muttered in a quiet tone, still rubbing my injured arm. Her alicorn form hadn’t yet disappeared, clinging to her for a surprising amount of time.

“Mhm?” I replied while checking over my arm in search of any injuries I might have missed.

“I do believe in you. In your words, I mean...” She quietly referred to our previous conversation.

“I know you do Sunny. You and your friends have been very trusting of me, way more than what I could’ve ever asked of you.”

“It’s just…” She continued with her gaze fixed on the ground, “These powers, it’s very overwhelming. It’s a huge responsibility! Alicorns have always led ponies, always acting as the epitome of what ponykind should aspire to be. I-I don’t know if I’m ready to become something like that. I’m not even sure I want to.” She fumbled with her forehooves nervously. “I’ve always enjoyed helping others and trying to change the world, but this? It's too much. I know I will break from the pressure eventually a-and…” Her breathing began to speed up. She looked on the brink of a panic attack.

Not wanting her to suffer more than necessary, I grabbed her and brought her to my side, hugging her head against my chest once again. She immediately snuggled deeper while squeezing my sides, trying to stop herself from falling into a hysterical crisis.

I gently rubbed her head and neck, slowly rocking her back and forth. “Shhhh, it's okay Sunny. You don’t have to be anything else aside from who you are, alicorn powers or not. I won't lie and say I know the reason why they were entrusted to you, but if I had to take a guess? I believe they’re meant to help with your mission of changing the ponies’ minds about living segregated lives, the same thing you’ve been doing for the past few years.” A half truth only, but she needn't hear that for the time being. “You don’t have to become any kind of powerful, immortal ruler or anything like that. You only have to be you, Sunny. That’s all we can ask of you, and that’s all we need. Don’t feel pressured, okay? The rest of the ponies can think whatever they want, but you will ALWAYS be our Sunny, our cheerful, optimistic and cute earth pony mare, capiche?” I concluded with a playful smirk.

My teasing words got an adorable blush to light up her cheeks. After a few moments, I felt her nodding against my chest. Grinning victoriously at her answer, I gave her a small kiss behind her left ear and a few more encouraging pets. These ponies were too adorable for their own good.

When she finally released me, her blush was still present, but now adorned by a warm smile.

The girls returned with enough berries for all of us. I feared for a moment they would give us indigestion or something worse. Thankfully, Hitch recognized them and reassured us that they were edible.

We ate our meager lunch in comfortable silence, setting aside a few of them to store and use later. While munching on a handful of berries, I fixed my attention in the direction of what should have been a tall singular mountain peak. Now that we were closer, I could discern a smaller peak in the place where Canterhorn used to be, but the tall vegetation and rock formations prevented me from finding any trace of the city that once stood near its summit.

‘Please, PLEASE, don’t let it have collapsed! There are things there I need to retrieve!’

Once we finished our meal, I resumed the path in that direction once again. However, Sunny had other ideas.

“Guys, we’ll get a better lay of the land from above the trees. Zipp, Pipp, can you do a flyover for us? She asked while stretching her translucent wings.

Both the pegasi gave a few test flaps, returning affirmative answers. Zipp looked at me searching for my opinion about her being able to fly by now, myself nodding in confirmation. It had been a couple of hours since the attack, and it wasn’t a bad idea to stretch them a bit and see if there was any lingering pain or discomfort, not that I’d be able to do much about it in the middle of nowhere.

“I can ask some of the critters around here to see if they know about any other timberwolves or dangerous creatures. I don’t want a repeat of this morning’s incident.” Hitch offered.

Izzy on the other side looked uncertain. Getting Sunny’s attention, she voiced her concerns. “I don’t think it’s a good idea to split up…”

“We don’t have a choice, Izzy. Every minute the crystal is separated from the others, our magic will become more and more unstable. We need to use every advantage we have. Alex?” She addressed me to ask for my opinion.

“It’s your call, Sunny. I’ll remain on the ground and follow the same directions I was previously. I’ll signal you if I find something worth checking.” I answered with a shrug. I wanted to leave the choice to her, getting her used to giving orders and directing the group as their leader. I kneeled and showed Cloudpuff my hand, allowing him to record my scent to later guide Hitch back to me.

“Great! Let’s roll, ponies!” Sunny cheered with a clap.

“I still think…” Izzy began saying, but before she could finish, the rest of the gang had already spread out, leaving us alone in the middle of the forest.

“Oh, nuts…” She muttered gloomily.

I gave Izzy a reassuring pat on her flank. “Come on Izz, let’s get moving. I have a possible destination in mind.”

Without protest, she began to follow, but not after sending a sad look behind her.

‘I can’t believe they left me behind again! I mean, I’m not exactly alone… ugh! As if this morning's flyball game wasn’t enough! I know we should make use of our abilities while they last…. but without wings or Hitch’s ability with critters…. uuugh.’

I couldn’t stop going in laps around it as I followed Alex through the forest. The fact that I couldn’t follow my friends and help them due to my differences really, really bothered me. I knew they weren’t doing it on purpose, but still, it felt like they were leaving me behind…

The snapping of twigs brought me back to the waking world. It had been my human friend, who now was taking a moment to reorient himself in the midst of the leafy cover surrounding us.

‘At least he didn’t leave me behind. He looks very sure of himself, even after being left alone with me. I know I’m not the most powerful unicorn there is…’

“You’re very quiet back there Izzy, is my rear that breathtaking? I'll take your silence as a compliment.”

His words brought an amused snort out of me. “Oh, yeah. Worthy of being sculpted in white marble for sure.”

“Ha! I actually WAS offered to get a sculpture of myself done for the royal castle’s gardens. Of course, I said no. Can you imagine my lanky form just standing there in the middle of the grass looking proud, terrorizing the visiting foals?” He jested, imitating the pose his statue would portray with a silly face..

“Come ooon, Alex, I doubt it would have been that bad.” I chuckled with a roll of my eyes. He wasn’t bad looking, not at all in my opinion…

With a small laugh, he added, “I know, I know, it’s just… There are several sculptures in the royal gardens that might or might not have contained some of Equestria’s greatest villains inside. Being immortalized in stone did not always entail a good reason.”

“Really!?” I blurted out, surprised at his revelation.

“Yeah… it’s a long story. I’ll tell you with the rest of our friends later on. Speaking of that, you seemed a bit bothered back there. Everything fine between the lot of you?” He inquired, looking back with concern.

“O-oh! Y-yeah, everything’s fine, totally fine, yes…” I stammered quickly, not wanting to bother him with my silly musings.

His raised eyebrow told me he wasn’t fully convinced. His suspicious silence prodded me to continue. “I-it’s just…. I’m a bit worried about them, I don’t want them to get hurt, not after what happened this morning.” I wasn’t lying; of course, I cared for my friends, but that wasn’t everything.

“… Okay then. I trust you, Izzy. It’s only natural to worry about your closest friends.” He finally replied, although not sounding one hundred percent convinced.

We spent the next few hours walking towards a small mountain, which Alex pointed out was our intended destination. He hadn’t told me what he was expecting to find there, only that there was a chance the thief would have chosen that place as their hideout. He kept glancing at his sides every once in a while, searching for something I couldn’t discern.

“Hmm, hmm… Last Christmas I gave you my heart. But the very next day you gave it away. This year, to save me from tears. I'll give it to someone speciaaal.”

He had begun to hum a little song after we had crossed a small stream, now getting close enough to the mountain that it cast its shadow over us.

“What’s that song you're singing? I’ve never heard it before.” I wondered. It was a beautiful song, although I didn’t recognize any of the lyrics.

“Oh, it’s just a song from my home world, typical of the winter holidays. It was one of those my family used to play for the occasion. Just like three quarters of the world for that matter.” He explained.

“... But it’s the middle of the summer…” A winter song at this time of the year?

He didn’t seem bothered by it. “Your point? It just sprouted in my mind for no particular reason. It was well known to do that.”

An amused snort was my only response. He could be quite random sometimes. I liked that about him, it always got a laugh out of me.

A tiny smile made its way up my muzzle. In the short time I’ve known him, I’ve found myself deeply enjoying our shared time. He’d always shown interest in my work and had asked me to make several things for him, including new clothes and the gauntlet we made together. Every chance I got, I would have lunch with him after his return from working at the hospital, and he sometimes shared some of his crazy knowledge with me and our friends. I mean, we? Having more connections in our brain than stars in our galaxy? Now THAT sounds crazy!

Also, he hadn’t left me behind….

So absorbed was I in my thoughts that I didn’t notice him stop dead in his tracks, causing me to bump against his back and fall backwards onto my rump.

“You okay there, Izzy?” He asked over his houder.

I reassured him with a wave of my hoof. “Everything’s peachy, just a bit distracted, sorry about that.”

“You're good. So, I have a theory of what might be happening here. Those mountains over there, on our right?” He pointed towards a small mountain range at the other end of the forest, “Those are the Foal Mountains. A continuation of the Zephyr Range all the way to kiss the horizon. And the river we have been following on our left? That should be the Silver Run which flows from the Neighagra Falls, far to the north from of our position. That means that this small mountain in front of us HAS to be Canterhorn Peak. There’s no other possibility.” His hand came to brush against his chin. “However, the Canterhorn Peak I remember reached way, WAY higher than this one.”

He approached a nearby chasm. The terrain had begun to turn rockier as we made our slow way up, yet the vegetation remained as dense as ever. I followed him and peered down the black, not able to discern anything due to the darkness of the small abysm.

“Izzy, I need you to cast a wave of magic in the direction of the chasm. Just raw magic, no spell attached, understand?”

Nodding in understanding, I concentrated and built up the energy in my horn. The familiar tingling feeling when holding big amounts of magic signaled to me that there was enough charge, so I pointed my horn towards the abysm and released it.

The raw energy release shook the nearby bushes and caused small fragments of rock to fall down the gap. After a few moments of nothing happening, I saw it, and by Alex’s cheer at my side, he saw it too.

Small glimmering lights of purple and pink shades, a lot of them. Not very bright on their own, but their numbers made up for it. They ran along the walls all the way down until the depth was too great to glimpse anything.

“I knew it! Those are the remains of the crystal galleries below the city. If they’re exposed like this, with the peak now considerably shorter, it means they eventually had to sink it, as we feared we would have to do in the end…” He exclaimed while pointing at the glimmering lights.

I didn’t understand anything about what he had just said. “The what in the where now?”

He chuckled at my bewildered reaction and proceeded to better explain. “Below and inside Canterhorn Peak, which is indeed the small mountain in front of us, stretched dozens of kilometres of underground caves and caverns full of crystals that were mined by the ponies from the city above them and the surrounding towns, making the peak somewhat… ‘hollow’, due to the excavations. However, it seems that the same tunnels that once held the crystal mines have collapsed, sinking the mountain into the earth. But if you look closely, the upper peak remains intact, and we haven’t crossed any other big chasms like this one, nor found any surface exposures of purple crystals. I believe the sinking was intentional, a deliberate effort before it happened naturally, which would have buried the city and its inhabitants under tons of rocks.”

Dusting his hand, he went to return to the invisible path he had been following between the green. “Very well, let’s keep looking, and let’s see if we can find an entrance.”

Once again, he began his march towards our mysterious destiny. I remained a second longer, peering at the glimmering chasm for another moment, trying to make sense of his words.

‘A sunken mountain? A city? What is he talking about?’

We continued our search for another couple of hours, now taking special care to find some kind of ‘entrance’ as he had referred to it.

With aching hooves, I was beginning to get frustrated when I felt a slight rush of air with my ears. Wiggling them a bit, I was able to figure out the source of it. It seemed to be coming from my right, but there was only an accumulation of stones and dense vines over there.

With my curiosity peaked, I approached to investigate. I used my levitation to pull up the dense vegetation and, underneath it all, I found a small entrance to a cave.

“Alex! I think I’ve found something!” I called out to my human friend and began levitating obstructing rocks out of the way to widen the entrance.

Alex, who had gone a bit ways ahead, quickly returned to my side. “What is it, Izzy?” He asked, but soon shared my findings. “Wow, that looks promising. Great job!” He congratulated me.

I returned a strained smile. The rocks were very heavy, but after seeing my struggles, he started using his own magic to ease the effort.

“This could be it. I’ll get to return, way sooner than I was expecting.” I thought I heard him mutter as he floated another big rock out of the way.

‘What?’

Once the entrance was wide enough for us to march in without trouble, I poked my head in to take a look. It wasn’t very deep, and a few cracks on its ceiling allowed some natural light to filter in. Using my ears and snout, I followed the small current to its origin with Alex following behind me, minding his step.

After a short trek, I reached a wall on the other side of the small cave. The air current seemed to be coming from the other side. Alex stood besides me and gave it an analytic look. Brushing aside some ivy and moss, we found not rock, but petrified wood. Carved, ancient-looking wood.

“Okay, this is something worth checking over.” He proposed. “However, I think we should signal the others first, or else we’ll end up too far away to find each other.”

Nodding in agreement, we retraced our steps back into the exterior. With the sky above us, Alex signaled me to fire up a light beacon into the heavens, so the others could find our location. With a scream of ‘Lumos maxima’ he fired his own spell at the same time as I launched mine.

The twin beacons lit up the afternoon sky, like two tiny suns sharing the blue with their big brother. With that done, we sat near the entrance and waited for our friends to arrive. I placed myself at his side, snuggling against him, enjoying the feeling of his arm stretching past me and hugging me against this frame.

So I happen to be a cuddly unicorn, sue me.

He continued humming another song, absentmindedly stroking my fur to the rhythm of it. I had to admit, it felt simply wonderful. He had done similar on numerous occasions during the past few days while hanging out with me, and I couldn’t get enough of it.

With a warm smile, I closed my eyes and snuggled in deeper, listening to his humming. I felt him resting his head over mine, taking care not to poke himself with my horn.

I could have waited like this all day, his quiet voice slowly lulling me to sleep. I wasn’t sure when I had ended up doing so, but a gentle shake from him woke my unwilling self from the impromptu nap.

“Mmmmm….” I mumbled in a half-asleep slur.

He shook me again. “Wake up Izzy, I think I can hear our friends approaching.”

I blinked the sleep out of my eyes and strained my ears to listen closely. He was right, I could hear muffled voices coming towards our position.

“They should be around here somewhere…”

“Did you check the position of the beacons correctly, Zipp?”

“Wait up Cloudpuff! Don’t get too far!”

Just as I was going to call to them, a white ball of fluff emerged from the bushes near the road, barking in joy at having found us. He launched himself into Alex’s waiting arms, receiving vigorous pets from the human.

“Hey there, Cloudpuff, did you manage to track us all the way here?” He received an affirmative bark from the Pomeranian. “Such a good boy! Yes, you are!”

Cloudpuff beamed at the praise, jumping from Alex’s grasp and running excited laps around us.

“Guys! Over here!” I heard Hitch call to our friends, jumping out from the clinging bushes into the small clearing a second later.

“Hey there, sheriff, enjoying the relaxing walk through the forest?” I asked the puffing earth pony.

“Ah… ah… no Izzy, it wasn’t relaxing in the slightest.” He snorted tiredly. “Cloudpuff kept dragging me all over the place, and the critters don’t seem to know anything about a thief that might have passed through here. You guys found something?”

Before Alex could answer, the rest of the group emerged from the dense vegetation. Now that we were all together again, I could breathe a little easier. I didn't like the fact that we had to split up. Hadn’t we learned anything from the scary movies?

"Alex! Izzy!" Sunny exclaimed in glee when she saw us and rushed over to give us both a big hug.

“Hey there, Tangerine, how was the flight? Any issues with your magic?”

Receiving a negative answer from Sunny, he repeated the question to the pegasus sisters, only getting complaints from Pipp about how boring the search had been.

‘Tangerine? Heh, that’s a funny nickname. I want one too…’

“So, what did you guys find out? We couldn’t see anything interesting from the air. Perhaps a glimpse of what looked like some ruins of some kind a few kilometers south of here. But we didn’t fly too high in case our magic glitched and we had to use the trees as cushioning, so we couldn’t glimpse too far ahead.” Zipp spoke while the ponies joined in a circle around us.

“It was sooooo booooriiing! I thought for a moment I would end up falling asleep in the air. I really miss my phone…” Pipp complained with a sigh, receiving an annoyed look from her sister.

“Do any of you guys know where we are now?” My human friend hinted at the group. None of the ponies seemed to know, and I wasn’t totally sure myself.

“You said something about a sunken mountain and a city.” I answered, the pony’s expressions morphing into ones of amazement.

“A city!? Here!? What are you talking about, Alex?!” Sunny excitedly prodded while taking a step towards the human. I knew how much she liked these kinds of things, inheritance from her father’s passion I guessed.

With a soft laugh, Alex started to explain. “My dear Sunny, behind me stands… not so proudly now, the mighty Canterhorn Peak, the place where Equestria’s capital once stood, and still stands I hope…”

A huge, muzzle-splitting gasp emanated from my friend, her eyes going to a pair of dark pools of wonder. “CANTERLOT!! THE CITY YOU’RE REFERRING TO IS CANTERLOT!!”

An amused grin from Alex was all the answer she needed. With an excited cheer, she began bouncing around us in celebration.

The rest of us were left speechless.

‘Canterlot! The legendary city from where the princesses of old used to rule over Equestria!’

“AAAAAAHH!! I CAN´T BELIEVE WE FOUND IT!! My dad spent many years trying to, but never found an entrance!! I didn’t know it was here! I-I thought it was located on the top of a huge mountain! Ohmygoshohmygoshohmygosh WE FOUND IT!!” She continued cheering while grabbing Alex and shaking him back and forth.

Pipp finally managed to regain her voice. “Wow, that… okay that sounds amazing.” And then she remembered. “Uuuuugh, and I have no battery to LIVESTREAM IT!” She lamented with an annoyed stomp.

“It also sounds like the perfect place for a thief to hide. We have to check it out!” Zipp added with a pump of her wings.

I decided to intervene, proudly stating our findings. “Alex and I found a possible entrance, it’s just over there inside the cave, we wanted to wait for you.” I stated while puffing my chest in pride.

Alex answered with a playful rub on my chest fluff. I stuck out my tongue at him jokingly.

“WHAT ARE WE WAITING FOR?!! LET'S MOVE!!” Sunny, bubbling with renewed energy, stood behind Alex and began pushing him with her head over the cave’s entrance.

‘Thank hoofness her alicorn powers are gone, that would have hurt.’ I envisioned the image of Alex getting poked back there… and I couldn’t help releasing a chuckle.

‘Yeah, this is gonna be an interesting day after all.’

Sunny kept pushing me until we had reached the entrance, the moment I had to ask her to stop, else we would trip over with the protruding rocks and taste the moist soil.

“Slow down, Sunny. I know this is very exciting, but we must be careful.” I implored her while placing a hand over her head, signaling to her to stop pushing.

She did so with an embarrassed blush. “Sorry, it’s just… I’ve been dreaming of doing something like this since I was a little filly.”

I gave her a sympathetic scratch behind her ear. “I understand Sunny, it IS a big discovery… and maybe I’ll get to see what became of my home.” I muttered the last part with a small sigh so that she wouldn’t hear it. That was my own business to deal with. We had more important matters to focus on in the meantime.

‘Although I’ll try and take a small detour if possible. Perhaps some of my things managed to survive. The rest of them I left at Twilight’s castle… I’ll have to check that out, too.’

Once all the ponies were settled around the entrance, I used my levitation spell to remove the remaining vegetation.

“I-It’s… IT’S THE SACRED GATE OF THE ANCIENTS!!” Sunny screamed with an audible gasp when the remaining engravings were revealed.

“... The what now?” I asked, confused at her words. Last time I checked, Canterlot had nothing named like that.

“My dad used to read me stories from back when Canterlot became the home of the royal princesses! This gate was built to welcome travelers from all around the world. Behind these gates is the most magical place on Equus! THE VERY PLACE TWILIGHT SPARKLE WAS CORONATED AND BECAME THE RULER OF EQUESTRIA! AND…” The mare did a double take. “This was your home too…” She finished with a low voice, turning to look at me with sad eyes.

“Yes, Sunny, it was… but not anymore. My home is with you guys now, so don’t worry about it, okay?” I reassured the ponies. Sunny and Izzy approached me and gave me sympathetic nuzzles. They understood this was a hard moment for me.

“Hmmm.” I mulled for a second. “This gate wasn’t here the last time I was in the city. Twilight must have built it after I left… well, let’s see what's behind it, shall we?”

I received excited nods from the group. Together, we pushed against the ancient rusty hinges, the massive doors screeching in an effort to open for the first time in probably centuries.

What awaited us was a great surprise for the ponies, but a profound disappointment for me. I had assumed it would've been as such, but a small part of me wished the city had managed to remain pretty and pristine.

In front of us, the dusty ruins of what was once the most gracious city in all of Equestria stretched as far as the eye could see. This new gate connected near the middle level of the city, so the royal castle shouldn’t have been too far. You could distinguish the uppermost peaks of its looming towers from where we stood.

“Yikes! You dreamed of coming here?” Pipp spoke while hesitantly picking up what in the day had been a welcome banner. “No offense, Sunny, but if the thief needed enough money to move out of this ghost town, maybe we should let them keep the crystal.”

Sunny was quick to come up with a rebuttal. “Nopony’s lived in Canterlot for hundreds of years, but I promise you’ll all be able to feel the magic once we start exploring!”

She took a few steps forward and pointed all around the street. “Every one of these shops is a relic from the past. Canterlot culture lived here!”

I took a closer look at the surrounding buildings, finding a small relief in their state. “Hmmm, it seems the old time-preserving spells seeded into the stones have managed to more or less keep the place from totally collapsing. The buildings are still up, and some of the paint, windows and cloth pieces still remain. At least you’ll get an improvised tour.” I joked, Sunny attentively absorbing my words.

We continued our way up the street, with the ponies each approaching the different shops and houses in their own little expedition. Sunny and Izzy trotted together, the former furiously scribbling on her notebook anything she deemed interesting, which was virtually everything in sight.

I continued my slow pace behind the group, taking in the sights with melancholy, memories of my days in the city accompanying every step. I had spent the last years in Canterlot after Twilight moved there to rule from the royal castle. She was ecstatic when I announced I’d be moving with her, repeatedly thanking me for doing so since she feared the distance from Ponyville would affect her relationships with her loved ones. At least she would have Spike and me with her to ease the transition.

It was such a shame to see the city in this state. The one-time beacon of light and friendship was now reduced to a bunch of forgotten ruins.

‘Faust, I can’t even imagine how bad it had to turn out for something like this to result.’

Sunny’s voice brought me out of my dark musings, slowing her step to trot besides me. “Hey, Alex. There’s something I don’t understand.”

“Ask away, Tanguerine.” I encouraged her, silently thanking her for the distraction.

Reading over her notes, she asked. “Wasn’t Canterlot located at the side of the mountain near the top? I mean, I don’t think we’ve even climbed that high.”

“You’re right, Sunny,” I began my explanation, “Canterlot was indeed located near the top of Canterhorn Peak. Back then the fastest way to reach the city was either flying or by train, although there were several roads you could walk if you wished. However, you’ll have noticed how the mighty Canterhorn Peak isn’t looking so mighty now. I believe it had something to do with the crystal mines under the mountain.”

“Is that what you were telling me before?” Inquired Izzy, who had now begun to walk at my other side. The rest of the ponies also neared us to listen to my theory.

“Yes, Izzy. Dozens of kilometres of tunnels filled with gems ran through the interior and under Canterhorn Peak. Ponies from all around Equestria had been mining them for centuries, widening the tunnels and even creating new galleries. That, summed with the numerous…um, ‘conflicts’ Canterlot has been involved in, has clearly ended up compromising the structural integrity of the mountain. Too many bumps, if you will.”

I remembered the day of the quake. What a fright we all had had when the streets began shaking for a spell before stopping as quickly as it had started. “The geologists and seismologists warned us that if the mining activities were to continue unchecked, or if the city faced another destructive event, there was a high chance the tunnels would end up collapsing, dropping the city hundreds of meters and burying it under tons of rock and gems.” The ponies shuddered at the image. It was a shock for us too when we were warned back then.

I continued with my retelling. “So, after consulting with many experts, a plan was devised to solve the issue. With the help of the digging experts, the Diamond Dogs, with whom we had begun to establish more solid relationships, we would collapse all tunnels running inside and under the mountain to sink it into the ground while using the princesses’ combined magic to keep the upper peak and city afloat and stabilized during the process. It was an extremely risky operation, and no doubt the city would have had to be evacuated.” I sent another look around the seemingly unphased ruins. “But from what I can see, it seems that’s exactly what happened.”

‘Which also begs the question regarding the actual need to execute the plan. Mining operations were already highly regulated after the change of government... Did Canterlot become involved in another major conflict after I left?’

A clutter of falling dishes made us all home our sights towards the left side of the street. More specifically, towards a small local, which by the few letters that remained clinging on its facade, I could determine to be Joe's Donut Store.

‘Gosh, how I miss those donuts…’

I signaled the ponies to remain low and quiet. Izzy returned a calming gesture, stating in a whisper she was ‘medium sneaky’, so it wouldn’t be a problem. Whatever that meant.

With silent steps I approached the entrance, the ponies tip-hoofing behind me. After counting to three, I pushed it open. The hinges quickly gave up, and the door fell flat on the floor, making a loud clatter. I cursed under my breath and quickly rushed inside, finding nocreature anywhere inside the shop.

For the last few hours, I had had the feeling we were being observed, causing me to cast numerous glances around us on our way up the mountain. I felt the same thing at the shop, but I was left with no leads.

‘Perhaps it’s my imagination. Since this morning’s attack, I’ve been on edge.’

Shaking my head in disappointment, I signaled the ponies to enter the store if they wished. Izzy quickly took notice of the dusty ragged wall signs. “Hey! This is a donuts’ shop. Oohh, I wonder if there are some remaining around here.” She began searching immediately after.

A victorious ‘Ah ha!’ signaled her success, returning soon after with an old paper box full of petrified donuts.

Placing one on her horn for some reason, she approached Pipp. “We’ve gotta try these donuts. They’ve been aged like, a few hundred years, which means they’re really fancy!”

Pipp didn’t look convinced at all. “Eugh! It’s not like cheese, Izzy. If you eat that, you’ll be sick for days.” She answered while sticking her tongue out in disgust.

“Well, we’re not going to find our crystal thief here. Looks like we’ll have to do some more exploring after all.” Zipp spoke while exiting the store, receiving an excited ‘yes!’ from Sunny.

We exited the building and resumed our walk, Izzy and Sunny taking positions in front of me.

‘Heh, guess the sights aren’t so depressing anymore…’ My monkey brain celebrated at the sight of the beautiful mares’ behinds straight in my line of view. ‘... Gosh, I really need to get laid. I believe I’ve beaten Celestia’s old record of not partaking in any ‘activities’… Why am I saying that as if I’m proud of it?!!’

“I can’t believe I’m here…” Sunny spoke in a low voice, darting her eyes all over the different buildings.

“I think you CAN believe it, and that’s sort of the problem.” Izzy replied to Sunny’s muttering.

Sunny gave her friend a concerned look. “I always saw Canterlot as this… perfect beacon of friendship. A place where unicorns, earth ponies and pegasi lived in harmony, and nopony ever felt left behind…”

“That’s what you want to create in Maretime Bay, right?” Added the unicorn.

“Yeah. But seeing Canterlot like this…” Sunny sent her gaze towards the ruins spreading around the plaza we had just stepped in. “… makes me question how hard it would be to keep it that way.”

“Canterlot was Equestria’s capital, meaning thousands of ponies of all races visited it for numerous reasons all year-round.” I decided to offer her a different point of view, one not distorted by the passage of time. “However, its population was mostly unicorns, and high-class citizens featured prominently. Most of them tended to regard other ponies with contempt due to their ‘lower status.’ The first time I visited the city, I remember receiving numerous looks of disdain and disgust from the nobles. Even before I had the chance to open my mouth, I had already been judged and deemed not welcome amongst them… the same could also be said for countless others before me.”

Their looks turned into incredulous ones. “B-But Canterlot was always depicted as the beacon of friendship amongst ponies and all the other races of the world. Is what you’re saying really true?!” Pleaded Sunny.

“That Canterlot you speak of was the one we fought so hard to achieve, and even after all our efforts, we never got it totally right.” I lamented, popping her balloon. “You know what was the first thought I had regarding the pony’s attitude towards other sapient creatures when I arrived in Equestria?” She shook her head no. “I thought you ponies were all a bunch of racist pricks.”

All ponies present gasped at my words.

“Wow, that’s kinda rude, Alex.” Pipp protested.

“But is it false? I mean, you guys didn’t seem very tolerant of each other until only recently. Each race living separated and at each other’s throats is not what I would call a ‘tolerant approach, yes?”

She couldn’t contradict my words, so instead shook her head in shame.

“That kind of behavior runs deep within ponykind. It’s something that started way before the alicorn sisters’ rule, perhaps it’s even something inherent to a pony’s nature.” I began to reason. “Celestia and Luna fought hard to erase it, and Twilight and the rest of us were very close to doing so… But now, “I motioned around us. “Look at this place. This is the result of ponies turning against everycreature, even their own fellow citizens. Just a nudge here and there, and the rest is downhill… Now, after many, many years, ponykind has a new chance to heal and rejoin once again in harmony, just as was we strived for back then.” I finished voicing my thoughts, the ponies nodding in determination. I’m sure even they had felt like that at some point in their lives. I couldn’t blame them; it was all they knew. But this group of ponies pushed further and went against the rest of ponykind’s beliefs. That’s what brought them together and made them stronger.

I trusted they would be the new heroes, the ones that would guide ponykind towards a new age of prosperity. And they would be able to do so freely after I completed my mission. These kinds of situations, like the one we currently found ourselves in, were exactly of the kind I feared happening the most when we originally envisioned the Unity Crystals.

We were too lost, too far in to think clearly and see the painful truth in front of us.

So absorbed were the ponies in their musings that they hadn’t realized what was in front of us. “Look guys, it’s the royal castle.” I casually pointed towards the imposing building which, even after all these centuries, still retained most of its magnificence.

The setting sun provided a spectacular ambience, its last rays of light reflecting over the dusty, milky white walls and rusty, golden domes, the enormous structure casting its angular shadow over the main square.

And just like that, the previous somber atmosphere gave way to one of excitement, courtesy of one history-geek mare who audibly gasped in amazement.

“THE ROYAL CASTLE!! It’s the perfect place! The thief must be somepony with a power complex who would be drawn to the castle! They would also have the best view from up there to spot incoming threats. ALEX, WE ABSOLUTELY MUST CHECK IT OUT!!” Her half-assed reasoning betrayed her simple desire to check out my old home.

“Also, the main gate is open, so…” Hinted Zipp after Sunny’s outburst.

I nodded in confirmation. I could use the chance to check my old room and the few things I had left behind, and to see if the preservation spells worked as well as I expected.

‘Should I also visit the armory? Binary should still be there…’

“Get in formation, everypony. We’ve got a thief to catch!” Hitch interrupted my mental planning and stood at the front with renewed confidence, the rest of the ponies giving their own cheers.

“Slow down sheriff, it’s going to get dark very soon. The castle is huge, and I highly doubt the lighting spells are still active. We could be easily ambushed in the dark, and the thief could easily slip away without us noticing. Let’s not give it a reason to think we’re chasing them. Let's go inside and find my old room. We’ll spend the night there and resume looking in the morning. There are some things I want to retrieve from there, if you don’t mind.” I requested.

The ponies looked at each other in silent discussion. After a moment, they returned affirmative answers. We were all very tired from the journey and the hard emotions since arriving here, especially Sunny. Her fangirl enthusiasm was the only thing keeping her up at the moment.

‘I’m not sure what Starlight did with the original diagrams for the stasis spell. If she left them in my room, locked, I must retrieve them, and destroy them. If somepony else thought to do as I did, it could be catastrophic…’

Chapter 10- A higher purpose.

Shame, bone chilling, soul crushing. It filled my every pore and choked on my spirit. She and I were long friends by then, yet her embrace would never cease to hurt like the first day.

I couldn't bring myself to even look at my friends, who awaited in silence with saucer-like eyes and new light shining over their newest friend, a light I feared would cast a permanent shadow over me.

My leaky eyes peered straight down at my feet, full of bitter tears that blurred the image of my old boots caked in dust and debris from our long trek.

None of them had ushered a word after I had finished my retelling of what came to be known as ‘The Incident.’ Their labored breaths and occasional sniff warned me that they also were shedding a few tears of their own.

What would they think of me now?

“D-Dead?” A haggard whisper broke the sticky silence. My eyes searched for its origin. It came from Sunny, who had remained at my side during the whole story, but now had put the smallest of distances between us to address me in complete disbelief.

A shaky nod was the only answer I mustered to give, for I felt words held little meaning in light of my sin. It went beyond that simple act. Years upon years of work, changes, and the most dangerous of all: ideas.

It had been a truly traumatizing experience for my friends and I. A life taken for such a trivial matter. At least, that’s what we all thought in the beginning. History knows now how it turned out to be anything but trivial.

“B-But, the Tale of the Guardians of Harmony only speaks of an incident in which an earth pony was harmed by a unicorn, which then led the races to fully d-distrust one another and fled with their respective c-crystals…” Sunny sniffed hard, unceremoniously trying to wipe her snout while offering her decaffeinated version of the story. “… t-to the lands which eventually became our home towns and cities. There isn’t any mention of anypony dying…” The pain in her voice dug a knife deep into my heart, hurting more than any harm any villian I faced could inflict on me. The mare was struggling to fully grasp what I had just told them, death inflicted on such a manner a concept actually alien to their sheltered existences.

“I also know that story,” Pipp butted in from her place in front of me, her words dripping with disbelief as the earth pony had. “It's almost identical to the one you mentioned Sunny. I never imagined it was actually that bad…”

They knew little. They knew nothing.

“It was my fault…. The ISIT, the ideas, the globalization, the pupils…”

What was left to do but tell them? They deserved to know who they were dealing with, even if my selfish side tugged at my mind to keep my true self and past hidden under the layer of myths and tales ages had blaketed over my image.

“Don’t say that!!” An angry demand from my left killed my self-deprecating mutterings. Izzy was to blame for the jumpstart, leering at me through teary eyes, an angry scowl adorning her features. With an authoritative stomp, she drove her point home. “It wasn’t your fault, Alex. You’re the kindest, sweetest, most friendly human I’ve met in my whole life! You were just trying to defend him from that… that disgrace of a unicorn.” A flash of realization crossed her lavender eyes, bringing with it a renewed self of disappointment. “... Now I can see why we were regarded as dangerous and unpredictable ponies. B-But please, please don’t blame yourself!” She pleaded with her beautiful, teary pearls searching for mine.

A sorry chuckle escaped from my lips, warmed by her touching gesture and willingness to trust in me. But as I’ve said, it went beyond that day’s event.

“I’m the only human you’ve ever met, Izzy.”

The unicorn wasn't happy with my dismissal of her point, and she let me know with an annoyed nip on my collarbone. However, Izzy wasn’t a mare to stay angry. Sensing the pain under my sorry attempt at humor, she immediately lunged to dig her running muzzle in my neck, her forelegs surrounding me in a big hug. I could feel her lightly sobbing against me, whispering how sorry she was for me for having gone through such an event.

“She’s right, Alex.” Sunny reaffirmed from my right with cold resilience, using her hoof to turn my head in her direction to make sure I heard what she had to say. “None of those ponies had any right to fight like that. You just did what anypony else would have done. None of us believes for a second that it was your fault, right guys?” She turned to address the rest of the ponies with a face that left little room for disagreement. The rest of the gang returned affirmative nods, not needing the mare’s silent warning to agree with her view.

“Alex…” Hitch was next to add his two bits with a step forward, “I’m so sorry, I didn’t know. I-I…”

Feeling unworthy of their sympathy and understanding, I raised my hand to silence him. “It’s fine Hitch, it was high time you all knew.” I revealed with a deep sigh and a heavy heart. “I spent many days hating myself, and even today I still do.” The truth spurred Izzy to strengthen her hug. Warmed, I gave her a reassuring kiss on her ear before continuing. “It got so bad that I… um… I almost did something very stupid…” I rubbed my right wrist with shame, the message not going unnoticed by the ponies, whose eyes grew larger as they understood my gesture.

Heh, not that it would’ve gotten me anywhere. No, I could no longer choose on that department.

Before they could say anything about it, I reassured them. “My adoptive family and friends were with me through every step of the way and helped me recover. We leaned on each other to push through, and for the most part, it worked. However, such a serious event forced us to take more… drastic measures.”

Drastic measures. No matter how many times I referred to the term, it always felt like a gross understatement. Still, the cat was out of the bag, and the ponies wouldn't settle for anything less but the truth. I had been reassured of their commitment and their hearts of gold. I saw little reason to continue playing the guessing game with them. Discord would spill the beans sooner or later knowing him. Best if they learned from me first and prevent that old, mismatched fucker from spinning the tale.

I stood a bit straighter in my seating position and regarded the surrounding ponies with a heavy look, eliciting a similar reaction from them. “Guys, my mission here, the reason why I traveled to your time…”

Time was up, now came the bomb.

“... is to free magic from the prison we locked it in, the Unity Crystals. To avoid situations like this one from ever happening again. To allow all ponykind to freely enjoy the gift of magic as it is their right. Magic is NOT, and never was the true problem. It was the ponies, the three tribes who misused it. Even without magic, they still feared and hated each other, perhaps even more so.”

I turned to adress Sunny, her gorgeous aqua-green pearls regarding me with uncertainty. Some late-due explanations were in order. “Sunny, the day I broke into your home, and you caught me messing with the crystals, I was actually trying to do exactly that. In this gem…” I raised the gauntlet containing it for emphasis, powering the aforementioned gem. “... is contained the spell matrix necessary for a madly complex spell we thought might achieve that goal. I wasn’t planning on destroying them like Discord is, more like…” I struggled to find the words. “... like reversing their effect, I guess. I tried to free the connection they hold over the leylines that block and disperse the flow of magic towards and from the ponies… but I guess Twilight saw me coming and placed defensive spells on them as a guarantee.”

I should've known better. My mare planned for each and every eventuality. How could I ever think playing the waiting game would be enough to trump her?

A veil of conclusion blanketed the ponies, one clinging mystery solved by my hand. Yet, one pressing concern remained in their stormy minds.

“W-Why didn’t you say so?” Sunny hesitantly asked.

“Would you have allowed me to? Or better yet, would you have even believed me?” I fired back.

“I… uh…” Knowing I had the point, Sunny’s ears folded back against her scalp.

My striking failure, however, had shone a new light over my plight. “Regardless of that, I now believe there’s more to the crystals than I originally thought. I need to learn more about them and their purpose before acting again.”

Sunny reached with her forelegs and grasped my shoulders firmly, leaving me little room to avoid her message. “Alex, I’ve already told you. We trust you… and we want to help you. Nopony here knows more about them than you do.” Her seriousness evaporated with a tender nuzzle on my cheek, yet her compromise remained as firm as ever.

These ponies were too trusting and forgiving, they’d give me a heart attack one of these days. I gave her another kiss behind her ear for her efforts, her cheeks slightly reddening in an adorable blush. “Thank you, Sunny…” I searched for the rest of the gang, who shared the mare’s will to judge me for who I was now, and not for who I used to be. “... and thank you, guys... I don’t deserve you, not after all I’ve told you.”

I took a few deep breaths and tapped the clinging mares at my sides to release me from their hugs. Reluctantly, they did so and allowed me to stand up. We had a demigod to catch and a crystal to recover if I was ever going to put the three of them to sleep permanently. “Well, we aren't going to learn anything if we don’t retrieve the pegasus crystal. Let’s get out of here, shall we? I’ve spent enough time underground to last me a lifetime.”

Not that the equines were going to get the actual meaning behind my comment, but that didn't stop them from nodding vividly, no doubt itching to return to the surface for some fresh air and warm sunlight. I pointed out the path I had taken and instructed them to look for my marks on the walls. Using her phone lantern, Pipp hovered above the group, lighting the way and hollering every time she spotted a mark.

Zipp and Hitch followed her closely, already going over possible plans to jumpstart the search, discussing possible hiding spots and search methods. Those two were a team of their own, it seemed. In the short time I’d been with them, I’d seen them together numerous times. A blind pony could tell they were becoming good friends. Like, really good friends.

‘I give them a month, two tops.’

Just as I was to follow behind them, Izzy leaped in front of me and blocked my path with a frown. She raised herself on her hind legs and rested her forehooves on my shoulders, fixing me in place. Now face to face, hear usually cute features hardened. “Now listen here, mister. If you ever, and I mean it, EVER, start having those nasty thoughts about yourself again, you come to me, or any of us, and talk to us, okay? We love you, and we want to help you, whether you like it or not! You’re important to us, and we couldn’t care less about whatever things you claim to have or haven't done in the past. Now you’re with us, and you fight with us for the future of all ponies, understood? Promise me!” She finished with a demanding jab on my chest.

Warmed by her concern, and grimacing from the firmness of her hoof against my delicate chest (ouch), I reached and rubbed my nose against hers, making her go cross-eyed for a moment.

“Thanks Izzy, I promise I will.” I rescued the mare with one parting ruffle of her wavy main. “Come on now, let’s not leave the others waiting.”

My promise brought her to brighten up with a warm smile. With our short affair settled, we resumed our path back to the surface. Due to the narrowness of the tunnels, the two mares who had stuck close to me during my brief fallout now went up front, with myself taking the rear and providing more illumination with my gauntlets, brisking our pace to catch up with the rest of the group.

Soul crushed or not, I didn't miss the image in front of me.

‘Aaand we are back with the gorgeous sights, nothing better to dispel dark thoughts… Ugh, we males are so simple it’s almost embarrassing.’

An embarrassed chuckle filled the narrow tunnel, causing the mares to peer back in confusion. I gave them a sweeping gesture with my hand indicating it was nothing and focused upfront where I was pointing the light. Sunny gave a pony shrug and returned her attention to the path. Izzy, on her part, caught up with my devilish dilemma. With a coy smile, she began swaying her flanks in a more seductive way as she made her way up the tunnels, her tail bobbing behind her in a way it teased me constantly with what laid behind it.

‘I swear, that mare…’

It took us less time to emerge from the cave system thanks to my marks. The pegasus sisters flew a short lap to stretch their wings, rejoicing in their renewed sense of freedom while the rest of us retraced our steps towards the castle’s main. With nothing else to do here, and keeping the shattered statue under wraps for now, the ponies wanted to return as soon as possible to Maretime Bay and start the search.

All fine by me. The better we found Discord, the sooner we could fix the glitching and return magic properly to the ponies. I feared the longer the search dragged on, the worse the anomalies would get until it became irreversible or worse.

However, on my way up I realized I had to take a little detour.

Once we were at the front gates, I voiced my plan to the ponies, regretful at the need to part ways with them temporarily. But I couldn't miss the opportunity, I needed to see for myself.

I clapped my hands to gain their attention. “Very well, gang. We should return immediately and begin planning the search for the crystal. I assume you know your way back?” The group nodded in confirmation, yet ever attentive Zipp scrunched her muzzle in suspicion.

“Why are you asking if we know our way back? Aren’t you coming with us?” She asked.

“Not right away, Zipp. I need to take a detour first, there’s something I need to see. But you guys should go back to the brighthouse right away. We can’t afford to lose any more time. Discord could find a way of destroying the Pegasus Crystal at any time. We have to be faster!”

I had hoped to elicit no conflict with my request, but one mare had something to say about it.

“Absolutely not!” Sunny was quick to counter, “You’re not going alone, much less after the past few days!”

Sighing heavily, I took a knee and tried to reason with her. “Sunny….”

“Don’t even try it, Alex!” She was a cliff against the waves. “We told you we were together on this, whether you agree to it or not!” Sunny laid it plain and simple before I could even begin reasoning.

With a tired puff, I tried again to convince her of the urgency of my request. “Sunny, I plan on visiting Ponyville’s ruins and the Castle of Friendship, just at the bottom of the valley.” I pointed with my finger towards the general direction. My words brought her eyes to widen. She, better than the rest, knew what I was talking about. “It’s possible that there are things that might be useful for us, or even just more clues about the past. Whatever it ends up being, I have to check.” I cupped her cheek with my hand, noticing her heated reluctance and tension on her velvety fur. “Also, this is something I want… no, I NEED to do for myself. Please understand, Sunny. It’s only going to be a couple of days. Days that you guys can’t afford to waste. I will be fine, Tangerine, I promise.”

She didn’t want to give in, a scared look shining on her softening eyes. “B-But Alex, it’s too dangerous…”

I reached and hugged her head against my chest. “Perhaps it is, Sunny, but the reward is worth the risk, believe me. You said you trusted me, right?”

I felt her nod against my chest. With a thankful smile, I gave her a peck of gratitude between her ears. Now slightly more reassured, she broke the hug and returned the smile, a shade of concern still clinging to her features.

A pawing motion brushing on my leg turned my attention to a concerned Izzy giving me the same treatment. With open arms, I gave her another quick hug and a reassuring kiss on her scalp.

Once the clingy unicorn freed me, I stood up and peered at the remaining ponies, who also didn’t seem very sure about my intentions, but offered no protest.

“I will return as soon as I can. Stay together. Protect each other. You will soon find that as a team, you’re unstoppable. I trust you to begin the search as you see fit. We will work over it once I’m back. Until then, stay safe, my friends.” I gave them one last encouraging wink.

I skidded on my heels to look at Suny who remained at my side. “Guide them well, Tangerine. Even if you don’t believe it yourself, I know you’ll be a great leader.”

She returned a hesitant nod, still mulling over the fact that the ponies looked at her as their leader, yet not outright shying away from the task. I had seen her take the reins and encourage her friends as the boss mare I knew she’d become.

Just like a certain purple mare I knew well.

I took the first steps outside the gate, cracking my neck and loosening my legs in preparation. The ponies stayed behind to watch me go. I tightened the straps of my backpack and gave them a final wave.

“I’ll see you guys soon. Good luck. Accelero!” With my spell casted, I sprinted my way out of the ancient city, leaving a trail of dust behind me.

Drawing from my magic-induced speed, I rushed my way back through the main street, taking a small moment to pass in front of the old 'Twilight’s' residence, where Twilight's parents used to live. More than once I found myself sharing a meal with that family, a family I began calling my own after some time.

With a fond smirk at the numerous memories flooding in, I couldn't spare the time to be lost in the past and resumed my run towards the same entrance we had used when coming into the ghostly capitol. From there, I would find the Silver Run’s course and follow it downhill until I reached the bottom of the valley. Any railroad tracks that once carried trains leading ponies up and down the Peak had most surely been reclaimed by nature by then, so I’d have to use the river to guide myself.

‘I hope the dam is still holding together. Or at least that its deterioration hasn’t caused the river to flood the town.’

Thanks to my acceleration spell, as well as the fact that it was all downhill, it only took me around five hours to reach the bottom. At one point, I used a fallen tree as a makeshift boat during a calmer stretch of the river to cut my aching legs some slack. Thank goodness I was carrying spare clothes in my backpack, for a moldy trunk makes for a miserable transportation method if you wished to stay wet.

Once I got close enough to the lower part of the valley, I left the river’s course and bolted up towards what in the past used to be a pretty popular hill for couples to spend a nice afternoon over a picnic, amongst other activities. More than once it had hosted some of the craziest CMC’s attempts to win themselves a cutie mark. The hilltop was tall enough to overlook most of northern Ponyville. Once atop it, I cleared some of the lush vegetation conquering it to get a better view.

It hit me like a train, a cold shower down my spine.

Unlike Woodlock Town, there were still some ruins of what was once a beautiful village. Although the buildings were all in shambles, I could still make out the principal avenues and the main square where the town hall had been located. Since the houses were mainly built of stone, wood, and straw, very little had survived the passage of time.

But the town, as paradoxically reassuring and devastating as it was to see it again, even in such a state, was not my main target. Straining my eyes, I could discern the ruins of Twilight's ancient castle at the other end of town. From what I could tell, it seemed that the base had collapsed, leaving the main structure to rest awkwardly on the ground, half-toppled on its side. Not far away, the remains of the School of Friendship could still be discerned hugging the tail end of the Smokey Range among the tall vegetation that had recolonized the area.

‘Faust above, such a waste, after all we went through…’

Tears threatened to escape my eyes at the depressing image of what used to be my home during my early years in Equestria. I had tons of happy memories here. Memories of all the friends I had made, of all our achievements, of my short time as a teacher in Twilight’s school, of the parties, the townsponies…

‘Dammit! No time for that now, Alex! We knew what to expect. We have to keep moving forward, it’s the only thing we can do.’

I carefully made my way down the hill and decanted for the path that crossed straight through the village to reach the castle, even if the harring sight of its ruins would dig dagger after dagger into my heart. I was partially responsible for it, if not fully. No pussyfooting around it was allowed.

I walked over the crumbling bridge that had connected the east and west sides of the town and then started my path through the main street. I searched left and right on my way, barely able to discern the ruins of some of the most characteristic sites Ponyville had to offer. I found the remains of Bon Bon’s sweet shop, the memorial site for Golden Oaks Library, the remains of Sugarcube Corner, and the ruined husk of Carousel Boutique not far from it.

It was a cold punch to my stomach to see them like this. I felt as if I was inside some post-apocalyptic video game. A Fallout Equestria if you want to call it that. I knew what I was talking about, for the crumbling ruins and skeletons of old buildings surrounding me reminded me a lot of the place I was left stranded in for a while during the timelines incident.

With stinging eyes, I accelerated my pace to get out of the ruins as soon as possible, a flurry of emotions storming inside me, dominated by self-hatred and guilt. I couldn't continue watching what little was left of my old home. I feared I’d start hearing their voices if I stayed too long.

‘I̵̥̿͌͒͊̄t̵̹͇̔́̑̌̐’̶̢͖̼̈́̄̊ş̶̮͎͚̗̕ ̶̭̫̤̘̽͐͠y̶̠͇̬̌͜͝ǫ̸̺̹͖̇̃͆͆̏u̸̞͍̞̝̔r̴͎͇̥̐́ ̵̣̠̇͋͆͘͝f̷̤͆͐ā̴̛͚̘̭̫̚u̴̬̫̳͒l̴̨̞͈̒͗͝t̵̲̫͖̟͇́̇͗͊̈.̴̻͗̃͝’

‘Silence!!’

After a painful ride through memory lane, my head working against me to project happy and painful memories alike over the dusty remains of the once epitome of friendship in Equestria, I left the town proper and rooted myself in front of the castle grounds, taking in what little glory it still exudated in its semi-crumbled state. Its tilting position and absence of a main entrance gave me no choice but to ingress through the side windows, which were now at a reachable height. Its original blue and purple colors were now duller. The crystalline composition, having become dirty and mudded, was now cracked in multiple places, as if a giant spider web had been sewn over its entire surface. The star-shaped ornament atop the structure had fallen at some point, and was now a shattered mess a few meters away from the main structure.

I used some of the broken shards chipped from the castle walls to help me climb up to the broken windows. I extracted a spare t-shirt to cover my hand and clear the remaining glass shards from the rim. The last thing I needed was a nasty cut for the gang to fuss over back at the Bay. Once done, I pushed myself up with a grunt and entered what I quickly recognized as one of the numerous guest rooms occupying most of this floor of the castle. Because the castle was now titled, I found it a complicated adventure to walk straight on the floor without toppling over, like in those cheap, slap-comedy japanese programs aired at ungodly hours for lonely bastards. The bed, closet and dressing table had all slid into the opposite wall, meeting a sorry end against its hardened surface and now resting in a mixture of rotten wood and torn clothes faded by time. With careful steps, I managed to cross the room and enter the corridor which connected the guest rooms with the rest of the west wing.

I had trekked through these corridors numerous times in my years, enough to help me effortlessly orientate myself to where I wanted to go. My room was at the end of this corridor, close to the stairs that connected the several floors of the castle.

I walked the length of the corridor, opening some of the rooms as I passed them out of sheer curiosity, to see if I could find anything useful. None of them had anything interesting to offer. It seemed that the castle had not received many visitors before it collapsed, surprising me with the same layout over and over again. At the fifth attempt, I stopped bothering and focused on my destination.

After a few minutes of hazardous walking, I arrived at my room. On the door, the symbol that I had adopted as mine still greeted the null amount of visitors the castle hosted nowadays. Six white circles intertwined around a central one engraved on the blue-stained wood. Perhaps it sounds familiar to somecreature, it was human in origin, with a meaning I saw beginning to my goal in Equestria.

Wincing at its now soiled meaning, I opened the door and took a peek inside, a wave of nostalgia hitting me with the force of an earth pony’s well-placed buck. Here is where I spent my first night after my arrival in Equestria, a room Twilight had granted me as my own after it became clear I was going to remain in the land of the ponies indefinitely.

Just as it had been the case with the other rooms, all the furniture had slid toward the west wall; the smaller articles of furniture had shattered, and the larger ones were barely holding up against the ravages of time.

With a defeated sigh, I mustered up the guts and entered my old room for the first time in what felt, and were, centuries, looking carefully for anything still worth salvaging. I remembered storing my most precious things in a special box with time-preserving runes engraved on it, in anticipation of my upcoming ‘trip’.

Using my levitation, I managed to pry what little reminded of my bed from the rotten mess of furniture and set it to the other side, a dust cloud arising from the mattress when I released it, polluting my lungs and making me cough several times.

Just as I remembered, there was the black box, boring and inconspicuous, its seals seemingly intact from a quick lookover. But what I didn’t expect was to find my old training sword near it, the hilt barely picked from under the sea of splinters and bleached cloth. It was a custom-made sword to match my arm length, a sword I used in my late training sessions with Shining Armor and the castle guards. As much as I despised violence and the need for a military in this land of peace, I was made painfully aware of the dangers of this new world very quickly. At the insistence of my loved ones, I received a fair amount of self-defense lessons, hoping I would never have to use them, a futile thought in the end.

The worst thing, is that I was good with it. Like, very good.

In addition, the sword was reinforced with an alloy of steel and electrum, which gave it the ability to conduct magic. During my later lessons, I practiced integrating my gauntlet with it but only managed to successfully summon electricity and heat through the blade, its composition being the limiting factor more than my skills. Nothing my other, deadlier blade could manage after I had graduated from this one.

The cutting edge was very blunt, not that it was much sharper in the past considering that it was intended only as a training sword, but that could be fixed with a little TLC.

I used the now torn shirt I used before to make a makeshift holster around my bag to carry it with me, making a mental note to apologize to Izzy for tearing her shirt when I returned. With that done, I returned my attention back to the jackpot.

I brushed aside pieces of wood and cloth around it and picked up the box. Taking a few steps back, I sat on a clear spot on the floor and placed it on my lap. Opening both latches with a *click*, a small flash monetarily blinded me from between the slit, signaling that the preservation spell had dissipated. I removed the lid completely and peered inside.

‘Holy shit, it’s still here.’

I was rewarded with the sight of my old college laptop, the one I had given to the R&D teams at Canterlot to research and reverse-engineer its technology. I had spent the first few days monitoring them to make sure it wasn't broken or stolen, as there was a lot of useful information on it and it was also the only way to access the information I had stored on my external hard drive, which was also present in the box. Lots of music and books, some movies, as well as lots of data, documents, and pictures from my research days on Earth. It was all I had left from my old home.

The charger, which had been modified by yours truly to work with Equestria's primitive electrical grid as well as my mouse, which I had tweaked to make it a little more 'hoof-friendly' to Twilight’s incessant insistence, were also all inside, and as far as I could see, they were all in pretty good condition.

‘I was right to ask Starlight to put those spells in the box, I knew I would most likely need this again wherever I ended up.’

Below the device was a bunch of papers containing info from the R&D team regarding the electronic devices. It’s most likely they used my laptop as a base to develop the technology I saw the ponies wielding nowadays, or at least part of it. I remembered Phyllis mentioning something like that.

I extracted the contents from the box and stored them in my bag. A quick look around revealed nothing else worth taking. My old clothes in the wardrobe would be little more than moth-eaten rags by then.

Now feeling a smidge more encouraged, I left my old room, wondering if there was anything else worth investigating in among the guts of the abandoned castle. However, before I could come to any decision, a strange sensation yeeted me out of my thoughts and made me sharply turn towards the stairs leading down to the floor below, a prominent goosebump sending ants crawling down my spine.

Puzzled, I took the stairs down in silence, straining my senses to see if I could feel the weird sensation again.

It was starting to get dark outside, meaning the innermost sections of the castle were now barely illuminated by the last clinging rays of the quickly setting sun. A simple light spell helped guide me through the stairs and down to the second floor. Shortly after arriving, that same strange sensation forced my gaze to lock into the right path leading from the intersection, where I remembered the Map Room was located.

My heart was furiously pounding in my chest, threatening to burst out and make a run for it. I had no idea what was happening. In theory, no one should be inhabiting the castle. Heck, no one should even know it ever existed. I hadn't seen or heard anything that could indicate that somepony had arrived before me.

With stealthy steps and quickening pulse, I snaked my way to the double doors to the throne room, one of which was slightly ajar, bad start, but I could discern no hoofprints or traces of any kind on the dusty floor. I charged my gauntlets in preparation and, at the count of three, I pushed the doors wide and busted into the room like a badass which… wasn’t that impressive in retrospect. Against what my gut was screaming at me, there was nocreature inside, just the six old thrones (plus Spike’s smaller one) surrounding the lifeless Cutie Map. Even after the tumbling of the castle, they still held mostly intact, although the symbols of my friend’s cutie marks had faded with the passage of time. I needn't them to remember by heart which belonged to each of my pony family members.

The map was completely flat, just as it had become after our last call to Dodge City. It was dusty, with small cracks all around its crystalline surface, a product of the castle toppling over, perhaps. The setting sun cast its parting rays through the broken upper windows, barely reflecting them on the map and the surrounding thrones. Moss and small vines had started to colonize them and all over the walls. The roots of Twilight’s old library still hung precariously from the ceiling, but many of the small crystal shards that decorated it were now shattered and littered around the floor, forcing a careful gate on me if I wanted to avoid getting one stuck in my toe.

I searched all around the room. Nothing seemed out of place from the layout in my memories, and the window still had some lingering shards clinging to its rim, meaning a pegasus or other flying creature couldn't have flown away quickly without catching one or two and hurting themselves.

And yet, amidst the oppressive silence of a dead castle within a dead town, I felt it once again, and this time I could tell that it came from the map. A whisper, a shift in the surrounding air, a vibration tugging at my minstrings. Scrunching my face in confusion and slight discomfort, I hesitantly approached the map, a trembling hand, glowing under the light of the powered gauntlet, raising to touch it. With a deep breath, I steeled my nerves and placed it near the edge, with myself standing still just beside Twilight’s throne.

I swallowed a pang of nostalgia, now wasn't the time to dwell in the past.

I held my breath in anticipation… only for absolutely nothing to happen. After a few more seconds, I was positive my touch wouldn’t elicit any reaction from the mystical map, and removed it with a relieved breath.

‘Phew! For a moment I thought I’d end up…’

The deep humming of building magic erased any notions of relief. Before I could blink, an energy wave was released from the map, encompassing the whole room in a bluish, ghostly glow, with small light particles flickering in and out of existence around me. I took a step back and reflexively raised my arms in defense, ready to tackle whatever the map would send towards me. But, thankfully, nothing came to bite my ass in some sort of revenge move from the castle for abandoning it or some other cheap movie plot.

Still hanging on edge, I lowered my hands enough to peer around me. The ambience of the room had drastically changed, the illumination of the setting sun now replaced by the bluish glow of magic buzzing with life around me, the floating dust particles only helping to improve the phantasmagorical, yet breathtaking sight.

I was completely mesmerized, so much so that it wasn’t until I returned my gaze to the map that I realized there was an equine head sticking out of my chest.

“... SHIT!!” I screamed while jumping back twice my height, landing on my ass and scraping myself with some of the fallen shards.

With a hand on my chest to trap my fast-beating heart, I fought to regain my breath. From down here I could now discern it was just only a projection and that I wasn't reliving that scene from Alien. It took the shape of a light-blue furred earth pony that I had momentarily intersected. Now seeing his full form, I could tell that his mane and tail were a darker blue with a few strands of gray and purplish hair. He wore a pair of glasses over his muzzle, shining with the glint of discovery. The projection showed him looking around the room in amazement, a small notebook on his right hoof. He also wore some kind of explorer, khaki shirt, with a pair of saddlebags riding over his hips.

Standing up and nursing my wounds, I took several steps to the left to get a wider view. His cutie mark depicted a shooting star with a rainbow trail. His eyes were sparkling in wonder, looking all over the place in disbelief, as a child flashed with the full potency of an amusement park and the possibilities it hid.

I moved my hand in front of him, earning no kind of response back from his part.

‘A vision, then? Some kind of stored projection that I somehow activated when touching the map, maybe?’

After finishing his apparent inspection and jotting down a healthy amount of scribbles, the pony returned the notebook to his saddlebag and stepped closer to the map. Giving it a thoughtful look, he placed his hoof atop of it.

Just as it had happened to me, the map responded after a few seconds, but this time it glowed up feebly and projected a series of floating cutie marks around its periphery, slowly running though its periphery.

A series of cutie marks I easily recognized.

‘That’s Sunny’s cutie mark, and Izzy’s, Hitch’s, Pipp’s and Zipp’s, and… that one?’

There was a sixth one that I didn’t recognize. However, before I could give it more thought and commit it to memory, movement from my left tore my gaze from the map. It was the stallion who, after having taken a few cautious steps back, returned to stand in front of the map, a hopeful spark in his purple eyes.

And then, it suddenly clicked.

‘Wait, is that… Argyle?’

I tried to take a step closer to make sure of it, but I was rooted in place when the vision of the stallion shifted suddenly.

It was as if time came to a halt, the hum and twinkling of magic giving way to a looming silence. Argyle’s projection lost its luster and wonder to take a stiff peek behind him, fixing his eyes to mine, somehow knowing I was there with him. Where his purple, inquisitive eyes should’ve been, a swirling rainbow glow dominated them, peering straight into my soul.

‘... No.’

Traveler

Another sudden burst of magic, this time stronger, floored me, paralyzing my limbs. Just as it had happened after my second attempt at casting my spell on the Unity Crystals, a foreign energy cursed through my body, clawed at my mind, sought to get in. A similar rainbow-patterned glow began swirling through my peripheral vision. My body locked up and fell against the map, my muscles tensing and my breathing becoming pained labored.

At that precise moment, I heard it. I heard her.

Your path is now clear, Traveler. Guide them through the incoming darkness. Our future depends on it.

It crushed my chest, stealing my breath away.

The moment the voice stopped talking, I was released from the strange energy coursing through my body. My vision became clear once again, able to discern once again my now silent surroundings. The projection as well as the ambient magic had disappeared, leaving the last of the sun rays to once again illuminate the darkening room.

I had no strength to raise myself back onto my feet. My whole body felt numb, my heart racing a mile a minute. In between raspy breaths, I muttered the name of the only being who had ever referred to me with that title.

“… H-H-Harmony?”

“Come on Sunny, it’s been a long day, we should get some rest.” I heard Hitch call from behind me. I hadn’t torn my sight from the valley below Canterlot since we had stopped to spend the night. Now covered under twilight’s blanket, I couldn't make out anything that might hint Alex’s whereabouts. Perhaps the faint glow of a campfire, anything that would let me know he was doing fine.

I couldn’t stop worrying about my human friend. Shaking my head to park my worry, I peered back with an appreciative smile to my oldest friend. “Yeah, you’re right Hitch, it’s definitely been a long day. I just can’t…”

“I know, Sunny. We’re all worried about him. But he asked us to trust him, and that’s what we’re going to do.” Hitch reassured me with a caring pat on my shoulder.

We had spent the day retracing our steps back towards the serpentine road that would lead us back Maretime Bay. Now that it was all mostly downhill, we had managed to cover a little more distance than when we climbed up the mountain. If we continued at a brisk pace, we would reach the brighthouse tomorrow before dark.

Taking one last look at the darkened horizon and coming up blank, Hitch and I rejoined the rest of our friends around the small fire Izzy had started. I sat beside her, both our eyes filled with lingering worry for our newest friend. I reached and gave her a comforting nuzzle against her curly mane, Izzy returning the gesture.

We had spent the trek down the mountain talking about Alex, and the terrible accident he blamed himself for. It was truly a haunting thing to know, an event that my father never told me about, maybe because I was still very young, or maybe because he didn't know the real story either.

Izzy was particularly bothered by Alex’s hurtful words, especially when he mentioned he had tried to... take his life… after the ‘Incident’. She sneered out Discord’s taunt about him and his alleged ‘treason’ with a bitter tone, fuming heatedly about what the draconequus might do with the crystal, and especially about what he had revealed about Alex. It felt somewhat unnatural to see her that angry. She’s always so full of joy and playfulness, it seemed so alien to see the flames and sadness in her eyes.

After a few moments, I stopped my caressing but didn’t fully back away, taking a curious moment to take in her scent. Even after all the excitement and exercise of the past days, she still smelled like tree sap and wildflowers.

“He's going to be fine, Sunny, I know it. He’ll be back with us in no time, and we can all start looking for the crystal, together.” Izzy whispered in my ear, her breath slightly tickling me.

I pulled back to see her giving me a hopeful smile. I returned hers with one of my own, drawing from her hopefulness to lift my spirits. Our previous talks had shown me how much we both care about him. I mean, we ALL cared about him, but Izzy and I seemed to have made a special connection with the human, even if he always tried to treat us all equally. He’s very sweet, and always tried to spend time with all of us, taking interest in our own peculiarities and hobbies. But after this morning’s events, we all got to see a side of him I had only glimpsed briefly during the lighthouse incident.

‘So much pain, so much guilt. Hidden deep inside, so as to not bother us with it, I guess?. He tried to tell us all the truth, but something stopped him from doing so. There’re so many things we don’t know, and so many things I thought I knew, but now I can’t be sure…’

“Guys…” Zipp interrupted my musings from the other side of the campfire. Conflict was visible in her features. “I-I don’t know what to think about today. I thought at the beginning it was going to be a simple heist case, somepony who didn’t like the new way of things or just trying to be funny, something we could solve in a day or two. But this? This is too much, it's too big for us!”

“How do we even confront him?” Continued Hitch from his place at her side, “He tossed us out like we were mere playthings. It’s like he controls reality itself, o-or something like that. It’s so crazy! Even if we have magic back, I don’t think we have any chance against him.”

“It was… um, pretty humiliating, not gonna lie.” Muttered Izzy with her droopy ears. It’s true we didn’t stand a chance at the moment, but I believed that with more time to prepare and careful thinking, we would find a way. Alex had said so: as a team, we were unstoppable. We just had to wait for him to return, he surely knew something that could help us.

Pipp returned from doing her business in the relative privacy of forest and sat at the other side of her sister, sighing softly. “I just hope we find him quickly. We had to trot half the way back ‘cause our wings stopped working again! It’s only going to get worse, and the moment we lose it forever, we won’t ever stand a chance. Oh my glitter, imagine returning to the old days! How will the ponies react? I’m terrified of thinking they’ll choose once again to isolate themselves. After all we’ve done…”

Zipp laid a comforting wing around Pipp’s shoulders, sharing her sister’s fears. “I don’t know Pipp, mom is very happy with the changes happening in Zephyr Heights as well as the new partnerships between the cities. I don’t think she’ll be quick to abandon all of that.”

“The unicorns won’t have much problem doing so, I think.” I peered at Izzy, not fully understanding what she had just said.

“What do you mean?” I asked her.

“Just that knowing the unicorns, the moment magic goes out, they’ll return to their silly superstitions and isolationist traditions. For many, many, MANY moons it has been our ‘mantra’: out of sight, out of mind. Supposedly kept us safe from you.” Her sad pearls lifted up to stare at us with a glint of shame. “Don’t get me wrong, they’re enjoying the new friendships a lot. And as far as I can see, they have no problem inviting non-unicorns to Bridlewood. I guess it's just… the way earth ponies and pegasi always portrayed us, blaming us first for anything they could think of… it still stings.”

“Izzy,” I placed my hoof on her shoulder, “Does it have something to do with Alex’s story?”

That only made her look more defeated. “I grew up knowing it was a unicorn who harmed an earth pony and caused the breach between the tribes. The story was twisted to make us think the unicorn was innocent, but knowing that he actually KILLED the other pony? That’s really messed up. I don’t believe for a second it was Alex’s fault… at least, as much as he thinks it’s his fault! I guess it just gave me a lot to think about… and, I dunno, it makes me feel guilty for what I am…”

“Oh, Izzy.” My heart broke at hearing her words. Without thinking, I reached out and trapped my friend in a big hug. “You should NEVER feel ashamed of what you are, or feel guilty for what that unicorn did hundreds of years ago. ALL pony kinds are to blame, all had the chance to make things right, and it came down to us to take that first step after so many centuries.” I forced her crumbling sight to meet mine. “You are my best friend, Izzy. The most wonderful unicorn I’ve ever and will ever meet. So, I want you to get this through your skull: nopony believes you’ll be anything like that unicorn, or any other unicorn from Bridlewood for that matter.”

“But that’s the thing, Sunny, I could be!” She countered me after pulling away from the hug. “Now, I have the power to become like him! That’s… that’s what scares me the most. What’s stopping a unicorn from blasting another pony, or a pegasus grabbing somepony and dropping them out of the sky or, or an earth pony hitting you hard enough to shatter all your ribs in one go?! Before, we were just ponies, but now? We are dangerous…”

After hearing this, Hitch decided to intervene, offering his two bits with a side of seasoned hindsight, “Ponies have always been dangerous, Izzy. That's why there has to be a sheriff in the first place. It’s just as Alex said: it’s not about the magic, but the pony who wields it. Even during the most aggressive, most heated argument, nopony should make use of their abilities to harm others, whether with a magic blast from a horn or a punch to the face with a hoof. A pony’s feelings and self-control are what makes them refrain from using magic or physical violence, not the other way around.”

“Come on, Izzy,” I rubbed her back sympathetically, trying my best to bring her out of the gutter, “You have seen first-hoof what we can accomplish now that our magic is back. Why would any pony want to endanger what we have?” She gave an uncertain shrug, still looking conflicted. “Well, in the unlikely event we find somepony like that, we’ll be there to show them the better way. Right, ponies?”

I received vigorous affirmative answers. The ‘Protectors of the New Age,’ as Alex had called us. It was now our job to ensure the future of the three tribes, to demonstrate to them how to live in harmony, like we always should have.

A big yawn from Pipp hinted that it was time to call it a day. “Well guys, I think I’m going to hit the hay, or filthy ground in this case… anyway, have a good night, ponies!”

“Good night, guys.”

“Sleep tight, tomorrow we carry on at first light.”

“Night, guys.”

I wished the ponies good night but didn’t join them. Instead, while they repositioned themselves to find a comfier spot, I silently walked towards the edge of the campfire and returned my gaze towards the valley illuminated by the pale moonlight, previously hidden by a nasty cloud, where my friend was currently spending the night. Alone.

I silently wished for his safety, and mentally scolded him for not allowing us to accompany him.

My ears twitched at the sound of closing hoof steps. I didn’t have to turn my head to know it was Izzy. Without a word, she sat beside me and followed my eyes towards the far side of the valley. I felt her lean against me with a deep sigh, our minds sharing the same worries for our human friend.

We weren’t going to get much sleep that night.

I ended up falling asleep in the Map Room, although a more appropriate term would be passing out from sheer exhaustion. My body and mind were too drained after suffering her invasion of my most sacred temple. Again. The summer night had prevented me from feeling too cold, but the hard crystal floor didn’t help keep me warm and cozy, either. Still, I managed to get some hard-won rest and shut down my mind which had been bursting with endless questions until I managed to pass out. Such a shame they would return the moment I woke up.

‘That was Harmony, I’m sure of it. After so much time silent, she chooses to speak to me again now of all times?’

It didn’t make any sense. She had completely disappeared shortly after the ‘Incident’. Not that she was very talkative in the first place, but at least she was willing to help if she considered the problem important enough to deem that it warranted her personal attention.

‘My path is now clear… an incoming darkness, because of course it fucking is. How weird would it be seeing an Equestria that wasn’t threatened by something or somecreature, right? A lasting period of peace? Nah, fuck it, let’s find somepony random and turn them into a villain to spice things up, it’s worked wonders in the past, right?! Jesus-tap-dancing-Christ…’

I shouldn’t even act surprised, it was the same song and dance as always. With a grunt, I raised myself from my sleeping position and I turned to look at the map that, once again, had gone silent.

‘Is why you brought me back? The role I have yet to play? Woken up from stasis at the precise moment I was needed. Godammit, I don’t know why I even bother…’

I wouldn't find answers there, but questions continued to accumulate in my mind. I’m not a ‘guide’, and I already fucked up being a leader. I had arrived there with a very specific mission. A mission I fully intended to complete one way or another. And now? I was tasked with a new purpose, my actions dictating the future of ‘us all’ no less. No pressure at all.

Needless to say, I was extremely pissed.

With a venomous glare towards the map, I packed up my stuff and left the room, muttering obscenities under my breath. Not feeling like returning to my old room, I decided to check out the library in a feeble attempt to find something of use, located on the other side of the second floor. All the books were enchanted with a preservation spell of some kind, courtesy of one, slightly-paranoid bookworm princess. Perhaps something there had survived over the centuries.

Wandering around the long corridors, it took me a minute to reach the castle's library. Once inside, I couldn’t help but release a tired breath at the absolute disaster in front of me. Hundreds of books were littered around the room, the wooden shelves knocked down, and those that had been carved out of the crystal walls had numerous cracks and missing parts. A hurricane might as well have passed over the castle for all I could see.

‘… This is going to take a while…’

Not wanting to waste daylight, I began to search for something useful inside the looming pile of littered books and scrolls.

“Predictions and Prophecies? Oh, Sunny is going to love this one.”

I spent the better part of the day diving into the book pile, managing to find a few useful tomes like History of Equestria, Seven Theories on Bending Time, Principles of Magic, and the Astronomers Almanac. I was sure that the ponies would find them useful, or at least interesting to read. I hadn't found any proper libraries during my short tour around Maretime Bay, so I wasn’t sure how much knowledge had been preserved between the three races, and how much of that knowledge was accurate. Sadly, most of the books had deteriorated way past their usage point, preservation spells or not. She should've stored them in a box, I couldn't help but chuckle. Hopefully, some could be restored, but they were closer to being museum exhibits than anything of use.

It was past midday when I finally managed to put some order to the disarray that was the library. However, no matter how hard I searched, I couldn't find the one book I was most interested in.

‘Where is the Journal of Friendship? Last I knew, it was being kept safe by Spike, here at the castle.’

The lessons written in that journal were knowledge that ponykind desperately needed to relearn. A not-so-subtle reminder about what ponykind should aspire to be. Twilight had made sure to add hers and our friend’s friendship reports to the journal’s entries so it would contain practically all their adventures and all the lessons they had learned.

‘Perhaps it’s at the School of Friendship?’

More than once Starlight had asked for it to use as reference material during her lessons. She had taken her role as Headmare very seriously after inheriting the school from Twilight, and she frequently enjoyed partaking in a few lessons of her own to the new students. Even if Twilight had to step down to focus on her royal duties, the rest of the girls, as well as myself, continued with our lessons alongside many other Ponyvillians and creatures from abroad who wanted to help. It became a pretty famous school, never suffering from a shortage of new students, at least while the peace between the creatures lasted.

There was still plenty of sunlight, so I thought it wouldn’t hurt to take a look. I put away the books I had found in my backpack and left the library, which now looked much better after the intense reorganizing session.

‘Twilight would be so proud of me… except I didn’t categorize them in alphabetical order, I can feel the metaphysical slap from her already.’ I rubbed my cheek fondly in mock pain.

With a small chuckle, I headed back into the hallway, looking for a room to use as an improvised exit back to the outside, as the main entrance had completely collapsed under a pile of shattered crystal. On the third attempt, I found a broken window, and the height was not too high. Very carefully and using the cracks on the exterior walls as supports, I returned to the outside, enjoying the warm midday sun and the tall grass that tickled my legs as I headed for the school.

The ruins of the school were not far from there, just a fifteen-minute walk from the castle. The remains of the once beautiful building still stood strong against the cliff at the eastern end of the Smokey Range.

The east wing of the school had partially collapsed, probably due to erosion from the waterfall that still flowed at its side. The flags and ornaments had completely disappeared, while the paint of brilliant violet and blue tones had enormously faded, but could still be found under the heavy layer of moss and vines. The waterfall that flowed around the main entrance now completely concealed it, the stone path leading to it submerged in the small pond that had grown in size during the last few centuries.

Not wanting to get wet, I took the path on the left to look for an alternative entrance from the dining room or the inner courtyard. Memories of my time as a teacher in the school flashed in front of my eyes. Memories of numerous creatures of all kinds chatting excitedly, the smiles of the teachers who welcomed them to a new school year, the newly formed groups of friends of all sizes and colors playing in the surroundings of the school, the trips to the nearby forest, the student exchange programs…

With what summed up to be the hundredth dejected sigh of the day so far, I continued my way up the hill, the tall and dusty stained-glass windows of the dining room barely reflecting my sorry state when I passed in front of them. It was not long before I found a partially-broken window. Making sure to remove the stray pieces of broken glass from the surrounding frame, I performed the same steps as I did at the castle and quickly entered the dining room, where the long tables and stools still casted a familiar sight. There were no remains of food or crockery of any kind. In fact, it looked like everything had been cleared away before they left for the last time. I wasn't sure for how long the school had remained open after my journey, but I doubted it would have been for long if the situation had only got worse.

Carefully, I made my way through the long, partially-rotted tables and exited the room through the main entrance. The tall hallways that once housed countless students arriving from the allied countries now echoed my footsteps. It was an unnerving and creepy experience, the deep silence where once the lively conversations of creatures from all over the world provided an energetic atmosphere, the eagerness to learn present in the eyes of all the students who hurriedly walked, trotted or flew in search of their next class.

It suddenly occurred to me that the laughter I was hearing in my mind, the ceaseless chatter of excited students, the enthusiastic lectures from eager teachers… it was all echoes of the dead. I tried my best to keep myself from thinking about it like that, but when confronted with empty chairs, dusty blackboards and unorganized desks, it became impossible to not fall back into it.

Dispelling those dark thoughts as best I could, I took in the image of the old paintings and worn-out statues that still decorated the sides of the corridors, the building’s support columns barely being able to keep the structure standing, if the numerous cracks they presented were of any indication. I crossed through the main hall, which was partially flooded due to the rising level of the pond in front of the entrance. At the end of the hallway of the opposite wing through which I had entered, was the school's loaded library. Luckily, only the far end had collapsed, but the presence of the nearby waterfall created a damp environment that over the years had destroyed most of the books.

‘A real pity. Most of these books have copies within the castle, but still…’

Fortunately, those that remained more or less intact were meticulously organized on their shelves, no doubt the work of my old bookworm friend. A couple of hours of searching resulted in nothing new. I couldn't find the Journal or any copies of it anywhere.

I picked up some books that were still intact and took them out of there to prevent further damage. I decided to look for Starlight's headmare office next. Maybe she had stored the Journal in her personal bookshelf. I climbed the stairs, gritting my teeth every time I heard the sound of marble crunching and small fragments falling away.

Once upstairs, I headed straight to the Headmare's Office. The old doors offered some resistance, but with an irritating creak, I managed to open them. The interior was just as I remembered it. The main desk at the end of the room, the armchairs where Starlight and Trixie conducted their counseling sessions, and hugging the right-hand wall, a small bookshelf with the school rules manual, among other thick tomes.

But not the one I was looking for.

‘Faust dammit! It’s not here either! Where is the Journal?! I need to find it!’

I turned the office upside down trying to find it without any success. After searching furiously for a while, I let out a snort of despair and flopped over one of the sofas, the old wood giving way effortlessly against my weight. With a cry of surprise, I found myself on the floor, slumped over the broken remains of the couch, looking like a complete fool. The highlight of the day.

I blinked twice and let a growl escape my lips. Not feeling like getting up again, I simply remained put looking at the crumbling ceiling, letting my mind wander back to my memories in search of a clue as to the location of the Journal. Sadly, I became distracted quickly, my thoughts returning once again to my friends. I had been trying HARD not to think about them. The freezing pain squeezed my heart hard and merciless every time I saw their faces. Discord’s words had deeply wounded me.

I wasn’t a fool. I expected them to be angry with my disappearance, but it wasn’t like I could tell them of my plans, either. They wouldn’t have allowed me to do it, especially Twilight. Starlight was the only one who shared my concerns about our friend, and she ended up helping me travel to the future, regardless of how much it pained her to say goodbye. Even after our… rocky start, we had grown close during the years, and she became the last pony I saw before going into stasis.

This room brought back memories of her, of our time in the school, of her small nervous crisis after being appointed headmare.

If only things had turned out differently…

I spent the next hour just laying there, rifling through my memories, as much as I didn’t want to, thinking about all the things we could have done differently, the mistakes we could have mended. Harmony’s words still lingered in me, keeping me wide awake. After I was granted a ‘second chance’, I had spent many hours awake searching for a reason. What role was I yet to play that was SO important that she had to directly intervene in such a manner? My presence was a mistake in Equestria, an anomaly that fitted none of her plans. She had made that VERY clear the first time I spoke to her, and yet…

It was at the moment of shifting to find a more comfortable position that I noted a distinct lack of a cold, hard object on my back. Alarmed, I raised myself from the fallen couch and reached for my back, my hand searching through the empty air around where the sword should have been.

‘Arrrgh!! I left it in the Map Room. Faust, I really don’t want to make the trip back there…’

I weighed up whether it was really worth recovering it. After a minute of internal debate, I released a tired sigh and decided not to waste any more time dawdling. If the Journal wasn't in these locations, it could have ended up anywhere, and I didn’t have the time to search everywhere for it.

‘Well… I tried. Perhaps I’ll come across it sometime in the future. There are many places I want to check out, but first things first, we have to find Discord and get that crystal back.’

With a little shake to get the blood pumping, I left Starlight’s office, but not before leaving in her bookshelf the books I had rescued from the school’s library, and went straight ahead towards the dining room, planning on exiting the way I had entered.

Once outside, I cast a final look back at the School of Friendship, silently saying my farewells. The sun would set in a couple of hours, which meant it would be nightfall soon after I started the way back to Maretime Bay. Not wanting to get caught in the forest during the twilight hours, I reluctantly decided to spend another night inside the castle’s safe walls.

A short run and a little climb later, I was back inside the room I had used to exit the castle. I wasn’t especially excited to return to the Map Room, and I definitely wasn’t planning to spend the night there. But I didn’t want to leave my sword there, it deserved better.

I wasn’t sure if I was going to give it any use. Faust I was hoping I wouldn’t have to… but if something I had learned during my adventures in Equestria was to always be prepared for anything, and not to miss any chance you get. Too many of our adventures had ended in close calls and pure luck for me to leave loose ends hanging now.

Hurrying along the empty corridors, I stood once again in front of the twin doors. Harmony’s words rang in my nogging, asking me to guide the ponies through some sort of ‘incoming darkness’, an extremely ominous warning. It wasn’t something I was looking forward to, to be honest, although the most prominent question was: what darkness was she referring to?

‘It’s not like you could have given me an actual clue or something, right, H? No. Know what will happen, and it won’t happen, right? Fuck you…’

I kept muttering dark omens while crossing the entrance, the empty thrones around the silent map glistening with the afternoon sun rays. I quickly found my sword scattered near the place I had fallen asleep. I grabbed it and checked if there was any damage. Even after many centuries the metal still reflected my image. I lifted it over my shoulders and checked both sides for scratches or fissures. However, the reflection of the map behind me caught my attention momentarily. More specifically, a mark on the map that I had not seen the other day with all the excitement.

Puzzled, I turned around and walked a few steps around the map until I came close to the mark. Now that there was more sunlight available, it was way more obvious. An X-shaped mark on the map, a claw or heel mark by the looks of it. The shape that altered the reflection of the light made it stand out from the rest of the pristine surface. It wasn’t accidental.

‘Okay, okay… when summoned, the map is aligned with the cardinal points, meaning that…. considering where that mark is located, and the west is in that direction, and the castle’s entrance faces south…. it should be marking somewhere around….’

“The Crystal Empire…”

Author's Note

Once again, thanks for the continued support. Before I forget, the inspiration for Agyle’s scene as well as a few other comes from this guy on twitter:
https://twitter.com/Bearmation93

Chapter 11- 'Royal' duties.

Tired, moody, and up to our manes with worry, we had arrived back at the brighthouse in the middle of the night after trotting non-stop though the dense forest that blanketed the slope of the Zephyr Range all the way to our shared home. Our flight magic had only returned by the time we could glimpse Maretime Bay in the distance, peeking shyly over the looming stretch of the Horseshoe Bay.

Needless to say that our legs were practically jelly by the time we dragged our sorry hides into town. We had crossed it in silence, far from being in the mood of answering the concerned population’s inquiries about the glitches in magic. Together, we made a collective effort up the hill where the brighthouse stood and, not wasting a moment, slipped our way into bed without any shame or decorum.

Hitch decided to crash on the living room couch, already snoring placidly before any of us could offer a spot in our shared abodes. I’m sure Alex wouldn’t have minded if Hitch had elected to use his bed either, but the poor sheriff was so pooped I don’t think he really cared where he crashed his tired body. Izzy, Pipp, Sunny and myself just stumbled drukendly onto our beds, all of us pretty much dozing off immediately with half-meant groans as our goodnight wishes.

Morning came far too quickly, and as the early-morning sun beamed its light through the brighthouse’s windows to assault my eyelids, I groggily got up and shuffled my wings against the clinging sheets. Everypony else was sleeping. They needed their rest, so I decided not to bother them and lazily trotted my way down from the shared bedroom, barely able to get my tired mind to motion my legs without getting them in a tangle.

“Uuuuugh, this almost makes me miss my royal etiquette lessons…”

You can imagine how exhausted we were if you heard me saying that.

Hitch was still slumbering when I caught him in the living room, his soft snores mixing with the doggy breathing of Cloudpuff, who was snuggling up against the sheriff’s tummy.

‘Awww, he looks adorable.’

I don’t know where that came from. I coined it to my exhaustion. With a silent chuckle, I left the earth pony to his R&R and made my way to the kitchen to fix myself some breakfast. A bowl of cereal and a piece of fruit would keep me fueled for the moment. I had to admit, homemade breakfasts like this were far better than the high cuisine slop the royal chefs would prepare for us every day, as much as my sister would disagree with that assertion.

The sound of hoofs on the marble floor brought me out of my silent munching. It was the rest of the girls, looking as drained as I’m sure I was, sharing a chorus of contagious yawns and wearing serious cases of bedmane between them, especially Izzy. I could barely discern her muzzle and lavender eyes amongst all that tangled hair.

“Mmmmmg… morning, Zipp…” A drowsy Sunny greeted me with a tired smile.

I wished good morning to all my friends and continued with my breakfast, the rest beginning to prepare theirs. I slowed down my eating and waited for them to join me, seemed the polite thing to do. Also, having breakfast with my best friends and family after a very long and tiring adventure caused a warm feeling to fill my chest, a sense of homely tranquility I had only experienced as a filly with my mom and sister. It was something I always wanted to do, away from royal business and false smiles and boring conversations and yada yada yada...

Although there wasn’t much conversation happening between us either. Understandable, since we were all going on autopilot over our breakfast while waiting for our brains to boot up. The ruckus of clattering dishes and silverware managed to wake up Hitch, who trotted his way into the kitchen to join us with Cloudpuff still slumbering, riding his back in his sleepy mutterings. Offering his good mornings, he searched for an empty cup and began fixing himself some coffee.

We continued eating our breakfast without sharing much, with Pipp unable to resist the need to fuss over Izzy’s mane, trying to bring some semblance of order back to it. Once we were done and the dishes were cleaned, we decided to move to the living room and begin planning our next move.

With our affairs in the kitchen over, and all of us now feeling more awake, we sat on the big couch, or at least my friends did. I couldn’t help but nervously trot back and forth in front of them, my nerves riding me on edge.

Sunny was the first to speak, putting voice to our main problem. “How are we going to stop Discord in time if we don’t have any clue where he could be?”

“I could ask my Pippsqueaks if they’ve seen him.” Pipp offered, shaking her phone in emphasis. “I got eyes virtually anywhere.”

My sister’s proposition was risky. “We don’t want to panic everypony, Pipp. There’s got to be a better way.”

“… Did you manage to contact Alex, Pipp?” Our sole unicorn asked with a hint of worry.

Pipp had bad news to offer, however. “Sorry, Izzy, either his phone died or he’s out of signal. I only got back the voice mailbox, which is still mine, by the way, I need to remind him he needs to change it.”

My unicorn friend's ears dropped in disappointment. Since our separation in Canterlot, we had received no news of him. Almost days had passed, and in the eyes of our friends, I could see the growing concern for his well being.

“He asked us to trust him, and that's what we're going to do.” Ever-hopeful Sunny laid it plain and simple. “I'm sure he's already on his way back to us. For now, we should focus on finding the Pegasus Crystal, any other ideas?” Sunny addressed the group, receiving negative answers from us.

A spark of inspiration, however, shone over Izzy’s horn. “Weeeell, Discord’s sparkle was totally glitterific, like a super shiny rainbow, even if he ended up being a meane.”

I released a pensive hum at Izzy's comment. "....You might be into something Izzy, maybe we can try to..."

An unwelcome buzz from under my wing interrupted me. Somepony was calling me. I extracted my phone from my wing holster and looked at the screen. The radiant face of my mom offering her best smile dominated the outer screen of my phone.

‘Ugh, I don’t want to deal with this right now.’

I flipped my phone open, automatically answering the call. “Mom?”

*Zipp, sweetheart, where are you? It’s time for me to leave.*

“Leave?”

*For the first Unity Summit. The leaders from the other towns have asked for an emergency meeting regarding the raising problems with magic. I need you to come back to Zephyr Heights and take over while I’m gone. Also, you should bring Cloudpuff with you, he has missed several of his royal treatments while he’s been with you. I’m sure he’s itching for a good paw massage.*

I couldn’t believe what my mom was asking of me, at this moment of all times. “Ugh, Mom! We have bigger things to worry about!”

*Bigger than my darling daughter learning how to act like the QUEEN she will be one day, and my darling Cloudpuff getting his royal treatment? I HIGHLY doubt it, my dear. I’ll see you soon, toodles!*

She hung up before I could put in any protest, leaving me blinking owlishly like an idiot. With a dejected groan, I returned the phone back to its holster. My friends, needing only to hear half the conversation to make out what was going on, gave me sympathetic looks from their seated positions.

“So much for investigating. My mom is putting me on royal duties until she returns. Ugh, I want to help you ponies sleuth this out, not sit still on the sidelines in the palace and pander to a spoiled pooch!”

Thank hoofness Cloudpuff was still passed out, else I would’ve gotten a nasty nip for my efforts. Sunny rose from her seat and gave me a sympathetic nuzzle. “That’s okay, Zipp. You can look for leads in Zephyr Height while we hold down the fort here. We can start asking around Maretime Bay while you’re gone.”

“… I really don’t want to, Sunny…”

“I know…” She placed her hoof on my back and gently rubbed it. “But it’s your mom who’s asking. We all have responsibilities, Zipp, you included.”

I knew she was right. That mare had a knack of being right, it was annoying at times. With my most theatrical sigh, I yielded. “Yeah, Sunny, I know.” I looked around and found Cloudpuff lazily snoring in front of the window, allowing the sun's morning rays to warm him up.

“Come on Cloudpuff, it’s time to return home for your precious ‘paw massages.’ It’s not like we’re at risk of losing magic forever, or anything…”

With a whine of protest and a deaf ear to my sarcasm, I grabbed the winged dog and secured him between my forelegs. I said my goodbyes to my friends and wished them good luck with the hunt. We all would need it.

No further ceremonies needed, I zoomed out of the brighthouse and set course for my home.

‘Ugggh, sometimes I wish I was the younger sister. Maybe then I’d have it easier that way…’

‘You know? I think I should start doing like Twilight recommended and make checklists for absolutely everything. It’s starting to get a bit too much to keep track of everything on my mind.’

I wasn't gonna spend the night shivering at the Map Room. I believed I deserved the closest thing to actual accommodations a ruined castle can offer. After recovering my sword and discovering the claw mark on the map, another mystery to note down for the future, I decided to return to my old room and promptly break my brain trying to make sense of it, without success of course.

Again, not wanting to wander the forest during nighttime and stumble face-first with a nasty creature, I was forced to spend another night inside the abandoned castle. This time, the temperature dropped considerably during the night, forcing me to use smelly, old clothes and blankets to stay warm. It wasn’t a pleasant experience.

Muscles tired of shaking and increasingly feeling a coldness growing inside me, I was woken from my ruinous sleep by the morning sun force-feeding its bothersome rays on my face. I felt like crap, having eaten nothing the previous day, and it looked like I wasn’t going to get much to munch on that day either if I wanted to return as soon as possible to Maretime Bay. Some berries on the road if I was lucky.

Perhaps there were more things worth checking amongst the ruins, but at that moment, I felt like I had done enough for the time being. The ruins weren’t going anywhere, so if I ever needed to return, they were only a couple of days' travel away. That’s the reasoning I tried to convince myself with, but the truth was that I couldn't bare to continue seeing them, the place I once called home a sorry mess of crumbled buildings and damp, semi-buried landmarks which once stood out as the beacon of friendship in all of Equestria.

I didn't want to remember it like this.

On my way out of the castle, I pointedly ignored Ponyville’s leftovers while continuing trying to make sense of recent events and bring some order to my stormy thoughts. There were many questions left unanswered, but I had to focus on the current issue.

‘Pegasus Crystal first, Alex. There’ll be plenty of time to melt your brain working over things later.’

I stepped into the grassy fields around the castle and turned around to give it one last look. The morning shine reflected all over its structure, creating a wonderful myriad of colors whose magnificence not even time could erase. If I ever got strong enough, unlikely, but a man can dream; I wanted to use my magic and try to rebuild it, even if only for its historical importance. It would be a shame to allow the earth to eventually reclaim it, but that’s what happens with everything, I guessed. Eventually, you end up back where you came from, and are forgotten by those who remain.

‘I’m not going to allow that. There’s so much history, so much knowledge, and so many ponies worth remembering.’

With a piercing pain in my heart, I forced myself to turn around and began heading back into the surrounding woods, taking a moment to orient myself towards the east following the course of the river.I checked one last time that I was carrying everything I needed. My bag had gained considerable weight with everything I was carrying, and that added to the weight of the sword really made a difference in my endurance.

‘Come on Alex, just another day of arduous trekking and you’ll be back home. I want to show the gang what I’ve found. I’m sure Sunny will be ecstatic with my findings… I’ll have to speak to them about the vision… heh, they were the chosen ones after all. I need to trust my gut feeling more.’

“Excuse me, sir. Have you seen anything weird happen lately? Or somecreature that looked something like this?”

For the hundredth time, I asked a resident pegasus for any leads regarding Discord’s location, and for the hundredth time, I was answered with an apologetic shake of their heads.

“Sorry Princess, I haven’t seen anything like that around here. Is everything alright?”

I sighed, feeling my flawless strategy cutting no ice. “Yeah, don’t worry about it, just an investigation I’m currently conducting. Thanks for the help.”

I wished the orange-furred stallion a good morning and continued my prowling on the streets, tucking the rough drawing of Discord under my wing and heading for another target to question. After arriving at the palace, I found my mom still finishing getting ready for the summit. After a warm greeting to her daughter, she proceeded to list aaaall the necessities Cloudpuff needed and that I had to take care of, a diatribe that lasted no less than thirty minutes.

Thirty. Minutes. That dog has it good, the motherbucker.

Of course, I had neither the desire nor the time to take care of all that nonsense, so after a quick bit of improvisation, I’d managed to escape after leaving him with his favorite toy and asking the palace workers to keep an eye on him while I was out.

And that left me here, in the middle of the lower commercial district, stopping passersby to ask them if they had seen anything that might be related to the draconequus or his whereabouts.

‘How do you find a rogue draconequus with no leads without alarming the population?’

I felt like I wasn’t getting anywhere, the two or so hours I had been into it landing no clues in my empty repertoire. Equestria is huge, and it would be stupid for him to hide in the middle of a densely populated city like this one, with thousands of cameras potentially spotting him on every corner. Did he even know what a camera is? Did they have those back then?

On the other hoof, it’s not like I could do anything more than this if I wanted to keep the alarm bells from ringing, at least until my mom returned.

I kept my canter down the main road, boringly playing eenie meenie miney moe to choose my next victim. My vision suddenly darted when I caught sight of a weird-looking tail in the corner of my eye. A very familiar-looking tail just disspearing through an alley on the other side of the street.

“AHA!! You! Stop right there!”

I sped through the mass of nearby ponies and gave chase to what I thought was an over-confident draconequus sunning his sorry hide for me to find, only to stumble with a green-furred pegasus wearing a strange… dragon costume, I think? And looking at me like I had caught her doing something illegal, which I wasn't completely sure if it was indeed the case or not, if I’m being honest.

“Uh, Princess?”

“Horsefeathers! Of course he’s not here.” I stomped angrily on the ground, only scaring the poor pegasus in front of me further.

‘Well, I shouldn’t waste this chance, at least.’

I parked my frustration focused my attention on the pony in the alley. “Have you seen anything… extra-weird lately?”

The mare shook her head with deer-in-the-spotlight eyes.

“Okay, thanks… what’s with the costume, anyway?” I couldn't help but wonder.

“Oh, um…” The mare seemed a bit embarrassed by my question. “I was just on my way to roleplay some O&O with my friends, and costumes help me to get into character…”

Twice I blinked, I decided to leave it there. “Uuuh, okay? Have fun, I guess.” I shot to the skies once again in a futile attempt to get a glimpse of a clue that would point me in the right direction.

“Come on, weird chaos magic, where are you…”

Things popping in and out of existence should be easy to spot, right? Well, I spent the rest of the day asking ponies all around the city, and not a single one of them knew anything about a weird creature or random magic happening and making a mess of things. A few of them did ask me about the weird glitches they had been experiencing when flying. My mom had at least had the foresight to issue a no-fly-zone decree to avoid ponies suddenly losing their flight and falling down the mountain.

I tried to reassure them that we were already investigating the issue and it wouldn’t be long before it was solved. All that was left was to hurry and keep my word.

After a few, exhausting laps around the city, I decided to rest for a bit and grab something to eat, stretching my aching wings as I landed. I chose one of my favorite restaurants. Your local, simple junk food place which my sister always had the snout to label as ‘unhealthy’ and ‘flank-enlarging,’ but I preferred it over the high cuisine meals served in the castle.

I swear, sometimes I felt like I had to use a magnifying glass to find the food under all that pointless decoration. That’s the actual reason I’m so good with the magnifying glass, believe it or not.

I was munching leisurely on a loaded carrot dog with as much dipping and sauces as I could fit when I heard two familiar voices calling to me from around the table.

“Hey there, Princess! Long time no see. Is everything fine? You look really bummed.”

It was Zoom Zephyrwing, and her partner Thunder Flap nervously waving behind her. They were both wearing their royal guard armor and were carrying retractable spears under their wings, all standard guard equipment. They weren't even that pointy.

“Hey there, guys… everything’s fine, it’s just… it’s been a long day.” I replied, with a tired wave.

“Ouch, that sounds harsh. We saw you zooming around the town a couple of times. You looked like you were in a hurry or something.” The guardmare replied in sympathy.

I gave the pair an accusatory glare. “Did Mom ask you to follow me, because I swear, I’ll…”

“Oh no no, nothing like that.” Zoom waved her forelegs and wings in a flurry of limbs. “We just saw you during our rounds and found it a little strange, that’s all.”

“We’re worried about you, Princess. With the magic glitching and all it’s been rough for us in the city, we just wanted to check on you” Thunder spoke with a concerned tone.

“Thanks, guys. I’m actually working on the glitching magic problem. I didn’t have any luck today, so I’ll continue tomorrow until Mom returns. After that, I’m heading back to Maretime Bay. My friends really need my help there.”

“Well,” Zoom gave me a sympathetic pat on my back, “If you need OUR help, Princess, all you have to do is ask.” She offered with a wink.

“I will, just… keep an eye open for any sort of weird magic or strange creatures showing up. If you see anything similar to this drawing, come find me immediately.” I showed them Discord’s drawing, the guards tilting their heads in confusion at the sight of it.

“Uuuum, sure thing Princess, we’ll keep both eyes open.” Thunder spoke after a few moments of looking at the drawing, committing it to memory.

The pair returned to their duties with a parting wave after a bit of catching up. I knew I could trust those two fetlockheads. A few minutes later, I had finished my late lunch and decided to do one last lap around the city before calling it a day. I could use some of that royal treatment myself, perks of being a princess, go cry somewhere else.

No luck came to brighten my day, not a single sight of weird magic or strange creatures prowling around the city. I asked my mom’s guards to keep an eye open during their rounds, just in case.

With my wings burning from exhaustion, I dropped in my room’s balcony, ready to call it a day. There was some stuff I still had to deal with before punching out. Without any enthusiasm, I filled out some paperwork my mom asked me to take care of before leaving and, feeling too drained to have dinner or head down the spa, I simply grabbed an apple and trotted to my room, my hooves scraping against the marble floor.

One of the castle’s chefs rushed towards me, a plate of dog food on her hooves. She reminded me that I had to give Cloudpuff his dinner, else the queen would be ‘displeased’.

I gave her the most tired expression I could master, the mare returning a sympathetic smile at my sorry state. With a long sigh, I grabbed the plate and thanked her.

“This is impossible, Cloudpuff. We just got our magic back. I don’t want to lose it all over again!” I complained to my pet dog, knowing well I'd receive no answer from him, but at least I could vent to somepony who wouldn't give me the standard ‘yes, Princess’ and little else.

Once back in my room, I glanced towards Cloudpuff’s bed, a lump under the sheets indicating to me that perhaps he was already asleep.

“I guess it doesn’t matter to you.” I left the plate with his dinner near the bed, hoping the smell would rouse him up. “You’ll always be spoiled, magic or not.”

With the last chore of the day done, I could finally get some much-needed rest. With a muzzle-splitting yawn, I half-heartedly wished Cloudpuff good night and flew straight to bed. Barely a second after getting under the blankets I was out like a light.

“FINALLY!! For Faust’s sake, I fucking hate fieldwork.”

After running nonstop for the better part of the day, I finally caught sight of the shimmering brighthouse at the top of the bay, the bustling town of Maretime Bay resting placidly under it, with its residents toiling around while enjoying a wonderful summer afternoon, taking a swim on the beach or just laying around having a drink with their friends. It seemed they had completely forgotten about recent events when, you know, magic started glitching and many ponies almost got injured.

At least it was better than mass panicking, I’d take it.

I finished running down the rest of the hill and entered the town proper, the nearby ponies welcoming me back, a few of them asking where I had been these past days. Warned by their concern but urgency biting my ankles, I wasn't feeling like stopping and retelling the whole story, I simply told them I had unexpected business out of town and that we were already working on fixing the magic glitching.

“Are you sure everything is under control? It's been a real bummer not being able to fly these past few days. I don’t trust my magic to hold while in the air, so I try to remain grounded for the time being, but now my wings are really itching for some exercise.” The pegasus mare trotting besides me whined, casting a sad glance at her tucked wings.

“We’re trying as hard as we can, Windy. Rest assured we will get to the bottom of this. If you want to stretch your wings for a bit go ahead, just stay low to the ground or do it above the sea, it will do you good and help you relax a little bit.” I reassured the light pink furred pegasus with a gentle scratch behind her ears.

She quickly melted at my touch. “Mmmmmkay. I’ll fly a few flaps around the coast. Thanks, Alex, it’s a relief to know you guys are taking charge.”

“You’re very welcome, Windy. How’s the fear of daisies going? Any progress?”

“Oh, hehe…” She blushed in embarrassment. “It’s going better. The other day I had a daffodil and daisy sandwich, and I didn’t freak out… much.”

I chuckled at her answer. It was an uncommon fear for a pony to have. I was happy she had been making progress. “Come on, you go and stretch your wings for a bit before it gets darker. Magic’s working right now.” I encouraged her, charging and feeling a bit of magic from my gauntlets to check if the magic was indeed working.

With a thankful nod, she stretched her wings and flew up in the air, making a few loops around the plaza before heading to the beach, a bright smile adorning her features. I couldn't help a pang of envy.

‘One day I’m going to figure out how to do that. I need to try it, at least once.’

Leaving the happy pegasus behind, I continued walking through the main plaza, located halfway through the main street on the second level of the town. I started humming a little song from home, looking left and right and making sure everything was in order, relieved to see nopony seemed injured and how there wasn’t any kind of damage to the town either.

Just as I was about to leave the plaza and begin my path uphill, the smell of cooking, greasy junk food assaulted my nostrils. I cracked my neck as I looked to my right, the glorious sight of what was undoubtedly Hayburger’s great-great-great-great-grandson filled my view. Oddly enough, it shared the same name.

‘Fuck yeah. Not even the world ending can beat the Hayburger.’

My mind emptying of any further plans, I quickly crossed the road, nudging passerby aside with little care, and pushed the double doors open, a bit too aggressively if the startled squeaks from the customers were any clue. I couldn’t have cared less.

I walked towards the counter and gave the poor cashier what I’m sure was a perturbingly hungry look.

“You!” I pointed at the now trembling earth pony.

The uniformed stallion returned a decidedly hesitant “M-me?”

“Yes, you!” I affirmed, “What’s your name?”

“I-I’m Fritter B-Bomb, sir.”

“Listen to me very carefully, Fritter. I’ve been wandering through forests, running through abandoned ruins, and have been dealing with a mad demigod for the last few days, with only a handful of berries as sustenance. It’s been a tiresome, traumatic, and draining experience. I need the greasiest, most life-shortening, cardiac-arresting hayburger you can cook up in the next five minutes, understood?!”

The stallion answered with a nervous nod and a girlish squeak. With a parting thank you, I left a handful of bits on the counter and moved towards the other side to wait for my order. It wasn’t my intention to scare him or anything like that, but I swear, at that precise moment, I was willing to kill for a burger, which I made sure to convey with my predatory gaze when the same guy hoofed me my desired prize.

Without any trace of decorum, I began devouring my meal as I made my way out of the establishment, the customers once again looking at me with perturbed expressions at my way of tearing apart the burger. A few of them had shied away a bit nervous at the sight of my canines during some of my outside lunch breaks to my dismay, but I could understand the looks I was receiving now. It didn’t get me to stop, though, it was just too good.

Discarding the paper wrapper in a nearby trash can, I resumed my way up the town towards the brighthouse, enjoying the salty seaside breeze I had begun to cherish during my short time here. A concerned frown made its way up my face at the sight of my new home, more precisely the absence of the Prisbeam rainbow on its top. I still wasn’t sure what its true purpose was, as it seemed magic could still somewhat function without it. As far as I knew, it was just a manifestation of the magic flowing once again through the land, or perhaps another thing. That kind of magic never worked on a straight line, let me tell you.

On the last trek up the hill, I stumbled with the resting form of my friend Sunny, who seemed to be taking a recovering nap under the shade of a nearby tree facing the cliffside. Knowing she would be thrilled to see me back, I carefully made my way to her, not wanting to disturb her in case she was indeed sleeping and not simply resting her eyes.

Seeing her like this reminded me of the first time I saw her, when I broke into her house and gave her the scare of her life. In retrospect, it was kind of a foolish plan, but I really wanted to be done with it as fast as I could without making a fuss. The spell matrix was still codified in my gem, but after two failed attempts, I knew better than to try again… with that same approach, anyway.

I silently lowered myself, sitting cross-legged next to her left side. She was laying on her stomach, back legs stretched and forelegs holding her head, her gentle breathing telling me she was indeed asleep. I drank in her placid features. I had known it the first time I saw her, and once again I was reminded of it. She was beautiful, very beautiful. It had taken me some time after my arrival in Equestria to actually start regarding the ponies as something more than cute and fluffy, even if nowadays I still think they all are, to some degree. It was that fact that made me value their personalities over their gross appearance, the true insides of a pony more than their façades. In that regard, she was a true ray of sunshine, the kind of pony we desperately needed during the fall.

I couldn’t help myself and began petting her orange fur, going up from her generous flank to her withers and down again, making her subconsciously shudder in bliss, a cute smile appearing on her muzzle. I continued gently rubbing her fur, her presence soothing my confused mind, and allowed myself to just relax and peer down at the gentle waves that rolled over the sea.

“OOOFF!!!”

Oh ho, now that was a tumble! I struggled to hold my laugh at the sight of my friend falling on his face after failing to grasp the fake wall in front of us.

“Hehe, perspective! From pony’s height, it looks like a solid wall, but for a critter like Cloudpuff, it's as clear as day.”

Yeah, easy in retrospective, not so much after getting the tumble.

After finding out Cloudpuff had disappeared during the night when I woke up (that pooch’s gonna be the end of me, I swear) I called on Hitch to help me find him before my mom returned. It seemed the smartest move to make after my short panic attack, his sharp mind and knack for critters made him the obvious choice. A rushed phone call and a pegasus-drawn carriage trip later, he arrived in Zephyr Heights to help me with the search, initiating a full day of traveling all over the city and visiting numerous establishments, only to be pointed at a remote cave near the city limits, courtesy of Hitch’s loving critters.

Who knew my little Pomeranian knew so many ponies. That dog had a secret life he hadn't told us about.

“Yeah, I definitely knew that.” The sheriff muttered undignified after regaining his step, rubbing his throbbing head with his hoof. “So, where is…”

“Hitch, look.”

My interruption came at the sight of a gorgeous underground waterfall that fed into a nearby stream. And near said stream, laid Cloudpuff, peacefully resting over a blanket and with two cucumber slices over his eyes. It’d be a breathtaking sight hadn't it been for the abused image of my dog having a single-pony outing on such a remote location.

“Cloupuff!” I rushed towards the Pomeranian, my call waking him up. “What are you doing here? How long have you known about this place?”

I was completely speechless. Not once had I heard about or seen this cave during my numerous trips around Zephyr Peaks.

At the sight of me, Cloudpuff released an undignified ‘hmph’ and turned to look the other way. I slowly made my way to his side and sat on my hindquarters beside him. I knew what the issue with him was.

“I’m sorry I didn’t take very good care of you, Cloudpuff. I promise I’ll do better next time… Mom will be home soon and she’s going to be worried if we aren't there. Come with us, please?”

After a few seconds, the smile returned to his tiny muzzle, and with a happy bark, he launched himself into my open hooves, finally allowing me to release the accumulated nerves with a relieved sigh.

‘Now it’s back home to deal with mom, and then back to Maretime Bay. There’s much work to be done.’

The sun had begun setting behind the Zephyr Range when I felt her starting to stir up. It seemed my ear scratches were too good to miss. She gave a big yawn and, a few stretches later, she raised her head, sleepily looking for the origin of the nice feeling on her head.

It took her a few seconds to recognize me, her aqua-green eyes doubling in size the moment her brain woke up enough to understand what was in front of her.

“…. ALEX!!”

“SUNNY!”

As if a pair of springs had grown over her hind legs, Sunny jumped up and pounced on my outstretched arms, both of us falling back to the ground in a fit of giggles. She didn't waste a second and began nuzzling me vigorously as she hugged me with all her legs, her tail wagging in excitement against my legs.

“Hahaha! O-Okay Sunny, I’m okay! Sto-op, it ticklehahaha!”

She ignored me and continued with her affectionate assault. I didn't expect her to miss me so much, but I wasn't going to protest either.

After a few more vigorous nuzzles, she pulled back and gave me a look full of both relief and concern.

“You’re okay! Oh, thank hoofness you’re okay!”

“Well of course I’m okay Sunny. I told you everything was going to be fine.” I reassured her with a few scratches under her chin.

“I-It’s just… it’s been a couple of days and, and you weren’t answering your phone and the timberwolves andDiscordontheloosewehadbeguntothink…”

“Sunny.” I stopped her ranting with my hand gently grasping her muzzle, brushing a thumb over the peach-fuzz lining it. “I’m okay, I promise. Everything went fine, no big scares or any danger these last few days…”

‘For the most part, that is.’ I inwardly winced.

“... The only thing I can assure you of is that I’m completely exhausted, more mentally than physically. I had half a mind to join you when I found you napping here, but then I would have spent the whole night awake, so…”

I tried to stand up, but she blocked my movement, pinning me down with her forelegs and snuggling up my chest. She had another idea in mind. “Then we can stay here and rest as much as you need. Izzy and Pipp are inside doing something, and Hitch had to leave this morning to help Zipp with an emergency back in Zephyr Heights. We can stay here for as long as you need and then we’ll join our friends for dinner, okay?”

She asked ‘okay?’ as if she had any mind of getting off anytime soon. Rejoicing in her closeness, I placed my hand on her head and slowly pet her mane up and down. “Thank you, Tangerine, I desperately need it.”

Her little pout at my choice of pet name quickly brightened into a warm smile as she snuggled deeper into my chest, my deep breathing slowly rising and lowering her body, her warm fur and gentle breathing casting a relaxing blanket over my whole being. The therapeutic effect of cuddling a pony, proven by yours truly.

After what felt like an eternity, I could finally get some much-deserved rest.

We stayed like that until the sun kissed the mountain tops goodbye, leaving behind a darkening firmament slowly becoming seeded with a myriad of stars. Running my fingers through her velvety fur non-stop, I felt a bit playful and, from time to time, tickled her nose with my finger, eliciting a cute giggle from her followed by her scratching her itchy snout on my shirt.

I debated with myself if I should tell her what I saw in the castle. I hadn’t made any more progress making sense of Harmony’s words on my way from Ponyville. I would have preferred to have the whole picture clear before making any assumptions, but considering who I saw in that vision, she of all ponies deserved to know.

“Hey, Sunny.” I patted her on the back to get her attention.

“Mmmm?” She moaned sleepy, sounded like she was about to pass out.

“I managed to visit Ponyville’s ruins as well as Twilight’s old castle.”

My words dusted the cobwebs in her drowsy mind, and the mare quickly roused herself to give me her full attention. Now completely awake, Sunny raised her head to regard me with surprise. “Really?! It’s still standing?!”

‘If only…’

She had some bad news coming. “Not really. I walked around the town proper and… well, there’s barely anything left. I recognized a few of the buildings I used to frequently visit but… you know.”

She understood what I meant and gave me a sympathetic smile. “I’m sorry you had to see it like that, Alex.”

“Thank you, Sunny. I was kinda expecting it, as much as I wished it wasn’t.” I thanked her with a few more scratches behind her ear.

“And what about Twilight’s castle?” She pushed on, tilting her head at my touch.

“Weeell…” I had little to offer in that regard, but I decided to humor her. “The bottom part has collapsed, which caused the main structure to tilt on its left side. The star-shaped ornament on its top had ended up as a bunch of broken shards on the ground next to the structure. It’s a real shame, too. Back in its heyday, it truly was a sight to behold. But still, I managed to get inside and I even found my old room. I also retrieved a few things of mine I had stored there.” I pointed with my head to my bag which I had left a few steps behind me.

She craned her neck to see where I was pointing. “Is that a sword?” She was quick to notice, pointing with her hoof at the glistening piece of metal half-buried into the soil.

“My old, trusty training sword. I found it in my room, although I don’t remember leaving it there. It got me out of a few tight spots in the past, so I thought it would be a shame to leave it there to rot. As much as I hate weapons and violence in general, I can’t deny that it might be useful in the future. It’s the perfect excuse to resume my training, at least.” I offered with a tiny shrug.

“Wow…” She looked amazed at the sight of it, which earned an amused chuckle out of me.

“I also found some other cool things I’m sure you guys will like.”

“Like what?” She asked with a curious tilt of her head.

“Like my old laptop, full of Earth’s greatest music, books, movies, TV series, and a bunch of boring scientific work from my time there and in Equestria, as well as a few well-preserved books from Twilight’s private library.”

Oh ho, I hit the jackpot with that one. She was left completely speechless, smoke almost visually coming out of her ears as her brain tried to process what I had just told her.

“…..WHAT?!!” She yelled while pressing her muzzle against my nose, her eyes drilling holes into my own.

“Exactly.” I answered with a coy smile. I always enjoyed these kinds of reactions from ponies, they were always so expressive.

A huge smile appeared on her face. With barely constrained joy, she proceeded to assault me once again with vigorous nuzzles while constantly repeating ‘thank you thank you thank YOUUUU!’.

“Heh, you’re very welcome, Tangerine. Just tone it down a bit, or else our friends are going to run out thinking we’re being attacked or something.” I playfully scolded her.

She ceased her adorable assault with an embarrassed blush. I calmed her with a few gentle rubs on her chest fluff and, after promising I’d show her all the treasure with the rest of the gang, she returned to rest her head against my chest, the jitters now back under control.

We continued laying for a couple more minutes until her voice broke the peaceful silence. “Hey, Alex… um, are you feeling alright?”

Caught off guard by her question, I raised my head to find her giving me a concerned look with her beautiful eyes, which now held a hint of sadness.

“What do you mean? I told you, I’m fine.”

“It’s just…” She hesitantly began, nervously rubbing her hooves over my chest, “A lot has happened in such a short time and… none of us has had a chance to stop and just think until recently. I was just wondering if you were feeling alright. After seeing Canterlot, and now Ponyville… they were your home for many years. I can’t even begin to imagine how you must be feeling after seeing them like that.”

I released a tired breath, not wanting to think about it too much, else I ended up falling in an all-to-well-known pit. “I don’t know what to tell you, Sunny. Sad? Disappointed? Angry? I mean… I knew what I was getting myself into when I entered stasis, and I was expecting something similar to what I saw, even if it meant the end of the Equestria I knew… but, it’s one thing to expect it and it’s another thing entirely to see it with your own eyes.”

Sunny shifted to rest her head higher up my chest, looking at me forlornly, pressing herself against me harder. I welcomed her comforting closeness, moving my arms to secure the mare behind her rump. She waited patiently for me to collect my thoughts and continue. “I spent many nights awake thinking about the future of Equestria, what it might turn into if the conflicts escalated out of control. I didn’t want to believe it. I refused to believe it would end up destroying the civilization I had grown to love.” I returned a hand to her scalp, petting her mane more to calm down my own nerves than hers. “I-It pained me so much, to see them hate each other, blame one another for the stupidest of reasons, always jumping at any chance to start the heat, friendship and families torn apart… For the most part, I felt completely helpless, my friends and I just stood there, unable to help anymore.”

“…I’m so sorry Alex…”

“Thank you, Sunny.” I said wholeheartedly, sighing heavily. The afternoon was too tranquil and peaceful to be marred with dark clouds. Patting her rump, I ushered the mare to get a move on. “Come on, let’s get inside with the others and wait for Hitch and Zipp to return. There’s something important I need to tell you regarding my visit, and you can take a look over the books I brought back, how does that sound?”

With an enthusiastic waggle of her tail, she raised and stood aside to allow me to do so too. After dusting myself off, I returned to grab my bag and sword and walked alongside Sunny towards the brighthouse.

Successfully breaking through the deteriorating atmosphere, we entered into the main hall, the voices of Izzy and Pipp resounding lively from the living room. It seemed they were playing some kind of card game from what little I could make out of their playful bantering. I followed Sunny through the main hall, the mare reaching the living room first and cheerfully greeting her friends.

“Hey there Sunny girl, enjoy the nap? Colt, I really could use one myself. If only I wasn’t so energetic all the ti…”

Izzy’s greeting screeched to a halt at the sight of me crossing the threshold into the cozy living room.

“... ALEX!!”

I braced myself and opened my arms. “Come here, you silly filly!”

Like a bullet, Izzy jumped from her seat and sailed into my waiting embrace, nuzzling my face enthusiastically as Sunny had done previously, throwing me into another giggle fit.

“O-okay Izzyhehehhe, Sto-o-op! I’m gonna piss myslehehehelf!”

Thankfully she relented after a few more seconds, pulling away to give me the brightest smile I’ve ever seen from her. “You’re okay!!”

“Duh, I highly doubt a few old ruins are enough to stop the mighty space monkey, don’t you think?”

She answered with a relieved laugh, the stress steaming out of her at my loving caressing of her mane.

Pipp was quick to follow suit in her welcoming. “It’s SO good to see you’re alright, Alex. We were worried sick after seeing you weren’t answering your phone! Didn’t you get my calls?”

I grabbed Pipp with my free arm and pulled her into a side hug, nuzzling my nose into her main, a tiny pout scrunching her features.

“Sorry, Pipp, my phone died soon after I reached Ponyville. Perhaps if a certain pegasus hadn’t spent so much battery life taking pictures this wouldn’t have happened, hmm?” I quirked an eyebrow inquisitively at the mare, Pipp returning a sheepish smile and a muttered ‘sorry’.

I gave her a reassuring rub and started moving towards the couch. Our clingy unicorn had no desire to release me from her embrace, so I grabbed her and carried her like a puppy, a hearty chuckle coming from my friends at the particular sight of the mare, who was enjoying the short trip more than she’d ever admit.

I lowered my rear into the comfy couch, its pony-friendly height forcing me to stretch my legs further into the floor. I placed Izzy on my side, with Sunny taking the other and Pipp sitting beside her. all peering inquisitively at me. With a parting scratch between her ears, I released Izzy from my embrace and took a deep breath, taking in the now-familiar scent of my new home and allowing it to ebb the stress away from my tired bones.

I could have just stayed slumped like that for the rest of the afternoon, and the following day if my lazy ass could have it. Just lazing around with my new friends and hitting the summer, but the adorable expectant looks of the surrounding ponies told me they’d settle down for nothing short of some answers.

With an amused shake of my head, I reached down and showed the girls my old sword, causing Izzy to rise from her seat and place her forelegs on my lap for better support, taking every detail of the blunt weapon in with sparkling orbs. The ‘click’ sounds coming from Pipp’s phone told me she was taking numerous photos, looking as amazed as Izzy.

“My old training sword, which unfortunately has seen a few battles, as much as I wished it hadn’t. Even if I don’t feel very comfortable using it, I think I’m going to catch up with my training, just in case magic goes awry again. But that’s not the most interesting thing I brought from my trip.”

Resting the sword against the foot of the couch, I grabbed my bag and pulled out the small pile of books inside. Sunny didn’t waste a moment to pry them out of my hands and excitedly began to look over all of them.

“Careful, Sunny. They’re very, VERY old. These are from Twilight’s personal library back at her castle, and they were the only ones I could salvage that were still in readable condition.”

My soft warning only got her even more excited, but thankfully she understood and treated them with the utmost care, as if they were going to turn into dust any moment.

With our history geek friend distracted, I signaled Izzy and Pipp to get closer, and pulled out my old laptop, which thankfully had managed to remain intact during the trip back to the town.

“Is that…”

“It is Pipp, my old laptop from my college days. The great-great-great-great-grandfather of your phone, I believe.” I tapped its carbon-black top proudly. “This is full of books, movies, and scientific works from my home world, as well as a bunch of Earth’s music you catch me humming sometimes, Izzy.”

“There’s human music inside?!!” The pegasus was beyond ecstatic. “You must ABSOLUTELY let me listen to it!! Ooooh my pony, I can feel the inspiration coming already!”

“Heheh, slow down Pipp, I need to charge it first. Let’s see if your power grid is compatible with it. I mean, it should be, as it was based on my specifications in the first place…”

I got up from the couch and approached one of the wall outlets, leaving Izzy to curiously check over more of my stuff. Crossing my fingers and sending a silent prayer to the goddess of outlets, I connected my charger to my laptop and waited for the red light to appear. After a few tense seconds, I released the breath I had been holding as the small light appeared, signaling the laptop was successfully charging.

I left it to charge for the moment and returned to the girls, and at once noticed Izzy unceremoniously rummaging through my bag. After a few seconds, she’d removed my computer’s external mouse, and started unraveling the cable it was wrapped in. As Izzy got familiar with another wonder from Earth, I sat in front of an absorbed Sunny who had begun looking over the copy of History of Equestria.

“Everything alright, Sunny? Can you read the words fine?”

She lowered the book and looked at me with her two sparkling, dark pools of wonder. “This is amazing! There’s so much knowledge we’ve lost through the ages written here, all the things we could relearn…”

“Well, I’m happy to hear that. Perhaps we should first find somepony who can work on restoring them, or at least transcribe them. With your computers, we can digitize their contents so they’ll never get lost again.”

She agreed with my proposition with a vigorous nod, already listing a few ponies that might be able to help. Before we could discuss it further, I saw her ears twitch at the sound of the front door opening, the clopping of hooves signaling the return of our friends.

“Over here, guys!” Called Izzy from her spot. After returning the mouse to my bag, she had resumed her game of cards with Pipp.

Our friends entered the living room, rushing to welcome me back as soon as they saw me sitting in front of Sunny. A few hugs and reassuring words later, we were all back together, the perfect moment to blow their minds.

“Guys, I need your attention for a moment.”

The ponies stopped chatting about Zipp and Hitch’s small adventure and turned to look at me with coked heads.

“Okay, eeehh…” I winced, wetting my lips and searching for the words. “So, this is going to sound completely nuts, but please believe what I’m about to tell you, it’s crucial for our mission.”

The gravity of my words had completely caught their attention, concerned expressions spreading through my equine friends.

“So, after finding my stuff in Twilight’s castle, I started feeling a strange presence guiding me towards the Map Room where the Cutie Map is located.”

“The map that indicated Twilight and her friends where a friendship problem was arising?” Asked a well-read Sunny.

“The very same. It had remained dormant after the last mission it sent us to up to the time I left, but after reaching the room and touching it, it came back to life, and it showed me something incredible.”

The ponies almost fell out off the couch as they inched closer, giving me their full attention.

“… I saw your dad, Sunny. I saw a vision of Argyle standing where I was.”

The poor mare almost choked on her breath when she heard the name of her late father, a few tears building up on her quivering pearls.

“D-Dad?”

“Yes, at least, a younger version of him compared to the one in your pictures. It was a vision from the past, from when he somehow found the castle and the Cutie Map. Did he ever tell you anything about it?”

“N-no, I-I mean…” She took a second to regain her breath and clear her running snout, Izzy placing a reassuring hoof on her back. “He told me stories about some of his travels, b-but I was just a filly back then. Perhaps he mentioned it at some point, but I d-don’t remember, I was still too young when he…”

She didn't have to finish the sentence for me to understand what she was implying. I parked the matter for the moment, not wishing to hurt her further.

“I’m so sorry, Sunny.” I reached forward to grasp her hooves, giving them a comforting squeeze. She appreciated the gesture and returned a tiny smile, eclipsed by her falling tears.

“I saw him standing where I was, and just as I did, he touched the map with his hoof. In his case, it projected a series of cutie marks for him.” I looked closely at each of the ponies. “All of your cutie marks.”

The collection of expressions from the ponies ranged from completely amazed to substantially scared. I could understand it, it was a haunting revelation after all.

They knew nothing of Harmony and her game, after all.

“W-what?” Trembled Sunny.

“T-That’s impossible, h-how could it have known about us?”

“I don’t know what to tell you, Zipp.” Oh, I knew what it was all about, but the point of the game was for them to not know. “The map showed Argyle your cutie marks, and I saw them through that vision. But, there’s more. A few moments after the vision started, I heard a voice speaking in my head, asking me to guide you through an ‘incoming darkness.’”

“Who’s voice was it?” Butted in Hitch while rubbing his aching templates in an attempt to cope with what I had just told them.

I sighed. I had a lot of names for Harmony, but few were pretty. “An old spirit, born from the peace and prosperity between creatures of Equus. An ancient being, who has helped countless generations of ponies to fight against the darkness that would consume this world, who helped me and my friends in the past.”

The ponies stared at me, as confused as they had been since the beginning. It wasn’t a surprise learning they didn’t know who I was talking about.

“She calls herself Harmony. And she has chosen us to protect the future.”

Who would’ve guessed?

“Answer me, you stupid tree!! You can’t just do this to me and go silent! Why did you do it?! Do you have any idea of what this entails, what it means to me?!!”

I had spent the last hour screaming at the towering, crystalline treehouse that once was the Tree of Harmony, destroyed and rebuilt into the shimmering treehouse the young six had chosen to make their own. Since the battle, she had gone silent, her cryptic words running through my mind, denying me sleep and rest for much of the past week.

How could she have done this? Not once in the history of Equus had she gone that far. And for what?!

As much as the doctors and my friends would have opposed it, I couldn’t wait any longer laying still. I silently made my way out of the hospital, running the small road through the Everfree Forest to stand in front of the silent ‘goddess’ and demand answers.

“Answer me, Harmony!!! Why did you do it?!!................. ANSWER MEEEEE!!!!”

“Alex, that’s enough! Please!”

I quickly turned around, thinking for a moment she had answered me, but I couldn’t help but look disappointed at the sight of the young six standing behind me, Gallus at the lead and taking careful steps towards me.

“Come on, Alex, you should be resting. You’re in no shape to be wandering through here.”

Silverstream slowly flapped to where I stood, gently coaxing me to return with them back to Ponyville with her beak. “Please, Alex. We’re all worried about you, won’t you come with us?”

“You guys don’t understand. You really, really don’t understand…” I put on a meek fight.

“None of us understands what happened Alex.” Smolder added from my other side, securing me with her wing and making sure I didn’t trip over as I began to walk with them out of the forest. “But you’re here, and you’re safe. That’s all that matters to us.”

Their comforting words did nothing to soothe my confusion and fear. I didn’t have any strength to offer resistance, and shakily allowed them to guide me back to the hospital, the ooze-dripping patches over my wound burning for my futile efforts.

‘Why, Harmony? Of all creatures, why me?’

Author's Note

Another chapter for you, hope you enjoy it. I'm currently facing the final weeks of my college degree, meaning the last of the exams and the final proyect, so expect the flow of chapters to slow down considerably at least until summer propper. Then I have all the time in the world to catch up. Also, I'll take the chance and check over Chapter 4, see how the stories goes, and rewatch the prevous ones before delving into them.
Until next time then.

Chapter 12- The search begins.

“I’m sorry Alex, I-I’m… I mean, none of us is getting anything from what you just said.”

Thought as much, but I could blame Izzy and the rest for not following. It had taken me my fair amount of attempts to fully grasp the meaning behind her existence and her task, a task which I was now a key piece in her efforts to accomplish it.

“I don’t fully understand it either, Iz. Harmony’s always been about cryptic messages and riddles, which is pretty infuriating in my opinion. But we should take her words seriously, she has never led me or my friends astray.” Debatable, but it wasn’t the time to vent my anger at her. “I don’t know if the darkness she’s referring to is Discord or something else. Equestria has never been short on enemies, and I don’t think a few centuries off the grid is going to change that. For the time being, we stay vigilant and recover the Pegasus Crystal before it's too late. And you, Sunny,” I pointed at her, “You and I are going to train when we have the chance. The sooner you learn to control your alicorn powers and I learn a few more, the better, sound okay?”

She answered with a hesitant nod, conflict visible in her jerky hooves rubbing one against the other. I hated putting her under this kind of pressure. But now, with Harmony’s warning hanging above us like a dark cloud, I wasn’t going to take any chances.

“Come on guys, let's fix us some dinner and call it a day. All that adventuring through Zephyr Heights has completely exhausted me, I could use a quiet night to digest what you just told us anyway, Alex.”

The rest of the ponies were in agreement with Zipp, standing up from their seats and trotting towards the kitchen. All except Sunny and Izzy, who remained at my side when they noticed I wasn’t following them.

“Aren’t you coming, Alex?” The orange-furred mare dipped her head cutely.

“Perhaps later, Sunny. I ate a hayburger on my way here and I’m not feeling particularly hungry right now. I’ll just take the books, sword and laptop to my room and then I’ll join you and try to go over some of the questions you might have. I’m sure you are all as baffled as I am.”

With that said, the two mares left to join the rest of the group, not before sending one last worried look behind them. With a tired grunt, I too raised myself from my seat, loosened my limbs, grabbed the pile of books and unplugged the laptop, storing it all in my backpack. I made my way up the ramp towards my room after grabbing my sword, hearing the clatter of dishes filling the ample room of the main hall.

It felt like weeks had gone by since the last time I’d stood inside, taking in its familiar, homely scent, even though it had barely been a couple of days. I had grown fond of the place, graciously gifted to me by Sunny. I made sure to keep it meticulously clean and tidy, even if only out of respect for Sunny’s dad, its previous occupant.

I found the old documents I had recovered from my safe, and tasked Sunny to take care of, kept neatly tucked on the desk, a smile of appreciation making its way up my face at the sight of them. Work for a later time.

Resting my bag against the table, I carefully exactret the old tomes and left them near the sandy papers for later assortment. removing my laptop next, I plugged it back into the socket near the night desk, sacrificing the soothing glow of the night lamp.

Feeling my knees protesting still, I sat on the edge of the bed, its soft mattress bewitching to me to lie on it and submerge into some much-needed sleep. Night wasn't far away, but I wanted to spend some more time with my new friends. I had missed them terribly during my solo search, and I already knew them well enough that, if I didn't hurry and join them, they’d storm into my room and drag me kicking and biting for some answers, tucked out or not.

Being alone during the search in Ponyville’s ruins hadn’t been a pleasant experience, unavoidable trip down memory lane aside, and after all these years coexisting with the ponies, I’d found myself deeply enjoying the company of these small equines on every step of my day. Some more than others, needless to say, but thankfully my antisocial days of your average lab-rat working his way to a name and reputation had withered and died out the moment I was literally smothered in friendship upon my arrival, until I had no choice but to give in to the ponies advances to break me out of my shell and live a little.

These ponies really made an impact on me. If only I had made a similar impact on them…

‘... It should’ve been our call, that day. They didn't deserve to suffer because of our incompetence.’

*Knock, Knock*

I was dragged from my little world by the sound of hooves tapping on the wooden door.

“Hey Alex, are you awake in there?” I recognized Izzy’s voice from outside my room.

I saw no reason to shoo her away. “I’m here, Izzy, you can come in if you want.”

She did so, slowly opening the door with a click, her levitation manipulating the door’s handle with expertise. It felt so good to see her grow accustomed to her magic. Perhaps in due time it’d become a second nature to her like it used to be for the unicorns of old.

She found me sitting on the edge of the bed, silently staring at the wall behind the desk, twirling my thumbs over my crossed hands while letting a cascade of conflicting emotions wash over me. The map of Equestria I had borrowed from Sunny was hanging there, taunting me with a world I once knew and lost by my hand.

“Anything you need? I’ll be down in a minute.”

“Oh, fine, everything's fine just…” She scratched the back of her head nervously. “It’s been a couple of minutes already and we thought you had skipped dinner and gone to sleep.”

‘It’s been a few minutes already?’ I surprised myself.

“Sorry, Izzy, I must have spaced out. These days I feel like my head is permanently stuck in the gutter. Heh, it’s true when they say that college doesn’t prepare you for this…”

A polite smirk lit her muzzle. “Heh, yeah, I can guess how you must be feeling right now… even if I never went to college. Still!” She crossed the threshold and entered the room proper, trotting around the bed to stand in front of me with her most cheery disposition. “We’re starting on some dinner downstairs. If you don’t mind, we would very much like it if you would join us. I don’t know about the rest, but I’m bubbling with questions. Although perhaps we should let the heavier themes rest for a day and still talk about other things like, you know, the fact that I find myself sharing cereal for breakfast with an alien from outer space?”

At her narrowed, inquisitive eyes, I released a small laugh. “Y-yeah, I, um, I’m sure you guys would like some explanations.” I rubbed my arm self-consciously of my little omission of facts.

“Oh, you know it, brother. We’d very much like them. Pronto.” Her gaze deepened with her words, although I could discern a small, playful betraying her ‘Stallion in Black’ mojo.

“Okay, okay. Let’s return downstairs… and stop with that look! It’s not like I’m an ugly space monster or something.” I demanded with a desperate shake of my arms.

“Meh.” She gave a nonchalant shrug, “You’re not a joy to look at either.”

“Ohohoholy shit Izzy, that burns!” I laughed heartily at her burn while grabbing my chest in faux pain. That unicorn had a tongue, alright.

She shared my merriment with a chuckle of her own. I knew she was just playing, but it was a refreshing experience to see another pony joking like that. You know, with ponies being way too PEGI six to banter like that with another.

I rose from my seat with a reinvigorated hop and tapped her twice on her flank to signal her to lead the way. She happily did so, not soon sending a pair of bedroom eyes and a bitten lip as she made her way out. That unicorn had something coming if she kept teasing me like that.

Soon we found ourselves back on the ground floor, the cacophony of light conversation and dishes coming from the kitchen signaling us that our friends had already begun with their dinner.

We made our way to join them and found the gang sitting around the isle, plates with light salads and a few sandwiches spread over the pristine surface. Upon hearing us enter, the ponies parked their meals to find us coming at us and greeted us back. Hitch pointed towards an empty chair for Izzy, the mare nodding in appreciation while a triangle sandwich was already being wrapped in her levitation. With myself being considerably bigger, I decided to lean on the counter so as to not take too much space and allow the gang to enjoy their light dinner.

“So!” Izzy began from her seat, swallowing a muzzlefull of sandwich before proceeding, “Now that we have some free time, how about you tell us about the fact that you’re not from this world, hm? You said it like it wasn’t much of a deal back then.”

I wasn't surprised how that particular small nugget of information about me had stuck with them. It’s not everyday you get to live all your cheap fourth-phase encounter movies in a human-shaped package. Kinda disappointing from their perspective, if I had to make an educated guess, but they were too polite to comment on it.

Sunny offered her two bits. “Yeah, I mean, what little my dad’s books said about you, they never mentioned the fact you weren’t from Equus. Although I guess the name ‘Alexander Kintobor’ doesn’t sound very Equish.”

“Kingston” I fired back to Sunny, wishing to correct that old mishap that ended with changing my name for the records.

“Huh?” She dipped her head in conduction.

“My family name is Kingston. Alexander Kingston. Kintobor is just a joke name from a fictional character from my world. I was reading a comic book and… ugh, just… it was supposed to be a joke. I was being sarcastic and an ass. But I reacted too late to fix it and got stuck with it.”

“Oh. Well… it’s still a bit weird, if I’m honest.” Zipp shrugged from the other side of the table, her sister nodding in agreement with her mouth full of salad.

“Heh, yeah, I guess it is for you. Still, that’s my name, but please, you can just keep calling me Alex, it’s a mouthful otherwise.” Not that I didn't like my name, new and old ones. But it felt like calling Twi ‘Twilight Sparkle’ all the time. Gets tiring really fast, you get me?

“And what about the place you’re from?” Our peppy unicorn was relentless in her thirst for knowledge.

“Well, Izzy, the name of the countries and continents on Earth won’t mean a thing to you. But still, I have no problem telling you. I’m from a country called ‘Spain’, located in the south-westernmost part of a continent called ‘Europe.’”

As I expected, none of the names made any sense to them, but that didn’t prevent them from giving me looks full of wonder.

“Wow, that’s so cool!” Sunny cheered with an excited shake of her tail, although I suspected it was more to spare my feelings than actual recognition.

“If you say so, Sunny. My dad’s British, from a country called the ‘United Kingdom’, which is where my family name comes from, and my mom’s Spanish, from Spain, which I mentioned earlier. I’d lived there for my whole life until my last year on Earth, when I traveled to another country, called the ‘United States of America’, to further my studies… until I ended up here, that is.”

Sunny was positively beaming, ecstatic about learning more about me. I was happy to feed her never ending curiosity. “Wow! I really want to know about the history of those places. Those ‘united’ places sound like they’re full of harmony, right?”

Ah, the other side of the coin. Never gets old, that conversation. The day had been too long to delve in those sticky matters.

Exhaling deeply, I dodged the topic for the time being. “History ain’t my forte, to be honest. I could regale you with some Spanish history, but that’s about it. You’d like one of my friends from Earth. You could ask him about history from nearly anywhere, and he’d talk at length about it with a kind of giddy glee. The problem then is that you’d have a hard time getting him to shut up about it.”

Pipp, feeling a bit out, interceded with her own question. “So, how come you speak Equish?”

Now that’s a good question, for not even I could really tell. “Well, by some sort of extremely unlikely coincidence, Equish is almost identical to an Earth language called ‘English’. It isn’t my mother language, which for me would be ‘Spanish’; hence my weird accent, or more precisely, my lack of one, when speaking your language.”

“Oh. I thought that was just a human thing?”

“Not in particular, Pipp, it’s just the way I learned it in school, but it gets me understood, so…”

“And the thing you said you studied?” Asked Hitch after swallowing his bite of cheese and cucumber sandwich.

Blegh.

“I have a college degree in Biology, and then I got a master’s degree in Cellular Biology and Genetics after that. I had barely finished it and was about to start my thesis when… well, I ended up here.”

“So you were a scientist before you arrived in Equestria?” The stallion continued.

“A junior one at that, but yes, I was. Much of my early work here was based on the knowledge I carried from my previous studies, and thank goodness for that. With a total lack of any magic whatsoever, I would’ve otherwise ended with such a boring job here.” More than one crazy job interview came to mind. “Heh, a lot of ponies wanted me to work as a massager back at Ponyville’s spa. I know my hands feel great on a pony’s fur, but come on.”

Izzy gave me a sultry look, “I wouldn’t mind that in the slightest.”

“Of course you wouldn’t, you crazy mare.” I flipped her the finger, earning a puzzled blink from the mare. “But in that case, I would have to charge you an otherworldly price for these babies.” I returned the teasing gaze, wiggling my fingers in emphasis.

A change of mind landed as quickly as lighting. “Hehe, forget everything I said. Science’s great and all…” She took a nervous sip of her drink, darting her eyes with an embarrassed blush.

Rolling her eyes at the unicorn's silliness, Pipp took her turn. “And, you said you were a doctor in Bioachre…Bi-bioarchon…”

“Bioarchanology.” Sunny helped Pipp.

“Yeah, that. Is it the same thing you studied back home?”

Ups, time to dig in the attic for some simple terms. “Oh, um…. no, not exactly. When I found out about magic here, it kinda completely broke all of my understanding of how things work. Like, all of them. At the same time, I saw that many of your presumptions and discoveries regarding several aspects of biology were incorrect, most of the time citing magic as the sole reason and signing out without a care. So, I thought, why don’t I make myself useful and delve further into the problem? And with that, I worked with numerous ponies from Canterlot University and other places around Equestria. Together, we founded an entirely new field of study, whose main purpose was to further the understanding of magic and biology and how they interact together, give or take. Using my knowledge from Earth and the pony’s knowledge of magic, we managed to find out some amazing things and answer some questions that had gone unanswered in Equestria for some time. I mean, I even got a doctorate from it.” I answered with the smallest bit of pride. It had been many months of painstaking work, so I thought I deserved a bit of praise for it. Only a little bit.

“And what about the technology? I remember Phyllis mentioning something about it back at the station.” The sheriff referred to our brief exchange at his office.

“You’re right, Hitch. As it happens I, well, pretty much ‘fell’ into Equestria while I was on my way back from a seminar. I was carrying my backpack full of the things I used to carry to college, my phone and laptop included. At the time, practically all machinery made by ponykind was rustic and magic-based, and mostly focused on medicine, aerodynamics, and a few emerging industrial areas, but nothing as sophisticated as what I was carrying when I crossed the barrier between worlds. Needless to say, it really blew their minds. So, using my meager knowledge of computer technology from a bunch of online courses I took in my free time, and a lot of careful prodding and experimenting, we started to recreate some of the technology, after first explaining and teaching some of the underlying scientific concepts, like electricity, magnetism, and electromagnetism. We created some of the more basic things first, like a non-magic telegraph machine, able to be operated by non unicorns. But now? I guess I’m looking at my old phone’s great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-grandson when I see yours, Pipp.” The pegasus sent a furtive look at her device. “Not bad if I say so myself, especially after magic disappeared. I’m sure ponies had to regard technology in a completely new light when that happened…”

“That’s so amazing Alex!” A beaming Sunny was giving me her one hundred percent, sparks of wonder in her dreamy eyes.

I offered a knowing wink at her, touched by her interest in little ol’ me. “Yeah, I guess it is. For better or worse, me and my colleagues really changed the world.”

“For worse?” Asked Zipp with a confused tilt of her head, reaching for another bite of her decreasing bowl of salad.

A sore topic if there ever was one. I had to tread these waters carefully. “Yeah. I’m afraid that, um… Well, one of the reasons things turned south so fast was due to the implementation of ISIT in Equestrian society.” I nervously rubbed my gauntlets with a choking sense of guilt squeezing my chest.

“Alex,” Sunny saw necessary to remind me with a stern look, “We’ve been through this already. I don’t… we don’t believe for a second that any of your discoveries or advances are to blame for what happened! You only tried to help them, and they chose to act like that!”

‘If only it were so simple, Sunny.’

“I know, Tangerine, I know. But still…” I sighed heavily. I knew how, behind all pretenses and miscommunication, behind her intrusion and poisonous words, deep down, it was my fault.

“... It doesn’t really matter anymore. Perhaps it would have happened regardless of my presence or not. There were many, MANY things going on that only helped furthering the problem, if not bang part of the root of it all together. I mean, I knew for a fact that my project was helping ponies everywhere, and creatures of other races in countries far away, and that it’d bring big changes to the way of living of all races. The only goal I had in mind was to break the species barrier and bring everypony closer, improving everycreature’s lives… you know where I first got the idea?”

The ponies answered with negative shakes of their heads.

“Toast.” I stated, short and simple.

“… Huh?”

I smiled at their adorable disbelief. “Yeah, Izzy. Toast. It’s actually a kinda funny story. You see, I was having some breakfast, just like on any normal day at Twilight’s castle, on a sunny morning like any other regular day. I decided to make myself some toast, which, obviously, involved getting the loaf of bread, slicing it up, putting the slices in the toaster, and so on. I’m sure you all know how it’s done.”

My short jest got a tiny grin out of my friends, and all of them turned in their seats, listening intently to my storytelling, momentarily forgetting their dinner. “A minute after I was done, Twilight entered the kitchen, her mane a mess and her muzzle deep in a book like it was common for her to do.” The mention of her name seemed to particularly interest Sunny, if the change in her posture was any clue.

“She wished me a good morning and, seeing that I was munching on some toast, decided to make some for herself. But instead of going towards the counter, she just trotted and sat on the chair near mine, and used her telekinesis to prepare her toast. She carried out the full toast-making process just using her levitation magic,while she continued reading her book.”

My friends were surprised at that, especially Izzy, who spoke with incredulity just as I finished, “Wow, that’s some skill she had. I don’t think I would be able to pull off that one.” She lit her horn twice to taste the waters, not that we had any bread or toaster at hand for her to try the feat.

“She was the Element of Magic for a reason, Izzy. She was very, very good at it. But still, seeing her using her amazing ability in manipulating various objects with magic, without really breaking a sweat, while reading a book like it wasn’t an issue? That got gears turning. ‘That’s so stupid’ I thought. L-Like, she made it look like such a simple thing, so easy and practical. But at the same time, I realized I couldn’t do it. I had to take the loooong, boring road to my toast. You know, a way I was more than used to, being your everyday human human. But, after seeing her do it, I realized it was something that needn't have to be just a thing for unicorns, not with magic being readily available for all of us to use.”

I raised my gloved hand, showcasing the gems lining its frame. “I understood that the more complex spells and difficult enchantments and all the jazz could only be performed by a skilled unicorn, that's just how things were. But being able to levitate stuff just to make your day-to-day easier? Why shouldn’t a pegasus or an earth pony be able to benefit from it? You guys know what I mean here, right?”

The insight of our resident unicorn was unmatched in this scenario. “Oh, I absolutely get what you’re trying to say.” Izzy began while lighting her horn and levitating her fork. “All my life I’ve had to use my hooves to handle everything, but now that I have magic, many things are waaaay easier. And yet, it’s not impossible to accomplish them without magic. I guess it’s more of a convenient way than an absolute requirement.”

The ponies seemed to understand my explanation better after Izzy’s intervention. I clapped at her quickness of mind. “That’s exactly it, Izzy. A huge part of human technology exists to make our lives easier, more comfortable and efficient. It’s allowed us to simplify complicated processes, automatically perform boring or repetitive tasks, and it’s even allowed us to reach heights that we wouldn’t have been able to on our own. An MRI scanner, for example, is a very complex machine which only experts know how to manipulate. And of course, it helps in saving lives. A toaster is just a simple machine to make toasting bread, or other assorted bread products, a more convenient process, with even an idiot being able to operate one!”

Idiots deserve their toast too, myself included.

“It’s the same with magic, or at least that’s what it clicked for me that morning. Make sense?”

Hitch nodded first. “Well, we’ve all been without magic for our entire lives until very recently, but now that it’s back, I see what you’re getting at. I mean, as an earth pony, I’ll never be able to cast any complicated spells like conjuring a familiar or stopping time or something like that. But I wouldn’t mind having one like yours to just levitate things around. Heh, it’d make working over my morning paperwork stack back at the station less of a pain.”

“That’s exactly what I intended Hitch. And that’s what ISIT was supposed to be about. Integrating magic through technology, making life easier for everyone of all species, and helping them in any way with the magic they could now shape…”

It sounded idyllic in retrospect, didn't it?

A shame it didn't play out as I hoped. “... But, during the downfall, many saw it as an excuse to denigrate and disregard the other races further. After all, what’s the use of having a pegasus mailpony deliver the mail if I can get everything I need on a phone? Or a unicorn workpony organizing stuff if I can levitate it around the warehouse myself?. Or a strong earth pony to transport heavy cargo when an electrothaumatic engine can pull the same load faster and further? Those were some of the many excuses the tribes used to fuel their hate for one another, to believe that the status quo was no longer necessary…”

A leer of shame marred my features, directed at our ever-hopeful leader. “So yeah, Sunny, my work was indeed a big part of the issue…”

A sad look we shared among my friends. After a moment of hesitation, Sunny got up from her seat and approached me, holstering herself on her hind legs to get to eye level with me. She opened her mouth a few times, trying to come up with something. But after my speech, I understood that there wasn’t much space left for rebuttals.

Gently taking her head in my hands, I softly brushed my nose over hers in a tender gesture. “I appreciate the attempt, Sunny, but I’m afraid that’s just how it is. I’m ultimately responsible for it, and now, I have to own it, regardless of how many hours of sleep it costs me… At least, even if it took hundreds of years to take root, it seems my work eventually ended up doing some good, right?”

Her trembling eyes searched for a twinkle of inspiration, desperately searching for the words to deny my share of the blame. But, after a few seconds of trying and coming up empty-hoofed, she surrendered with a defeated sigh and returned the nuzzle.

Enjoying the mare soft touch, I focused my attention back at the rest of the group, seeking to assess their reactions. All of them shared Sunny’s opinion, yet words weren't needed, only the warmth in their smiles.

I was left feeling particularly drained after the long speech, stacking up over the bunch of things happening lately and all that soon would follow. I decided it was time to finally call it a day so as to get an early start tomorrow. That crystal wasn't gonna find itself.

A small part of me wished we had incorporated that feature into its primordial design. Would’ve saved us a lot of headaches.

“Thanks, guys, I appreciate the support. I really, really mean that…” I returned their supportive smiles with a grateful one of my own, yet I felt bad to cut our Q&A session short. I knew there was still a lot of ground to cover. Better to leave that for when we had notched down a chaos demigod a peg or two.

“... But, I’m afraid that’s going to be all for today. I can tell you more things about my world or whatever you’re curious about another time. I’m gonna head back to bed and get some shut-eye. Tomorrow, we can plan how to begin the search, yes?”

The ponies agreed as one, a few treacherous yawns giving voice to the fatigue reflecting on their droopy ears and tired eyes. It was time for all of us to get some well-deserved rest.

I wished the ponies a good night and made a straight line for my room. Once in the confines of my private space, I took out the dirty clothes from my bag and left them on the chair, making a mental note to wash them tomorrow. I left the torn shirt I had used to hold the sword in place in my bag with the rest, adding ‘apologizing to Izzy and coming out with all two hundred and six bones intact’ to the mental checklist (I could spare a phalanx or two).

Finding them where I had last checked them, I scanned over the documents and books on the desk one last time, making sure everything was in order. Even if the information in them was most likely obsolete, I wanted to preserve them, even if only as tokens of a better time.

With that little nugget crossed off the list, I removed everything but my undergarments and crawled into bed like a bed goblin, the accumulated exhaustion from the previous days hammering the shut-off button merciless and forcing me into oblivion before I had finished settling under the blankets.

I wondered what I’d dream of that night.

“Okay… Just a bit tighter here…..aaaaaaand, done! Okay, Scoots, tell me how it feels.”

The orange-furred pegasus filly in front of me flapped her wings experimentally, her curious eyes taking in the new sight and feeling of the prosthesis attached to the rim and around the shoulder of each wing, joined together through a vest worn over her torso to secure everything in place.

Lifting a bit of dust and forcing a hand to cover my eyes, Scootaloo offered her honest opinion. “Meh, I thought it would be worse. I can feel them tugging over the wing but, it ain’t uncomfortable, just a bit tight on the joints perhaps.”

Happy with her feedback, I attempted to loosen the straps a bit over her joints while reassuring the filly. “Yeh, it's supposed to be like that, don’t worry about it.” Once satisfied, I wanted to conduct one last visual test, see if her wings were moving as they should. “Okay, a deep swing with your left wing, please?”

She followed without protest, making an exaggerated flap while I watched the prosthesis working to stabilize and improve the movement.

“Very, well. Now the right wing this time, please.”

She repeated the moment with the other wing, offering a similar result. I allowed myself a ping of pride for my latest work, they were working flawlessly. “Okay, now both wings, moving them back and forth.”

Scootlaoo strained her underdeveloped wings to follow my instructions. The prosthesis remained in place and did its job perfectly. The stabilizing filaments along the wing perimeter fixed the curvature of the wing without compromising its flexibility. A simple pulley mechanism added to the vest in conjunction with an elastic fiber attached to the far end of the prosthesis on each wing exerted a moderate resistance to the extension of the wing, adjustable to her needs, in order to force the muscles to develop correctly.

All in all, it looked like one of those early earth-pony flying devices a knucklehead or two attempted to invent so as to compete with the, at-the-time, enemy pegasus tribe.

“Great job, now a silly dance, if you please.” I requested with a crooked grin.

An amused smirk appeared on Scootaloo’s muzzle. Her body broke out into a cute little dance, the filly moving all her limbs at once in a random manner. The surrounding ponies chuckled with me at the silly show.

“Very well. All seems to be working fine. Everything good on your end?”

Scootallo gave her wings one last run over before nodding vigorously. “Yeah, I don’t feel any pain, just a small resistance when I make the swings, but they do seem to be deeper and I can catch more air under them.”

“Well, that’s the idea, Scoots. This stabilizes your wing stroke and provides a slight resistance over the joint and wing muscles for you to get used to the movements and improve muscle mass. Just as we discussed: plenty of training and exercise with Rainbow Dash, not forgetting the bone-density pills either, and I guarantee you you’ll be flying in no time.” I announced with a clap.

The filly couldn’t contain her excitement and, with a vigorous jump, she sailed into my chest, the force of the impact forcing me back on my rear, dusting my pants. But I didn't care. Her telltale tomboyish nature wasn’t preventing her from smothering me with plenty of nuzzles and words of gratitude.

“Yes, yes, you’re very welcome, Scoots!” I answered to the filly’s energetic nuzzling. The poor dear had been struggling with her inability to fly for a long time. Now she could begin to put it behind her and join her feathered peers into the conquest of the sky. It was the least I could do to step up and help her. Just another example of ISIT working and helping another pony. This design was intended to help any winged creature to improve their flight, regardless of whether it was due to injury or genetic disability. It aimed to make the process of flying easier as well as help them regain their strength over time.

I remained seated while the lively filly rushed towards the rest of the Crusaders. The sight of the small filly excitingly showing off her wing prosthesis to her friends, and receiving numerous words of support and ‘oooohs’ from the rest of the ponies present, truly warmed my heart.

This was the main reason I chose to do what I did, after all.

I felt a furry presence atop my head, an upwards glance revealing the lavender-colored body of Twilight, who was resting her head against mine while her wing cocooned me.

“She looks so happy…” I whispered, not shying away from the tears lining my eyes.

“Yes, she does, baby. You did a wonderful thing here. We’re all so proud of you.” She spoke while affectionately rubbing her head against mine.

“Thanks, Twi. It’s the only thing I wish to do, and you all helped me a lot, don’t you forget that.”

She released a small chuckle at my reminder, running her snout over my messy hair. “I won’t, you silly human. I won’t.”

Crusty, sleepless eyes glared daggers at the unassuming ceiling above me. Another trashy night to add to my list of trashy nights. It was getting long, worryingly long.

“Fuck, I should have rigged that accursed machine to make nighttime last twice as long.”

Too late for that now. With some effort and a lot of dramatics for nopony to cringe at, thankfully, I shook myself awake and, without much enthusiasm dressed myself and dragged my way out of my room, my nose sniffing the air with hope, but finding no delicious aroma to guide it down to the kitchen. It was very early in the morning, meaning the ponies weren’t awake yet.

Taking into account that we all tended to be quite busy in the mornings, you know, being respectable citizens with jobs to do and such, I decided to make myself productive and return to the lab at the hospital for the morning shift. I could use the opportunity to ask my coworkers to keep an eye open for Discord or his magic, and of course, actually go to work as was expected of me.

And perhaps getting a start with a personal project of mine. I’d have to see what I had available to work with.

A quick breakfast and a splash of icy water on my face got me ready with a kick to head back into town, the morning ponies of the market already busy bees hard at work preparing their stands for the day. Seeing that there weren’t that many ponies toiling around at this hour, I decided it best to ask around town for any leads later when I’d finished my work and the business hours were at their peak.

The townsponies drowsy greetings when they found me passing by, the nervous attitude and skittish glances already a thing of the past by then. For the most part, at least. There were still a few who continued giving me the stinky eye, but they were decidedly in the minority.

‘Well, in every town there must be a few idiots, what can you do about it?’

A short walk later, I was back in the deep guts of the local (and only) hospital, the few nurses who were now leaving in an exhausted crumple after the night shift warmly greeting me back and curiously inquiring about my whereabouts these last few days. Seeing that they were pretty drained after their night shifts, I didn’t want to keep them away from a much-needed rest, so I gave them an abbreviated version of the situation and asked them to please keep an eye open for anything unusual. Not that they’d grasp a lot snoring the day away, but still.

Feeling too tired to fully process the seriousness of the situation, they promised to be vigilant and promptly left for their homes.

I was the first of the lab team to arrive that morning so, without much hurry, I began to prepare the equipment for the day, feeling relieved at seeing nothing broken or missing after the magic glitching from earlier, although I guessed having been doing this without magic their whole lives had allowed them to quickly reverse back to what they were used to. Better safe than sorry.

The morning passed without issue, the slow pace of a low income of patients allowing me to continue thinking about how to deal with Discord. Being unpredictability made flesh, or whatever he was made of, landed him virtually anywhere for all we knew. Heck, he could be in his own pocket dimension waiting the storm out ‘till we gave up searching for him.

We needed the help of everypony in the three settlements, with their phones and social media we would be able to notice anything suspicious instantly.

Following that thought, I asked my coworkers once they had joined me in their own carousel of yawns and drowsy greetings to please inform us of anything out of place they might notice, regardless of how insignificant it might be.

“Don’t worry about it, Alex, we’ll help you guys as much as we can, it’s the least we can do after everything you’ve done for us.”

“Thanks, Gaster, although the magic coming back was more their thing than mine, but thanks all the same.” I brushed his spiky mane in appreciation, earning a startled yelp and a pout.

With my little request done and the shift under the bridge until the next day, I hung my lab coat (which the hospital staff had been kind enough to custom-make for me) and decided to walk around town for a bit, to keep spreading the message as I stretched my legs.

However, my plans changed after checking over my phone. I saw Pipp had uploaded a monumental post to her social media talking about the Discord incident, and had asked her followers the same thing I did. She even added a few photos!... most of them hers with the important stuff happening in the background. But still, she had thousands of followers, which meant thousands of eyes taking a look around for us, like a veritable army. Creepy, and ungodly effective.

With Pipp spreading the message to way more ponies than I could ever reach, I allowed myself to breathe a little easier. Chances were that somepony eventually caught a peek of our missing draconequus. Discord wasn’t known for being subtle in the slightest, after all. It was almost an urge to make himself the center of attention, annoying as fuck if you ask me.

Now calmer, I changed my plans to just stroll around, see how everypony was doing and take the opportunity to meet a few more citizens. With all the ruckus and traveling of the past few days, I’d had almost no time to actually get to know the ponies of Maretime Bay.

I swung around towards Mane Melody to visit Jazzy, catching her with her hooves full dealing with a bunch of late customers. Hiding her grumbles about being late for lunch-break, she introduced me to her new coworker, a pegasus stallion named Rocky Riff, who sported a white coat of fur and a mulberry-colored mane and tail. Curiously, his primary feathers possessed a beautiful shade of golden orange, a shade I had never seen on a pegasus before. He seemed like a cool guy, and even offered me a quick shave, which I kindly accepted since my beard had begun to grow uncomfortably long as of late. Not that many chances to groom yourself in the wild.

I couldn't resist but ask. “Bro, did you dye your wing feathers? I’ve never seen that color on a pegasus before.”

He returned a small chuckle at my question. “Ha! They wish I had. I was born with these beauties. Although if I’m honest, I do have to go to some length to get them to look nice and shiny. It would be a shame otherwise, no?”

“Pfff, whatever you say, man. At least you can blind the mares and make for a quick run when they give you a wingboner.”

Rocky had to quickly remove the razor blade from my cheek to avoid cutting me as he began loudly cracking up, the rest of the customers also lightly chuckling at my choice of comment.

The shave ended up being on the house, as a thank you from them for our efforts in fixing magic, Jazz informing me they had seen Pipp’s social media post in that regard.

After saying my goodbyes, I returned to the street, deciding to head towards the market district, which now was full of ponies going about their daily shops. I ended up finding Sunny at her smoothie stand, just over the tail end of the lengthy corridor of stands around Main Square. She used the moment to present to me one of her friends from town, an earth pony mare named Dahlia, who was amicably talking with Sunny over a smoothie. She had a light pink coat and an aqua-green mane and tail, her eyes a beautiful shade of lavender, which reminded me of a certain alicorn princess. She also wore a wine-colored scarf around her neck and a tiny flower decor over her left ear.

A thing I had noticed during my short time in the town was how, in this new time, ponies seemed more akin to wear pieces of clothing more frequently than what I was used to seeing from my long days in Ponyville. Ponies didn’t partake in clothes to the extent that humans do, but instead treated them more like accessories, like scars, hats, collars, earrings, caps, and so on. I thought they looked great on them. It was a nice change of pace from being the only one who bothered to wear anything outside of formal events and such.

I joined them with a smoothie of my own, strawberry vanilla, personal favorite. Dahlia took the chance to ask more about me since she had seen me around town a few times, but had never found the right moment to approach me. Sunny, on her part, hadn’t been able to contain her enthusiasm and was well on her way of excitedly telling her friend all about me before I even had the chance of meeting them first.

We had a great talk. Dahlia was very polite and listened with rapt attention to the retelling of our little adventure beyond the bay's borders. She seemed like a nice mare, totally worth hanging out with again if I had the chance.

Not wanting to distract Sunny from her work any longer, I decided to leave the mares be, but not before promising Dahlia to hang out with her again sometime. The earth pony agreed, to the joy of Sunny, who beamed with the radiance of the sun now that we had become friends. She had a heart of gold, that mare. I really liked that about her.

I began noticing, after asking a few more passersby, that most ponies now knew about the Discord situation, well informed by our resident influencer. Thus, I decided that it was no longer necessary to keep pestering the townsponies. Without much to do for the rest of the afternoon, I decanted for a walk down the side path down towards the beach, thinking about training a bit more with my casting now that magic was working again.

I chose an area away from the ponies who were enjoying the afternoon on the beach, in case some spells went haywire or otherwise couldn’t be controlled. Without anypony around who might get hurt, I began to go over all of the spells I currently knew. Most weren’t really complicated, as the more advanced spells required more of the ‘sixth sense’ that only unicorns possessed to build the spells in their minds. As I was hornless, it meant that I couldn’t wrap my head around a lot of magic runes and engrams with the speed and skill required to work, so I was mostly left with simpler spells that could be cast using a few words or a simple thought.

Levitation, energy projection, elemental manipulation… were some of the simplest spells, while stealth, healing, repairing, defense, and a few others were among the more complicated and draining ones I could cast. I kept the magic intensity toned down, or else the light show might have brought me some unwanted attention, but I still managed to cast them all flawlessly, which also helped me improve my ‘magical stamina’, which had suffered considerably under all those centuries asleep.

As much as my field of expertise was biology, magic had always held my interest since I arrived in Equestria, especially its applications through biology and technology, which ended up encompassing most of my scientific work here.

“Diffindo!”

I kept launching my spells against imaginary targets, trying to improve my speed and concentration in the process. Being a human would always put me at a disadvantage against a unicorn in a battle of magic, so I had to make sure to improve my skill as much as I physically could. I had no intention of fighting anypony, though. I’d already seen enough violence in the past to last me a lifetime, but it didn’t hurt to be prepared. Equestria always tended to be unpredictable when dark forces were involved, even more so with a literal goddess warning you about it.

The exercises combined with the sun’s merciless rays forced me to remove my shirt in an attempt to escape its embrace. None of the ponies had seen me without a shirt yet. Better that way. No doubt the ugly scar under my left pectoral would draw a lot of attention, attention that I wasn’t feeling up to addressing for now.

‘Yeah, that’s gonna raise a lot of questions… meh, I’ll leave it for another time, or for when they catch me shirtless.’

I completely lost track of time while I continued with my training. It was only when I noticed the sky’s horizon turning orange that I realized the sun had almost completely disappeared behind the mountains. A quick look on my phone revealed the time to be a bit past quarter to eight. I reasoned it was time to call it a day and return to the brighthouse.

I grabbed my shirt, shook the sand off, powered down my gauntlets and rubbed my aching hands. Not wasting any time, I leisurely made my way through the last beachgoers who were currently gathering their things, also calling it another beautiful day at the bay. A masked sniff of my armpits revealed I was in urgent need of a shower, which I made sure to take once I got back home.

I found Sunny, Izzy and Hitch fussing over the kitchen, preparing what looked like veggie burritos for dinner. I flashed them a quick smile and hastily made my way up to the bathroom before they could begin to wrinkle their sensitive snouts at my musk.

A quick shower had me feeling way more refreshed, the steaming water doing wonders to knead my aching limbs.

With a fresh change of clothes, I exited the bathroom and took a little detour to my bedroom to leave the dirty clothes and grab my fully-charged laptop before I made my way down the ramp to help prepare dinner. That was, until I heard voices coming from the girl’s room. Curious, I stepped closer to the door to better discern the origin. It was Pipp, talking to somepony whose voice I didn’t recognize.

I made my way inside the bedroom in order to let her know that dinner would be ready soon. The moment she saw me standing on the threshold, she motioned me with her hoof to approach her while asking the feminine voice on the computer to wait a moment.

A bit confused, I resumed my way inside the huge bedroom the girls shared. Pipp was laying on her belly on her bed, her own laptop opened in front of her, the light coming from it reflecting the screen on her eyes.

“Come here, Alex, there’s somepony I want you to meet!”

I did as she asked and laid myself at her side while she scooted over to allow me some space. I turned my sight to the computer screen and saw the Queen of the Pegasi on the other side of the videochat.

“Oh, um… good afternoon, your Highness. I’m afraid you caught me a bit unprepared for proper introductions.” I politely apologized, giving Pipp a small side glare.

A seasoned pegasus mare smiled at me behind the screen, her coat a similar rosy tone than Pipp’s, with her main and tail a faded periwinkle with a few lilac streaks, symbol of her age. *Oh, don’t worry about it, darling. I’m not wearing my royal ensemble either, it's just an informal meeting. I was looking forward to meeting the human my daughters have been telling me so much about these last few days.*

She wasn’t lying, as via the camera I could discern she was also resting on her massive bed, wearing some kind of night robe, although she was wearing her crown, which seemed a bit weird to me, but I wasn’t one to judge. “Only good things I hope, your majesty. It’s been a rough couple of days for all of us, I’m sorry we couldn’t plan a meeting sooner. I’m looking forward to visiting Zephyr Heights.”

“Oh, come, Alex, why would I speak badly of you to my mom?” Pipp whined with offense.

*I’m sure he was just kidding dear. My daughters have kept me updated on the situation you’re facing. I wish you all the luck in the world finding that Discord, and rest assured, you have the full support of the crown behind you.*

I bowed in respectful appreciation. “I appreciate your implication, your majesty. We could use all the help we can get.”

The mare bashed a hoof dismissively. *Please, just call me Haven, all my daughters’ friends are my friends too, and between you and me, titles can get a bit too much if they’re used in unofficial meetings on top of my day-to-day.*

I could see the queen giving us a tired look with her words, eliciting a small chuckle from me. “Heh, yeah, I know what you mean.”

*You do, darling?*

“Yeah, it’s a long story. I’ll be sure to tell you when I visit.” I dodged her curiosity for the time being.

*I’m looking forward to it. When the time nears just give me a call and I’ll prepare everything to give you a truly royal welcome to my home… and, if my beautiful daughters would be so kind as to accompany you, I would very much like the chance to see them again… especially you, Pipp. I miss my little fillies.*

The sad eyes from the queen weren’t enough to break Pipp, who gave her mother a tired look. “Ugh, mom! Don’t be so dramatic! Yes, we’ll go with him and the rest of our friends if they’re free.”

*Thank you dear, I’ll wait for your call then. Oh, and about what you were telling me before, I say go for it. It’s a wonderful thing to do. But if it doesn’t go exactly the way you want it to, you’ll come and tell me, won't you? You’re always welcome back home.*

A grateful smile made its way up Pipp’s muzzle. “Of course, mom. What could go wrong?”

Mother and daughter rubbed their snouts on the screen and wished each other a good night. After that, Pipp closed the laptop and released a tired sigh.

“Everything okay?” I nudged the exhausted-looking pegasus at my side.

“Yeah, it's just… after today’s post about Discord, I was thinking about writing something a bit different.”

“Such us? Oh, and thanks for the post warning your followers about him, it helped spread the message a lot.”

Pipp answered with a tiny smile. “You’re very welcome, Alex. I was thinking about writing about the day everypony found out I can’t fly.”

“The day they found you… oh, yeah. Sunny told me about that. It was during your first adventure, the concert and being left hanging over the stage. I can’t imagine how you felt at that moment…”

Pipp incorporated a bit to look me in the eyes. “That’s exactly it. I want to talk about how I felt; about the confusion, and the fear I felt when all my fans found out I’d been lying to them my whole life. I want to show them that side of me… but, it kinda clashes with the rest of my content… and my image. I’m… not sure how it’ll be received.”

Pipp returned to forlornly look at her empty screen, her ears dropping along with her mood. She looked very unsure. My presence online back on Earth was practically nonexistent, so I couldn’t sympathize with her much, but I tried to help her, nonetheless.

“….Well, that is a very personal topic to write about. I mean, it sounds like that you want to expose more of your inner self to your fans, to show them more of the ‘real’ you, hoping it might help somepony else, right?” She returned a tiny nod, her ears now perked up to listen to me. “In that case, I think it’s a matter of how much you cherish and trust your… What did you call them again? ‘Pippsqueaks,’ wasn’t it? They probably won’t land with as much impact as your cheerier posts, but if it helps somepony out and brings you closer to your fans, I also think you should go for it. Although social media isn't my field of expertise, I recommend you speak to others about it, especially your sister. I’m sure she also went rough a tough moment back then.”

She remained pensive for a few seconds before making up her mind. With a more decisive look, she opened a blank document and began furiously typing.

“Thanks, Alex. I’ll write a rough script and ask the others when I get a clearer idea of what I want to tell my pippsqueaks.”

With a playful tussle of her mane, I left her to work on her next post, but not without reminding her that dinner would be ready soon. She was too absorbed to answer properly, only returning a nod of confirmation.

I exited the bedroom and made my way down the ramp, my nose now twitching at the delicious smell of burritos, even if they were vegetarian ones. Many years in Equestria had practically erased the concept of meat-based meals from my mind, although I occasionally used to indulge myself in some fish, mainly for health reasons. It took many months and a few probiotic and flora-reconditioning treatments to allow me to cease depending on meat in my meals, for the most part at least. Still, I didn't have any problems getting my hands on some during my visits to Griffonstone. It ain’t my fault I was born an omnivore.

All the ponies except for Pipp were already in the kitchen, dinner and the dishes already prepared and set, making me give them an apologetic look for not coming down sooner to lend a hand, but in fairness, I had just been talking with the Queen of the Pegasi, so…

I removed my jacket and set it over the rail, choosing a seat near Sunny, who assured me that I shouldn’t feel bad for it. Shortly after we began eating, she turned her head to look behind me at my hanging jacket, a pensive look reflecting in her eyes.

“Hey, Alex.”

“Mmm?” I answered, with my mouth full of burrito.

“The symbol on your jacket, the one which was also over the door to your room, and also appearing in some of my dad’s notes… what does it mean?”

I grabbed my shirt to look at the aforementioned symbol, the six white circles intertwined around a central seventh. “Oh, this is the symbol I chose to represent myself and my work back when I began my research back in the day.”

I removed my jacket and raised it for the rest of the ponies to get a glimpse of the symbol. “It’s from my home planet. You could say it’s kinda like an ‘unofficial’ flag of planet Earth. Like a flag that would represent the Earth as a geopolitical entity. The symbol, to me, represents all of humanity regardless of nation, religion, or any other such label. But, no country has ever recognized it as official.”

Talking about it brought back memories of my long-lost world and the people in it I had left behind. “Most ponies use their cutie marks to represent their image. Since I’m the only human in Equestria, I thought it would be better to represent all of my kind, not just my city or my country. I thought it would be fairer to speak in the name of all humankind, since technically I’m an ‘ambassador’ of sorts.”

I brushed my thumb over the fabric-engraved sigil, remembering the moment I chose it as my own. “The white circles represent all of humanity joined together, intertwined through a Borromean ring shape to depict a flower, which itself is a symbol of life on Earth. The blue background represents water, which makes up the majority of the Earth’s surface, as well as hope for our continued existence. I thought it looked better than a simple human hand when I chose it, and it has been my sigil since then.”

“That’s beautiful, Alex. I never knew it had such a deep meaning when I saw it in my dad’s notes.”

“Well, I’m the only one to represent humankind to Equestria, Sunny. It’s only fair to represent them all. Or you would only speak for the earth ponies if you found yourself on my planet?”

“Of course not! All the pony races belong to a single kind, ponykind! We’re a single pack, whether we like it or not!” She answered with a determined gleam in her pearl.

“That’s my girl.” I gave her a grateful grin.

“Now that I think about it, that symbol also kinda represents ponykind at the moment. I mean, all the joined-together-and-hope-for-the-future part. It kinda fits us, too.” The eldest of the pegasi princesses reasoned with a pensive hum.

“I guess you're right, Zipp, that's the gist of the message.”

The rest of the ponies agreed with us. We continued with our dinner chatting about the day’s events and different proposals to better search for the Pegasus Crystal. With Discord being so unpredictable, it was going to be almost impossible to track him down without clues or a lead. Hitch suggested using the cameras he had intended to set up in the crystals room to monitor Canterlot Castle in case he or any of his critter helpers returned there. It was as good an idea as any other, so we planned on Pipp and Zipp flying back there ASAP and installing them around the castle following Hitch’s instructions. Now that they knew the route, it wouldn’t take them more than a day to fly there and back.

The rest of the night went without any significant events, the ponies leaving for their respective beds to get an early start tomorrow, with myself doing the same.

It was going to be a loooong search, as much as we wished it wouldn’t be, so it was better to be fully prepared for what was coming. When we eventually found him, I was going to have an extremely serious talk with him, and also ask him about some of the things he mentioned during his last outburst. I was sure he knew more than me about the events that transpired after my journey into the future.

‘We’re coming for you, Discord. I’m tired of suffering from your stupid choices.’

Chapter 13- Crystal memories.

‘You really, REALLY better make it worth it, Discord. ‘Cause I swear when I get my hands on you, I’m gonna rearrange those scrambled genes of yours from the sheer strength of the beating I'm going to give you!!’

My cheery mood was the product of the couple of soul-consuming days, filled with endless, that had passed since my return from the depressing ruins of my old home, Ponyville. And as fate would have it, it was in that same direction that my equine friends and I found ourselves heading for, at an easy gate while we kept an eye enjoying the landscape while the other searched for any sign of threats.

And, needles to say, after a bunch of pointless, and slightly traumatic dead-ends, we still were without any potential leads regarding Discord’s whereabouts.

That is, until the cameras the pegasi sisters had installed all throughout Canterlot Castle, and the cave system below it where our humiliating trifle with Discord had occurred, picked up a weird sight that dragged our attention from an endless sea of boring stillness. A sight in the shape of a crudely-drawn depiction of that same cave’s entrance stuck to the camera in a shabby manner, so as to hide the actual entrance from our view. It was Pipp who we had to thank for it, the only one who had managed to retain her sanity throughout the extremely long surveillance session, that got us all red-eyed and borderline wishing to just end our suffering.

I guessed she was more accustomed to watching a screen for long periods of time without freaking out… much.

Needless to say, the amusing sight of the childishly-drawn cave entrance hiding whatever was happening behind was reason enough to make us very suspicious. Hitching a ride on a pegasi-drawn chariot, courtesy of Pipp’s and Zipp’s royal mom, got us back to Canterlot’s ruins in less than a day, to the loud and repetitive displeasure of the youngest of the royal sisters, who voiced her own preferences regarding the need to return to those, and I quote, ‘haunting, depressing ruins which jeopardize my mane and hooficure in unfixable ways!!!’

I refused to comment on that.

But I digress. Our search brought our inevitable return to the cave’s entrance, where we found said camera still covered by the drawing, hanging from a scrap of tape. It was dexterously removed by a simple levitation spell from our peppy unicorn. Izzy managed to recognize the stile to be from Discord’s pet possum, Reginald… somehow.

Honestly, where she got that information, I couldn’t begin to guess. I feared Izzy had inherited some of the pink one’s genes, a bone-chilling notion…

And yet, lo and behold, the very same possum was caught hurriedly packing up whatever stuff a critter needs to pack and speeding out the underground chamber where Discord had toyed with us a week earlier.

For a split second, I believed we would get discovered, since the sound of our group approached was enough to make his little fuzzy ears twitch despite our efforts to remain concealed. It was with Sunny’s alicorn form providing a quick escape from the possum’s searching eyes, flying on her shimmering wings while dragging us with her like a string of sausages, that we found ourselves carefully following him in the vain hope he would lead us towards Discord's location.

Magic had begun to glitch again shortly after our stalking march had begun, which forced us to simply walk behind him from a safe distance, praying he wouldn’t notice us again. Say all you want about hooves, but those things are noisy no matter the surface you walk them through. Even clouds, for Faust’s sake!!

We followed him out of Canterlot and down the valley, following a similar route to the one I had traversed when I chose to see what little had remained of my old home.

‘Which means more field work, just the thing I like the most.’ I grumbled under my breath. ‘Following a tiny possum throughout the… completely normal and not-so-scary-looking Everfree forest? Or, is this the Whitetail Woods? Faust dammit, I can’t tell the difference anymore…’

The serpentine river that ran alongside the road was enough to at least muffle our steps considerably, allowing the unsuspecting critter to continue on his merry way with barely a twitch of his little nose when an appetizing berry bush happened to grow nearby.

Us, however, tired and bored to tears of just silently following him, found the ponies beginning to argue about how to better tackle the situation.

“You want to confront him?” Asked Sunny, in an almost demanding manner, after hearing Zipp having proposed a direct and decisive approach.

Izzy butted in with her two bits. “I think it would be better if we approached Reginald as a friend. Hitch can use his critter affinity… thingy and befriend him, and I could give him a flower crown.” Izzy looked at all of us while levitating said crown, having distracted herself making it while the rest of us racked our brains. “Then we’d be best friends forever, and he’d tell us where Discord is because best friends tell each other aaall their secrets.”

The rest of the ponies peered sideways at her, looking not at all convinced of her proposal. Except Pipp, who just continued livestreaming the hunt for the mismatched freak without paying much attention to anything else around her.

“Reginald is one-hundred-percent loyal to Discord. There’s no way he’d give up his location.” Our resident sheriff held his ground.

I shared Hitch’s train of thought. “Discord used to spend a lot of time with Fluttershy and her animal friends, and I’d wager that he must have learned a thing or two from her in regards to how to deal with them. I wouldn’t be surprised if he had a bunch of critters working with him, as unbelievable as it might sound.” I offered, scratching the back of my head at such an unusual notion. Of all things I could picture the Avatar of Chaos doing to spend the time, hanging out with a bunch of critters and combing their fur and tickling their fuzzy bellies, as Fluttershy enjoyed partaking in, was not one of them.

“So, we agree then!” Zipp skipped in front of us. “Confrontation is the only way to get Reginald to talk.” She had a plan already formed in her mind, gesturing towards the tree line. “Sunny, Pipp and I can try and fly down from those trees over there and take Reginald by surprise. If our magic isn’t working, I can try and sneak around while....”

“You can’t do that to my new best friend! You’ll scare him!”

Of course, Izzy’s loud outburst had been enough to alarm the small possum, even over the roaring of the river, who caught us red-hoofed as we followed behind him, no doubt looking like a bunch of wincing idiots. He didn’t waste a breath and scattered away into the bushes.

“Faust dammit, Izzy!” I couldn’t help but angrily snap, making the poor mare recoil.

“Well, too late for that.” Pipp said with a flat tone while pointing her phone towards a positively embarrassed-looking Izzy, whose mane fell over her face in an attempt to hide her features and obvious shame.

“Did anypony see which direction he was headed?” Sunny desperately implored the group, trying to scrape anything left from our failed attempt. But it was pointless, as his small size would allow him to slip away and easily make a detour if he wished to do so.

“No, Sunny. But, Pipp was livestreaming the whole thing...” Answered Hitch with a pensive scratch of his chin.

‘How does she even get a signal out here in the middle of the forest… How does the signal even work here? They haven’t launched any satellites in the past few centuries, right?... Nah.’

“I wasn’t filming Reginald. I was filming Izzy.” Pipp retorted with a huff, just a touch of indignance on her voice.

The poor pegasus quickly shrunk under the now-enraged glares our friends sent her. “Whaaat? There’s only one rule of livestreaming, and it’s that, no matter what, you always follow the drama... and that was Izzy! Did you see how ashamed she was?”

Her comment only worked to embarrass Izzy further. Trying to escape our friend's piercing scowls, she now had chosen to bury her head in my stomach in a feeble attempt to escape the shame. We shouldn't have acted so mean to her. We were simply drained and snappy after so many days of wasted time and dead ends.

My hand comfortably scratched behind her droopy ears in an attempt to soothe her nerves as I whispered a short apology for my outburst.

Pipp turned the screen to show us the video depicting a screaming Izzy. However, the audio was completely muffled by the noise of the running stream to our side.

A neuron snapped inside the pegasus when she found her fans had been hearing nothing but the course of the river instead of her pretty voice. While she raged and panicked at the same time, fumbling with the device, Zipp reached the same conclusion as I had, blaming the stream for muffling Izzy’s scream, but not enough to escape the possum’s sensitive hearing.

I watched in amusement as Pipp began wailing obscenities at the river with a raised hoof. Her sister on her part remained deep in thought for a few seconds, her features brightening at the same time as the lightbulb shone in her head.

“Pipp!” The eldest of the princesses beckoned her sister to approach her. “If your phone was picking up the stream for the past two hours, it must mean Reginald’s been following it this entire time!”

“…You’re right, Zipp! If we want to find Reginald and Discord, all we need is to continue following the stream!” Sunny celebrated in glee, some leeway appearing to help us with the next step from the unlikeliest of places.

With a new destination in mind, the general mood brightened, and we all were allowed a breath of relief as we found that all our progress hadn’t been a complete waste of time… except for Pipp, who continued fuming over her ruined livestream and ignoring her sister’s pats and reassurances. This mishap was gonna knock her down from the top three most watched of the week, according to her grumbles.

Hitch took the lead with Zipp following close behind, both of them looking around in search of the possum or any leads that he might have left behind. Pipp walked behind them, still engrossed with her phone while dodging rocks and fallen branches with trained expertise.

Izzy walked on her lonesome between Pipp and Sunny, who was trotting calmly by my side. She wasn’t looking ashamed anymore, but she still held a bothered expression on her face while keeping a fair distance from the front group and us.

“What do you think got her so like that? She’s been acting a bit distant since our run-in with Discord. The others don’t seem to have noticed, but she was acting really weird during our trip to the lighthouse” Sunny asked in a hush, referring to one of their previous dead ends, which had gotten them quite riled up after returning for some reason.

“I don’t know, Sunny.” I could only shrug, also keeping a concerned eye on the unicorn. “Perhaps she’s still bothered by the fact you flew away and left us to search for the thief by ourselves while heading for Canterlot. I could see she was very bothered by that gesture, and I think she still continues to be… But, she still gives me a hug with each meal, so I don’t really know what’s bringing her down like that.”

“She does?” Sunny asked with a dip of her head.

“It’s a figure of speech, Sunny.”

Although it actually wasn't. She actually did give me one every meal, and every chance she could too.

“Why don’t you go and talk to her?” I urged, patting her rump to encourage her forward. “I think this situation requires a mare’s intuition over anything I can offer.”

It seemed some snippets of our hushed exchange hadn't missed Izzy’s rotated ears. “You know, I’ve always said a moment shared together is one you’re more likely to remember.” She called to us over her shoulder with a grumpy-sounding voice, almost accusing, even when it was her choice to trot in between the groups and not talk to anypony.

That only served to dig the nail in Sunny’s resolve, the earth pony hurrying her step to reach the unicorn, initiating some friendly banter.

I was already used to the need of splitting up from the many adventures I had with my old friends. Sometimes it was the best course of action, or the last resort in others. But I could understand how the gesture might have affected Izzy. If there was something she had made clear from our frequent talks, it is that she absolutely didn’t like being left alone, especially after having met all of us, her new family away from home. She spoke about her days living in Bridlewood, filled with loneliness and sadness, with only her creations to fill the gap. How her energetic attitude crashed against the population’s depressing mood, making them keep their distance from her and not feel inclined to deal with her cheery nature up close, until she had grown and matured to a proper mare, time when they at least tolerated her presence.

I admired her for being able to continue to be as she was during those bumpy times, full of energy and pep, even after the unicorns in Bridlewood treated her like smelly trash to be avoided for so many years. It was a welcoming change for her when she met the rest of the gang, finally being able to be herself and share with us everything she was forced to bottle up while growing up. Seeing her acting like this made my stomach churn.

It was an ugly contrast to her bubbly nature. I could only wish she and Sunny would solve their problems quickly so things could return to being as they were. Although, my gut told me that, until we had found Discord and reunited the Pegasus Crystal with the others, that wasn’t looking up to happening.

I could also see the toll this hunt was taking on my friends, especially Sunny. With each passing day, they looked more desperate and unsure of themselves, silently beginning to assume that magic was indeed going to disappear forever. Again. I couldn’t allow that to happen. I wouldn't allow that to happen. I was willing to face Discord with my bare, ungloved hands and recover that crystal if that’s what it took, regardless of how powerful he truly was. I at least had to try, for them…

A rustling of leaves brought me out of my musings. Quickly, I zeroed into the sound and turned my head towards the nearby bushes, searching for whatever it was that caused the noise and silently praying it was the possum. The low growl and muffled stomps of a stalking creature stalking the stalkers, heh, told me otherwise.

‘What the?... Ooooh, so now you choose to appear, you little fuck!’

The rustling and sound of footsteps quickened towards the pegasi sisters who continued arguing with each other, not paying attention to what was swiftly approaching them.

‘Yeah, no. That’s not going to happen.’

Quickening my own pace to reach the arrowhead of our march, I overtook Sunny and Izzy and positioned myself close to the sisters, who were now passing near a jutting rock formation lining the path, among whose bushes a dark silhouette could be distinguished accompanied by a greenish, menacing glow.

“Heads up, girls!”

They only had a second to react when the silhouette pounced on them, its maw salivating, aimed directly at Pipp’s jugular. Fortunately, having foreseen its intentions, a levitation spell from my gauntlets stopped the timberwolf mid-jump, the rage in their eyes transforming into confusion for a moment as it was left dangling in the air like a puppet.

‘Thank Faust that magic’s working again. It would have gotten really messy otherwise.’

My hand was already reaching to use my sword, which I had the hindsight to bring with me this time, safely tucked in a new sheath, courtesy of Izzy after scolding me for tearing apart one of the shirts to make a provisional one during my trip back from the ruins.

I hadn’t made much progress the last few days during my training sessions, mostly perfecting what I already knew rather than trying new things. I missed my blades. The actual ones, not the training sword I carried. Still, there would be enough time for that after the current crisis was resolved.

The glowing eyes of the timberwolf regained their hatred at the sight of me, the predator snapping his jaws impotently in the air. Poor Pipp had fallen straight on her rump in a shaking mess, her sister taking a protective pose over her with her wings fully outstretched.

“Alex! I-Is that…?” Sunny stuttered in her own startle.

“It is, Sunny. The fifth timberwolf of the pack that attacked us the other day. I guess it saw the opportunity for some revenge after cowardly running away from the last battle, heh? Well, that’s too bad.”

Closing my fist and bringing it close to my chest, my magic forced the struggling timberwolf to sail in the end until it had met the pointy end of my sword. A thousand pieces of debris and lumber was the result, which I quickly lit on fire and threw the ashes into the stream. One less problem.

With the small crisis averted, I stepped closer to the still-trembling pegasus, crouching to grab her forelegs and help her to get back on her hooves.

“Everything okay, Pipp?”

The pink pegasus returned a shaky nod. “Y-yeah, I-I’m… everything’s fine, j-just the scare, I guess.”

“Less arguing and screen time, and more paying attention from now on, yes?”

This time she returned a tiny nod full of regret. I didn’t enjoy acting like ‘that guy’, but the ponies had to learn that Equestria was a totally different place outside their respective, sheltered homes.

Zipp also gave me an apologetic nod, making sure to remain close to her sister with a comforting wing over her shoulders, their previous argument now all but forgotten.

“Thank hoofness you were ready for that, Alex. Ohhh, that could have ended really, really badly.”

I looked down to see Sunny to my left, giving me a look of both concern and appreciation.

“Think nothing of it, Sunny girl. I’m already used to this type of situation.”

I felt Izzy's body brushing against my other side, looking up at me with the same expression as Sunny. Wishing to cheer her up a bit, I softly pinched her snout several times in quick succession, causing her to release a horsey-sounding snort, a mock glare following right after. It was easy to forget they were tiny equines after all.

I playfully rubbed her mane, which promptly made her pout disappear. With the two mares at my sides, we continued our path following the river.

Around half an hour later, Hitch called out to us from the front of the group. “I think we made it!”

We quickened our gate to catch up with him. From the bottom of the hill, the ponies looked in confusion at the landscape in front of them. In my case, however, it took me less than a second to recognize what was in front of me. The change in scenery had disoriented me during our walk, but now I knew exactly where we had ended up.

I almost felt stupid, I had made this last leg of the trip over a thousand times in my day,

“Whoa! What is this place?” Pipp rose to her wings from my side.

Sunny scrunched her eyes in thought. “…It looks like the animal sanctuary Discord told us about in his story, right Alex?”

But I wasn't there. I was back with my old family, living my days in a small, cozy town filled with colorful ponies…

It took me a few seconds to once again control my breathing. The location we found ourselves in now made a lot more sense.

“…That’s Fluttershy’s cottage.”

A collective one over was shared among the herd of ponies, who turned their heads in bewilderment.

“F-Fluttershy’s cottage? L-Like… THE Fluttershy’s cottage?!”

Sunny looked ready to pass out from the realization. “Yes Sunny. This is where she lived in Ponyville, and where she eventually founded her animal sanctuary.”

The cottage itself was completely covered in a complex weave of vegetation, way more than what it used to have during the times I’d visited the place, which had been numerous. It certainly looked much better than the rest of the ruins from Ponyville, almost spared from the strain of the ages, which made me think that perhaps Discord had restored it and kept it that way for some reason.

The stream we had been following was the same that ran near her home, the small bridge still intact, although it was in a more obvious state of deterioration compared to the cottage. I could even distinguish her mailbox swallowed by overgrown vegetation.

“Oh my gosh, guys. This… this makes so much sense. Of course he would be hiding here! He and Fluttershy were very close! It’s logical he would choose this place to hide until he could enact his plan!” Izzy jumped, having pieced the last of the puzzle.

“He’s not here.” I plainly popped her balloon.

“Huh?”

“He’s not here, Izzy. We would have known if he was. He likes to bring in as much attention to himself as possible, even when he’s supposed to be hiding. But I’m sure he has been here at some point. We should check out the cottage to see if we can find any clues as to his current whereabouts.” I offered as I did my best to steel my nerves and focus on the task. There’d be time for reminiscing later.

The ponies returned hesitant nods, and together we began marching towards the small, dilapidated bridge.

“I don’t know about this, guys. It looks pretty empty for an animal sanctuary.” Izzy commented in a low voice after taking a good look around the area.

Hitch answered with a huff of annoyance. “Reginald must have given Discord and the other creatures the heads-up that we were coming.”

The ponies spread out after crossing the stream in their respective searches for clues. Hitch took initiative and decided to ask a nearby squirrel, who seemed angry for some reason.

I, for my part, was busy being absorbed by the image of the timid pegasus’s temple, a place where she needn't be afraid of other ponies and enjoy the peace and tranquility her many, fuzzy friends provided her.

‘It has barely aged, not like the rest of Ponyville has… oh, Fluttershy, I can’t even begin to imagine how bad it must have gotten for you at the end. I’m so, so sorry. I had no other choice… I had no choice…’

No matter the times I repeated it to myself, it’d always sound like a lie.

While the ponies dealt with the squirrel, I decided to go ahead and enter the cottage. With the utmost care and a nervous gulp, I opened the front door, its two halves creaking in protest from many years of disuse, threatening to snap at any given moment.

I stood in the middle of the living room, carefully taking in my surroundings, a thousand and one memories flooding my mind, bringing with them a soul-crushing sense of melancholy. Our common love for animals had allowed us to bond over time, where it bloomed with me starting to take an active role in the care of the numerous critters that shared her home when I had the chance. She was always so kind, so full of love, that it was almost painful. My opinion of her drastically changed during the months I got to know her.

In retrospect, I had been a total dick during the first few weeks of my stay, her borderline ridiculous shyness and timidness making it tiring to attempt any form of bonding with her, until it clicked me.

Another thing I had apologized profusely for, and yet it still bugged me.

The tiny squirrel startled me from my daydreaming as it ran between my legs and stood over what seemed like a trapdoor, a trapdoor I didn’t remember there being, but I guess many things had changed during my absence. The rest of the ponies entered soon after, the high chirping of the small critter drawing us around the closed trapdoor.

“How did you manage to convince it to show us the way?” I asked Hitch, peering down at him from over my shoulder.

“Oh, you know, just some food and kind words. Always does the trick.” Answered Izzy in his stead.

“He says Discord made one last trip down here before he last left the cottage.” Added the sheriff.

Pipp looked anything but happy at the prospect of this. “Ugh, great. Another musty underground lair.” She lamented with a dejected roll of her eyes.

“Can’t say he isn’t consistent…” Zipp added with a crooked smirk.

Pipp was more than happy to let her sister take the lead, ushering her to be her guest with a side glance. “Go on, Zipp. Crawling into the pits of despair is one of your favorite pastimes.” She hissed with a smug smile.

Zipp could only scoff at her sister’s words. Fearing another argument rising, Izzy volunteered to go first, the scared unicorn muttering words of courage to herself as she took the first, hesitant steps down the wooden ladder until her tail had disappeared under the floor slabs.

We heard her scream a moment later, the rest of us rushing downstairs to help her. Once in the basement that the trapdoor led to, we found out there wasn’t any intruder whatsoever, just Izzy’s reflection on a big shining crystal on the other side of the room, a small cavern dug under the cottage, suspended by a few wood pillars which seemed only second away from snapping. Better make it quick.

The crystal, however, didn't allow the thought to register in my mind. It was a very special kind of crystal.

“Oh my. This is the prettiest crystal I’ve ever seen! And I once saw a crystal whose name was Pretty.”

Pipp’s random comment didn’t distract me from looking at the shining rock, understanding shining in my eyes when I bent a knee in front of it, my own distorted reflection looking back at me.

The ponies looked expectantly at me. I softly powered up my left gauntlet and carefully placed my hand over the crystal, my features blurring and reforming in the shape of one of my dearest friends, which made the breath hitch in my throat.

*Hello… um, is this thing working?* A sweet, feminine voice came from the crystal, my friend's eyes widening at the sight of it, the dim light filtering from the trapdoor shimmering across its surface.

“That’s… that’s Fluttershy! Is she really speaking to us?!” Sunny couldn't fight down her enthusiasm.

“This is a Mnemosyne Crystal, Sunny. It stores messages inside its crystalline matrix, to be reproduced later when someone else makes contact with magic. And yes, for the record, that IS Fluttershy.” I answered the mare’s question, making a conscious effort to swallow the lump that had risen in my throat.

After messing with the crystal on her side of the memory for a bit longer, the protection of Fluttershy finally began with her message.

*Discord… I need you to listen closely, because this is something you need to hear… and stop rolling your eyes at me like that! I know you are because I know you better than anypony else.*

The sight of her, so sweet, even with that adorable pout… I couldn’t help but shed a few tears when the pain was too overpowering to ignore. Hearing her voice once again after practically having lost faith in ever seeing any of them again completely shattered me. My luck had the ponies too engrossed with the message to notice.

*I know how hard it’s been for you to let go of the pain these magical divides have caused everycreature. Twilight encouraged me to, um, create this crystal message for you; if you ever feel like you’re losing yourself in your grief, you can listen to this again and remind yourself that anger is not the answer to your problems. Our magic does make us different… and that’s something we should embrace.*

The projection of Fluttershy gave us her typical warm, caring smile I had become accustomed to enjoy seeing in her. *Look inside your heart, Discord. It will always show you the way… I-I know I won’t be able to be with you forever, but please, I beg you, don’t allow pain and grief to guide your heart… wherever you end up. I know there’s good in you, Discord. I’ve seen that, deep down, you want to help others, even if at first you just want to mess with them. Don’t, um, do that last part too much, please.*

Her gaze shifted to look at the ground with uncertainty. *A-And, please. If you manage to find Alex, please, please bring him back to us. We don’t know where he is, and we’re all so worried about him. Please, if you find him, bring him back home. We need him, now more than ever…*

To say I was deeply shocked by the message would have been a deep understatement. The moment Fluttershy finished with it, her image blurred out, only for our reflections to take its place once again in the crystal’s brilliant finish.

A few seconds of contemplative silence passed before somepony uttered a word.

“Poor Discord.” I heard Izzy muttering in a sad voice.

“‘Poor Discord?’ He’s trying to get rid of all magic! Like Tartarus we should be feeling sorry for him!” Snapped Zipp after hearing Izzy’s words.

With a tired sigh, Hitch continued, “And we still have no clue where he is…”

My friends all seemed lost about what to make of the message, and what should be our next step, myself the most. But before I could join the discussion and calm the bubbling nerves, I heard quiet sobs coming from behind me, quiet sobs that soon turned loud enough for the rest to hear.

It was Alex. He was openly crying while reaching for the crystal with his hands. I could’ve sworn I saw a dark tendril of… magic, I guess, emerging from one the gems from his gauntlets before disappearing into the air.

It was for less than the blink of an eye, but I didn't pay it much attention. His broken voice was what was capturing me, repeating the same phrase over and over again like an omen.

“I’m sorry, I’m s-so, so s-sorry…. oh Faust, I-I’m so sorry, I’m so sorry…”

I could feel my heart shatter. We were so focused on ratting out Discord that we had completely overlooked the end part of the message. The part where Fluttershy, fear and desperation clear in her eyes even from beyond the crystal, asked him, almost begged Discord to please find Alex and return him to them. When he was already hundreds of years out of reach…

The echoes of the heated words exchanged between our friends bounced through the stony walls of the basement one last time before disappearing, leaving behind Alex’s sobbing and endless apologies. They too saw the sorry state my human friend was in, having left the darkened crystal to hug his knees against his chest, butting his foreheads against his bent legs. Without any hesitation, I launched myself at him and wrapped him in the biggest, warmest hug my equine limbs could muster, feeling his shaky breath and trembling body on my own.

“I tried… I t-tried so hard… I h-had no choice. I had no other way… I’m so sorry Fluttershy, I-I’m so, so sorry…”

The muttered apologies and tears running from his cheeks to mat my fur never ceased, my heart breaking further with each word. I couldn’t think of anything to say that would help him… I barely understood the pain he was suffering.

I felt another set of furry legs around him. As I started feeling the ting of tears in my own eyes, a quick look revealed it to be Izzy, who also wrapped the poor human in a hug with her forelegs, her muzzle buried near his neck and whispering comforting words to him. The fact that she could immediately muster the necessary words to comfort him as if a second nature was to her only made me feel worse, since I still could find anything to say to him.

The rest of the ponies spread around us to join the group hug, none of them saying anything, yet their broken hearts spoke volumes as mine did.

I’m not sure how much time we cocooned like that, sharing our warmth and support, and just being there for our friend as his apologies finally ceased alongside his sobbing, leaving only a haunted human that had shed too many a tear. At that moment, he looked…. so old, so tired, so done with everything...

I didn’t like it one bit.

Alex sniffed and wiped his eyes with his jacket’s sleeve, blinking hard and trying to recompose himself, putting on a brave number.

“Ugh, thanks guys, I-I couldn’t help it, it’s just…”

Finally, I managed to find my voice. Still clinging to his side, I softly spoke. “There’s nothing to be sorry for, Alex. I… I can’t even begin to imagine how you must be feeling. But please, we’re here for you, okay?”

I felt his arm sneak behind my back before squeezing me hard against him for a brief moment. “I know, Sunny, it’s just… it doesn’t get any easier… ugh, my head.” His free hand came to rub his temples. “Do you guys mind if we call it a day and return to the brighthouse? I could really use some fresh air.”

The ponies silently agreed, breaking the group hug and allowing Alex to rise back to his feet, running his hand over his bloodshot eyes to remove the last of the tears with another sniff.

“Ahh, dammit… okay, let’s just…. let’s get out of here. I don’t think I can stand any more of this place.”

He didn’t waste a breath before making his way up the stairs. My friends and I gave each other concerned looks, neither of us knowing how to properly walk over the eggshells in front of us. We could be there for him, although it pained me to know that being there for him was the only real thing we could do. It hurt so much to see him in such pain. I couldn’t stand knowing my friend was suffering so much and not being able to do anything more than just offer support, which I’m sure must feel empty since none of us were there in the first place.

Even with my alicorn powers, I felt so useless.

Without anything left to do down in that depressing basement, we followed Alex back to the first floor and out of the cottage, leaving yet another piece of our past to rest for the time being. There were many things left to check out around the place, but we all agreed it was better to leave it for another day where cooler, clearer heads ruled. None of us had the energy to start an in-depth investigation of the place, much less after seeing our friend go through such a traumatic experience.

She was asking Discord to find him… To bring Alex back to them…

A loud boom told us that Alex had launched the beacon for the pickup team to find us and come pick us up. During the following minutes, none of us said anything, making ourselves look busy by admiring our surroundings. Izzy and I stayed close to the gloomy-looking human, who just stared into the forest with deep, tired breaths and not a single word uttered.

Soon enough, the royal-guard-pulled chariot found us and landed in a nearby clearing. I was so bummed that even the prospect of being near Ponyville's ruins, as well as Twilight’s old castle, didn’t raise any excitement from me. I just felt bad and concerned for my human friend, silently lamenting that I wasn’t able to do more for him, even if he assured us that just being there for him was more than enough.

The pegasi guards looked excited when they found us safe and unharmed, no doubt wanting to ask us for any leads we might have uncovered since all pegasi were closely following the hunt for Discord, thanks to Pipp. That excitement soon turned into puzzlement and a touch of worry at the silent treatment Alex gave them when boarding the chariot. Zipp motioned for them to walk with her a few steps away so she could explain the situation.

We boarded behind him, Izzy and I choosing to sit close at his sides, keeping with the closeness therapy we didn't know we had agreed upon. There were still a lot of things I wanted to talk about with Izzy after the timberwolf interrupted us but now wasn’t the right moment. We both silently decided to just stay with Alex and offer our support, for as little as it might serve.

He silently thanked us with a few of his ear scratches that I personally had grown addicted to. It just felt so good, never before had I experienced something similar, which made sense since never before had I met a human. Still, his touch only made me snuggle deeper against him, silently hoping my presence would be enough to soothe him.

Izzy mirrored my movements, and we soon found ourselves in the air on our way back to the brighthouse, his warm body and mind-numbing scratches slowly lulling me to sleep.

“I said, ooooooohaa I’m blinded by the liiiights. Nooo I can’t sleep until I feel your touch. I said, ooooooohaa I’m drowning in the niiight. Oooh, when I’m like this, you’re the one I trust, hey, hey, hey.”

Four days after the search in Fluttershy’s cottage, I found myself humming a few songs while taking an afternoon shower after a long day of work and fretting over Discord and our persistent lack of leads. I was feeling… slightly better after my… ‘episode’. The ponies had been a constant source of encouragement and support which I found myself deeply grateful for. Izzy and Sunny especially. Both mares had gone unusually far to give me as much support as they could, regularly checking up on me and trying hard to hang out with me and distract me from my thoughts. I didn’t have the heart to tell them it wasn’t exactly working, so instead I made an effort to follow their advice and try to clear the depressing clouds from my mind, even if it was only to have a clear head and to better deal with the current problem.

Zipp had taken almost daily trips back and forth to Fluttershy's old home, desperately trying to find any leads we might have missed, without any success, needles to say. The rest of us continued following the leads that the town's ponies provided, none of them bearing any fruit either. We were running out of time. The glitching, while not worsening at the pace I had more or less predicted, wasn't improving either.

How in the seven layers of Tartarus could we have thought leaving the fate of magic in this world under the control of such feeble things was a good idea?

At dinner we all sat together to discuss further plans or alternate approaches, none of us coming up with anything better than what we were already attempting.

While reaching for my new ‘stallionly’-scented shampoo (a man has his needs), my hands brushed over Sunny’s sunflower-scented one, bringing my thoughts to return once again to the earth pony mare.

During the short time I’d known her, I’d found myself deeply cherishing our friendship. I mean, I cherished all the friendships I’d made with the ponies, but Sunny (and Izzy too) were the ones I felt I had developed a stronger connection with.

And yet, deep below all the fear and self-loathing I was currently feeling for myself, a small spark appeared when I thought about the sunset-colored earth pony. A tiny spark of a feeling I had learned to truly recognize after my arrival in Equestria. A feeling that made me reconsider a lot of things about myself and personal values derived from my upbringing.

I surprised myself when I realized I was falling for her, and that knowledge made me both extremely happy and deeply worried. Mainly because I saw a lot of Twilight in her, a lot of the mare with whom I had previously fallen in love, and a relationship that had ended on bad terms during the beginning of the fall, not long before I had set on my journey through the ages.

During my time in Equestria, I ended up developing close bonds with many different ponies, with a few of them resulting in blooming feelings for them after some time. But, even if polygamy in the form of herding was a thing in Equestria, I had only had the courage to act on my feelings for one particular mare.

And it was that hindsight that allowed me to recognize my current feelings, which made me doubt the true reason I was falling for her. I couldn’t deny that a lot of things about her attracted me. Her looks, her personality, her cheerful attitude, her tendency to always see the good in everypony, her smile, her hopeful nature…

Sometimes, I saw the ghost of Twilight when she was in front of me, and the last thing I wanted was to act on misguided feelings, only to end up completely shattering a friendship that I truly treasured.

Having this cherished feeling was a welcome distraction from all the misery I had been experiencing, and I decided that it was something to look forward to.

‘But now is not the right time, Alexander. First things first, and we’ll see what happens after this situation is behind us. I have enough to think about for the moment. I have to approach this carefully.’

Once dry and redressed, I made my way down the ramp to grab something to nibble on while resuming the boring task of working on the compatibility of the audio and video formats from the media stored in my laptop so they might work in the ponies’ current electronic devices. I had enlisted the help of a few software engineers from Zephyr Heights, who had been recommended personally by Pipp. They were a curious bunch… but utterly ecstatic at the prospect of working with what they had labeled ‘ancient technology’ to my amusement. We were slowly but surely making progress, even if we had to work remotely. Our days were filled with discussions over how to reverse-engineer the media codecs used for the audio and video in my files, and I could tell the engineers were extremely enthusiastic in their desire for such a collaboration.

On my way to grab a bag of chips from the kitchen counter, I heard a weird noise coming from the other side of the ground floor. It sounded like some kind of electrical buzzing, accompanied by something being blown at high speeds, similar to a leaf blower.

Intrigued, I walked across the hall to find Izzy hard at work in her small workshop, if you can call firing some kind of glitter cannon at a piece of cloth hanging in front of her ‘working’. She even had safety goggles and a hard hat. She looked very funny like that, enough for me to snap a photo of her. It was high time to introduce the ponies to the true concept of ‘memes’.

‘Faust, forgive me for what I plan to do.’

Not wanting to interrupt her creative streak, I silently returned to my room. No pony else seemed to be at home at the moment, perhaps still outside enjoying the last bits of the recent ‘Pie festival’ the town had celebrated. It was a nice distraction for the worried townsponies, although I couldn’t really bring myself to partake in it after recent events. Still, it was the perfect chance for me to focus on the task at hand.

However, chance wouldn’t have made me be productive that afternoon, since only a few minutes after I had started working, I began hearing grunts of effort accompanied by the flapping of wings and the rushing of air being forcefully displaced near my window.

With a tired sigh, I looked through the clear glass to see Zipp in the middle of one of her training sessions. I wouldn’t have given it much thought any other day, but that afternoon I had caught her practicing nosedives and flying kicks on a bunch of wolf-shaped dummies spread through the small meadow that separated the brighthouse from the cliff’s edge.

‘What in Faust’s name is she doing?’

A bit bothered by her sudden change of training routines, I opened the window and jumped outside, a brief levitation spell cushioning my fall. I realized once I touched the ground that if magic hadn’t been working at that moment, I would have taken a nasty fall, but Zipp was flying all over the place, so there was a small chance that she’d have caught me. She better had if she wanted to take after the Rainbow herself!

I was still unsure if the magical glitches affected the three races at the same time and with the same intensity every time or not, not that it was really important to help solve the issue, but I was a scientist. It was my job to ask the questions nopony else would.

“Zipp!... Hey, Zipp!! Come here, will ya?!”

The white pegasus heard my call and, pulling out of the nosedive she currently was in, she slowed down to gently hover up to my eye level.

“Yes? I’m kinda in the middle of something here…”

“Yeah, I can see that.” I told her in a serious tone while pointing at the fallen dummies, “Zipp, what are you doing practicing combat movements?”

Her entire posture turned into one of insecurity, her wings failing to keep her aloft and forcing her to land in front of me.

“Oh, ummmm, well… you see, uhh…”

She wasn’t even looking me in the eye, instead glancing around the place with her hoof rubbing the back of her head. I wasn’t going to give in, however, cocking my eyebrow to emphasize my query.

“Ugh, fine!” She finally stopped messing around, her features turning more serious. “I was practicing combat movements because I don’t want what happened during our last trip to repeat itself.”

“Our last trip?... You mean with the timberwolf?”

“YES!!” Her wings flared out to their full length. “A timberwolf only you saw coming, and one that would have torn my sister to pieces if it wasn’t for you! I-I mean, don’t get me wrong, I’m deeply grateful for what you did, and I don’t really know if anything I can give you will be enough repayment, but she’s my sister… and after two encounters with timberwolves, I’m finally realizing that the world outside is waaay more dangerous than what I thought it would be. I want to be ready to protect everypony I love.”

Now it made sense. I could only sigh at her half-guilty, half-determined look. “Okay. First, I don’t need any kind of repayment, Zipp. I’m more than happy to help all my friends, you know that. Secondly, I understand the reasons behind what you're doing. It’s just… well, you can understand why I don’t like it when I see one of my friends practicing fight movements when everything is supposed to be peaceful. It just doesn’t sit well with me… the fighting I mean. I would rather much prefer to reach peaceful solutions to problems, you know?”

“And yet, you carry a sword and a bunch of offensive spells, hm?” She arched an eyebrow of her own, beating me at my own game.

I sighed. She had me. “You’re right, Zipp. It’s just…”

“Hey.” She stepped closer to me and cut me off, placing a reassuring hoof on my thigh. “I understand. I promise I’m just doing this to be one-hundred-percent prepared next time… maybe to also calm my nerves as well. I’m not going to start resorting to violence at the first chance. After seeing you and Hitch deal with the timberwolves, I just want to make sure I can pull my own weight, and protect my little sis, she doesn’t do well with these kinds of things…”

I placed my hand above her hoof to return a thankful squeeze. “Very well, Zipp. Just take it easy, I wouldn’t want you to…”

A resounding *splash* reached our ears, coming from the brighthouse. Zipp tilted her head in confusion, but I could already guess who was to blame.

“For Faust’s sake, Izzy. I swear…”

“Is she messing around again?” Zipp was quick to guess.

I sighed, rubbing my once again throbbing temples. “She was hard at work when I checked on her a few minutes ago. It seems she took it a bit too far, again. I’ll check on her… you keep doing your thing, don’t worry.”

“Thanks, Alex. I’ll join you guys later for dinner.”

And with that, she was back in the air. I made my way back inside through the front door, grumbling under my breath at the sure disaster I would find… and found it I did, but in the kitchen instead of in her workshop.

There stood the lavender unicorn, although little of her fur’s color could be discerned under all that brown muck stuck to it, something that was supposed to be some kind of smoothie. She just stood there, blinking owlishly at the complete mess around her. Without seemingly caring about it, she trotted back towards the counter with a sweet hum and began scribbling how she could improve the recipe in her recipe book.

“Izzyyyyy…”

She jumped at my call, my menacing tone prompting an embarrassed laugh which clashed with her guilty eyes.

“O-Oh, h-hey there Alex. I was just… creating??”

“A complete mess is what you’ve created, Izzy. Do you know how much time this is going to take you to clean off?” I scolded with arms crossed over my chest.

She didn’t seem too bothered with it. “Pfff, with our magic? Around five minutes, tops. Riiiiight? Bestest friend who's gonna help me clean up after being charmed by my beautiful eyes, hmmm?”

Her cute blinking would have worked if she hadn’t been completely covered in smoothie sludge. I had to repress a chuckle at the ridiculous sight, not wanting to drop my serious look.

“Of course I’m going to help you! If Sunny sees this, she's gonna hang us from the balcony by our tails... and I don’t even have a tail!”

Izzy flashed me a cute smile. “Great, let's get to it then, shall we? I’m thinking for the next batch I should add more of…”

She continued rummaging through her ideas for the next mix as if the disaster had never taken place, making me fear this situation was going to repeat itself sooner rather than later.

After wiping her face and mane clean from the gunk, we used our levitation spells to remove as much of the mess as we could from the rest of the kitchen, and then spent the next few minutes cleaning any and all surfaces by hand and hoof, making sure to leave no trace of that culinary disaster behind. I wasn’t looking forward to an angry Sunny if she found out about this. For all her cheerful attitude, she could be scary when she got mad…

“Aaaaaand, done! See? I told you we would be done in no time.”

“Great! Now that the mess is out of the way, we can get on with your punishment.” I announced with a clap.

The smile on her muzzle banished like an exhalation. “Punishment? What are you, my mom?”

“As a matter of fact, I am.”

She released an annoyed huff at my rebuttal and, parking her haunches into the floor, patiently waited with a small glare.

“Let’s see… I could deny you access to the workshop… or make you take care of all the morning chores for a week… hmmm… no, I’ve got something way worse.”

“Shoot.” She said with a confident voice, although I could discern the smallest bit of trepidation in her eyes.

I flashed her an evil smile. “No cuddles for a month.”

Oh, she wasn’t expecting that, and her dropping features told me she wasn’t liking it either.

“... No.”

“Yes.”

“Alex!”

“Izzy!”

“You can’t deny me that. It’s, like, the best part of the day!”

That got a belly laugh out of me. “Ha! I’m going to take that as a compliment. But still, nope.”

She opened her mouth to protest further, about to throw a tantrum if needed, but instead of words coming out, she closed it immediately after, her eyes narrowing while looking over my unsuspecting form. Something was hatching in that rollercoaster she had for a head.

“... What are you doing, Izzy?”

Her eyes narrowed further, an evil smile appearing on her muzzle. After a few seconds, she bent her forelegs, crouching with her rump sticking up behind her. I immediately knew what that pose meant.

“Don’t you even think about it!”

She began to wiggle her rump like a cat about to pounce.

“Izzy, I swear if you do it!”

She ignored my warning and crouched further, her hindquarters twitching in anticipation.

“Izzy! I just took a shower! And you're still covered in AGGHH!!” I couldn’t finish my warning as the cheeky unicorn pounced on me, dragging us both into the floor and covering me in smoothie gunk.

“Grrrrr, dammit Izzy, now I have to take another shower!!”

“Mmmmm, I would be more than happy to lick you squeaky clean….” She purred with a seductive leer as she made herself very comfortable over my chest with her forelegs crossed.

“Sigh. I’m too old for this…”

Chapter 14- Crystal Hunters. Part 1.

“Ohhh, so that’s why she made a mess of the kitchen.”

“What mess?” Fired Sunny with a sharp voice, narrowing her eyes with growing suspicion.

A guilty smile found its way to my lips at her accusation. Seeking to avoid the flames, I simply waved my hands to the earth pony walking at my side, and feigned ignorance. “Nothing, nothing. Forget I said anything. You were saying?”

She dragged her suspicious leer until a few sweat drops began falling from my brow, my cheeks burning as they held my most innocent smile. Seemingly satisfied with making me work a sweat, she relented and resumed telling me about her talk with Izzy. Both of us found ourselves at the back of our small entourage, currently walking back towards Fluttershy’s cottage where Zipp had been carrying out a hooves-deep investigation.

As of that morning, two full weeks had passed since the Pegasus Crystal had been stolen, with the magic glitching getting slowly but steadily worse with each passing day. We were starting to become desperate, the flow of potential leads having slowed down to a trickle, making my old friend’s cottage our most promising, and currently, sole lead to find Discord.

Poor Zipp had run herself ragged in her search for clues, her detective side pushing her to spend unhealthy amounts of time scouting practically every centimeter of the cottage and the surrounding area, while back home she was spending most of her time training or just watching the surveillance cameras that still were operational back in the ruins of Canterlot Castle until her bloodshot eyes treated to fall from their sockets. She paid no heed to our warnings and continued pushing herself. All of us, especially her sister, were deeply worried over her health, but the speedy-minded pegasus was having none of it.

Today, we all decided to tag along and lend her a hand, or hoof if you will, with her search, hoping six heads would think better than one.

It was during the trek after the carriage had dropped us off that Sunny and I slowed our pace a bit to remain behind the rest of the ponies. She wanted to speak to me about something that had been bothering her for the past few days. That something was Izzy’s intermittent, yet strange behavior towards her, and the current overall situation in general. I had also noticed her change of mood, as subtle as it might have been.

She was still bubbly and full of energy around me, but her mood seemed to cool down when it came to other ponies, or just the moments she was by herself. I chalked it up to stress and frustration with our lack of progress, but with Sunny bringing this issue to me, I began to think it was more than that.

“… So, yeah. After we spent the day together, showcasing the new smoothie cart and the new mixes, we had a little heart to heart…”

“She still feels left out, right?”

Sunny could only return a sad nod. “Yeah. We’re really close. I think of her as my best friend and she has been since the moment I met her during our first adventure. I truly hadn’t realized she was feeling like that. It’s just… there’re so many things happening at once, a-and my new powers and all the things I can do with them!” She looked down at the ground and sighed, her ears drooping. “I’ve been a terrible friend to her…”

I brushed my hand over her droopy ears, encouraging her to raise her sad gaze from the dirt path under us to look at me.

“Come on, Sunny, I don’t think it’s as bad as you’re making this out to be. I’ve seen you talk to her and you seem to always fix things with her. You can’t expect friendship to be easy, nor should you expect a friend to never make mistakes. It happens, and you guys made amends in the end, that’s just how it is. Believe me, many years living with Twilight got the whole ‘friendship is magic’ drilled into my head, so I know plenty about it.”

My words seemed to cheer her up a bit, her scowl morphing into a tiny smile. “Heh, I can see that. Yeah, I… I talked to her, and we’re fine. Well, I think she’s not one-hundred-percent there yet, so… ugh! I just want this Discord thing to be over so I can really focus on this, it’s driving me nuts to see her like this!”

“That means you care, Tangerine.” I gave her a final reassuring squeeze before returning my gaze back to the road. It wouldn’t be long until we reached our destination. “I’ll also have a talk with her when this is over. She doesn’t seem to have any problems with me, but it would be awful to see you guys falling out.”

Sunny returned a grateful smile. “Of course she doesn’t have a problem with you. She likes you a lot, you know?”

“I can clearly see that, Sunny. I mean, I AM very likeable.” I answered with a smug tone and a bump to my chest, receiving a tail-slap on my butt from the mare walking beside me.

We both released a small chuckle at our antics and continued walking in comfortable silence. At least, comfortable for her. I wasn’t really looking forward to returning to our destination. Too many memories, and painful memories at that…

‘Focus, Alexander! Focus!’

Before my mind had the chance to delve back into the pit, Hitch called out that we had arrived, the dense, but welcomely not gloomy forest soon giving way to the beautiful sea of green and flowers that surrounded the old cottage. A gorgeous sight soiled by a bunch of yellow numbered markers and barrier tape spread around the surrounding area, marking whatever Zipp had considered important evidence. Flowers, loose branches, even the dry feces of some random critter. None were spared from the yellow tape.

I personally didn't see anything of relevance in the marked places, but a detective I was not, so I decided to just roll with it.

“Rally on ponies,” Pipp motioned us from the closed door. “You need to be prepared for the worst.”

My friends and I gave her an incredulous look. “Discord's about to destroy a Unity Crystal, ridding Equestria of magic for the rest of eternity! I think our threshold for catastrophe is at an all-time high already.” Sunny answered, returning the pegasus’ warning with a deadpan leer.

Pipp rolled her eyes and sighed. “You brought this on yourselves…” She dejectedly muttered while knocking twice on the door, pushing it open without waiting for an answer.

The sight that awaited us inside was indeed haunting. The same numbered markers and barrier tape littered through the surrounding meadow like a spiderweb welcomed us spread all over the once-cozy, and previously moderately-ordered, cottage. In the middle of the catastrophe stood a positively ragged-looking pegasus. With bags under her bloodshot eyes and sporting a disheveled mane and tail, the tired mind of Zipp needed a few moments to recognize us standing there taking in her disheveled self. Her exhausted features responded by morphing from exhausted to deeply alarmed.

“HOLD UP!!” She ordered with flared wings, making us stop dead in our tracks, a hoof frantically shooing us away. “This is an active scene, if you touch ANYTHING, you’ll contaminate evidence, and we’ll never find Discord or save the magic!”

The state of the about-to-pass-out pegasus shocked me to my core. I knew she was pushing herself too far, but this was worse than I had expected. She stood on jelly legs, like she was about to collapse from exhaustion.

My shock was replaced by frustration. “Mother of Faust, Zipp! I told you not to push it!”

I took a few steps closer to her, ignoring her insistent warnings. Her current state of mind worried me more than the possibility of contaminating whatever evidence she thought there might be on the rotten floorboards that were marked with the numbers 67 and 71.

Seventy-one marks. How in the name of Harmony can you find and tag seventy-two possible leads in such a small place?

I took a kneel in front of her and addressed her with a serious expression, Zipp’s eyes barely being able to focus on my own as they danced unfocused on their sockets.

“Zipp.”

“Mmmmmmm…”

“Zipp, you’re seconds away from fainting.”

“Mmmmmmtold you, I’m fiiine...” The alabaster pegasus announced, yet her swaying body spoke a different message.

“No, you’re not, sis.” Pipp butted in from behind me, the rest of the ponies sharing her concern. “You’ve barely eaten or slept these past few days, and you spend ALL day here! What ELSE is there here for you to find, Zipp? This is going too far!”

“Uggh. The last thing I need is for you to start acting like Mom! I’m telling you guys, I’m fine!” Zipp brushed her sister off with a scoff, tapping her hoof impatiently against the rotten boards, waiting for us to leave her to return to her investigation.

‘You’ve got a serious competitor in the hardhead department here, AJ.’

Pipp trotted over to my side and, pressing her side against Zipp’s, gave her sister a sympathetic rub of her mane.

“And ooooobviously we can see that.” She claimed with no small amount of sarcasm. “You look as peaceful as a pegasus in a mud bath.”

“Or an orchid in a sun-soaked field.” Added Izzy.

“O-Or a bear surrounded by honey pots.” Continued Hitch.

“… Or a pony who hasn’t eaten or slept in several days and is on the brink of collapse.” Finished Sunny, eliciting a surprised glare from our friends.

“Oh, come on, don’t act like we weren’t all thinking it!”

I placed a calming hand on Sunny’s back, blowing her fumes away. “She’s right, we should all pitch in, guys. The more of us there are, the better our chances are of finding something our local detective might have missed… no offense Zipp, you’re brilliant.”

Poor Zipp couldn't even respond. Instead, she was rubbing her aching head with her eyes scrunched closed, a clear symptom of having been working non-stop for several days, against my numerous warnings. I had encountered ponies in a similar state in the past. If something got into their heads that they had to complete, sometimes they would go simply too far to achieve it. I could admire such dedication, but this was borderline ridiculous.

Already expecting this situation to arise since we had left Maretime Bay, I reached into my back pocket and passed the aching pegasus a tablet of one of the pony’s versions of aspirin. Opening the casing with her muzzle, Zipp flashed me a thankful smile and promptly swallowed it without the help of any water. I stiffly returned the bottle of water I was on the way to extracting from my backpack, somewhat impressed by the performance.

‘Damn, that wasn’t a small pill.’

I didn't miss Hitch's very attentive eyes ogling the alabaster pegasus’ show either. I wonder what might’ve been running though that pretty little head of his…

Shaking her head in an attempt to wake herself further, Zipp addressed the group. “Discord possibly researched how to destroy the crystal in this very room. There’s gotta be something here that can point to his location, I’m sure of it.”

The ponies spread out in search of anything worth checking over, following the countless marks Zipp had left all over the place, which she hadn't had the time to go over completely. I stood in place for a few seconds, brushing my chin while musing over how Discord could have conducted research here of all places. With both Canterlot and Twilight’s libraries at his disposal, he had chosen to do research here. Apart from the sentimental value of the place, I really didn’t see what was so valuable about doing it here.

‘It’s Discord who we’re dealing with. Of course nothing makes sense where he’s involved.’

I deduced that the only place where he could have obtained any valuable information was Fluttershy’s small bookshelf, which remained tucked into the far wall, just under the stairs. I turned on the balls of my feet and began walking towards it. I was rejoiced to see that quick-thinking Sunny had reached the same conclusion as I had, since she was already there, looking over the few books that still adorned the shelves.

“Are you thinking what I’m thinking?” I asked the earth pony with a proud smile.

She unglued her eyes from the worn-out pages to return the smile. “Well… if Discord was researching… wouldn’t he search here? I mean, I doubt he would be able to get answers from the empty walls and rotten carpets.”

Having overheard us, Zipp trotted towards us, looking better now that the medicine was taking effect.

“I’ve read through every single sentence on every single page of every single book here… and I promise you that there’s nothing helpful in them.”

Sunny wasn’t deterred by Zipp’s sharp conclusion, a thoughtful hoof rubbing her chin while she continued inspecting the collection of Daring Do novels that were spread throughout the lower shelf.

“Hmmmm… maybe it’s about the one book that’s missing.” She pointed toward the space left behind by one of the books that was indeed missing from the collection.

“The ninth book. ‘Daring Do and the Curse of the Basaltic Caves’, if I’m not mistaken.” I recited from memory.

Sunny gave me a curious look, no doubt wondering how I knew that.

“A certain rainbow-maned pegasus was VERY INSISTENT that I had to read them all. And read them all I did. They’re very good.” I answered nonchalantly.

‘Especially the one I appear in, but the ponies don’t need to know that.’

“Uggh!! How did I miss that!” Our resident detective cursed to the heavens with an angry snort.

Seeing that she was about to bump her head against the wooden shelf in frustration, I reached with my hand, cushioning her hit. I didn’t want her to get another headache.

“There's, like, zero information about the basaltic caves online.” We turned towards Pipp’s voice to catch the pegasus furiously tapping on her phone, having also overheard us.

“Duh! That’s because nopony’s been there in, like, hundreds of years.” Izzy clarified for us.

I turned towards her. “You know anything about it? I don’t remember exactly what cave system Daring Do was referring to in her book.”

The unicorn took a pensive pose. “Weeell, according to my uncle Fizzy, the caves are full of these REALLY dangerous lava creeks that are so hot that they can melt an entire castle, or a ginormous stone sculpture.”

‘... Ah, I remember now, they shouldn’t be too far from Maretime Bay, two thirds of a day on foot perhaps. Less if we’re carried by a pegasi-pulled chariot to the entrance of the canyon. Not safe to fly past that point, I’d wager.’

Sunny’s blood drained from her face upon hearing this. With a shaky voice, she muttered. “Or maybe even a Unity Crystal…”

“Oh yeah, they could definitely destroy a Unity Crystal!” Izzy celebrated with a cheerful voice, only for her features to sink and her spring to fade a second later when it clicked in her mind. “Oh…”

Sunny was quick to react and turned to face the rest of the group, whose expressions started to mirror her own. “Okay! What we are absolutely NOT going to do right now, is panic!”

Following her lead, making an effort to remain cool and collected, I voiced my thoughts on the matter. “The crystals were chosen for their special composition to store and withhold enormous amounts of magic. I wasn’t aware they possessed defensive spells before… well before I tried something. I guess the same spells might block Discord’s attempts to mess with them. But I don’t think they’d stop the extreme temperatures from the lava rivers from melting it, and neither will its crystalline composition. He could very well destroy it there. Heh, it's just like in ‘The Lord of the Rings’...” I knew it wasn't the best time to joke, but I couldn't help it.

Of course, the ponies didn’t get the reference, flashing me a confused look before I closed the subject with “It’s a human thing. I’ll show you when the fate of magic isn’t hanging from a thread.”

Sunny shook her head and refocused on the matter at hand. “We know Discord took the book with him. So it probably has information about how to survive in the caves.”

“Way ahead of you, Sunny girl. If we need a copy, I can get us a copy!”

Right after her bold claim, Pipp began to furiously type on her phone, leaving the cottage a moment later to talk with somepony. The rest of us were left to wait until help arrived.

“Great!” Hitch addressed the group, “While Pipp’s busy with that, the rest of us should pack up and get ready to move out. We can return to Maretime Bay to gather what we need, and tomorrow morning we’ll get an early start!”

“Y-You mean… You want to go into the caves?” Izzy shakily asked the sheriff with visual concern.

“Well, of course we have to, Izzy.” I answered for him. “How do you want us to stop Discord if we don’t?”

“W-Well, my uncle Fizzy once threw a flying star back to its home solar system using his bare hooves, and even HE was afraid to go to the basaltic caves.”

I could only chuckle at her affirmation. “He did?”

Izzy answered with a vigorous nod. “Heh, he sounds like a cool guy.” I mused.

“Oh, he definitely is!”

Sunny cleared her throat to gain our attention. “Daring Do was able to survive the caves. I’m sure that the book will be able to tell us how.”

“But Daring Do’s a trained explorer…” Pointed Zipp with a pensive frown.

“Guys! Come on!” Hitch intruded. “If we don’t even try, who’s going to save magic?”

“... There are worse things than losing magic…”

We all turned at the sole unicorn of the group, surprised by the suddenness of words. “What do you mean, Izzy?” I wondered, not fully understanding what she meant by it.

She shunned a bit under our questioning leers. “I-It’s just… we’ve lived without magic before. And losing magic won’t change ponykind coming together or any of the friendships we’ve made. Isn’t that what matters?”

I released a tired sigh at her words. She was not exactly wrong, but there was a lot she wasn't taking into consideration. “Izzy, it’s not that simple.”

“Discord’s words DID stick with you…” Sunny sounded shocked, pointing an accusing hoof at Izzy.

“I’m not saying I want to get rid of magic, Sunny! I love magic!”

She powered up her horn and surrounded herself with her magic, levitating her body upside down over the wooden floor. An impressive feat for a, to a degree, ‘green horn’. “I wouldn’t be able to do THIS without magic!”

She reoriented herself and carefully levitated herself back to the floor, turning to address all with a shake of her head to lose her ample mane to the side. “But even good things like magic can come with some not-so-great things too. Discord said he wanted to get rid of magic because he didn’t want anypony feeling lesser than others because of their power.”

“He also said that’s how you felt when we flew off without you and Alex near Canterlot.” Zipp meddled with her own accusation.

Izzy lowered her head at Zipp’s accusing frown. With a low voice, she murmured. “Maaaaybe I felt that way a tiny, little, atom-sized bit…”

“Ugh!” Sunny looked bothered by her words. “Izzy, we’ve talked about this already! I told you, flying above those trees was about getting a better perspective of the forest! We were in a huuuge hurry!”

“But… it didn’t actually help us find the Gate of the Ancients. All it did was separate us and leave Alex and Izzy on their own.” Zipp heatedly countered, changing her position from her previous statement.

“That’s not the point, Zipp.” I was starting to get a little heated myself. They couldn't really understand it for all it was. “Everypony uses their natural gifts to better contribute to the community. You guys can fly, then you go and fly, and those who don’t, can remain back and take on another role. That doesn’t make anypony any less useful, much less inferior!”

“But, Alex! The difference is just too big. I can’t play flyball with the girls and I never will be able to because I lack wings, just as they will never be able to cast a spell. And I’ve felt left behind on several occasions because of it. Without magic, this wouldn’t be an issue at all! We all would have to step on equal ground.”

“You’re right, Izzy. Discord just wants to make sure everypony is on equal hoofing.” Added Zipp, her mind set into supporting Izzy.

“By getting rid of what makes us special!” Shouted Sunny at the white pegasus, a stubborn puff leaving her nostrils.

“Guys!” I called loudly before they could begin seriously butting heads, earning their attention. “Magic does make us different, especially me. Each race is granted its own set of strengths and weaknesses. But, the issue is NOT about how it can segregate you guys depending on the things you can and can’t do with your born abilities. What, you feel left out because you can’t play flyball, Izzy? Then why don’t you guys come up with a game you ALL can play together? For Faust’s sake, it already exists, it’s called Buckball! You know? The game where a member of each race makes up the team? Where each member has a role that complements the others? There’s no reason to feel less than anypony else just because you don’t possess the same abilities they do!”

“Are you seriously telling me an earth pony would not feel lesser when they couldn’t fly? Or, or cast spells?” Zipp remained hesitant to accept my point.

“Oh, so where does that leave me, Zipp? Mmh? Are you saying if it weren’t for my gauntlets, I would be useless? That I should just accept I’m below everypony when I don’t even have an earth pony’s strength and affinity with nature?”

“Yes!” She wailed, immediately catching herself. “I-I mean, NO! Ugh!” She furiously rubbed her temples. “Isn’t this why you came up with the ISIT thingy? So you could get a piece of the cake and be able to do what everypony else could?”

Far from hitting the target. “No, Zipp! That’s not why…” I clasped my head with a hand, closing my eyes and exhaling sharply. “I WAS deeply jealous of my friends for being able to use their respective abilities while I was just left with my wits and my sense of self-preservation to keep me going forward. I DID feel inferior and overwhelmed by it when I first encountered them. But I realized there really wasn’t a reason for me to feel like that when I truly understood how magic works between ponies and their environment. It complements each other, and it allows everypony to excel at their own thing! Not just common things like the ability to fly or cast spells or grow crops. Everypony has their own unique magic, everypony can fit in a role in which they can excel at. ISIT was conceived as a way to use technology to broaden the uses of magic and make day-to-today things easier for everycreature, not just ponies.”

I took a step forward and kneeled in front of her, wetting my lips in search of a different approach to let her understand what my vision consisted of.

“Zipp, you love flying, right? I can see it in your eyes every time you rocket in the air. And that only happens because you have magic that allows your wings to work.” Literally in the case of pegasi, since their wingspan-to-body-mass ratio would’ve never allowed them to catch enough air to lift themselves from the ground without the aid of magic, as she had painfully learned while growing up.

“But, you also have your own unique brand of magic, which makes you a better flier than most other pegasi. It’s in your cutie mark!... I think?” I stole a furtive glance at her flank, bridging the connection with Rainbow’s, although that didn't necessarily mean they meant the same thing.

“Does that automatically make other pegasi less than you?” I asked gravely, to which she quickly shook her head no. “Does that make Izzy less than you because she can’t fly at all?” Another shake, her pupils narrowing with each question. “It is true that she will never soar the skies with you by the means of her own abilities. Yes, it is a bummer. But, Zipp, what you are doing is just blaming magic for the things you can or can't do instead of looking for an alternative. An alternative,Zipp, that’s what the ISIT program is about. That’s what these gauntlets are about.” I flashed my left gauntlet at her muzzle, lighting the LIMstone on its core with magic for her to see.

“B-But…”

“It’s about not blaming our differences, Zipp; but overcoming them.” I pushed through her stuttering.

“I’ll tell you guys again.” I switched to address the entire group. “Magic or no magic, I still strongly believe Equestria would have fallen either way, because the problem ran deeper than just what brand of magic belonged to each race and whatnot. The pony is who shuns the other, not the magic. I come from a place where your skin color or birthplace is reason enough to promote hate and division between people. Here, it’s just more of the same! With magic back, you have the chance to become something greater, together. To unite once again, to build Equestria anew. And NO amount of technology is going to change that.”

Zipp’s wings twitched nervously at her sides, the pegasus’ point shattered, leaving her unsure of what to think anymore. “I-I… I don’t know, Alex. It’s just…”

“I know what type of equality Discord is after.” I cut the lost pegasus with a reassuring hand on her chin, brushing a thumb over her cheek. “Others have tried before, and I can tell you that it didn’t end well. Just blaming magic and doing nothing about it is what makes Equestria fall, Zipp. When the pony, Zipp, the PONY looks down on somepony else just for being different… that’s when society comes crashing down. You’re blaming a tool, Zipp. A tool which everypony can use in different ways, but all those ways can join together to create something greater.”

I raised again on my feet and turned to peer at the wide-eyed ponies. It was time to open myself a bit more to them, even if I would've still preferred to keep most to myself.

“Guys, my mission here and Discord’s are exactly the same, in a way. To ensure the safety and prosperity of your blooming civilization. However, our starting points are complete opposites. He blames magic and he believes its absence will keep you safe and happy, where nopony thinks themselves better than anypony else, just as it was back then. I blame the ponies for acting like they did, for allowing their baseless hate and narcissism to breach the relations between the tribes and obliterate the status quo. I want to free magic from the crystals’ grasp, so situations like this one never happen again, and make the ponies UNDERSTAND once and for all that their differences are to be celebrated, that their gifts are to be shared in unity, where everypony does their part, where they use their unique talents to further society as a whole, as they have done for thousands of years before. Free magic, not subject to the whims of a bunch of spell-engraved rocks. Harmony should never be enforced like that… It goes against everything it’s supposed to stand up for. Even without unity, magic shouldn’t be denied to anypony like that. It’s just too important, too necessary to ensure that…”

“HELLOOOOOOOOOOO?!! I REQUIRE YOUR DIVIDED ATTENTION BE COMPLETELY UNDIVIDED!!!!”

It’s safe to say all of us jumped from Pipp’s booming call. Sometime during our discussion, she had returned, with a copy of the book, and two mares in tow who regarded us with impossibly-wide smiles anycreature would label as ‘extreme fangirling’.

“How in Equestria did you get this so quickly?” Asked a surprised Sunny, not wasting a second to grab the book from Pipp’s hooves.

“I had a little help.” She smugly answered with a tilt of her head towards the two ponies. “Say hello to my Pippsqueaks!”

“B-But, we’re half a day away from…” My question was promptly interrupted by the two mares who, between screams and loud cheering, rushed in to go pony by pony, giving them enthusiastic greetings and retelling each of my friend’s roles on the search, like they were our biggest fans out of a sudden.

“The location of this place was supposed to be confidential, Pipp, remember?” I whispered with a grumble to the pegasus, who patiently waited for her fans to finish their rant, leisurely tapping away at her phone.

“And leave them out of all the fun and excitement? I think not!”

“Do you even know their names?”

Pipp shrugged, not taking her sight from the screen.“Well, the lavender one’s username is @lav3rose and the yellow one’s @shineprncss_43, that’s all I can tell you.”

Pipp was bathed under my most deadpannest gaze. “... Are you being serious?”

“What? I have THOUSANDS of followers. Do you really expect me to know ALL of them by name?” She flared a dismissive wing at me. “As much as I would like to, it’s just impossible. Besides, it doesn’t really matter if they’re gonna end up helping us with the case anyway, m’kay?”

“Pipp, you have to realize…” I was about to lightly scold her, but was unable to finish my sentence as the two overexcited mares made me their next target of their fangirling.

“Alexander! The mysterious human who appeared not a month ago and has been helping you guys crack the case. He’s very handsome, don’t you think?” The pale-yellow furred one noted with a giggle to her friend, eliciting a similar reaction and a pair of coy eyes undressing me from her partner.

Once again, before I could get a word out, they rushed towards Sunny, leaving me with a slight blush and the words at the tip of my tongue.

Their excitement met a swift end when Sunny's turn came. The two mares, noticing the awkwardness of the situation and the lack of the usual friendly responde, which was Sunny’s trademark, were quick to realize the tension that permeated the room.

Sunny, quickly noticing the change in the fan’s demeanor, rushed to deliver some damage control. “Uh… We just… had a minor disagreement. But what friends don’t have those? Airing our issues is healthy!”

The two ponies didn’t look convinced. Not in the slightest.

“I don't think anypony would diagnose this as healthy.” Spoke the lavender-furred one.

“Seems like what you all need is to talk it out” Finished the other one.

“WE DON’T HAVE TIME FOR THAT!!” Sunny startled us out of our respective kinds of shoes with a frustrated scream, a vein bulging in her forehead. She rudely stormed off towards the door and motioned for everypony to leave the cottage so we could be on our way back to the brighthouse.

With a conflict raging on her mind, Sunny tried to rein her growing anger inside and, with the most forced smile I've ever seen on a pony, also ‘invited’ the two Pippsqueaks to leave the premises. “Ah, but there’s truly no need to worry. Very soon, we’ll be back to the well-oiled, completely in-sync team we’ve always been. Come on ponies, we’ve already wasted enough time as it is!”

Sharing a concerned look, we all began following her lead without another word, the faces on everypony telling me this discussion was far from over.

‘But Sunny’s right, first things first. I’ll be sure to make them see reason once we’re done.’

“Ups! Sorry, Zipp. I’ll be more careful.”

I was completely lost in thought, not really paying attention to the road ahead which made me accidentally bump against Zipp when her gait had lessened for a second to rake in some of the deserted landscape around us.

The road we were walking was very narrow, only allowing two ponies to walk side-by-side. To our right, the canyon wall stretched into the sky. On our left, a staggering fall of several dozen meters, enough to shatter our poor bones like toothpicks should we slip.

So… yeah, I should really have been paying more attention. I flashed her my most apologetic smile, earning a brief glare before she had resumed her way.

I tried my best. I really did! But my mind kept drifting to yesterday’s events. More specifically, the heated argument my friends and I had regarding Discord’s intentions while in Fluttershy’s cottage. After a hasty retreat back to the brighthouse, we had spent the rest of the day getting ready for the trip, none of us really saying much to each, lost in our preparations and thoughts. Tempers were still a bit high, and none of us had the energy to argue further. We unanimously decided to just let it be for the time being. Still, it didn’t help with the awkward atmosphere that followed us to bed.

I vividly remember Alex’s image when we all went to bed after a tiring afternoon of packing things. He looked positively exhausted, both in body and spirit, and had worn a scowl that didn’t fit him in the slightest. Judging from how he was acting, it looked to me this wasn’t the first time he'd had this argument. At least that’s what I thought at the moment, he could be hard to read sometimes.

I wanted to believe his reasoning, and Sunny’s own point too. I really, really wanted to… but the lingering burn of being repeatedly left behind, and the knowledge that many ponies could very well be feeling the exact same thing… just wouldn’t stop tormenting me. All my life, I’ve been a weirdo among the unicorns. No magic or lack of magic was involved when they would choose to hang out with other ponies instead of me. When magic came back, and the tribes began to unite again after so long, I had hoped things would finally change, that we would be able to leave all that nonsense behind us and finally move on.

But now… I wasn’t so sure anymore.

‘I didn’t need any magic to meet Sunny and the rest. We didn’t need any magic to accomplish what we did… But it WAS magic that brought Alex to us, what everypony else is using to build a better world, just as he said… ugggh, I just want this to all be over so I can take a moment and finally get my thoughts in order!!’

“Eyes on the road, Sunny.” I heard Hitch call my best friend, who hadn’t released the book since we’d left for the Basaltic Caves early this morning.

“I’m sorry, but these instructions are really confusing,” Sunny answered without taking her eyes off the book. Thankfully Alex, who was walking by her side, made sure she woulnd’t trip. The fall would be nasty, and with magic glitching so frequently there was no guarantee she would be able to bring forth her alicorn form to save her own tail.

“You’ve got time until we reach the caves, Sunny. Better make sure you actually make it there.” Zipp pinched while quickening her trot to catch up with the front group.

“The instructions aren’t for the caves, Zipp. They’re for Boulder Grit Canyon. You know, the canyon we’re currently trotting through? Daring Do didn’t write anything about it being dangerous, but there are huge boulders that separate the road. If we take the wrong way, we could get very lost.”

“So, why don’t I take a quick flight up and get an aerial view? I’m sure I can find us the way from up there.” Zipp proposed, her wings twitching, screaming for some exercise. That mare sure loved her flying.

‘... I wish I could fly too…’

Her idea made me wince a little, bringing back the memories of our trip to Canterlot. I didn’t feel comfortable with the idea of separating again. Thankfully, Alex intervened before I could think of anything to counter her.

“Absolutely not, Zipp. I told you about the strong wind currents generated by the extreme temperatures of the lava rivers. They’re more than enough to catch you by surprise and smash you against the canyon’s side… and, with magic glitching so much on top of it, we can’t take the risk. So we’re hoofing it.”

Zipp scoffed with an annoyed huff. “You’re just saying that.”

“Yes, Zipp. The seven-hundred-plus-year-old time traveler who knows this country better than you know your own castle says so!” The human snarled, making Zipp flinch and recoil. “I know you love to fly, but this is not the time to be reckless.”

He’d been in a bad mood since yesterday. He hadn’t truly snapped at anypony or anything too harsh, but you could tell, especially by how quiet he was when he always loved to pinpoint some interesting facts or tidbits of our surroundings when something familiar to him came by. And also, the scowl which never fully left his flat-muzzled features. I hadn’t even heard him hum one of his songs from his world this morning while preparing breakfast. I didn’t like seeing him like this. He just felt so cold…

“Don’t worry about it, Zipp,” Sunny flipped the book to show us the open pages. “Daring Do left us specific instructions for navigating through the boulders.” She pointed a hoof at the somewhat faded inscriptions.

I stepped closer to get a better look. The pages depicted a hoof-drawn topographic map with a few notes indicating directions written over it.

“Turn right, then left, then right, right, right, left~” I repeated the instructions with a small song. It was catchy and would help me remember them. Also, it helped calm down my nerves.

“Are you absolutely sure it was Boulder Grit Canyon that Daring Do was talking about, Sunny?” Hitch turned to look at the road ahead, pointing at it with his hoof. “Because we’ve been walking through Boulder Grit Canyon for the last half hour, and I can’t see any boulders or turns!”

He was right. We’d just been walking over the road that bordered the canyon since the lush vegetation gave way to our arid surroundings, and the only turns we’d had to take were when we had to avoid some small obstacles that blocked the road. But, for the most part, it had been a straight path.

Sunny, now becoming even more nervous at Hitch’s observation, returned to peer over the map in a dose of panic. “T-That doesn’t make any sense. The whole road is supposed to be one big confusing maze…. Alex?” She turned to ask a desperate plea to our human friend.

Our tall friend simply shrugged his shoulders. “I don’t know what to tell you, Sunny. I know about this place, but I’ve never really walked through it. Its lava rivers are a byproduct of the tectonic activity which runs from the middle of the Celestial Sea, kind of a mirror of the volcanic system that splits the Dragonlands in two, only much smaller. I don’t recall any other canyons that would fit the description. Daring Do was known for modifying her stories a bit when she wrote them on paper, to make them more… ‘adventurous’, as she called it. That the hero of the story had to take a straight path with nothing really dangerous happening would be kinda boring for the readers, wouldn't you say?”

“You knew Daring Do?” I asked Alex, surprised that he had made acquaintances with the famous adventurer in pony.

A fond smile, a rare sight these days, brightened his features for a moment. “Heh, yeah. She got me and my friends in a mess or two. A great mare, although she wasn’t really a big fan of teamwork back when we first met. I guess we managed to change her mind after a few adventures alongside her.”

“Woah!” I was genuinely impressed. Sometimes it was easy to forget he came from the forgotten past, a past which belonged to many of Equestria’s greatest figures. In a sense, I guessed he also was one of those great individuals, even if there was almost no info about him in the few historical records that still prevailed from that age. Taking into account the even fewer ponies who even bothered to check them out, it wasn’t really surprising that the vast majority of knowledge about the old times had been forgotten.

It’s not like the unicorns needed to remember the actual reason why they should be hating the other tribes…

We decided to not give it much importance and continued on our way. We spent the next hour or so following the same dusty road, bordering the canyon’s east side on its way south. None of us said much during that time, preferring to just trot in silence and focus on the road, each of us lost in our own musings.

I was brought out of my daydream when I bumped against Alex’s back, the lead ponies having suddenly stopped in front of him. He released a small yelp at being poked with my horn, flashing me a small glare while rubbing his aching back.

“S-Sorry…” I apologized in a low voice, my gaze lowering and my ears drooping against my scalp under his glare.

“This is just great!” I could hear Pipp shouting from the front group. “You decided to warn us about Boulder Grit Canyon, but not about the CREAKY OLD BRIDGE WITH THE ONE-THOUSAND-METER DROP?!!”

“I told you, it’s perfectly safe,” Sunny answered with a huff, ignoring Pipp’s flames.

It didn’t look safe to me. The old rope bridge was barely hanging from its rotten ropes and cracked wooden planks. Some of them were even missing! I felt a shudder snaking all over my body at the sight of it. Heights didn’t really bother me, but the prospect of falling down from such a height… it’s not like I had wings to keep me aloft, right?

‘Can you make wings out of magic like Sunny’s? Hmmm…’

“Oh, wait…” Sunny suddenly added after checking over another page, “It actually does say there was an accident back in…”

Hitch didn’t let her finish, taking the book away from her hooves and saving it inside his saddlebag. “How about we put the book away for now, hm? Just follow my lead and whatever you do…”

His apparent bravado died a sorry death when he turned to face the chasm over which the bridge hung. “…. J-Just, don’t look down...”

“I’ll take the rear,” Alex said, taking a few steps back to allow us to follow after Hitch. I went behind Sunny, with Pipp and Alex being the last to cross. I continued humming the little song I had come up with in an attempt to soothe my nerves and still my quaking legs.

“Izzy!” Sunny, having also woken up with her leff hoof, glared at me over her shoulder. “We really need to concentrate, right now!!”

I shrugged apologetically. “I’ve never been good at concentrating. There are always too many fun things around, and how can you just pick one thing? It’s impossible!”

Yeah, that little trait of mine had gotten me in trouble a few times in the past, but I really just couldn’t help it.

“Well, your singing is making it difficult for the rest of us to concentrate!” She answered with an annoyed tone, resuming her focus on the treacherous path ahead.

“B-But it helps take my mind off of the scary bridge.”

She turned once again to flash me a proper glare. “Your mind should be on the bridge! Focused!!”

A small whine escaped my lips from her snapping. She sounded so mad at me.

Before I could mutter another word, Hitch called to us from the front.

“Can we PLEASE stop arguing back theeeeEEEEERE!!”

One of the rotten planks had snapped under his hooves. In a blink, Hitch began falling into the abyss, his flailing legs dropping the book in search of something to grab on for dear life. My pegasi friends tried unsuccessfully getting in the air to chase after him, their wings not responding to their commands no matter how hard they pumped. Sunny’s alicorn form was the same, the glitching magic rendering my friends flightless and hornless.

In the corner of my eye, I caught Alex balancing himself from the bridge's edge and powering his gauntlets, one of them sputtering a few sparks while the other lit up in a blue glow, a levitation field blinking in and out of existence around Hitch, catching him in a precarious hold .

“IZZY! A little help here!”

Shaking the surprise away, I quickly lit my horn and added my glitching magic to his own. With a huge effort, we managed to levitate Hitch back up to the bridge, with Zipp quickly grabbing him and pulling him the rest of the way up when he was in range.

“Ah… ah… agh… I really need to… ah… learn teleportation…”

That sounded like a useful skill to have. I made a mental note to ask him about it later at a better time.

“Agh… come on guys! Let's get a move on before the whole bridge collapses!”

Hearing his call, the other ponies quickly returned to their hooves and proceeded to finish crossing the bridge, taking extra caution in their steps. I too rose back onto shaky legs, adrenaline still coursing through my veins. Alex stepped closer to me and helped me up, brushing his hand over my mane and ears.

“Great job back there, Izzy. You did very, very well.” He congratulated me with a tiny smile.

A happy smile of my own and a small blush made their way up my muzzle. It felt great to see the Alex I so much liked back, even for just a little bit. I answered him with a nuzzle on his tummy.

“It looks like our magic is glitching more by the second,” Zipp spoke from the front of the group, helping a dizzy-looking Hitch who had to grab the rope railing with his other hoof to keep himself from falling.

“Ugh… and we kind of lost the Daring Do book…” The sheriff muttered, sounding like he was about to throw up.

“So we’ll be entering the caves with barely any powers and no road map? That's just great!” Sunny cursed our rotten luck to the heavens.

“There’s still time to call in the Pippsqueaks for help, Sunny,” Pipp suggested. It amazed me how she could still be grabbing her phone and checking over whatever was currently happening on her feed like it was nothing. I knew she liked to record everything and alway keep abreast of the latest, but this was just ridiculous!

Her comment won a fuming glare from Sunny, the pegasus quickly changing her mind at the sight of a positively mad earth pony.

“Yeah, no. Why would we need the Pippsqueaks when we’re clearly such a well-oiled, completely in-sync team, right?” She droned under her voice in a snarky manner.

She really didn’t have to rub salt in the wound like that, but it was true we hadn’t been the most efficient team since our… disagreement. Our nerves were on edge, and I could understand us being jumpy, not that I liked it one bit…

Leaving the treacherous bridge behind us, thank hoofness, we continued on the road towards the caves. Just as before, we kept trotting without saying much, poor Hitch finally gathering his bearings after a few minutes and taking the lead with the help of Zipp. Alex chose to remain at the back of the group; I would have teased him about enjoying the view, but I wasn’t really feeling it at the moment.

A few minutes later, when the reek of sulfur was beginning to turn offensive to the snout, we arrived in front of a cave entrance, a huge boulder with a few weird marks around it blocking the entrance. It reminded me of a clock somehow… but with strange symbols instead of numbers.

“The Basaltic Caves. We finally made it!” Sunny cheered at the sight of the blocked entrance, losing a few kilos of stress while at it. Of course, we had the problem of the ginormous rock blocking our access. We all spread out, searching for a way to get in. Well, the ponies and Alex did, I found a little water pool near the entrance and distracted myself making silly faces and laughing at my reflection.

Don’t judge me, I needed to cool off with a healthy dose of silliness.

A few grunts of effort got me to leave the goofy reflection of the unicorn on the pond and peer back at the group. Hitch was attempting to draw from his earth pony strength and force his way in by moving the giant boulder aside… without any success, obviously.

“According to Daring Do, the only way through is to solve some sort of code.” Sunny announced from memory.

“That’s great, Sunny. What’s the code?”

My friend’s answer was a small nervous laugh. “Heh, well… I, um… I didn’t make it that far in the book…”

Pipp’s reply was to groan and continue recording with her phone. I couldn’t make heads nor tails of the symbols carved into the boulder. We could always try and hoof it, but considering our current lucky streak, it would take us forever to crack it without a clue, if we didn't trigger some mechanism that would drop it over our noggins or something. That’d be very daring Do-ish to happen.

My friends began to discuss possible solutions to the puzzle. I wasn’t really paying attention, my mind once again returning to yesterday’s events. I didn’t even realize I had resumed humming that little song, lost in thought, until an annoyed warning from Sunny brought me back to the waking world.

“Izzy! What did I tell you about singing while we’re trying to concentrate!”

I was about to protest when Zipp suddenly interrupted us. “No! Wait… keep singing.”

I complied and continued humming the little song while Zipp got into ‘detective mode’. A moment later, a light bulb over Alex’s head lit up. “Ah, I see what you’re thinking, Zipp.”

With renewed confidence, Zipp strode towards the blocked entrance. “Perhaps… maybe the directions in Izzy’s singing aren’t for Boulder Grit Canyon? This rock dial seems to be able to turn left and right. What if her singing is the code?”

“It’s worth a shot.” Offered Hitch. He and Zipp stood on opposite sides of the boulder, both grabbing the dial and turning it towards the directions the song listed.

Soon enough, a loud *clank* was heard from within the cave, accompanied by the giant boulder dislodging itself from the entrance, small streams of dust falling from the edges with the musty, warm air rushing out from inside the cave.

“You Equestrians and your silly riddles… Okay, Hitch, on three.”

Alex and Hitch grabbed the ridges of the giant boulder and, on the count of three, began rolling it over the side. With labored breaths, they managed to make it roll until the entrance became clear enough, all of us releasing our own cheers at having solved the riddle.

Now livelier, we all began to file into the cave, squinting our eyes to get used to the darkness. Sadly, an all-too-familiar laugh welcomed us the moment we had all stepped inside, bringing the mood back to the ground.

Leisurely lying on his side, Discord rested over a tall ledge, a few critters resting around him. On his eagle-like claw rested the Pegasus Crystal, the draconequus rolling it around his claws as if it were a toy.

“Ho ho ho! Well done, ponies! That code was a real head-scratcher. But look at us, able to figure it out by working as a team and blah blah blah.” He mocked us with a bored roll of his eyes. As in, a ‘roll’ of his eyes in their sockets. Wierd…

We didn't waste a breath and got into battle positions, my horn and Alex’s gauntlets charging up with magical energy.

“Get that Unity Crystal!!” Sunny commanded from our side. It seemed she wasn’t able to get her alicorn powers working once again. It was up to us to recover the crystal.

“Discord! That’s enough fucking around!” Alex warned Discord, the draconequus just answering with a bored yawn.

“Bah, spare me your pitiful negotiating.” I saw him snap his fingers and, without any warning, all of us found ourselves inside a metal cage, outside once again as we hanged by four ropes over the imposing canyon. A quick peek down told me the fall would most likely be fatal if we were to be dropped.

A snapping of claws and the racking of claws over the metal top of the cage made us realize that Discord had teleported over it. He stretched his long neck to look at us upside down with a mocking grin.

“Don’t look at me with those woebegone eyes. I’m doing this for you! For all of you! Yes, I can see you back there, Alex. I’m actually surprised you managed to stick around with them for so long. I would have expected you to have run away already. It’s your speciality, after all.” He finished with a devilish narrowing of his sickly-yellow eyes.

If he had looked mad before, Alex was positively fuming now. “I didn’t sacrifice everything I loved to travel here only for you of all creatures to screw things up permanently, Discord!! You know as well as I do what utter stupidity you're about to commit!!”

“Ha! ‘Travel here’. That’s one way to put it, I’m sure.” Discord brushed his anger off like a summer breeze.

He changed his position over the cage to regard Alex from his side of our enclosement, Discord’s neck stretching impossibly long to twist his head and look at him straight up while remaining on the top. “One day you’ll thank me for creating true, everlasting equality among all ponykind. Just as it should have been in the past. Things wouldn’t have gotten out of hoof otherwise.”

“Do I have to remind you what happened the last time somepony sought to bring ‘equality’ to all ponykind, hm?” Alex grabbed the metal bars and snarled at Discord. “I vividly remember it not going that well for her.”

“You don’t vividly remember anything. You weren’t even there to begin with!” Discord bit back, his own brand of snarl pursing his lips, making his sole fang stick out. “No no no, I’m not planning to step up into power like Starlight once tried. I only want to ensure peace once and for all! You should be helping me, Empyrean. Isn’t that supposed to be your job?”

‘Emp-what?’

“For fucks sake, Discord!!” Alex was having none of it, becoming redder the angrier he got until flames threatened to puff out of his nostrils. “Blaming magic is stupid! The ponies are the ONLY ones responsible for what happened. It was their moroninc beliefs and petty excuses that brought about this problem!! How can you blame the very thing that makes them all unique and live in harmony as the source of the division that broke the peace?! It’s just borderline stupid, you fuckhead!!”

Discord remained impassive to Alex's heated insults. With a lazy scratch of his goatee, he held his ground. “Magic is dangerous, Alexander. It was magic that brought pain and misery to Equestria until it couldn’t stand up for itself. I know it became a great deal to you when you figured out how to tap into it, but that’s no excuse to shift the blame so that you might keep enjoying it. That’s not very princely of you, wouldn’t you agree?” He finished with a smug smile and a taunting hike of his eyebrows.

Alex had had enough and exploded. “YOU HAVE NO RIGHT TO GIVE ME MORALITY LESSONS AFTER YOU GOT ME K-”

“Bah, I’m getting tired of your ranting.” Discord teleported back to the canyon's edge, leaving the word hanging from Alex’s mouth as he peered down at us almost sadly. “At least you can indulge in these fleeting moments of magic, trapped with the ones you hold dear. You’re very welcome.”

And with that, he was gone. My friends began desperately screaming for him to return. But I didn’t join them, my focus set entirely on my human friend. His hands grasped the metal bars so hard his knuckles were turning white from the effort. There was such rage, such fury in his eyes. It honestly scared me to see him raging like a rabid animal.

But, believe it or not, that wasn’t what was bothering me the most.

‘After he got him… what?’

Chapter 15- Crystal Hunters. Part 2.

Author's Note

Okay, one more chapter and we’re done with the second act. A little warning for those who have already seen chapter 4 of MYM. There’ll be some inconsistencies in this chapter in relation to what was shown in the show. It IS intentional. The new lore fits better than what I has expecting, so don’t worry about it. It’ll just be a little more convoluted than what I had planned at first.

Chapter 15- Crystal Hunters. Part 2.

‘I’m gonna kill him. I don’t care if he's some kind of abstract entity whatever-the-fuck he is that can’t die. I swear, I’m going to fucking murder him!!!’

I grasped the metal bars with all my strength, partially to stop myself from falling over due to my rage-induced shaking, mostly due to the sheer anger consuming me. I felt detached for a moment, but I couldn't have cared less at the time.

Meanwhile, Sunny had finally managed to bring forth her alicorn form, and was putting it to good use by trying to gain enough momentum, jumping up and smashing through the cage floor using her earth pony strength. As good an attempt to free us as any other.

She was omitting a crucial detail, though. “That’s reinforced steel-dimeritium alloy, Sunny! It won’t give in.”

*THUD!!* “I’M NOT GOING TO WAIT WITH MY HOOVES CROSSED FOR DISCORD TO GET RID OF MAGIC!!!” *THUD!!*

“Sunny, you’re gonna get us killed!” Hitch tried to reason in vain, his fear of heights speaking for him.

With puffy breaths, Sunny took a second to answer. “Ah… I don’t see you doing anything to get us out of here Hitch!... Ah… Ah… With enough momentum, I think I can crack the bottom of the cage and get us out of here!”

Hitch looked like he was about to pass out with her proposition, his eyes bulging from their sockets, his lungs taking in air in short, labored breaths as panic clung to him. He held for sheer life to the metal bars, eyeballing the metal floor for signs of any cracks that would plunge us into the abyss.

“I almost FELL to the bottom of these cliffs back on the bridge. I am NOT going to risk it happening again! I-I won’t! I can’t…”

“Hitch!” I heard Zipp slapping the terrified sheriff out of his stupor. “Pull it together! This seems like our one shot at escaping and getting to Discord!”

“Ugh, come on! If I could get just… a… bit… higher!”

Sunny flapped her ethereal wings to raise herself and deliver another kick, only for these to fizzle out in mid-flight and drop her unceremoniously back to the floor.

“OOOF!!”

“Oooh, I think I saw a small crack there.” Izzy lowered herself to peer closer to where she was pointing. A tendril of hope shone in Sunny’s eye before fading away. “Oh… no, it’s just some dust, hehe…”

Izzy rose back to help Sunny sit up, the earth pony now looking completely defeated. The unicorn tried some words of encouragement. “B-But a few more tries and I know you can make it.” She grabbed her head with her hooves, looking at her best friend with optimistic eyes. “We’ll get Pipp to film the whole thing. That way, when we get back home, you’ll be a Maretime Bay sensation!”

Izzy's attempts to cheer up her friend were sadly in vain, as Sunny just gently pushed her away and returned her defeated gaze to the cage’s floor. “I don’t see that happening. My magic’s completely gone again…”

“Ow, um…” Izzy wasn’t ready to give up yet. “W-What if… I try to use my levitation to pry the bars open? I’m sure with enough charge I can…”

I was sorry to take the wind from her sails. “Again… This is reinforced steel-simeritium alloy. Magic isn’t even going to scratch its surface. It’s the same material the bars from Canterlot’s dungeons are made of. None of us have the power to overcome it.”

Izzy fell at my clarification. She pressed her hooves against her scalp and scrunched her eyes, trying to come up with alternate solutions.

“If that’s true, then how could Discord teleport us in here?!” Sunny demanded.

“Discord’s magic doesn’t give a shit about the rules of magic, Sunny. It’s just how it works for him.”

“He… he can’t just… Argh!!! DAMM IT!!!” She stomped her rear hooves in frustration, a final resounding *clank* echoing against the cliff’s walls until becoming lost amidst the powerful winds dangling the cage every now and then.

Resigned sobs followed, Sunny eyes shining with the beginnings of tears, her ears completely pressed against her head and her tail tucked against her rear legs.

“All…” She sniffed hard, suffering from a moment of lucidity “... All I ever wanted was to bring magic back to Equestria. To see ponies living together in friendship, just like in my dad’s stories. I-I thought it would make things right. B-But all it’s done is m-make us fight and argue about everything. T-That’s why we’re trapped h-here…” She stammered, breaking down into uncontrollable sobbing.

I couldn’t stand to see her broken. Releasing my grasp from the metal bars and parking my own anger for the time being, I crawled up next to her and pulled her into a tight hug, the blazing rage that coursed through my body dissipating against my will in our warm embrace.

Sunny didn’t shy away from my grasp, burrowing her head against my chest and continued releasing tears of resignation. I tried to comfort her as much as I could, rubbing her multi-colored mane and droopy ears while whispering soothing words. It wasn’t really all that effective, but I couldn’t think of anything better to do for her at the moment.

Thankfully, Izzy beat me to it. Bestie to the rescue. “Sunny… having magic changed EVERYTHING in Equestria.” The strength of her words clashed with her uneasy gaze. “I-I mean, I haven’t seen the ponies so passionate and, and, just… so alive before. But for us? Everypony’s been so busy figuring it out for ourselves that we haven’t really considered what it means for ALL ponykind. It was just so sudden. We can't expect it to be easy!” She concluded with a stomp.

Izzy ran her gaze through the group, one by one, her pearls reflecting a shimmer of guilt behind their lavender color. “I… uh, t-that’s why it can sometimes feel like our magic is dividing us. A-And it’s not that it makes me angry or makes me want to fight with anypony like Discord thinks will surely happen. It’s just… it scares me…” She rubbed her fetlock in the same sentiment. “B-but I know it doesn’t have to be that way. Because, if we all come together, nopony will ever feel left behind.”

She rose from her haunches to approach us, me more precisely. “Alex, you’re living proof that I’m right; that an Equestria full of magic is possible for all of us.”

“Yes, Izzy, it is possible.” I recalled from my heart, drawing from memories of better, happier times.

She flashed me a grateful smile in return, lowering her stance to face a still-clinging Sunny, who had stopped crying and now was silently listening to Izzy’s words while clinging to me like a lifeline for her beliefs.

The unicorn once again gently took hold of Sunny’s head and unburied it from my chest to fix at her pained eyes full of angry tears. “Sunny, you’re the only one who can bring us together, just as you did the first time we all met.”

It took a moment to dig in, but in the end, Sunny sniffled, the tinies of smiles piercing through her defeat. “Discord was right; even with everything that’s happened, you always see the best in others.”

Sunny lunged towards Izzy and enveloped her in a tight hug, whispering words of gratitude in the unicorn’s ears, the unicorn responding with a reassuring cuddle of her own.

With smiles and strengthened resolve now batting the pain away like a pesky fly buzzing in their ears, the two mares released from the hug and gazed at each other with eyes full of gratitude and affection. A tender moment to melt even the iciest hearts. A pony specialty, I’d even say. After not having been on the best of terms these past few days given the high levels of stress we were all suffering from, it seemed a bandage had been placed over their relationship, and the two best friends were finally back to their old selves.

It warmed my heart to see my new closest friends bond again... and, it also brought out some feelings tugging at the ol’ ticker that were NOT suited to the current time.

‘Nono, Alex. Leave that for a later time. We have bigger fish to fry.’

Sunny, the fires of determination roaring inside her once more, stood up on her hooves with the beginnings of a plan on their way to hatch. “But, even if we manage to get out of here, I don’t know how we are going to convince him to change his mind.”

“There was only one pony who Discord would listen to, Sunny. She… died seven hundred years ago…” I offered, swallowing an overbearing lump down my throat. I had to remain in the game. I know what I was getting into when I traveled here.

“… Fluttershy.” Sunny replied, her ears drooping.

I was not happy taking the wind from her sails. “Exactly. She and Discord were very close, you see. Kinda because it was her who… ‘reformed’ him, let’s say. The only pony in the whole world with enough kindness and tolerance to put up with him and give him the chance he never was given. It worked… for the most part.”

“Yeah, I… I think I read something about that in my father’s notes… Gosh, it’s been so long... Wait, wait…” Sunny’s eyes scrunched in deep thought, her forehoof tapping on the old, metal floor. “Yes… YES! THAT’S IT!!” Her features lit up like a beaming sunrise. “I know exactly how to get that crystal back from Discord!! But first,” She swiftly turned towards Hitch, who shied back in surprise with a gulp. “We need to get out of this cage.”

“Ummm, what’s with that look, Sunny?” The sheriff demanded feebly.

“Your critter friends always follow you around, right?” Sunny pried.

From the way his features soured, he didn’t look very comfortable with the fact. “Sigh. Yeah, they tend to, regardless of how many times I ask them NOT to…”

“Then perhaps it’s time to ask for some help, hmm?” Sunny laid it down with a flick of her eyebrow.

“… Eh, it’s worth a shot.” Not one hundred percent behind her plan, Hitch rose from his seat and stepped closer to the metal bars, making a conscious effort to not look down, and began screaming for his critter friends to help us.

As his pleas for help bounced against the walls of the cliff, I addressed the leader of our small entourage, not fighting down the pride that swelled inside me for her. “I hope you know what you’re doing, Sunny.” I regarded the mare with a proud, yet slightly unsure look, “The fall ain’t looking pretty for us.”

Sunny stood firm on her strategy. “I know it’s risky, but if we all pitch in, I’m sure we can slow down the fall enough to leave unscratched. Just get your wings and horns ready.”

‘Heh, what wings or horn for me, smart girl?’ I was tempted to pitch in, but decided not to and prepared myself.

Sunny began to concentrate, all her muscles tensing in effort as her brow furrowed. A few golden sparks behind her back and over her forehead revealed her alicorn powers slowly coming back to life.

‘She’s getting better…’

A bunch of bunnies had come out of nowhere and heard Hitch’s call. Seeing their beloved butter-furred stallion in peril, they began to furiously nibble on the ropes, a series of snaps and the brief sense of falling appearing with each rope they managed to break.

“Hold tight, ponies, this is gonna be a wild ride!” Hitch called to the group.

The final snap was accompanied by the dreadful feeling of free fall. None of us seemed to be making any progress on finding a way to stop the fall.

Ah, the thrill of half-assed plans, alway keeps you on your toes. Our weakened magic, accompanied by the magic-absorbing metal that coated the cage, prevented us from building a strong enough levitation field, and the counter lift generated by the frantic flapping of the pegasi sisters’ wings wasn’t strong enough to slow our fall. With only a few seconds left until reaching the bottom, and our demise with it, a crazy idea popped into my head.

‘Yeah, this is going to hurt…’

If our magic wouldn’t prevent or slow our fall, the cliff walls would generate enough friction to at least save us from the worst.

“Ventus Maxima!” Sticking my arms outside the bars, avoiding most of the influence of the dimeritium, I pointed my gauntlets facing the furthest wall, the enormous wind current flowing from them generated enough thrust to smash the cage, with us still inside it, against the nearest wall. As roaring wings kept emanating from my hands, it continued applying pressure against its rough surface. Just as I expected, an ear-splitting screech told me that the friction generated by this drastically was slowing our fall; in exchange of a nasty tumble that sent everypony flying inside the cage.

It didn’t slow the fall completely when we met the bottom, but the pained groans of my friends told me they were alive, so I guessed it was a win I could take. I no doubt would have celebrated my quick thinking, if I wasn’t busy coughing and grabbing my chest, feeling like my heart was about to burst out of it with each pained heave.

I had been slowly but surely building my magical stamina during the almost daily training sessions. And I would continue to do so if I could help it. But, that’s what you get when you apply the booster ‘maxima’ to a spell. It really takes a lot out of you, training undergone or otherwise, simply too much for my fragile human body to handle so out of a sudden and for a prolonged time.

“A-Alex, are you alright?” I heard Izzy’s voice calling from my side. The other ponies, still moaning in slight pain, had managed to recover their bearings to at least register we had made it in one piece.

“Y-Yeah, just… give me a minute. That was a nasty fall.” I answered weekly once I had found my breath again.

Izzy didn’t seem fully convinced, but a few more hand gestures got her to relent from her prying. She moved to help Hitch break the now-weakened bars. The ponies weren’t aware yet of my little condition regarding the overuse of magic, and now it wasn’t the moment to make the fuss over it. ENough on our plates as it was.

‘Come on, Alex. Deep breaths, you’ve been through this before. Deeeeep breaths…’

Taking a minute to recover my breath and stop my body from feebly shaking, I gyrated on popping hips to check over the earth pony’s progress with the bars, or lack of progress to be exact.

“Come on, Hitch! You’re an earth pony! Start acting like one!” I yelled at the sheriff.

My degrading comment served to boost his anger. With renewed strength, he continued slamming his rear hooves against the metal bars which screeched with each hit. At the fourth buck, two of them went flying against the rocky walls in a cluttering mess.

Zipp took the lead. “Come on ponies, get your flanks moving up that wall and back on the trail, we can use that cave over there to search for the lava river inside!” The perky pegasus, being the first to exit the cage and taste the freedom of open spaces, pointed towards a small ledge which connected to a petite cave half-hidden only a few meters above us. The uneven, rocky terrain seemed steady enough to allow us an easy climb without much issue. By Zipp’s annoyed grunts, it seemed her wings were still inoperative, as were her sister’s.

“That was some quick thinking back there, Alex!” Hitch congratulated me before jumping out of the cage, brushing off any possible offense for my tasteless taunt.

I patted him on the head in appreciation. “Yeah, you get used to it after a few-too-many times.” A new fit of coughing caught me by surprise, forcing me to stop in my descent halfway and grab the remaining metal bars so as to not fall. The ponies who still hadn’t begun climbing were quick to notice, and rushed to my side.

“I’m fine, just keep moving!” I waved them off and tried to resume my way down.

‘I’m definitely going to feel that tomorrow. Faust dammit, I fucking HATE fieldwork.’

Once we all had reached the ledge, the ponies didn’t waste a second to plunge into the darkened interior, resolve shielding them from any apprehension that sought to take root on their hearts..

My entrance was not as glorious as theirs was. “Guys, slow down!” I pleaded while rushing behind them, wincing with the aftershocks of the pain which slowly became numb enough to give me back full control of my limbs. “These tunnels are volcanic in origin! They can be enriched with soft minerals like muscovite which can’t really withstand a lot of preassureaaAAAAAAH!”

Just as I feared, the hurried thumping of pony hooves unsettled the cave’s floor integrity and it collapsed under us, plunging us once again into the abyss. Fortunately, it ended up being a shallow fall, which made it no less painful.

“Owww, fuck! I think I broke my tailbone…”

“Mmmmmg… I thought you said you didn’t have a tail, Alex.” I heard Izzy muttering between painful moans… Again.

Fuck, what a day it was…

"It's a vestigial bone from when my ancestors were still... damn it, I'll explain later! We have to hurry!" Rubbing that painful spot above my ass, I rose to my feet and helped the still-recovering ponies. We were in a huge hurry, so the silent cursing and complaining would have to wait for later.

A soft glow peeked from the far side of the cave, bathing it in warm colors against the settling dust, which joined with the heat emanating from it, allowed me to discern the lava river where Discord would most likely attempt to destroy the crystal.

‘I’m coming for you, Discord. And this time, there are no princesses to save you from me.’

There he was, standing proud and mighty over the edge of a rocky protrusion that jutted over the lava pool, the Pegasus Crystal in his eagle-like claw shimmering under the orange-tainted light from the bubbling molten rock below it. He appeared to be giving some kind of speech, the small critters around his legs the only audience he had.

How those small critters could be standing the heat of molten rock was beyond me. I could virtually feel my fur beginning to smoke!

The gang all huddled around me near the entrance, keeping tight against the walls as to not being noticed yet. “Very well, Sunny, what’s the plan you told us about?” I heard Zipp whispering from my side.

“Pipp, open the Gallery app and give Izzy your phone.” I commanded in short.

“WHAT!? Y-You want me to risk my phone in the hooves of another pony?!... No offense, Izzy.” Pipp apologized with an embarrassed smile, clutching the device against her chest like a foal.

“None taken!” Izzy answered with a small spring.

“Pipp! I need you to trust me!” I pushed on with a commanding scowl.

“Ugh, fine! You better be careful, Izzy. I have my WHOLE LIFE in there.”

With that settled, I moved on to the next part. “Okay, the rest of you listen up. We have to take the crystal out of Discord’s reach and keep it away from him until Izzy manages to sneak behind him and show him Fluttershy’s message, the one Pipp recorded earlier. Just as you said Alex, there’s only one pony who will be able to convince him.”

I looked back at my friends, their expressions hard and ready. I was too focused on the plan to notice the absence of the biggest of us,

“Okey, ponies, on three. One, two, thr-”

“Diffindo!”

Alex’s scream caught us by surprise, shattering our concentration. Before we could recover, he had already begun sprinting towards the chamber through which the lava river coursed.

“... I’ll always protect the Equestria you believed in, FluttershOUCH!!” Discord’s grand speech was cut short. Alex’s spell had impacted against Discord’s claw, the Pegasus Crystal suddenly flung away from his grasp, flying towards the opposite wall.

“DISCORD!!!!” The venom and rage oozing from the scream my human friend spit out left us speechless. I knew they didn’t agree eye-to-eye, especially after Discord’s hurtful accusations about him, but it still shocked me to my core seeing him in such a state. Where was the friendly and cuddly human I’d grown to like during the past few weeks?

Not waiting for my signal, he began to push on, not towards the Pegasus Crystal, but towards Discord himself, the crackling of magic energy surrounding his gloved hands in preparation for a barrage of spells.

“Ponyfeathers, that wasn’t the plan!! What is he doing!?” Zipp demanded.

“No time now Zipp, we have to get that crystal before he does! Izzy, ready for my signal. GO PONIES! Let’s save the magic!!”

Following our human friend’s improvised lead, the rest of us charged head-first into the ample cavern. The heat from the nearby lava river was suffocating, stealing the air from my lungs. We had to be extra careful not to trip and fall into it during the fight. It would mean a swift and painful end for the pony unlucky enough to take a dip in.

‘We have to push him deeper into the ledge and away from the crystal! Come on stupid alicorn powers. If you have to make a sudden appearance, be it NOW!!’

As much as I concentrated and pushed, it seemed my alicorn form was done with me for the day. Alex’s spell casting and the pegasi sisters’ renewed flying towards the draconequus showed that magic was working once more, but we couldn’t count on it to continue being the case for long.

“You really don’t know when to let it go, do you?” Discord snarled and snapped his fingers, attempting to hit Alex with whatever spell his chaotic magic could muster.

Alex saw it coming and surrounded himself with his protection shell. The energy from Discord's spell bounced against it, completely shattering the semitransparent shield, but leaving my friend unscathed to resume his mad running.

“I’m really doing this for you, Alex; if you had seen how Equestria stood at the end, all that pointless suffering for th-”

“SHUT UP!! I’M TIRED OF YOU AND YOUR SHIT!! COME HERE AND FIGHT ME!!”

Alex kicked off any attempt coming from Discord and followed with some kind of lighting beam. I had never seen that spell before. The cracking of the lightning speeding towards Discord revealed the immense power behind that spell.

Discord only needed to snap his fingers to teleport back to a safe distance, the lighting striking harmlessly and bringing chunks of rock from down the ceiling into the lava river, bringing forth huge, dangerous splashes far too close for our liking.

Alex remained blind to it.

“Bah, you couldn’t face me before, Empyrean, what makes you think you can OUCH!!”

The distraction had been enough for Zipp to silently speed behind Discord and deliver a flying kick against the back of his head. Rubbing his aching withers, he turned a moment later to face her, but she had already flown away for another round.

“Sunny! The crystal!” She yelled at me, dragging me out of my stupor. Shaking myself awake, I galloped towards where I saw the crystal flying over. Just as I had peeked, it rested near the wall facing away from the ledge.

I rushed over it, the thundering of spells being casted reaching my ears. It was building up to be a real battle. A guilty sense of hopelessness latched in my chest, a strong desire to join my friends instead of just running away with the crystal. But it was our mission. I had to make sure it remained out of his claws until Izzy could deliver the message.

Once in reach, I grabbed it with my muzzle and searched around for the best escape route. The tall chamber continued deeper into the mountain, reducing its zenith and fragmenting into various caves. I could try and use them to throw him off, hide the crystal and return to help my friends.

“Confrigo!!” Another spell was launched by Alex, followed by another loud explosion. I had to hurry, they wouldn’t be able to stand against Discord in the long run.

‘Ugggh!! These stupid powers. Why do they refuse to listen to me?!! Why can’t I just…’

“I don’t think so.”

A sharp pain in my snout brought me to a screeching halt and into my back. I seemed to have smashed my face against a…. pink door, of all things.

“You should be more careful, Sunny. Didn’t you learn about doors that randomly appear inside caves at school. It sure is a safety hazard!” Discorded mocked me while reaching for the crystal that I had accidentally dropped in the crash. A millisecond before he could reach it, a pink blur rushed under his claws and snatched it.

“Grrrrr.” He released a growl and snapped his fingers once again, the pink door disappearing in a puff of smoke. “You should have just stayed behind and live-stream everything like you always do!”

Stretching his eagle-like arm impossibly long, Discord grabbed Pipp’s rear leg mid-flight and smashed her against a near stalactite. With a pained cry, Pipp was forced to relinquish her grasp on the crystal, which felt dangerously close to the lava pool. Before any of us could even start galloping towards it, Discord’s pet possum appeared from nowhere and grabbed it in his tiny paws, scampering off beyond my eyesight.

Throwing the now limp pegasus away, Discord teleported near Reginald. The small possum rushed towards the draconequus and handed him the crystal with a small bow.

¡No… no no no no NO!¡

“It was a valiant attempt, my little ponies. But, seriously, did you guys really think you stood a chance?” Discord gloated with a victorious smirk, brushing of his aged mane from his face to get a nice, predatory look of the crystal.

“I’m not letting you get away with the crystal!” Hitch reached the small slope Discord was currently on and began sliding down it to deliver one of his double kicks.

Discord sighed tiredly. “You earth-ponies always had the biggest disadvantage. I almost feel bad for you.”

With another snap, Hitch was suddenly teleported atop a small rock which barely protruded a few centimeters above the lava river. It was too far away from the nearest shore to make a jump, leaving him stranded with a furious scream announcing his frustration, followed by a mareish yelp when the tip of his tail caught fire.

“Fine, fine, I admit it, it was fun messing around with you guys, but I think it’s time I wrap this up and- ho oh! You almost got me there!”

Alex had finally caught up with us and had begun sending some kind of energy pulses against Discord once he got within range. He wasn’t even voicing the spells, he just continued firing over and over again, with Discord dodging them by twisting his body at impossible angles. He even divided his long body in two when one of them was aimed towards his… midsection? It was hard to say where his chest ended and his belly began, if he even had them to begin with…

“Alex, please. This is just sad. What makes you think this time will be different?”

“There are no princesses here to protect you this time. Of all the stupid, moronic, completely demented things you could have pulled, Discord, THIS, has gone too far!!”

His eyes were still full of mindless rage. His breath was labored, and small beads of sweat ran from his forehead down to his chin, carrying with them what looked like some kind of… red liquid?

‘Is that… blood?’

“Ha! You call mine moronic. Says the coward who thought it was better to run away and wait for the storm to pass instead of staying and facing the end like the man you pathetically call yourself.”

“I TRIED, DISCORD. FOR MONTHS, I TRIED EVERYTHING I COULD!!” The human wailed to the top of his lungs.

“And in the end, you had to come to me and ask for MY help to understand chaos magic and use it for the crystals. You didn’t think of it as such a radical idea at the time, hmm?”

‘W-What did he just say?’ The question arose from within the fog of the battle.

“I was quick to see the true purpose of them, what Twilight was attempting to do, what she was attempting to force on her ponies! Why can’t you understand that magic it’s not something you can’t just simply give and take away like a toy!! You will doom all of us!!”

“And why can’t you see how dangerous magic it is, how easily it’s used to promote division amongst the ponies!” Discord growed down on the human.

“I KNOW HOW DANGEROUS MAGIC CAN BE!! I KNOW IT BETTER THAN ANYCREATURE ON THIS FORSAKEN PLANET!!!”

Discord wanted nothing more to do with Alex and sent him flying with a magic pulse. He then rubbed his templates with a tired groan, his patience coming running dangerously dry. “And yet here you are, trying to let it run free so ponies might use it to bring harm aaaand where do you think you’re going?”

He had managed to catch Zipp’s nosedive behind him, his scaled appendage once again stretching to impossible lengths and plunging her out of the dive before she had any chance to escape.

“Argh! Let me go, you freak!” Zipp struggled against his steely grasp.

“As you command, your highness.” Discord twisted his slender body like rubber and catapulted the pegasus over the other side of the chamber, the sheer strength of his throw smashing Zipp against the wall. She released a final pained wail and collapsed near her fallen sister.

I couldn’t stand to see my best friends get beaten around like mere playthings. Trying as hard as I might, I was still unable to bring forth my alicorn form. Without it, I knew I had no chance against Discord. But my friends were suffering, I couldn’t leave them hanging like that!

“D-Discord!” I tried the only thing I could think of, getting his attention and allowing the others to get a moment to recover. “Please, please reconsider. What you are trying to accomplish is madness. Haven’t you seen how happy everypony is now that magic’s back? How much it’s helping them in their lives, how many new things are now possible for all of us… don’t you see?”

“Do you want me to strand you over there with your coltfriend…” My words came through one ear and out the other.

I stammered like a filly. “W-What?! H-He’s not my c-coltfr-”

“…because I’ve already had enough with our friend Alex over there for you to start with your load of nonsense!”

A flash of lavender appeared in the corner of my eye. Izzy was getting into position. Discord still had the Pegasus Crystal in his grasp. It was our last chance.

I sighed in apparent defeat. “If that’s the case, then I’m sorry, Discord. It seems I won’t be able to convince you.”

“Yes! Finally you see rea-”

“But she will. IZZY! NOW!!”

“Hey! Discord! You’ve got a voicemail!” Izzy jumped in front of Discord with Pipp’s phone held on her levitation.

The draconequus, caught by surprise by Izzy's sudden appearance, raised his arms in defense against the small object rushing to his face, only for it to stop mere centimeters away from it. The soft voice of Fluttershy began to play through the loudspeakers. It was the recording of her message, our last hope to get Discord to reconsider.

*Discord… Listen closely because this is something you need to hear…*

“No! I can’t see this again. I can’t see her! Please don’t make me watch!”

“You NEED to hear it.” Izzy rebutted while using her levitation to dodge Discord’s claws in his attempt to tear the phone away from his sight.

The message continued to play, the anger on Discord’s face draining away, morphing into sadness and pain. Numerous tears littered his eyes by the time it was reaching its end.

Once it was over, he let the phone fall to his lap, having grabbed it mid message to get a better image of the yellow pegasus onscreen. “T-That was a long time ago… Fluttershy hadn’t even experienced the worst of it when she recorded that message…”

“But she would say the same thing if she were here right now.” Izzy dared a few hesitant steps and stood in front of the defeated draconequus. “I-I’m not saying I’ve never felt left behind. But mistakes happen. We are all still learning.”

“You don’t understand… none of you understand…”

“No, Discord, we don’t understand. None of us were there to see what happened. But we can learn from it. We can get a fresh start. We can work together to prevent anything of what brought down Equestria from happening again.” Izzy took a few steps closer and hesitantly placed her hoof over his reptilian-like leg. “But what we can’t absolutely do is continue living in fear and mistrust until the end of times. I-I’m not so sure about the other tribes, but unicorns were NOT happy during our hiding. Being left without magic also took our spark away, our drive to move forward. Without it, we will all continue to wither away until there are no ponies left at all. There aren’t many of us left, in case you haven’t noticed.”

That was true. I didn’t really give it much thought before, but Equestria WAS a country full of ponies in its prime. But nowadays? Only those living in each of the three cities are all that’s left. At least as far as we knew of.

“My friends showed up for me today when it really mattered… and we got all the way here because we know that what makes us special alone makes us even more powerful when we are together.”

Izzy reached tentatively for the crystal which hung loosely from his claw, the draconequus making no effort to stop her.

Discord had nothing more to give. “Go on… just take it. If you really think you can make it work, I won’t stop you any further. But don’t come crying back to me when it inevitably blows up in your face.”

I finally allowed myself to release the breath I wasn’t aware I was holding. Finally, after two long and painful weeks, it was over.

“Thank you, Discord. It really means a lot to u-”

I wasn’t allowed to finish my sentence, since the draconequus who I was talking to had sailed away to crash against the wall from a hit my human friend had delivered on his stomach. None of us had seen him coming, but the magical glow of his gauntlets informed us that he wasn’t willing to call it quits.

After a second of complete astonishment, I quickly bolted in front of him and placed my forehooves on his chest to stop his advance towards the fallen draconequus. “Alex, stop!”

“Get out of my way, Sunny.” He replied with a low voice full of venomous rage. His gauntlets had started to emit a haunting glow, small dark tendrils of energy dancing through them. The feeling of whatever spell he was building shook me in a body-full shudder, chilling my blood in a way I had never felt before.

“Alex, it’s over! We have the crystal, and he can get another chance to make things right!”

“He’s gotten enough chances as it is…”

I tried with all my earth-pony might to stop him, but I never was particularly strong. Also, my back hooves couldn’t find a good enough grip on the loose, volcanic soil.

“Alex! I, SAID, STOP!!”

It was at that moment, after all the battles that had come and gone, that my alicorn powers finally manifested. With a flash of golden light, my wings and horn appeared in their usual positions. Feeling my newly-enhanced strength, I was finally able to stop Alex on his feet, his gazeturning from absolute rage to confusion, and then conflict, switching his gaze from Discord to me and back as he took a startled step back.

I could see the hate draining from his eyes, leaving behind such a sorrowful look that almost made me skip a heartbeat. He lowered his arms and depowered his gauntlets, the unwelcome feeling dissipating from whatever that kind of magic was. For the second time in over a minute, I released such a relieved breath that my lungs felt the strain from the air release. Now, it seemed it was finally, definitely over…

And he began to cough. Wet, painful coughs. Such a fit of it that he had to fall on his knees and support himself with his hands. Small blotches of blood painted the rocky floor with each reach. It completely caught me by surprise. So much so, that I couldn’t even react during the thirty seconds or so it lasted.

With a final moan, he took a few deep breaths and cleaned himself with the sleeve of his shirt, as if it was routinary. Once he was done, he stood up again on shaky legs, a deep scowl permeating his features.

“A-Alex?” I finally was able to find my voice, but the only answer I got was a hard glare from him. Flashing Discord another one, he turned on his feet and began walking back, forcefully grabbing the crystal from Izzy’s hooves when he passed near her.

“H-Hey! What was that about!?”

He ignored her just as he had done with me and, without a word, continued to make his way out of the chamber.

“Guys! Guys, is everything okay, did we get it!” I heard Zipp call to us, walking alongside her sister and helping her stand up. Both of them wore scratches and bumps, but no significant injuries, thank hoofness.

“Please, please, tell me we won. I can’t stand any more of it. Ooow, this is gonna take forever to get out of my mane and fur.” Pipp whined about her sorry state.

“I-I… yes, w-we got him, Zipp. It’s over…”

“Yes! Finally, we can go home! It feels like it’s been forever since… what's with those looks? You don’t seem excited by the fact we actually won.”

“N-No, it’s nothing like that, Zipp. It’s just…” I tripped over my own words.

“Hey, where’s Hitch and Alex? Are they okay?” Asked Pipp with concern after realizing we were a few members short.

“Hitch should be still stranded on that small rock in the middle of the lava pool. Zipp, he’s going to need a lift.” My friend answered with an affirmative nod and promptly took off in his direction. “As for Alex, I… I don’t know for sure, Pipp. He’s taken the crystal and is currently heading out, but…”

“What do you mean? He’s just getting a head start or something, right?”

I really didn’t know what to tell her. His behavior had changed so drastically, I was utterly left without words. “I-I don’t think so, Pipp. He… he seems just… he looks so mad. I don’t know what to tell you. I haven’t ever seen him like that. Not even when we first met… and all that coughing, he looked like he had broken something on the inside!!”

“Don’t worry about the coughing, he’ll pull through. It’s happened before.” Discord commented, rubbing his aching stomach. “As for the other thing, he has every right to feel that way…”

We all turned surprised towards the sighing form of Discord, who had recovered from the impact enough to rise on his claws and was slowly making his way towards us.

“What are you talking about?” Asked Izzy while she moved towards him and offered her back for him to lean on. He looked quite a bit shocked by the impact. I wouldn't have thought he had suffered any damage, being who he was, but still…

“Thank you, Izzy, that won’t be necessary.” He politely declined the help and breached the distance between our little group and him. At that same moment, Zipp carefully lowered an exhausted-looking Hitch, who was completely drenched in sweat after being so close to the lava for such a long period of time. I was genuinely surprised he hadn’t passed out from the heat. Earth pony strength really was a remarkable thing. “Looking good there, sheriff. Did you enjoy the sauna treatment? I heard it’s great for the body and washes away all impurities!”

“Urgh, s-shut up, Discord.” Hitch was definitely not in the mood, but at least he was safe and uninjured. Zipp made sure to stay by his side in case something happened, batting her wing as a fan to bring some form of relief over his overheated body.

His dry comment elicited an amused chuckle from the draconequus, who had the decency of conjuring a bottle of water for him, which he greedily gulped down.

“What did you mean by that, Discord?” I asked with a serious tone, trying to return to the previous discussion.

“Let’s just say that during my prime days, I committed many mistakes, some of them, and possibly the worst of them, caught him in the middle and put him in a…. bad position let’s just say. He has every right to hate my guts after what he had to go through.”

“Discord. What, did, you, do to him?!” Izzy inquired with an even more dark tone. She almost sounded… protective of our human friend.

“Didn’t he tell you about it?” A negative shake of our heads was our answer. Discord’s brow knitted in surprise. “Seriously? Well, that’s NOT my story to tell, I’m afraid. You should ask him, although don’t expect him to be too willing to talk about it, it was difficult for him for many reasons.”

I was definitely going to talk about that with Alex, but now wasn’t the best time. The heat had become a bit too much to bear a long time ago, so it was better for us to get a move on and exit the chamber. We had to catch up with Alex and search for a way out of the canyon. And then, it was back to Maretime Bay for a much-deserved rest.

“Come on, ponies, we’ll talk about it later. We should all head out and catch up with Alex. The sooner we start the sooner we’re back home.”

The ponies agreed with me, looking as willing to leave this place as I was. Together, we retraced our steps and exited the chamber from the way we had entered. From the tall ledge, I glimpsed the bipedal silhouette of my friend, who appeared to be looking for a suitable path to climb up the tall walls.

I called to him once we were all outside, my voice echoing against the canyon walls. It reached his small ears with ease, and once he saw us beginning to climb down to the bottom of the chasm, he began walking back towards our position.

“Everypony all right?” He asked when he caught up with us. I couldn’t help but feel a little apprehension at the sight of him. He wasn’t looking as mad as before, but I could easily discern the lingering fury in his brown eyes and his rigid posture.

“Everything’s peachy around here! Are you alright, Alex? That was some nasty coughing back there…” Answered Izzy with droopy ears, stepping closer to give him a friendly nuzzle. A small whine of disappointment left her muzzle when he didn’t reciprocate, choosing instead to drill a few holes at Discord.

“Good. Discord, make yourself useful and get us back to Maretime Bay. I don’t feel like walking all the way back.”

“But, Alex. You can’t expect these old bones of mine to carry on such a request after the GREAT battle we’ve just been through. I’m seriously just seconds away from passing out.” Discord wailed with a dramatic sight, deflating like a punctured balloon. He even sounded like one.

“Discord, llévanos a casa, o juro por Faust que te arrancaré las tripas y te ahorcaré con ellas!”

“Uhhh, what was that, again?” Asked Zipp, mirroring our confusion at his strange choice of words.

“Oh, that was just his mother language. He just asked me again to help you in the MOST respectful way. And you’re going to need something a bit longer, Alex. I AM quite tall.”

“Umm, if you say so…” By the way he had said it, and the icy glare Alex was giving him, I held grounds to believe that was FAR from the truth.

“Very well, my little ponies. Grab into your withers… and whatever is it that you have Alex.”

My friends all stepped closer to Discord. I saw Alex kneeling at my side and closing his eyes.

“Get ready, Sunny. The first time’s always the worst. Especially for long distances.”

“W-Wha-'' Before I could even wonder, a blinding light followed by the loud crack of magic enveloped us. For a second I felt the weirdest feeling, like I was being stretched from everywhere at once. But just as it had begun, it suddenly ended before we had the chance to think about it. Just like that, we were back in Maretime Bay. In the middle of the main hall of the brighthouse, more precisely.

“Ugh, I swear I still don’t get how Twilight could do that all day long.” I heard Alex muttering beside me. He was the first to recover, standing up again and shaking the dizziness away.

“G-guys, I-I think I’m going to…*urp*”

Hitch sped towards the bathroom to throw up, looking sickly green.

“Never again. Ne-ver, again!” Pipp complained while being helped to stand up by her sister.

“Oh come on, ponies, it was just a little teleportation spell,” Discord chimed with a chuckle, looking amused at our sorry state.

“That was awful! Did unicorns really use this to move around?”

“Only the best of them, Izzy. Here.” Alex hoofed me the Pegasus Crystal and began heading for the ramp.

“Where are you going?” I asked, dumbstruck by his bluntness.

“I’m going to take a thirty-minute-long shower, Sunny. I reek of sulfur and sweat. You head up and join up that crystal with the others. They should resynchronize automatically, that is if they haven’t been stolen while we were gone…”

Without another word, he disappeared up the second floor, the slam of the closing bathroom door resounding through the hall.

“Oooookay… I mean, I get he’s mad, but that seemed a bit too harsh, methinks.” Zipp winced, her wings ruffling at her sides.

I sighed in defeat. “I’ll talk to him later, Zipp. But first, we have to take this crystal with the others. Come on, ponies…. um, do you mind waiting here Discord?”

“I am deeply wounded by the lack of confidence in me, Sunny. I thought I had made clea-”

“Yes! Very well, we’ll return shortly, thank you very much.”

Leaving a mopey-looking Discord behind, we all trotted our way up towards our room, since the new elevator that raised us up to the crystal’s room could only be accessed from there. It was big enough to hold us all at the same time, and unlike the old one, this one didn’t work with ropes and pulleys. You just stepped on it and… it floated you up. None of us had any idea how that worked, but neither were we complaining about it. Also, the Prisbeam energy that surrounded us when we used it gave this weird feeling, like a tingle that ran through your whole body. It felt nice. Sadly, there wasn’t any Prisbeam energy coursing through the tower at the moment. But that would be solved very soon.

The elevator worked like a charm even without the rainbow energy coursing through it. Once at the top, we made sure the remaining crystals were just where we had left them.

“Seriously, Hitch?” Zipp blurted with a deadpan tone. “A lump of clothes was the best hiding spot you could think of?”

“Whaaat? I didn’t want to take them out of the room in case something worse happened. Who would think of looking inside it? It’s just a bundle of Alex’s clothes… which I now realize I should return to their original place since he’s taking a shower and he might need them, hehe…”

“In a moment Hitch, let’s get this done first and we can finally rest.”

Hitch hoofed me the two other Unity Crystals. They looked exactly like how we left them, with not a single scratch on them. Faust be thanked for small miracles.

I placed them over the portable table Alex used when he carried out his investigation on the crystals. Extracting the Pegasus Crystal from my side bag, I placed them in the correct order. At that very same moment, the all-too-familiar humming of magic built up and resounded throughout the room. With a flash of blinding light, the crystals joined together once again and floated towards the center of the room. When the humming reached its peak, a bust of rainbow energy, not so different from the one that appeared when they were rejoined for the first time, filled the room, bathing us in the familiar warmth of magic coursing through our veins. It didn’t stop there, the energy engulfed Maretime Bay and beyond it.

“Weeeee DID IT!!” Izzy shouted with glee, all of us bursting into celebratory cheering.

“Oh my gosh, I can LITERALLY feel the stress leaving me. It feels like I could just meeelt.” Pipp said while dramatically plopping onto her belly. It was true that, with the crisis averted, we all could finally begin breathing again. It had been a very, VERY close call, one I no doubt knew anypony was looking forward to repeating.

I felt like we should celebrate. We definitely deserved it after all we had been through. Looking over my friends, my sight settled on Izzy, a sudden idea popping into my head.

“Okay, ponies. I’m sure you’re all itching to finally get your magic running free, and I have just the perfect idea for it, Zipp!” My friend stood at attention. “We’re gonna need your sports gear, the gear we used to play flyball.”

I could see Izzy’s head drooping in disappointment at the mention of that particular sport. “Now now, Izzy. I’m going to make sure we ALL get to participate this time, sound good?”

Like flicking a switch, my best friend’s demeanor changed to one of excitement and anticipation. It warmed my heart to see her so happy, finally being able to join us, and not feel left behind. I wanted to talk to her about it.

“What are we waiting for? Let’s get this thing going!” Not wanting to waste any more time, Zipp decided to just fly out of the room and go straight for the storage room. The rest of us took the elevator back down. Pipp flew to help her sister, while Hitch returned to the hall to check on Discord and let him know about the game. Before Izzy could leave the second floor, I stopped her with my foreleg and signaled her to follow me.

She did so with a confused dip of her head. I led her toward the left-hoof side end of the catwalk, near one of the side windows. Once she caught up, I planted my rump on the floor and faced her with a guilty expression.

“Everything okay, Sunny?”

“Izzy I… I owe you an apology.”

Her muzzle scrunched up in puzzlement, but I pressed on. “You were right. When magic came back, it was such a TREMENDOUS event. A-And my alicorn powers too! I was SO excited about them and the new possibilities they granted that… that I let it get in the way of our friendship. That wasn’t fair to you…”

I couldn’t bring myself to look at her, choosing to let my gaze fall at the floor under the wight of my shame. “I know it will take time but, I hope one day I can earn back your trust.”

I waited in silence for her answer, a few tension-filled seconds passing before I felt her forelegs surrounding me in a warm hug.

“You can’t, Sunny, because you never lost it.” My best friend whispered in my ear, followed by a few reassuring nuzzles.

“Oh, Izzy…” I answered with a cracking voice, a few tears escaping my eyes as I nuzzled her back. I don’t know how much time we spent like that, just enjoying each other's company and warmth, knowing there was no bad blood between us. Neither of us was willing to pull away. I just continued hugging her. Over the reek of sulfur, her familiar scent of wildflowers filled my nostrils and brought me a sense of peace.

“Hey!” We were suddenly surprised by Zipp’s voice who called to us from the bottom floor. “If you’re done chatting up there, we’ve got a game to play!”

“We’ll be down in a second, Zipp!” I called over the railing. I looked back towards Izzy, a playful smile brightening up her features. “Shall we?”

“Oh, yeah, let’s show those featherbrains how it’s done!”

Sharing a laugh, we began to head towards the ramp. Passing in front of the bathroom door, the sound of running water brought to mind our human friend.

“Wait a moment, Izzy…” Sunny asked, as her hooves made contact with the door, a loud *knock knock* sound resonating through the building. “Hey, Alex, we’re heading out to try a new game for all of us to play together. Do you want to join us?” I asked loud enough for him to hear over the roar of running water.

“In a few minutes!” Was his muffled response.

Feeling content with his answer, we resumed our way outside.

“I worry about him…” Izzy muttered in a concerned voice as she tailed behind me.

I sighed deeply, sharing her concern. “Yeah, me too, Izzy. I don’t know where the human we met a few weeks ago is. He’s been just… so mad all the time, like he’s become colder and more distant. I don’t know what happened between him and Discord, but it’s really taken a toll on him.”

“I’ve tried to cheer him up, but between the nerves and worry and everypony being on edge… I don’t know… I just hope that once this is all over, he returns to his true self. I know he doesn’t like being like this. He’s such a caring pony… he’s been very good to us. Even if he has every right to feel sad and depressed all the time, taking into account what little we know about what he had to go through, he still tries to see life with hope… even if he sometimes seems to flounder in his thoughts.” Izzy mulled something over for a moment. “He does that a lot.”

“Does what?” I pried in.

“When I spend time with him, he often gets lost in thought for a few moments, only for him to shake them away and mutter that he shouldn’t be thinking like that, that things are different now. I see him trying, trying so hard to remain optimistic, to stay focused and not lose himself.” My friend’s gaze dropped under the new light. “I try to be there for him, and I know you do too. I just… I just hope we’re doing enough for him. I can’t even imagine how much he must be suffering. To leave behind everything he knew, all his friends thinking he betrayed them, to come here and free us from the terrible mistake he thinks he’s responsible for…”

I shared Izzy’s concerns regarding Alex, a hundred and one questions still unanswered, harmful questions which I preferred to avoid for his sake. “I know, Izzy. Now that all this ruckus is over, I’m going to take the time to have a serious talk with him. Regardless of how much he tries to, he can’t keep bottling things up and wishing for everything to be alright. I don't think he's in danger of… harming himself like… like he mentioned that time, b-but still, I want to be one-hundred-percent sure! I don’t know about you… Well, I KNOW about you, since you and he spend a lot of time together, but for my part I feel like we’ve grown close… even if we only have known each other for a few weeks, I-I, I just…”

“I understand Sunny, I don’t want to lose him either. We’ll make sure of it, okay bestie?” She extended her hoof, and I returned the gesture. Togetheer, we reapted our small mantra.

“Hoof to heart.”

I was never a sports guy, and neither was I looking forward to getting all sweaty again immediately after taking a shower, but I didn’t want to leave my friends hanging. Also, I couldn't hide the truth about Rainbow’s forcefully imposed training sessions and the sense of clarity and accomplishment they brought after finishing for the day. I guessed I could really use some of that now.

The warm water was working wonders to remove all the aching and stress from my battered body. Discord was seriously pulling his punches with us, and even then hurt like a bad day on Tartarus. Any lingering rage washed away with it too, leaving behind only a profound sense of emptiness and guilt. Guilt that I would have to carry for the rest of my days. A heavy chain bearing down on my heart. A worthy price to pay in my eyes, at least at the beginning.

Even after all our… ‘disagreements’, I couldn’t fully ignore Discord’s reasoning fueling his motives. Magic WAS dangerous. It had been a fundamental piece of Equestria’s downfall. And yet, it also formed a crucial part of it. I still couldn't convince myself that it was the only thing to blame. Blame was just a pathetic excuse to shift the responsibility from the true culprits, the ponies whom I had once called my people, who having been given a true paradise of a country chose to be led down a path of fear and resentment for petty reasons, with very little to gain and everything to lose. Bewitched by her words, hundreds of years of silent resentment hadn’t been fully erased from the time of the three tribes. A change of government, with an inexperienced leader that, try as hard as she might, couldn’t win her ponies' trust as her mentors did…

It was breaking up into a disaster. We were all blind to it.

‘And that idiot thought that what Twilight needed was a boost of confidence. Let’s get her to fight some of the greatest villains that Equestria had faced, TOGETHER, and see how well that goes…’

My crusade against Discord was personal. At the zenith of the fight, I couldn't have cared less about the Unity Crystal. I wanted to see him suffer, to give back if only a piece of the suffering his action had inflicted on me and my loved ones.

The shower indeed worked wonders, but it couldn’t wash it all away. Not wanting to continue wadling in the slums of my depressing humor, I thought better to just go out and spend some time with my friends and get my mind off things. Some apologies were due given, too. I had been a bit of an ass to them lately.

Once I was done, I quickly dried and dressed in a fresh change of clothes. The playful screams from my friends out in the grassy slope in front of the brighthouse told me they had already begun with the game. It didn’t bother me much since I wasn’t planning on joining them. Just seeing them have fun would be enough to soothe my soul for a little while. The sight of a happy pony was always therapeutic for me. Literally. I had written a paper about it.

Once outside, the sight of my pony friends foaling it around the field brought a tiny smile to fight down the scowl that had almost made a permanent residence on my brow. They seemed to be having a blast, and this time, they were ALL participating. Izzy in particular looked completely ecstatic, using her magic to help her team score a goal.

I found myself reconsidering joining them, but the thought was abruptly interrupted by the sight of Discord, who was standing a bit far off the game field and was beckoning me to approach him.

I really, really, REALLY didn’t want to deal with him anymore, but the fact that he had taken the precaution to stand away from the ponies, and the uncharacteristic serious expression that he was wearing, was enough reason for me to entertain his summons.

As it happened, he wanted to take the chance to speak to me about some things regarding our common friends and what transpired after I left, which undoubtedly came in handy for me because I had too wanted to talk with him about it, once I was finished tearing all his limbs and reattaching them as I saw fit. There were many things I had missed that could be important for my mission. Any scrap of information was priceless.

To my dismay, what he had to offer me didn’t precisely paint a good picture.

“She had the ba…. I mean, the ovaries, to go and attack Canterlot Castle, just like that?!! W-What was she thinking?!”

“That she did! It caught your beloved princess and the rest by surprise, too! It would have seemed completely foolish to do so… if she hadn’t been sporting a pair of wings, besides her horn.” Discord retold with a knwing smirk which was far from amusing.

“…..WHAT?!! Arcana turned into an… an alicorn?!! L-Like Sunny does?!”

“Nopey dope, nope!! Hers were the real deal, just like Twilight’s.” He corrected me with a twist in the ari, leaving me beyond baffled. “And they came with all the power entitled to them, of course.”

“… A-And did she… she managed to…”

“Nope again! She was very, VERY close, but Twilight’s just too good. You should know about that.” His knowing smirk grew wider but, in light of my borderline panicking, he parked his cheekiness for the time being and put on his serious hat. Literally. “With barely any harmony left in Equestria, the elements, or whatever passed for elements at that point, ugh; wouldn’t have been able to blast her with your precious ‘oh, so power of friendship’, so it came down to a battle of strength! In which Twilight rose victorious and stripped her of her alicorn powers.”

That rubbed me as weird, on top of everything else coming from his muzzle. “Stripped Opaline of her powers? You can’t just take away somep… the Bewitching Bell!”

“Bingo!” He celebrated with matching flags.

“… And what happened to her? Was she turned to stone like the rest?”

“Twilight thought she could bring her to her senses and reform her before coming to that, you know what she was like... so, she locked her in the dungeons and waited a few days to come up with a plan to do so…”

By the drying tone of his voice, I could already guess how that ended, “But she escaped, right?”

Discord sighed and nodded. “That she did.”

“H-How?!” I demanded. “You said it yourself, she was powerless, and the dungeons are well-prepared to hold alicorn-level threats if the need arises!”

“We believe she had seeded all the cells with teleportation runes just before she attacked. So regardless of which cell she could end up imprisoned in…”

“... She could make her escape without the use of magic… and, because she had almost no magic, she was locked in a low-threat cell, which isn't reinforced with dimeritium. Faust dammit, Twilight!!” I stomped the ground hard, clenching my teeth in frustration. How could Twilight have overseen such a stupid thing?!

“Truly a shame. That little scandal didn’t do any good for the crown’s image, that I can tell you. The good news is that nopony saw her again after that!”

“… She disappeared?” I returned my gaze to his towering form, crossing my arms over my chest to keep them from shaking.

“That’s what it looked like! No leads, no rumors, just up and gone like a fart in a hurricane. Not even in the allied countries of the Heptarchy was she spotted. They looked for her for a time, but in the end, there were more urgent things to deal with.”

This nugget of information was enough to declare a huge shift in priorities. If Opaline had somehow gained alicornhood… But how? It’s not something you just trip over and gain for yourself!

“… A-And, how did she gain her abilities? Becoming an alicorn is not exactly a thing anypony can do.”

“I’m afraid that is something I can’t tell you. We both know the procedures for becoming one aren’t exactly uh… public knowledge. Whatever she did to gain her form, she didn’t stick around to tell us.”

“… She was very talented with magic, even if she ended up dropping her studies with Twilight. Almost as talented as Luster and… that other colt, I can’t remember his name.”

“She had to be talented in order to be able to fight Twilight to a stalemate, wouldn’t you agree?” Discord dropped.

‘Faust dammit, I never thought she would go so far!’

“Another alicorn, as if Cozy hadn’t been enough, the little bitch… Do you think… Opaline might still be around, somehow?” Virtually impossible, but I was beyond trusting pure reason by that point.

Discord rubbed his goatee in thought. “If I’m being honest, I don’t think so. I would have noticed an alicorn lurking around the Castle, even if she was powerless. During the years I remained here, I never saw a pony walk Equestria outside of the three cities. My little friends would also have warned me otherwise.”

‘Guide them through the incoming darkness…. My role yet to be fulfilled…. Fuck’s sake, Equestria has enough enemies as it is for me to try and guess who it is this time, and that’s assuming it isn’t’ a new one… We are so fucked if we have to face an alicorn. Time to speed up Sunny’s training…’

“H-How…” I gulped nervously, shifting to even darker topics. “How did it end? You know… how did Equestria reach this point?”

“Well, to be completely honest with you, I didn’t really stick around to see the end of things….”

“What?!!” I sneered.

“I-I mean, don’t get me wrong.” He sent his claws waving in front of him. “I spent all the time I could spare helping Fluttershy, so I wasn’t really focused on what was happening to the rest of the world. I know that not long after the battle at Canterlot Castle, Twilight activated the Unity Crystals. She spent a lot of time working on them, moreso after you were gone. I think I heard something about a change of plans, but she kept it all very hush hush, especially after Opaline’s attack. She became a bit too paranoid for everypony’s liking, if I’m being honest. The population divided itself further after the attack, many of them thinking Opaline was just somehow protecting them from losing their magic when she fought Twilight. As you can guess, the activation of the crystals WAS against Opaline’s interests.”

Of course it was. She would too become magicless, especially considering harmony between the ponies was the last on her goals list.

Things were beginning to click. “She had to fight Twilight to prevent the activation. She knew the country wouldn’t hold itself together for long, so she would end up losing her magic with the rest of the ponies.”

Discord hummed in agreement, hovering on his mismatched wings. “That’s my best guess. But, regardless of that, the activation of the crystals managed to at least stabilize things for a bit. Just as Twilight predicted, the fear of losing magic overpowered whatever issues the ponies had with each other. Peace was reestablished. A fragile, forced peace, but peace nonetheless, enough for the crystals to allow magic to keep flowing.”

“And what about the other countries? What became of the UH?”

“Well, most creatures that currently lived in Equestria emigrated in a rush back to their home countries. If the ponies held fear and hate for its own kind, you can imagine just how dire it was for the other creatures. Heavens, you should’ve seen Novo after she found out…”

Nothing but bad news kept on coming. “For Faust’s sake! So much for the globalization effort…”

Discord gave me a sympathetic pat on the shoulder. “It was a valiant effort, but alas, it wasn’t meant to be. Borders were closed, and territorial conflicts arose between nations as old wounds were reopened. Not having Celestia and Luna around to impose their will and keep things cool definitely emboldened the other nations in their pursuit of self-interest. They were quick to ignore the international treaties and began testing one another, and see who was the first one to break.”

“… Just… Why? Why would they do that?” I couldn't come up with a reasonable explanation. We had made so much progress…

“I honestly don’t know, Alex. What I told you applied mostly to the griffons, the dragons and the minotaurs. You know how they were. A lot of skirmishes took place along their borders. As far as I know, the rest of the creatures just retreated to their home countries and ceased all contact with Equestria. Whether or not they’ve survived until today, I don’t have a clue.”

I rubbed my temples as a prominent headache began to form. “Fuck… Well, that’s another thing to investigate. As if I didn't have enough on my plate already…”

“Oh, yeah. It’s going to be a couple of rough months, my friend.” Discord replied with a hint of mirth I wanted nothing but to punch back with a few teeth.

“…”

“… And what about them?”

“Our friends?” Discord cocked an eyebrow.

I replied with a shaky nod. This was the question I dreaded the most. But I had to know. I just had to. I had remained oblivious for far too long. No more running.

“Weeeell, as you might imagine, they weren’t exactly happy…”

“What did Starlight tell them?” I wanted to know first.

“When she returned from wherever you had hidden, she was brought directly to Twilight for questioning. Some of the higher robes wanted to accuse her of conspiracy or some nonsense. Twilight was quick to shut them up. She told Starlight she knew that she had been working on something behind her back, but she trusted her enough to not assume things before they’d had the chance to talk… and talk they did. Starlight confessed you and her had been working behind Twilight’s back in what you believed was the correct solution, the only viable solution in your eyes. That you both believed the crystals were against everything ponykind stood for… and that, by your request, she had sent you some time into the future, to an era where she wouldn’t be able to interfere so that you could fix what we had broken.”

A bag of bricks tugged down on my stomach, making my skin pale. Yet, none of them were fresh news to me.

“… I wasn’t SENT into the future. I was put in stasis. We built the spell to keep me asleep for a thousand years… but, if she told them I had been sent directly into the future, they wouldn’t have a reason to look for me… Oh, Starlight…”

“They DID search for you, actually,” Discord interjected with a serious pitch. “They searched for you before Starlight confessed, and even afterwards they still combed the whole country looking for you… and yet, Starlight never told a single soul the location of your resting body. Obviously, that didn’t sit well with Twilight and the rest of our friends. The School of Friendship had closed its doors a few months prior, so there wasn’t much of a reason for her to remain with us. She left one day, supposedly to go back to her home village. None of us ever saw her again.”

‘Gone? Just, gone? And what about the diagrams, the chamber designs? Did she take them with her? Gosh, I hope she destroyed them…’

“…We had assumed it wasn’t going to be pretty for her, but I never guessed…”

“Starlight made something very clear to all our friends,” Discord interrupted me. “And that was that she had no regrets. She’d spent her whole time with us repenting for her sins, and this was her final act. For better or worse, she wouldn’t follow Twilight’s hoofsteps, she just couldn’t do this to the ponies.”

I had to take a seat at that point. The sheer amount of guilt and self-loathing I was currently experiencing was almost nauseating. As much as I was expecting the worst, hearing it was an entirely different thing.

“Celestia damn it… Okay, okay.” I took a deep breath and steadied my mind. “So, the crystals ensured a temporary peace for what, a few months? A few years?”

“I don’t remember, exactly… around two years, I think? It has been a long time, Alex. I have trouble remembering everything.” He apologized, scratching his messy mane.

“It’s fine Discord, this is way more than what I was expecting. What about the rest of our friends? The element bearers, the students?”

“Our pony friends just… continued on with their lives as best they could. They never lost sight of the true Equestria, the one you all had spent so many years fighting for. But without Elements to wield, they could only try and change hearts and minds in their own way, which barely counted for anything in the end. There was a whole country to convince, and the numbers were not in their favor. As for the former students, most of them returned to their home countries when things got too bad.”

“They didn’t manage to stay together?” I asked, thinking about six in particular.

“I’m not entirely sure, perhaps they agreed to meet someplace outside Equestria? I don’t know, it’s been a long time since I’ve spoken with any of them. Needless to say, they didn’t take in good humor your departure either…”

“...”

Discord felt as if he had something more to add. “In the weeks before the fall, magic began glitching, just as it has been doing these past few weeks.”

“Glitching?”

“Yes. Whatever fake peace that had been established quickly deteriorated, Twilight’s best efforts weren’t enough to keep the ponies united, and when the glitching became too much, she enacted what she called the ‘Exodus’.”

That sounded foreshadowing, if not a bit obvious. “Does it have something to do with the three settlements the ponies currently inhabit?”

Discord shook his head side to side, eyes closed and reflexive. “I’m afraid that, from this point forward, anything I can tell you are just guesses. By the time magic was about to disappear, I had to make a choice. Leave for my home dimension and keep my magic or be left stranded on a magicless Equestria for the rest of my days.”

“And you decided to stay?”

“… No.”

“No?!”

Once again, Discord reeled back from my flames. “I-I knew Fluttershy would be alright without me. The segregation of the tribes went so far that they barely mingled with each other, so there weren’t that many conflicts around that time as long as everypony kept to themselves. Just … nopony wanted to know anything about any of the other tribes, just like all those centuries ago. It hurt me SO much to see her suffering like that, I just couldn’t stand it in the end. So, I fled to my domain to preserve my powers and search for a solution outside of Equus. I peeked into other worlds, other versions of Equus. I sought alternate timelines which I’d hoped would reveal to me some other way. But in the end, it was for nothing.” Discord sighed heavily.

“What do you mean? Didn’t you find something?” I asked, knowing well about the other Equestria’s and old the peculiarities each of them hold.

“Nothing that would have helped us at that point, it was too late for us. So, after my research proved fruitless, I resigned myself to just return and face whatever it was that awaited us. If it meant spending whatever time I had left with Fluttershy, it was worth it, even if it was going to cost me my magic. I pushed through the shame and jumped back into Equestria. I found nopony when I arrived.”

“… E-Excuse me?!!”

Discord just shrugged whatever passed for shoulders on him. “Equestria was completely empty; there was no sign of the ponies or any settlements, aside from the ruins of the abandoned cities left behind. Wherever the last ponies that didn’t emigrate to other countries or city-states outside Equestria proper had made their home, I couldn’t find them. For weeks I searched, and I only found an empty country.”

“… T-That doesn’t make sense. THAT DOESN’T MAKE ANY SENSE!!” I’m not afraid to admit I was on the brink of losing it. From all of the things that could have happened, I was DEFINITELY NOT expecting that. Equestria had hundreds of THOUSANDS of ponies, if not a full million which, in humanity’s terms, it’s your everyday mayor city. But here, there was no way all those ponies could just up and banish it, it was beyond reason.

“I tell you what I saw, Alex. No signs of any pony civilization. At least until a few years ago. I had abandoned the search way, way before that, but a strange feeling aroused me from the lethargy I had ended up falling into, and I decided to check. And lo and behold, there they were! Each tribe in their own city, not interacting with one another, not caring for anything regarding the other tribes, teaching fear and mistrust to new generations to ensure that there weren't any thoughts about joining back together. Segregated, but at peace. At that point, I was willing to take that. They had somehow survived all those centuries, and now, even if they were not in the state either of us would have wished for, each of the tribes thrived in their own way. The why, the how? I haven’t the slightest idea. That’s for you to guess! Haha!” He finished with playful mirth.

“It’s too much… It's just too much. I-I, I don’t know…” I muttered feebly, clutching my knees against my chest.

“It most certainly is! But thankfully, that’s your problem to deal with. I am going to take a looong vacation from my looong vacation, having been stranded on this planet for so many centuries has really done a number on me.” He cracked his neck and back like an elder. He really looked older. I didn’t believe that was actually possible.

I was sure it was all a number.

And just like that, he turned and walked back to the field, where my friends looked like they were about to finish their game.

‘Aaaaand he’s just going to leave, just like that. He drops all this crap on me and then just decides to take a vacation… Faust damn it, I’m definitely getting a drink after this. I’m gonna need some time to assimilate this new information.’

Feeling too drained to continue running it over and over again, I decided to leave it for the day and join my friends on the field. Tomorrow, I would try to put some order to what I had been told. I had to further my investigation using Argyle’s diary entries and notes. I had the nagging feeling I was leaving something behind, something important.

‘There are still so many questions I need answered. And a bunch of crystals I need to deal with. One thing at a time, Alex, one thing at a time…’

I caught up with the group by the tail end of Discord's farewells. “…and don’t worry about me. I’m sure I’ll see you guys again. Equestria is still not ready to deal with me at the moment. But after some time, who knows…” He smiled maliciously, his eyes promising mischief and chaos in the coming days. What could we do about it? He was the Lord of Chaos; it comes with the job description. At least he had the decency to give us some warning to get things in order ahead of time.

“And with that my little ponies, I bid you adieu!” He turned to face me one last time. “I’ll see you around, Your Excellency.” He gave me a deep fake bow. “Make sure to keep them in check. I have a feeling our future depends on it.”

“….Que te folle un pez espada, Discord.” I answered with a smirk of my own.

“What did he say this time?” Asked a confused Sunny.

“Oh, he just wished me good luck with my future endeavors. He’s SUCH a nice human, isn’t he, Sunny?” Discord gave her a very pointed look, causing her to stutter and blush.

“O-Oh, um… Yes, of course he is.”

Discord couldn’t help but release an amused chuckle at her answer. He looked at all of us one last time, and with his usual ‘ta ta!’, he was gone in a flash.

‘And here I am, the last remaining piece of the puzzle, learned more than was expecting, and ended up with even more questions. I won’t get tired of saying it, I’m too old for this…’

“Hey, Alex! What were you two talking about? You were at it for quite some time!” Our resident peppy unicorn wanted to know.

“What can I say, Izzy? I learned much more about what happened during my absence back then, and as a result, I now feel a decade older…”

“YOU LEARNED MORE ABOUT THE PAST?! OH MY PONY, YOU MUST ABSOLUTELY TELL ME ABOUT IT!! Pleasepleasepleaseplease!!” Sunny launched herself at me in sheer enthusiasm. I had to secure my footing to avoid both of us falling back to the ground.

“Whoa, whoa, slow down, Sunny. First, I need to digest it, like, really really need to digest it. Then, I need to verify it with your father’s notes and whatever pieces of evidence I can find. There are many gaps to fill. I have to make sure I get the full picture, there could be important information we might need to face whatever threat Harmony warned me about.”

“B-But, c-can I help you?! Pleeeeeeease?!” She gave me the biggest puppy eyes she could muster.

I sighed, and nodded. “… Yes Sunny, I will ask for your help if I need it… and what are you pouting for?!”

Izzy had joined Sunny in a double puppy eyes attack, but once Sunny had achieved her goal, she ceased with the pouting. “Oh, I was just offering support. Double the cuteness, double the chances, right?”

“… I don’t even know what to say to that Izzy. I hope you guys had a great game and all that but, if you’ll excuse me, I plan to sleep for the next twenty-six hours uninterrupted. I’m going to need it if I want to make any sense of what I’ve been told…”

Without waiting for an answer, I turned on the balls of my feet and hurried back to the brighthouse, my tired eyes dropping and my thoughts slowing down with each step I got closer to the bed.

‘Tomorrow. Tomorrow I’ll get a solid start on things. I really hope it doesn’t end up being what I fear it is. Nothing I can do about it now. I’ll just have to wait and see...’

Chapter 16- The reason we fight.

*… and, that’s pretty much all I can tell you, Alexander. Our observations mirror yours, but we’re still getting used to having magic back again, so nothing too convoluted can be performed by our experts for the time being. Most of our analysis comes from whatever old books and manuscripts that were kept preserved well enough to be used, but none of our current machinery is designed to acquire readings like the ones you propose… not that Bridlewood has a lot of technology in the first place. It’s almost a miracle we’re having this conversation at all!*

Those weren’t the news I was looking forward to hearing, but it was the news I had been expecting. Of course, hundreds of years without magic would have made any magic-relaying technology useless and not worth keeping. This day, however, just when I needed it most, that technology was exceedingly hard to acquire. Ironic, if you consider how things were when I first arrived in Equestria.

I sighed to myself and thanked the elderly unicorn stallion behind the screen. “Well, there’s nothing we can do about that. Until the technology is rescued and reassembled, this is all we can get. Thanks for the effort, Alastor, I really appreciate the help.”

If the old unicorn historian, one of the very few who had actually bothered to learn and preserve the history of Equestria to a degree, had no more answers to give me in addition to those that I had sought for myself, then there was little more I could do on this end. Whatever magic, whatever spells the Unity Crystals contained that made them work, I would have to keep guessing at how they worked from an outsider's perspective, peeking and prodding without going too far, else I end up messing it up worse than Discord. I wasn’t, under any condition, going to try invasive methods like Twilight tended to gravitate towards, for some reason… Whatever the case, Faust knows how that could end up. Whatever bits of knowledge I had acquired surely were more than what I had when I woke up, but it wasn’t nearly enough for my liking. It was, however, nearly enough information to allow me to seek alternative paths to enact the plan.

*It’s been a true pleasure, Alexander. If you need anything else in the future, you can count on me! If I’m allowed to say, this might well be the most exacting thing that has ever happened to me!*

The old historian sure looked positively excited. I guessed that, taking into account how unicorns were prior to the reactivation of the crystals, any little thing, even rummaging through old tomes, would be considered ‘exciting.’ As long as he had fun and I had results, I wasn’t going to complain.

“Until next time, Alastor.”

*See you next time!*

After exchanging goodbyes, I closed my laptop and leaned back in my plastic chair with a tired groan, sending my arms high over my head on a lazy stretch. The twins, Syntax and Boolean, pegasi technology prodigies those two, had finally cracked the remaining compatibility issues and had sent me a modified operating system to install in my old laptop that would be compatible with Equestria’s new software. I had to admit, they were brilliant in their work, if not a bit over-excited by the chance of being able to work with me. They were VERY adamant that I had to visit them at Zephyr Heights at some point. I knew I would have to go eventually, but their enthusiasm wasn’t something I was looking forward to.

They reminded me of my old pal and his computer-junkie fixation, he was a bit creepy too sometimes. Faust, how I still miss them all…

The good news was that I could now use most of the modern programs that ponies ran on their computers. The even better news was that I would be able to reproduce all the things I had carried from Earth using the new programs. The conversion process’ only downside was that all of my media files were considerably larger in file size when converted to Equestria’s media formats, containers and codecs, but that wouldn’t be a problem in the short term, as I had plenty of storage capacity on the external hard drive.

The bad news was that the technology that would have helped me study the crystals in-depth was very outdated, and the technology needed to get precise readings didn’t seem to even exist at the moment; the lack of complex spells that would serve similar functions also left me with barely a lick of knowledge about the Unity Crystals to interpret. Ultimately, I was left with a mixture of what I could remember and what I could guess from observation.

‘It’s evident that their main purpose remains the same. But they weren’t designed to hold defensive mechanisms in the first place. Or to rebuild a lighthouse with a crystalline appearance out of a whim. Or to grant triggerable alicorn powers to anypony. We conceived of them to protect the ponies from themselves by removing their connection to the world’s magic when harmony was compromised. But what else are you trying to protect them from, Twilight? What could warrant the appearance of another alicorn, especially when I made sure that that field of study was NOT to be pursued?’

So many questions remained unanswered, and Discord's revelations weren’t making things smoother. Top it off with Harmony’s warning about an incoming threat, and you had an overstressed human who had barely had any shuteye while spending the last two days cooped up in the crystals’ room doing little more than glaring at them while racking his brains in search of answers.

‘Luna’s teats! This is not my field of expertise!’

I was in serious need of a unicorn smartypants. They’d come up in pairs back then, now they were all but extinct.

Once I had eased the knots on my poor articulations, just as I had done yesterday, and the day before that, I turned in my seat to regard the glowing crystals yet again, who under my excruciating gaze continued to pour their Prisbeam energy into the sky, utterly and completely indifferent to my scowling presence.

‘There are many who would like to try to take all Equestria’s magic for themselves. Heck, I know three whose whereabouts are currently unknown to me and all of whom I hope, with all my heart, have succumbed to old age. Stealing magic is kinda a recurring theme here, just like the rainbows when dealing with harmonious magic…Tacky.’

“… Alex!!”

So absorbed was I in my musings that I had completely missed Sunny stepping off the elevator. She looked a bit disturbed, most likely from the glare I was giving the crystals.

Almost falling off my chair, I addressed the worried-looking mare. “Oh, sorry about that, Sunny, I was lost in thought. Do you need something?” I asked while shaking my head in an effort to return to the present.

“Um… w-well, I just wanted to ask how you were doing, and…”

She looked hesitant to approach me, nervously pawing at the pristine floor while avoiding meeting my gaze. Luckily for me, years of dealing with ponies had allowed me to read them like an open book and easily recognize these kinds of knick knacks. Just as I had discovered it was the best approach, I decided to force the issue to its evident conclusion.

“Sunny… I owe you and everypony an apology. These last few days have been very hard on me… in addition to my arrival here and all the jazz, it just… it just became a bit too much. I lost my cool and I acted like a jerk…” I spoke from the bottom of my heart, toying with my thumbs as I wetted my lips. “And you guys don’t deserve that from me. I-I’m… I’m just a scientist at the end of the day, Sunny. Not a soldier, o-or some kind of legendary hero.” I cut her off as I saw her about to retort. “And I don’t care what stories they tell about me. Just a simple guy who should under NO circumstances be prepared to deal with these kinds of things. As much as I have found myself in similar situations in my past ventures, it hasn’t become easier for me.” I swallowed hard and me her prying gaze, full of sympathy I felt I didn't deserve. “But please, please don’t feel like you can’t approach me. That’s the last thing I want with you guys. Do you forgive me?” I asked with shame, knowing well her heart was too pure to hold a grudge on me. But still it was the proper way of going through things.

I opened my arms to welcome the hesitant mare, who now sporting a more relaxed air around her, crossed the distance between us and climbed into my lap to give me a big hug of her own.

Buried under my embrace I caught her mutter from within my clothes. “Of course I forgive you, Alex. It’s been a rough week for all of us. But after the confrontation with Discord and the days you’ve kept yourself up here, barely coming down to even grab something to eat… We’d begun fearing for you…”

I winced inwardly, chastising myself for making them worry over nothing. “I’m sorry, Sunny. I shouldn’t have made you worry like that. It’s true I needed some time for myself, but not at the price of your well-being. So no more mister ‘angry human’ around the house. I won’t bite…” I purred naughtily.

I felt Sunny snuggle deeper into the hug in pursuit of my warmth, a relieved sigh escaping her nostrils.

“… much.” I surprised her with a gentle nip to her orange-furred ear. Sunny released a small ‘eep!’ of surprise, a rosy tint adoring her cheeks all the way to her fidgety ears when she extracted her head to give me a flustered look.

“What?” I returned my most innocent shrug, “It’s been a while since I had Doritos.” An honest truth, not that she was gonna get it.

“…T-The what?”

Thought as much.

“Nah, don’t worry about it. Human reference. So, what else did you want to ask me?” I silently laughed at their flustered yet confused expression, patting her croup twice to let her know I was just playing. Ponies were always very expressive like that. It was amusing to mess with them a bit sometimes.

“O-Oh, yeah, um…” Burying down whatever thoughts were running through her pretty little head, Sunny decided to not waste any more time and took a moment to recall her previous question, the blush never leaving her muzzle. “I-I was going to ask if you were up for a relaxing hike this afternoon. We can find a good spot and roast some marshmallows under the stars. I think we all could use it to unwind. What do you think?” She asked with big, hopeful eyes.

How could I say no to that? It also sounded like a great idea. I could really use the chance to go out and park the crystals out of my mind for a few hours.

“Count me in!” I gave her an enthusiastic go-ahead to her plan. Not wanting to let go of her yet, I began to rub my hands all over her scalp, behind her ears and under her chin. The trinity of a pony’s soft spots. I wanted to return some of the affection I had denied her with my bad mood. And also, I enjoyed the sight of her dreamy eyes and goofy smile when she was showered with a good dose of human cuddles. Nopony could blame me for a little self-indulgence now and again.

“Did you tell the others?” I asked, expecting her to invite all the group.

“Ah… y-yeah, I’m… mmmmmm, gonna t-text them later t-to let them know… mmmmng, Celestia so goOoOod…”

She had trouble concentrating under my mind-numbing ministrations. It was a funny sight and it did wonders to help me calm down and focus on more positive things. As I’ve said before, it was therapeutic for me.

I continued for a few more minutes, letting Sunny bask in my touch and free herself of a few nasty knots on the place I ran my fingers through.. But when my hands were growing tired, I reluctantly had to stop. At that moment, an idea of my own popped into my head to add to hers.

“Hey, Sunny… now that you’ve mentioned a hike, I think I could first use a nice walk around town to stretch my legs and air myself a bit, see if I can clear the cobwebs from the attic to get a fresh start later. I’ve been stewing in here for the last two days. And, if I keep going, I swear I’ll end up drilling an actual hole on those crystals from glaring at them. Mind accompanying me? There are a few things I want to talk about with you on the way. I think it might help me.”

After a good shake to regain her bearings, Sunny was all too willing to accompany me. “Of course!! I also think it will be great for you to get some fresh air… And you can talk with me about anything you want to.” She answered with an eager smile.

I thanked her with a short nuzzle on her snout, eliciting a cute giggle out of her and another blush. I was ready to get up and get going on our walk, but Sunny seemed to have forgotten the fact she was still monopolizing my lap, just remaining there while showing me with her beautiful eyes full of affection.

“Soooo, are we going for that stroll?” I asked cheekily while pointing with my eyes at her straddling position. With an embarrassed laugh, she lowered herself back to the floor and waited for me to join her.

I took a moment to collect my things and leave the scattered notes a little bit more organized over the desk for my next research session, which I wasn’t looking forward to doing, not gonna lie. But alas, that’s the plight of the scientist, to answer questions that no one else is bothered enough to.

Should’ve listened to mom and NOT gone to college.

Once I was happy with the results, I rejoined Sunny, and together we made our way past the levitating crystals and into the elevator. As we walked side by side, I felt her pushing her head against my hanging hand to try and resume the previous session.

“Hehe, slow down the LTP there, Sunny.” I spoke with a small laugh, thinking about putting my smart-pants on for a spell.

“LTP?” She inquired with a curious tilt of her head, upon which my hand was inevitably resting.

“‘Long-term potentiation’. Synaptic rewiring to enhance response to repetitive stimuli. It’s the neurological base of growing addictions.” I satisfied her curiosity with my best professor's voice.

Of course, Sunny took big offense. “I-I’m not addicted!” She exclaimed boldly, deeply flustered, yet making no effort to remove my hand to prove her point.

I raised a suspicious eyebrow at her claim.

“I am NOT!!” She reaffirmed with a stomp, still not freeing my hand from her mane.

I shrugged and let her with her own convictions. “I’m not the one you need to convince, Sunny…”

I was rewarded for my cockiness with a hip smack and a small pout, which quickly melted under a few more gentle rubs behind her ears. We rode the elevator down and exited the girls’ bedroom. No sound could be discerned from the hall. It looked like everypony was out and about on this sunny day. What I did see from the hall was a bunch of dirty dishes which somepony had forgotten to wash. A somepony whose identity I knew perfectly well.

‘Oh, when I get my hands on her…’

Sunny, not noticing or not caring about the mess in the kitchen, quickly trotted to the living room to retrieve her phone and texted the rest about this afternoon’s hike. With nothing else tying us in the house, we made our way out of the brighthouse and into the road that would lead us into town.

After a few minutes of peaceful silence, Sunny began voicing a question, dripping with hesitation. “Hey, Alex… um, are you sure that you’re alright?”

I lost sight of the blue horizon and peered down at her concerned orbs, and decided to not dance around the issue, as it wouldn’t do anyone good to do so. I had given them enough reason to fuss over me.

“I-I’m not sure Sunny. I’m definitely better than I have been in the past week. But, after everything that’s happened, and what Discord told me, it’s just… it’s been difficult to take it all in. As I told you earlier, I’m just your average run-of-the-mill guy. For as many adventures I’ve been involved in, it doesn’t really get any easier.” A bold understatement of the truth behind my past actions and ventures, a side of me I’d want to keep hidden for as long as I could, forever if I could help it.

“Ha! I think you’re more than just your ‘average’ pony, your literal highness. Even if they’re just honorary titles!” She cheered me up with a mock bow. Her playful mockery actually gave me the perfect excuse to talk about one little tidbit of info which I hadn’t been completely honest about when telling them about it. It was a nugget I wasn't gonna be able to hide for much longer, anyhow. Not the worst they could learn about me.

“About that, Sunny… I… I miiiight not have been entirely honest with you guys about the ‘being a prince’ thing.”

“Huh?” Her fuzzy head cocked to the side.

“... Sigh, fine.” I signaled her to stop for a moment and gave her a serious look. “I will tell you under one condition. You do NOT change the way you treat me or behave around me after you learn. I am Alex, the weird human who turned up from nowhere and happens to be your friend. Nothing more, nothing less, am I clear?”

She returned a puzzled nod, and we resumed our walk, Sunny quickening her pace to catch up. giving me her full attention. I didn't feel comfortable in the slightest sharing this part of me, but I thought they deserved to know straight from the source. It was very likely that they would have found out eventually, so I deemed it better to just get it out of the way before it had the chance to become an issue.

“Do you remember how I told you guys about Equestria's leading figures? Not nobility per se mind you. How were they chosen by the acts they performed and the traits they best represented? The best of the best that would lead Equestria into a better future?”

Sunny nodded, familiar with the principle. “Yeah, you said something like that, about how you and the other bearers possessed traits that could be deemed worthy of the title of prince or princess.”

“That’s it. So, when I was first offered the choice, I refused, claiming I didn’t feel comfortable with that kind of responsibility, and fearing how my friends would react and how they would change the way they acted around me if I became a leading figure of Equestria. ‘Science, not politics.’ was my motto, and I intended to keep it that way. That is, until the following winter’s festivities, when I was officially adopted by the Sparkle family.”

Sunny almost tripped over her own hooves at hearing this. “T-The Sparkle family? L-Like, Twilight Sparkle’s family?!” She sounded genuinely baffled, wide eyes regarding me in a new light. I would have thought the history books would have mentioned this, but it’s also true that we didn’t make it a very public event either.

“Well, excuse you! I don’t see anything wrong with that!” I retorted in offense, although I was just messing with her.

As I expected, she sputtered an apology at what she thought was my offended reaction. “N-No! That’s not what I meant at all! It’s just…”

“Sunny, I’m teasing.” I calmed her down with a playful grin and a tap on her flank.

“Ugh, you’re impossible!” She protested with a tail-slap back at my butt.

“Ouch! Okay, no more joking! But, yes, after a few Christmasses celebrating on my own without a family, they decided to officially name me as one of their own. Alexander Kintobor Sparkle, first of his name. Not bad, am I right?” I wiggled my eyebrows, winking at the stunned mare.

“Christmas?” Of course she would ask about that, her ever-curious mind zeroing in about the smallest of things.

“They’re Winter celebrations back in my world. I’m sure you have another name for them. So, that’s why they decided to adopt me. That, and, you know, the fact I was dating their daughter…”

If the previous query had made her skip a step, this brought her dead halt on her hooves, her jaw almost touching the floor from the sheer astonishment her features reflected.

“Y-Y-You were h-her coltfriend?!!!”

Another thing I’d thought the annals of history had recorded. Oh, well, what can you do about it?

“Boyfriend. And yes, I was. Didn’t you already know that?” Another thing I’d thought the annals of history had recorded. Oh, well, what can you do about it?

Sunny sputtered out her answer. “N-No! I mean, I knew you were close with all the element bearers, but I didn’t know that you two were actually a couple!”

Not a happy subject to talk about, so I wanted to keep it as brief as possible. “Well, we were. For a few years before… before the fall. I mean, we were very much alike. Two eggheads in a pot, and we found ourselves in a lot of tight spots that did nothing but help drive us closer aaaaaand what’s with that look?”

In between the astonishment and disbelief, I glimpsed in her eyes what I thought was… disappointment, I guessed?

Sunny quickly caught herself. Ears drooping, her gaze lowered to the ground. “Oh! S-Sorry, it’s… well I’m now realizing that… with you being here and… not there…”

That was a can of worms I wasn’t looking forward to opening, so I decided to skip the issue and offer her the short version with a melancholic sigh. I didn't wish for the sting in my heart to ruin such a beautiful day.

“Yeah... We were very happy together, until her ascension to the crown of Equestria and all the problems we had with the citizens… it kinda built up. And, after I found myself strongly opposed to her idea of using the Unity Crystals as the only solution… I guess it could have ended better than it did. But I just couldn’t stay put and see all of ponykind denied of their most precious gift. The sheer amount of damage it would do, the unthinkable consequences it might entail… I made an impossible choice that day, Sunny… and now, I’m here.”

Sunny, bless her soul, was quick to wrap me in a comforting hug, nuzzling her snout against my shirt. “I’m so sorry, Alex. That you had to make such a choice… we don’t deserve it…”

Alarm bells struck ten in the morning in my head. “Ho oh, yeah, no, that’s not how it works, Sunny. You, all of you, deserve the chance to live peacefully, and enjoy the gifts of magic you’ve been granted. It was I who got you into this mess in the first place. I’m willing to give my LIFE, Sunny, to see the damage I’ve done fixed. It is I who don’t deserve all the sympathy and support you guys have given me.”

I was positive Sunny would not side with me on this. But, thankfully, she chose to leave the issue at rest for the time being. “F-Fine. So, what were you saying about being a prince?” She ushered me after breaking the embrace.

I cleared the dust in my mind and resumed my storytelling. “So, when I became part of the family, I also became part of Equestria’s newest ‘royal family.’ There were a bunch of princes and princesses in the family after my incorporation, and with Twilight inheriting the throne… Well, you can see how it was. I started receiving pressure from the nobility and outside parties to take up the title and rule by Twilight’s side as Consort. My discoveries, and at that moment, my position was recognized both nationally and internationally. That’s not something you can just brush under the rug and sing a merry tune to it…”

“That… must have been complicated.” Sunny winced in sympathy.

I couldn’t help but give her a resigned chuckle. “You can’t imagine how much so. Under the pressure of the nobility and both the national and international panorama, against my better judgment, I decided to accept the title, but under one condition!” I lifted a finger in emphasis. “I would be granted the title of ‘Prince of Knowledge’ in recognition of all my contributions to the advancement and improvement of the nation, with all of the privileges and obligations attached. BUT! I would NOT involve myself in the day to day governing of the nation further than what my position of lead scientist of the ISIT project would require. I AM a prince. I was crowned as one, but I did NOT rule Equestria. That’s for the true royal family, the family composed of the… uh, ‘eternal’ alicorns under whose abundant experience and guidance the country is better led. Yes?”

“Wow… so, you ARE the Prince of Knowledge.” Sunny mumbled, eyes two dark pools of wonder.

I could hear the gears screeching in her head, and the small changes in her posture and the look she was giving me…

I was quick to rectify it.

“Hey! Hey!” I snapped my fingers in front of her, breaking her out of her amazement. “What did I tell you? All this prince business doesn’t mean anything now! I never wanted the royal treatment. It felt SO uncomfortable to see my loved ones bow before me. I hated it. I hated it a lot! So I don’t want to see you or anypony else giving me any of that, you hear me?!”

I didn’t want to sound too sour about it, but I reeeeally despised all the royal drama and nonsense that came with the position. I had had enough of it in Canterlot to see my new friends bow out of habit to have more of the same from my new friends. For all current intents and purposes, I was a mere human scientist working hard to fix his most terrible sin. Zipp and Pipp embodied as much royalty as there would ever be in the brighthouse.

“So … Just like Zipp?” Sunny offered unsurely.

‘Now she gets it!’

I snapped my fingers. “Exactly. Just like Zipp. If I’m completely honest Sunny. I don’t really think I deserve that title, or any title, after what I did. I want to take the chance to have a fresh start, you know?”

She wasn’t fully bought by my request, but thankfully agreed to my wishes. “Very well… Alex. No royal treatment whatsoever from any of us. Alex, the human scientist who gives the best hugs in all of Equestria.”

That got a good laugh out of me. “Ha! Now that’s a title I can get behind. Although, I would say I give the best hugs in all of Westria.”

“Westria?” She asked once again with a curious flick of her tail.

“Yeah, you know? The continent we’re currently stepping on?” No reaction came from her but a short blink. “Westria? Essia, on the other side of the Celestial Sea?” Not a sign of recognition in her. “Farisia in the south? Mithyana? Skyros? The Summer Islands?... Nothing?”

Sunny could only gaze at me with equal parts confusion and awe, her tail flicking behind her like a filly in sight of one of Pinkie’s delicious treats.

“Luna’s rump, what do they teach in school nowadays…” I rubbed my temples tiredly. The ashamed expression that quickly dominated her features made me backtrack. “Yeah, no. Don’t need to answer that, I can take a guess.”

“I-I’m sure the teachers will make drastic changes in education for new foals now that we’re all friends again!” She proudly exclaimed, losing her apprehension with a new light. It was good news indeed. See the minds of the old changing and the minds of the young not being molded around the notions about the other tribes being the enemy, a reining topic during the past centuries.

It was a slow change, but a change, nonetheless.

We continued our stroll through the upper level of the town, taking in the beautiful sights of the Celestial Sea beyond, whose waves slowly but surely rolled over a beach full of eager ponies having fun under the warm, summer sun. Everything pointed towards the day being just another quiet, summer day. The townsponies went over their daily routines, freely enjoying the magic which was their birthright, cheerfully greeting each other when they crossed paths in the streets, earth ponies, unicorns and pegasi alike, and not a shadow of conflict or mistrust tainting the homely feeling permeating the road. It was a beautiful sight, a sight that had become more and more rare as the weeks passed before the fall.

We sought refuge from the scorching sun under the shade of a tree of a nearby park which stretched between the railing of the upper level and the main street that crossed the town from north to south. We sat against the rough trunk of the old tree, its size providing enough shadow for us and another couple of earth ponies also resting a few steps away from us.

Immersed in a comfortable silence only breached by the far-off rolling of the waves, we rested for a couple of minutes, just watching the townponies come and go; a few of them who recognized us flashing us warm greetings that we happily returned. Some of them also cast us endearing smiles when they saw us sitting together, with Sunny scooched over me and resting against my side with my arm holding her in a one-sided hug. Their teasing smirks elicited an adorable blush from her every time, but she made no effort to change her position.

“It’s beautiful, isn’t it? The sights, I mean.” I softly murmured, referring to the view of the numerous townsponies going on about their day without issue.

I felt her nod against my shoulder. “It’s a familiar sight for me. But seeing unicorns and pegasi amongst the earth ponies makes it a hundred times better.” She finished with a dreamy sigh and a small nuzzle on my shoulder.

“Everything you ever dreamed of, right?” I sent her a side-look.

Once again, I felt her nod. “Yes. My dream, and the dream of my father; an Equestria where everypony lived together in harmony, where anypony could be anything they wanted… if only he was here to see it…”

I gave her a reassuring squeeze, not wishing to spoil the moment dwelling in the past, for both of us had more than enough pain to dig through. “I’m sure he’s very proud of you, Sunny. This was all thanks to you, and our friends of course; but it was you who made it possible.”

“Thank you…” She rewarded me with one of her beautiful smiles that I had grown to adore. I felt her scooch a little bit closer after, a gesture which only expanded the warmth I was feeling on my chest wherever I found myself sharing a moment with her.

“… Do you know what I see?” I asked in a subdued tone, returning my focus to the passerby ponies.

“What?” She softly inquired.

“… Legacy.”

“Huh?” She scooched back to fully address me.

“Legacy.” I repeated, keeping my gaze on the street. “The legacy my friends and I fought so hard to build. The gift my arrival and my work would become for the next generations to come. A new Equestria, where the magic that runs deep within ponykind coexisted with the technology I helped to envision. A mirror of the world I left behind. A better one, not tainted by the mistakes of my people, for all the creatures from the countries that joined forces to make it a reality.”

I soberly turned my sight towards the brighthouse and the Prisbeam energy that endlessly poured from its top. “But that’s not the legacy my actions left behind.”

Sunny followed my gaze to the crystalline tower that rose over the top of the cliff that marked the edge of the bay. She didn't utter a word, but I knew from her expression that she wasn't quite following.

“It was my idea in the first place, you know?” I confessed with heart-wrenching guilt. “The basic concept behind the Unity Crystals’ purpose. The pain I felt after the Incident made me consider some more… ‘drastic’ approaches to solve the escalation that only worsened with each passing day… I was quick to realize the monstrosity that was my original proposition, but the idea had already latched in Twilight. For as much as I tried to reason with her, it was already too late…” I sniffled hard and squeezed my knees tight. “Do you know how they work? The crystals, I mean.”

She shook her head in a firm ‘no’. “Most of the information about them, not to mention their entire existence, has been lost to history. You know where we found each of them during our search, right? Aside from my dad, I don’t think anypony knew exactly what they were holding onto. Most of what we know comes from what you’ve shown us.”

Not what I had hoped, but it would have to do. Time for another small lesson. “Hmm, let’s see if I can explain it to you in laymare’s terms…”

“Hey!” She flashed me an annoyed frown. “I might not be an egghead like you, but I don’t think I need it to be explained to me like I’m a foal!”

“Are you an expert on advanced thaumaturgy applied to crystalline substances?” I asked with a quirked eyebrow.

“… No.”

“Neither am I.” I answered nonchalantly, which elicited a funny reaction that screamed bewilderment. “That’s why I prefer the simpler approach. Okay, imagine a simple electrical circuit composed of a battery, a wire and a lightbulb, yes?”

“Seems simple enough.” She answered, her posture straightening in concentration, giving me her full attention.

“Great. So, you connect the wire to the battery and to the lightbulb, and the energy from the battery runs through the cable to light up the lightbulb, right?”

“Mhm!”

“Wrong.”

“W-What?” She reeled back a bit.

I proceeded to clarify with a tiny smirk., knowing I was gonna get her. “The lightbulb has to be connected to the battery, too. The energy needs to complete a circuit. That’s why the battery has two poles, so energy can flow from the negative to the positive. The electrons run through the wire, into the lightbulb and back to the battery. A part of their energy is left behind to heat the lightbulb and emit light, but it needs to be a closed circuit, understand?”

“Yeah… I see what you mean.” She rolled it on her mind for a moment or two.

“Awesome. For this example, the battery would be the Äether, the place slash dimension slash whatever it is that magical energy comes from and ultimately returns to. The wire would be the leylines which stretch across the whole world, carrying the magical energy from and to the Äether. Different leylines differ in the essence of the magical energy that flows through them, but they’re similar in their basic characteristics. The lightbulb would be a pony, or any other magic-wielding creature, who taps into the flow of magic and uses it however they wish. It is raw energy, given purpose through will, which then returns to the Äether in a different way than when it came out, but it’s ultimately still energy, you following?”

She had her muzzle scrunched up cutely in concentration, but it seemed she was following well enough.

“Okay. What happens when you add a switch to the circuit, how would that work?”

“W-Well,” She wetted her lips. “When you add a switch, you can block or allow the flow of energy through the circuit. If the switch is off, the light bulb doesn’t light up. The moment you switch it on, the energy can flow and complete the circuit, right?”

“Exactly, Sunny.” I tussled her mane playfully, earning a small, triumphant giggle “That’s how a switch works, and that’s exactly how the Unity Crystals work, at least in their most basic aspects. The array of spells they contain is meant to be waaay more complex than that, but that’s basically the gist of it. A switch which only triggers when certain requirements are met.”

“Peace and harmony between the pony tribes.” She muttered.

Dead on. “Exactly. I don't know the actual mechanism behind them, nor their current source of power, but they were designed to only work when those requirements were met. As long as the three tribes lived in harmony, magic would flow through the land, completing the circuit. If not, it would remain… how to say it... stagnant? I don't know if that's the best way to put it. It would not disappear completely, of course. That would have very catastrophic consequences for the planet in general. It would remain… unmoving, but not necessarily unchanging. Hmm…” I pondered for a moment. Only ponies were to be left without magic, meaning the rest of Equus’ species would retain their access to magic. “That was Twilight’s field of expertise more than mine, if I’m honest. I had a hard time trying to keep up with her when we initially began to design the crystals.”

Sunny slowly nodded in understanding. “I… I see what you mean… And, I also can see how that wouldn’t be a good idea…”

“It’s pretty obvious in retrospect, right? Force the ponies to behave and be good to each other, or there won’t be more magic to play with. By forcing the issue, you only worsen the breach, and when magic is cut off, the issues between races don’t magically follow, they only get worse… We both knew it was a terrible thing to do. I think, deep down, all that Twilight wanted was to teach them a lesson, somehow, like Celestia did from time to time with her ponies. Sometimes, it almost seemed like a case of a mother scolding her children to behave… Fuck, we were all inexperienced and unprepared. I highly doubt anything we could have tried would have worked in the end.” I sighed heavily through my nostrils.

Sunny returned to snuggle into my side, pawing my calves and nuzzling my chest affectionately in friendly support. I absentmindedly scratched behind her ears in appreciation, my mind too engrossed in my thoughts. So much for trying to keep the mood for the day.

“… I could just have told them to fuck off, you know?” I felt her wince at my harsh language, yet her silence ushered me to continue. “I could have just grabbed my things, searched for a quiet place to settle with my loved ones, and left them to tear their own country apart in their stupidity. Just up sticks and give up on them, just as it seemed they had given up on us.”

“… But you didn’t give up on us… that’s why you’re here, right?”

“Yes, that’s why I’m here… I lost a world already, and I didn’t want to lose another. I saw a lot of potential in ponykind. To reach, and even surpass my own kind eventually…. but against all my efforts, it seemed some part of Earth ended up coming to this world with me.”

“What do you mean?” Sunny wondered, her big eyes peering up at me with a glimmer of sadness.

“It’s just,” I turned in place to find a more comfortable position, not losing my grasp on Sunny who patiently attended the pity party. “What happened with Equestria and the other countries, that’s something that you would see back on Earth more often than not. As much as humankind has advanced in its thousands of years of collective history, there are some things that stick with us no matter how hard we try to get rid of them. I never expected to see that kind of behavior in the ponies, much less under the sisters’ rule… It really, REALLY caught us by surprise. What countless villains had attempted to achieve in the last two thousand years of Equestria’s existence, its own ponies managed to accomplish in less than two years… it sounds ridiculous.”

I craned my neck to peer down at her sad eyes. “But now that you and the gang are on the case, we’ll make sure it doesn’t happen again, right?”

She answered with the most affirmative nod I’d ever seen from her. “Right! No more fighting, no more senseless hate. We’re together again, and we’re going to keep it that way!” She bumped her forehooves together with a sealing clop.

Her determination was contagious, as I found myself lifting my closed hand in a fist. Sunny understood immediately and we shared a pony-patented ‘hoof bump,’ sealing the promise that we would do all we could to make Equestria whole again.

After that, we returned to our previous positions, just letting the time pass as we focused on the ponies passing by. A few fillies were playing with a frisbee nearby, which ended up flying off of their reach to land near my feet. With an inviting smile, I got up from my seated position, took the frisbee and signaled for the foals to run further into the park, as I was going to make a strong throw. With laughs of merriment, the foals quickly scampered in pursuit of the frisbee I threw with enough force to send it to the other side of the park. I heard Sunny giggling at the endearing sight.

With the sun at its zenith, I realized we had spent the better part of the morning hanging out. As much as I wish we weren’t, it happened that we were two responsible adults with responsibilities to uphold. With a fair amount of resignation, I turned to warn Sunny that we had to end our walk prematurely.

Needless to say, she wasn’t pleased, as I immediately found myself pinned under her while she lay on top of me, using her weight to prevent me from standing up. Time to resort to diplomacy.

“Come on, Sunny. We both have places to be.”

“Mmmmmm.” Was her negative response, keeping her snout high in the air.

“Sunny, come on, get off.”

“Mmmmmmmno!” She fillishly rebutted, hugging my body tighter, a stubborn twinkle in her eyes which regarded me with defiance.

I switched tactics. “But, just think of all those poor souls in search of a fresh smoothie to save them from the unforgiving sun! So many ponies suffering under the unrelenting heat, blindly searching for a cool refreshment to help them wander these desolate plains!” I dramatically voiced.

“It’s a five-minute trot to the beach, they can drink all they want from there.”

A surprised chuckle escaped my lips at her snarky rebuttal. It seemed talking wasn’t going to get me anywhere. “Very well, Sunny. I tried the easy way.”

My wiggling fingers soon found her ticklish spots, the earth pony squirming in delight under my assault, trying her hardest to secure her hold on me. But, the power of my fingers was too much, as she eventually had to release her hold to protect her ticklish sides from me.

When I felt satisfied, I desisted from my attack and allowed her to catch her breath. “Ah… ah… y-you… c-cheater… ah…”

I answered with the smuggest of grins, which elicited an eye roll from her. After a few more gasps of air, Sunny finally saw reason. Pushing herself with her front legs, she changed her position to sit atop me.

“Fiiiiine, I’ll go and open the smoothie stand. You’re right; the warm temperatures surely will attract a lot of customers. It’s so nice of you to be so concerned for us little ponies.” She spoke with a half-serious tone.

“W-Well, you know me…”

On any other occasion, I would have answered with a witty retort of my own. Sadly…. well, not really sadly, if I’m honest, when choosing to sit on top of me, she had chosen a very specific point to plant her rump. That, combined with the fact the thin cloth of my pants left little to the imagination of what was located on her sacred spot, forced me to use the emergency mantra for these occasions, else she’d feel the poke and throw a number.

It happened to me once, funny afternoon.

‘I’m a righteous man. I own my body. My body doesn’t own me…’

Sunny sighed in mock defeat. “Well, I guess I’ll see you later… Oh! Don’t you forget about the hike this afternoon, mister!” She nudged me in the chest with her hoof to get her point across.

“A-As the Dorito pony c-commands!”

Still not getting my earther nonsense, her response was a small giggle and a happy wiggle of her body, which only helped worsen my situation.

‘I’M A RIGHTEOUS MAN. I OWN MY BODY. MY BODY DOESN’T OWN ME!!!’

“Okay then. See you later!” She finally stood up and proceeded to make her way down the street with a pep in her step. Myself? I just remained there, suddenly finding the leaves of the tree under which we had sat VERY interesting, enough to capture my gaze and not allow it to deviate towards a particular part of the mare that was currently making her way away from me, her happy, wagging tail almost making it too tempting to resist.

‘You’ve done great, Alex. You deserve one, no, TWO cookies when you return to the brighthouse… and maybe a cold shower.’

And, return to the brighthouse I did. Since it was a weekend, I didn’t have to work at the lab until the day after tomorrow, not that I was particularly looking forward to it. As much as I love joyed lab work, the Unity Crystals were still my foremost priority.

Taking a minute to re-sheath the sword and silently cursing the testosterone that flowed through my veins, I made my way up the road we came and back into my new permanent residence.

Once inside, I made a beeline for the kitchen to get my two cookies, partially because I could use the snack, mostly because I COMPLETELY deserved it.

While munching on my impromptu breakfast, I heard a ruckus coming from the other side of the hall. A ruckus I had grown accustomed to in my short stay with the ponies.

‘Hmm, guess she’s back. Let’s see about those dirty dishes…’

I silently walked across the hall and entered Izzy’s small workshop. The mare in question was hard at work, seemingly fussing over a few loose pieces of junk, all of them circular in shape. At the side of their work desk, a ragged-looking lantern stood. It looked like she was working on fixing it.

“Knock, Knock.” I spoke while tapping twice on the nearby wall.

Izzy was startled by my call. She carefully left the ring-shaped pieces and removed her goofy working glasses. She flashed me a warm smile when she saw me leaning on the wall behind her.

“Well, well. If it isn’t Mr. Two-legged…” She greeted me with a mocking tone and a wink.

“And a pleasant morning to you Ms. Four-legged.” I greeted back, making us both laugh at our antics.

“So, what are you up to?” I asked while moving away from the wall to stand at her side. As usual, her working desk was full of pieces of scrap which, judging by the lingering smell, she had obtained from the garbage.

‘Faust above, how can she work with that smell…’

“Weeell, I’ve spent all morning searching for a piece that would fit Sunny’s old lantern. I wanted to repair it and give it to her as a Maretime Bay Day present! Or perhaps for her birthday?... Nah, I’ll think of something else to give her for her birthday. I have a LOT of stuff around I need to unicycle, what do you think she’ll like the most?”

‘Ah, yes, the festival in honor of the town. If I remember correctly, it should be in… three days, I think? I’ll ask Sunny later.’

I was happy to see the unicorn was keeping herself busy. “Sounds great, Izzy. Although, about Sunny’s preference for a birthday gift… I don’t really know what to tell you. I’m sure anything you come up with will be more than enough for her, as long as it comes from you. You know how she is.”

A determined look grew on her features. With a bold voice, she exclaimed. “Well, I’m going to make sure she receives the BESTEST gift she’s EVER been gifted! It’s my first time wishing a best friend a happy birthday and giving them a gift! I have to make it special!”

‘Wow, that’s… actually very sad.’

I chose not to dwell on it and take the wind out of her sails. “I’m sure you will, Izzy, you have the mind and the hooves for it.” I encouraged her with a playful tussle of her mane.

However, there was still something I needed to check. “Hey, Izzy. When is Sunny’s birthday by the way? You sounded like it was coming soon.”

She was already busy fussing over the different pieces, trying them one by one over the rim of Sunny’s lantern to see if they would fit. “Exactly two weeks from now. Pipp and I are already planning a BIG party for her here in the brighthouse. Ooooh, it’s going to be so cool!!!”

‘Exactly two weeks from now, that would put it in… oh. Now that’s a funny coincidence!’

“Thanks for the heads-up, Izzy. I’ll be sure to get her a nice present, too.”

She peered back at me over her shoulder. “I’m sure she’ll love it, Alex! I hope you’ll be just as thoughtful when MY birthday comes up, hmm?”

Under her inquisitive look, I could only salute. “Yes, ma’am. One thoughtful gift coming right up!”

“Good human.” She said with a smirk while giving me a condescending pat on my shin with her rear hoof. After that, she returned to her crafting, levitating numerous pieces and checking them over with analytical eyes.

Unfortunately for her, I wasn’t quite finished.

“Although, I’m not sure if a certain pony should ask for thoughtful gifts if they can’t even remember to take care of the morning chores when it’s their turn…” I tossed the comment into the air, but Izzy knew exactly who I was referring to.

So frozen she became that her levitating grasp on the numerous pieces failed, tossing them around the work desk. She slowly turned her head to regard my inquisitive look with a guilty one of her own.

“U-um, I’m so sorry, Alex. I-I’m afraid I don’t know what you’re talking about…” She swallowed loudly, her eyes darting around the room in search of inspiration… or an escape route. “I-Isn’t it Zipp’s turn today? I swore I saw her name on today’s ch-chores calendar.”

“Oh, is it?” I didn’t cease my inquisitive glare towards the unicorn, causing her to grow even more nervous.

“Y-Yes! Yes, I’m positive. I can even picture the moment I saw it marked on the calendar this morning.” She closed her eyes and scrunched her muzzle in thought, seemingly recalling the memory. Of course, the act was forced, and I wasn’t convinced in the slightest, but I didn’t feel like being the bad guy that day.

I raised a suspicious eyebrow at her feeble ploy, Izzy flashing me a fake smile that clashed with the apprehension in her eyes. After a few more tense moments, I decided that that was enough messing around with her.

“Very well. I’m sure Zipp must have been too busy today and just forgot about it, no biggie. I’ll leave you with your work. Be sure to check your phone later, Sunny has a proposition for a plan this afternoon.”

“O-okay! Will do! See you around, bestest friend whom I love very much and would never do anything to make him mad!” She rewarded me with her brightest smile and a vigorous wave of her hoof. Her attempts to butter me up were amusing, so I decided to let it pass this time. I turned around and began making my way out of her workshop…

“Pheeew…”

I heard her relieved exhalation, prompting me to suddenly turn my head to regard her accusingly once again, making her jump in surprise.

“I-I mean, pheeeew, so hot today, uh? The summer sure is kicking, eh? Hehe… eh.” She fanned herself with her hoof while blurting her petty little correction.

I narrowed my eyes at her toothy smile and kept it for a few seconds. I was having a blast messing around with her. It’s one of those comical situations you would only find in Equestria. I made a mental note to make it up to her later.

“… Yes, Izzy. It IS very hot today. Well, I won’t bother you any longer, see ya later.”

I finished exiting her corner of the hall and headed up the ramp, thinking about heading to my room for a bit and checking over a few things with the phone Pipp had most graciously gifted me to better stay in touch with the gang. With all the Discord mess from earlier I’d barely had any chance to seriously check it over in depth. Also, many years living in Equestria had ‘detoxified’ me when it came to spending time over one’s phone, so I didn’t really give it much thought even when I had a new one to use.

“Three, two, one…” Right on time, I heard the hurried trot of a pony crossing the hall, immediately followed by the sound of rushing water and the clink-clank of dishes being hastily washed and left to dry on the rack.

‘What am I going to do with you, Izzy…’

With an amused shake of my head, I finished walking up the ramp and turned to head over to my room. Or at least I would have, if a frustrated grumble hadn’t interrupted me, prompting me to look over to the girl’s bedroom.

Intrigued, I rolled on my heels to face the bedroom and silently peeked inside. There, rolling over her bed while muttering silent obscenities was Pipp, with her trusty laptop opened in front of her. By what little I could discern of her mutterings and the prominent scowl she was wearing; something wasn’t going right with her day.

I knocked twice on the door frame to get her attention. “Hey, Pipp, is everything alright?”

The petite pegasus stopped her rolling at my call, focusing on my standing form while being upside-down. It would have been an endearing sight if it weren’t for the scowl which slowly morphed into surprise when she recognized me.

“Oh, good morning, Alex. No, I’m afraid everything’s not alright!”

“Mm, wanna talk about it?” I offered.

She took a few moments to mull it, beckoning me to approach her with her hoof when she made the decision. With a thankful nod, I crossed the bedroom, bordering the imposing column of glass which encased the Prisbeam energy that flowed towards the sky.

I took a moment to check over each of the girl’s beds, all of them customized to each of their personal preferences, providing the room with a curious atmosphere. It was obvious each of the girls had their own tastes. I had to congratulate Izzy on her little corner of the room. Most of the decorations that lined her ‘hammock’ were hoof-made by her. I had half a mind to ask her for some decorations for my own room.

Making sure not to bump against the small speaker she had placed near her desk I neared her bed, sitting at the border when Pipp scooted over to grant me access.

“So, what’s ruffling your feathers?”

“My feathers are just fine, thank you very much.” She answered while taking a dignified pose. “It’s my social media which is giving me headaches…”

‘Oh, boy…’

“Well, what’s wrong? The last hit might not have met the standards, but I thought that it was a great song by the way.” I wasn’t lying, she had a great singing voice, which I knew for a fact it wasn’t thanks to whatever the ponies called Autotune here. She had a habit of singing around the house when she felt like it. She had a lot of talent.

“Awww, that’s so sweet, thank you, Alex…” She batted her eyelids cutely. “No, the song went great… and that’s actually what’s bothering me.”

I was genuinely confused by her stance. “Huh?”

“You remember the post I talked to you about the other week? The one where I wrote about how I felt when everypony discovered I couldn’t fly?”

‘Wow, I completely forgot about that, not gonna lie.’ I felt a bit ashamed.

“Yeah, sure. You ended up uploading it, I saw.”

“I did! But…. It's been almost a week already and… I just… ugh!! It’s better if I just show you!”

She reached over the foot of the bed and took the laptop between her hooves, furiously typing in search of the post. A few seconds later, she turned the screen to show me the analytics of it.

“Look!”

And look I did. It didn’t take me long to find the issue. “Hmm, fewer views in general compared to your other posts, almost nopony sharing the link elsewhere, and it’s been quickly overshadowed by the posts about Discord you published the day after… it seems that your pippsqueaks weren’t very interested in your story.” I offered sincerely, already smelling the familiar issue.

“YES!! That's exactly it! And I don’t understand why! I-I go to all the trouble to open my heart up to them, a-and they just treat it like some sob story which they would rather just scroll over! J-Just, they’re preferring the cheerleading-influencing pop princess post over the simple pegasus who just wants to share a little bit of herself with her fans! It’s… it’s just so…. arghh!!”

She sank her head on one of her numerous pillows to muffle her frustrated screams.

I could see where she was coming from. Several similar cases had filled Earth’s social media over the years. “Something similar happened back on Earth to people. Influencing figures rarely opened up to their audiences, remaining most of the time ‘in character,’ entertaining their fans in whichever way they did without getting personal with them. Most of their fanbase wouldn’t even give a thought about the person behind the online content, choosing to ignore those little occasions where the content creator would approach them in a more personal way, and just look for more entertainment instead. The Internet's always being kinda impersonal like that, I can’t say I’m surprised, Pipp. I guess it works similarly here, too.”

“B-But,” She removed her head from the pillow to give me a saddened look, “I show them the real me, making myself so vulnerable to them, trying to share my story to see if it would help somepony, just like you told me…”

“Did somepony answer you back?” I asked.

“Y-Yeah, a few shared their own stories with me.” She reached out to change the page and show me the comments to her post. “I’ve spoken to a few of them. I think I’ve managed to help them, at least as best I could…”

“Then you got what you wanted, right?” I moved my hand to give her a few reassuring rubs on her back and between her cotton wings. “Don’t think too much about the numbers in these kinds of posts. It’s not worth it. You managed to help some of your pippsqueaks and got closer to them as a result. If the rest would rather consume your typical content and won’t give these a chance, then that’s their loss. But don’t think it was a waste of time or that it wasn’t worth it, ‘kay?”

It was apparent she was having a hard time over this. Her droopy ears were enough to indicate that, as much as she wanted to listen to my advice, the love she had for all her fans really took a hit when she found her post ignored by most of her fanbase. That’s just the internet, I guessed. Or the Canternet in their case. I still didn’t know how that worked. I had guessed it had something to do with transmitting info using the ambient magic as a conduit, just as humans would use electromagnetic waves for the same thing.

I used my index fingers to softly lift her droopy ears, trying to light up a bit the somber mood. Fortunately, my gesture got a little chuckle out of her. Straightening her position, she moved to lie against my side.

“Thanks, Alex. I guess… this was a new experience for me, and it didn’t come up as satisfactory as I’d wished...”

I rubbed her mane sympathetically. “Perhaps some new lyrics can come out of these feelings you’re experiencing now. I think a song might get the point across much better than an online post, yes?”

That got the gears to churn, and she went over the idea for a few minutes while half-humming the beginnings of the lyrics that had started to form in her head.

“Wow, yeah. That can DEFINITELY work. Oh, Alex, you’re a genius!”

“I AM a genius, Pipp. That’s the whole problem, isn’t it?”

Fortunately, she didn’t pay attention to my commentary. Instead, with a few flaps, she got out of bed and plopped her rump into the chair at her desk, now full into composing the new song.

Not wanting to break her creative streak, I reminded her to check over her phone for Sunny’s plan regarding the hike and quietly left her to do her thing.

Without any more distractions, I crossed the aisle towards my room, thinking about taking a rest until this afternoon’s trip to the nearby forest. I tried to avoid any thoughts about the Unity Crystals or Harmony’s warning or anything like them. I had had enough of that for the last few days. I wanted to just take a moment to relax and check over my new phone, and see what the ponies had made of the one I had brought from Earth, whose technology I was sure they had used to create these.

‘They’ve managed to create their own version of the internet, although much smaller and localized… did they come up with the ‘spicier’ webpages?... It doesn’t hurt to look, I guess…’

Chapter 17- The reason we hurt.

“Ooooww, do you think they might have forgotten?” Sunny fidgeted on her hooves for a second before resuming her pacing. “They all answered my message, but it’s been hours already and I don’t see anypony except us! Perhaps they’ve gotten lost? O-Or somepony got hurt coming here?!”

After a hearty meal and a quick nap, I made my way to the meeting point Sunny had proposed for the hike. Following the instructions in her message, it had taken me around twenty minutes to reach the small clearing kissing the forest's entrance, where I found said mare waiting patiently for the rest of the gang to arrive, her muzzle hihgh in the air enjoying the feeling of the breeze tickling her sensitive snout.

An adorable sight that warmed my heart even further.

After some enthusiastic greetings from Sunny, we had engaged in friendly conversation, just chatting about the day and a few more things around our previous conversation that very same morning. However, minutes turned into an hour and nopony else showed around at the meeting point.

Sunny had started to become restless, trotting back and forth nervously while muttering a hundred and so scenarios her mind would come up with to explain our friend’s absence. From a tsunami that had flooded half the town to a duel of resolve between Hitch and a lost manticore that wanted to dine on an unsuspecting pony. Amused by the crazy scenarios she’d come up with, I simply chose to lounge near the clearing, using a fallen log to lay back.

Of course, knowing how ponies usually tend to work, I wasn’t worried in the slightest. “Sunny, calm down. Fussing over it ain’t gonna make them arrive here faster.”

Sunny wouldn't share my apparent calmness and continued making a mountain out of a molehill. “B-But what if they’ve completely forgotten? After all the effort I put into planning this trip!”

“Oh, they’ve definitely forgotten.” I offered nonchalantly.

Sunny did a literal double-take at me when I said that. Ceasing her worried trot, she regarded me with equal parts bewilderment and offense. “W-What?!”

I rolled my hand in the air. “They’ve forgotten about it, and have recently remembered about it, and currently are on their way here. You’ll see.”

I might as well have recited her Starswirl’s Theorem for Asymmetrical Magical Resonance over Spectral Projections. “... And how can you be so sure about that?” She demanded with ears flat on her scalp.

With the same urgency of a lazy seal basking in the sun, I gave her a simple answer. “Sunny, I’ve been living in Equestria for more than ten years since I first arrived. I’ve been through a lot of similar situations, enough of them to know what to expect. Nine out of ten times, we would have worried about our friends missing enough to start a search for them through the forest, with them doing the same for us, triggering a meaningless game of cat and mouse that would eventually end in all of us finding each other in a comical way after having wasted most of the afternoon. It’s better if we just wait for them here and give them a chance to remember and hurriedly make their way here to promptly bathe us in apologies about having forgotten about it. Sounds good?”

Poor Sunny was short-circuiting trying to follow my reasoning. Of course, from a pony’s point-of-view, it wouldn’t make any sense. It was one of those motives you realize keep happening when you spend enough time in Equestria.

“…That’s oddly specific.” Sunny replied.

“You ponies are way too predictable.”

Before she could add anything witty, we heard the hurried hoof steps of our friends, followed by worried screams. Lo and behold, there they were, our four missing pals galloping towards the clearing like the flames of Tartarus were on their tails. I couldn’t resist flashing Sunny my most irking, smuggest grin,winning back an annoyed huff from her.

“Smartbutt…” She squeezed through clenched teeth.

“That’s very cute, Sunny.” I gave her a winning wink.

“Sunny!” Hitch called breathlessly when he finally caught sight of us. He was panting like a rabid dog, most likely from having galloped all the way here in a record time. Behind him, the three mares also gave relieved sighs when they saw us patiently waiting over the clearing.

The sheriff was the first to initiate the apologies. “S-Sunny, we’re so sorry! I-I completely forgot about it! I was just so busy at the station th-that I…”

“Hitch, Hitch! Breeeathe.” Sunny, worried about Hitch’s poor state, stepped in front of the ragged-looking sheriff and tried to get him to calm down. The rest of the ponies surrounded us and also shared their own sets of apologies, also referring to how busy they had been during the day.

“That’s what this hike’s supposed to be about guys, remember?” I butted in with a hint of annoyance.

Numerous guilty smiles and ashamed looks were sent in my direction. However, Sunny being how she was, was quick to forgive them and tell them how thrilled she was at the fact we all would be able to partake in a nice activity together, to wind out a bit after all the stress of the last few weeks. She had made sure to bring plenty of marshmallows for us to roast later at our destination. She assured me it was a frequent stop for earth ponies who wanted to spend a relaxing time surrounded by nature. No dangerous animals or anything the like had ever been spotted in the forest that we’d have to worry about. The only drawback was the numerous roads which spread throughout the woods, making it easy for hikers to get lost if the proper directions weren’t followed.

Luckily for us, she had frequently visited the place with her dad when she was a filly, which meant she knew the way by heart. Not wanting to waste more quickly-dwindling daylight, we all set off towards the camping site, following behind Sunny who took the lead with a happy trot.

Izzy trotted by my side, not too far behind Sunny. Not wanting her to know about the surprise, I mouthed to the unicorn how Sunny's present was going. Izzy returned a confident nod and a wink. Sunny was in for a nice surprise from her bestie. Those two were simply adorable together, a true bond of friendship.

We set on a leisurely pace, the ponies chatting amicably about their days and their plans for the upcoming Maretime Bay Day celebration, each of them harboring their own plans to enjoy the festivities to their fullest. Sunny was already hard at work planning how to make this year’s celebration one that everypony,regardless of tribe, could enjoy. All ponykind was welcome, which meant they would have to plan for a much bigger attendance this year. Lots of food, decorations, and entertainment, all of which had to be meticulously accounted for if they wanted to make this year’s celebration the best it’s ever been. Of course, she was more than happy to take a leading role on the planning and organization, her inherent drive to provide for the community fueling her resolve.

‘A shame Pinkie can’t lend us a hoof, she would have this celebration ready before you can say ‘guacamole.’ The scariest thing is that she could ACTUALLY pull that off…’

“Watch your twelve, Pipp.” I warned my pegasus friend who was, as usual, engrossed in her phone’s feed. My warning managed to help her avoid a nasty hit at the last second against a tree’s low branch that jutted a bit more over the path than the rest.

“Oh, my. That would’ve been messy. Thanks, Alex.” She skipped on her hooves to trot beside me and use me as a guide so as to not bump into any other obstacles while she continued fussing over the shining screen, which clashed horribly with the natural atmosphere that surrounded us.

I knew it’d be a wasted effort to try and convince her to park the screen time for later. Instead, I retook a previus matter with her. “How’s the new hit going? Got any progress done?” I asked her, referring to that morning’s chat.

Pipp answered with a vigorous flap of her wings. “You bet I have! It’s coming up swiftlyyy~, I think I can get it nailed down before the weekend ends, and then I can get straight into recording at Mane Melody. It's going to be ah-mazing!!” She looked pumped up. It was great to see her livelier now that the bummer of her not-so-successful heart-to-heart post had been replaced by the desire to compose a new song. It was one of her favorite things in the world… after hooficures and mane treatments. And shopping… and spa sessions…

‘Mares…’

“You’re writing a new song, Pipp?” Hitch, having overheard us, asked from the rear of the group. Pipp was all too willing to flap up to his side and tell him everything about it.

“I’m sorry your post didn’t go as you expected, Pipp. I couldn’t really give you a definite answer when you asked me the other day, but I was hoping it would make the impact you wanted.”

Pipp sighed, although she didn't sound as bummed as before. “What can I say, Hitch? I just hope this new hit gets the message across. I’ll drill it into their heads directly if I have to…” The sheer intensity of Pipp's threat left little doubt about the seriousness of her proposition.

“I’m sure it’ll be great, Pipp. Yours are one hit after another.” I encouraged her with a thumbs up over my shoulder, receiving a grateful smile from the petite pegasus on the corner of my eye.

Zipp added her two bits. “Come on, sis, don’t you think you’re perhaps overthinking it?” Her sister asked with a tired roll of her eyes.

“Well excuuuuse me, sis. I go aaaall the way to open my heart to the pippsqueaks only for my post to be stomped over those… what are they called… The Filly Three?” She tapped her chin with a feather in thought. “... Bah, whatever, it was only because it wasn’t the usual content which I very much know they love!”

“I still think you give it too much importance.” Zipp wasn’t going to second in the competition of sisterly stubbornness.

“Zipp,” Pipp called her sister, now coming off as annoyed, “It’s literally what I do for a living. Like, the ONLY thing I do all day, every day. How do you expect me NOT to fuss over it!” SHe demanded with wings flared.

“I thought you ran Mane Melody for a living, Pipp!” Chirped Izzy with her usual peppiness, having slowed down a bit to join the conversation.

“Yes, Izzy! That and streaming content for my pippsqueaks! Ugh, what do you guys even know about it when you all have barely over a hundred followers on ClipTrot…”

Oh, that I couldn't let slide. “I actually had over two-and-a-half thousand, last time I checked.” I said with no little amount of pride.

Wide-eyed Pipp could only stutter like a pegasus out of the Dizzitron. “W-W-What?!! W-When did you get that many followers?!”

I pursed my lips nonchalantly. “I mean, I only posted the message about Discord when we were looking for him, and a selfie I took with those three fillies who are always fussing around you. They asked for a photo with me, citing I looked ‘weird, but in a good way.’ I guess being the only human around attracts attention.” Boy, did I know about that topic in particular.

I could almost see the gears turning in her head. “And no, Pipp. I’m not going to start posting frequently like you, so don’t expect collabs or anything similar. It just ain’t my thing.” I mercilessly popped her balloon.

The silent grumbling of the pegasus told me she wasn’t happy with my decision, but thankfully she didn’t pry further and resumed her tapping on the screen.

“Come on everypony, it’s just a bit further ahead.” Sunny urged us from the front of the group.

“You know about the place, Sunny?” Izzy cantered briefly to catch up with the orange mare.

Sunny’s smile spoke of happy memories. “I do, Izzy. My dad used to take me here sometimes. It’s the perfect place to spend the afternoon and watch the stars…”

“You like the night sky?” I could help but pry, although I realized it kinda made sense considering her cutie mark

“You bet I do! Ever since I was a little filly, I would spend entire nights watching the stars from the top of the lighthouse. I actually got my cutie mark during one escapade with my dad when we went to watch a meteor shower!”

I could only think of one metro shower big enough to spark a cutie mark in a foal’s flank out of love for the night sky. “The Mareseid meteor shower? In the middle of August?”

Sunny’s eyes lit up, her smile beaming impossibly wide. “Yes!! Yes, it is! How did you know?!”

“Well, it IS the most amazing meteor shower of the year. Luna sure worked her best to create a beautiful show.” I answered, drawing from experience.

“Luna? As in Princess Luna?” Wondered Zipp.

“Mhm, she worked long and hard to create the most amazing nightscapes for her ponies… a shame most of them didn’t really pay it the attention it deserved.”

“What do you mean by that? I for one think the night sky is a wonderful sight! It has inspired me on more than one occasion.” Explained Pipp while taking a good look at said night sky, or whatever little could be peeked through the treetops.

The tale of Luna’s fall was widely known across Equestria, even if only as a bedtime story to scare foals into falling asleep. Another figment of Equestrian history fallen into oblivion.

“That, Pipp, is a LONG story, I’ll be sure to tell you the whole thing another time. But, in a nutshell, the ponies didn’t give Luna the same love and attention as her sister. And, well… that had terrible consequences. But that was millennia ago, you don’t have to worry about it now.”

A flash of recognition dominated Sunny’s semblance. Surely she knew something about it if her dad had been as thorough with his research as I had shortly glimpsed in his notes.

Not a minute later, we had arrived at our destination. From where I was standing, it came to me as just like a simple clearing in the middle of the thick forest. Cozy, perfect for a quiet escapade. A closer look revealed a few logs placed around the remains of a campfire. The way the rocks were placed around it told me it was a designated place to place the logs, meaning it wasn’t just a casually-chosen camping site. The presence of an old rusty trash can furthered my suspicions, but I saw no sign giving it a name or designation.

“Ah, yes. I know about this place too. I use it as a halfway stop during the few field trips I make with the foals.” Hitch retold from beside me.

I was surprised he partook in said activities. “You take the foals on trips around the forest?” I asked him.

Hitch nodded proudly. “And any willing parent, too. The teachers ask me to do it a couple of times during the school year. It helps teach foals about nature and how to protect and respect it. Since there aren’t any dangerous critters around these parts, they thought it was a great idea.”

Now that sounded like a smart thing to do for the younger minds. I had feared that with all the technology that made its way into their daily lives, the ponies might have started to forget important things such as this. In the past, they had no other choice, but I most certainly didn’t want them to end up disconnected from the nature that was all around them. The ponies' influence on nature's balance, both directly and indirectly, was something that shouldn’t be underestimated nor forgotten.

Another thing that would end up being lost by the Unity Crystals. Another thing I hoped I could bring back.

“As a proud member of the scientific community committed to the study of life, I congratulate you, sheriff. It’s way more important than you think.”

Hitch beamed at my praise, and he trotted to the nearby bushes in search of wood to use for the fire. The rest of us spread over the logs around the ashen remains of the fire from whoever had camped here before us. Sunny extracted a comically large bag of marshmallows from her saddlebag, ensuring that there was going to be more than enough for all of us. A picture of a smiling pony with gums full of gooey deliciousness printed on the side left no doubt about their quality.

Once Hitch was back, the numerous branches were set in position, taking extra caution for them to remain inside the stone circle. The ponies spread out onto the logs surrounding the campfire, with Sunny choosing to share a log with me, tucking herself close to me as if the warmth of the fire wouldn't be enough for her fuzzy fur. You wouldn't find me complaining.

The sisters sat together to our left, with Izzy and Hitch on the log to our right. A small pout from the unicorn told me she would have much preferred to share the seating arrangements with Sunny and myself, but sadly they weren’t big enough to fit three ponies, less two ponies and a human.

“Ignis.” I mumbled to cast a small fire spell, the roaring flames immediately spreading through the branches like liquid, bathing the surrounding area in a gentle glow and providing a soothing warmth that fought against the nipping wind from the upcoming night.

Using some spare branches, we all nailed a pair of marshmallows into them and proceeded to slowly roast them over the fire, as tradition demanded.

The ponies resumed their amicable chitchat about their things. Zipp told us about how the last group of pegasi had ‘graduated’ from her impromptu flight camp, and that she wouldn’t take any more students since she believed pegasi had already got the basic hang of flying well enough to avoid any serious accidents. Pipp spoke enthusiastically about how she had closed a deal with some unicorn herbalist from Bridlewood to create new perfumes and makeup products from a series of plants which only grew in certain enclosed parts of the mysterious forest, making it her goal of the week to dazzle the earth ponies with the fragrances of nature. A if an earth pony needed to know about nature. Sadly, in the times of today, that was indeed the case.

I chose to remain silent for the time being, preferring to listen to my friends talk amongst themselves. It was a relaxing experience, just as Sunny had predicted. Just a bunch of pals sharing roasted marshmallows and having fun under the stars. It was the kind of thing I missed a lot during the last months before the fall. All the pressure and work, the deteriorating situation… it really didn’t allow much time for leisure activities like this one. Very taxing for the mind, too.

The ponies continued chatting until way after dawn, when the campfire became our sole source of illumination. Luna’s moon was already halfway up its path when I realized that one pony, who I would’ve believed would have been the chattiest of the group, had barely opened her muzzle aside from taking bites from her sugary meal.

“Izzy,” I called out to my unicorn friend, who was startled by my voice. She shook her head and locked her eyes with mine.

“S-Sorry, Alex. Just lost in thought.” She tried her best to defuse my worrying with a merry giggle.

I didn't buy it. “Yeah, I’ve noticed. Something bothering you?”

The nervous shuffling of her fetlocks was enough to show she wasn’t comfortable with my request. However, before I could assure her that she needn’t tell me if she wasn’t feeling okay with it, she asked me a particularly hard question.

“Actually, there IS something bothering me. You know when we were trapped in that tiny cage with Discord taunting us? You were very angry and shouted at him that he had no right to give you… uh, ‘morality lessons’ after he got you… something… A-and then, after we defeated him, he told us you had every right to hate his guts, but he didn’t want to tell us why… it’s been bothering me for a while…” Izzy admitted. She lowered her head in hesitation, but didn't break eye contact, her gorgeous pearls wishing to get an answer for me. “Why did Discord say that, Alex?”

The rest of our friends overheard her and stopped chatting to listen closely to what I had to say.

I didn't have anything to say. Well, better said, I didn't want to. It was an event that had marked my life in multiple ways, something equal arts defining and traumatizing. Something that changed me forever, taking a piece of me in the process.

“… Izzy, I… I don’t really feel that comfortable telling that story, are you sure you want to know? It’s not a happy tale.”

With visible hesitation, she returned a nod. The rest of the ponies also silently asked me to.

As much as I would rather have kept that piece of myself to myself, I felt they had a right to know. Especially considering Harmony’s warning to all of us, for she had been a key protagonist in it. I thought that perhaps… perhaps it would help me share the story with my new friends, as it had helped me in the past with my old ones.

No whispers in my ears. This choice was mine.

“Very well.” I steadied myself and swallowed a heavy lump, tucking in knees against my chest as my gaze fixed itself on the dancing flames. The ponies were in for a ride.. “So, when Twilight was officially named successor to the crown of Equestria by Celestia and Luna, she… let’s say she didn’t take it very well.”

“She didn’t?” Interrupted Sunny from my side, having taken close notice of how sensitive and uncomfortable this topic was for me. “I always believed from the stories that she was described as the perfect mare for the role. Especially as she had been Celestia’s personal student, right?”

I nodded stiffly. “Twilight was brilliant in many aspects. It’s true that she had been molded by Celestia to one day become her and Luna’s successor, ever since she was a little filly. But, to have the responsibility of governing an entire nation dumped on you in such a short time, just like that… it was a bit too much for her. I mean, it was for all of us since we were ready to help her in any way we could. But even so, the pressure was too much and we kinda had to postpone the official coronation for some time to give her a chance to acclimate and ease her into it. Faust, I swear even today I still don’t understand why Celestia thought it was such a good idea…”

I could discern a shade of sympathy in my friends, who listened to my story with rapt attention. Those had been rocky times, trying for all of us, but one pony in particular. I had downplayed it a bit that night. In truth, Twilight had been at the brink of a nervous breakdown shortly after Celestia had the announcement dumped on her shoulders.

I picked up the thread of the story again. “Discord was present in the throne room when Twilight was told about it, and he surely saw how she reacted. And as such, he sought to, ummm… ‘boost’ her confidence? It’s the only reason I can think about for doing what he did.”

“What did he do? Knowing Discord, even for a short time as it has been, it must have been something wacky.” Spoke Zipp, our short, but intense experience with Discord having been more than enough to mold their perspective.

A heavy sigh filled with troubled memories escaped my nostrils. “It was the stupidest, most morainic idiocy any thinking being could fathom. Even for the Lord of Chaos and all that crap, I just can’t wrap my head around the fact that he thought THAT was what Twilight needed!”

The ponies were surprised by my short outburst. “Wow, he must have done something hectic!” I heard Izzy chime in after a few seconds of silence.

“What was it?” Added Hitch.

I lost myself in the shifting shapes of the flames for a few, thoughtful moments, tapping with my thumb on my knee as I collected my memories of those days, trying my hardest not to grow mad from them. Now they were simply memories.

“... Well, to ‘boost’ her confidence, and help her realize that she was more than ready to take up the crown, he thought he would test her resolve by summoning some of Equestria’s greatest villains together, teaching them to work together by personally by disguising himself as another of Equestria’s ancient enemies. He then set them on a course of vengeance against all of us; all of that so that they could eventually be defeated by Twilight and the Elements, proving his point that Twilight was more than capable of ruling Equestria… Needless to say, Discord was eventually betrayed by them, and they stole his chaos powers.”

I let that sink for a minute. The astonished looks from the wide-eyed ponies were enough to show me that my story was taking root.

“That…” Sunny began but lost the thread at the tip of her tongue, “... Yeah that’s… very stupid.”

“Stupid?! That’s absolutely CRAZY! Mother of glitter, what was he thinking?!” Pipp shouted from her log, her wings flaring out in anger. Zipp could only hold her head on her hoof from the absolute stupidity that was his plan.

“Yes, Pipp, it most certainly was. To keep things short and easy, the villains, who started as four in number but, in the end, only three remained; managed to use an ancient artifact to steal Discord’s and the alicorn sisters’ magic, using it to empower themselves. The ponies started calling them ‘The Legion of Doom’ after they wrecked Canterlot. The group was composed of the mad centaur, Lord Tirek, the exiled Queen of the changelings, Queen Chrysalis, and the power-hungry pegasus pony, Cozy Glow.”

A flash of recognition glimmered in Sunny's eyes, surely having known of this from her father’s research. “T-The second battle of Canterlot…” I heard her mutter in restrained wonder.

I poked her cheek playfully, congratulating her for another successful guess. “Yes, I think that’s what they ended up calling it afterwards. So, after some fighting and practically having destroyed half of the royal palace, the united Equestrian forces, composed of ponies and many other creatures, stood against the three tyrants. The Elements, and by that I mean the physical Elements of Harmony, had been destroyed shortly beforehand during another minor scuffle. Thankfully, Harmony doesn’t really care for those sorts of things. By that point, the girls themselves had become the Elements of Harmony. And, as it befitted them, we together sought to end the situation peacefully before any more fighting had to occur…”

I felt a cold weight pushing down my chest, cold sweat betraying me down by brow. What I experienced that day had marked me for the rest of my life. It was something no creature, especially no human, was supposed to experience. It haunted me for weeks on end and forced me to ask myself many questions, questions that would end up hurting me more than any physical wound I might have suffered.

“M-My friends and I approached them and asked them to cease their attempts at taking over Equestria. Of course, none of them were willing to. After having been defeated and humiliated by us, on several occasions for some of them, they were dead set on eradicating us… Each of them hated us for different reasons, and in their hate, they found what was needed to act as a team… Cozy Glow especially loathed me, as I had been an essential part of bringing to an end to her plans of stealing all Equestria’s magic for herself. She was just a pegasus filly, so sweet and cheerful… I still don’t understand what brought her down on such a demented path…”

“What happened after?” Zipp asked with the same trepidation that mirrored all my friends’ features.

I could feel my voice breaking. I had to make an effort and force the words out of my mouth. “W-Well, as I said, Cozy was particularly… I don’t think the word ‘pissed’ really did it justice… B-Before any of us had the chance to notice, s-she gathered energy in her horn and fired a magic-charged beam at me. You need to understand that the magic from the princesses and Discord had been enough to grant her an alicorn form, with the raw magical power output corresponding to one.”

“A-An alicorn? L-Like me?” Sunny’s shaky inquiry brought me to focus on her for a moment. SHe still remained close, ears perked and attentive, sadness and sympathy shadowing her beautiful spirit as she took in my story.

“Not exactly, Sunny. She was a flesh ‘n blood alicorn, imbued with the magic of Equestria’s most powerful creatures.” I released a small chuckle at the fragment of the moment, obscured and distorted by the sheer amount of times I had run it in my mind. “I swear, at that moment, I saw Chrysalis and Tirek look as surprised as we were when she fired. It’s as if none of them were expecting her to go that far…” My hand unconsciously raised to grasp under my left pectoral, a phantom jab making my skin ache in icy burn.

“Were you hurt?” Izzy pried, mirroring Sunny’s visual concern.

Another chuckle breached my lips, but the memories were far from amusing. A short, inwardly debate resolved it was as good a time as any other. I woulndt’ downplay this. They deserved to know.

I grabbed the rim of my shirt and pulled it up right below my left pectoral, rebelling my ugly scar to the ponies, who in unison gasped at the sight of it.

“A-Alex!! W-what h-happened to you?!” Sunny was the first to voice the obvious question. I gave her a sideways glance, returning to the dwindling fire afterwards, not having the strength to look at my friends.

“… I died, Sunny. The blast completely obliterated my heart… I was dead for ten and a half minutes… or, at least that’s what my friends told me afterwards.”

The sun had fully disappeared beyond the steep mountains of the west, bringing the brunt of the night with it. You could have heard a pin drop from the sheer silence the campsite was shrouded in. For a minute or two, the crackling of the burning wood was the only sound that accompanied my deep breaths, puffs of steam following each of them. I released the rim of my shirt and allowed it to cover the rest of my body, resting my hands together and simply waited, fighting down fragments of scared ponies and creatures alike, and a lost human who lived through the impossible. Memories of profound fear followed by a second of excruciating pain. And then, nothing, nothing at all until I woke up in the hospital a few days later.

And then her words. Words that would seal my fate.

“Oh my pony…” Pipp was the first to break the silence. I raised my gaze from the campfire to see her shattered expression, partially hidden by her hooves who gripped at her muzzle in shock, numerous tears twinkling with the light the fire bathed us in.

To her side, Zipp moved her mouth, trying desperately to bring out anything to say to me, but failing, leaving only sorrow and compassion the only reaction to my words.

Hitch was no better, keeping his gaze fixed on the fire just as I had, mumbling something under his breath. I could discern a few tears of his own starting to fall down his cheeks, yet he tried to remain stoic.

A loud sob brought my attention towards Izzy, who with raspy breaths and red eyes from crying, didn’t waste a second in getting up from her seat and tackling me in a full-body hug, clinging to me while burying her muzzle in the crook of my neck.

“I-I’m sorry… I’m so sorry, Alex…” She whispered between ragged sobs, squeezing me as tight as her four limbs could manage.

I returned the hug, pulling her closer to me while placing my head over hers, drawing comfort from her warm embrace.

“B-But… that’s impossible.” I turned my head towards Sunny. She also was openly crying, her beautiful eyes now openly weeping for me. However, behind all that sorrow, a profound sense of confusion peeked through. “Y-You’re here, with us. H-How…?”

I had to take a deep breath before I could explain. It didn’t matter how many times I would tell the story. It’d never get any easier.

“… Sometime after I, um… passed away, but before I woke up in the hospital, I heard a voice calling to me. Harmony’s voice.”

“The same Harmony that gave you that warning the other day?” Inquired Zipp, who with her sister had risen from their seats and trotted over the fire to sit around the log I was seated on.

Before I could answer her, another pained sob redirected my gaze to my unicorn friend, who continued to cry while making sure her grasp on me wouldn’t falter in the slightest, as if fearing I would disappear the moment she let go. I mentally scolded myself, believing it would have been best if I had just shut my trap and spare them the tumble of knowing. But it was too late now, there was no way the ponies were gonna let this go.

I reached out and gave Izzy a small reassuring nuzzle near her left ear, whispering a few soothing words of my own.

“Yes, Zipp, the very same.” I answered her, returning my sight to the ponies who sat in a semicircle in front of me. I felt Sunny moving a hoof under my shirt, placing it over my scar. I didn't fight her tender gesture.

“A-And what did she say to you?” I heard her ask in a quiet tone, her broken voice making it a bit hard to understand her question at first. It was a hard one to answer, considering the implications that Harmony’s words had for me and my place amongst the ponies.

I sighed and closed my eyes for a moment, stitching an easy answer together since up to that day I didn't fully understand the entire depth of them myself.

“Harmony always considered me an anomaly, something that didn’t fit into whatever plans she had for Equestria, and she made sure to let me know it… But, I guess that at some point during my stay, she eventually found my presence in Equestria suited to her plans… somehow. So, to make it simple, she basically told me I could suck it and brought me back for a second round, claiming my time was yet to come. She, in her ‘endless compassion’ fixed me up and gave me a second go at life. At least, that’s what she called it.”

I could practically hear the cogs churning in my friends’ fuzzy heads, slowly digesting what I had just said and the implications it held. However, I wasn’t quite finished.

“And, after the warning she gave me the other day, it seems whatever role I had yet to play in all of this is close to being fulfilled. Just like a puppet under its master’s strings.” I finished with a darker tone. It was a wild guess, a hopeful wish.

I reached for the branch in which my now cold morsel was impaled and gave it a bite in an effort to calm my nerves, since I was practically shaking. At that moment, I realized something, something that brought another somber chuckle out of me.

“Heh… a ‘traveler’. That’s what she always called me. Traveler. Fuck’s sake, that makes so much sense now…”

“What do you mean?” Hitch’s ears twitched with doubt, his tears now dry, but the knowledge taking a visible toll on him.

I turned to look at him, who had joined the pegasi sisters sitting in front of me. I reduced the intensity of the flames so that they wouldn't burn their fur accidentally sitting so close to it now.

“Your future is now clear, Traveler. Guide them through the incoming darkness. Our future depends on it… Those were her exact words the other day during my visit to Ponyville’s ruins. I always wondered why she called me that…. it makes sense considering where I’m standing now, huh?”

It was clear the ponies were having a hard time coming to terms with what I told them. Visible confusion mixed with profound sorrow were the dominant fillings casting a somber atmosphere all over the campsite. For a few minutes, none uttered a word, until Sunny broke the silence.

“A-Alex.” I switched my gaze to meet hers. “I-I… I don’t know what to say… except that I’m so, so sorry…. my gosh, I can’t even begin to imagine how that must have been for you.”

I reached with my free hand to provide her with a few calming pets over her head, but she wasn’t finished.

“B-But, you’re here now. You were granted another chance, a second chance. All the good you’d done would be reason enough for Harmony to give you a second chance... P-perhaps…”

Faust bless her golden heart. For the first time that night, a sincere laugh came from me, surprising everyone present. Izzy found it weird enough to extract herself from her tight grasp to regard me with puzzlement after wiping her teary eyes.

“Oh, Sunny. Do you think Harmony brought me back out of the kindness of her heart? Because she felt bad for me and saw fit to grant me a second go to continue helping the ponies?”

Sunny replied with a hesitant nod, my sharp rebuttal shattering the conviction in her reasoning. It was a common mistake almost everypony made when they thought about the almost-godlike being that looked over all of ponykind.

“Sunny, don’t think for a second Harmony did that as an act of kindness. Don’t think for a second she is a benevolent or caring being. She is most certainly NOT a guardian angel or anything similar. She is a being whose existence I can’t fully understand or comprehend, who wields a power in the name of harmony and unity between the creatures beyond our wildest dreams. She EXISTS within said harmony. She’s a living creature, just like the rest of us. She does what she must to keep herself alive and with purpose. The fact that said purpose aligns with our general goals means she ain’t our immediate enemy, but don’t think for a second that that wouldn’t change the moment she deemed it necessary.”

Biased as it was, that’s how I saw. That’s how I saw the ghost of the Tree of Harmony. A deep scowl was born in my features. I glared into the campfire in front of me, my fury growing by the moment as I remembered her words and the meaning behind them.

“A second round, guys. Not a second chance. She gets to decide when my goal is complete and when I get to rest. Whatever great plan she formed with her superior foresight, or whatever the fuck she possesses, I’m still a part of it. Just like the Bearers' role was to enforce harmony through the Elements, purging Equestria from whatever evils sought to extinguish its magic, ending her in the process.”

The ponies were then more conflicted than ever. Even if they knew nothing about Harmony before my warning, I’m sure they could understand what my words carried. The existence of Harmony as an abstract being was never made public knowledge, only those she had personally contacted knew of her existence. For centuries, she had pulled countless strings, helping ponykind overcome whatever darkness threatened their, and by extension, her existence. A living being seeking to survive and grow, just like any of us would, only at a scale we could barely envisage.

Another example of her intervention was to blame for our meeting, as I proceeded to explain. “Mine and Starlight’s calculations were perfect, guys. I shouldn’t have woken up for another three hundred years or so. But, oh wow, I just happened to be released from stasis exactly the day before you guys reunited the Unity Crystals, returning magic to the land. Isn’t that a bit too coincidental?”

I could see my friends slowly beginning to understand the ridiculous probability behind such a coincidence. There was no way in Tartarus that had been a happy accident. They looked more perturbed than anything else.

“Wow, that’s… not okay.” I heard Zipp muttering under her breath, her wings ruffling at her sides.

“I-I don’t know what to say, Alex. I just don’t know what to think…” Hitch added, as lost as the rest.

It was enough for one night. I had told them, and I found I could breathe a little easier by having shared my story, but not much else. “It’s fine, guys. I don’t fully grasp it myself, so I don’t expect you to. It’s way above our pay grade. Just… I think you now might understand why I didn’t find myself particularly thrilled with how things came out in the end. From all the creatures of the United Heptarchy, I was the one who drew the short straw.”

They all answered with an understanding nod, finally getting the hang of the story. Except for Izzy, from whom I heard a small gasp, ahing made the implied connection.

“A-And, and it was his fault… Discord’s fault. H-He got you killed!”

“… Yes, Izzy. He did.”

“My gosh…” Pipp murmured with her hooves covering once again her face in shock.

I heard a deep grumble to my left, and a quick peek revealed my unicorn friend positively fuming. “Grrrrr, if I ever get my hooves on him! I don’t care if he calls himself the Lord of Chaos or whatever! He had no right to do that to you! HE HAD NO RIGHT!!”

An uneasy knot formed in my stomach. I didn't enjoy seeing the peppy unicorn so mad, her bitter words cutting deep inside of me. I quickly enveloped her with my arms and hugged her tightly again, trying to soothe her anger. Once again, I whispered calming words in her ears while slowly rocking her back and forth. The others also looked surprised at her outburst. I appreciated her being protective of me. It felt nice to be cared for like that, but not at the cost of her wellbeing.

“He had no right… you’re too sweet, too kind. You didn’t deserve it. You didn’t deserve any of it…” I heard her whispering while returning the hug, her voice once again breaking as the beginning of fresh tears ran down my neck.

As comforting as Izzy’s words sounded, I knew I was undeserving of them. I didn’t want to lie to my friends. I was so tired of doing it to myself, so tired of the guilt that plagued my thoughts every time I recalled those times.

“Izzy, I…” I began, struggling to find the right words. “I’m not a good person…”

Before I had the chance to explain myself further, she quickly pulled back from the hug and grabbed my face with both forehooves. I felt a simmer of fear from the strong glare she was giving me.

“What did I tell you about saying those things about yourself?!”

“I-Izzy, I-”

“No!” She was having none of it. “I don’t care, Alex! Whatever you think you’ve done wrong, I couldn’t care less!”

“It’s not that simple, Izzy… I’ve done bad things before, terrible things. Things I’ve been judged for, and found guilty. Things I have to pay for…”

“Did you do any of it willingly!? Hmm?” She strongly demanded, moving her head forward until her snout was pressed against my nose. I hesitantly shook my head no. That was true, I never brought ill to any creature of my own volition. However, that didn’t excuse the fact that I DID terrible things, things that would forever haunt me. I caused damage that I would never be able to repair, even if I successfully finished my mission with the Unity Crystals.

“Of course you didn’t! We may not have known each other for long, Alex, but I can’t imagine you doing anything bad to us ponies. Much less after the stories Sunny told us about how you helped thousands of creatures in the past. Whatever harm you might have done, I’m sure you didn’t have any other choice!”

The rest of the ponies, although standing a bit shocked at the unicorn’s new outburst, silently agreed with her. Sadly, Izzy was far from being right.

“There’s always another choice, Izzy… just, look at where we are. With more time and better judgment, I’m sure that we wouldn’t have needed to use the crystals. None of you would have had to suffer for so long because of my actions!”

“Alex, we’ve been through this already.” I escaped Izzy’s sharp glare to find Sunny’s waiting for me. She still had her hoof over my scar, tenderly rubbing circles around it. “If there really was a better choice, I’m sure you guys would have found it. And… it’s true that things haven’t been the best they could have been for a long time. B-But, if it weren’t for the Unity Crystals, none of us would have become friends! Including you!”

“Sunny, that’s not nearly enough of a reason to excuse making entire generations live in fear and mistrust of one another.”

“I know, I know! It’s just…” She took a moment to come up with a way to spin the story. “For as terrible a thing it was to do, your plan helped the ponies survive to where we are now. Yes, we were separated, and for the longest time we hated each other’s guts, but at least we had a future to look forward to! From what you’ve told us, and w-what my dad taught me, I… I don’t think I could have come up with anything better. Not when things escalated as quickly as they did. A-And you said it yourself! You all knew that what you were proposing was a monstrous thing to do. But you HAD to do it. For them… for us.”

The unicorn clinging to me butted in. “Please, Alex. I need you to stop blaming yourself for what happened.” Izzy softly demanded. “I hate hearing you repeat it like a sick mantra over and over again. You can’t spend the rest of your days tormenting yourself. What you did is done, and you left behind everything and everypony you knew to fix it. If that isn’t repentance enough, I don’t know what else would be.” She reached forward and brushed the tip of her muzzle over my eyes, drying the few tears that I had shed without realizing.

I wanted to believe in their words; I wanted so hard to bathe myself in such warm, inviting relief. But deep inside, I knew I was undeserving of them. I knew what my actions had entailed, what they COULD have entailed if the worst path had been taken. From the moment I arrived in Equestria, I knew I had the potential to provide the ponies with wondrous things, as well as the potential to tear their world apart.

In the end, the acts of me and my friends ended up sending the ponies into a ‘Dark Age’, of sorts. An age of isolation, of societal stagnation fueled by fear and hate. Alive and safe, but at what price?

I tuned out the encouraging words the rest of the gang was bathing me in, all of them unanimously believing in the good I had and could provide. They didn’t know. They couldn’t have imagined what I decided to tell them after a few minutes of internal debate.

“Guys.” I called the group, earning their attention once again. “Let me tell you another story, perhaps you’ll understand better once I’ve shared it.”

I gently grabbed Izzy, giving her a thankful nuzzle for her kind words, eliciting a cute giggle and a small blush from her, and brought her down with me from the log we were seated on, choosing to instead sit on the ground and use the log to support my back. Sunny followed us down and repositioned herself to lay against my other side, returning her hoof to the scar under my shirt. Her furry touch felt oddly comfortable, so I decided to allow her to do as she pleased.

I had grown quite fond of being surrounded by these two mares during the short time I had shared with them. From our group of friends, they were the ones who had fewer qualms about cuddling with me, not that I was complaining. In my opinion, only an idiot would complain about something like that. Funnily enough, I was that kind of idiot when I first arrived in Equestria, but that’s a story for another day.

The sisters, as well as Hitch, scooched aside a bit to tighten the small circle around us. After discarding the last doubts about sharing that other little piece of me, I slowly looked at each of them, earning confused glances from them. I dreaded what they would think of me when I finished, but I thought that, just as I had told them the reason for my profound hate for Discord, they deserved to know if they were to become my new family.

“It’s a story about my early days in Equestria.” That piqued their interest, if the small jolt from Sunny was any indication. From the corner of my eye, I saw an eager smile appear on her muzzle, no doubt looking forward to learning more about me and the girls.

Unfortunately, this wasn’t that kind of story.

“Shortly before I was…. dumped in Equestria, the Element Bearers had faced a unicorn named Starlight Glimmer. I’m sure you know who I’m referring to, Sunny.”

She most certainly did, as she was quick to provide a small summary about how Starlight had been a villain until confronted by Twilight to later become another crucial piece in the protection of Equestria. As I expected, she wasn’t aware of the full story. I was about to change that very, very quickly.

“Thanks, Sunny. So, Starlight had been defeated by the Elements, and for a time she went into hiding to plot her revenge. During that time of peace, I had arrived in Equestria, but she hadn’t considered me important enough to factor into her plans even after learning from my existence. Instead, she focused on mastering a very complicated field of magic that would help her seek revenge for having her great dream of a ‘perfect Equestria’ ultimately crushed by my friends. She studied and perfected time travel magic.”

“Like the magic you used to travel into the future?” Zipp wondered.

“Not quite, but definitely related. The spell she used would allow her to travel BACK in time, specifically to the day when all the Elements got their cutie marks.”

“I… don’t quite follow. Why would she want to travel to that specific time?” Pipp was the one who interrupted then.

“The girls got their cutie marks the same day, at the same time. All of them seemed to have had their cutie marks’ appearance triggered by a sonic rainboom that Rainbow Dash managed to pull off that same day. Imagine a sonic boom, followed by a huge rainbow explosion in the sky, an explosion that stretched across the land. It was a huge magical event that connected the girls' destinies. It was definitely NOT coincidental. I’m positive Harmony had something to do with it, as those same fillies would in turn get to wield her greatest weapons against the forces of darkness. But that’s not important at the moment. What Starlight wanted to achieve was to stop Rainbow from pulling off her rainboom, thus preventing the Bearers from gaining their cutie marks the way they did, changing history in the process.”

“Holy feathers, that’s… that’s so messed up.” Zipp muttered with pinprick eyes. The ponies were quick to draw understanding of the implication of the effects that her acts would have entailed, had they succeeded.

“None of them would have arisen to defend Equestria…”

“You got it, Sunny. That’s what Starlight wanted to achieve. Her revenge, and preventing the Bearers from interfering with her plans in the present. How could they if they had never become the Element Bearers in the first place? Twilight, Spike and I were there when she used her spell. I was dragged along by it, being sent with Starlight to the time period she had chosen. Twilight and Spike followed us there. The three of us together, although mostly unwillingly for my part, tried to make her see reason.”

“Who is this Spike you mention?” Pipp wanted to know.

“Twilight’s number one assistant, Pipp. Although in truth, he was practically her little brother. He was a baby dragon by the time I arrived. Don’t get me wrong, he was only called a baby dragon due to the long lifespan of dragons. In terms of age, he was equivalent to a pony’s early teens when I first met him… he was a great guy.”

I had thought about it before entering stasis. If there was one being from my past who might still be alive today, that would be him, and probably Smolder, I guessed. A dragon’s life span was long enough that it would have allowed them to live until this day. However, it seemed very unlikely that they were still around. I would have known about it, either from Discord or someone else. As far as I knew, all my previous friends and family had long since passed away. I could only pray it had been under better circumstances than the ones that forced me on my journey. I shook my head and picked up the thread of my story.

“We tried to reason with her, but it was in vain. She succeeded in her attempts and history was changed. When the timeline shifted, we were pulled back into the present, a new present that had been born from her intervention. We returned to see an Equestria plagued by war, a war against the tyrant King Sombra and the enslaved ponies of the Crystal Empire.”

A new flash of recognition sparkled in Sunny’s eyes. “Oh my gosh…”

“Yes, Sunny. Without the girls, any and all villains who were otherwise defeated by them were now free to conquer and destroy. Starlight had thought that only her ploy would be kept safe from us. She didn’t account for Equestria’s villains, all of whom had effectively been unshackled to freely enact their own plans. Twilight used the spell once again to bring us back to the past. We had to convince Starlight to stop, or else Equestria would be doomed. Many times we tried, and many times we failed. With each time shift, we were rewarded with an alternate future in which Equestria was plagued by one of the evils the girls had faced in the past.”

I took a moment to collect myself, begrudgingly recalling the numerous visions of the alternative Equestrias we were systematically dumped into.

“I saw many alternate versions of history. An Equestria consumed by war against King Sombra, an Equestria overrun by changelings and Queen Chrysalis endless hunger, an Equestria burning under Tirek’s rampage, while another Equestria was subjugated under the tyranny of the Mare in the Moon… All of them, every single one of them, was a dark shadow of the land of harmony and peace I had come to see.”

The ponies squirmed uncomfortably at the image of the places I placed in their minds, imagining for themselves how horrid those places could have been.

“During the last temporal jump, I was separated from Twilight and Spike. They had managed to drag Starlight with them, to show them in pony the consequences of her petty revenge… I arrived by myself in a desolate wasteland, with not a single living being in sight. Only the ruins of a great city stood before me. Ruins I was quick to recognize as one of Equestria’s greatest cities, Manehattan.”

My friends listened with rapt attention, drinking in the description of such a haunting place. “I searched for my friends through the waste and the rubble. I searched and searched for them for several days… I was barely alive by the time they came to rescue me. Within the ruins, I saw a sight only I was truly familiar with, a sight many humans from my home world knew as a fictional outcome for the end of the world… I saw ponies and other creatures turned into vicious beasts, their survival instinct utterly consuming any semblance of reasoning left in them.”

I saw a crater, an impact thone. Scorched, toppled buildings, ash everywhere. I knew what had happened there. I knew who was to blame.

“Does it remind you of that movie, Sunny? The one we saw a few years ago about how the unicorns were plotting to end the world?” I saw in the corner of my eye how Izzy scoffed at Hitch’s short description, but decided not to delve into it.

“Y-Yeah.” She hesitantly returned. “I think I can see what you mean, Alex… but, what could have caused something like that to happen.”

I couldn’t help but start shaking again, this time under a new weight, struggling to get the words out of my mouth. So unexpected it was that it took a moment for the mares snuggling at my sides to register what was happening to me, sharing a concerned look with each other while tightening their grasp on me.

“… I, I-I’ll never know for s-sure what exactly happened. Little was left under the r-rubble and the dust but, sniff… Drawn on the crumbling walls and the faded remains of propaganda posters, engraved into the war machines’ dead husks littered all around the city, sewn into the ragged uniforms of the numerous corpses of all kinds of creatures… I kept seeing the same sigil emblazoned into all of them…”

I looked up from the ground, apprehension choking the words in my throat. With a final breath, I revealed what had endlessly plagued me to that day.

“Over and over, the same sigil… my sigil.”

Pain, fear, the adrenaline pushing me over the edge. I had to fight, I had to survive. I would not allow myself to die in that place!

A flash of light, a deafening boom. My body stretched from all sides at once. My insides coming out to meet my outsides. It lasted a second, a blink, after which I slowly regained my senses.

A cold floor spread chills all over my back, torn clothes unable to protect me anymore. Shades of purple and pink with specs of whites. My vision was slowly returning.

Metal, cold and unforgiving, tightly grasped between my fingers, the weapon of death I had found amongst the rubble. Its familiar shape provided me with an easy grip on it. It shouldn’t have.

Voices, alarmingly calling to me. Hoof steps echoed in the room I was transported into. They seemed so far away…

My sight cleared. I saw a roof. A crystalline roof I had grown familiar with, as it had become my permanent residence in that new world.

My ears stopped ringing. I could now discern the voices that called to me. I recognized the alarmed calls of Twilight and the deepening voice of a maturing baby dragon.

I regained the feeling in my legs. I shakily rose on them, searching for the voices while struggling to keep my non-existent lunch inside.

Three figures stood near me, their eyes full of worry. My two housemates, who now had stopped calling for me, ran their sights up and down my form in search of any damage.

To their left, a little bit apart from them, stood the mare responsible for the nightmare I had been through.

Rage, blinding fury, tensing my muscles, sharpening my vision, which locked into her frightened visage.

“Alex!! Oh my gosh, Alex, we finally found you! Are you alright?!”

I heard nothing, I cared for nothing. My blood boiled from the sight of the mare standing in front of me, her fear growing at pace with my fury.

Blinding rage that purged any semblance of dizziness from me. Rage that moved my body to fully face her, her frame shrinking down with a whimper.

“A-Alex? P-Please, answer me!”

Rage that tensed my arms and readied my posture. Rage that drowned out everything outside the unicorn who looked seconds away from bolting away from my piercing glare.

“GLIMMEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEERR!!!”

Rage that aligned the scope of the gun with her forehead…

Chapter 18- The reason we are.

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

Chapter 19- Maretime Bay Day. Part 1.

Act III: Unity

“All the leaves are brooown~. And the sky is graaaay~. I've been for a walk… on a winter's daaaay~. I'd be safe and warm… if I was in M’baaaay.~”

The day of the local festival had caught up with us, and you could easily tell by the colorful decorations and numerous stands that had pooped all over Mane Street with the coming of dawn. Ponies left and right rushed like busy ants to wrap up the last-minute preparations, chatting amicably amongst them with a spirit of friendship filling the salty air. A cheerful mood permeated the environment, dozens of ponies from the three tribes pitching in here and there to get everything tidy and ready for this afternoon’s big inauguration act. According to the program, it was supposed to go from there aaaall through the night and into tomorrow past noon… or until the ponies grew tired of celebrating which, in my rich experience, could be for a long while.

“Maaaretime Bay dreamiiing~. On such a winter’s daaaay.~”

I found myself with ‘The Mamas & the Papas’ stuck in my head as I leisurely walked down the very same Mane Street, headed towards the meeting point my friends and I had agreed on for that morning. I had sally overslept after another unsuccessful cram session of research on the Unity Crystals, meaning my friends had already left the brighthouse by the time I had dragged myself out of bed and zombi-ed my way down to get some breakfast.

The last two days had been a flurry of last-minute preparations all over the town, with poor Sunny almost having several panic attacks as she took on the role of coordinator to make sure everything was pitched out perfectly to welcome ponies from all three tribes to enjoy the summer festivities at the coastal town. Practically all their proposals for the betterment of the celebrations had been accepted by the town council, resulting in the biggest festival this town had ever witnessed.

Just short of the main plaza where the streets began to widen up, I found all my friends sans one. Zipp was nowhere in sight, strange since she was actually one of the earliest risers among us. Finding them all with their backs turned on me as they assembled over something or another, my impish side decided to be a little mean and sneaked quietly behind them. My victim was the closet pony in reach, my wacky unicorn friend Izzy, whom I pounced over to suddenly tickle on her sides, making her jump with a squeal of surprise, followed by a bout of laughter that almost brought her down on her back.

A pout and a hip check were her answers to my little prank once she got her bearing under control, but the smile was quick to return to her muzzle with a few strategically placed scratches behind her ears.

“Guten morgen, guys. Everything going swiftly?”

The unicorn virtually purring under my ministrations greeted me back. “Mmmmorning sleepyhead, we’re just waiting for Zipp to get back here with Pipp’s lucky microphone. She wants Sunny to use it for her big announcement! We’ve gotta make sure everypony everywhere knows about the festival!” Izzy informed me, pointing toward a jelly-legged Sunny who waited a few steps ahead of us atop a figurate scenario, nervously shifting in place while Pipp fussed over her in search of the best shot with her phone’s camera.

I snapped my fingers to get her mind out of the gutter she was digging herself in and made some calming hand gestures, quietly reminding her to simply relax and take a deep breath. For the easy way she always would address the ground of ponies in her frequent town rallies to discuss this topic or the other, I was a bit surprised she was getting cold hooves now. She only had to address all of Equestria this time.

Sunny’s ears perked up at the sound of my snap, finding me giving her support. She followed my instructions and visibly relaxed a mince, flashing me a thankful smile in appreciation.

“Ugh, what’s taking her so looongah? I swear if she’s sneaking around the castle like some cheap ninja…” Pipp grumbled under her breath, pacing around Sunny like a mother fussing over her foal on prom day, licking her hoof to boss Sunny’s mane into the proper place, to the earth pony’s chargain.

Witnessing the scene play out, I couldn’t help but smile in bemusement. While we waited, I turned to address Hitch, his shining sheriff badge neatly scrubbed and in place. “Everything okay around town, Sheriff? I know how things can become a bit of a ruckus when big events come around.”

Hitch answered with that winning smile that sold a million calendars per month. “Nothing out of the ordinary. The ponies are happy and expectant, and all the preparations have gone swiftly! We’ve had only a hooffull of troublemakers who thought they could get away with littering with all the other ponies rushing about. Not on my watch they aren’t!” He stomped on the stonework firmly.

“Damm, sheriff. How many years in prison for that?” I asked with no short amount of sarcasm.

Hitch snorted. “The same amount as talking like that to a law-enforcer, citizen.” He finished with an evil smirk, hiking his eyebrows playfully. I raised my hands in defeat and zipped my lips, eliciting a small chuckle from him.

The sound of approaching wings brought our attention towards the sunny skies, from where a certain white pegasus sped towards our position from behind the blinding glow of the morning sun. Wearing a proud smirk, Zipp made for a flashy landing after a loop-the-loop for good measure, twirling her sister’s much-desired microphone in her hoof like a trophy.

“Finally! What took you so long?! I’m getting serious wrinkles here!” Her sister protested, forcefully grabbing the mic from Zipp’s grasp.

“What can I say? Sneakiness takes time.” Zipp answered with a guilty smile, although something told me she actually had a great time playing ninja.

“Ugh!” Pipp was ready to blow a fuse. “Zipp, it’s our house! Was all this really necessary?!”

“Better that than stumbling into mom’s view to be dragged into one of her ‘princess lessons.’” Zipp shuddered, her wings twitching at her sides. “You guys would have been waiting for me ‘till the end of days if that had been the case. You’re very welcome, by the way.” She protested with a dignified flick of her muzzle, to the evident displeasure of her younger sister who only groaned and decided to park it in the benefit of more pressing issues.

With the lucky mic in our possession, Sunny was ready to record the last-minute announcement for all those scrabble-heads who might have forgotten what was happening today.

“Show tiiiime, Sunny~! You know how it goes. Clear speech and happy smiles. Just pretend you’re talking to us and not… you know, the entirety of Equestria, ‘kay? Ookay! Three two one… aaand you’re live!” Pipp hit the button and the recording began with little warning, shattering any confidence I could’ve managed to summon in the nervous, and visibly-shaking mare, who could only stare blankly at the camera.

“N-Now? As in, now now?” Sunny nervously inquired, to which Pipp nodded and moved a bit closer to achieve a narrower angle.

After a few seconds of nervous blubbering, Sunny soon regained her confidence and happily announced the upcoming celebration to anypony who had yet to hear about it, the rest of the gang silently cheering for her behind the camera.

While my friends busied themselves with the announcement, not able to resist participating, I decided to pass the time helping a bunch of nearby ponies who were struggling to transport the last pieces for the actual scenario currently being assembled in the middle of the square, which was programmed to host a series of concerts during the celebrations, with our Pipp being the main star of the show. It didn’t surprise me in the slightest when I heard about it from a passerby. Ponies back and forth went crazy over her hits. There was no way they’d miss the chance of watching her live.

After a few trips back and forth, making use of my levitation to lessen the weight of the equipment on the hard-working ponies’ backs, all the final pieces were ready to be assembled into the medium-sized scenario, with a full set of lights and sound equipment to match. I was going to offer my help further with the assembly, seeing as I was already there and not feeling like treading around with my hands in my pockets, when the startled screams of my friends, accompanied by the stomping of sprinting hooves, broke my train of thought.

Peering back towards one of the side streets in search of my pony companions, I saw my friends sprinting behind what appeared to be one of Hitch’s bird friends, the one who always wore and old can for a hat for some reason, a species I couldn’t quite identify, although I had seen a bunch of them all around town as some kind of small-sized cousins of gulls. It was carrying in its beak Pipp’s phone, with the aforementioned pegasus desperately pleading for it to be surrendered back to her.

Once their tails had disappeared past the curve of the street, I remained there with a few construction ponies, all glancing ahead where the stampeding ponies had just passed with a dry look.

After a few moments of silent confusion, I turned back to address the construction ponies in front of me. “I mean, I wasn’t planning for a morning jog… but it’s best if I go and check that out. Think you can manage without me?”

A blue-furred mare answered with a hesitant nod. “Y-Yeah, we’ll manage. You go ahead and see to… whatever that was.”

“Great, I’ll see you around then.” I began to briskly walk towards said street, taking a few moments to stretch my legs. “Come on then, old man, let’s give it a little juice. Accelero!”

With my spell cast, I rushed with heightened gusto through the street, following the trail of scared ponies who had managed to get out of my way at the last moment, with me slowing down a bit to mutter a few rushed apologies before speeding up again.

My hunch was well placed, as I soon found my friends sprinting towards the outskirts of the town, following an old dirt path whose destination I was unfamiliar with, although the roof of a house could be discerned over the crest of the hill the path climbed through. Just a few seconds before I could catch up with them, the bird suddenly spat the phone down with a disgusted chirp before flapping its wings harder and flying away from the pursuing ponies.

Izzy was quick to light her horn and catch the falling phone. However, something weird caught my eye, slowing my gate as I pondered what just happened. It could have been the still-considerable distance between us, but I could have sworn she was struggling to get a grip on the phone with her levitation magic, almost as if it wasn’t working as it should.

‘Uh?’

In a final act of heroism, she redoubled her efforts and managed to solidify her grasp on the phone, the chase ending with her tripping over her own hooves and skidding a few meters over the grassy field, leaving a path of upturned soil which found home all over her fur and mane.

The pursuit ended with the phone safely held in her levitation magic, but at the cost of a broken mail post and a bunch of roses belonging to that very same house, which had ended up tossed around when Izzy had crashed into them just a few moments before she could stop. Whoever lived in the house wasn’t going to be happy.

“Haha! Got iiit~! Way to go, Izzy!” My unicorn friend patted herself on the back, carefully returning the phone to its rightful owner who latched into it with the utmost care, almost as if it was a foal in need of mommy’s reassurance. I even heard her whispering a few soothing words to it… that was a bit weird if you ask me, but who was I to judge?

“Are you alright, Izzy?” Sunny stepped closer to our recovering friend, having witnessed her clumsy tumble, who shook herself free of any lingering dirt.

Izzy springed back on her hooves and shook herself free of any lingering dirt. “Yep! A little ground glitter never hurt anypony!” She reassured us with a giggle and a mock-heroic pose.

“Oh, thank you, thank you, thank you so much Izzy!” Pipp smothered Izzy in a big hug with the unicorn somewhat shyly returning it.

“Awww, you’re very welcome, Pipp. Hey, Alex.” She called me when she saw me approaching over Pipp’s shoulder. “Did you see that?! Pretty impressive, uh? Think I’ll get a statue for it?” She asked with a proud smirk, although it was evident she was just playing.

Or perhaps not, You couldn’t tell with that unicorn sometimes.

“I’ll put in a good word with Phyllis, I’m sure we can get something going.” I joked back, brushing a few stubborn specks of dirt from her mane.

Our playful moment was mercilessly obliterated by a very displeased voice coming from behind the house’s main door. “What. Are. You. Doing. Here?!” The sharp tone of a positively angry mare brought our gazes towards the front door, where a light-yellow furred earth pony with a pink mane and tail glared at us with unrestrained fury.

I knew then whose pony this house belonged to.

‘Faust damm it, of course it has to be her house… Although I guess it kinda fits, with her being how she is.’ I mentally reasoned. A house far from the town's main nucleus but still within its limits, sheltered from any annoying ponies who might simply breathe too close to her presence or whatever it was that got the mare’s tail in a knot every hour of every day.

Storming from the medium-sized house sitting on the outskirts of Maretime Bay, Posey made her displeasure at the sight of us clearly known.

The first days after my arrival at Maretime Bay were met with the expected suspicion and fear from many a pony, which was reasonable considering how the sudden arrival of a creature like me is prone to cause a ruckus. It had also happened with my initial appearance in Ponyville, and I was positive it was going to happen again in this new town, so it hadn't really bothered me that much.

And, that’s exactly what happened, although with all I had learned the first time around, I was quick to win the townsponies over, leaving only a scarce amount of them still giving me the stinky eye when we crossed paths. Coincidentally, those same ponies were the ones to see the restoration of magic and the rejoining of the three races with no short amount of contempt, although most of them chose to keep their thoughts to themselves.

How, in the name of Faust almighty, could a pony NOT be happy with the return of magic. It was simply beyond me.

Posey was one of said ponies. I had caught her numerous times voicing her displeasure loud and clear to ponies of her same-minded circle, making sure to obnoxiously get her point across, which would only help to undo the progress my friends and I struggled to achieve. She had as little sympathy for me as she had for new things such as magic.

The fact I had chosen to answer her deep scowls with utmost indifference only helped get her madder.

Everypony was entitled to their own opinion, and that hadn’t changed at all since the time of Celestia’s rule. But that scornful attitude of hers couldn’t have come at a worse time. It actually got me quite miffed as much as I kept it under wraps, but I just didn’t have the time or the energy to deal with her that morning.

Even if her question was addressed to all of us, the holes she drilled in my skull with her scowl left no doubt as to whom she was, in particular, referring to. Her visible miff only worsened when she found out about her messed-up garden.

“What have you done to my roses?!!” She angrily demanded, her shrill making my friends flinch, their ears pressed against their scalps.

“I’m so sorry, Posey, it was an accident. We were just trying to ca-”

“Oh, I sure know what you were up to, Sunny Starscout! And I’m tired of having to deal with your ‘so fantastic magic’ and the chaos it just keeps provoking. It’s given me headaches all week!” Posey rudely interrupted my friend's apology, stomping down the steps of her porch to assess the damage, pushing aside Sunny while doing so. I balled my hands into fist to keep myself collected.

“Look at this mess!” She pointed to the bent and slightly upturned roses, venom dripping in bucket loads out of her. “Is it so much to ask for you to keep your stupid magic well away from my house?!” She snapped at us, poor Sunny taking a step back and sinking her gaze down in shame.

“Come on, Posey, it’s not THAT bad. We’ll fix it in no time. Care to do the honors?” Izzy attempted to ease the fuming mare, bringing my attention towards the broken mail post. I understood the message and soon began to charge my gauntlets, pointing my left one towards it.

“Rep-”

“NO! I told you already, I don’t want your magic anywhere near my house!” She interrupted my casting with another scream. I was startled by it, losing concentration for a second, making the building magic almost escape into a feedback loop that could have damaged the gauntlet’s integrity if unchecked. Years worth of experience allowed me to regain my focus and safely dispel it. I would have felt it the morning after if I hadn’t.

“What is your problem with magic? It has only done good things for us! Don’t you see how happy everypony is with it?” Zipp, wings flared and fed up with Posey’s… uh, pose, pried the mare in annoyance.

“Ha! Easy for you to say, actually having magic, not like us earth ponies.” Posey rebutted, trotting back to her porch with a last disgusted look over her shoulder at her ruined garden.

I decided it was time for me to intervene, keeping my voice steady and professional. “Posey, all of ponykind possesses magic, earth ponies included.” I calmly explained, only to be completely dismissed.

“Oh, is that so? I don’t see myself levitating stuff around. Do you?”

I pursed my lips, and explained further. “Magic has countless forms, even more so when manipulated by living creatures. Your innate magic doesn’t manifest as a unicorn’s. It’s subtler; it acts to bolster the growth of all kinds of plants, as well as granting you enhanced strength, you know? The ‘shattering all my bones if you wished to’ kind of strength?”

“Bah, what do you know about that?” She once again casted my explanation aside in a stubborn streak. “You’re just a weird monkey with weird gizmos that hasn’t done anything but cause trouble since you got here. We all lived peacefully until you suddenly arrived and brought back magic with… these ponies. If you expect me to believe you straight out of the mill, then you’re going to be very disappointed.” She concluded her rant with a dignified flick of her tail.

My friends didn’t take her hurtful words kindly, taking a threatening step forward. Izzy was the first to speak on my defense. “Hey! Now you listen here, you….”

I rested my hand over her shoulder, gaining a quizzical look from her. I silently shook my head no, reasoning that it just wasn’t worth it. Izzy wasn’t happy with my preference, but relented nonetheless with a puffy snort.

“Posey, I know change can be hard. We’re in the middle of something Equestria hasn’t experienced in hundreds of years! It’s going to take time for everypony to settle down and get the hang of their magic. Just… please, will you at least give it a chance?” Sunny pleaded to the fuming earth pony after needing a moment to regain her wits after Posey’s harsh comment.

Against our best efforts, Posey would not budge in her refusal to any and all of our pleadings, preferring to stick to her, in my not-so-humble opinion, backwards beliefs.

“Magic is NOT safe, and the only thing it will bring us is trouble, loads of trouble!” She pointed an accusing hoof at us. “Starting with you! If you want to keep messing around with it, be my guest, but don’t expect for a moment to see me falling in trot behind it!” She threw a last look towards her ruined flowers. “And do so away from my garden!!” With that last exclamation, she turned tail and slammed the door in our faces with a huff, leaving us rooted, dejected at our failure to convince her.

‘That crap you’re spitting out is what got us in here in the first place, Posey! I ain’t going to force my opinions on you, but you had better be careful with your words. I haven’t come all the way here for your ‘Karen’ attitude to ruin it all!’

“Wow, wasn’t she a ray of sunshine?” Izzy flatly commented, trotting a few steps around the porch. With a simple spell, she straightened what roses had ended up bent and quickly replanted those that had been uprooted. I was impressed by her dexterity; she was getting quite deft at using her magic.

Once she was happy with the results, she looked back to me and gestured with her head towards the broken mail post. Although I was far from inclined to help Posey after her ‘kind’ appreciation towards my person, I decided to just not dwell on it, preferring to focus on the upcoming celebrations.

A quick Reparo spell got it back in one piece, and using some levitation I successfully nailed it back into the ground. With the cleanup done, Sunny motioned for us to return to the town, albeit looking a bit down after Posey’s hostile confrontation. Thankfully, Izzy was soon there to cheer her up, quickly bringing back a festive mood fitting for the day’s festivities.

I wasn’t going to allow that small fight to ruin the day, and my friends sure weren’t either. Walking at the rear of the group, I distracted myself by enjoying the surrounding landscape, paying half a mind to my friends’ conversation, which once again covered their numerous plans for the day.

“Stopped into a chuurch.~ I passed along the waaay.~ Well, I got down on my knees… And I pretend to praaay.~ You know the preacher like the cold.~ He knows I’m gonna staaay.~ Maretime bay dreamiiiin’... On such a winter’s daaay.~”

My light humming didn’t go unnoticed by my friends, especially Pipp, who had recognized the root melody of my little, improvised cover. She flapped her wings and hovered at my side.

“You and I are so going to make a song together.” She sealed the deal with a light shove on my shoulder, electing an amused chuckle from me.

“You know? My singing voice is renowned for spiking divorce rates by sixty percent, at a minimum.” I dramatically jested, my friends all answering with a roll of their eyes. I wasn’t going to get out of it that easily, and Pipp would make sure of that.

Leaving the musical pegasus behind, I quickened my pace to reach my friend Izzy at the front of the group. “Hey, Izzy.” I said, lightly tapping her on the back.

“Hmm? What’s up?” She asked with a tilt of her head.

“I just wanted to congratulate you on your spellcasting back there, you’re getting very good at it.” I complemented, rewarding her with a playful rub of her mane.

“Aww shucks. I’ve had plenty of chances to practice the last few days. These ponies are in serious need of some unicycling.” She softly nuzzled my hand back in appreciation.

At that moment, a funny thought invaded my mind, making me lightly chuckle at the irony of it.

“What’s so funny?” Izzy wanted to know when she noticed my merriment.

“It’s just… in the past, unicorns were really, and I mean it, really dependent on their magic to get things undergone. To the point that a magic-less unicorn would find themselves with four left hooves, if you know what I mean.”

Izzy sure looked surprised. “Really? That seems a bit odd.”

“Well, perhaps it’s a bit exaggerated, but the point still stands. Just, seeing your dexterity with your hooves when it comes to crafting, plus the fact of you being a unicorn, I just find it a bit funny since anypony would have expected you to do all that with your magic instead of your hooves. That’s more of an earth pony thing.”

“Well, it’s not like I had anything better before I met you guys. I had to make do with what I had. I’ve always been quick with my hooves. A loooot of free time and no magic will make sure of that for anypony. I don’t have a problem with using the ‘earth pony’ way.” She playfully rubbed her barrel against Sunny’s, forcing an embarrassed smile from her.

Our way back was met with no interruptions. After checking that the final preparations were well underway, we all decided to have an early lunch and begin getting ready for the festival. The inauguration ceremony was still a few hours away, but we were all itching to get a start on partying. Sunny for sure was looking forward to personally welcoming all the ponies from Zephyr Heights and Bridlewood that had decided to attend.

Just as we reached the brighthouse, Izzy’s telekinetic grasp pulled me aside without anypony else noticing.

“Psst, Alex. I need you to distract Sunny for a moment while I show Pipp around and finish the last touches to the you-know-what.” She whispered to me. It took me a few moments to puzzle out her intentions, but once I had, I answered with a nod of understanding.

As the ponies made their way inside, Izzy quietly snuck Pipp away towards the upper floor. I did the same for Sunny, surprising her by reaching for her barrel and lifting her up with a confused squeal. Placing one arm under her rump and another supporting her belly, I began carrying her towards the kitchen, to the bemusement of the remaining ponies.

“A-Alex?! What are you doing?” She demanded, flashing me a confused look, adorably highlighted with an embarrassed blush.

“I’m distracting you. Smart, right?” I answered nonchalantly, only driving her confusion further.

“Uh, I think the distracted pony isn’t supposed to know they’re being distracted,” Zipp remarked, following us towards the kitchen with Hitch in tow, silently chuckling at the sight of us.

“I didn’t read that in the ‘101 Ways to Distract a Pony’ manual, so…”

“Is that an actual thing?” Asked Hitch.

“You’d be surprised. I swear, it always seemed like there was a book for literally anything in Twilight's collection.” I remembered my frequent visits to several of Equestria’s libraries, one purple mare’s in particular, being endlessly surprised by the books I found in them.

Once in reach of the counter, Hitch began to collect the necessary utensils to cook up some pizzas for all of us, while Zipp took a seat over at the kitchen counter, resting her head on her forelegs, her expression denoting she was deep in thought.

Myself and Sunny just stayed there for a moment, the mare still hanging in my grasp. Her blush only seemed to have deepened, but she made no attempt to escape.

“Hey there.” I spoke to her with a grin.

“U-Um… Hi?” She stuttered back, her embarrassment only worsening. With a final laugh, I softly set her back on her hooves, and together we began preparing our meal.

A few minutes later, the sound of clopping hooves alerted me to the return of our missing friends. I searched Izzy's gaze and flashed her a wink seeking confirmation that everything was going to plan, receiving one back with an excited smile. Sunny was up for a pleasant surprise that afternoon.

We settled for margaritas, veggies, and mushroom pizzas; a shame none of them had any meat whatsoever, but I wasn’t going to start whining about it. I was more than accustomed to their vegetarian habits.

The ponies worked together in an improvised assembly line, and soon, another pizza was on its way to the oven for a nice, crispy touch. Seeing as they had it more than covered, I simply set myself to watch them working as a team. However, I soon noticed the absence of one of my friends in the assembly line. A quick search around the kitchen found her still sitting alone at the other side of the isle, seemingly deep in thought. Puzzled by her out-of-season demeanor, I decided to check if everything was dandy with her.

“Hey, Zipp, you alright? You seem a bit out of it.” I addressed the frowning pegasus while taking a seat at her side.

She took a moment to reply, shaking her head to wake herself up. “Y-Yeah, just thinking about something weird that happened earlier.”

“You mean the issue with Posey?”

She wetted her lips before replying. “Uh, yeah, that. It’s kinda off-putting seeing ponies still thinking like her. Almost makes me feel like our progress has been for naught.” She finished with her ears drooping against her scalp.

I couldn’t fully express how much I sympathized with that claim, but a deep sigh would have to do. “Well, everypony is entitled to their own opinion, Zipp. I just wished that she would keep those opinions to herself. Or preferably, not have them in the first place. However…” I gently took her chin in my hand, moving her muzzle to match my gaze. “Don’t you ever think for a second that what we’re doing is for nothing. We’re working towards something great, Zipp, and we’ll get there, together, regardless of what anypony else thinks or wishes.”

That got her to cheer up, shedding her frown for a tiny smile of appreciation.

“Same here.” Sunny, who had caught up to our conversation, called from the oven. “How could she not love magic?” She asked with visible frustration.

“Maybe she’s just jealous?” Hitch proposed from the counter where he was slowly flattening more pizza dough for a last batch. “Even with magic back, it’s not that much different for us earth ponies.”

“Jealous?” Pipp inquired as she neatly assembled the toppings.

“Heh, I know I am.” Hitch continued. “Magic sounds pretty scary at first, but colt would I jump at the chance to be able to levitate stuff, or make an impromptu flight to the top of a building. Hey, Alex…” He searched for me “Do you think you can whip up one of those gauntlets for us?”

Not the first time a pony had asked. The answer would be the same as always. “Sorry, Hitch,” I answered with a solemn shake of my head. “I lack both the materials and diagrams, and only a high-level unicorn specialized in the field could imprint the multilayered spell engrams to create the LIM that powers them. My abilities don’t reach that far.”

However, there was a high chance that a bunch of them could have remained in Canterlot Castle’s laboratories, since it became a high-priority research project back in the day, with the crown enlisting ponies all over Equestria to pour their abilities to perfect them, among many other research fields that made up the ISIT program. I made a mental note to check what remained of it when I visited again, and I was going to visit again. As painful as it was to do so.

“Come on, Hitch, it’s not that bad for us. We work with what we have, like we’ve always done. The difference is that now we have both unicorns and pegasi there to help us. Ready?” Sunny looked at Izzy and me, holding the peel in her mouth, a freshly made pizza smoking above it, ready to be cut.

Izzy and I gave each other a nod of confirmation, repeating the gesture with Sunny, who launched the pizza into the air. A few severing spells cast in quick succession cut the pizza into eight pieces, which were carefully levitated by Izzy’s magic to each of us. I shared with her a celebratory hoof bump.

“I guess levitation is pretty cool.” Pipp began before taking a mouthful of her portion. “Mmmm, shoooo good… *gulp*Ahem. But I wouldn’t trade these babies for anything,” She flapped her fluffy wings for emphasis.

Her sister changed the topic. “What about you, Sunny? Have you figured out the whole ‘magical wings and horn appearing at random times’ thing yet?”

The problem Zipp had just mentioned had become a pressing issue, since it was nigh-impossible to schedule training sessions when her powers would just switch on and off randomly. Sunny had made excellent progress with them, and more or less could summon them at will with enough time and mental preparation, but the trigger was still a mystery to her. Whatever it was, it acted in and outside training, and more often than not ended up causing a magical accident when her powers came forth without being summoned. More wood for the fire that was Posey’s opinion on magic.

“No, Zipp, I haven’t… and it’s only getting worse.” Sunny admitted, but was quick to realize what she had just said, turning to regard me with an apologetic look, thinking she might have insulted my efforts at training her.

Far from the truth. I rewarded her with a reassuring smile of my own. “You’ve been doing great, Sunny. We’ll get there, I promise.”

The dread she held in her chest soon was blown away with a relieved exhalation, turning her worried frown into her usual, bright smile.

We spent a few minutes enjoying our meal in comfortable silence. That is until Zipp voiced more of her concerns.

“Maybe Posey has a point.” She muttered deep in thought, slowly turning her pizza slice in her hoof. “If there is one thing we’ve learned about magic, it’s that it is unpredictable.”

Sunny was quick to correct her. “It may be unpredictable, but it’s not dangerous.” She spoke with confidence, only for that confidence to shatter a second later when her own words registered in her brain. Again, she nervously peered at me, no doubt recalling some of the more… ‘delicate’ stories they had learned from me regarding the use of magic. “I-I mean, not dangerous as long as it’s wielded with responsibility and care.” She backtracked with a nervous gulp.

“And that is why today is the perfect day to demonstrate that, is it not?” I attempted to defuse her worries, although she wasn’t wrong in the slightest.

“Mhm.” She answered with a confidant pump of her forehoof. “We're going to use Maretime Bay Day as our chance to show off all the amazing things magic can do! Then everypony will remember just how special it is that we have friendship and magic in our lives again! Are you ponies, and human, in?” She flashed me a playful wink.

All my friends answered with vigorous cheers, all of them, except Zipp, who I heard groaning dejectedly beside me. From the corner of my eye, I discerned her mom’s name on her phone’s screen, the device vibrating with an incoming call. She definitely wasn’t looking forward to that call. I could guess why after our previous talks regarding her pending princess status and Zipp’s reluctance to involve herself with anything ‘crowny’. A rushed apology saw her making a beeline towards the ramps leading to the second floor for some privacy.

‘I know how it is, Zipp. I know it better than anypony.’

‘Celestia’s sake, Mom! Does it have to be now?’ I angrily complained at the sight of her name and icon on my phone screen.

There was only ONE reason she ever called me since I’d moved to Maretime Bay with my friends, a reason I was in no way looking forward to discussing further than what we already had. What would be the point? The conversation always ended the same regardless of what I tried.

I decided to take the elevator up to the crystal’s room to spare my friends from the show. The distance and low humming would be perfect to mask my voice if it turned into a heated discussion. I didn’t want to stress my friends more than they currently were with the festival and all.

I released a deep breath and mentally prepared for another tiring call from my mom. I flipped the phone open and pressed the green button.

*Zephyrina? Are you there? H-Hello? I can't see you.* The voice of my mother accompanied her image across the video call. I adjusted the camera so that she could see me better, taking a seat on one of Alex’s folding chairs he used during his research seasons. The other one was actually for me or Sunny, since we would both accompany him from time to time.

“Hi, Mom.” I answered with as much emotion as a brick.

*Ah, there you are. It’s been ages since I’ve seen my little fillies.* I tried not to groan at her cheesy greetings. Thankfully, Cloudpuff barged into the scene at the perfect moment for my mom to not notice my tired eye-roll. *At least Pipp answers her phone when I call her. You, my dear, never do! And you haven't visited Zephyr Heights in a long time!*

‘Oh, crap.’

“Uh, nope! I have definitely not been to Zephyr Heights in a while! Hehe… ahem.” I kept my composure as best as I could, praying that she hadn’t learned about my short ‘trip’ there for my sister’s lucky microphone. Once again, Cloudpuff’s search for attention was enough for my mom to not pay a closer look at the bullets I was sweating.

*Well, it's not like you can't fly now, darling. Oh! Cloudpuff wants to say hi! Who's Mommy's little baby? You are! Yes, you, are!*

I resigned myself to just waiting for my mom to stop baby-talking our pet, no doubt sporting the driest look ever worn by a pegasus as I tapped the seconds away with my rear hoof. I’m not ashamed to admit I really don’t have that much patience for these kinds of things.

“Mom, can we please jus-”

*Listen, Zipp, dear.* She interrupted me, her tone becoming more serious all of a sudden. *I called because I'm going to need you to move back home, okay?*

I almost missed a breath. “What?! No! No way, Mom!”

She was having none of it, as usual. *I know you've had your fun with your new friends and all, but you're a princess, darling. You're going to be queen one day!* She recited the usual speech with a proud smile, a sentiment I did not share.

“Ugh. I know…” I quickly fumbled for an escape, “But, what about Pipp though?”

*Well, your sister has that little salon project, and while I do like the idea of you being there to keep an eye on her, let's face it, she livestreams everything, like, everything. It’s actually a bit too much at times. I’m going to talk about it with her soon. Still, I don’t have any problems keeping track of her whereabouts. You're the one I need here, studying my every move and representing the royal family!*

“B-But I’m not sure if I’m ready to leave just yet. There’s a lot going on here, Mom!” I desperately tried.

*And what would that be?* She flashed me a questioning look.

“Ummm… uh. There’s a festival soon?”

By some kind of miracle, my trump card worked. *Hmm… I do suppose festival planning does count as a useful skill for your future on the throne. As queen, you'll be responsible for arranging state dinners, teas, parties...*

She went on and on, making me lose what little patience I still held. I didn’t want to deal with it at the moment, preferably not ever.

“Uh… Oh!” I started making static-like noises and shaking my phone in a pathetic attempt to escape. “You’re… breaking… up!”

I immediately ended the call, making sure to avoid the unamused expression on my mom’s features. I remembered then that this was at least the third time I had used that trick. I need to come up with something new.

I sighed dejectedly, returning my phone to the wing holster. “Why does it have to be this way?” I stood up from the chair and trotted my way towards the balcony, feeling my ears drooping against my mane and my wings falling saggy at my sides. I felt so tired at that moment.

“Is everything okay?” The soft voice of my friend popped the bubble of my silent musings. So absorbed was I in my thoughts that I hadn’t heard Sunny nor Alex ride their way up the elevator. She stood closer to me, with him standing a little bit behind, both of them looking visibly worried.

“Y-Yeah,” I tried to diffuse their concerns, unsuccessfully that is. “It's just that... I love it here in Maretime Bay so much… I don't want to leave yet.”

“L-Leave?” Sunny wondered.

“To go back to Zephyr Heights.” I clarified with a wince.

I startled my friend back, her eyes narrowing to pinpricks. “Why?! Do you not like living with us?” She asked with a sad look that almost broke my heart. I quickly set out to correct myself.

“No, no! Of course I do, Sunny! It’s… actually, it’s been the best thing that has happened to me since my sister was born.” I avoided her searching eyes, choosing instead to look towards the town below. “I know I’m not ready to become the full-time, heir-to-the-throne princess yet. Not the way my mom expects me to be, anyway.”

My friends patiently waited for me to finish voicing my thoughts. With no short amount of apprehension, I revealed my most pressing concern. “But... I'm not sure if I fit in here either.”

“Of course you do, Zipp!” Sunny crossed the remaining distance and pressed herself against me in reassuring comfort.

“... Do you really think so?” I muttered with my cheek flat against the balocny’s railing, only to be rewarded with a vigorous nod. “Even if all I do is fly around and try out new moves?” I spread my wings and kicked from the ground to make a tiny loop over the balcony for emphasis.

“It's what you love to do! As Izzy would say… ahem,” She played with her tone of voice to imitate Izzy’s "It makes your sparkle shine really bright!"

I couldn’t help but chuckle at her crude, but accurate imitation, feeling my mood slowly lifting. “… I don’t know. Mom’s very adamant that I return home and start taking my royal lessons seriously. Perhaps it’s time for me to do so…” I sighed again and closed my eyes for a moment. “I’m going to have to do it someday.”

“Zipp.” A masculine voice brought my gaze up from the floor. My human friend had just called out to me. He didn’t say anything else, however, he extended his left arm in silent invitation, an invitation I most eagerly accepted.

Sunny had told us about how he, in truth, is an Equestrian prince proud and proper, albeit unwillingly from his end. She has also asked us, almost begged us in fact, to please not bring it up around him nor treat him any differently because of it. At that moment, I had started regarding him in a different light, a light that had shone on my path since the day I was old enough to understand what role I was to fulfill for the betterment of our kingdom.

Walking with my head low, I trotted to stand in front of his towering form. Not a word was spoken between us, but our eyes spoke all that was needed. Feeling my strength slowly crumbling, I accepted his embrace and buried my muzzle in his belly. He changed his position, kneeling in front of me so that my muzzle switched to nuzzle his neck. I felt his arms gently encompass me, slowly petting my back and neck in warm reassurance.

“… I don’t want to be mean.” I whispered, swallowing back a sob.

“I know.” Was his brief response.

“… I-I don’t want to disappoint anypony.”

“You won’t.” He tightened his embrace.

“B-But… it’s just not who I am…”

“I know, Zipp, I know…”

He patiently waited for me to recompose myself. I hated showing weakness like this in front of anypony. However, at that moment, I knew that, if there was anypony, anypony in the whole world with whom I could feel safe doing so, it was with my friends.

Pushing back once I felt like myself again, I shook myself snout-to-tail to clear my head. With renewed confidence, I gave Alex a nod of appreciation, which he promptly reciprocated.

I felt Sunny slowly trot to my side, giving me her own reassuring nuzzle.

“Come on, Zipp. We have a festival to attend, and it needs your magic, too.”

Not able to fully express my gratitude to my friends, I simply ushered them to go ahead while I took a few more moments to recompose myself fully. Agreeing with me, they both took the elevator down while I returned my sight toward the beautiful landscape of the Horseshoe Bay, and the town it was home to.

However, just as I was about to make my way towards the elevator, a pair of startled screams quickly gained my attention. Flapping my wings hard to assist whomever had screamed, I was regarded with a pair of pegasi who, a bit frazzled, continued their way towards the town, soaring the skies like they hadn't just lost control of their flight for a second out of nowhere. There wasn't even a breeze blowing that might’ve brought them out of rail.

“Hmm….” This had been the second weird phenomenon regarding pegasi and flight that day. That very same morning I had rescued a pair of fillies from pancaking into the ground as I made my way back from Zephyr Heights. I didn’t think too much about it at the time, blaming it on their inexperience.

However, I was starting to have my doubts.

Those doubts brought my attention to the Unity Crystals, the mechanism responsible for our continued usage of magic. We’d already had a major scare with the Discord incident, and I was in no way looking forward to another episode.

“... Ugh, no time for that right now.” I thought best not to dwell too hard on it and quickly hovered towards the elevator, which I rode back to my friends. I had more pressing issues to attend to.

In the middle of the main hall, I found them all in a neat circle, excitedly going over ideas for the decorations that would adorn Mane Street and the area around the concert stage. What weirded me out was the absurd amount of spoons my friend Izzy was currently levitating around her as she delivered a short demonstration.

“What's with all the spoons?” I asked my unicorn friend as I came in for a swift landing near them.

“Oh, we're unicycling these old decorations. You wanna try?” She cheerfully invited, using her levitation to bathe said spoons in glitter and assemble them in some kind of donut shape.

Not feeling like getting my hooves dirty, I blurted my best attempt for an excuse. “Uh, decorating things isn't really my strong point…”

“We could do something else. What about baking some Bay Day treats?” Sunny butted in with her own proposition from the kitchen, hooves full into preparing more treats for today’s celebrations.

“I-I'm not very good at baking either.”

She wasn’t going to relent, wanting to see me a part of the festival planning. “Or write a song for the big concert!”

“Yeah!” My sister exclaimed. “Zipp, you used to love writing song lyrics with me!”

“I-I don’t think so…” I began slowly making my way toward the doors by awkwardly walking backwards, trying to come up with a better excuse to just go and take some time for myself before all the fuss of the big celebration.

“Wait!” Sunny made one last attempt. “I'm sure we can find something that you'd like to do, how about…”

“Guys.” Alex finally decided to intervene. He made a gesture with his hands which I understood to be one for settling down. “Zipp, how about you go take a flight over the town, and see how things are coming along?” He proposed, giving me a knowing glance.

Silently thanking him, I galloped the rest of the way to the exit, and as soon as the blue sky welcomed me over my head I gave my wings a strong pump and launched myself into the air, letting the deafening feeling of rushing air against my ears and muzzle distract me from my previous nervous breakdown.

The weightless levity that accompanied flight worked wonders to soothe my nerves. I relished in the cool breeze that pushed me up into the clouds, the wet feeling of water vapor trickling down my fur and feathers, and the rush of adrenaline as I brought myself to a drop from the heights, pulling up at the last moment before speeding straight towards the seaside town.

The sheriff’s office entered my field of view as soon as I started flying over the central district. Thinking about the strange things I’d witnessed that very same day, I decided it was prudent to go and ask Hitch if he knew anything about them. Being the local sheriff, he ought to know about any strange phenomena happening in this town. Also, I kinda wanted to see him anyway. He had this way of making problems feel less of a deal.

It took me ten seconds flat to land straight in front of the building, and I pushed on the twin doors of the entrance with a light shove, dipping my head inside to see if he had made it into the office, or if he was otherwise patrolling the streets.

Before I could even call for him, I was rewarded with the sight of my friend twirling around in his office chair while trying to… rhyme.

“Uh… are you trying to rhyme?” I asked rhetorically.

He was startled by my appearance, as he quickly stopped spinning and made an attempt to regain his professional composure. Failing miserably, I’m afraid to admit. The goofiest sheriff in town, he was.

“O-Oh, hey there, Zipp. Y-Yeah I, um…. what do you think?” He asked with a sheepish grin.

“Waaay too much.” I flatly answered to his dismay.

“Cool, cool, just trying something out. Didn’t work, great feedback.” He cleared his voice and switched to a more professional tone. “So, what can I do for you?”

I debated for a moment whether to outright mention something about my strange sightings or not. “I came by because… well… Have you seen anything strange lately?” I couldn’t think of a better way of hinting it without making him outright panic.

“Strange? You live in a lighthouse with glowing crystals that shoot rainbows up the sky and a unicorn that can move things with the power of her mind. I need you to be a little bit more specific, Zipp?” He pressed with just an ounce of sarcasm. Not that he was wrong.

“Well, I was on the balcony earlier when…”

I lost my edge as I started to overthink things again.

‘Nah, there are more important things to worry about today’.

“Y-You know what? It was probably nothing. Forget it.” I cut it off with a nervous laugh.

Hitch regarded me for a few, suspicious moments when suddenly his features lit up. “Wait, I know what this is about now!”

I nervously gulped, cursing my poor acting skills. “You do?”

He left his chair to approach me from around his desk. “Yup. You, my friend…” I nervously twitched in place. “... are bored.”

‘Pheew, it’s as good a guess as I can get.’

“But, you don't have to be shy. We're pals! We can totally hang out! I know!” He jumped towards the phone on his desk. “Let's order fries from three different diners and then decide which ones are the best! *GASP!!* Or maybe a puzzle!” He brought one from somewhere under his desk. I chuckled at his contagious, almost childish enthusiasm. Another reason I liked spending time with him. He made it so easy for you to stop stewing over your concerns sometimes…

However, before I could propose a different plan, the phone on his desk started ringing, which made my friend switch to ‘sheriff mode.’

“Ahem, Sheriff station… Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm… I see… Really? How strange… At the beach? Yeah, I'll be right there.”

‘A strange event on the beach? I HAVE to check this out.’

Before he even had the chance to hang up the phone, I was already out and bolting furiously towards the beach, where I silently landed above the small, sandy cliff that bordered its length up to the path that connected it to the town’s lower level. I waited silently, belly on the sand and observing the townsponies going about their day as they frolicked on the beach.

An argument between ponies a few meters away from my hiding spot gained my attention. It seemed that my hunch was right, since not even a minute later Hitch was there to handle the issue. From what little I could make out from their exchange, it happened that a unicorn’s magic had suddenly stopped working, dropping an umbrella over another unfortunate pony’s sandcastle, completely destroying it.

Both parties were blaming each other, with poor Hitch trying to mediate the situation as best he could.

I felt a cold shiver running down my spine, as memories from our recent issue with Discord and the Unity Crystals rushed into my mind.

‘No, there’s no possible way. He promised us!’

Before jumping to any conclusions, I decided to check this issue more in depth.

“Thursday, noon, beach. Third magical mishap. Levitation glitch. Unicorn drops umbrella. Lots of upset ponies. Very strange. Must investigate further.” I made sure to leave everything recorded in my phone to review later in case I needed it. Once I made sure I had everything I could get from the crime scene, I felt like checking the Unity Crystals as my next stop, just in case. I couldn’t think of any other reason magic could be failing in said manner.

Whatever jitters I was feeling after learning about this small incident turned into a full-blown panic when I realized my wings weren’t working, degrading me to pathetic hopping as I felt not amount of air being pushed down by my feathers, which had started to feel as heavy as two sack of potatoes dangling from my sides.

Trying as hard as I could, I simply couldn’t get off the ground.

“NO! Oh, no! Please, no! Not again!”

A few harsh attempts later, the tingling feeling of magic rushed over my wings with an invigorating rush, and I found myself in the air.

“Haha! Yes!” I made a small victory loop and promptly rushed towards the brighthouse, but not before making a call to the only pony who might know better than me what was going on.

“Come on, come on, pick up!”

“Mmmff, damm, Gaster, this is some serious shit you got here.”

After Zipp had rushed over to oversee the finishing preparations from the air, and no doubt taking the chance to clear her head in the meantime, I decided to follow her lead, heading for the so-called ‘food district’ where most of the food stands were parked. I had bumped into my unicorn lab partner, who seemed as eager to start with the festivities as the next pony, even though they wouldn’t kick in until well into the afternoon.

A friendly greeting and a short talk later, he dragged me into trying what I could now call the best poke I had tasted in my entire life.

“Um, I would have voiced it differently, but the sentiment is still there. I knew you’d love it. I can say I’m positively addicted to it.” Gaster answered, a bit creeped out by my description. These softy ponies softy…

The food stand was run by a local mare whose food truck you could usually find near the promenade, not far from where Sunny usually opens her smoothie cart. She wore a proud, albeit bemused smirk at the sight of us enjoying her dish.

Even if I had just enjoyed a few slices of pizza with my friends, I couldn’t help but completely devour the delicacy, the bowl now standing empty between my hands. Once I couldn't physically get another scrap out, I returned the empty bowl to the mare behind the counter with a wide smile. “Yeah, you’ve got yourself a new customer, my friend.”

She answered with a sheepish smile, a bit bothered by the small predatory show I had made while eating my second lunch. I can’t say I felt sorry for it, it was just too good.

My phone started vibrating in my pocket with an incoming call. I couldn't help but give it a lopsided grin.

‘Faust, it feels so weird after so much time since I left Earth.’ I mentally chuckled at the feeling of a ringing phone, which I hadn’t experienced since my departure from my home planet all those years ago.

Quickly whipping my hands and mouth with a napkin my pal had graciously hooffed me, I pushed the green button after seeing Zipp’s name on the screen. “Ja?”

*Alex! Where are you?* She asked, sounding positively stressed.

“I’m at the food district, poison-checking the food stands.” I flashed the mare a playful wink, earning a small giggle from her.

*I need you back in the brighthouse. Like, right now!*

“Are you okay, Zipp? You sound a bit str-”

*RIGHT NOW, ALEXANDER!!*

“Oookay, mein Führer, I’m on my way, sheesh.” I hung up and gave my colleague an apologetic pat.

“Better check it out, it sounds serious.” He answered, turning to look back towards the menu in search of another poke to enjoy.

“Something serious happening before a big event? Nah, never heard of it happening in my life.” I voiced, sarcasm dripping from my voice.

The way back was uneventful. I came across Hitch, who also happened to be on his way to the brighthouse after finishing some things back in his office.

“How was the rest of the morning?” I engaged in light conversation.

“Meh, nothing serious, just a foal dropping her umbrella over another foal’s sandcastle over the beach.”

“Hmm, did you find an-”

“Find?! I didn’t find anything on the beach!” He blurted out, breaking down into very nervous jitters, as if been caught doing something bad.

“… anything interesting.” I finished, now regarding him with suspicion, making him nervously sweat.

“N-Nope, nothing important. Just the small argument with the foals, nothing I couldn’t handle. And also Posey stopping over to file a complaint about somepony pranking her by sticking her hooves with glue on the ground or something. Yep! Everything’s great and peachy and all…good.” He finished his short rant with a toothy smile, the kind of smile a pony gave you while hiding the metaphorical body under the bed behind them, which only made me more suspicious. However, as we were approaching the brighthouse, I decided to let it slide.

‘Huh… weird.’

We entered to find Pipp in the middle of the foyer practicing what she titled as her all-new anthem for Maretime Bay Day, although by what little we managed to catch, it seemed pretty green to me. And by green, I meant non-existent. Hitch seemed to like it though.

When I asked the ponies about Zipp’s whereabouts, I was returned with a collective shrug, informing me she had come not half an hour ago, citing she had to work on her own Maretime Bay Day surprise or something. They too thought she came off as a bit spooked about something, but with all the ‘treat preparing frenzee’, they hadn’t given it much thought.

Thanking them, and giving a thumbs up to Izzy’s miniature glimmerberry tarts after rushingly trying one out, I set out to look for Zipp on the second floor. A surprise for today’s festival didn’t seem that serious to me for her needing me here so urgently. Not finding her in their shared bedroom or any of the side rooms, I decided to check the crystals’ room.

After a short ride up for the second time that morning, I found my missing pegasus friend slumped over the marble floor, glaring daggers at the trio of floating crystals which steadily hummed with the flow of powerful Preasbeam.

“There you are. So, what’s burning?” I called my pegasus friend who slightly jolted with my unannounced arrival.

“Hey, Alex. Sorry for the rushed call, it’s just…. do they seem okay to you?” She asked, pointing at the Unity Crystals.

After some careful observation, I wasn’t able to find anything anomalous with the crystals, at least as far as my limited knowledge went. “I don’t know what to tell you, Zipp. They seem fine to me. The magic’s flowing steadily, there are no energy spikes, no visible thaumic field distortions… nothing out of the ordinary as far as I can see. Why? Have they been acting up?”

The look of worry didn’t leave my friend’s features after my short examination. She instead sighed to indicate she had further concerns. “Perhaps it’s nothing, but…”

She switched her gaze from the crystals to me. “I’ve stumbled upon some weird phenomena regarding magic, more specifically magic failing, just this very morning! There was this pegasi who suddenly dropped from the sky for just a second before regaining their flight, a-and a unicorn foal claimed her magic had suddenly stopped working, making her drop an umbrella over a sandcastle.”

I recognized that last event from Hitch’s report. “I see… anything else?” I urged her, scratching my chin as I mulled over her observations in search of an explanation.

“N-No. Nothing that I could witness, at least. Alex, I… I really don’t want to sound paranoid, especially not today of all days, but I can’t help but think about…”

“About Discord’s incident?” I finished her train of thought, also finding the issues a bit too similar to those caused by Discord’s theft of the Pegasus Crystal. Way too similar for my comfort.

She returned her gaze to the glowing gems. “But here they are, untouched, unbothered. Nothing looks to be out of place with them, so what in Tartarus was that all about? Just a small glitch without importance?” She sounded positively desperate for answers, answers I couldn’t provide with complete certainty.

“Hmmm,” I ran it over in my mind for a few more laps. “If I’m completely honest, I think you aren’t that far from it. I’m taking a wild guess here, but I doubt they were designed to have one of them pulled out forcefully like that. I wouldn’t think it crazy for some after-effects to manifest, especially after having spent a couple of weeks working at reduced capacity as they were during our hunt. Again Zipp, I really don’t know what to tell you, this is as new for me as it is for all of you.”

I checked them over one last time before offering my friend a temporary solution. “Hm, this is what we’re going to do.” I pointed towards the balcony. “You go out and keep an eye out for anything suspicious out there. There’s going to be a lot of ponies in the town today, you’d better keep both eyes open. Anything weird you catch, you come here and tell me. I’m going to stay here, see if I can run a few tests to cle-”

A shift in the flow of magic derailed my train of thought, accompanied by the telltale sound of building magical power. Both our eyes were dragged back towards the crystals, which seemed to be powering up, fed by individual multicolored streams of magical energy, which emerged from the central column of Prisbeam energy into the crystals field proper.

“What in the wing feathers?” Zipp muttered under her breath at the sight of the colorful display.

Soon, I felt a familiar tingling coursing through my body. Before I even had the chance to react, the slow trickle of building power raised a hundredfold, momentarily blinding us.

Blinking repeatedly to dispel the bright spots in my vision, our mouths fell at the sight of what was surrounding us.

“Are those… vines?”

My friend’s guess was as good as mine. Numerous… ‘vines’ stretched from the center of the room, crawling all over the floor and walls, covering the glass and slightly darkening the room around us. They weren’t vines per se, more like imprints of them shimmering in a powerful, greenish hue.

Never in my life had I encountered something like this. None of my previous experiences with magic could even begin to explain what was before my eyes.

I kneeled and reached with a trembling hand towards one of the vines that stretched under my feet towards the glass wall behind me.

As my fingers were to make contact, the whisper of a voice I had learned to dread with my very life caressed my ears.

Traveler…

My blood froze up. It was her in my mind.

‘No… No no no no, shut up!!’

“Alex! What’s happening?!” Zipp wailed in distress, feeling the atmosphere pressing down on us with every ounce of magical power that accumulated.

I tried to answer, but my vocal cords wouldn’t respond. The same pressure that assaulted me when I first came across the crystals, the same I experienced in the Map Room at the old Castle, had paralyzed me once again.

Our knowledge shall be their legacy.

‘Shut up!’

The humming grew in intensity, the room almost shaking under our feet. Poor Zipp had to cover her ears from the sheer pressure the magic from the crystals was exerting on us.

Our legacy shall be their future.

‘SHUT UP!!’

I stumbled backwards, pressing my hands against my head in an attempt to escape the agonizing pressure. My gauntlet’s gems sparkled with the overflowing magical energy.

Our future is one in…

“SHUT UUUUUUP!!!”

Without thinking, survival instincts taking over, I explosively released the magical energy contained within my gauntlets, aiming them at the Unity Crystals in a desperate attempt to end whatever was happening around us.

The energy wave impacted against them, causing a profound reverberation that shook the whole room accompanied by a loud shrill that emanated from them as the energy bounced and dissipated against their magical, bubble-like defenses.

Just as it had started, the powerful presence suddenly faded away, taking the glowing vines with it, leaving the room in an utterly deafening silence.

With labored breaths, I searched for my pegasus friend, who had ended up pressing herself against the floor, covering her ears with both hooves and shaking like an autumn leaf. I quickly closed the distance between us and kneeled to check on her, wincing with the echo of her final words.

Guide them, Traveler…

Author's Note

It begins...

Chapter 20- Maretime Bay Day. Part 2.

‘... That shield isn’t Twilight’s aura’.

That small detail in a storm of chaos was the first thought that pierced through my foggy mind after the loud shrill bouncing over the glass to the point of shattering had freed us. My… perhaps not-so-accidental attack had been harmlessly dissipated against the crystal’s integrated defenses.

Integrated defenses, go figure. Can't stop the Avatar of Chaos from snatching one of the three under our noses, but will turn on if you happen to sneeze too close so as to preserve their unparalleled luster.

However, a piece of protection magic I had come to learn while training with Shining was that the color of a magical shield usually matches that of its caster’s ‘aura’, or magical core if you prefer the correct term.

That shield wasn’t sporting Twilight’s, and I had spent enough years with her to easily recognize the discrepancy in its essence.

‘Discord said her magic doesn’t entirely power them. We knew it would require an alicorn-level magic power surge to activate all the spells that make up their matrix, but if it wasn’t entirely hers…. then whose is it? It almost feels like hers, but… not quite…’

With that lingering reflection and the fading echoes of Harmony’s reminder, my topmost priority was my pegasus pal on the brink of a nervous breakdown. I kneeled in front of her, her pupils narrow and darting all over the place in instinctual panic.

“Hey, Zipp. Zipp! Come on, it’s over. Zipp, answer me!” I repeatedly shook the pegasus, who remained pressed against the marblework, shaking in fear after suffering through what for her must’ve accounted for a haunting experience, their sensitivity to magic being greater than mine could ever be.

On the other hand, I was more than used to soldiering through weird magical phenomena, but Zipp surely wasn’t.

“Zipp, deep breaths, yes? Calm yourself, it’s over.” I did my best to soothe her panic-induced shaking to the best of my abilities, even if I or one was also moments away from breaking down into a trembling ball, hadn't my seasoned experience kept me rooted in the present.

“It’s over, Zipp. It’s over now.” I squeezed her withers reassuringly.

‘Over? No, it’s not. It’s just the beginning…’

After a few more gentle attempts, I was able to bring her out of her catatonic state, only for her to start darting around frantically, searching for the glowing vines that had covered the room not even a minute ago.

“Zipp! ZIPP!!” I grabbed her shoulders to lock her in place and raised my voice to get her attention. Her fearful eyes fixed on mine and, with labored breaths, she asked the same question that was ravaging my temples.

“Alex! What the actual buck was that?!!” She demanded in fearful panic.

“Zipp!” I shook her again, this time more firmly. "Zipp, calm down, okay? It's over now. Repeat after me.”

I took a page from Twilight’s book and guided her with a few deep breaths to finally calm her nerves to the point some semblance of rationality could return to the mare. It worked, more or less, but it allowed us to take a cool and calm approach to the situation.

“Zipp. Our friends downstairs…”

No further explanation was needed. Zipp quickly scrambled into her hooves and shoved himself into the elevator. With an impatient tapping of her hooves, she descended in a hurry in search of our friends, who I wasn't sure had even heard a thing at all.

I used the moments of solitude to try to puzzle out some semblance of meaning of the strange phenomenon we had experienced. Harmony's renewed insistence to see me fulfill my supposed 'task' only served to further piss me off.

‘What Task, you demi-god-like cuss?!! Why can’t you just leave me the FUCK ALONE?!’

I was tired of her constant bullshit, like a broken record playing the same notes over and over again, for months and years now. I wanted nothing to do with her Game and petty prophecies. She had messed with my life enough as it was.

‘A-And what the hell was that energy spike? Where did it come from?! A-And what were those vines? They weren’t real, but rather engravings of pure energy. What the fuck do they mean?!’

My poor attempt to bring some of the pieces together was interrupted by the sound of my friends approaching up where Zipp had left not a minute ago.

“... and there were those vines all over the room, a-and all that magic emanating from the crystals! My head almost exploded!!”

Zipp had returned with the ponies hot on her tail, all of them wearing expressions of profound confusion as they casted a quick look around in search for the thing that had got Zipp so riled up. It looked like they hadn’t noticed a thing from downstairs somehow, to my utter befuddlement. The whole thing was shaking!

“Alex! Are you alright? Zipp said something about there being some glowing vines in here?” Sunny, finding nothing out of the ordinary, rushed to my side, rearing on her rear legs and running her muzzle all over me in search of any injuries I might have sustained.

I gently pushed her back, giving her a few reassuring scritches behind her ears in appreciation. “I’m fine, Tangerine. Nothing broken just… shaken, I guess.” She hesitantly conceded, conducting yet another, more thorough search around the room for the aforementioned glowing vines. But no trace of them remained, not an imprint on the pristine floors or a reflection on the glass enclosing the room.

Nothing. Not even the aftershocks of the magic surge.

“Soooo… what are we looking for?” Izzy noticed as much and inquired after making sure for herself that I was totally fine, with a few exploratory sniffs of my torso, which only managed to tickle me and nudge her backwards to her utmost reluctance. That mare was a clingy mare.

“I told you!” Zipp tried again, her voice breaking in desperation. “There was this loud noise, and then the vines started spreading from under the crystals! A-And then this loud explosion and… it was suddenly gone! She flared her wings for emphasis, looking about to blow a fuse.

“Is that true, Alex?” Hitch inquired, staying close to Zipp, gently rubbing his hoof down her back to ease her ragged breathing.

I peered down at the sheriff and back around me. “Yes, it is… but I can’t make any sense of what happened. I’ve never seen anything like it.”

My lack of answers only helped drive their confusion further. With a couple of loud clops on the marble floor, Zipp called our friends’ attention back to where she stood.

“Fine! I have a confession to make.” She loudly exclaimed, earning puzzled dips of the ponies’ heads. “I've spent the better part of the morning monitoring the Crystals, and I think something is wrong with them!” She announced with a flick of her tail.

All my friends were shaken by her revelation, Sunny especially as she cried. “What?! What do you mean something is wrong? They look fine to me.” She reasoned with Zipp, perhaps believing she was overpacking, slightly turning to look at them pouring their Prisbeam energy as if nothing had happened.

“Guys, haven’t you noticed that magic seems kinda weird lately? Like it keeps switching off or something. Just like during Discord’s incident.” Zipp tried again.

The ponies took a pensive moment to reflect on each of their day’s happenings. “Hmmm… nope!” Izzy was the first to answer with her usual peppy self, immediately after trotting to my side, rubbing herself against me in concern. I knew I wasn't gonna unglue her from me anytime soon after the jumpscare, so I thanked her with a few reassuring pets on her mane, never taking my eyes off the Unity Crystals, dreading something might happen again the moment I looked away. I couldn’t take any chances.

‘Let’s make three crystals that control the entirety of the flow of magic back and forth ponykind, Alex! What could go wrong?!’

What was I even thinking that day…

“Me neither. Sorry, sis.” Pipp added absently, once again absorbed in her phone.

Seeing herself running out of ponies to buy her version, Zipp desperately searched for Hitch’s opinion. “Hitch? I saw what happened at the beach this morning. Didn't you take…?”

“What?! I didn't take anything at the beach!” The sheriff once again jumped at the mention of him and the small beach incident. That made two then, and you know what they say about one's luck, two is chance…

‘What’s going on with you? This isn’t the time for petty secrets, Hitch!’

“… take down a report?” Zipp finished blankly, flashing him a suspicious look.

“O-Oh, right, yes! A report. Actually, that reminds me. Gotta go file that report!” Hitch tried to make for a quick escape, only for my levitation to root him on his hooves.

“Wait a moment before you go, Hitch.” My call for him was enough to win my friends' attention all the same.

Once I was positive they were all paying attention, Pipp included after a nasty look from her sis demanding she dropped her phone for a minute, I shared my thoughts.

“None of us knows what happened exactly. But seeing as it’s unlikely for it to happen again, we can’t allow it to distract us from today’s big event. The crystals look stable right now, and I don’t feel any shifts in the flow of magic. Do you feel anything, Izzy?”

She stuck her tongue out in thought, lighting her horn to get a taste of the ambient magic. Her negative response allowed me to continue with my plan.

“Great, so…” I pointed towards all the ponies present, except Zipp. “You guys continue with what you were doing. Today’s the first step of our great project of bringing the true Equestria back. We can't mess it up. See to it that that doesn’t happen.” As one, the ponies gave me solemn nods of understanding, offering no complaint.

“Zipp,” I turned towards my now calmer, but still-ruffled friend. “Same plan as before, go out and do a few rounds of aerial surveillance and see if you can catch anything weird. We have to make sure if it was an isolated event, or if this is a recurring thing, understood?” Another nod of acknowledgment, her wings twitching impatiently in anticipation for a liftoff. “Fantastic, I’ll remain here for a bit to continue monitoring the crystals more closely. I’ll join you as soon as I can. Faust dammit it always has to be at the worst of times…” I darkly muttered out of the ponies hearing as they prepared to head out again, remembering the numerous occasions I had lived through similar to the one we were currently experiencing.

No amount of life lived can tune down the dread squeezing your heart. Not when so much was at stake.

My friends set out to fulfill their tasks, Zipp speeding off from the balcony towards the bustling town which filled with more and more ponies with each passing hour. The bustling from the festivities could be now heard from up there. It was aiming to be a huge festival. More reason to keep things nice and tidy on all fronts.

As the rest proceeded towards the elevator, I turned my focus back toward the glimmering crystals, preparing my gauntlet to cast the few adapted scanning and measurement spells, courtesy of Twilight, that I had managed to master in my day. However, the sound of incoming, hesitant hoof steps broke my concentration before I could even start.

Slowly approaching from the now-empty elevator shaft was Sunny, having remained behind, regarding me with a look of both guilt and concern.

A tilt of my head urged her to voice the concerns that haunted those pretty eyes of hers.

“I… I want to do more…” She solemnly lamented, her ears pressing against her scalp, ashamed enough to not even look at me.

‘Oh, Sunny...’ My heart aches for her, her confidence taking nasty tumble after nasty tumble with the limited progress on her alicorn powers. I motioned her to approach me. She did so with heavy steps, a cold aura of defeat following her. I kneeled and extended my arms to warmly embrace my earth pony friend, who eagerly accepted the gesture.

“Sometimes, being yourself is more than enough, remember?” I gently remind her of the most important of lessons, moving her muzzle from my neck to meet my eyes. It was evident that she wished to do more, her lack of progress with her powers only furthering her sense of uselessness. I reached and tenderly rubbed my nose against her snout, successfully changing her frown for a cute smile and light blush.

“… Okay.” She whispered, a bit of her confidence now restored, but a far cry from her full self. The Sunny that brought all of ponykind together.

Only one thing was left to be said. “Then go do what you do best.” I encouraged her with a tiny peck on the bridge of her muzzle.

With a happy waggle of her tail, she gave me one last nuzzle and scampered off towards the elevator, waiting patiently for it to rise and pick her up. Once on it, she flashed me a last look of gratitude before disappearing into the structure below.

Even in the middle of all the confusion and dread from Harmony's interference and the crazy phenomenon rocking the brighthouse to its foundations, I couldn’t help a goofy smile from adorning my face, the long lost butterflies conquering my tummy once more.

‘Not yet, Alexander. Not yet.’

“Uggghhh.”

I looked down at my phone, eyes sore from all the screen time I was subjecting them to that morning, tapping the record button with a hoof. It offered a sultry beep in response and the recording began.

“Report. Nothing new to report. No more signs of mysterious glowing vines or magical glitches.” Exhaling, I pressed the button again to stop the recording, and then again surveyed my surroundings.

I was slowly making my way through Mane Street, keeping both eyes open in search of any and all glitches or glitches–wannabes the townsponies might be suffering from. To my dismay and utter frustration, the trot from the brighthouse to here had resulted in nothing out of the ordinary. Just what we were hoping for, yet a part of me couldn't help feel infuriated by the lack of evidence that something was indeed wrong with the Unity Crystals.

‘Come on. The last time was terrible, how is it that now it’s suddenly so calm-Gah!’

The feeling of my phone vibrating under my wing got a little jump out of me. The slight adrenaline rush came to a screeching halt at the sight of my Mom’s name on the screen for the millionth time that day.

Needless to say, I was the complete opposite of looking forward to talking with her, hence the fact I had been avoiding her calls since that morning’s little ‘discussion’.

“Deep breaths, Zipp, no need to give her reasons to suspect.” I recited to myself, anxiously tapping the green button. “Hi, Mom.” I greeted with as much enthusiasm as a brick as I switched to video feed with my best attempt at a fake smile.

*Zipp! There you are, my darling! Have you been ignoring my calls, young filly?* My mom gave me the suspicious eye she’d sent me every time I’d skip princess lessons.

‘Crap!’

I was thankfully versed in the ways of making fast excuses. “N-No, I’ve just been busy! I'm actually helping Sunny with decorations right now, so I gotta go, hehe.” I moved my hoof towards the red button to end the call, only for her to halt me dead on my hooves.

*Well, I can't wait to see them, my dear!*

That got me to do a double take, blinking owlishly at the image of my mom and the throne behind her. “... See what?”

*Why the decorations, of course!* She chirped with visible excitement. *Oh, didn't Pipp tell you? I'll be attending the Maretime Bay Day Festival in person.*

‘You have GOT to be kidding me…’

Of all the things she could’ve called me for. “You will?! Why?!”

*What do you mean ‘why’? Does a mother need a reason to visit her fillies? Also, I want to see how you’ve managed the preparations for the event!* My mom justified in short, leaving me without room to retort.

Before I could continue, Cloudpuff barged into the scene, distracting my mom’s attention from the call with his own doggy demands.

*Yes, yes my sweetie, it’s treat time! I know, I know! See you there, darling!* The call ended with my mom’s rushed goodbyes. I was just left standing in the middle of the road, staring at the black screen. On its reflection, I could see my left eye twitching from the sheer pressure I was under.

“… Ngggh, mother of all… !! Ugh, come on! There’s gotta be something!!”

I decided to just keep searching before I had the chance to implode into a ball of nerves. I would deal with my mom later. For now, I had more pressing matters to attend to.

‘Everything on Mane Street appears normal…’

I was about to leave and search somewhere else when I saw Hitch going into his office, dragging something with him. Some kind of sack filled with something by the way it bulged under the stallion’s pulling. Judging from his body posture and the numerous searching looks he sent at his surroundings, it was clear he was meaning to do this without being discovered.

‘Huh? Hmmm… Except that… that’s not normal.’

Allowing my curiosity to get the best of me, I decided to head over for a quick stop and see what this was all about. Hitch had been acting strange recently, and by my mother's crown I was going to find out what the buck was going on.

Tip-hoofing my way into the police station, I quietly opened the double doors, finding him hunched over the small cabinet at the back of the room. He seemed to be… baby-talking?

“Mhm, lookin' all toasty and cozy! Now who wants to hear a story?”

“Uh, I do.” I revealed my presence, feeling genuinely curious at this utterly strange behavior from him.

I scared him enough for him to jump twice his height into the air, twirling in the air in an impressive moment to face me and grasping his chest to keep his heart in place.

“AAH!! Zipp!”

With a loud *SLAM*, he hurriedly closed the cabinet doors behind him, pressing his back against it with a creepy smile.

“W-Wow, you are one sneaky pegasus, hehe!” Hitch stuttered with the fakest of smiles, followed by a few moments of painfully awkward silence. “S-So, what are you doing here?”

“I had an instinct, so I followed it.” I took the window he had opened by relaxing his posture, flapping my wings and quickly reaching over him up to the top of the cabinet. Before he had any time to react, I opened the doors and peeked inside, dangling upside down like a bat.

“Aha! You have been hiding something!”

“Hey!” He tried to protest, but it was too late.

What awaited me inside the cabinet was… well, my best guess was an egg of some sorts, but it was big. Like, really big. Almost half the size of my head for reference. I couldn’t imagine what kind of bird could lay an egg such as that, never mind lay it comfortably or fly afterward. The shell had a milky pink appearance, becoming a stronger shade of the same color over its bottom as well as in some mottled spots over its surface. It laid slightly tilted over a bed of sand, with his desk lamp casting a gentle warmth over it. One of Hitch’s bird friends was keeping guard over it, wings ready to intercept me in case it deemed that I posed a threat to the egg.

“Whoo! Jackpot! Sooo, uh… what is it?” I inquired, looking at it upside down while balancing from the cabinet’s top.

With the cake unraveled, Hitch saw no reason to keep playing coy. “No clue.” He answered, taking a few steps closer to it, addressing it with a s much puzzlement and wonder as me. “I saw it all alone on the beach, and I just knew it needed help. I just…”

“Had an instinct and followed it?” I finished for him with a coy grin, gaining an embarrassed laugh from him as he combed his mane back guiltily.

“Y-Yeah, I uh…” He nervously shuffled with his forehooves. “Hey, um, would you mind keeping this between us for now?”

I didn’t get at the moment why he wanted to keep it a secret, but I saw no harm in humoring him. “Sure. No problem.” I answered with a firm nod, watching him visibly deflate in blissful peace.

“… Sooo, are you gonna read us that story now or what?” I only half-jested, generally curious about what bedtime stories the earth ponies might have in their repertoire. I could really use one to calm down for a bit. He had a nice voice too…

My playful proposition lit him into an adorable shade of red as he stammered an answer. Before I had any hopes to laugh at his expense, a buzz from my phone demanded my attention. It was a short buzz, so it meant it was just a message.

‘Please, please, don’t let it be Mom again.’

It was my sister, thank Faust, sending through the group chat a weird but unequivocally emergency message in the form of three stressed emojis, because apparently we need no context on what had her tail in a knot now of all times. My sister could sometimes be so… so… ugh.

Hitch also checked his phone, seeing the same message. We shared a brief look of confusion, and together sped back to the brighthouse.

A rushed sprint later saw us back in the brighthouse’s main hall, where the rest of the gang was waiting for us.

“We… ah… rushed right here!.... Agh… So, what's the emergency?!” Exclaimed my out-of-breath friend, with me fairing no better.

My sister took a step forward and flashed him a welcoming smile. “Weeell, everypony seems really stressy lately with all the festival planning and… whatever it was that happened earlier.” She wiggled her hoof to lessen the urgency. “The thing is, we clearly need a break, and that includes you! Luckily, I know just the place.” She started excitingly trotting in place. “I planned a surprise for you! You're welcome!”

“Oooooh!” My friend Izzy seemed to be totally digging it with her usual self.

“Juuust give me a second to bring down our grumpy resident human, who hasn’t even bothered to reply.” She grumbled that last part with an annoyed tone, making a mountain out of a molehill, alway, although I wasn't one to talk much at that time.

A new buzz from my phone told me she was messaging him via the group chat.

16:45 Alexander Kintobor!! Answer me this instant!!!

16:45 Kinda busy right now.

16:45 Busy with what? Fuming at the crystals? You have all week to do that! Come on, I’ve planned something to help us unwind. We’re gonna need it before the festival.

16:46 Not now, Pipp.

16:46 ALEXANDER KINTOBOR!! MOVE YOUR HAIRLESS FLANK DOWN HERE, RIGHT, NOW!! OR SO HELP ME I’LL DRAG YOU DOWN BY THAT SORRY EXCUSE YOU HAVE FOR A MANE AND DYE IT PURPLE!!

“Hey! What’s wrong with purple?!” Izzy demanded annoyingly, having been following the online conversation too.

‘Sis, your mane is purp-Bah, forget it.’

We received no further answer from him, meaning that either he had preferred to ignore my sister's aggressive summons, or that he was on his way. It turned out to be the latter, as we soon heard the door of our shared bedroom open and close, followed by the distinctive sound of his hoofsteps. Uh, footsteps.

“Pipp, I really don’t have time to…” He was sporting a small frown as he tried once again to defuse my sister’s demands, but Pipp was having none of it.

“Aaaaa ta ta ta, I don’t want to hear none of that.” She had the courage to fly up to his height and cover his mouth with his hoof, which only worsened his scowl. “We are all going to Mane Melody for some much-needed pampering. And then, we’re going to enjoy the festival, ‘kay? ‘Kay!” She was out of his mane in a jiffy.

Without giving him a chance to protest, she began leisurely flapping her way out of the foyer. Our friends gave him sympathetic looks, silently chuckling at his murmured-yet-colorful obscenities.

However, I wasn’t so sure about the upcoming ‘much-needed pampering’.

‘Please don't let it be makeovers! Please don't let it be makeovers!!’

…

Sure enough, they were makeovers.

A short trip later, I was dragged against my will and flopped into one of Pipp’s mane dryers, silently praying for it to be brief and painless. The rest of the ponies found themselves in similar arrangements, with the girls in their own chairs passing the time reading some fashion magazines fresh out of Zephyr Heights. Hitch was, funnily enough, getting a hooficure. A very stallionly and reglementary hooficure, whose only purpose was to ensure the maximum grip for the harshest of prosecutions, as he made positively and repeatedly sure to establish.

He wasn’t fooling anypony, though.

Even funnier than that, was Alex giving Jazz a weird look, titling his head in silent contemplation. He wasn’t subtle in the slightest, which got Jazz to quickly realize the weird leer he was giving her.

“Uuuuh, is everything okay, Alex?” Jazz nervously inquired from the massage table when noticing my friend’s strange behavior.

“O-Oh, sorry, Jazz, it’s just… I swear I lost your ears for a second back there.” He answered, still giving Jazz’s head an analytical glance.

“Umm, they’re right here, see?” She wiggled her ears for the world to see.

“….Nah, they were totally not there a moment ago.” He continued roaming his eyes all over her mane in search of her ‘missing ears’, making her roll her eyes tiredly and return to finishing Hitch’s hooficure. The poor stallion could barely hold back his laughter.

“S-Sohohorry, Jazz. Hahaha! I’m s-so sorry! So ticklish!”

I silently chuckled at the amusing sight of the oh-so masculine stallion giggling like a filly. Now that I could get a closer look, him laying in that pose actually gave me a great view of his….

‘NOPE!! Not going there, Zipp! Nopenopenopenope!’

I pinned my gaze straight ahead, fighting the blush that threatened to color my cheeks all the way to my ears. I wasn't going to let them catch me like this! Never!!

“Hehe, don’t you ponies just looove it here at Mane Melody?” My sister asked from her place high on the stage. All my friends answered with affirmative cheers, letting their stress flow out of them. All except me, and Rocky, my sister’s coworker, was quick to notice my absence of cheering. Soon was at my side, brush in-hoof.

“What's wrong, Princess? Not a fan of Mane Melody?” He asked with concern.

“No, no!” I blurted out quickly to diffuse his worries, not wanting to paint even more suspicion over me. “It’s awesome. Pipp has done a great job here.” I waved my forehooves all over the place to embrace it all.

My sister heard my praise and promptly zoomed toward my chair, almost flipping us over.

“You really think so?!” She inquired, her eyes turning to a pair of black pools of giddiness.

“Of course I do! And… hey.” I lowered my gaze to the tiled floor. “I'm sorry if I haven't been helping out much. My mind's just been on other things all morning.” I apologized, feeling quite a bit of shame at not having been a good sister.

“You mean the issue with the crystals?”

I couldn’t help the tired sigh that escaped my lips. “Amongst other things…” I also didn’t want her to worry about me and Mom’s… disagreements. Heir to the throne business was my burden to suffer though. My sis had her own things to look after… and forward to.

“Ugh,” She huffed with a roll of her eyes. “You worry tooooo, too much, sis.”

I was a bit bothered by her downplaying of the potential danger. “Pipp! If something happens to those Crystals, we'll lose magic again for good! Then it'll be no more flying and…”

“Siiiiis, sis, sis, sis, sis, sis. You need to chillah. Nothing’s going to happen, m’kay?” She interrupted my ranting and flew back to the stage, accompanied by her coworkers who sent me one last worried glance before falling into character.

“We have frieeends, we have maaagic, and most importantly, we have…” She took a deep breath. “Muuuuusiiiiic-kuh!!” She sang at the top of her lungs with her coworkers.

She then set the stage to perform one of her new hits, the lights lowering and the speakers soon blasting the new melody. Pipp, along with her coworkers, started singing the lyrics, with the rest of my pony friends rising from their seats and dancing to the rhythm.

However, a quick look behind me revealed my human friend sporting a conflicted look, not sharing in the gang’s hip-wiggling and enthusiasm. It seemed like he wanted to enjoy my sister’s music, but he was as troubled as I was about the crystals, making us both look like a pair of boring dullards in the middle of a party.

As much as it hurt me, my sister’s carefreeness only furthered my anger. It seemed that she just wasn’t able to see how dire a situation we were finding ourselves in! I could understand the coming festival setting the mood and all but, come on! We were in real danger here!

When she finished her short musical number, instead of the loud cheering like my friends provided, I took an angry step toward her and flashed her an angry scowl, fed up with her passiveness.

“You don't get it, do you?!” I stomped my hoof in anger. “We can't just sing a song and ignore everything! If we lose magic this time, we may never get it back!... And, it'll be our fault...”

The rush of blood to my ears drowned any answers my friends might have for me as I struggled to keep myself from hyperventilating, feeling my legs slowly lose the battle against the tremors that threatened to condemn me to shaking like a scared filly watching a horror movie with a rating waaay above her age.

Discord's theft of the Pegasus Crystal had made me acutely aware of their true fragility when it came to the stability and continued existence of magic, something Alex had previously warned us about in earnest. Not only that, that was the first and foremost reason he had traveled to our time!

Holy wingbeats, how I wished I had taken him more seriously…

A loud crash and the pained cries of ponies just outside got me to quickly sober up. Alex, standing the closet from the doors, had been the first to react, already on his way out when the rest of us had just finished registering what we had just heard.

Rushing behind his steps, we collectively trotted out to be met with the sight of several ponies recovering from what looked like an aerial crash. Alex was by Windy’s side, slowly rubbing her wing, her wincing at his touch indicated she had hurt it during the crash.

“Are you ponies okay? Windy, what happened?” Sunny too rushed to her side, giving Alex enough space to look over her wing cautiously while bathing the mare in a concerned nuzzle. It seemed she had just sprained it, luckily.

“I... I don't know. I was just flying along and…” She winced when Alex folded her wing back into position, “Gah! And, the next thing I knew, I was down here on the ground. My w-wings suddenly stopped working!” She strained her neck to search my human friend’s eyes. “A-Alex, is it… happening again? Ohmypony please tell me it's not happening again!”

Alex could only give an uncertain look, rubbing his fingers through her feathers one last time before pulling back, leaving her limb tight against her barrel. “I… I don’t know what to tell you, Windy. Everything’s fine with the crystals as far as we can tell. I really don’t know what’s going on.” He finished, lowering his gaze in shame.

The earth ponies she had fallen were kind enough to start complaining outright after coming to their senses, blaming her ineptitude in flying for the accident.

“Ugh, I'm so sorry, everypony. I'm normally such a good flier. It’s just…”

“Clearly, she's not!” I felt my facial muscles automatically morph into a scowl at the sound of her irritating screeching. I turned towards the opposite side of the street and, lo and behold, there she was, wearing her proud smirk and trotting over to our side with a confident step. Like a General addressing her troops, Posey went on pacing back and forth with her bossy gate in front of the angry-looking earth ponies, who attentively listened to her nonsense.

“This is what I've been saying all along, what everypony's been thinking! If pegasi and unicorns can't be respectful, then they shouldn't be allowed to use their magic in Maretime Bay, at all!”

More passersby, all earth ponies as chance had it, began to shout their agreement at the shrinking pegasus, their demeanor quickly changing into one I felt was appropriate of the old days before the magic returned. Unicorns and pegasi could only stand still and watch dumbfounded at the rage storm raining all over Winfy. A few of them even started to quietly flee the scene.

“B-B-But…” Windy tried, only to be rudely brushed aside by Posey.

“No! We are all tired of your shenanigans, always messing things around with your careless use of magic. I won’t tolerate any furth-”

“Shut up.”

Alex’s sharp jab caught us all by surprise. He was on his hooves once again, a comforting hand over Windy’s neck as she struggled to get back on her own.

“W-What?” Posey asked, confused. “Who are you to tell me to…”

“Posey. Shut. Up.” My friend repeated, slow and firmly, his features accompanying the weight of his warning in a piercing glare.

‘Oh, boy, not again…’ I mentally dreaded, remembering how he had acted during our final confrontation with Discord. That scary side of him whose origin I swear I could not pinpoint.

Posey took a hesitant step back, finally shutting her muzzle as her ears lowered in fright. I had to admit, it was kinda violent to glimpse. How somepo… uh, somehuman who I had grown accustomed to seeing smiling and always willing to share a hug or a cuddle, could change his demeanor so fast and look absolutely, positively enraged. Although, considering what Posey was doing, I couldn’t really blame him for it. Her every-sunday rant made my blood boil too.

“Ponies, ponies, please!” Sunny called to all those present. “It was just an accident. This isn’t fair to Windy!”

“Fair?” Whatever hesitation Posey had after meeting Alex’s strong glare promptly evaporated as she turned to confront an easier prey on her eyes. “It isn’t fair, for us! We earth ponies don’t get magic like unicorns and pegasi do, and then the ponies that do have it don’t even know how to use it! O-Or they use it to mess with us! Tell me I’m lying, Sheriff. Say you haven’t been dealing with magical mishaps all week long!”

Poor Hitch could only flash us a guilty look as he couldn’t bring himself to lie.

And yet, she was painting it as if it was something none of us had expected to occur.

‘Of course there’s going to be mishaps! The pegasi I’ve been teaching almost destroyed the town while learning how to properly fly. What was she expecting?’

Whatever rebuttals my friends came up with, the townsponies just wouldn’t heed. More and more shared Posey’s anger, randomly accusing the other two tribes of whatever problems they might have experienced during the entire past week, not just that day. Some of them didn’t even make any sense, as it would have been impossible for a unicorn or a pegasus to be to blame for such an occurrence. But they didn't care.

‘Why would a unicorn willingly blow your laundry away while drying? Are these ponies stupid?!’ I seriously thought to myself, forcing myself to keep my muzzle shut, so as to not make things worse, but wishing I didn't.

“Everypony, please, wait!” Sunny desperately tried to place herself in the middle and bring some order, only for her pleading to fall on deaf ears and be brushed aside like a used napkin .

“And now they want to ruin our special earth pony holiday too!!” Posey finished her speech with a stomp against the stone road.

“No! That’s not true! P-Please!” Sunny was starting to look desperate, as now even familiar faces had begun to protest against the unicorn’s and pegasi’s interference with the festival preparations.

“Dahlia…” Alex muttered when finding that the earth pony in question had joined the protesters' ranks. At the sound of her name being called by my friend, she quickly stopped her derailed ranting and lowered her gaze in shame, taking a few steps back to hide within the crowd, away from my friend's disappointed eyes.

“That’s right! You hear that? We don’t want any of your dangerous magic around our festival. Or we, are, not coming!”

Posey’s final statement was interrupted by the sound of rumbling thunder. A quick look up at the sky showed a nasty-looking thunderstorm that somehow had sneaked into our skies without anypony noticing.

‘Where did that come from?!’

None of the ponies seemed to know the answer to my silent question. However, my dread skyrocketed at the visage of Alex. More precisely, how the color of his face completely drained away as he looked at the sky with what I could only describe as pure horror. His gauntlets began powering up in an unconscious gesture from him. That could only mean one thing…

‘Oh, ponyfeatheres…’

Fearing the incoming rain, the gathered ponies made haste to find some shelter, vacating the premises. Our little group remained just outside of Mane Melody, none of us sure of our next step. The festival was quickly falling apart, and none of us knew how to fix it.

“Zipp.” It was Alex’s voice that brought me back from my stupor. “I’m going to take Windy to the hospital. I don’t think it’s broken, but I want to be sure before using any healing spells, if I can even use them in the first place... Take the gang back to the brighthouse and bring them up to speed. I’m sure you’ve already guessed what’s happening.”

It took me a moment to understand his words, hearing my brain click when I finally got his meaning. And what meaning that was. It only foretold bad things happening. Very, VERY bad things.

‘Is this how it was for him back then? Is this what brought Equestria to its downfall?’

My questions would have to wait as he had already left with Windy, keeping her close to his side, the pegasus’ spirits all over the ground at having found herself assaulted by all those earth pony’s accusations.

My heart went out to her. Nopony should have to be thrown to the wolves in such a manner. I made a mental note to have a serious talk with Posey when this all was behind us. Her words were causing way more damage than she was aware of.

I regained my friend’s collective attention and, soon, we found ourselves on our way back to the brighthouse, none of them understanding why we had to return in the first place. It seems our day was gonna be about going back and forth from our home. The journey was starting to derail from routinary to repetitive.

We made frequent stops to help anypony who was experiencing issues with their magic, assuring them that everything would be fixed as soon as possible. We didn’t truly believe it ourselves, and we did a poor job convincing anypony else of the same.

Once inside, I directed them up to the crystals’ room. The Unity Crystals remained unbothered, almost as if the strange phenomena hadn’t occurred in the first place. But a careful observation revealed that everything was not entirely okay. It was subtle, very subtle, but I could discern the flow of magic not being as steady as it was before. Small fluctuations in the Preasbeam, barely noticeable, but enough to reaffirm my suspicions.

‘It's just as he warned us about.’

“Guys, I think I finally know what's happening to magic. Why it’s glitching again.”

“You do?” Sunny pried after finishing her look around the room, finding nothing out of place since we had left barely an hour ago.

“It’s the crystals, a-and the ponies. We are making it happen!”

“Whaaaaaat?” Asked Hitch, nopony fully believing in what I was suggesting. I was starting to become fed up with their lack of trust in me.

‘Ugh, I can’t think of a better way to prove it. Let’s see….’

I could only think of a way to prove my theory. “Okay, check this out.” I turned to address my sister. “Pipp, when we were fillies, I used to steal Mom's chocolate-dipped cherries and blame it on you!”

“*GASP!!* I knew it! You got me grounded, like, twelve times!!” My sis pointed an accusing hoof at me, flaring ehr wings in anger.

I played the role of the older sister to a toot. “Yeah, yeah, yeah. And guess what? I don't like karaoke! It's. The. Woooorst! Ugh!” I made disgusted faces, which fueled my sister’s anger.

“Hey!” Izzy chivalrously stepped up to defend her. “You take that back! Karaoke is a fun activity for every age and skill level!” She stated with a snort.

“Come on, Izzy.” Sunny interjected, always the arbitrator. “Zipp's allowed to like what she likes. Just because we enjoy something doesn't mean that she has to.”

I mentally winced at what I had just unleashed, but it was the only way I could definitively prove my and Alex’s suspicions.

“Sunny, there's no need to get all huffy about it. Izzy was just trying to stand up for Pipp.” Hitch felt like needing to call the mare.

“Don’t call me huffy!” Sunny fired back as she angrily confronted Hitch, the fight only escalating as my friends argued more and more between themselves for petty reasons, no doubt due to the stress from today escaping through their hurtful words.

For a tense, screams-filled minute, nothing happened, making me think for a second my hunch was misplaced and the only thing I had managed to do was get my friends at each other's throats for no reason.

But soon, to my equal-parts relief and dismay, the small fluctuations I had glimpsed derailed into full disruptions of the magic flow coming from the Unity Crystals, evoking a frighteningly loud shrill, almost akin to a TV suffering from interference on a stormy night. Flicking on and off, I could almost feel the Unity Crystals straining to keep the magic flowing, but failing to keep a grip on the flickering magic. It lasted for a few moments, regaining its stability again when my friends suddenly interrupted their argument, after they all started noticing the withering magical flow happening in front of them as well.

Seeing it with our own eyes, and feeling it in our wings, horns and hooves, the magic was dying as our discussion worsened. I was right all along.

“Oh my pony, Zipp, that’s…” Sunny, first amidst the ponies to take notice, spoke with dread in her heart.

“Exactly what I was thinking, Sunny. It’s just as Alex told us.” I answered with a somber tone, keeping my eyes set on the crystals in search of further anomalies.

“When ponies aren't treating each other with kindness...” Izzy muttered.

“When we aren't vibing...” My sister continued.

I finished our collective deduction. “The crystals get weaker, and the more they get weaker, the more unstable that magic becomes across Equestria, until…”

“Until the connection shatters. Permanently.”

We all sharply turned to find Alex just stepping out of the elevator. WIndy was nowhere in sight, and he was taking deep lungfuls of air, the light scent of sweat telling me he had run the entire way back here after successfully checking her in at the hospital.

He continued while catching up with us. “The flow ceases. Pegasi lose their flight and unicorn horns become mere decorations, just as you’ve seen before.” He recited as he reached where we were standing in a circle near the foldable desk with his numerous notes still scattered around. His tone, however, was somewhat… uncertain. As if there was still a missing piece of the puzzle.

“Buuut…” I ushered him to finish voicing his thoughts. He didn’t, remaining in thoughtful contemplation as he searched stone-faced for an answer in the Unity Crystals themselves, an answer nopony gathered there could see.

“It’s proportional." He suddenly blurted out after a few seconds of awkward waiting.

“What’s proportional?” Hitch spoke for all of us, his vocal inflections betraying a lack of patience fueled by his frustration after the events of today, Windy’s scene the sourest of all.

It took Alex another few seconds to build a proper answer. “… When the idea of these crystals was conceived, we had to implement a way for them to assess the size of the rifts that were emerging with each passing day all over Equestria. Small issues we could forgive, they happened between the tribes every once in a while, that’s something we would never be able to prevent or eliminate. Nine ponies out of a thousand are barely an issue, the flow of harmonious magic shouldn't be bothered in the slightest since it wouldn't pose a threat. But, what about nine hundred out of a thousand? That becomes something you notice and something they notice.” He pointed towards the glowing crystals, whose magic continued to slightly glitch now and then, but not fully breaking.

Alex ran a meticulous lap around the glowing halo of the crystals, the gems on his gauntlets firing in quick succession a few times, his eyes glowing in tow as if trying to discern something we could not hope to glimpse with the naked eye. Whatever he was searching for, he didn’t find it.

“I don't know what the exact threshold is, but I know that it was set at the point where we felt that the rift between the races would be too severe to guarantee the safety of the citizens. That’d take a lot of angry ponies to trigger.”

He turned and headed towards where we patiently listened to his explanation, clarifying further in case we weren’t following. “The threshold is proportional to the amount of harmonious magic that permeates the land, which in turn is proportional to the number of ponies that live in harmony with each other and the land itself. A few headbutts out of a thousand living dandy with one another is barely an issue. However, close to a third of the current total Equestrian population of ponies…”

All our features paled at the implications of his words. We were experiencing exactly the same events that had happened all those years ago when Equestria broke apart. What brought about the activation of the crystals in the first place, and made magic disappear when the situation got out of hoof. All those legends and myths around it, foreshadowing terrible consequences and only working to bridge the gap between the tribes wider… and it was happening again, right in front of us.

“I think I’m going to be sick…” My poor sister turned a sickly shade of green, about to puke from the sheer dread of what was about to happen. It had already happened once, and we had no guarantee we would be able to fix it again. Everything we had been working for. Our dream…

We had to do something.

“The festival…” Sunny, who blanched the worst out of all of us, muttered under her breath. “It’s our only chance. We have to make it right. We still have time!” She proposed a bit louder, driving us to sare uncertain glances at each other as an aura of uncertainty befell the crystals’ room.

Did we have enough time?

Thunder boomed over our heads, a serious stormfront trickling from the sea and crashing against the seaside town. Whatever it was that needed to be done, we had better tackle it fast, or else there’d be no festival to celebrate if the storm worsened.

“I didn't travel all this way to watch magic die again.” Alex seethed with barely restrained anger, hands clenched in trembling fists. “Fucking Tartarus, Twilight!! This is what I knew would happen!!”

For a moment, I thought to glimpse small flickers of magic escaping his gauntlets, like short-lived tendrils of purplish energy flickering in and out of existence. It happened so fast, and they were out the moment Alex took a deep breath and relaxed his posture, mumbling something under his breath that I could not quite catch with the roar of the storm above us.

His cry of frustration spurred us on. I felt as if I needed to take the lead. “Come on, ponies. If we want to keep magic in Equestria, first we need to get everypony back on the same page, fast!”

“Zipp's right. We can't give up. We can still make Maretime Bay Day the celebration it's supposed to be!” Sunny cheered at my side.

“Let’s do it, ponies!” Pipp excitedly called us in, placing her foreleg in front of her, the rest of us soon joining.

“Hoof-to-heart!” We cried in unison, our little shared mantra. More determined than ever, we set out to fix the quickly deteriorating situation.

Alex didn’t join our cheering, choosing to remain silent while not taking his sight away from the crystals.

“This is what I feared would happen, what I wanted to avoid at all costs. Why didn’t you listen to me, Twilight… For Faust’s sake why?...” I heard him keep on muttering as I reached the elevator with the rest.

“Alex” I softly called out to him, flashing him a confident smile to fight off the uncertain scowl I was met with when he turned towards me. I achieved partial success, as he fired a nod of confirmation back. I would take what I could.

‘It’s going to work. We have to make it work! WE HAVE TO!!’

As we made our way down, I found myself nervously rubbing a thumb over the LIM gemstone attached to my gauntlet, the one I had taken with me during my journey through time, the one that currently held the solution to the problem we were facing. To free magic, let it run freely amongst ponykind.

The solution I possessed, however, ran as far as the magic glitching and causing trouble for everypony. The rest couldn’t be patched with a simple spell, or even a bunch of them, as had been proven to us time and time again during the long months we fought against the escalating conflicts.

I trusted that my new friends would fix the emerging rifts driving ponies apart once more. I wanted to believe it with all my heart but, knowing the last time, the mightiest group of Equestrian heroes and role models weren’t able to even slow it down or tamper its reach, my more cynical side feared these new Guardians of Harmony wouldn’t fare any better than we had.

The fact that the solution was literally in my hands, and I couldn’t do a thing about it, only pushed my frustration to the brink of madness.

‘If it can’t be fixed that way, then we have no choice but to try the hard way! The one which has already failed, time and time again!... Why do I feel like this isn’t going to end well?’

I couldn’t shake away the dread building in my chest. We were at a critical point, a crossroads between the future of peace and prosperity I wanted for these ponies, and a repetition of that day’s events, when a pony took the life of another in the name of idiocy and mistrust. A point which would mark the future for this new society of colorful equines. Weak and sheltered as a society that they still were, I feared they wouldn't be able to withstand a second blow of the kind that shattered the realm.

‘Heh, a festival saving the realm already worked for the Crystal Ponies… Faust, if only it was that simple this time.’

We had no Crystal Heart to channel all the good thoughts and warmth from an entire civilization of misplaced ponies.

As we reached for the twin ramps, Izzy excused herself for a moment after suddenly remembering something that claimed her urgency, rushing down towards her workshop while the rest of us continued towards the main entrance.

“How’s Windy?” Sunny, who had chosen to trot beside me, asked with concern for our mutual friend.

“She’s fine. It ended up being just a nasty bump, nothing broken or even sprained. A quick healing spell got her back in the game. She really didn’t want to miss the sandcastle-building competition down at the beach.” The fact that she was even in the mood to deal with other ponies at the moment spoke highly of her character.

Sunny released a relieved breath with the good news. Just as we were about to cross the threshold, Izzy’s call halted our steps.

“Sunny! Sunny, wait!”

We saw Izzy hurriedly making her way from her workshop. She had her saddlebags stripped around her barrel and her horn was shining, holding something behind her to keep it concealed.

That something turned out to be a present, now of all times. “Happy Maretime Bay Day!”

“O-Oh…” Sunny was lost for words as she carefully picked the gift from Izzy’s levitation. “We don't usually exchange gifts.” She guiltily spoke, fearing she should’ve gotten something for Izzy as well.

“I knooow, but just open it!” My peppy friend urged her with some excited prancing.

The gift inside the envelope got a very particular reaction out of Sunny. Wide-muzzled, tears began to spill from her dilated eyes as she held her present carefully in her hooves.

“It's... It's the lantern my dad made for me. I-I thought it was beyond repair.” She softly whispered, turning the radiant lantern in her hooves to drink in all the angles, its light casting pleasant warmth that could be felt from even where I was standing.

Something resonated within me. That lantern was special beyond the mere sentimental sense.

‘Hmm…’

“Ha! Nothing these beauties can’t fix.” She proudly stated, flashing her forehooves at us dramatically. “Sometimes, when you add a little bit of magic, you can fix anythi-Gah!”

Before she had any chance to finish, Sunny had glomped her in a thigh hug, and both mares fell to the ground. I was quick to catch the lantern in my magic before it too crashed to the ground behind them.

I patiently waited, with a bit of a jealous streak tickling my spine that surprised myself, for the two best friends to finish their tender nuzzling. A few moments and some words of appreciation later, both mares were up to their hooves again, both looking a bit flustered after Sunny’s sudden reaction. I returned the lantern to Izzy, which she carefully placed in her saddlebags.

“Come on, girls. We have a festival to save.”

With confident nods, we made our way back to town, for what would be the bajillionth time that day. It was becoming a bit tiring, in all honesty.

Once we were back at Mane Street, the gang separated to watch over the different events that were planned for the festival, making sure everything went smoothly and no fights whatsoever arose between the numerous ponies wanting to continue with the festival in spite of the worsening weather.

I made my way further amidst the numerous posts and stations, where ponies from the three settlements showed their wares and shared a bit of each of their respective tribes’ culture, be it treats, jewelry, souvenirs, or even written history. The usual stuff you’d find in a festival. Mane Street was painted in all its length by the numerous decorations my friends and other gracious volunteers had spent the last week working on.

If it hadn’t been for the bad weather, it would have been a perfect festival for everypony to enjoy, something I would frequently find happening in Ponyville all year ‘round for the silliest of reasons. A pink menace was to blame, as we all perfectly knew.

The bad weather was my most pressing concern. Even without the pegasi managing the weather as they used to, thunderstorms don’t just up and build so suddenly out of nowhere, even while on the coast as we were. Such phenomena only happened under very specific circumstances, the fights between ponies making painfully clear which circumstances amongst the short repertoire those were.

I strained my ears in search of the loud screeching, my eyes searching between the voluminous clouds for any elongated shadows swimming amongst them. The temperature, while cooler than before the storm, was still tolerable, no trace of freezing or even snowflakes. Just ugly clouds threatening to weep all over us the moment you blink away.

If there were Windigos up those clouds, they were making a conscious effort to remain unnoticed.

‘Faust, let me be wrong for once, please! None of us have what it takes to fight them off!’

It could be them, or the instability the shifting flow of magic might have been provoking in the land. It wouldn’t be the first time I had seen either. In any case, both possibilities only reinforced the urgency of our current predicament. We had to get it right, our lives might very well have depended on it.

So absorbed was I in searching the skies that I ended up bumping against somepony, making us both awkwardly fall to our rumps.

“Oooff! Sorry there, I wasn’t paying attention.” I quickly apologized.

The unicorn mare shook her stupor away and slowly crawled back to her hooves. She had light, almost pale-green fur, with a two-toned caramel-brown-shaded mane and tail. Her eyes were also a pale green, while her cutie mark depicted a ladybug over three small leaves.

I could have sworn I had seen that pony before…

Said pony, after regaining her wits, turned to address whoever had bumped into her with a piercing scowl, only for that scowl to morph into a profound look of equal parts surprise and fear.

“Wow, wow, slow down there, I mean you no harm.” I reached out with my hand to try and reassure her, only for her to shy away from it.

Surprised by her attitude, since virtually everypony already knew of me, and were accustomed to my presence, I put some distance between us so as to not spook her further. “Okay, um, let’s try that again, ahem. Hey there, I’m Alex. Sorry about that. There’s a lot of stuff going on and I couldn't help but get a bit distracted.”

After a short delay in which her trembling eyes kept searching me for something I couldn't pinpoint, she regained her composure, looking somewhat relieved. “You’re fine, you just…. startled me. I’m Crackle, nice to meet you.”

I extended once again my hand for a typical hoof bump but met empty air as the mare quickly turned around rudely in search of something, that something being a camera, which had been thrown a few steps away during the crash.

“Tartarus dammit!” I caught her swear when she grasped her camera with her levitation. Even from where I was standing it was clear the lens had cracked with the force of the fall.

“Oh crap, I’m so sorry about that. Here, lend it to me for a moment and I'll fix it for you in a jiffy.” I offered, feeling guilty at having broken it with my carelessness.

With some hesitation, she floated it to my waiting hands. After a quick look over, I called it an easy fix and casted my repairing spell, the lens fixing itself back to shape. I looked through the viewfinder and took a test picture, the image of the wide street and the numerous ponies and stands coming out clear as day.

“There, good as new.” I returned it to her.

“Thanks.” She muttered dryly, twisting her head around the place in search of something. She seemed somewhat… disappointed with the sights. I couldn’t really blame her for it, since the festival was indeed falling far from everypony’s expectations.

“Heh, yeah… not the love and fun-filled festivities that were advertised, right?” I commented, scratching the back of my head in slight shame.

“You can say that again, not satisfying in the slightest, but what can you do about it? I mean, the weather isn’t helping at all.” She flashed a quick look up into the darkened sky.

Before I could pass anything else, she made for a hasty exit. “I’m going to have a look around, see if I can sample some local goods and take a few pictures to sell to the press. Gotta try and make the best out of it, what little there is to take at least.” She didn’t even say her goodbyes, just rudely made herself scarce and disappeared through a side street, leaving me standing there like an idiot.

“… Ooookay then. See you around, I guess…”

‘I swear I’ve seen that pony before… but where?’

“Alex! Over here!” The sound of Pipp’s call brought me back to the waking world. I filed that thought for later while finding she was galloping towards me with a pegasus who could only be the Queen of Zephyr Heights in tow.

‘Oh, crap. I’m so not ready for this.’

“Alex. Look who came to visit!” Pipp turned towards her mom. “Mom, this is Alex. Alex this is my mom, Queen Haven.”

And I thought my meeting with the Neighponese royalty had been particular.

“Uh, it’s a pleasure to finally meet you in per- uh, pony, Haven.” I somewhat nervously greeted the pegasus mare in front of me.

Haven giggled into her hooves and gave me the provoking look of a seasoned ruler. “My my, skipping the titles, I see. Mmm, I have to say that’s a new one for me.”

“Uuuh, hehe…” Pipp shrinked a little as she released a nervous laugh. “Um, he… miiiight outrank you a little bit, Mom.”

“What was that, dear?” Haven asked with a confused tilt of her head.

“Nothing, Your Highness. She’s just being silly.” I quickly interjected, absolutely not wanting to deal with that eventual conversation at this particular moment, preferably never if I could help it. “How are you enjoying the festival?” I tried to change the subject.

“Weeell…” She winced at my question. “It’s obvious that you’ve put a lot of effort behind it… but I’m not sure the ponies are in the mood, actually. The weather isn’t helping either. Truly a shame.”

“Oh, don’t worry about it, Mom. I’m sure the concert will get them right back into the mood, you’ll see, hehe.” She flashed me a worried look that lasted a second before being replaced with the fakest of fake smiles shining for her mom.

Haven looked pleased with her youngest daughter's reassurance. “Oh, I’m sure they will, sweetie. Nopony can resist your singing! Come on then, dear. Let’s see what the earth ponies have to offer.” She ushered Pipp along as she trotted away to continue with her visit.

“I recommend you try the poke, just at the other side of the street, can’t miss it, but you will miss it once you leave,” I offered her with a wink.

“I most certainly will, dear. All that flying has left me exhausted!” She answered with a healthy amount of theatrics. I cast a silent prayer learning that she hadn’t had any problem with her flight during her trip. That could have ended up VERY badly, for Zephyr Heights stood true to its name, high on the tail end of the Zephyr Range.

With a final look of appreciation, Pipp followed her mom towards the other side of the street, away from the bustle of ponies who were warmly greeted by Sunny as they made their way into town.

Continuing my walk around town, I stumbled with a dopey-looking Windy, who seemed like she had just returned from the beach, if the sand clinging to her fetlocks’ fur was any indication.

“Hey, Windy! Everything alright? Is your wing still bothering you?” I rushed to her side, fearing my healing spell hadn’t been enough to ease her pain.

“Oh, hello again, Alex. No, my wing’s perfectly fine, no issues there, it’s just…” Her rosy-furred ears drooped alongside her gaze. “I’m back from the sandcastle competition and…”

“You lost?”

She shook her head “No. I won, but I used my wings to reach a higher height than the rest. My sandcastle was leagues better than theirs as a result, and everypony began to call me a cheater…”

“Well… I mean, it was a bit unfair. You could have just used your hooves.” I wasn’t trying to make her feel worse, but it was true it was unfair to the rest.

“I know that! It’s just, I wasn’t thinking back there. I refused to accept the prize and all but… they didn’t have to be that mean, especially after the accident outside Mane Melody.” Her chin was brushing over the stonework by that point.

My heart went out for her, as did my arms who gently took her in my embrace. “I’m sorry to hear that Windy. It’s true, they didn’t have to be such sore losers.” I exhaled sharply in a brief sigh. “This is truly turning out to be a complete disaster.”

I couldn’t be one hundred percent sure, but I doubted the Unity Crystals were designed to be turned off and on like a common home appliance without any permanent consequences. And that’s exactly what was happening with the earth ponies all acting like jerks. We’re talking about nearly all this continent’s magic being affected!

Izzy was making her way up the path towards the beach a minute later when she found us both there. Her frown made it clear she had seen what had happened. Trying to cheer Windy up, she escorted her away to try some unicorn ice cream. Windy agreed to it after a bit of hesitation, flashing her goodbyes and her thanks for my nice treatment. I felt they were undeserved.

As I continued towards the tail-end of Mane Street, I saw many ponies enjoying the festival. Not outright ecstatic and all junky-cumbaya, but with a nice pep in their step considering the situation. It was a relief that they were at least enjoying themselves to some degree. A small spark of hope flickered in my chest, only to be stomped on when Posey and her goons passed near a group of ponies who were simply having a good time, loudly voicing her discontent and issues with the crumbling festival and everything wrong in the wide world while she was at it, and making sure to spread it to the group like a disease, who no longer seemed as sure as before of having a fun time.

I silently cursed her name and her forefathers’, and began making my way to have a few ‘words’ with her when a deafening thunder shook me to my bones. The sky had darkened considerably more. It wasn't raining yet by some miracle, but I silently wished it would start doing so if it meant no freezing snow and ice that usually accompanies the arrival of Windigos.

I still couldn’t discern anything, but the clouds were so dark and dense that it would have been impossible to distinguish anything from down here.

I changed my approach, returning towards the town's entrance in search of Sunny, thinking about jumping straight to the concert in a desperate last attempt. Music used to work miracles with ponies. I was praying it would be the same this time.

I stumbled with Sunny still greeting the last few visitors, her smile visibly strained compared to when I last saw her. I set out to voice my proposition to her, but Zipp beat me to it, landing between us with urgency.

“Guys, it’s not working! The glitches are getting worse!”

“We have to try the concert, it’s the only thing I can think about that might work at this point.” I proposed, the ponies agreeing with me.

“Very well. Zipp, go find your sister and get her ready. Alex, help me direct the ponies toward Mane Square. We want as many of them as we can fit.”

With a plan settled, we headed out to gather all the visitors we could for the concert. We didn’t have much of a problem doing so, since most were most excited at the prospect of seeing Pipp give an exclusive live show for the attendees. Soon, Mane Street found itself emptied of ponies as most of them congregated around the small stage. I could glimpse Izzy’s tail disappearing backstage, meaning my friends were getting ready for the main act. I decided to wait amongst the crowd and act fas tif something arose.

Not five minutes later, Sunny appeared from behind the curtains to present the first performance, which would consist of Pipp singing her version of the Maretime Bay Day song. What should have been received with vigorous hoof stomps and fan cheers, was instead met with deep frowns and protests from the earth ponies, who demanded their traditional song to be sung by an actual earth pony, with Posey as the lead, of course.

‘I swear I’m going to strangle her!!’

“Ponies!” Sunny called the crowd, her community-driven side taking the wheel. “We know that magic returning hasn't been easy for everypony, that Equestria is really different, but that's a good thing! It's so much better now that…”

A booming thunder interrupted her, making the whole town tremble from the sheer loudness of it. That last show of cheap negativity had been the last straw. Strong winds surprised us blowing in from the sea, and lighting started visibly crackling all around town, hitting alarmingly close to the attendees.

Small sparks spewed sporadically out of my twin gauntlets, the flow of magic erratically going up and down in intensity. My eyes were directed to the brighthouse at the distance, where the torrent of Prisbeam energy began to flicker in and out of existence rather visibly.

‘Oh, Faust above…’

More lighting illuminated the dark sky, the ponies now starting to flee towards safety.

“Eggy!” The sharp cry from Hitch brought my gaze back to the stage, where I saw him making a quick escape toward his office.

“Hitch! Where the fuck are you going?! There are ponies here who need he-”

Lighting struck just in front of me, singeing a hair or two and making the air taste like ozone. The impact pushed me back and made me fall on my ass as I fought to regain my breaths. It was time to panic, as my racing heart was kind enough to show me.

Pegasi had a natural resistance to lighting. I didn’t.

“S-Shit! T-That was a close one…”

Before I could hope to recover, my eyes widened in fright at the sight of the looming hole that suddenly appeared from the ground where the lighting had struck, its ominous purple shade making it very clear that it was magical in nature. Or, more accurately, it was completely absent of magic to the point of breaking some very fundamental laws of this world.

‘A null void?! How the fuck did that come to be?! They’re not supposed to…’

The panicked screams of several ponies halted my train of thought. It was clear that most unicorns and pegasi had fled the immediate area, but the earth ponies largely hadn’t. They seemed… stuck somehow. A weird purple substance was sticking their hooves in the ground, rendering them immobile. To make things worse, I noticed that the void was slowly widening, threatening to swallow anypony not fast enough to run away in time.

“Fuck fuck fuck and FUCK AGAIN! What the fuk is happening?!” Little was known about null voids, since their appearance was mostly a matter of legend, dating back to the old wars against dark creatures from Equestria’s extremely distant past. What I did know about them was that they could be temporarily slowed down by applying a constant flow of magic, like satiating a beast before it can pounce at anypony else.

I saw my friends jumping into action, ushering the non-earth ponies to help earth ponies escape. Progress was slow, painfully slow. Some of them weren’t going to make it. I had to give them more time.

With my mind set, I tried to power up my gauntlets, only to be rewarded with only a few pathetic sparks. Loudly cursing, I racked my brains in search of an alternative.

Only one came to mind, one I was definitely NOT looking forward to trying.

It had been my back-up pan in case this era’s magic was gone for good and the LIMsote couldn’t prove enough to break the connection with the Unity Crystals. Another, different source of magic. One exclusive to us, the living.

‘… Fuck, I really didn’t want to resort to this… This is going to win me four, no, FIVE cookies, if I make it out of this in the first place.’

“A-Anima Arcana.” I muttered the words with choking dread and concentrated as mcuh as my trembling limbs allowed me to, immediately feeling the energy flowing again through my gauntlets, although this time the magic wasn’t flowing from the Äether.

I desperately looked around as I felt my energy slowly being drained, silently praying for the ponies to hurry up, for the amount I could spare was very limited. However, my heart sank at the sight of both Windy and Posey being swallowed by the void just a second before my magic could slow down its growth under their hooves. Just besides it, Sunny also peered down horrified at what had just happened.

She looked at me, and I looked at her. No words were necessary. She immediately tried to summon her alicorn form, without any success.

‘Come on Sunny, come on. Do it! I trust you!’

“Ugh! Come on, alicorn magic! Work! For! ONCE! WORK!!” She tried again and again, only managing to get herself more exhausted, no trace of wings or horn on her body.

“Sunny! T-The magic! It’s gone!” Zipp grimaced in effort, trying to free Hitch from whatever was holding the earth ponies down. He seemed to be holding something in his foreleg, but I couldn’t discern it clearly with all the wind blowing and my consciousness slowly but surely fading.

“… Then I’ll have to try without it! I’m going in!” She rose to her hooves and quickly made for the void, grabbing her lantern in her muzzle.

“Sunny, wait!” Izzy tried to stop her, but she was determined to bring those ponies back from oblivion.

She gave me one last hurried look as she jumped into the void, time slowing to a trickle when our eyes met. I couldn’t stop her. I couldn't interrupt the flow of magic, even for a moment, as it might jumpstart the growth of the void explosively, and make it grow out of my control.

‘Whatever you think you are doing Sunny, you’d better make it back!’

That was my last thought before she disappeared into the darkness. I prayed that her powers would manifest in the direst of moments, which would be around that exact second.

My strength was being drained away every moment I kept channeling, moments that passed without any news from my friend. I kept pushing, kept pouring more and more magic to give her as much time as she needed. A sickening crack brought my sight to my left gauntlet. Small but numerous cracks were spreading all over the LIMstone. The magic outage was more than the gems could handle in their poor arrangements, but I couldn’t worry about that at the moment. I had to keep pushing!

‘Come on Sunny. Comeoncomeoncomeon, I know you can do it!!’

I was starting to lose consciousness, my legs weakening from the effort. Small burns began spreading through my hands and wrists as the sheer surge of magic heated the metal and fabric to the point it started to literally cook my skin. More cracks in the gemstone appeared, and more and more pain spread through my limbs. I could feel small rivets of blood pouring from my nose, mouth and ears as I wished with my fading awareness for Sunny to be victorious.

I kept pouring, I kept pushing.

It’s our duty, Traveler.

‘Come on, come on, Sunny, COME OOOOOOON!!!’

Darkness surrounded me, pierced by purple lightning that threatened to singe me as I plunged like dead weight. I kept falling and falling, the light from my lantern the sole source of illumination.

‘Where are you girls? Where are you?!’

A few tense seconds later, the two mares entered my poor field of vision, flailing their limbs desperately as they too fell further into the void, completely out of control.

Once again, I strained myself to will my alicorn powers forth, as it was the only chance to save them and me. But I was too nervous, my whole body shaking in fright and cold as we kept plunging into the abyss.

‘You need to calm yourself, Sunny. Remember his lessons.’

With tremendous effort, I heeded my own advice to regain control of my body, trying to ease my powers into existence instead of forcing them, searching for the catalyst that would make them manifest.

‘They’re counting on you, Sunny. They need your help, don’t let them down!!’

The image of Alex on the beach, gifting me his most confident smile, flashed before my eyes.

‘He’s counting on you…’

Nothing happened for a short time, almost making me fall back into panic. However, before I surrendered myself to the inevitable, a familiar warmth spread through my body, especially in my flanks where my cutie marks were located. The telltale sound of alicorn magic reached my ears, an energy boost filling me with renewed vigor. New senses registered in my mind. I opened my eyes and couldn’t help but cheer to myself at the sight of my translucent wings and horn finally appearing in their proper places.

‘YES!! FINALLY! Okay okay,now for the magic part. Remember Sunny, just as he taught us.’

I focused my magic and exerted my will towards the falling ponies. I was expecting to catch them in a levitation field. However, my magic manifested more like a bubble that encompassed the two mares, halting their descent as I too kept myself in a hover. They looked as confused as I was, but I wasn’t going to protest.

Just as quickly as they had been falling, they began to rise back the way we came. I strained my wings to follow behind them, the exit now a small speck of light that didn’t seem to become bigger as we ascended. The magic expenditure was taking its toll on me, I feared it would give up before I could escape.

‘Come on Sunny, you have to make it out! Do it for him! Do it for them, Sunny!!’

Renewed strength coursed through my veins, but its origin was uncertain to me. Rainbow light swirled my vision as I felt myself almost being pushed upwards. Not a moment later I was spat out from the abyss, the rainbow magic accompanying and boosting me out flying towards the brighthouse, where it fused with the unstable glow of Prisbeam energy, apparently stabilizing it. The strange void closed as soon as I had exited out of it, leaving only the unscathed pavement behind.

The clouds began to disappear as soon as the hole closed and the lighting ceased to rain all over town, allowing the afternoon sun to warm my frozen body and brighten the spirits of everypony who saw that it was finally over. I flew a small lap over the square, and I rejoiced at the sight of everypony safe and cheering at me.

I had done it! I had saved them with my powers!

With a scream of pure ecstasy, I allowed myself to make a tiny loop, cutting the refreshing skies before diving in for a landing right about where my friends were congregating.

“Oh my gosh, guys, did you see that?!” I excitedly called them after landing, but none of them answered. In fact, none of them were celebrating.

“Guys?” I repeated, puzzled at their dull behavior. Seeing how all of them were looking towards the same spot in the plaza, I followed their gaze to find Alex the subject of their attention, standing just where I had last seen him.

Something was wrong. He remained unmoving, his chest raising and lowering feebly in what sounded like labored breaths. I took a few steps to the side to get a better look at him. What I saw made my blood freeze on the spot.

He was bleeding… He was bleeding all over. His eyes, nose, ears, and mouth were all leaking profusely, and countless rivers of blood dyed his face bright scarlet down his neck to sip into his clothes. His eyes were unfocused, hazy, blankly gazing forward into the nothingness without blinking once. Small gushes of blood escaped his mouth with each pained breath he took, splattering grimly into the ground.

“A-Alex?” I tried with apprehension, paralyzing fear now making my own breathing hard. From the corner of my eye, I discerned small fragments of what looked like one of his gemstones scattered near him, shining under the sun’s rays as the clouds above parted.

His head turned painfully slowly towards me, following the sound of my voice while his eyes never focused on me once. One, two, three seconds without any reaction…

And then, like stone, he fell face first into the ground.

“ALEX!!!”

“GRRRR!! THAT MEDDLESOME, INFURIATING, BUCKING MONKEY!! HE WAS SUPPOSED TO REMAIN ASLEEP FOR ANOTHER THREE HUNDRED YEARS!! I WAS SUPPOSED TO HAVE MORE TIME TO PREPARE!!”

I hid myself behind the upturned double doors that led to the throne room, waiting for Opaline to stop cursing and flailing at the image of the ponies and that weird creature she had been monitoring since that morning. The sight of that strange being had unnerved her enormously, almost ridiculously so, making her even more mad than her usual self.

“O-O-Opaline.” I feebly called her, trembling from snout to tail.

“WHAT?!” She snapped at me, almost falling off her throne.

“W-What is it about this creature that angers you so much?” I innocently asked, not enjoying seeing her so angry, mainly because that only could end up badly for me.

At the sight of my trembling form, she calmed down somewhat. Or at least, she stopped shouting like a madmare, but her anger remained clinging to her. “Come and see for yourself, Misty.” She ushered me forward with her hoof, firing icy daggers at the projected image to the town’s square.

With shaky steps, I entered the throne room, now better discerning the image projected over the magic pool. Opaline focused the image closer, the ponies and that… strange creature were just going about their day, with what looked like some kind of festival in the background.

He looked weird, waaay different from the ponies around him, but he didn’t seem dangerous at first sight.

Opaline didn’t share my opinion of it. “That, Misty,” She pointed a hoof towards the strange creature. “Is enemy number one. He was supposed to remain out of our manes for another couple of centuries. She told me so herself! Argggh! It looks like I’m going to have to move up the schedule. As if it wasn’t going to be hard enough already!” She hit the marble floor with her hooves in a fit of rage.

She was in front of me in a blink and grabbed my head and made me look dead in her eyes. “He’s dangerous, Misty. More than you could possibly imagine.“ She warned me loomingly. I made sure to listen, but I still couldn’t see how he was of any danger to us. Still, I trusted her judgment and took careful notice of her words.

“I-Is the plan still going ahead?” I asked after she had released me.

She mulled it over for a few seconds. “… Yes, it is. He doesn’t know of our presence here. And we MUST make sure it stays that way. With him there, I can’t infiltrate the town directly, so it will have to be you, and you alone, Misty.”

I nervously gulped, feeling myself weak at the knees for having to assume such a difficult task.

“Tsk, at least they figured out how to stabilize the magic. And with that annoying draconequus out of the picture, it is high time to take back what is mine!”

She rose from her throne and took a few menacing steps towards the floating vision. “I will show them. I will finally show them I’m not to be taken for granted. No more interfering from the princesses, no more playing her petty games! I will take ALL the magic, and tie their destinies to me!! OPALINE ARCANA!!... Hehehe! Hehehahaha! AAAAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!”

She continued with her evil laugh until her lungs couldn’t take it anymore. I could only stand beside her throne in the shadows and wait, unsure of what she had planned for them. But now wasn’t the time to be a coward.

I wanted to help her. I was going to help her.

I owed it to her, after all.

Author's Note

Ow mama, now we're into it! Once again, I ask for your opinion on the story. I want to make sure how I'm doing before delving into MYM proper. Thanks for the continued support, see you next time.

Chapter 21- Occupational hazards.

Apathy is what I would describe as the most characteristic symptom of a Soul Drain.

A higher creature’s soul, higher in the sense of rational thinking, true emotions, and all that neat stuff that makes sapience what it is, possesses a tremendous amount of energy. This is extremely important when that energy has to be converted into other forms of energy, such as raw magic.

The use of one’s life energy to cast magic, not to mention any form of soul manipulation, has always been a veryrestricted, and frequently forbidden school of magic. I had had the displeasure of delving into such magic before, a last resort of seeking desperate answers in desperate times.

Not my proudest moment, to be honest.

Something I learned at the beginning of my studies in the field was that it was practically impossible for any creature to completely drain their soul energy voluntarily through spellcasting. The toll on the body would most likely make one pass out or outright perish before their soul suffered any permanent damage. It would take time and rest to heal, but heal it would. Your soul would heal, that is. Your physical body? Now, that’s another topic entirely. The damage my body sustained each time I overdid it with any form of spellcasting was more than enough proof of the potential damage that could be inflicted, imagine using one’s life energy to achieve it.

Many believed the body and soul to be two completely different things, with the soul always shrouded in a veil of mysticism and make-believe. This was especially true for most of my human brothers and sisters back home, but I’m sure you can imagine my surprise when learning that the very same thing, that was considered part of the core of most, if not all religions that ever existed on Earth was, in fact, very much real.

Measurable, reachable, malleable. Shaped by our very thoughts and feelings, and nurtured by our experiences and knowledge. Only separated from the body when your time had come. Without it? Nothing more than a ball of raw energy without purpose.

Soul magic was the embodiment of risk-return tradeoff, capable of immeasurable wonders as well as the most dreadful of horrors…

And then you have me, calling to it to fuel my magical output without any thought or consideration, putting my body under a strain I wasn’t fully convinced I would have been able to endure. I was lucky it had only been barely over half a minute of uninterrupted flow. If Sunny had taken longer than she had, I would have, for sure, paid the ultimate price.

But, why would any of that matter to me, right? After all, Harmony could have just brought me back again. Her little plaything, pretending to be the hero destined to save her little ponies from themselves. Isn’t she just a ray of sunshine?

She could suck it and weep. I’d managed to escape the reapers’ scythe, if only barely, leaving behind my broken body and damaged soul, forcing me into a prison of my own concoction, trapped within my mind.

It was hard to tell the passage of time while I was in that in-between state. Time itself seemed to blend into shades of monotony, uniformity, and mediocrity, of pure emptiness of thought, will and desire. I wasn’t in a coma, but I was drained of life, not dissimilar to the aftereffect of a changeling feeding off of you, at least before their ‘re-hatching’. Apathetic, unresponsive, uncaring. Until, that is, my soul had had the chance to heal and properly reconnect with my body.

Imagine my surprise that it was only a week that was needed, far less than I would have thought, but I was surely NOT going to protest. The strain on my body hadn’t been as grave as I’d predicted, but my injuries had still been extremely severe.

Still, it had been a long week of shifting visions and memories. There were brief moments of lucidity where I could tell I was being rushed to a hospital, where I could hear my friends’ panicked wails begging the doctors to save me, and where I could feel the blinding pain of burned and charred skin being poked with instruments and pricked with needles, all combined with a cacophony of voices from the medical team, who were hurriedly barking orders to one another.

During my days working there, I’d had the foresight to file an extensive report with all my relevant medical info, especially where my biology differed significantly from a pony’s. I’d left this report with the doctors there in case something were to happen to me.

I was right to have been that meticulous, to the surprise of nocreature. Still, looking back, I think it was my experiences in visiting hospitals and clinics back in the day after our numerous adventures and misadventures that inspired me this time around to put my biology to paper. Knowing how things worked in Equestria, I was surprised it had taken me this long for me to fall back into old habits.

My memories became blurry after those small fragments of consciousness, instead filled with confusing dreams, which in truth more resembled nightmares. However, in my catatonic state, they mostly washed over me without much resistance or mental acknowledgment. It was a small relief, but you take those wins where you can.

When I finally opened my eyes and regained the feeling of, well, being alive, the intense midday light, filtering through the window of a room, whose aroma I had integrated into my memory over the last month, awaited my awakening to drill painful throbs deep into my skull.

‘Ow ow and OW again!! Faust, it’s just like the morning after my twenty-fifth birthday!’

The sharp sting from the blinding light was enough to jumpstart my uncooperative body all the way up, which in turn sent a message to inform my drowsy brain describing in full detail how incredibly sore the rest of my body was. As in, every nerve-terminal in my body tag teaming to make sure to let me know how much they disagreed with my little stunt. I can’t say I wasn’t expecting a different awakening, but gosh darn it, it didn’t make it any smoother

“Come on, Alex! We were joking about you being seven hundred years old, don’t start acting like one!”

With pained efforts, I struggled to at least raise my upper body to a more befitting position, balancing myself with my arms against the soft bedding I was resting on. That was totally the wrong move to make as, at that moment, I hadn’t remembered that I had burned my hands all the way to my wrists during the casting. Thank goodness the sharp stinging coming from under the wraps that completely covered them knocked it into my brain for me.

“OUCH!! Okay, okay! Bad idea, very much bad idea!!”

What little progress I had made changing my arrangements was for naught, since I immediately flopped back onto the bed with a little bounce. I decided that it was in my best interests to just lay there for the moment and collect myself, at least until the painful throbbing receded. If the familiar scent hadn’t been enough, the sight of the same ceiling that accompanied me every morning I woke up to another glorious day revealed the place I was left to recover.

‘I’m… in my room?’

I had expected to still be in the hospital with a flurry of nurses fussing all over me, but it seemed that that was no longer the case. A low beeping sound brought my attention to the right side of the bed. Near the wall was an IV bag attached to a collapsible pole, dripping a clear fluid I suspected was just normal saline through a needle directly into my bloodstream. On the nightstand, a small heart monitor showed my current vitals. I noticed then the electrodes all over my chest and upper belly.

If I had been transferred to my room, that meant that the damage to my body wasn’t as severe as I’d thought or, at least, that my recovery had truly been a speedy maneuver. I found myself appreciating the gesture since I had kinda grown tired of hospital stays by that point, ironic considering I was working in one at the time, but I’m sure you can relate.

Still, I was pleasantly surprised that they had permitted me to recover in the comfort of my own room. It would be leagues better at improving my mood, no doubt, but the damage my body sustained after pushing my casting too far usually still left my insides particularly… wonky. Nothing a bunch of healing spells couldn’t fix if applied in the heat of the moment but, considering almost ninety percent of unicorns back then barely learned anything more complex than levitation, I sincerely doubted that in this age unicorns were any better equipped at learning advanced healing magic for clinical use.

Not that I’d needed it much, since my natural healing, as well as other assets, had been somewhat boosted after Harmony’s interference with my… passing. Another gift from my most ‘cherished’ friend to make sure I got the job done, eh?

I couldn’t have cared less.

‘Welp, let’s see… apart from the fact that I feel as if I’ve just enjoyed a detailed tour around the complete length of a Manticore’s digestive system, everything seems to be in place. I’ve gotta find the gauntlets and use the LIMstones to boost this burn wound’s healing. I would very much like to be able to pick those promised cookies up without screaming in pain, thank-you-very-much…’

“Grrr?”

“Shit!”

The sound of soft growling caught me off-handed, making me jump in the bed, causing another wave of sharp stinging all over my body as a reward for my careless efforts. Darting my head around as best as I could, trying to follow the sound that had scared the shit out of me, I was rewarded with a sight both overwhelmingly relieving as well as deeply confusing.

Sitting at the corner of my bed was a baby dragon. Not a baby like Spike was when I first met him. No, this was a genuinely baby dragon, ogling me with innocent eyes full of hatchling curiosity. As I later learned, that dragon was as he, which is not at all obvious when it comes to reptiles. His scales were of a grassy-green color, turning into a lighter shade over his belly and lower muzzle. He had four horns, two smaller ones near his ears and two bigger ones in a more typical position, which were of the same shade as his scales, if not a bit darker reaching the tips. They were slightly spiraled inwards and sported a set of peculiar markings I remembered only seeing in one particular subspecies of dragons, but I couldn't be one hundred percent sure. The inner of his tiny ears as well as the inner membrane of his wings was a dark shade of pink. Yeah, he had wings while still a hatchling, an unusual occurrence amongst dragonkind, whose all have to suffer through the ass pain that is the ‘molting’ to gain their wings.

An awkward silence fell over the room, as my slowly waking mind struggled to process what was in front of me.

“A-A dragon?... A dragon!!”

FInding my surprise amusing, the tiny reptile released a few excited gurgles as he raised himself on his stubby claws, bouncing over the sheets until he reached my upper body. Nearing my head, he continued roaming his eyes all over my form, curiously reaching out with his tiny foreclaws to gently grab my nose. I stood completely still, letting him explore as he pleased.

I had seen baby dragons before during one of the few trips I’d made to the Dragonlands in their ancestral hatching grounds, but never before had I dealt with a baby dragon personally. I wasn’t sure that any general knowledge I possessed about dragons could be applied to a baby one, since babies tended to be excitable and ever-curious about all species they come across.

The surprise and elation I felt at seeing the little guy playing with my nose was almost the same as the one I felt when I first learned of the mere existence of dragons, which was when I had met Spike, shortly after my arrival… Not my best moment, although I could apply that to anything I did or said for the entirety of that first day.

Faust, the memories…

The fate of the other intelligent species of Equus had been on my ‘checking over’ list since I first learned of the state Equestria had found itself in after all those centuries. Not a single sighting, not a single mention from anypony as far as I had pried, joined by a complete and utter silence from the ‘outside world’, as ponies liked to effer.

Argyle’s notes had been vague on the subject as far as I’d read, as they mostly focused on the fact that, aside from a small zebra family that lived on the outskirts of Maretime Bay, not a single pony had laid their eyes on any of the other races that populated Equus, causing most of them to fall into the realm of myths and legends. It was quite infuriating how easily ponies forget things from the past and paint them in a halo of mysticism. Just as it had happened with almost half of the villains the Element Bearers had to face, whomever or whatever happened more than half a millennium or so ago was categorically considered a legend by most, regardless of how much actual evidence there was on the subject.

Very annoying, and not helpful in the slightest.

However, the sight of one dragon, even if it was a baby, rekindled the spark of hope in my chest that our efforts to bring about the ‘globalization’ of Equus had at least allowed some to survive and prosper until that day, and renewed my hope that one day, I’d find more of their kind. One purple dragon in particular.

“Er, hello there, little guy. If there’s anything I’ve learned in my years here, it’s that baby dragons don’t pop up from nothing like that, soooo… I’m guessing I’ve missed quite a lot these past few days, huh?”

“Grrra!” Was his energetic answer.

“Heh. Very well. Let’s see if we can’t find anypony around, shall we? I fear there’s gonna be quite a bit of tongue-lashing reserved exclusively for me. Ain’t I lucky?” I lamented playfully while gently removing his claw from my nose. The little dragon was more than happy to get a move on, since he immediately growled in excitement, his little tail wagging back and forth behind him excitedly. Without wasting a second, he jumped down from the bed and made a beeline for the door, which I then noticed was slightly ajar.

Feeling the urgent need to stretch my limbs, I followed the baby dragon, carefully removing the IV from my wrist and the electrodes from my chest, remembering to shut down the heart monitor first, so I wouldn’t alarm whoever was monitoring my vitals that I had gone in a sudden and terminal cardiac shutdown.

With pained groans, I soldiered through the pain. It took me three attempts to get my ass out of bed, cursing under my breath at my poor condition. I had to give my legs a good shake to wake them up fully, otherwise I’d end up falling flat on my face… again.

With childlike impatience, the little dragon ushered me out of the room. His wings, still too small to properly lift him, flapped energetically as he softly growled for me to move my caboose.

“Yes, yes, I’m coming, don’t get your tail in a knot, little guy.”

Once in reach, I gently grabbed him and secured his back against my chest, fearing he would start scampering off as soon as we left my room. I couldn’t hope to keep up with the energy of a young dragon at the time, perhaps never; and the brighthouse wasn’t lacking in places to hide.

The little guy looked around dumbfounded, unaccustomed to the height once secured in my arm.

“Ah, I guess everything looks different from up here, huh?” I asked, amused at his adorable reaction.

“Brrahgr!”

With the baby dragon distracted and enjoying the scenery, I made my way out of my room, my sorry state barely allowing me to start on a proper gate, my movement speed restricted to that of a brisk snail on a sunday morning.

Was it even Sunday? I couldn't tell for sure.

I was progressively getting better as my body woke up more with each step and my muscles warmed up. I was able to move slightly faster and less like a ragdoll. Still, I decided to take it slow and not strain myself… more than I already had.

“I guess this is as good a moment as any other. I’m Alex. What about you, little dude? Do you have a name?”

Needless to say, the only answer I got was more incoherent babbling, but it was the polite thing to do, after all.

“Okay then. I knew a few dragons back in the day, and practically all of them had names related to fire, magma, volcanoes, or the apocalypse. Not very original, if you ask me, but I guess it’s kinda fitting, considering where dragons live. So, mmmmm… what about…”

“Sparky?! Sparky, where are you?!”

The panicked calls from my buddy Hitch halted my progress on the footbridge as well as my train of thought. As if a demon from Tartarus was on his tail, the sheriff zoomed up the right side ramp, looking all around frantically in search of what I guessed was the baby dragon currently resting in my arms.

“Come on, Sparky, work with me a little! I can’t waste all day looking for y-”

The moment our eyes met, Hitch’s movements ceased, his amber eyes full of surprise at finding me standing near the railing.

“A-Alex?” He stuttered out.

“Alex? No, I’m Francis, nice t’ mee’cha.” I answered in a southern accent AJ would be proud of... or tearing her ears off from second-hoof embarrassment, most likely.

His surprise promptly morphed into a dry scoff. “At least your sense of humor is intact, huraaay.” He droned with a sarcastic wave of his forehoof to which Sparky, oblivious to the sheriff’s sarcasm, enthusiastically reciprocated with an energetic wave of his arms.

I chuckled at my friend’s sass and crossed the distance to kneel in front of him, reaching for a hug he was quick to reciprocate. Grabbing him with my free arm, careful not to squeeze too hard with my hand to prevent harming myself further, I pulled him closer, enjoying the closeness I rarely found myself experiencing when it came to stallions compared to mares. Another similarity with my home world.

“It’s great to see you up and running, Alex. It’s been over a week already.” He softly whispered after pulling back. “I have to say though, the girls aren’t thrilled with the stunt you pulled. I’m afraid you're getting quite a verbal lashing once they find out you’re up.” He said with a sympathetic smile.

“Let me guess. Some angry screaming, followed by tearful promises, and then a lot of cuddling?”

“That’s… oddly specific.” He mused with a lopsided smile.

“Ha! If I only got a bit for every single time that exact same scenario played out…” I fondly remembered some of the few occasions I had found myself embroiled in arguments that eventually devolved into cuddles with my old friends.

“So,” I pressed a bit more. “Care to explain why I am currently holding a baby dragon in my arms?”

Hitch suddenly grew very nervous. “U-Uh? Oh, um… heh. You see, I…” He tried and failed to summon an explanation, tripping over his own words.

“Is this about why you were acting so weirdduring the festival?” I inquired, already guessing the answer.

My suspicions were well funded, since after a nervous gulp, he set out to explain himself. “Y-Yes. I, um, found an egg all alone on the beach after I responded to the fight involving the foals and the sandcastle. I-I couldn’t just leave it there!”

“Relax, Hitch. You did a good thing.” I patted him on his withers to prevent a gout of hyperventilation. “It’s just… I’m surprised to see a baby dragon here. Their hatching grounds are in the middle of the Dragonlands, across the Celestial Sea. That was quite a journey you made, you little devil!” I softly nuzzled my nose against his snout, electing an adorable giggle from him.

“Any clues as to how his egg could’ve ended up there?” I returned to the sheriff, to which he answered with a negative shake of his head. “Hmph, well, at least I now know that dragons still inhabit this world, even if it is just him at the moment.” I took a moment to mull over some possibilities, from which one thought became the most prominent.

“How did you manage to hatch him in the first place?” I inquired Hitch with no small amount of curiosity. As far as I knew, dragon eggs required careful surveillance while being subjected to a constant source of heat. Volcanic heat, to be more accurate. It took their eggs a while to hatch, and sometimes even then, not all the eggs in a clutch did bear an adorable bundle of scales and burps.

“It wasn’t me per se.” Hitch replied. “He hatched in my forelegs after that wave of magic engulfed the town. I felt a small rush which disappeared almost instantly and… his egg just began shaking and cracking until he came out. I don’t know what else to tell you.” He finished with a concerned frown directed towards the little drake.

“What wave of magic?” I pried further. It seemed I had indeed missed quite a lot.

“Y-You didn’t see it?” He asked with a confused tilt of his head.

“No, Hitch, I was busy bleeding out through all of my orifices. I’m sure you can understand that I was a little preoccupied dying to notice!” I answered a bit harshly, which made him wince and take on a guilty look.

“O-Oh, yeah, sorry about that…” His ears pressed against his scalp in shame. “Um, after Sunny emerged from the… whatever that thing was, a beam of rainbow energy followed her, flew aaaall the way to the brighthouse, and… it did something, I guess? I couldn’t see it clearly from where I was trapped. But shortly after, a loud boom, like the one which happened after we rejoined the Pegasus Crystal, yes?”

I nodded, following his retelling of the events.

“Yeah, like that one. That and some kind of wave of magic bathed the entire town. I swear I could almost taste it in the air, it was very weird. B-But then, those glowing vines you and Zipp claimed to have seen started spreading all over town too. Like, the ground and the walls and everything else. It kinda tickled for a second, but I also felt a small rush of magic inside me, almost like… something awakening. I don’t really know how to describe it. And then…”

He lowered his gaze towards the small dragon patiently listening to our conversation with those big, curious eyes of his, reaching with his stubby claws for the stallion. “I was holding his egg at that moment. I had rushed towards the station where his egg was hidden after the lightning had begun, and I feared for its safety. And then… he just… hatched, right into my forelegs.”

‘A dragon hatched as a byproduct of a huge release of magic? Now where have I heard that before…?’

I mulled over the coincidence to myself while looking into the dragon’s innocent eyes, pleasantly surprised at knowing the particular reason behind his hatching. The last dragon to be born that way became my adopted brother and one of the best examples of his kind I ever met. I could only wonder what this little one would achieve in his lifetime.

“It just… it all happened so fast! I can’t tell you more, Alex, I’m sorry. The girls were rushing you to the hospital while all this was going on. I had to catch up with them later after I, you know, stopped freaking out and made sure everypony was safe.” Hitch finished his retelling with an uncertain tone.

“He hatched while the egg was in your care?” I questioned, to which Hitch once again nodded. “In that case, congratulations! You’re now a father.” I informed him plainly while passing Sparky to him.

“E-E-Excuse me?!” Was his shocked answer, carefully tucking Sparky in the crook of his foreleg.

“Yeah. I mean, he hatched to you. You’ve imprinted on him, that’s how it works for reptiles, sooo… congrats.” I clarified with a pat on his mane, giving Sparky one last tickle under his chin and making my way to the ramp, mentally preparing for the scolding I was about to receive from the girls. Mares tend to be very vocal in this scenarios.

“No! Nonononono, no no! I am under NO circumstances ready to be a father, much less to a dragon!” With a hasty trot, Hitch overtook me and positioned himself in front of me before I could reach the ramp. “Y-You know more about them than me! You should take care of him! I-I-I don’t even know where I would start…” He was now in full-panic mode, the prospect of having to care for the newest arrival in the brighthouse making him go weak at the knees.

“Hitch…” I softly called him.

“… and what is he supposed to eat? I-I could poison him without even realizing! A-And at what time is he supposed to go to bed? O-Or…”

“Hitch Trailblazer!” This time, my voice was sharp enough to halt his panicked ranting. “What have you done with him this last week?” I asked with a hike of my eyebrow.

“W-Well…” He thought about it for a moment. “I've been feeding him whatever I had in my fridge back home. He seemed to like everything as far as I could tell. Uh... I’ve also been making sure he stays out of trouble, cleaning after him, keeping an eye on him while I’m at the office, playing with him when he gets antsy, tiring him out so he can take a nap and give me a bit of a rest, ummm… yeah that’s more or less it.”

“And how is that any different from being a parent?” I offered with a knowing grin.

My question caught him by surprise, understanding slowly growing on his visage. He gazed down towards Sparky, who was beaming at him with innocence, flashing him an adorable smile with his little fangs sticking out from his muzzle. I saw the realization hit his eyes, finally understanding that, willingly or not, he had already become a dragon dad.

“I’m… I’m not ready…” He muttered under his breath, unsure of the tremendous task ahead of him.

I could understand his hesitation. Twilight had undergone a similar process when it came her turn to raise Sparky with the help of her parents. “No parent is ever ready, Hitch. I’ll help you with what I can. I mean, I lived with a dragon for the entirety of the time I spent at Twilight’s castle, and I like to think I learned a thing or two about taking care of one. But that part of being a parent? That’s yours to deal with.”

He released a deep breath, his features softening at the sight of the baby dragon reaching with his claw for his snout, playfully grabbing his nostrils with an adorable babble.

“… Very well, little guy. I’ll be the best dragon dad I can, I hope it’ll be enough.” He tenderly nuzzled him, Sparky eagerly returning the gesture.

Once he pulled away, he signaled me to accompany him down to the ground floor while placing Sparky onto his back in a similar way Twilight used to do with Spike, unearthing fond memories from days long past. “I’m not sure where the girls are at the moment, though. I’ve been chasing after him for the better part of the morning.” He puffed out a tired sigh. “Also, are you sure you should be out of bed? The nurse told us you needed plenty of rest.”

“I’m fine, Hitch. This isn’t the first time I've gone through this… well, for the most part at least. I’m just incredibly sore and still a bit weak, but it’ll pass. Moving around actually helps with that.” I reassured him, reaching for the handrail in case I lost my footing as I felt my body regaining most of its motility. I didn’t want my heroic entrance to consist of me rolling down the ramp like a cartoon character. I did not possess plot armor, after all.

“Hmmm, if you say so… In any case, Nurse Tenderhoof should come by this afternoon to check up on you. They permitted us to transfer you to your room here only two days ago, citing the familiar surroundings were something that might help with your recovery. They weren’t sure what was wrong with you. I mean, you weren’t in a coma, but you weren’t entirely all there either.”

Familiar symptoms, just as I had expected. “I know, Hitch. It’s supposed to be like that, I’ll explain later.”

Once down, I made a beeline for the kitchen, to the confusion of my friend. “Where are you going?”

“To get my five well-earned cookies! And a muffin! Because I earned it!” I answered without stopping. I was a man on a mission.

A quick search around the kitchen ended with me putting my well-deserved prizes on a plate. I decided it was best to wait for the girls to get back from the relative comfort of the living room. My back was screaming for me to lay down, as did the rest of my body, even after just a short while on the move. There was still some serious recovery to be undergone.

The stinging from the burns was progressively getting better as I grew accustomed to it, like a constant, annoying buzz; but they still hurt like Tartarus when I tried to grab anything with my hands. However, I wasn’t going to start babying about it, I’d been through waaaay worse.

I wanted to let the girls know I was at least up and functioning, but patting my pants’ pockets made me aware I wasn’t carrying my phone.

“Hitch… where’s my phone?”

The stallion froze in thought. “Oh, uh… I think Izzy was holding it for you, along with your gauntlets. It should be in their room. You just get comfortable, I’ll be back in a second.” He passed me Sparky, and with a parting ‘be nice’ targeted for the mischievous drake, he returned upstairs to search for it.

With the baby dragon once again in my arms, I lay back on the couch, releasing a sigh of relief worthy of an octogenarian. I was about to munch on one of my victory cookies when I caught Sparky out of the corner of my eye, giving me the puppy look of a hatchling, eyes drifting from the cookie in my hand, and then to me, and then back to the cookie as his muzzle began salivating.

“Come on, Sparky. I won them fair and square.” I whined, which he ignored and continued with his lovely pout, reaching with his claws for what was meant to be my first true meal in over a week.

“Are you really gonna do this to me?”

“Aggrr!” He answered without shame.

“Sigh. Fiiine… here you go, you little rascal.” I passed him the cookie, receiving a bright smile in return, his world now revolving around enjoying his treat as we waited for Hitch’s return.

“You know, Sparky,” I began out of nowhere, my sight drifting towards the white emptiness of the ceiling above me. “Most dragons that I met were a bunch of jackasses. You aren’t going to be like them, right?” I inquired, only to receive more incoherent gurgles as he finished his snack.

“Yeah, that sounds about right.” I finished a cookie for myself this time, chuckling to myself at our little exchange.

The sound of incoming hoof steps alerted me to my friend’s return. “Hah, here it is. Nothing broken, as far as I can tell.” He threw my phone at me from the entrance as he made his way over to sit on the other couch with Sparky hopping off my couch to join him.

Said phone ended up bouncing on my chest and down my lap. At my lack of reaching to catch it, Hitch gave me a puzzled look. Showing him my bandaged hands with a deep frown made him quickly understand, muttering an embarrassed apology.

“Okay, let’s see...”

Since those gauntlets didn’t cover the tips of my fingers, they had been spared from the worst of the burns, which allowed me to navigate through the screen without too much issue.

13:06 Hey girls, I’m up and ready, just hanging in the living room with Buttercup.

With the message sent, I waited for what would undoubtedly be an intense afternoon, but I felt like I deserved it. In hindsight, it had been a very risky move, but as Rainbow Dash would have said: ‘it’s all part of the job!’

‘Not for my job, it isn’t! The only pain I’m supposed to live through is having to wait hours for the antibodies to bind and having the IP breathe down my neck for the paper’s deadline. Fuck, and no Candy Crush Saga rip-off to help me pass the time…’

“Who’s Buttercup?” Hitch wondered after reading the message on the group chat. I only returned a flat look. It took him a full minute to click, making him both embarrassed and offended. Somehow Sparky had managed to catch on, and he started laughing at Hitch’s leer sent for me as I professed my innocence.

A few minutes of peaceful silence went by, only interrupted by Sparky’s happy munching on the cookies, although I was quick to snatch one before he had devoured them all. Hitch and I spent those moments in a narrowed-eyed staring contest which I, unfortunately, lost, since I couldn’t hold back my blinking past the forty-second mark, a winning smirk adorning his muzzle afterward.

“So,” I took on a more serious tone. “What was the diagnosis?”

Hitch took a moment to process my request, fumbling with the dragon on his lap. “Um, okay, just so you know, I’m terrible with medical terminology, but I’ll try to explain as best I can. Let’s see… The doctor told us you’d lost a considerable amount of blood by doing… whatever it was that you did. He said you’d burst a lot of blood vessels, especially the smaller ones near the surface of soft inner tissue like your, uh, nose, mouth, eyes, ears, those sorts of places. But also more ‘inner tissues’ like the lungs and such.”

He looked a bit queasy with the explanations, but he still managed to continue. “He said you were a big fella, so the blood loss wasn’t an immediate risk to your life, but they treated you with coagulation boosters and… uh, some kind of ‘bone marrow potentiator’, or something.”

“Marrow root.” I clarified for him. By his somewhat lacking description, the damage ended up being what I was expecting. It was what always happened to me when I overdid it, just this time it was a bit more serious than a bout of wet cough and jelly legs.

“Uh, I’m not sure what you’re referring to.”

“Nah, it might be another thing. Marrow root was what Zecora used for her potions to bolster blood synthesis in the bone marrow. Please, continue.”

Hitch did not pry further. “Fine. Uh… they treated you with that as well as, you know, the usual: saline, painkillers, that sort of thing. You had nothing broken, so no casts were needed… Oh, and they had to put you on a ventilator initially since your lungs were damaged, but you began to start breathing normally again around the third day, so then they just replaced the ventilator with regular supplementary oxygen supply until you were moved here, so… yeah.”

“What else?” I ushered him, reaching for another cookie only for Sparky to steal it from my fingers, having somehow teleported from the sheriff’s lap to my side on the couch. “Oh ho, you’re so going to get it, you little imp.” I playfully warned him, electing another mischievous giggle.

“Well, the doctors were kinda baffled. You were completely unresponsive, but you weren't in a coma. Like, sleeping, I guess? I know they tried the, uh… the thing with the eyes.” He pointed at his eyes for emphasis.

“The pupil reflex test?”

“Yeah, that’s the one. And, it worked, which meant that you didn’t have a traumatic brain injury, and that you weren’t in a coma or suffering from a deep concussion or something, just… you weren’t in there.”

‘Exactly what you would expect from a soul drain. At least nothing weird came out of it. It could have been MUCH worse, although I’m not in a hurry to try again, mind you.’

“After the sixth day, you were doing fine, like, way better than the doctors had predicted, so seeing that you were out of the danger zone, they thought a familiar place would help escape from whatever ailment you were suffering from. Similar to what they would do for a comatose patient, but they really didn’t know how to better handle it. They said they’d never seen anything similar before.”

A reasonable deduction. I’d congratulate them for the initiative when I reincorporated. “They did well. They really couldn’t have done much more than they did with the available means.”

He gave me a quizzical look. “So, do you know what all this was about?”

I felt he had enough on his plate for the time being. “Nothing you should concern yourself with, Hitch. I’ll take special care from now on. Nothing I wasn’t expecting, I assure you. It’s always the same deal with me when I overdo it with magic.”

“… If you say so.” He didn’t look convinced in the slightest, but relented, nonetheless. “In any case, the nurse will come later this afternoon. She’ll explain things better than me, for sure.”

We fell back into comfortable silence, patiently waiting for the girls to arrive. I felt bad about pulling them from their daily routines just to check up on me, but knowing how ponies worked, they would be here any moment now to severely scold me and then hug me as if I would disappear at any given moment. The latter I was looking forward to, the former not so much…

“The girls were very worried.” Hitch trailed once again. “I mean, we were all worried about you. But Sunny and Izzy…”

“What about them?” I asked, already knowing the answer.

“… For the first two days, neither one of them would leave your side. We had to bring them something to eat since they refused to go to the canteen or even use one of the vending machines. They, um… well, there was a considerable amount of tears involved, I’m afraid. Uh… only after the doctors told them that you were doing fine did they return home. We were all taking turns visiting you frequently, until you were transferred here, of course… But, they both took it especially hard. They’re very fond of you, you know that?”

The familiar guilt born from needlessly worrying my friends was once again rearing its ugly presence in my chest. “Yes, Hitch. I know.” I droned with a knot in my stomach.

Before any of us could continue, the windows opposite our resting arrangements were violently opened, followed by a rush of wind that blew in some leaves from the surrounding trees. In the middle of it stood a frazzled Zipp after some impressive landing skills. It seemed the urgency was too much to use the front door as any other pony would have done.

She zeroed on me with the skill of a hawk. “Alex! Oh my wingfeathers, you’re awake!”

It took her two flaps of her multicolored wings to cross the distance that separated us, landing on her rear hooves against the floor, with her front hooves over my thighs as her worried eyes searched mine.

“It’s great to see you too, Princess Daredevil.” I warmly greeted the snowy pegasus, pulling her closer for a friendly nuzzle which she was eager to reciprocate.

“Are you feeling well? Actually, should you even be up?! The nurse said…”

“Zipp, I’m fine.” I stopped her worried ranting with a hand on her muzzle. “It’s not my first rodeo, trust me. Aside from this terrible soreness, I should be fine, I’m just taking it niiiice and slow.”

My words weren’t enough to ease her concerns. “Are you sure? You looked really beaten up back there.” Her muzzle scrunched further. “What am I saying? You were barely breathing! And bleeding all over!!”

I reached and gently lowered her flared wings, neatly resting them back against her barrel with a few scratches over her feathers. “I know, Zipp. I know it wasn’t pretty. But please, I assure you that I’m okay. I know better than anycreature to not listen to doctors’ orders.”

Still a bit reluctant, she calmed herself and stepped back to take a seat near Hitch on the other couch, but not before sharing a tender nuzzle with the baby dragon who was mesmerized at the sight of her multicolored wings, which Zipp allowed the baby drake to play with as she shared a concerned look with Hitch.

Shortly after, the sound of the front doors opening and closing in a hurry signaled the arrival of another of our friends, since I only discerned a single set of hooves clopping against the marble floor, a sound that only tightened the knot in my tummy.

There she was, standing just past the rim of the door that led to the living room, the mare whose beautiful visage I had grown to adore seeing every day, only now her image filled me with a sense of bone-chilling dread.

It took only a second for Sunny’s muzzle to morph from relieved surprise to an angry scowl.

“YOU!!”

“M-Me?” I innocently pointed at myself.

Sunny was in no mood for games. “Yes! You! Do you know how much of a scare you’ve given us?! I’ve barely been able to sleep for the past week!” Her angry stomping quickly shortened the distance between us. I’m ashamed to admit I flinched away from her piercing glare, silently cursing the tall pillows of the couch for depriving me of a quick escape route.

“C-Come on, Sunny, yo-”

“Don’t ‘Sunny’ me! What the buck were you thinking?! How could you put yourself in danger like that?!!” The mare seethed with the fury of the sun.

The answer was as plain as day, however. “For the same reason you jumped into that null void.” I offered in short.

Whatever resolve she had promptly evaporated as my carefully chosen words cut rather deep in her tantrum. Her scowl morphed into confusion and guilt, and then pained relief. With her ears hallway down, and her advance halted, she tried to rebut me.

“That’s… n-not the same!”

“It’s exactly the same reason, Sunny.” I settled, knowing I was right. As I said before, this wasn’t my first rodeo.

“B-But, y-you could have died!”

“No, Sunny. I wouldn’t have, remember?” I answered a bit more harshly than I intended, but it would never stop being a sore spot for me.

It seemed I had managed to escape her ire for the time being, but my words left behind a teary-eyed pony who struggled not to crumble where she was standing.

Seeing her in that state broke my heart, making me feel even more like shit. Opening my arms, I invited her to finish crossing the distance. She did so in earnest, accepting my embrace, pulling herself into my lap, and squeezing me as if I was going to turn into smoke if she blinked too hard.

She cleared her running nose with a sniff and tried to wipe away a tear that had formed in her eye, only for countless more to follow suit. “… I was so s-scared. Y-You weren’t responding, a-and I thought…”

“Shhh, it’s okay, Sunny, it’s okay. I know it wasn’t a pretty thing to witness, and for that, I’m deeply sorry.” I pulled her deeper into my embrace, feeling her soaked muzzle buried into my neck. “But you understand why I did it, right?”

I had a hunch she knew, but the outcome was far from the desired one. “… Is this…” She cleared her nose with an audible sniff. “... Is this really what it takes?” Her muffled question reached my ears.

What was I supposed to answer? The harsh truth was that, indeed, sometimes ponies get hurt in the line of duty.

“Not always, but… as hard as we might try, yes, sometimes this is what it takes.”

Not a word was spoken for several minutes, as Sunny finished shedding her tears while I gently rocked her back and forth. Hitch and Zipp respectfully waited for her to finish, only being able to give us sympathetic looks. However, I glimpsed a spark of understanding shining in Hitch’s eyes. His experience of being a sheriff surely would provide him with a similar idea as to what I was implying.

Occupational hazards and all.

I removed my arms from her back when I felt her slightly pulling away, her tearful eyes fixed on mine, searching for something. Pressing her forehooves over my chest, she shuffled a bit to find a more comfortable position over my lap. On any other day, my mind would have started to go places where it shouldn’t have, but the mood couldn’t have been worse at the time.

“I… I understand.” She finally admitted with a saddened tone. “But… I don’t like it one bit.”

“Nopony said you had to, Sunny. It’s the less glamorous part of being a Guardian of Harmony.” I scratched behind an ear in appreciation for her understanding.

She sighed as she realized that I was right. “... Heh, it always seems so easy in the stories.” She half-chuckled.

“As a guy who has lived those stories, yes, it always sounds easier than it is. But that’s why we have friends at our side, Tangerine. To make it easier for us to pull through in the end. If there’s anything that I’ve learned in all my years here, is that somehow, for some absurd reason or another, it always works.”

Extremely corny, but deadly effective. The things you learn in the School of Friendship… even while being a teacher, mind you, can be quite eye-opening.

“How have you guys been these days?” I tried to change the subject, allowing her to continue resting against me while tenderly scratching over her scalp and between her ears in an attempt to lift her mood, even if just a little.

Sunny drank me my tender caressing with gusto. “Mmmmwell, if you mean us, you can imagine. Dead worried about you, but other than that, nothing important, aside from Sparky’s hatching, of course. I’m sure you’ve already met him.” She looked to the side where Sparky had moved to rest on Hitch’s lap yet again, visibly confused at the heated scene unraveling in front of him.

“Yeah, I found him in my room, exploring my face just as I was waking up. Very charming fella. What about the townsponies? The festival?”

Sunny shook her head dejectedly. “Nopony was in the mood to continue with the celebrations after that weird phenomena. They were happy that it was over, but most of them were too afraid to leave their homes anyway for a day or two. We all headed over to the main square the other day when things had calmed down a little and we gave the earth ponies a good scolding for their behavior. Posey was very sorry, and she wanted to apologize to you personally. Dahlia too. The unicorns and pegasi are still a bit hesitant to visit Maretime Bay again… But I doubt that sentiment will persist for long. We’ll think of something.” She poked at me with a hoof to emphasize her enthusiasm.

“That’s my Sunny. Teaching those numbskulls who’s boss.” I playfully congratulated her with a more vigorous scritching, making her groan and close her eyes in bliss. Very cute indeed.

“Totally addicted.” I side-whispered to my friends sitting on the other couch with a chuckle.

“You said it.” Zipp answered with a smirk of her own, eliciting an annoyed ‘Hey!’ from my earth pony friend.

My legs were starting to fall asleep from supporting her weight, so I asked her to please get off my lap. She did so with a bit of reluctance, switching instead to sit at my right side, still pressing herself against me, her hoof coming to rest over the scar on my chest. I didn’t mind her closeness, so I allowed her to do as she pleased.

While waiting for the rest of our friends to arrive, we passed the time with small talk, which came dandy for me since I started to learn of the events that had transpired while I was out of commission. Most of them involved our new buddy Sparky, whose foal-like curiosity and endless energy had gotten him and his caretaker in a fair amount of trouble already. Fortunately, the townsfolk didn’t seem alarmed at the prospect of having a dragon now living amongst them. Perhaps my arrival had softened them a little when it came to other creatures sharing their little town, or the fact that the bay drake was irresistibly adorable. Either way, one less problem to worry about.

The sound of the front doors once again brought our attention back to the hall, from which a positively fuming unicorn stormed in to glare at me in a similar way Sunny had just a couple of minutes prior.

My survival instincts went on overdrive. “H-Hey there, Izzy. Uh… you’re looking… outstanding today?”

My pathetic attempt to buy me some levity was met with bone-chilling silence as she slowly stalked her way towards my trembling form, with her ears pressed against her scalp, a frown on her muzzle, and murder in her eyes.

Okay, perhaps I’m exaggerating a bit, but just as with Sunny, Izzy could also be scary when she put her mind to it.

“Oh colt…” Hitch’s muttering only worsened my dread. I would have preferred for her to shout at me, making her displeasure known loudly and vocally. Instead, she just continued with the silent treatment.

When she was within reach, I extended my hand toward her muzzle to accompany my pleas with some friendly scritches. “Come on, Izzy. It wasn’t that ba-OWCH!!”

She had bitten me. That, I hadn’t seen coming. It was obvious she was mad, but still…

“Hey, what was that abo-OWCH! Stop it!”

Again, she lunged with her muzzle to bite on my hand. It seemed she had chosen to voice her frustration with me in a more physical way, but I was having none of it, especially since the pain from her nipping was accented by the burns covering the entirety of my hands to the brink of making me pass out.

“Why you little…”

A short and messy scuffle later found us in a… peculiar position, with her sprawled over my lap, my right hand trapped between her jaws, mine clamped over the scruff of her withers, pulling up like a mother cat would do to her kittens.

“Uh, guys?” Zipp’s bemused look was mirrored by all our friends, making us stop our fight momentarily to realize the ridiculousness of the situation in which we found ourselves.

“Iffy, leff fgo!” I demanded from within a mouthful of fur.

“Ggou figgst!”

“Iffy! Leff! Fgo!”

“Ggo!”

“IFFY!”

“GGO!”

Finding her resolve unwavering, I decided to be the bigger man and let go first, even if just to escape the astonished looks from the ponies and dragon alike. That, and my mouth was getting full of pony fur.

“Pfff!... Blegh, you hairy ponies… agh.” I tried to clean my tongue from lavender-colored fur with little success. Thankfully, Izzy followed my example after winning our little contest. Sadly, that small victory wasn’t enough to erase the scowl from her features.

“Is this really necessary, Izzy?” I asked, a bit tired of her behavior.

“You’re an idiot!” Was her sharp response.

“I’m perfectly aware of that, but that doesn’t explain the need to go and bite me all of a sudden.”

Her eyes narrowed further. “I ought to do more to you than just biting you! Do you have any idea how worried we’ve been about you?! Huh?! My eyes are still sore from all the crying! And for what?!”

“I knew what I was doing. It w-”

“Reeeally? You knew what you were doing, huh?” Izzy’s question dripped with sticky sarcasm. She reached with her forelegs and grabbed both my cheeks. “Look at me in the eyes and swear to me you pulled that stunt knowing you would get out unharmed!”

I wasn’t going to lie to her face, so instead I avoided her piercing gaze, or at least tried since her hooves held my head in place. “Izzy, please understand…”

“No!” She shoved me back with her hoof. “You could have died, Alex! I mean, you looked like you were actually DEAD when we dragged you to the hospital!” She pushed herself further in my lap to match the height of my eyes. “What! In the world! Were you thinking?!”

My silent pleadings were unheard by our friends, who seemed surprised at Izzy’s strong behavior. Again, I was calling for something like this to happen, considering how close we had grown such a short time, but it had also caught me by surprise a little with just how forceful she had become.

“You.” I answered with a calmer tone. “All of you.”

She was taken aback by my response, her harsh glare morphing into confusion. “T-That’s not…”

“Yes, Izzy, it is,” I continued, now addressing the rest of the ponies. “Guys, you are all I have now. You’re… my new family.” I pointed towards the door. “And those ponies down there, here, and in the other cities… They’re my subjects to project, whether I like it or not.”

I shifted back to Izzy, petting her sides lovingly. “I’ve given my life for them once, and I’m willing to do so again, and again, and again, as many times as it takes. You deserve everything you were denied because of me, and I’ll do anything to ensure that. What are you willing to do for your family, Izzy?”

Tears now began to mat her cheeks. It was a terrible question to ask. I couldn’t blame the conflict in her beautiful eyes, but after a moment of hesitation, the obvious answer escaped her lips.

“… Anything. I w-would do anything f-for them.”

I loathed to see her in a slump, the same loathing for what I had done with Sunny earlier translating to Izzy’s sorry state. I pulled her into a warm, yak-approved embrace, whispering soothing words and apologies for having asked her such a complicated question and put her through so much worry while I recovered.

I needed them to understand. It was part of who we were now, part of what I became when I accepted my role as Prince of Knowledge. I preferred my battles to be fought in the lab, in boring conference meetings, in harsh trade negotiations and peace summits, whatever was necessary to further my work and help everycreature I could.

But sometimes… sometimes we don’t get what we wish for, and creatures get hurt… or worse.

Sunny was quick to be there for her best friend, moving from her place at my side to embrace the now sobbing unicorn in a warm hug of her own. Zipp and Hitch did similarly with a distraught-looking Sparky who, not fully understanding the situation, suffered from the somber mood that permeated the room.

Once she got everything out, she lightly tapped me to release her. Doing so, she pushed herself back a bit, her reddened eyes searching mine.

“I don’t want you to pull a stunt like that ever again, do you hear me?” She feebly shoved me again with what little energy she could muster.

“You know I can’t promise you that, Izzy.” Once again, I wasn’t going to lie to her. That would only bring more pain afterward.

Seeing her distraught plea, I reached and placed a small peck on the tip of her snout. “But I’ll do my best to try not to, deal?”

A shy smile broke out from her saddened features, accompanied by a blush and a tiny nod.

A sharp sting reminded me of my lingering injuries, the pain from my hands being the most bothersome.

“Ouch!” I blew into my throbbing hands in an attempt to soothe the burning sensation. “Ugh. Sorry guys, I’m still a bit sore from all that. Better if I use a bit of magic and get it solved, no biggie. Hitch told me you were taking care of my gauntlets, right Izzy?”

Izzy, who had extracted herself from my lap, answered by running her eyes everywhere except my questioning ones. The rest of the ponies’ demeanor also changed drastically at the mention of my tools. Their strange behavior was setting off all the alarms.

“Izzy… where are my gauntlets?”

Chapter 22- History does not repeat itself.

“Izzy… where are my gauntlets?”

With the drama of my awakening over, or at least I hoped it over, since Pipp was still missing, and that mare’s singing voice could be used for good as well as evil; I could focus more on the things that happened immediately after my little stunt.

Several things came to mind, the most pressing of which was the addition of our new little dragon to our already colorful family. He held characteristics that, while not being unheard of, were particularly rare between dragon breeds. Things like possessing wings right after hatching, or the curious pattern on his horns…

It reminded me of something I had read once, but I couldn't be completely sure. Not like we had a full-grown dragon around to ask either.

But the mystery of the new dragon hatchling could wait. I knew Hitch would take good care of him in the meanwhile. At the moment, I wanted nothing more than to ease the pain from my hands, and if I found the strength, the rest of my body as well, although I feared that that would require the long, boring way. Healing spells aren’t that efficient on the caster as on the intended target. Also, I wanted to hear the nurse’s opinion first before I embarked on that little endeavor.

What painted me on the wrong side was the way my friends were most definitely dodging the question I asked, especially Izzy who, according to Hitch, was the one who had taken charge of them until my recovery.

The silent, distracted treatment she was giving me was not falling on my good graces. “Izzy… I don’t think I care for that look.” I warned her, to which she sheepishly rubbed her forelegs and continued avoiding my gaze.

“Heheh… Um, hoooow aboooout something to drink first, hm? I’m sure you must be, um… parched after sleeping for so long! Let me just get y-”

Before she could slip away from the firing line, one of my bandaged hands grabbed her by the tail, halting her impromptu escape. Looking back at me over her shoulder, her nervousness gave way to despondency, her ears slumping in defeat.

“They’re… at my workshop.” She half-spoke, half-muttered, making sure to avoid my questioning gaze. Alarms fired inside me, dreading what Izzy’s attitude was silently implying.

“... Lead the way.” I commanded dryly, swallowing down a trail of swears for the unyielding sting in my hands.

Lead the way she did, with the rest of us rearing up to follow her. Sunny, bless her little golden heart, stayed close by to help me get back up to my feet after she noticed me wincing in pain. I took the muffin with me, pleasantly surprised it had survived Sparky’s earlier rampage over my victory treats.

The short walk to Izzy’s workshop was spent in an arguably ominous silence, which didn’t help ease my crippling nerves.

To my utmost dismay, it turned out that my worries were justified. Once I was inside the workshop, I quickly found both of my Atlas gauntlets resting on the workbench. Both of them looked a bit singed from the magical discharge, especially over the magic-conducting metal circuits, but overall they were still intact, and hopefully functional. What made me skip a heartbeat was the missing LIMstone in one of them, the one Izzy and I had crafted together.

‘No…’

That gemstone was now nothing more than a handful of broken fragments of various sizes, resting inside a small glass container near where the gauntlets laid. The same LIMstone that held the spell matrix for the enchantment that Starlight and I had designed to reverse the Unity Crystals’ hold over Equestria’s magic. It was my one and only chance to undo our gravest sin. The sole reason I had left everything behind…

And it was gone.

“I-I’m sorry, Alex. We found it after you’d passed out, a-and I haven’t a clue as to how to fix it. Nopony I’ve asked knows either.” Izzy’s droopy ears and downcasted eyes were lost to me, sinceI couldn't pry myself from the broken remains of what used to be my latest prototype. It was the latest design in terms of the complexity of the spell arrays it could hold, but it was in no way conceived to manage such huge amounts of magical throughput over extended periods. In reality, it had been designed to be somewhat of a ‘one-use-one-purpose only’ kinda device. Everything below it could manage without an issue. Anything above it, well…

“Alex?” My friends were starting to get a little agitated under my prolonged silence, but Sunny’s call fell on deaf ears all the same. My breathing was unusually even, my posture rigid, my entire body not showing any reaction whatsoever. That only served to unnerve them more.

… I could almost hear it laughing in my head. What better than to answer in kind.

As if a switch had suddenly been flipped, I began cackling. It wasn’t a loud laugh, just a resigned, borderline maniac chuckle that continued pouring out of my lungs to my friends’ now-skyrocketing worry. The small tears running down my cheeks were indicative enough that the last thing going through my mind was merriment.

My family, my friends… I had one goal. ONE goal only. It was supposed to be simple, in and out, no pony would even notice until they could feel the magic returning to them.

“Guys? I-I think he’s losing it.” Hitch, who was carrying Sparky on his back in a similar way Twilight did with Spike, warned the group with a nervous sidestep.

Izzy would not allow me as much. “Hey! Hey, Alex! Come on, that’s eno-”

The front door slamming open interrupted Izzy’s attempt to bring me back from whatever my mind was digging itself into. The last integrant of our little group had finally arrived.

“GUYS! Where are yo- oh, there you are!” Pipp flapped her way from the hall into the workshop, making for a quick landing near me. I didn’t acknowledge her arrival.

“Oh my pony, Alex. I’m SO sorry I’m late! There was this huge mess back at Male Melody and didn’t hear the phone and…”

Her rushed apologies hadn’t ceased my dark chuckling. I was lost in a pit of desperation and silent resignation, disconnecting me from the outside world.

Months of careful planning and construction, all the secrecy, all the time I could’ve spent with my loved ones, instead chasing a feeble dream in a selfish attempt to heal my soul and clear my conscience. The most human a human can be in a world of ponies.

“Guys? What’s going on…?” Pipp’s inquiry didn’t need an answer from our friends, since by following my glazed sight towards the broken shards of the LIMstone, she was quick to put two and two together. “Oh, ponyfeathers….” She took a few steps closer to her sister, dreading whatever reaction was building up.

“A-Alex? Please, you're scaring us…” Sunny tried with a reassuring hoof on my calf.

I felt detached. I snapped, slamming my fists on the workbench with centuries of accumulated fury, cutting Sunny’s plea off mid-sentence and making the ponies jump back to. Poor Sparky released a few anguished cries I’d have to apologize for later, but at that moment I couldn’t have cared less.

From within the dark place my mind had sealed itself shut, a bitter memory came to life. “… You were right after all, Starlight… It really was too good to be true.”

My demented chuckling had deranged into bitter sobs that rocked my body. The tears continued falling over the remains of what had been my only chance to fix my broken legacy. Without it, we were at the mercy of the crystal's control over the magic, subject to grave issues like the failed Maretime Bay. Unstable control, unknown consequences, prisoners of my own doing.

What was I missing?

I wondered what my old friends would be thinking if they could see me from wherever their souls had found rest. Would they be mad at me? Would they understand the reasons behind my choices?

It was moments like this that made me wish I could just end it all, and go find out in person…

My tears doubled as my knees failed me, slumping in front of the workbench, grabbing its rim hard enough for my knuckles to turn white while my chest churned and my heart bled. Shame hid my head between my arms, searching for a place to hide from my old family’s judgment from beyond the grave.

I was close to slipping, but I made no effort to fight back. I was doing so good, but now? I couldn’t bear to continue looking at the remnants of my failure, instead closing my eyes in a feeble attempt to avoid the truth.

“Why?.... W-Why can’t I get it right? Just for once…”

Like a tower of cards, I crumbled against the most feeble of breezes, but was spared the blow when I found myself suddenly surrounded by warm fluffiness, the subtle scent of sunflowers and the silky touch of a well-groomed coat revealing them to belong to Sunny, bless her golden heart. I didn’t miss the wetness of her cheeks mirroring my own as she tenderly nuzzled my scalp. Soon, another furry presence joined hers, and another one after that, until all the ponies had surrounded me in a big group hug, sharing my pain with a few tears of their own. Even Sparky came down from Hich’s back to hug my leg with his stubby claws, gifting me a few mewls of sympathy even if his young mind could not hope to grasp the intensity of this moment.

It was so unfair. I felt absolutely crushed. My only hope for redemption, for some semblance of closure after so many painful months of tiring search, endless questions, and self-absorbed stubbornness that cost me the mare of my life.

“A-All I wanted was to h-help… Why can’t I f-fix it?... Sniff. It’s n-not fair…”

Sunny tightened her embrace over my back, heeding my pathetic whimpers as if they were her own. “We’ll find another way. I promise you.” She whispered into my ear, nuzzling it afterwards.

“I-I a-abandoned them for this… They’re going to h-hate me…”

“They would be proud of what you did for us during the festival.” She continued lovingly nuzzling my head. “They would be proud of you.”

All I could respond with was a series of wet sniffles, hands balled into white fists from the searing rage that sponsored my tears. “I d-don’t know what t-”

“Shhhh.” Sunny’s soothing hush put a preemptive stop in my depressive ranting, giving me one of the warmest kisses I had ever received from a pony right on my scalp immediately after. The surprise was enough to interrupt my sobbing and make me extricate my head from my arms, the tingling of her lips rippling from the place she had planted them like a refreshing morning shower.

I was met by her gorgeous eyes, the fur around them matted with tears, tears meant for me, but with that warmth radiating off her, chasing away the choking pain squeezing heart. I hadn't noticed how close we were, enough for me to taste her breath on my own, my nose and her snout almost touching. I selfishly drew in all the comfort I could from her, making me no better than a helpless child. I might as well have been looking the part at the moment.

“We’ll figure it out together. I promise.”

Her kind words washed down on me like a ferocious torrent, enough to soothe the raging storm for a semblance of determination, misplaced as it was, but welcomed nonetheless. I had learned well by then how she had that effect on me from our previous interactions. True to her kindness, she didn’t let go of me for a moment, patiently waiting for me to shed everything I was holding onto, her unwavering smile digging through my sorrow like a hot knife on butter.

A small part of my brain stirred up the butterflies in my tummy when I realized I was falling even more for that mare, but this stratospheric blow had distracted me from that, in turn, distracting train of thought.

With what I hoped would be the only chance to rectify my sins gone for good, and no feasible way to replicate it and try again, I found myself as lost as the day of the Incident. I couldn’t think of another way to sever the Unity Crystals from their hold on the magic without permanently damaging it, or outright obliterate it. No creature alive had the power necessary to overpower them in their current state. I didn’t understand their defenses, nor did I even elucidate the reason behind their continued existence in the first place. Twilight should’ve seen how a misplaced and derailed option they always were the second she noticed how, far from bringing the tribes together under the threat of their magic being cut-off forever, it only instilled more fear and hatred into their hearts.

Why were they still existing?

I was saddened to admit I had landed well and truly back to… well, not even square one, more like square minus-one. I had abandoned my previous life for nothing, a feeble dream only a lost mind such as mine could conjure.

But what choice did I have at the time? I had tried everything, twice. I had to take the leap. I was the only one who could do it. I…

‘I left them to die in the wake of my actions.’

I felt a familiar tug at the back of my mind, but I paid it no heed. Managing to collect my bearings to a degree, I gently eased her back to allow me to stand up again, flashing her a thankful smile that felt as empty as a changeling's heart for all of her support. I did the same with the rest, who also took a step back to give me some space, relieved to see my tears finally ceasing, but concern still clinging to their features.

I closed my eyes and took a deep, relaxing breath, pushing down the blizzard of conflicting emotions for the sake of a clear mind, the only thing that would help in times like this. The time for pitiful crying was over. Now, it was time to think of alternatives. Rational thinking had gotten me out of many troubles, and this moment wouldn’t be any different.

Since the crystals’ defenses had rendered my enchantment useless when trying to use it for the first time, my immediate goal was in truth no different than it had been before learning of the LIMstone shattering. As much as I would have preferred for it to work as I had intended, it seemed fate had other plans for me. Time to work a workabout. Heh.

The game was on, and I was the centerpiece. “Very well… Twilight. I will play your little game.” I grabbed the biggest shards and stuck them in the remaining muffin, giving it to Sparky who accepted it in earnest and started devouring it, to the surprise of one dragon dad.

“Let’s hope we don’t take down another Equestria this time.”

The emotional rollercoaster, in addition to my not-so-fully recovered self, had left me completely drained. I alleviated my fatigue with a quick nap back in my bedroom, from which in truth I drew little sleep. I was still waiting until the nurse came and gave me the final okay, but thankfully she didn't take too long, catching me as I cussed my mind from not shutting up for one minute and let me sleep in peace. It was looking for some restless nights in the near future, the best medicine for my already soured mood.

The good news in a day full of crap. Apart from some general soreness and, well, all the earlier drama, I felt fine, with nothing strange going anymore on in my tender insides. This heighted healing sure was a bonus, until the hunger cramps kicked in. Law of equivalent exchange and all that. Sucked balls all the way. I decided we’d be having pizza that night.

After a quick explanation to an astonished Hitch about how gemstones are supposed to be part of a dragon’s regular diet, I made my way paaaainfully and sloooowly back toward my room. There was no way a Reparo spell could fix such a delicate and complex structure as the microcrystalline one of a LIM gemstone. Even if the gem could in theory be repaired, as in the small bits being put back together like a puzzle for the masochists, the spell array was as good as lost. Any small variation in its crystalline organization would render such a device, even if reconstructed, useless for lack of a better word.

So, that possibility was as good as gone, and there was no way that I could recreate the enchantment in a fresh gemstone. It had taken Starlight and a few other unicorn scientists working behind Twilight's back an excruciating amount of time and effort to even figure out the mechanics of how to accomplish it, to say nothing of how to integrate the spell matrix into the gemstone. I might have known a thing or two about casting magic, but I would never, ever be able to match the level of skill of a born unicorn. That’s something the ISIT couldn’t fix for me.

That also added the need to find another functional LIMstone to replace the broken one to the list of things to do back in Canterlot. I still had two functional gauntlets and I intended to keep them that way. Canterlot Castle’s labs should still have a few more in storage if Discord’s words about nopony ever going there were true, for as long as he had kept watch, that is. I found it hard to believe no creature would be curious or greedy and snoop in for an easy loot. They were welcome to the gems and bits and whatever crap that gained their attention, as long as they didn't touch my stuff or the crap stored in the vault for dangerous magical artifacts.

On another note, since the unicorns were still barely learning how to get their levitation working at the moment, I doubted any of them had the knowledge or the skills to create a new fresh LIMstone, no matter how many diagrams and half-cooked explanations I shoved down their throats. Ironic. They were one of my earliest and finest creations, and yet I couldn’t hope to recreate one myself using another available LIMstone. What was left in the labs was all I was going to get, quite possibly for a long time.

‘No. Not the labs... The latest models should still be stored in the Armory. I gotta check it out.’ I made a mental note, chiding myself for having omitted that place in our rush to catch Discord.

But that was Future Alex’s problem. Present Alex was going to enjoy a pleasant midday nap after an unhealthy dose of drama and pony cuddles. Or at least, I could only hope so far but, as I’ve just highlighted, sleep and I were going to be taking some time apart from our unstable relationship. My friends were a bit reluctant to leave my side, deeply bothered by my not-very-dignified reaction to the bad news.

The nap, alongside my friends’ reassuring words, had managed to lift me up at least to a shadow of myself, enough to function at the very least. I was still angry, at myself and my blindness, but at least I felt reasonably better after waking up to somepony knocking on my door.

Nurse Tenderhoof had arrived to check up on me, and as was expected from a professional in the health industry, she chastised me for getting out of bed and moving around throwing pity parties like Pinkie would throw birthdays without her explicit permission. I knew her from working at the hospital, so she wasn’t too hard on me, thank Faust. My head could not fit any more pounding. However, for a well-met bargain, now I had to treat her to lunch for the next week after recuperating. A fair deal in my eyes. The jealous leer Sunny sent the nurse well told me of her own opinion.

The irony wasn’t lost to me as, after checking my vitals and making sure I was getting enough nutrition, she asked me to drag my lazy flank out of bed and walk down the ramp and around the hall to see how I was holding out, and check there was any damage that couldn’t be seen while resting on a bed.

Tenderhoof seemed pleased with my progress, jotting down some medical gibberish on her pad while explaining that there was no visible damage to my musculature and nervous systems, both apparently in good health since I was able to feel, speak, and move around perfectly, albeit slowly and with a few breathers sprinkled here and there. She advised me that I should refrain from using magic to boost my healing since they couldn’t be sure the medicines wouldn’t react badly with it. Magic-based medicine was a field in need of rediscovery, it seemed. I appreciated her caution and heeded her words. I was a doctor, but not that kind of doctor to second guess her.

She also advised me to continue taking it easy, at least until the end of the week. Even with the small dossier I’d provided them with my relevant medical info, they didn’t want me risking it by needlessly pushing it, as there were still too many unknowns for them regarding my physiology. It hadn’t been the first time I’d ended up roughed up by overdoing it, but thankfully never to the point of landing me critical. I’d rather save myself another trip to the hospital so, once again, I took her advice to heart.

The flip side to all this was that I could whine to my friends about how sick and in distress I was and get them to pamper me for a few more days. Sadly, the evil smirk announcing my wicked plan didn’t go unnoticed, if their blank looks were any indicative.

‘Welp, at least I tried.’

After some recommendations of how to better take care of myself until I’d completely recovered, delivered to Sunny ‘cause nurse knew she’d be the one to keep me in line; some good wishes were changed and, with a merry trot, Nurse Tenderhoof saw herself out of the brighthouse, making sure to take all the medical equipment lended b the hospital from my room with her, since it was no longer necessary to monitor me or have me on fluids.

“We’ve got funds, honey, but not that much.” She joked after I finished helping her place the equipment on her saddlebags.

“Heh. The summary of my college days,” I added with a small laugh. Making sure everything was in place, she made her way across the foyer and left our home.

It was too good a chance to miss. “Follow my lead,” I whispered to Hitch, who was standing near me, having stayed close to make sure I didn’t trip during the short rehabilitation session. Clearing my throat, I made sure to voice loud and clearly. “Damm, that’s a nice flank if I ever saw one!”

My comment was loud enough to be heard by all present, ears perking up like cute, fuzzy radar antennas. Hitch caught on to my little joke with a wicked smirk of his own. “Yeheah, you can say that again.” He enthusiastically answered with a stomp as we made our way into the kitchen. I was starving.

We didn’t miss the jealous glares the girls gave to the nurse’s rear as she left, nor the not-so-subtle look towards their respective posteriors, a collective frown being shared by the mares. We snickered like foals playing a prank at school. Stallions, only so much going on in the upstairs department.

“Mares…” We spoke in unison.

I fixed up a healthy late-lunch-early-dinner meal to quieten my upset stomach, which was no doubt about to go on strike for not having been fed solid food for the last week. A pair of sandwiches would be enough to satisfy me. Too much and I’d end up vomiting it back out.

The rest of the gang had similar ideas, and soon we’d all strode back towards the living room with our late meals, this time choosing the sofas facing the TV in favor of the table. A nice movie session with my friends would work wonders for my soggy mood. I craved the distraction more than ever.

As it happens, the ponies chose what, for me, was the billionth pony rip-off of Earth’s media, in the form of ‘The Terminator.’ ‘Judgment Neigh’ was the title of the movie, because horse puns and whatnot. Up to this day and countless generations of movies, they still looked at me like I had grown a second head when I pointed it out. This time was no different when the ponies regarded me with confusion after hearing my tired groan.

The ponies spread themselves in what had become our usual arrangements for movie sessions, with Sunny and Izzy close at my sides, sneaking in a snuggle or two, with Zipp and Hitch sharing the other sofa, and Sparky sitting on the sheriff’s lap. Pipp had chosen a puff all for herself to rest on her stomach, paying more attention to her phone than the movie. At least she kept the screen brightness low.

Not five minutes into the film, Sunny swiftly stole the place on my lap without an ounce of shame, resting her back against my chest, and making sure to place her head beside mine and wiggle her braided mane to the side so as to not block my view. I didn’t protest, instead wrapping my arms under her forelegs and squeezing her against me, letting her warmth seep into me.

“Thanks, Tangerine,” I whispered in her ear.

“Hmm?”

“For being there for me, just now I mean… and these last few weeks. I would be nothing but a ball of self-deprecation and bitterness if it wasn’t for you guys. I appreciate it. More than I can express in words.” I finished with a small kiss on the back of her ear.

She flushed up a fierce red and beamed at my words, shifting in her seat to smother me in loving nuzzles once again, which I was more than eager to reciprocate.

“A-hem.”

Izzy’s hard call of attention broke our little moment. With a jealous pout, she looked at both of us with a strong glare, impatiently tapping on the couch with her right forehoof.

“Mmmmcan I help you, miss?” I asked with my most innocent tone.

Wordlessly, with a flick of her muzzle, she pointed at Sunny, then at me, and then at herself, her frown stubbornly persisting.

“Sorry, Izzy, but the position of Emotional Support Pony is a one-mare-job.” I made a point by hugging the orange-furred mare tighter.

Sunny’s smug grin only served to worsen Izzy’s pout. That lasted for just a second before a sudden, confidant look adorned her features. “Well, I know for a fact I would be a better Emotional Support Pony.” Izzy boldly claimed as she puffed out her chest fluff.

“Oh, yeah? Please, do tell me how that would be the case?” I pried.

She scrunched her muzzle in thought. “Hmmm, well... for starters, I’m bigger, and thus by definition, I’m fluffier, which allows me to provide more, uh, emotional support.” She used her best salesmare tone, which was pretty convincing, all things said. She was indeed one fluffy pony.

But I had to pry further, of course. “You are? Pray tell, how many hairs do you have per square centimeter?”

“Uhhhh.” Having skipped this topic for the exam, Izzy nervously shuffled her forehooves in search of an answer. “Nnnnnnine?”

Curious number but wrong all the same. “Pffff, an average pony has around a thousand hairs per square centimeter. So no, Izzy, you’re not fluffier.”

The smugginess in Sunny grew tenfold, as she too proudly puffed out her chest fluff to emphasize her alleged superior fluffiness. Izzy was quick to try and correct herself.

“W-Wait, wait! You, eh, you didn’t let me finish… ahem.” She tried again with newfound confidence. “I have niiiinety-thousand hairs per square centimeter, ha!” She drove her point, pattingthe couch.

Now that would be one fur-pile of a pony. Whoever had that density of fur would need at least a wood chipper to trim it down for summer. There was this one pink mare… nah, forget it.

I simply returned a flat look at her bold claim and spoke sagely. “The fluffiest creature in existence is the Chinchilla, with twenty-thousand hairs per square centimeter. So, I sincerely doubt your claim.”

“And what authority do you possess to pass judgment on such claims?” She rebutted with an offended pout.

“A mayor in biology.” I answered in short.

She eluded my smart-assed grin by sending her muzzle up in the air. “Bah, your titles are of no worth here.” Her desperate attempt to retain her pride was met with amused chuckles from the rest, their attention away from the film, instead focused on our little quarrel.

“Sadly, even if I agreed with you, Izzy, I’m legally required to not disturb the pony using my lap until they decide to move.”

“Come on, Alex. Isn’t that a bit too much?” Hitch chortled from his seat.

If only that was the case. “No, no. It’s an actual law. Twilight passed it out so that anypony (she), who wished it could cuddle with me to their heart's desire. She claimed something about constructive progress for mine and the citizens’ mental welfare. “ I clarified with a tired sigh.

Sunny, her ears twitching at my words, shifted again to comfortably loaf in my lap, a position I recognized as one used for lengthy periods of rest. Seems I was trapped, poor me. I made sure to cuddle as much of her as I could against me.

“You’re not being serious.” Zipp inquired with her own bemused expression, to which I answered with a small shrug. The ponies shared one last laugh at my ‘disgrace’ and resumed watching the movie.

“This isn’t over, Sunny Starscout. He, will be mine.” Izzy whispered her revenge to our friend, with her playfully sticking her tongue out at the unicorn. I could only roll my eyes at the mares’ antics.

The movie was alright all in all, a decaffeinated version of its Earth counterpart, but that happened to be the case with most of the ponies’ media as far as I had been exposed to. Equines weren’t as prone to violence and blood and all the usual jazz as my home world’s media. Still, we had a great time, a distraction I’d have welcomed with open arms, hadn't they been occupied petting a very cute orange mare.

I made a mental note to show them some of the movies I had on my laptop. I was sure they would enjoy them as much as my old friends did. And this time we had a huuuuge TV, Faust be praised for small miracles.

Even after the impromptu nap, I was still feeling sore enough for some more shuteye, which I made sure to take advantage of. Sunny had asked me to visit town tomorrow and knock some sense into the ponies who wanted to apologize. They believed they had gotten her message across, but they wanted them to hear it for me too. Nopony knew the harsh consequences of acting like they had more than me, and as my family was not Kintobor, I was going to have a few choice words with them.

With that said, I made my way to bed, being the first to tuck out for the night, followed shortly by a yawning Sparky, who also looked deflated after today’s events.

In the solitude of my room, I had no distraction to keep my thoughts away, which revolved mostly around the broken gemstone, which led to memories of the promise to Starlight I’d broken in my stupidity.

I mentally chastised myself for being such a failure, for not being able to accomplish such a simple task. I spent the next hour restlessly rolling around in my bed as my brain saw fit to torment me once more. My chance of redemption was gone, leaving us all trapped under the Unity Crystals’ influence for the foreseeable future. Sunny’s powers were leagues away from becoming strong enough to even pose a challenge to the crystals’ defenses. If there was both chaos and alicorn magic within them, we had little to no chance of overpowering them safely.

Discord’s magic had been repealed without an issue, and mine was not going to be different.

My hopes were placed in the advanced technology the ponies had managed to develop during the last few centuries. Perhaps they’d developed something I could use that I hadn’t been able to in the past? If that pursuit bore no fruit, the hunt for knowledge amongst Equestria’s ruins would be the next best course of action. I hadn’t found anything useful in either Canterlot or Ponyville’s ruins, but there were lots of places, also presumably in ruins, that I had not yet checked.

The trip to Canterlot hadn’t exactly been a pleasure visit, and I had every intention of returning there as soon as I had recovered enough to withstand the trip. I highly doubted that Twilight would have left the diagrams of the Unity Crystal's design laying plain view to be stolen. They were meant to be top secret, both in and outside of Equestria, as she didn’t want to risk the opinion of the other races regarding their existence, a poor choice on our part, another to add to the laundry list. Ponykind was the race most attuned to the world’s magic, but that didn’t mean that others wouldn’t be affected by the changes we were going to impose. In theory, it was designed to not interfere with them in any way, with the pony’s connection being the only one affected.

In theory. There was no time for playtesting.

‘And that mark over the Crystal Empire… Perhaps, that’s where they went after the fall? Faust, I really need to find that diary. The girls never stopped writing in it. It might hold the answers I need!’

My slumber provided no respite from my self-torture, and I entered into a restless sleep, which promptly put me in a foul mood upon waking up, leaving me feeling as if I’d barely gotten any rest at all. Called it. Nothing a good breakfast couldn’t fix, in any event. At least, that’s what I sought out to attempt.

My attempt manifested as a healthy stack of pancakes. Spike’s own recipe, no less. He had made sure to drill it into my head, alongside a few others, earning himself a bunch of free mornings when my turn to cook came. And, since Twilight’s cooking had been classified as a category 5 biohazard threat by the E.H.O., it fell to the young dragon and I to handle the meals.

Feeling magnanimous, I prepared enough pancakes for me and the still-slumbering ponies upstairs. The distraction of cooking and the pleasant aroma of my surprisingly-well-constructed pancakes had lifted my sour morning mood into a chipper one.

The grumpy groans of one sleepy unicorn filled the hall. Izzy, sporting her worldwide-feared bedmane, stumbled into the kitchen, her nostrils twitching while following the scent of the pancakes. Since her eyes were half closed and her mane blocking whatever poor view she gained from them, it looked like she was guiding her steps by smell alone. It got a tiny laugh out of me.

“Buenos días por la mañana, Izzy! I see you’ve managed to get here without crashing into any furniture. Congratulations.” I jokingly greeted her, a freshly made pancake on my spatula, halfway to be deposited onto the growing tower.

The painting of such a delicious treat woke her up a bit more, her now-wide eyes shifting between the mouth-watering treat and mine. Without saying a word, she carefully reached with her muzzle and grabbed the pancake without breaking eye contact, holding it in her mouth afterward.

“…”

And with a merry trot and a giggle, she made her way into her workshop, leaving me behind the counter with a now-empty spatula, looking like an idiot.

“… Oooookay then?”

Bemused, and a tad creeped, I set out to make a couple more to add to the tower, grabbing a few for myself after finishing up and leaving the rest on the pile for the rest of the gang to munch on later when they woke up. I remembered to leave a cover over them before heading out, so they’d be nice and moist for when they finally got out of bed.

With my hunger satiated and my spirits somewhat lifted, sugar will do that for you; I decided to get things done and go down to the village to meet with the ponies Sunny had told me wanted to apologize. Better get it done while I was fresh before I let my temper cook too much.

The truth is, I really didn't want to go dress up as scolding dad for a bunch of misguided ponies, but the more I’d let it go, the more awkward it would become afterward. Better to tackle it head-on and make sure that I got the message across in their thick skulls behind all those mane accessories and perfumes.

I wasn’t going to tolerate any more crap like that in this town. I’d go as far as pull titles if it became absolutely necessary. It had been a while since I last used the Royal Canterlot Voice. It always left me a bit sore and in urgent need of an orange juice afterwards.

‘Please, Fausr, I beg you. Don’t let it reach that point. Last time was bad enough.’

“Alex! Wait!”

I was halfway across the foyer when Pipp’s call brought me to a halt mid-step. Balancing on one foot only, I saw her munching on a pair of pancakes, up on her wings to free her forelegs and keep her breakfast snack secure.

“Mmmm, onff shec,” She cut herself off to swallow the muzzlefull of spongy goodness. “Are you heading to town?” She asked, chomping on the last bit of the pancake before starting on the other.

With a nonplussed look, I resumed towards the road down the cliff where the brighthouse stood, leaving my pegasus friend rooted. “… Nah, I was thinking of going the other way and jumping off the cliff, just to see how high I can bounce back.”

“In that case, I’ll gladly push you.” She snarked with a flat look, after which we shared a small laugh. She and I would get into each other's feathers every once and then. Keeps your wits sharper and the tongue sharper. It reminded me a lot of my interactions with RD.

Pipp pumped her wings to catch up. “Mind the company? Jazz’s waiting for me at Mane Melody. They’re bringing in a fresh batch of goods that need to be sorted out, and I reeeeally need to be there to help.”

I didn't mind the company. “Sure thing, Pipp.”

She flashed me a thankful smile and finished her breakfast with gusto. “Mmmph, thesh are very good.” She offered, swallowing the last morsel with a very un-princessly gulp. “Also, I wanted to take the chance to speak with you, seeing as yesterday wasn’t… the best moment.” I saw her grimace sympathetically through the corner of my eye. “I’m so sorry by the way, I can’t imagine how you must feel…”

“Thanks, Pipp. I’m still processing it.” I appreciated the gesture, feeling nonetheless empty in my ears. I gave her some pats of appreciation under her belly. “Gonna have to rethink my approach, once more.”

“We’ll sort it out, Alex. You can count on us!” She took a confidant pose in the air, her forelegs heroically placed on her hips.

Very cute. I felt myself smile, far from what my mood would be speaking about. “I’m sure we will, Pipp. You guys have been of incommensurable help.”

She blushed a little at my praise and waved her foreleg in dismissal. However, her tone turned more serious a moment later, blindsiding me. “How-ever, I didn’t get my chance to scold you for the number you pulled out the other day!” I was about to protest, not feeling like reenacting this play, when she brushed me aside. “But! Seeing as the rest have already grilled you enough, I’m going to act as the merciful and sympathetic princess I’m well-known for… oh, don’t you dare!” She growled menacingly when noticing my lips crooking in a poorly disguised smirk, making me swallow my laugh. “Hmph, I’m going to be considerate and just ask you to please, not pull another stunt like that, capiche?”

“I’ll try my best not to.” I answered sincerely, knowing deep inside I wouldn't be able to stand up for that promise. “But sometimes, that choice isn’t up to us.” And I knew well about what I was talking about.

Pipp gazed up at me, searching for something before sighing despondently, “I guess that’s true, but still!” Her threatening leer was more than enough to make me shed any ideas I might have been harboring on that subject. A very unflattering moment as I cowered like a milk kitten under her glare.

‘Faust, dammit. Why are mares so scary?! It’s all of them, not just one!’

“Umph. I’m glad we’re on the same page.” She held her narrowed glare for a few more seconds before cocking her snout up in the air triumphantly.

“Whatever…” Feeling played out, I pointedly ignored the smirking pegasus and resumed my way down to the town.

Pipp, for her part , had one last thing to torment me with that beautiful, sunny morning.

And what better choice of weather for the matter. “Sooo…” She flew in reach with teasing eyes. “Are you gonna tell Sunny about your feelings, or…”

Hah, she thought she had me there. Fat chance, dusters-for-wings.

“Not yet. Gotta figure out some stuff first. Don’t wanna mess it up.” I answered nonchalantly, as if asked about my choice for lunch for the day, which took the flying pegasus by striking surprise, her wings locking up, making her fall on her hooves, her ideas of gossip crumbling on her hooves.

“What?” I gave her a cocky glance over the shoulder. “You thought I was gonna act all bashful and ‘oh my gosh, please don’t tell her’ over the whole thing?” I put my best abashed mare voice and fired with a knowing grin, to which she answered with a stiff nod and a swish of her tail. “Come on, Pipp. We’re all grown-ups here, and I know for a fact that you’re not blind.” I threw a hand in the air.

“Y-Yeah, I guess, just, um…” She cleared her throat and resumed in a trot beside me. “Okay, no matter. The point is, why not? She’s heads over hooves for you, you know? Gosh, she won’t, stop, talking about you when you’re not there. She practically idolizes you!”

Far from the newsI wanted to hear. I took a deep breath before answering. “I know, Pipp. That’s… one of my main concerns.” I answered, this time completely honest.

“Huh?” She tilted her head to the side, blowing on her hanging mane.

Not the topic I would have preferred to dwell on, but seeing as I was caught with hands in the cookie jar, I might as well just amuse her, even if just to get her out of my hair. “We’ve grown very close, that’s undeniable.” I cited gravely. “But I fear the image she’s constructed of me doesn’t allow her to see what’s actually in front of her.”

“And what is actually in front of her?” Pipp pried with an agitated frown.

“… I don’t know anymore, Pipp. I don’t know anymore.”

The pegasus mulled my words for a few moments, coming out blank for her reflections. “…Well, I’ll leave you to it, then. Not my monkeys, not my circus. I’ll stay out of it.”

The pointed look I gave her over the shoulder became an offended leer, making Pipp squirm down a bit with an abashed apology.

I felt like playing a bit mean with her for that. “You will? Gosh, and I thought I was in front of the next Princes of Love. You’ve already got the fur color. You’re just missing a horn, and some dye for your mane and tail.” I pointedly and judgmentally ran a scan up and down. “And… half a meter too… A few kilos less, also.”

Grave mistake. I spent the rest of the way running for my life with a raging pegasus hot on my heels who, with Tartarus itself in her wake, promised pain and regret with her high-pitched screeching, scaring the fur out of more than one of Hitch's fuzzy friends loitering around the berry bushes.

Thankfully, I managed to find refuge in the form of her coworkers once in reach of her blooming business, who managed to ease her down, citing the urgency of unpacking the new shipment of goods before the batch of clients began to arrive over her thirst of revenge.

Her icy glare and dagger-full snarl sealed retribution for a later time. I couldn’t have vacated her establishment faster if Grogar himself was ramming his horns at me.

All things considered, the impromptu chase had turned out to be an excellent cardio session for my weary heart, yet my still-recovering body was definitely protesting after the adrenaline had worn off my system, forcing me to seek out a place to rest for a bit and retake my breath. Never before I had felt the centuries weighing down on me.

A bit melodramatic at times, yes. Rarity had been a plentiful teacher.

Such a place to rest my bones turned out to be the same spot under the same tree where Sunny and I had enjoyed our little heart to heart before the camping trip. Some residents who had witnessed my little number at the main square took a moment to approach me to thank me for my courage in assisting Sunny on saving the town, and wish me a speedy recovery. With a warm smile and a swelling heart, I thanked them for their concern.

I was sad to admit, it had been a while since I last felt the love from you overall citizens in such a manner. My main drive back in the day, now a painful reminder of betrayal.

Once I’d managed to catch my breath, I found that the streets were still a bit deserted, and I had completely forgotten to inquire Sunny as to where Posey and the rest wanted to meet with me.

Thinking about killing some time while I pieced out my speech to the mares, I made my way to the hospital for a quick visit to let my coworkers know I would soon rejoin the team. I resolved to look for Sunny at her smoothie stand later and ask for the details.

Once inside the cross-bearing building, I made for the stairs down to the clinical lab, but a certain nurse pony had other thoughts, standing in my way like an unmoving mountain.

“Please explain why the very same patient I explicitly asked to take it easy at home is standing in the foyer of my hospital?”

A two-toned pale, pink earth pony mare cut me off, sporting the reglementary nurse’s uniform, stethoscope included around her neck. She was sitting on her haunches for good measure, forelegs crossed over the fluff peeking from her chest, a deep frown wrinkling her muzzle. It would’ve been scarier had she not worn that adorable nurse’s hat over her mane.

“Your hospital? Damm, congrats on the promotion.” My sad attempt to make some fun shattered against her cold stare. “... Ugh, fine. I’m just passing by, letting the team know I’ll be back soon, and while I was at it, getting some fresh air and stretching my legs a bit. Do you think my fragile body can manage that?” I sassed with a small pout.

She narrowed her eyes further, but thankfully allowed me to continue with a ‘better watch your six’ kinda look, heading for the nurses’ lounges with a condescending swish of her tail.

… Yeah, she had a nice ass, all jokes aside.

Once down the stairs, I quickly located my working area, co-workers included. “Knock Knock, local monkey resident saluting you from the not-quite-there great beyond.”

My coworkers soon left what they were doing and rushed towards the door against which frame I was leaning, catching me by surprise in a big hug.

“Luna’s rump, Alexander! You scared us half to death!” Gaster chastised me after releasing me.

“Yeah, we studied some blood samples from you, trying to find some kind of poisoning or something, but didn’t find anything wrong with them! But, you were still completely unresponsive. What was all that about?!” Konik inquired after him. He was an earth pony stallion, with a dark green coat, a dirty-blonde mane and tail, and an Erlenmeyer flask as a cutie mark. He was our newest newest incorporation after Gaster.

“Bah, you guys only care ‘cause I’m the only one who knows his way around here,” I spoke with an offended frown, pouting a lip childishly.

“He’s got you there, colts.” Petri, an earth pony mare with a white coat and light blue mane and tail fired from the microscope she was currently peeking through, which she also sported as a cutie mark on her flank.

“Great to see you too, Petri. Your visible concern warms the cockles of my heart.” I put on a brief show.

My sarcasm brought an amused snort from her, but nothing more. “Yeah, I’m great like that, aren’t I? Sorry, I can’t go over there and slap you, I’ve gotta finish checking these earth pony blood samples to see if I can make any sense of it.”

“Make sense of what?” I inquired, looping around the gels workstation to reach her.

“You know.” She peered up from the binocular and her glasses. “Earth pony magic that appearing after that nasty storm? Did you miss the glowing vines all over the town?” Just as I had done with Hitch, I returned an unfazed look, which soon made her realize. “Oh, yeah, you… were indisposed.”

“That’s one way of wording it.” I shook my head to regain my focus. Still, earth pony magic? Glowing vines? “What do you mean ‘earth pony magic’ appearing? You guys have always had magic.”

“Not like this we haven’t.” She pushed herself back on the wheeled stool and placed her hoof over the worktable where a small potted aloe plant provided some ambience to the lab. The moment her hoof made contact with the surface, a semblance of the same green glowing vines we had witnessed in the crystals’ room extended from under it, reaching all the way toward the small plant. A green glow soon surrounded it, followed by a small puff of magic, after which the previously small plant had doubled in size, now barely fitting in the pot.

“Oops, gotta move it to a bigger pot now,” Petri said after she finished... casting? I was unsure of what to call it.

Needless to say, I was completely and unilaterally baffled. “What, the actual, ffffff…..” I couldn’t believe what had just transpired in front of me. That was NOT how earth pony magic operated.

“That’s one way of wording it,” Petri echoed me with a mocking tone. She returned her attention to the smear under the powerful lenses. “If you can make any sense of it, please let us know. I don’t see anything weird going on in our blood that might point to a change in our bodies.” She explained while adjusting the zoom. “But again, no horn up here, so who can tell about magic shmagic.”

‘… What in Celestia’s scrumptious ass was that!! I’ve never seen anything like it! Earth pony magic is NOT supposed to work like that!!”

I gazed awestruck back towards my other coworkers, who only provided apologetic shrugs as they too didn’t know the answer.

A sudden thought carved its way past my surprise. ‘And, of course, the gang forgot to tell me all about it yesterday. Celestia’s mane, I thought we had talked about this already!”

Visiting Suny now held a new sense of urgency. I needed to know more about what happened during my lapse. This could hold tremendous consequences! Lik, huge, unprecedented consequences! Heck, this could change the entire dynamic between the tribes permanently!

Waaaay much excitement for my liking. “I’ve gotta go and check with the others, see if they know more about it. I’ll be back next week. Nurses’ orders.” I gave them my rushed goodbyes and rushed out of the lab.

“Better not to antagonize Tenderhoof! I know I cherish my life too much to do so...” That was the last thing I heard from Konik.

Dodging patients and hospital staff alike, I legged it out of the place and headed straight for Mane Street. I found the smoothie stand right where I had last left it. Like clockwork, Sunny’s rump faced the passersby from inside her stand as she organized today’s batch of fruit at the back of the stand.

I let my eyes gorge themselves with the image of her swishing tail before clearing my throat. “Good morning, Sunny.”

With a squeal of surprise, the mare bolted back on her hooves and at me, sporting a small blush. “G-Good morning, Alex. I didn’t hear you coming.”

“You’re good. Just wanted t-”

“Wait! You’re here to talk with Posey and the rest, right?” She raised up in alarm, the day’s batch all but forgotten.

“Yes, but fir-”

She interrupted me again, making a vein pop up in my forehead. “Because I wanted to go with you, in case…”

“Sunny.”

She kept going. “… And I believe it would be better for them to hear it from you since…”

“Sunny!”

“…. But I fear they might not listen, and then…”

“Sunny Starscout!”

Hearing her full name got her to shut her trap and give me her full attention, ears perked a sheepish grin adorning her muzzle.

“Yes, I’m here to talk to them as you wanted me to. And yes, you can accompany me if you wish to. But first, I need you to clarify one little thing for me.”

“Sure.” She reared on her back legs to lean on the counter, supporting her head with her right hoff with a curious tilt. “What do you need?” She asked with a sweet smile.

Too bad I was going to erase it. “So, I was visiting the guys at the lab, letting them know that I’m fine and that I’ll be reincorporating back into the team soon, when one of my colleagues, Petri, tells me something about earth ponies now having some kind of new magic, which happened right after you rescued the ponies from the null void.”

Her confident pose soon shattered under my themed look as the words sunk in, a nervous gulp betraying her growing nervousness.

“Mhm. And, don’t sleep on this, then she demonstrated by making the small aloe sprout we have back at the lab grow twice its size in the blink of an eye, using magic I’ve never, ever seen before.”

Sunny had started on an undisguised retreat behind the safety of her counter, with me leaning more and more over it to keep up, holding her gaze with mine.

“And then, I remembered you telling me that nothing mayor had happened this past week I’ve down for the count, besides Sparky’s hatching.”

She had completely disappeared behind the counter by then, only the tip of her ears peeking out. “Sooo, I need you to clarify to me how the appearance of a completely new type of magic, never seen or heard of before, is considered ‘nothing worth mentioning’.”

An orange muzzle reappeared over the counter, whispering an embarrassed ‘sorry’.

I sighed and pulled back from the mare as I looked away from the smoothie stand, meeting Sunny’s guilty gaze once she had deemed it safe to partially reaper.

“I’m not mad, Tangerine. Just… I need you guys to keep me up to date on these kinds of things. This is a phenomenon without precedence! Never before in the history of Equestria have earth ponies manifested their magic as they’re doing now!”

Now reassured that I wasn’t angry with her, the orange-furred mare slowly came out of her hiding place. “I’m sorry Alex… I-I guess we were all so caught up in your recovery that… it kinda slipped.”

Seeing her sinking head mush over the counter with a pout, ears half drooped, I followed her down, leaning my elbows over the counter and rubbed my nose against her snout before planting a playful nip on it, a gesture I had learned she deeply enjoyed. And as it did on the previous occasions, it worked wonders to lift her mood.

“You’re lucky I woke up this morning feeling like the Prince of Forgiveness,” I joked with my most convincing royal drone, eliciting an adorable laugh from her.

“Do you want us to go now? I mean, if you’re free?”

“Sure! The fruit’s already been delivered, so I can open the stand a bit later and make up time after lunch, no problem.” Sporting a prominent blush, Sunny rearranged the last few crates of goods and closed the stand behind her. “Shall we?” She invited me with her characteristic bright smile, her tail betraying her enthusiasm with some vigorous wagging.

I was more than happy to share my time with the mare, feeling the butterflies stir my breakfast in my tummy. “Lead the way. I don’t actually know where you wanted me to meet them.”

“You could have sent me a message.” She proposed dryly.

“… I could have…” Not my brightest moment. Time for a half-assed excuse. “But then I would have missed your pretty face this beautiful morning.”

Sunny put on her thinking hat. “Hmmm, not bad. I’d say… seven out of ten. You’re improving!” She graded my excuse with a playful hip-check. I was embarrassed to admit that, after so much time without a phone, I was having a hard time reacclimating to possessing one. Ironic, considering where I originally hailed from.

Sunny and I walked side by side, with me keeping a hand over her back, petting her fur absentmindedly. Sunny enjoyed the attention with a bright pep on her step. SLowingher gait a bit, she took hold of said hand and brought it up to her face, nuzzling it sweetly.

“I’m so glad you’re alright…” She cooed, barely above a whisper, making my heart swell to painful levels in my chest.

“All thanks to you, Tangerine.” I replied like a lovestruck teenager hiked on hormones. With her endearing blush only redoubling, Sunny flashed me her warmest smile before paying the rao attention back, yet my hand remained where it was in ehr three-legged trot.

What was keeping me from confessing my feelings? I felt like such an idiot sometimes.

Our short trek across town brought us to the other side of the market district, if you could call a single street a district. Resting over one of the green areas that adorned several parts of the seaside town, a group of mares talked amicably with each other. They seemed to be having a good time. A shame that I was about to change that.

“… And then I said: girl, you gotta dump those shades asap, else they’re going to start calling y-.”

Posey, who was sitting at the opposite side of the small circle of ponies, thus facing the street, was the first to notice our arrival, with her pupils shrinking to a pair of trembling pinpricks the second she caught sight of my not-so-friendly visage. I tried, I swear I tried to not be difficult and to keep my cool with her. To not fall down on them bringing up a storm, but just the sight of her made my insides boil. She had no idea what she could have unleashed that day! The ponies she could’ve inadvertently hurt, the mare accompanying me one of them!

With my arms crossed and a prominent frown, I waited for the yellow-furred mare to muster the courage to stand up and approach me. She did so with visible reluctance, the rest of the now-aware group giving us a wide berth, their loyalties for their friends hanging up in plain daylight.

After taking a few hesitant steps toward us, she took a deep breath and began with her ‘apologies’. “Okay, let’s get this over with. Ahem, uuuh… Alexander, right? Yeah, so, I wanted to ap-”

I had headmore heartfelt apologies from Chrysalis herself.

“Tell me. Do you know the story of the three tribes and the foundation of Equestria?”

My sharp interruption completely blindsided the mare, making her sunglasses fall over her muzzle as she stood rooted. “Uh… no?”

The fact that she didn’t actually caught me by surprise. The very notion that she was unaware of such a famous and important tale, important enough to be retold every Hearth's Warming as a play for any pony to attend, was an anathema to me. And I say that as someone who was an alien to their culture when I first arrived.

However, I privately conceded that it made some sense that the tale had fallen out of favor. Such a story wouldn’t have been well-received during those centuries of darkness, sporting a message that conflicted with the rather fervent distrust and suspicion tightly rooted between the three tribes. If the tale had survived in some form, each tribe would have probably re-engineered the story, maybe even with their own tribe as the story’s ‘good ones’. I wanted to know the answer as to how such a tale was lost to time, but I resolved that I would have to wait a few months for the answer until the holidays arrived.

No time for tribulations of the sort. “No matter, here’s a quick summary for you. The story is about how, at the very last moment, the ponies in service of the leaders of each of the segregated tribes of ponies found friendship under the direst of circumstances, a sentiment that they passed to their superiors, who embraced it in means to chase away the Windigos that fed on their fear and hatred. After a short time, the leaders of each of the pony races, who had endured countless centuries of fighting between each other after their exodus from Dream Valley, finally embraced true unity. The warmth from their newfound friendship was enough to expel the Windigos and melt away their icy winter from what would later be known as the land of Equestria. Those ponies would later go on to found the country where we stand today. Does any of this sound familiar?” I asked with a grave voice, referring to the very same journey Sunny and her friends had undertaken in search of the Unity Crystals.

“I… think so?” Was Posey's skeptical response.

“A very inspiring tale, you see. A tale one would have found referenced in numerous books, and was known by practically everypony back then. Yet, do you know what that story doesn’t tell you?” She answered with a tiny shake of her head, her legs turning to jelly under my harshness. “It doesn’t tell you about the estimated two hundred thousand ponies from the three tribes that died during all those centuries of pointless confrontation.”

I let the number sink in. All the ponies present went pale at my description of the masked truth. “It doesn’t tell you about pegasi raids that would lay waste to entire towns from the sky, nor about the terrible spells of destruction that unicorns would come up with to subjugate the settlements where their enemies hid, or about how earth ponies would starve the other tribes by overzealously hoarding all the food they grew, what little they could grow under the snow”

I took a heavy step towards Posey, with her nervously taking one step back as I left a stunned Sunny behind with a thousand-yard stare.

“And the best part? It doesn’t end there. Nonononono. The true unification came with the arrival of the alicorn sisters, Celestia and Luna. Their endless wisdom and boundless love ensured that all of ponykind thrived, leading them to become the powerful and proud nation I came to know. Do you think that endeavor was a peaceful process? Hmm? That all ponies simply fell to their knees and swore their undying fealty? Oh, most ponies believed that the world was just the three tribes. It’s all they knew, after all. The truth? The sisters conquered the whole land of Equestria, bringing kingdoms, republics, free cities, empires down with them. Indeed, all pony nations yielded under their rule. It took them two, centuries, and an unimaginable number of casualties to do so, but they eventually united all of the disparate pony states into a single nation.”

Another step forward for me, and another step back from her. “All ponies on continental Westria were united under their reign. Those living outside of Equestria swore fealty in exchange for some degree of independence or autonomy, reducing the bloodshed in the process. Such concessions on the sister’s part helped smooth the transition to a more functional system of government. Thus, the proud Kingdom of Equestria was born, where everypony, unicorn, pegasus, and earth pony alike, lived in harmony and friendship, their past quarrels all but forgotten. No more division, no more abuse, no more death. All united together under their eternal rule.”

I had stopped my predatory advances, now finding myself in the middle of the tiny circle of agitated mares, Sunny retaking her place close to my side and giving me her full attention.

I wasn't done yet. “Tell me, Posey, do you know how many ponies died during the uprisings after Twilight’s ascension to power? While I ruled by her side?”

Posey seemed moments away from fainting. “N-N-No….”

“One.”

Her shaking momentarily lessened as she processed the number I had provided. “Oh, well… that’s certainly better than I was expecting.”

“Excuse me?!!” I boomed, bringin the mare to the brink of wetting herself.

My harsh swing soon brought back the trembling with renewed vigor to her knees. She was quick to realize her mistake, swiftly backtracking. “N-NO! I didn’t mean it like that!”

“One life was already more than anypony should have had to pay! That is what led us to take such drastic measures! It was that which has brought us here to this point!!” I stomped my feet hard, making Posey jump in place. She , as well as the rest of the encircling ponies nodded in understanding with trembling lips.

“I ask you now. How many lives would it have taken for you to be satisfied?”

Now, now, I know what a terrible, unlooked-for question that was, but I wanted her to feel the weight of the responsibility on her soul. “W-W-What?!”

“You heard me. After your little show of breaking the harmony and peace between the tribes, and expelling them from the festival! How many lives would have been lost alongside the rupture? How much damage would you have caused, how many friendships would you have broken?!” She stuttered and whimpered without being able to give me a straight answer. “Ah, it would be so easy to say ‘none’, right? You thought that everypony would just return to their respective hometowns and glare at each other from a distance, and then everything would just simply fall back in place, yes? Is that what you thought?”

Posey could only summon a feeble nod of her head.

I squinted my eyes in recollection. “Hmm, but I’m sure you remember, like I do, that there was some strange weather emerging from nothing during the festival. You couldn’t have missed it, it was very cloudy, very ominous, and very threatening. Do you remember what I said a moment ago about the Windigos and their icy winter?”

Sunny perked up in understanding, but her confusion was far from a thrilling one. “A-Alex, are you saying…?”

“I don’t know for sure, Sunny. I searched high and low, and I couldn’t find any noticeable trace of them. That storm could have come from them, or the weather could just have been acting weird due to the unstable flow of magic. Honestly, it wouldn’t have been the first time for either. Nonetheless, the point still stands.”

I took a knee in front of the distraught-looking mare, shedding my harsh front for a more sympathetic approach. I felt as if I had scared the piss out of her to paint her coat a new shade of yellow.

“Posey, you’re free to think whatever you want. This is not Nineteen Eighty-Four, you’re entitled to your own opinions, just like everypony else. But things are changing and, granted, they’re changing fast. I‘m not asking for you to like them out of the bat, but I am asking that you at least give it a try.”

I reached out with my hand and wiped away the few tears that had matted her cheeks with my thumb. “I don’t like that it has to be this way. But the way you acted... Posey, what you tried to do the other day… I don’t think I need to say how badly it could have ended, for everypony.”

“I’m… I’m so sorry…” The mare crumbled before me.

“I want to believe you are, Posey.” I left her where I found her and got back up on my feet. “The time of living separated from each other, the time of fear and hatred, is gone, and it’s not going to come back. Everypony wants to move forward. If that's not what you wish, then so be it, go and hide yourself at your home or whatever you see fit. But please, I beg you, do NOT mess with what we are building. The consequences could stretch further than either you or I could possibly hope to understand. Again, I don’t like that it has to be this way, but it’s the way it has to be, for the good of us all.” The prince of Unity. The price of Harmony. She who watches over us all enacts a toll of her own.

I ran a glance over the remaining ponies, the message going out for them too. “And the same goes for all of you, and for anypony that might be harboring similar thoughts, understand?”

All answered with their own set of nods.

“Good.”

Without another word, I twirled on my heels and headed back the way I came, although I only made it halfway down the street until I had to find a big enough tree to lean against, my hands grasping my head as I tried to calm my breathing.

I had gone too far. I needed to check myself better. I didn't want to hear it knocking anytime soon.

“Wow, that was….” Sunny, who had quickly followed me after my hasty departure, spoke from my side, resting her barrel reassuringly against my hip.

I was at least relieved I hadn't spooked her too. “One of the skills you’ve gotta master when becoming royalty is getting your point across, or else the nobles are just going to ignore you. Although… perhaps I overdid it a bit.”

“Oh, you definitely overdid it,” Sunny exclaimed, a bit too enthusiastically, making me release my head to gaze down at her. “But I think that’s exactly what they, Posey especially, needed to hear. Your message was terrifying, and by being so extremely convincing, I seriously doubt any of them are going to try and pull another stunt like that after that speech!”

I couldn’t find myself sharing her enthusiasm. “… I don’t enjoy acting like that. It feels so wrong.” My years as an Equestrian prince were proof of that amongst… other things.

Sunny, sensing my distress, switched her place to stand in front of me. Rearing on her back legs, she placed her front ones over my shoulders, so she was standing face-to-face with me.

“I know. It’s the same with me. The other day, when the gang and I came to town to give them a scolding, it made us feel like ‘party poopers’.” She sighed a bit, truly regretting how it had made her feel as much as it made me feel like crap. “But, I guess sometimes, that’s just how it has to be for getting the message across.” Sunny would know about it in her role as pillar of the community.

Nonetheless, she trapped me in a warm hug. “Thank you, for talking with them, and for sharing another piece of the past with us, as terrifying as it was. I know it can’t be easy…”

I hugged her back, pressing my head against hers, letting her familiar scent wash away the anger and disappointment. Truly a one-of-a-kind mare, as if my mind wasn't made up already.

“You’re very welcome, Tangerine. It’s all part of the job.”

Chapter 23- Amongst the dust.

“Wooohohow. That’s soooo cool!” Zipp’s jaw almost touched the floor as she drank in the sights in front of her. And the same could be said for the other pony present, Sunny, whose sparkling eyes marveled with the innocence of a filly on a visit to Canterlot Castle.

For that was exactly where we were.

The rest of the week passed without turbulence. I made good use of the free time to recover from the soul drain spell and, in the meantime, try to crack another edge in my research, seeking to go through all the available material once more to tie a few loose ends before returning to play scavenger for whatever relics slash pieces of knowledge I could sniff out amongst the decayed ruins of a once proud Canterlot.

Argyle’s diaries, while insightful and elaborate in many aspects, failed in granting me anything I didn’t already know or could easily deduce regarding past events, at least as far as I had skimmed through them. Funnily enough, I got a few laughs out of several of his reconstructions of historical events he had tried to piece back together, some of them surprisingly accurate for the amount of years in between. Others… well, not so much. Changeling had definitely NOT arrived on Equus from space! That was my card!

… Right?

Still, it was a valiant effort on his part, considering the amount of available material and, you know, lacking any kind of support form his fellow townsponies, who spent every hour of every day calling him crazy.

All except Sunny’s mom, of course. But that’s a story for another day.

Nonetheless, I felt like I was slowly, but surely approaching the end of his diary entries. Meaning that, since he had catalogued them by date of event, whatever info he’d managed to collect from the last years before the fall would be scarce, which didn’t exactly play in my favour.

His notes were one of my most promising leads, aside from Alastor’s efforts in revisiting old unicorn lore and whatnot. Aside from those two sources, I knew of nopony else who might be able to aid me in reconstructing what happened in those few years I was sleeping while Equestria crumbled under our very feet. You can easily tell that ponies were more preoccupied with things like being at each other's throats rather than preserving their own history during the past few centuries.

A true shame, since there are so many lessons within the story of Equestria and the ponies who rose to protect it that ponies would do very well to remember.

My personal investigation of the Unity Crystals only provided more and more questions to the pile regarding their true nature and purpose. Not only could they apparently grant alicorn powers at their whim, or rebuild an entire lighthouse into a crystalline version of itself out of a simple Reparo spell.

Now, earth ponies had been granted a completely new form of magic, a variation of their previous one, turning it into an active process instead of a passive one. The closest thing I could remember to that kind of flora manipulation could only be achieved through means of alchemy and… less than orthodox tricks to bolster an earth pony’s affinity with the earth.

How do you create new magic like that? It’s far from Twilight's finishing of that old fart’s spell about one’s fate. How is that even possible? Whatever preconceptions I held about them were quickly shattering under this new light, giving way to an endless stream of questions stirring my brain until making a mash of my grey matter.

A small reprieve was that Zipp was very invested in my investigation, her detective jitters pulling her into sharing my research sessions like a UV light draws in mosquitos. I appreciated the help, even if she sometimes acted a bit too nosey in her thirst, but she had even fewer clues than me to what was going on with the crystals.

Overall, things around Maretime Bay remained peaceful and quiet for the most part, with your bi-weekly dose of pony nonsense to shake the inhabitants a bit. The three tribes were friends again, the echoes of the ruined festival all but forgotten by now, mostly thanks to the tireless work of my pony friends, who made sure to insistently remind the ponies about the ways of sharing and coexistence, as they had done before during their first journey together.

The only noticeable event I can think of would be the funny misunderstanding we had with Izzy and her wanting to celebrate T.U.E.S. Day, some kind of traditional unicorn festivity nonsense that none of us had ever heard of before in times present and past. Izzy was thoroughly delighted to explain it to us with her usual pep. T.U.E.S. Day was one of the several holiday occasions in the year where unicorns could forget their ‘gloom and doom,’ and have a good time. Seems it was the only kind of excuse they could come up to park their lingering depression aside and live a little.

That and communal orgies, according to Izzy. I was pretty sure she was just messing with us…

I hope.

The misunderstanding brought about the creation of ‘Señor Butterscotch’, a mock-up puppet of a unicorn made mostly of unicycled garbage and Izzy’s own touch, conceived as a surrogative unicorn buddy to celebrate the special day with her, because she couldn’t just simply use her common sense and clarify for us before throwing all that crap.

Ponies…

Of course, after airing out the misunderstanding, we were all more than willing to share with her on her special day. When asked about it, she sadly claimed that imaginary friends made up most part of her fillyhood, since a lot of foals were creeped out by her cheery attitude and energy when every unicorn around them were lost in a constant sense of doom and gloom.

As it happened, hers and Sunny’s upbringings had a fair number of similarities since she also was regarded as ‘a bit too much’ by ponies and foals alike of her earth pony kin, no doubt an unfortunate product of her dad’s enthusiasm for wishing to see the three tribes back together rubbing off on his only filly. Now, with that dream becoming true, they couldn’t be prouder of having been branded the ‘wierdoes.’

And that left us here, almost a week after I had woken up, refreshed and ready to tackle the task ahead of me, which would take place in the abandoned ruins of the capital of Equestria, where I hoped to find some more relevant information that would help me in my research. I would take anything I stumble with, even if only Donut Joe’s recipe for his marshmallow-madness donuts.

Now that we weren't chasing after a wacky draconequus and pulling ponies out of magical black holes, I could take the time I needed to comb every nook and cranny of the old, albeit considerably well-preserved royal palace.

Castle or Palace. I swear up to that day I kept mixing both terms. It was infuriating.

To my nonexistent surprise, the moment my trap opened to announce my plans, my two most overcurious pony pals couldn’t resist the temptation to tag along.

I had invited the whole gang to accompany me if they wished to. However, when asked, Pipp claimed to have her hoofs full with Mane Melody and some kind of fashion magazine that wanted to make an entree of her business for the pegasi of the Heights. In her own words, bring Zephyr Heights’ trends to the little coastal town and back. I didn't need to borrow Zipp’s detective beany to guess that Pipp, in truth, wasn't looking forward to returning to the dusty and musty and dirty and ugly ruins of Canterlot.

I would be offended if her description wasn't right on the nail.

One time was enough for the petite pegasus. Izzy was also busy with a huge commission from the Maretime Bay Town Hall to spruce up the main square with whatever materials she could unicycle in readiness for yet another holiday. She was ecstatic to finally reach the major leagues and be able to put her crafting skills to good use, since most of her work up until now had consisted of small things for us and some minor repair work.

Hitch, for his part, had received a small reprimand from the town council, since our little adventures had pulled him away too from his work as the town’s sheriff. That, summed up with his new responsibilities as dragon caretaker, had made him unable to accompany us until a more permanent schedule that could bridge both his obligations could be assembled. Those old, creeping ruins were no place for a baby dragon either.

That left me in the company of the older pegasus princess and an overexcited earth pony mare, who jumped at the chance to return to Canterlot with me.

… I’m still unsure how she didn't pop a vessel from the sheer strength of the puppy eyes she assaulted me with, which was stupid since I was thinking of inviting them either way.

“Alex, what is this place?” Sunny asked, lost for words after completing a small, exploratory lap around the chamber I had taken them to in our first stop, taking in her surroundings with unrestrained wonder. The way her eyes sparkled with curiosity tugged at my hearting in a very familiar way.

The trip was going to be divided into several stops. There was a lot of ground to cover and there were many places I wished to revisit. This time, without the fear of a rampaging draconequus tip-toeing in the shadows and getting the jump on us. The first stop had a dual purpose in principle, and brought us down into the same cave system below the castle, near to where Discord had trapped us a month ago to toy with us.

As the ponies marbled and ooo’ed as they drank in the complex array of runes and machinery, I stood proudly at the edge of the intricate mechanism, not bothering to mask a hint of pride in my voice.

“This, Sunny, is the Ephemeris. This is the machine we put in charge of keeping both celestial bodies in a stable orbit after Celestia and Luna stepped down. Without the alicorns taking care of it we had to, um… get a bit creative.”

Only a half truth, Twilight had been bestowed with the responsibility of taking care of the sun and moon, with me in a more supporting role on the matter, another reason for my visit back to the ruins. Let’s just say that, for all her magical prowess and boundless knowledge of spells, moving the celestial bodies wasn't exactly Twilight’s forte. There was another reason for the conception of the Ephemeris besides that.

“Whoa whoa whoa, what do you mean ‘keeping the celestial bodies in a stable orbit’?” The alabaster pegasus did a double take on my words.

“You see, Zipp,” My friend Sunny piggybacked on my introduction. “In ancient Equestria, Princess Celestia and Princess Luna were tasked with moving both the sun and the moon in the sky, since neither celestial body could do so themselves. They weren't called the Princesses of the Dawn and Dusk for no reason.” She recited with a bit of pride in her rich knowledge of the past, winning a small smirk from me and a congratulatory smirk, lighting a small blush on her cheeks.

Zipp was having a hard time swallowing that pill. “You mean to tell me that that thing is rising and lowering the sun and the moon each day?”

“It's the truth,” I interjected blankly, not wanting to downplay her disbelief, but it had become a second nature to me by then. “After the crown was passed to Twilight, it became her responsibility to keep them steady in their course. However, both of us believed that it was very unfair for the rest of the creatures of the world that such a task relied exclusively on ponykind to supervise. It's everycreatures’s sun and moon, after all. And on more than one occasion have they been the victim of some kind of fault when it came to ponies keeping them in place. So, we thought of an alternative that would make everycreature happy. Said alternative stands before you.” I pointed a hand towards the complex mechanism encompassing the entire chamber, whose eternal ‘clink clank’ bounced against the it’s walls with the steadiness and firmness of the passing centuries.

“But, how does it work exactly?” My history-nerd friend pried, her pearls two dark pools of wonder gazing at me with a thirst for answers.

Best if I kept things simple, else we’d be down there for the rest of the week. “Well, for all intents and purposes it's… uh, a giant clock. A clock attuned to both the sun and moon. It draws power from them to keep working, without needing any magic coming from the Aëther. Or, more precisely, it’s attuned to their own brand of magic, which differs from the magic which runs through the planet.” An oversimplification, but it would work for them. “And therefore, it’s not subject to the crystal’s control or any kind of big magical fluctuation. It was designed with that in mind, measuring the path of time with utmost precision and drawing a clear path for the celestial bodies to follow around Equus. You can see it in the runes all over the ceiling.”

My friends peered up into the miasma of carved ruins in intricate patterns and designs straight out of a fantasy novel, which depicted the ground base for the extremely complex gathering of spells that, alongside the physical mechanism taking the centerpiece of the room, comprised the Ephemeris in its entirety. A wonder born from the conjunction of magic and technology, working together as if one sole being.

Their scrunched-up muzzles screamed how they couldn't make heads or tails of the nature of the spell keeping everything in place. And if I'm being honest, I also had a hard time doing so. As happened with the Unity Crystals, the spell work relied on Twilight’s genius and the unicorn eggheads from Canterlot University. My input was more related to the mechanism part, and even then I played a secondary role.

“Uh, if you say so...” Zipp droned in disbelief.

“Your doubt offends me most, principesa.” I said in my most offended tone. Sunny chuckled at our antics from her side of the cavern. “Jokes aside, that's its main purpose. That, and permanently stabilizing their respective trajectories. The moon now orbits the planet, as, you know, moons are supposed to do, while the sun was stabilized so that this planet now orbits it, rather than the other way around. It’ll take many many many MANY centuries to fully complete the process, but we believed it was possible to do it eventually if we just applied the science hard enough.”

Sunny, her sparkling eyes running all over the ceiling’s markings, asked the most important question of all. “But, what if it breaks?”

“Ah, you don't have to worry about that, Sunny. We made sure to build it so that it would never, ever break. I mean, there are around… I don't know… twenty or so safety mechanisms to ensure that that never happens.” I reassured the orange-furred mare with confidence. “However, to answer your question... well, I guess if it does break, we're well and truly fucked.”

Both mare’s eyes doubled in size with worry. Not my most tactful moment. “Buuuut, as I just said, that's never going to happen. Nonetheless, I think it’s a good idea to keep this place a secret from anypony. I'm sure you can guess why.” I hiked an eyebrow to drive my point.

They feverishly nodded in unison at my request. It was better to leave this place unbothered, because I wasn't lying when I said I didn't have a clue what to do in the event it stopped working. That kind of magic was well outside of my current capabilities.

Now that I’d had the chance to get a closer look at the enclosed mechanism in the middle of the chamber without darting at each corner in search for a pair of yellowish eyes, I was relieved to find no visible damage on it, neither did I find any damage along the chamber’s walls and ceiling that could upset the inscriptions. The power runes glowed with mystic light as they guided the midday sun along its westward path. It seemed that neither the sinking of Canterhorn Peak, nor the passage of the centuries, had put a dent into its surface.

Great news for me, one fewer thing to worry about.

“Come on, girls, everything seems in order here. Let's move on to the next site.” I ushered the mares, heading for the exit.

With a final look of wonder, the girls followed me out of the chamber and back into the cave system which connected locations such as theVault for Dangerous Artifacts, as well as the Armory, throughout the underground entrail of the palace.

After a short while, I found the entrance to the former buried under tons of rock. A satisfying sight. I hoped, no, prayed that Twilight had been smart enough to destroy all the artifacts, and then bury the room, while keeping the guardian seals intact. Not the best contingency plan, but it would keep any creature who might stumble upon it from accidentally unleashing the end of times upon a magic-less Equestria.

When asked by my friends, I had decided to not reveal its true identity, claiming it to be an old storage room for the crown’s wine reserves or whatever I pulled out of my ass on the spot. Although not fully buying it, they chose to not delve further into it in favor of continuing our exploration, which I gave my silent thanks to Faust for. Better to just be forgotten by everycreature like the Ephemeris, it would save us a lot of trouble in the future.

The Armory was our next stop, where I hoped to find both my weapon of choice after my… well, after a unique turn of event pertaining to my status in the crown of Equestria, and a replacement for my broken LIMstone.

Both were kept safe inside a special compartment within the Armory. You see, we couldn't just leave all those terrible weapons out in the open for anypony to take. The most powerful ones were safely stored away from any prying eyes. Only members of Royalty and the highest-ranking officers from the armed forces were permitted access to them. I had decided to also store my most advanced prototypes with my weapon, the ones I had created for my own personal use, inside that very same chamber, since it was likely the most secure place within Canterlot Castle at the time.

Placing both the Vault and the Armory close together within these tunnels allowed us to keep a closer eye on them at the same time, well away from the public. I wanted to keep my most advanced prototypes tightly secured in it since their raw potential could be easily used for nefarious purposes, as it had been the case for some of my earlier designs, a not-so-bright chapter of ISIT. Add that to the conflicts above ground escalating more and more with each passing week. I feared what somepony might have wanted to try if they had managed to get a hold of just one of them.

The short trek was spent in contemplative silence, the echoes of our steps resounding through the cave’s walls, bathing it in an unnerving aura only bolstered by the twilight surrounding us. The old illumination spells had long since gone dry, so my remaining functional gauntlet was the only source of light in the foreboding darkness, forcing both mares to keep close at my sides as we made our way up through the dark tunnels as the tried not to jump too much at the shadows painted by the rough edges of the rocks lining the passage.

I felt Sunny audibly shiver, driving my free hand to pet the silky fur of her back. “Just a bit longer, Sunny. One last stop and we can return to the surface.”

She rubbed herself against my hip, her tail coming to coil around my leg, making walking a tad more cumbersome. “I'm… fine. It just... brings back bad memories, that's all.”

I knew exactly what she was referring to. “Yeah, not our proudest moment, huh?”

“It was, heh, pretty humiliating, not gonna lie,” Zipp cosigned from my other side with no short amount of embarrassment.

“Come on, Zipp, there are very few who can say that they can stand face to face with the Lord of Chaos. And I doubt any of those are still alive today. Don't feel bad about it.”

“Nnng, if you say so...” She grumbled, unhappy with my reasoning, rather wishing we would have given him the beating of his life. As did I, not gonna lie. It would’ve solved things sooner and with less fuss. They had made a valiant effort in my opinion, and very few were the ones who would have the courage to stand against Discord.

As much as I despised him, we were extremely lucky to have him by our side once more. Or at least, we had. I had no clue as to his location after the issue with the Pegasus Crystal was solved. As far as I knew, he was having a blast instigating chaos in some alternate dimension or another. Perhaps he was traversing the multiverse collecting hoofball cards, or running for president back in the United States. You never knew with a guy like that.

Actually, that would explain a lot of stuff from Earth…

I guided my companions towards our destination. “Here we are, ladies. The Royal Armory, where Equestria’s finest weapons were forged and stored. Also, it’s where I’ve stored some more of my stuff. Let's see if it's still here, I could really, really use it right now.”

We had arrived in front of two massive doors carved from the very same piece of stone, engraved within the very rock of the Canterhorn. Their design somewhat reminded me of the dwarves from ‘The Lord of the Rings’. The guardian seals in them were not as strong nor as long-lasting as the ones protecting the Vault, and a quick scan with my magic revealed them to have lost all of their power to the ages, leaving the entrance unobstructed for anycreature who might have stumbled upon it.

Lucky for us who are now attempting to do just so, but I dreaded that some other creature might have had the same idea before we had gotten here. Discord had assured us that no creature had walked Canterlot Castle’s halls during the time he’d made it his home after the fall. However, I would be a fool to trust in his word, especially if he had no magic and had to rely on his critter friends to find out.

I wanted to play it safe.

“Hohooow, now that I want to see!” Zipp was eager to check the place out, the promise of dusty old weapons and artifacts boosting her curiosity, making her wings rustle excitedly at her sides. Sunny too was eager, her trusty notebook at the ready with her tail wagging energetically behind her.

Fueled by their contagious energy, I took it on myself to open the doors for them. The cold, wet stone was a familiar sensation on my hands. With a grunt of effort, I managed to pry the twin doors open with a resounding screech that flattened both my companions’ ears.

Gritting my teeth, I clenched my jaw to clear my throbbing ear canals “Sorry about that, girls. I guess it's been a while. Let's see what we have here. Lumos maxima!”

An orb of light emerged from my gauntlet and climbed high into the ceiling, bathing the room in a cold light as I commanded it to remain fixed.

Rows upon rows of weapon racks containing spears, swords, shields, polearms, war hammers, and all the other fun toys of war, welcomed us as they coated the walls and well into the back of the enormous room, where several old high-officer uniforms still hung from their racks, their golden visage having lost its luster a long time ago.

To the right, another set of doors led to the main forge, deep within the mountain. To the left stood the open entrance to another, bigger chamber where even more weapons and equipment were stored for the in-castle brigades. In days of old, dozens upon dozens of guard ponies would come here to gear up in preparation for the day’s patrols. Most of the equipment here belonged to the castle’s own guard division, as well as the commanding officers and the princesses.

And mine too, of course. The rest of the equipment for trainees and staff officers, as well as the airborne division, was held within the barracks, ready to gear up at a moment’s notice.

My goal, however, was located behind the doors at the very back of the room, where the gear belonging to Equestrian royalty was stored, in an intentionally-separate location from the rest. As the two mares gazed with open muzzles all around the room, daring the occasional poke at some piece of rusty equipment, I slowly made my way towards them, taking care to not trip over some pieces of fallen equipment scattered carelessly all over the place, the poor treatment making them the most decayed of the collection, virtually unsalvageable.

“Check this out! We could conquer all of Equestria with what’s in here!” Zipp enthusiastically pointed over the remnants of the diverse guard gear, which in its prime once stood proud as the best of the best that Equestria’s military had to offer.

“Thinking about expanding the borders of the Pegasi Kingdom?” Sunny asked with a coy smile.

Zipp cringed a bit at the question. “Yeah, right. I’ve got enough to deal with as it is now.” She backtracked. The mares shared a short laugh.

I let them to their merriment while focused on the target. “Veeery well. Show me what you’re hiding, baby.” Once in reach of the twin doors, I pushed them open in a similar fashion to with the main doors, gaining my friends’ attention and ushering them to quickly trot the distance to catch up with me.

I conjured a smaller light orb to illuminate the smaller room, allowing us to discern the sight in front of us, a sight that got my heart to skip a beat.

Something was not right.

‘What the…?’

The twin armors of the alicorn sisters were missing, as were their weapons. Celestia’s Sunspear and Luna’s Meteorite Hammer were nowhere to be seen.

“Uh… is it me, does this place look a bit empty?” Zipp also took notice of the lack of war equipment in the room.

I felt a crippling cold overcome me. “… There should be a set of twin armors on those ponykins. Celestia’s and Luna’s. And their weapons, too.”

A knot in my stomach formed, shoving the thought that somecreature might have stolen them. However, I hadn’t discerned any prints on the dusty floor, nor any sign that the doors had been opened in recent times, since there weren’t any marks on the floor over the path they took when opening outwards, nor any wind to erase the tracks on the ground. I found it hard that somecreature could have sneaked their way in and out carrying two huge sets of armor plus their weapons without magic nor leaving a single mark behind.

No, they must have been taken by their owners, sometime back in my era. Discord would have known otherwise if the alicorn sisters had returned, the same with any other creature coming down here trying to slip under his radar.

“Why would they need their armor for...” I whispered to myself, a storm of possibilities raging in my mind without a clear answer coming through.

“Did you say something?”

Sunny’s voice brought me out of my musings. “N-No, no just… thinking about something.”

“You say that’s where the princesses' battle armors were kept? I don’t see a thing.” Zipp was kind enough to point.

“I don’t know what to tell you, Zipp. They must have taken them at some point after I had entered stasis.” I hoped. I prayed for that to be the case, for those pieces of armors were designed to fit an alicorn princess and no creature else, both in shape, size, and the power they carried behind them. I don’t think I need to explain how much knowledge and wisdom went into their forging. Those armors were, in terms of quality and resistance to damage, the very best the realm had to offer.

With a shake of my head, I dispelled the world-ending thoughts and refocused on the task at hand, turning a concerned gaze towards the left side of the room, where a tall cabinet stood carved on the stone wall. Twilight and I had never sported any armor. Well, for the most part in my case, that’s another story for another time. That meant that I only required said cabinet to store my things, while Twilight's might with magic, and the Element of Magic itself backing her, many any need for a physical weapon pointless. She disliked the use of violence as much as I did.

As I placed my hand over the keyhole, no voice asking for a password sounded this time. I guessed the spell array ended up fading as well, clearly having befallen the same fate as the one protecting the doors.

‘And I don’t have the key either… Welp, guess it’s the hard way, then.’

“Alohomora.” A flash of white shone inside the keyhole, followed by a small click as I twisted my fingers in resemblance of a key. The absence of protection runes meant no defense against that kind of spell. Lucky me.

The door of the cabinet opened halfway after being freed of the lock, allowing the mares waiting at my sides a small peek of what waited inside.

“Dude, is that…?”

“That’s for later, Zipp. First…” First things first, I opened the door the rest of the way and tackled first on the drawers below the rack. From memory, I opened the second one, and I was profoundly relieved at what I found inside.

“Faust, thank you oh so very much!” I could help but sigh in relief.

A box occupied most of the space inside the drawer. The remaining space was taken by two of my Atlas gauntlets, shaped with my hands in mind, devoid of any gemstones. But that wouldn’t be a problem, since inside the box were my three most advanced LIMstone prototypes, patiently waiting for my return.

Accompanying them were ten smaller stabilizing gems, which would allow me to exercise much more precise control over my spellcasting taking a secondary role in the stabilizing and directing of magic, as well as the ability to store some magic for continued use, instead of purely relying on drawing from the ambient mana, which in my opinion was always more cumbersome, at least for my special way of casting magic and… Well, it kinda hurt doing so for extended periods regardless of the intensity of the spells cast.

“Yehehehes, come to Papa!”

I removed my only gauntlet and lost it in my jacket’s pocket, replacing it for the two I had found alongside the box. The twins Mk 1.8 and 2.0 were the best of the best to come from Canterlot’s laboratories, and represented as far as my research had gone on the field after my journey to the future. These were conceived with me, and only me in mind, meaning that they weren’t meant to be adapted for public or military use.

I placed a LIMstone in each of the gauntlet’s sockets, and then added to each gauntlet five stabilizing gems, each of a different color, which reinforced my opinion that they looked like a cheap cosplay of the Infinity Gauntlets from Comicon, only fingerless beyond the first flanage and dark grey colored with golden highlights in the shape of magic-conducting metal channels birding all gems together… and much comfier to boot.

Without the need for a logic breaker, my will was soon reflected in the twin gems, both of which began to hum with power, music to my poor ears. Even after all those years, they seemed to be working like a charm. That’s what you get when you codify a spell matrix making use of the micro-crystalline composition of a gem in semblance of a chip’s composition of transistors, and not directly enchanting it like ponies were accustomed to do.

You’re very welcome, by the way.

I rejoiced in the familiar feeling of the gauntlets over my hands, stretching my fingers in glee as they material settled around the contours of my hands. “Okay, that’s one thing.” Storing the remaining gems in my backpack in case I needed to use them in the future, I closed the drawers and raised my gaze to the weapon’s rack located just above it, and the weapon neatly tucked in it. “And now, for the best part.”

I took a step back and raised my hand. “Accio!” At my command, the weapon stored on the rack crossed the distance between us with decision, its middle grip searching for my outstretched arm with practiced ease.

Soon, the familiar, magically-lessened weight of its perfectly balanced center pushed said arm down, a rush of memories flooding me with it.

“A-Alex, what kind of sword is that?” Sunny asked, running her eyes and up down the weapon. Zipp also stood to attention, wings half-flared in cautious curiosity as she sniffed the air a bit, searching for something.

I was more than happy to amuse her curiosity. “This, Sunny, is a twinblade. My twinblade.”

It was as I said, a double-sword, shaped in the typical fashion of a guard’s straight sword but broader and longer, double-edged and with a pointed… uh, point. Both blades had a fuller to match. On one side the groove was milkiest white you can imagine, with the edges of the fuller finished in a band of shimmering gold. The fuller on the second blade was of the darkest of blacks, with the edges surrounded by the deep blue hues and sparkling pearls of the night sky. On the respective crossguards were emblazoned a golden sun, and a crescent moon respectively. The grip was a muted shade of lavender with two golden metal rings in the middle that served as connecting points for both swords. If I desired it, they could be disconnected and wielded separately.

I don’t think I need to explain where those colors came from.

A sense of thrill overcame me, their power making me feel utterly invincible. This weapon had been tailored exclusively for me, by none other than Celestia and Luna. No other weapon of its kind existed in this green, wide world.

This weapon and my training sword feel like a toothpick.

Feeling like putting on a little show, I took a few more steps back into the center of the room and channeled magic into the twinblades, its edges shining with magical power in turn with numerous runes engraved on both blades, meant to help me focus and channel my power. A very special brand of power.

With the mares smelling my intentions and retreating into the back of the small room after seeing me getting into position, I drew form well-practised memory and began slipping through several training routines, slashing and twisting with circular motions its twin edges, and my whole body contouring and twisting alongside them since this kind of weapon called for it, taking advantage in humanity’s superior dexterity and flexibility to wield and an unmatched brand of power.

I relished in my recovered state that allowed me to wild them swiftly and without faltering, my body finally settling back down during the past week, leaving me fresh and ready for the music this weapon could bring with it.

The edges drew lines of power in their path as I wielded them, creating beautiful patterns that lit up the room in addition to the humming of magical power cutting the very air. My magic allowed me to twist and manipulate it in ways that a human wrist couldn’t dream of, grating me the edge of reach, defense, and overwhelming speed.

After finishing the routine with a full horizontal body and blade tornado-twirl, an earth-bound adaptation from an old pegasi-exclusive movement, I finished in the frontal defense position three, left arm raised behind a summoned frontal shield, right arm grasping the twinblade near my side with the frontal edge resting over the raised arm, ready to lunge and pierce.

Trust me, I hated violence with all my heart and soul, but man it felt good to be able to do that. It took me more sessions, fails, and bumps than I’m willing to admit in front of the entire Royal Academy, but I eventually managed to become one of the deadliest creatures in the land, as long as this sword was perched on my back and my gauntlets ready in my hands.

With labored breaths and rejoicing in the burn of my muscles, I released the pose and switched to a neutral one, twirling on my toes to check over my small audience, who gazed at me with eyes as big as saucers, jaws almost touching the floor as they drank in the impromptu sow. I gave a small bow and left the slack-jawed mares to return back to the small cabinet and retrieve the holster for the weapon. Since its shape is different from a standard sword, the holster consisted of a harness with a metallic piece on its center that attuned to the metal ring in the middle of the grip, allowing it to remain fixed at my back without an issue.

A unique weapon meant for an Equestrian prince.

A weapon worthy of an Empyrean…

‘EMPYREAN?!!! A SLAVE IS WHAT SHE’S TURNED HIM INTO!!!!’

Twilight’s voice echoed through my mind, bringing forth a punch filled with anguished memories from one of my most complicated moments, making me sag for a moment before burying it with the rest. It was too late now to reflect on those moments. It had been sealed, and would forever remain as such until She deemed it otherwise.

As I strapped it in, I heard the two mares sharing a brief commentary. “Woah, he’s good.” Zipp praised after breaking out of her stupor.

“I know, right?!” Sunny, sounding livelier, cheered with an excited prance.

“Come on, Zipp. You’re a princess. Don’t you have one of these?” I jested while fixing the straps over my chest, the blade fixing itself on my back with a magnetic *THUD!!* I moved my bag to carry it over my left shoulder so as to not upset the weapon.

“I, um. I have a sword for knighting ceremonies, but….”

“Does it have a name? I don’t remember seeing any on my father’s notes!” Sunny butted in while trotting an exploratory lap around me to get a better view of the full package. I did notice how his eyes lingered on my butt for a second longer.

“Binary.” I answered in short.

Whatever excitement permitted in the room promptly evaporated at my choice of name, replaced with a touch of dry disapproval. “What? You thought it was going to be something like Oath Keeper or Dawn Bringer?”

The two mares nodded in unison.

“In that case, you two can get your own swords and name them whatever you want, hmph.” I raised my nose in mock offense, eliciting an eye roll from my companions.

With a tiny chuckle, I ushered the mares out of the Armory, nothing else of worth awaiting us in that place. Now came the fun part of the expedition. “Mosey on, girls. Time to go back to the surface. We gotta hit the library before the sun sets.”

With a celebratory ‘yes!’ from my history-geek friend, I resumed my place at the lead for the journey back to the ground floor of the castle, my two companions walking very close behind me so that they could stay inside the illumination field generated by my new gauntlets.

Celestia’s ample flank they purred like a kitten and smooth-casted like hot butter over bread. I was simply drunk.

“Hey, Sunny,” Zipp broke the silence and whispered to the earth pony mare, although inside these caves, I could hear their words perfectly from where I lead.

“Hmm?”

“What do you make of it? The sword, I mean.”

Sunny remained in pensive silence for a few moments. “Well… I don’t like that he has to wield a weapon at all, especially one as dangerous as that… But, I can’t deny that it’s kinda impressive. I’m confident he’ll make responsible use of it. Although…”

“Although what?” Zipp pried with a quizzical dip of her head.

Sunny sounded bothered by something. “Well, now I can’t give him a hug without risking getting cut.”

Of all things that could be troubling her…

‘Oh, Sunny, bless your heart.’ I couldn’t help the smile thatgrew on my lips.

“Um, I guess you’ll have to wait ‘till we return home, and he takes it off.” Zipp offered, somewhat dubious of Sunny's hesitation.

Sunny’s answer was a sad whine which only made me smile further.

“Oooor, you can just ask him.” Zipp laid down an alternative.

“But that’d be weird.”

“Uh? Why?”

“I don’t know. It sounds like it’d be weird to ask out of the blue.”

I couldn’t keep shut any longer, feeling a bout of laughter winning over the battle. “You can give me a hug anytime you want, Sunny. I gotta live up to the title of ‘best hugger of all of Westria’, am I right?” I peered back over my shoulder and gave her a playful wink, which lit up an adorable blush on her cheeks and made her advert her eyes in embarrassment.

“And the same goes for you, Zipp.” I looked over my other shoulder towards the pegasus mare.

“Nah, I’m good.” She answered nonchalantly, ruffling her feathers.

“Oh, of course, Wouldn’t want Hitch to get jealous now. I gotcha.” I sent a hand over my shoulder in confirmation, pointedly missing her surprised reaction.

“W-W-What?! W-What’s that supposed to...!”

“Oh look, we have arrived!”

I couldn’t have timed it better. The midday sun’s rays momentarily blinded us as we exited the caves through a side entrance of the castle’s staff into one of the humongous corridors over the west side of the castle, the nearest one to the slope of the mountain upon which the city stood, or did stand for that matter

“Vaaale. A ver, we’ve gotta retrace our steps and take a left from the intersection just in front of the throne room. Chop chop.”

I made sure to maintain a safe distance from the now-fuming princess. I couldn't trust my newly acquired weapon to protect me from her ire.

Sunny, for her part, was mesmerized by the numerous works of art that still decorated the entire length of the several corridors we traversed. Paintings, statutes, adornments and curtains, without mentioning the overall architecture, somewhat in the middle of romanticism and classicism. She was making a pretty convincing Pipp impression by taking photos of anything and everything around her. I could only wonder how long the device’s memory would last. I neend’t take any pictures, for I knew this humongous corridors by heart, since this place had been my home for a ice chink of my time in Equestria.

“Uh, Sunny. I think Pipp already took enough photos to fill the Canternet.” Zipp pointed after witnessing my friend’s enthusiastic mannerisms.

“Yeah, but she’s in all of them. You can barely see anything behind her flirty poses and kissy faces.” Sunny deadpanned without missing a beat in her search for photographic material. I let her do as she pleased while also reminiscing about my days as one the castle’s occupants, bittersweet memories overcoming my vision with ghosts of maids, guards, diplomats, and one very special alicorn mare at my side, scurrying along the corridors as my feet automatically guided me on our path to our destination.

Just as I was about to fly across the doors leading to the throne room and into the east wing, the sound of straining, rusty hinges halted my steps and brought me to backtrack to where I had lost the mares.

I managed to catch the end of a purple tail disappearing behind the slightly opened door, leaving a white pegasus standing awkwardly in the middle of the foyer, giving me an apologetic look and a small shrug.

With a tired shake of my head, I followed the overexcited earth pony into the throne room, catching her jumping from window to window, tapping in the zoom on the screen and taking photos of each of the stained-glass representations of our greatest achievements.

“Sunny, we’re on a schedule here!” I boomed, but was systematically ignored.

“Just another minute!” My efforts to hurry my friend along fell on deaf ears. Zipp took the chance to get another look at the old throne room, following the speedy earth pony as best as she could as she hovered for a better angle. I decided to remain near the entrance, not feeling like stepping into that room again.

The last time I did so before the stasis had ended went very, very poorly for me. Painful words were exchanged, words that would ultimately seal my destiny. I preferred to avoid the painful memories that would for sure assault me the moment I stepped foot in front of the throne if I could help it.

Sadly, I wasn’t going to get my wish that day. “Alex! Can you come here for a moment?!”

With a sigh of resignation, I soldiered on and entered the massive room, making a conscious effort to avoid the picture of Twilight’s throne commandeering the room from its raised platform. I found my friends standing before one of the stained-glass windows. I realized at that moment that I had missed this one the last time I was here, since I believed all of them were still intact.

That wasn’t the case for the one whose broken fragments were scattered messily in front of us, although judging by its place on the wall, I knew exactly which moment of Equestrian history had been depicted on this one. One of the most recent ones in the collection, at least at the time it happened.

“Hey, what’s this one supposed to represent?” Zipp inquired after returning her magnifying glass to her saddlebag, having failed in constructing the image from the broken fragments.

I hesitated for a moment, a sense of shame filling me, albeit whose origin I could not pinpoint. Why should I feel ashamed of what this glass portrayed? It had been a tremendous moment for all of us, a moment changed this world forever.

Instead of answering, I powered my right gauntlet and pointed my hand toward the mess of broken glass. “Reparo.”

As the spell took its place, the fragments slowly raised from the floor and reassembled back into the opening in the wall, joining together to reform the image conjured in my memories. Once all the pieces were back in their rightful places, we all gazed up, squinting as the stained sun’s rays filtered through allowing us to get a clear image of the event depicted on its surface.

“Is that… you?”

Sunny was correct in her assumption. The window depicted a myriad of creatures of all known kinds, standing in a half-circle around me, their limbs stretched forward and joining me in the middle, with my hand placed above them all.

You could recognize some familiar faces, like the alicorn princesses of Equestria and the Crystal Empire, as well as the leaders of some of the nations that stretched all over the twin continents and beyond. It depicted a day that would change the history of this world forever. Griffons, reformed changelings dragons, hippogriffs, abyssinians…

“That, Sunny, is the Convocation of the Creatures, which took place over the Hall of Unity, at the foot of Mount Metazoa, up in the northern reaches of Essia.”

My friend’s eyes returned to their saucer state as they sat on their haunches, attentively waiting for me to begin the inevitable storytelling they could smell coming. “After the Storm King’s invasion, an emergency summit was convened to discuss the current state of the world, a world that had suffered under the King’s tyranny, amongst other recent calamities. I was invited to assist as the ‘ambassador’ of my people that I am, as well as the newest Equestrian royal-to-be. It was there that my position as Prince of Knowledge was finally rafie red. Where the true work to change the world began.”

I lowered my gaze from the stunning display and fixed it on the empty wall in front of me, a mirror for my emotions as I bathed in the memory of that day. “No treaties or paperwork or anything like that. I stood in front of all the world’s races and asked them to join me. I gave them one chance to do so. Only one. With my work, and the knowledge I had brought from my home world, I promised to elevate this one into a new age of peace and prosperity. The Globalization Effort, where borders between countries, languages and costumes, science and culture, all of it became one for everycreature. As humanity had tried and failed for decades to achieve.”

My friends remained deadly quiet during my speech, sparks of wonder twinkling in their eyes, making their bodies shudder in expectation under their fur. I continued uninterrupted. “Seven nations joined me, swearing their allegiance to me and my plan, thus becoming the United Heptarchy. And I, crowned as Alexander Kintobor Sparkle, first of my name. Equestrian Prince of Knowledge.”

Titles and titles, all tasted like ash in my tongue.

If Sunny’s eyes grew any wider, they would surely have popped out of their sockets. She rapidly switched her attention from the window to my haunched form and back again, sporting a silly grin on her muzzle. She tried to contain herself but couldn’t help but release an excited squeal and a funny trot. Zipp on her part, slowly digested my words.

“… Now that’s a story alright.” She mumbled while still deep in thought, a kindred spirit in her own riyal status trying and failing to convey the gravity of the moment.

Sunny for her part sprung on her rear legs and practically flew into me, placing both forehooves on my shoulders and shoving her silly, almost manic grin on my face.

“Woahow, slow down there miss. You want an autograph or something?” I playfully asked, her close presence shoving the memories back into the dark corner they came from.

I was expecting a sassy rebuttal of her own. But instead, I found myself at the receiving end of a nuzzle attack, throwing me into a giggling fit as I squirmed under the tickling hairs of her muzzle. “Ohokay, okay, S-Suhunny. S-Stohop it. It ticklehehes!”

From where this gush of energy had come from, I couldn't begin to guess. Once she got it all out of her system, she lowered herself back on all fours and moved towards our pegasus companion with a merry trot. “I can’t believe it’s him! I know it’s been a month already and all, but I still can’t believe it’s heeeehehehehim!!”

With the pegasus me another apologetic look, we both patiently waited for the overexcited Sunny to stop prancing around the place and regain her composure.

She did so after several minutes, parking her hooves firmly on the carpeted floor and taking a deep breath.

“You got it all out?” I asked with my arms crossed over my chest and a quirked brow, to which she answered with a vigorous nod, her impossibly-wide smile staying right where it appeared. “Great, let’s get a move on then, shall we?”

Without protest, I ushered the mares out, but not before placing a few playful scratches under Sunny’s chin while passing by her. “You’re very cute when you do that, you know?” Once again, I saw the ghost of Twilight in her, making my stomach uncomfortably twist.

Another blush lit up her cheeks, but this time she didn’t shy away from my compliment. The castle’s archives were only a short walk away.

Upon arriving, I found the massive doors slightly ajar. After a moment of wondering, I realized it must have been Discord’s doing, since he would have made use of the knowledge stored amongst its books in search of a way to destroy the Pegasus Crystal.

Had I just bore witness to the living proof of Discord actually opening a door to get somewhere? As in, the physical process of using those mismatched digits of his to open a door and step through?!

Jokes aside, the knowledge of it actually bothered me, since I couldn’t fathom how he could NOT have found something in the private section of the archives to aid him in his search, only accessible to royalty and high executives of the crown. Anycreature else needed special permissions and constant supervision if they wanted to access its restricted knowledge.

Once again, something was not right.

I soon found out why he hadn’t. After traversing the long mid-corridor dividing the endless rows of shelves containing an infinite number of books and scrolls, some better preserved than others, my heart stopped when we were within reach of the private section located at the far end of the library.

Not even the centuries and the elements had been enough to erase the scorch marks and burnt edges that had spread through the crippled doors and into the chamber proper.

“No… No no no, Faust dammit, NO!!!! FUCK!!!”

The private section, where Twilight and I had spent countless hours deep in research out of sight and mind of bothersome politicians and snooping nobles, where Eqeustia’s most jealously guarded knowledge was stored for the eyes of very few privileged, had been burned to a crisp.

I would not find help there.

“Oh my gosh...” Sunny’s hoof flew to her muzzle at the gruesome sight, as if a physical wound had been inflicted on her under the image of so many books and scroll destroyed, all the knowledge stored in them lost to the whims of time. Zipp also made her displeasure known with a dejected shake of her head, her wings sagging at her sides.

“Why would anypony do this…?” She could only wonder. Dozens of possibilities ran through my head, but only one stood out that made any lick of sense.

It had to be Twilight, or somecreature under her command. The idea of the nerdy alicorn destroying knowledge in such a senseless fashion seemed completely and utterly alien to me, but since Discord claimed that nocreature had walked this castle since the fall, it was the only logical conclusion. A thief sneaking down to the Armory was already unlikely to have been missed by the old draconequus, a piece of the archives burning down under his muzzle was just impossible to miss.

Also, a random fire caused by lighting, or some other natural phenomena would’ve burned down the entirety of the archives, perhaps even the whole castle with it. No, this had been controlled, deliberate, precise. She wanted to destroy the knowledge inside that chamber, but doing so in such a fashion…

‘Why, Twilight? You could’ve hidden it or taken it with you wherever you went. Why burn it all down? Was it so… that I couldn’t use it?’

“What was inside, Alex?” Sunny pinned me with a sad voice, giving me a reassuring nuzzle after seeing my distraught visage.

I could barely bring myself to answer her. “That was the private section of the Royal Archives, only accessible for royalty and authorized members of the High Chamber. Dangerous magic, forbidden knowledge, historical records, spell books… anything and everything worth recording but deemed too dangerous for public consumption. Many of Twilight’s and my own research projects were kept here since they were considered state secrets.” I searched down at my orange-furred friend, finding my disappointment reflected in her sorry eyes. “Your alicorn magic is one of them. Or at least it was until I personally destroyed all the evidence.”

Not only that, but the diagrams of the spell arrays as well as the composition of the Unity Crystals, magic channels, micro-crystalline metal-structure, energy inputs and outputs, metamagical grade interactivity between spells… everything regarding their creation was kept here, in secret.

“Woah woah, rewind. Did you just say her alicorn magic was one of your things? And you destroyed it?!”

That was not the time for said tribulations. “Not exactly Zipp, I’ll explain it later, I just…” I wanted to argue that something might have survived for us to scavenge, but I didn’t need to enter the chamber to know everything was gone. Twilight was thought like that. The wide gap the burned-down doors had left allowed me to see enough of the interior to abandon all hope. If she had wanted them gone, then they surely were gone forever. “… Half of my life’s work was in there.”

I didn’t think I could curse my luck any further at that point. All those years of progress, just… gone. It seemed she truly had gone to great lengths to prevent me from messing with our work, taking more than one casualty on her way.

‘But why?!! Why was it so important for them to remain active? Didn’t you see it was pointless when Equestria inevitably fell, even after our direct intervention?!!’

A long, tired sigh escaped my lips. I had no room to dwell on it for long. More urgent things beckoned me now that this edge was burned, both literally and metaphorically. “Well, there goes Plan A. Faust dammit, I just ain’t gonna catch a fucking break, am I?! Much better to leave us blindly beating around the bush until something inevitably devastating happens! Huh?! Sounds much better!”

“Perhaps some of the books…” Sunny tried, pointing towards the endless volumes resting in the public section. A feeble attempt.

“No, Sunny. There’s a huge amount of knowledge stored here, but nothing that can help me. The science behind the Unity Crystals required the use of several restricted techniques as well as dangerous magic, nothing you could find outside that room will document it. I guess Twilight just didn’t want me to mess with our creation.”

I couldn’t stand it anymore. I had to get out of there before I blew the entire place up on a fit. With one last dejected glance towards the burned-down shelves and furniture, I turned on my heels and made a beeline for the exit from the library before I had the chance to lose it in front of my companions. I felt no need to clarify how pissed and disappointed I felt after finding out that another promising lead had been taken away from me.

I was running out of edges. I was starting to grow desperate.

Sunny and Zipp caught up with me with a quick gallop as I crossed through the worn-out doors back into the foyer with an icy scowl.

“Sooo, what now? Anything else worth checking out?” Zipp whistled with hesitation, noticing my sour mood.

My plans for that little excursion to Canterlot only covered those three places in principle. Canterlot’s public library wouldn’t have any information either, nor Castle Friendship in Ponyville’s remains, as I had already checked that place over. Just as I was about to propose our return to the outskirts of the city for our pickup, a sudden place crossed my mind. “... Upsilon Tower.”

“Uh?” Sunny’s head tilted in confusion. “What’s that?”

A tiny smile grew on my lips. “I think you’re going to enjoy this one, Sunny.” I cryptically answered as I started the march towards our new destination.

“Hm? But I’ve been enjoying all of the visit so far! Well, except that last part…” Her ears dropped a bit.

I had just the thing to cheer her back up. “We’re going to Twilight’s old quarters, from her times as Celestia’s personal student before moving to Ponyville.”

As if a switch had been flicked, her mood skyrocketed back to ‘absolute geeking’, to the point that she overtook me and began dragging me by biting on the sleeve of my refurbished jacket, impatiently prompting us both to hurry.

“Do you even know the way?” I chuckled as I focused on not tripping over the mare’s back legs as she led me across the corridors.

“Moff affreafdy!” Was her muffled answer.

Amused at her enthusiasm, I complied and led us towards the southeastern part of the castle and up the stairs that led into Twilight’s old quarters, which stood at the very top of one of the castle’s minor towers across the front gardens, detached from the main structure.

A quick unlocking charm quickly got the doors opened. Inside, the familiar sight of Twilight’s old living arrangements brought back warm memories. I had had the pleasure of visiting it a couple of times before Twilight’s ascension to the throne. She reclaimed it afterward and repurposed it as her personal accommodations instead of taking Celestia’s or Luna’s room. Her personal royal guard detachment royally protested it, since she would virtually leave herself dangerously exposed out here, which wasn’t the case with the rooms located further inside the castle, but they couldn’t change her mind.

Of course, being a couple and all that, it ended up being my room too, in a sense, even though I had one reserved for me inside the castle proper, the one we had visited on our first visit with the rest of the gang.

I heard a clopping sound coming from behind me. Checking it out I saw Sunny thoroughly pawing the floor in front of her with her hoof. “Uuuh…”

“I’m in her old quarters! I’m stepping in the exact, same, place Princess Twilight did!!”

“Ugh, again with this, Sunny.” Zipp tiredly rolled her eyes, but barely-hidden smirk betrayed her own thrill.

“Well, are you going to stand there testing the floor for cracks?”

Sunny didn’t need any more convincing as she sped inside like a bullet to get in as much of the sights as she could, going over the living room, library, bedroom…

Zipp and I chuckled when we heard a metallic *Clonk* followed by an ‘ow!’ when she went to check the bathroom with a little too much enthusiasm.

With the sound of her camera taking pictures filling the place, Zipp and I engaged on a more relaxed approach, with me relishing in the familiar sights and scents that even after all those years could still be discerned.

‘All the things we did here… And the things we did too, hehe.’

I seriously needed to get laid.

“Hmm, what do we have here…” Zipp's loud musings reached me from within the small library that housed Twilight’s very first collection of books. It seemed a book resting over the lectern had gained her attention. “Ugh, I ain’t gonna make a sense of that.” She complained, referring to the worn-out cover whose contents had been lost to the passage of the years. She carefully flicked the book open with a feather and landed on the first page as I made my way to join her. “Uff, it’s sure been a long time, uhh…” She struggled to read the words, squinting her eyes. “C-cause and… c-consequence… the gggggame we all… must… p-play?”

“The fate of those untold. The will of those who came.” I finished for her. The cover of the book was indeed unreadable, but I knew those words by heart, allowing me to instantly recognize the book she was holding: Seven Theories on Bending Time.

“Uh?”

“Nothing you should concern yourself with. There’s a better-preserved copy back at the brighthouse if you’re interested.”

I decided to play it safe and save myself the trouble, but Zipp wasn’t going to relent. “But what’s it about?”

“Time magic. Extremely dangerous. Best to leave it alone.” I shortly answered, trying to make a statement of how that kind of magic shouldn’t be trifled with.

“But, how is it that it wasn’t destroyed with the rest?” Sunny, who sometime during our conversation had returned from her little exploration trip, inquired.

A good question for which I only had guesses. “Most of it is just theoretical conjectures and half-finished spells. More academic than practical. It was Star Swirl the Bearded’s attempts to uncover the mysteries behind time travel magic, collected and expanded by Mooncurve the Cunning. It ended up as nothing. For the most part…”

‘I’m positive Twilight was trying to come up with something. Safe time travel, both to the past and future, was nigh impossible outside of what I accomplished with the stasis chamber. Starlight was a testament on how dangerous time magic can be if unchecked. Perhaps she was attempting to join me in the future? Faust, I hope not. I want to see her again, more than anything! But… I traveled here to escape her interference in the first place! It would just become pointless for me to continue if otherwise… Gosh, I miss her so much...’

I wanted to see my Twilight again. To hold her, smell her lavender scent, to kiss her, brush every square centimeter of her fur with my fingers, feel her heartbeat against my own, make love to her and whisper how much I loved that silly mare for making me the man I am today.

The choice was made, and I had to live with it. Perhaps in the next life, I’d find my reckoning at her hooves.

Always forward.

Feeling deeply nostalgic, borderline on the break of shedding tears, I left the two mares to mull over the old tome and made my way upstairs towards the bedroom, the one we had shared on numerous occasions back in the day.

It was just as I remembered, the two-tone dark blue with lavender highlights could still be discerned on its walls. It was in a similar state as my own room back in the castle, but through my eyes, the vision of its immaculate state at the time Twilight inhabited it overcame its current one. The supersized (by pony standards) king bed to fit both of us still held precariously. Even more bookshelves occupied both of the room’s side walls. A small love seat near the window, with an enormous puff nearby where she would rest at my side as we spent the afternoons reading together, when she wasn’t invading my lap, of course.

A reflection of light brought struck my corneas, bringing my attention towards the night desk, where the afternoon sun’s rays shimmered over the glass covering of an old photo, one that depicted the both of us, with me stealing a big kiss on her cheek at the moment of taking the picture, eliciting a deeply surprised and embarrassed look at the time the flash hit us, which got me laughing for several minutes after taking it, and suffering the subsequent revenge of course.

A closer look revealed that what had glittered was not the glass covering, which was soiled with too much dust to glow in the sunlight. No, what had caught my attention was a small pendant in the shape of Twilight’s own cutie mark, hanging from the small frame on a snapped, half-eaten chain. A pendant I recognized at once, for it had been one of my most prized possessions.

“She actually kept it... Oh, baby…”

I couldn’t help the tears that escaped my eyes. It had been a day I would regret for the rest of my life, a day I had run out of options, and I let my fear and regret take over the actions that lead me here.

‘… Is that an order, your Majesty?’

“I’m so sorry, baby. I’m s-so, so sorry…”

“Everything okay up there, Alex?”

Suny’s worried call snapped me back to the present. I quickly dried my tears and cleaned my nose. “Y-Yeah, everything's fine, Sunny. Nothing useful here, either.”

I decided to take both the pendant and the photo with me. I couldn’t bear to wear it regardless of its unique properties. The pain was too much. I had a different idea.

‘Seems I found Sunny’s birthday present. She’ll make better use of it than me.’

My unstable gait caused my leg to bump against the night desk kissing the side of the bed, its rotten legs unable to hold it any longer. Falling on its front, I quickly took hold of it before it could cause a ruckus and alert the ponies. However, its new tilted positions caused the drawers to open on rusty rails.

My eyes widened and the breath hitched at my throat when they landed at the sight of what rested inside the uppermost one. Twisting the old piece of furniture so it could rest against the old bed, I carefully, almost dreaduly, grabbed the silver circlet from its wooden insides.

Shaped to fit my head, carved from the purest of silver and meteorite, and adorned with gentle undulating patterns in resemblance of waves that met at its front in the shape of a raven’s beak.

My crown. My shame.

‘… I thought I’d never see it again…’

Painful twists gnarled at my tummy, painful memories drowning me in a sea of hopelessness. I was unsure what to do. Part of me wanted to keep it, while another wished to destroy it there and then. One side ended up winning.

Exiting the old bedroom, I rejoined the two mares in the library before they had the chance to start worrying, still grasping the crown in my hands.

The girls soon noticed it, meeting me halfway with inquiring looks.

“What’s that supposed to be?”

So engrossed I was in my thoughts that I barely registered Zipp’s question, answering as pale as a ghost “… My crown.”

An enormous gasp escaped Sunny, not wasting a second to invade my personal space and practically run her muzzle all over it, excitingly running through all her limited knowledge about the Equestrian crowns and their wielders. So engrossed she was on my new discovery that she didn’t hear my gauntlets powering up.

“… and not a single drawing was left behind! But according to my dad, it’s said they were…”

*SNAP!!*

The words turned to ash on her muzzle. With heightened strength, I managed to snap the silver circlet in two, glaring at it like it was my worst enemy.

I was unworthy.

The tension that permeated the room could be cut with a knife, yet no mare dared to utter a word as my ragged breathing took over my senses. After a few tense moments, a single word escaped her muzzle. “… Why?”

Why? I could bring up a hundred reasons why. And yet, I offered the simplest of them. “It’s better this way.” I muttered as I carelessly dropped the broken pieces to the dusty floor, leaving them behind to be forgotten like the rest of this place. I needed to move on. I needed to move forward.

Sunny was not of the same mind. “W-What?! Why would it be bett-”

Zipp’s hoof flew to Sunny’s snout before he could go down, cutting her question with a knowing look and a stiff shake of her head. I silently appreciated her gesture. If there was anypony amongst our group of friends who could understand what I was going through at the moment, it was her.

Not happy in the slightest, Sunny could still recognize the intent behind Zipp’s action, and thankfully decided to desist, casting a saddened glance at the broken crown before falling in line.

With Sunny having taken all the pictures she desired, we decided it was time to head back to Maretime Bay, before it got any darker and the pegasi detachment had a harder time finding us and taking us back via chariot.

The mares excitedly talked about the day’s findings and experiences, both having enjoyed the visit to Equestria’s past, an angry spirit of chaos not invited this time.

I couldn’t find myself sharing their enthusiasm. The burned-down section of the archives as well as my findings in Twilight’s old quarters had left me in shambles, now once again forced to reconsider my approach to the Unity Crystals’ problem. For whatever reason, Twilight had made sure to leave me without any options to reverse or neutralize their influence over magic. Even after seeing them fail with her own two eyes, she was adamant to keep them as they were.

Why? Didn’t she realize they ended up being useless after the fall, if not making things even worse? What difference would it make to have magic or not if the result was going to be the same? Why protect them? Is she protecting them from me… or from something else? Was she counting on me failing and giving up to protect them too? I couldn’t begin to guess what turbulent thoughts had plagued the alicorn's mind, and with each passing day, I found myself caring less and less.

I was unsure of how to continue. The pony’s technology wouldn’t be of help for a long time until they could catch up to my requirements, since magic hadn’t been considered for their design during the past centuries technology had slowly advanced to fill the gap left by magic. It would take time to build something that could help me, if there was anything that could in the first place.

No, something else was going on. Twilight was many things, but stupid isn’t one of them. She must have had a very good reason to prevent my advances even after seeing what a poor job they did to keep ponykind united. She doesn’t want me to destroy them, she wants me to leave them be and well-protected. I suspected it had something to do with Harmony’s prophesied incoming darkness, but I couldn’t know for sure.

Since my advances in the study of the crystals had been interrupted, I decided to switch my priorities and focus on the things I could accomplish without her interference. One: continue with Sunny’s training, making sure she could get her powers under control sooner rather than later, just in case. Two: find out the fate of the other races of Equus. I didn’t believe for a second the whole world came down with Equestria. There surely had to be somecreature out there. Perhaps there was somecreature around that could help me. Perhaps they knew something I didn’t.

I had to try, I owed it to them. I had made a promise.

And lastly: prepare myself for the incoming darkness. I had to step up my game. No more Elements of Harmony to bear the brunt, and only one rookie alicorn at my disposal. If we became the target of one of Equestria’s remaining enemies that might or might not still be out there, we wouldn’t stand a chance in the state we currently were in. It disgusted me to have to turn her into a weapon, but her powers were granted to her for a reason, and I doubt it was to become the new leader of the ponies or anything similar.

If Twilight was so adamant about leaving the Unity Crystals alone, I would comply with her wishes, for now. But it better be for a good reason. I couldn’t stand the idea that the sacrifice I was forced to make would end up being for nothing!

I know it sounds cruel. I had met wonderful ponies here. Heck, I was even falling in love with one! I felt happy being able to help them, to live with them… And yet, it made me feel like a traitor somehow. Discord’s accusations of me jumping the boat rung through my mind again.

‘NO! It had to be done! IT HAD TO BE DONE, DAMMIT!!’

I found myself believing in those words less and less. I knew deep inside why I had chosen to jump the boat. I couldn't keep on lying to myself for much longer.

“Um, Alex, can I ask you something?”

Sunny’s voice pierced through my mental rambling. “Ask away, Tangerine.”

She giggled at my choice of nickname, although it was short-lived since her features soon turned serious. “What was that about my alicorn magic being one of your works, and you destroying it?”

Faust knows I would have preferred to keep that can of worms sealed, but she deserved to know. “It was one of my earliest approaches during the beginning of the ISIT program. I knew there were already spells that would allow some temporary changes to a pony’s features, like a pair of wings, or the ability to walk on clouds. Some even allowed you to switch tribes completely and beyond! But they were more cosmetic than actually functional. No, I wanted to truly breach the species barrier. To give an earth pony a pair of wings that would work just as would on a pegasus, magic and all included. Or plant a horn in their foreheads which they could use to levitate stuff, or make earth pony magic run through a unicorn's hooves to raise their own crops. You know the drill. So, I looked into Twilight’s ascension to an alicorn, when she gained control over all three types of pony magic.”

We had finished walking down the stairs and into the small castles’ gardens on our way back to the rendezvous point. “However, I didn’t want them to become permanent, like Twilight’s transformation. No, they’d have to be magical constructs that a pony could summon at-will. And, of course, without the same amount of power that an alicorn had. But…”

“But…?” Zipp prompted.

“Sigh. I soon realized how terrible of an idea it was. To grant wings and horns and magical hooves to anypony, to summon them at will, with all the benefits they grant… It wouldn’t just breach the species barrier. It would destroy the status quo completely, and with it the careful dynamic between the three tribes that held Equestria together. It would mess up a lot of things that were better left unchanged. Heck, it might have even upset the balance of this world entirely! It could have been easily abused. Celestia and Luna themselves urged me to seek a different approach, and I was not one to go against their advice, so I burned it all down and forgot about it.”

“And… you think that’s what I have in me?” Sunny chipped in with a small nudge of her snout.

“… I don’t know, Sunny. Perhaps Twilight managed to recreate it from memory. Perhaps it’s another thing entirely. One thing I know for sure is that the Unity Crystals weren’t meant to grant that kind of power.”

I playfully ruffled her mane in an attempt to cheer her up. “Which means you’re a very special mare. Whatever the reason is for you possessing those powers, I can’t think of a better pony to wield them.”

Sunny beamed at my praise and tried to tackle-hug me. However, I had to stop her since we could hurt ourselves with the twinblade I was carrying on my back. Her adorable pout drove me to agree to a double session of cuddles when we returned home.

You wouldn’t find me complaining.

Chapter 24- Izzy, ain't it?

“Surrender all hope and kneel before the magnificent Tower of Friendship!... endhip… enship...” A very proud Izzy wearing her particular pair of working glasses stood before what I could only describe as a monstrosity of junk parts stacked on top of each other just outside the Crystal Brighthouse, where Zipp, Hitch, and I watched as the crafty unicorn continued adding more and more pieces to what she called the ‘perfect birthday present’ for our birthday mare, Sunny. Said process had taken the better part of the morning, and not even after a couple of hours could we make heads or tails of it. Nope, the thing would keep growing and growing until Izzy had had her fill, or Sunny woke up from all the ruckus.

“Uh… I don’t think I’m seeing it, Izzy.” Thankfully, Hitch was the first to voice what the rest of us lacked the courage to do.

“Duh! Of course you don’t. It’s not finished yet! I believe it needs some… hmmm… Alex! Quick! What’s it missing?!” She suddenly jumped in front of me, pointing a demanding hoof at my face.

“I don’t know! A solenoid?” I sputtered the first thing that came to mind.

All ponies present blinked twice and shared questioning looks with each other. “Ugh, metal string coiled around in a cylinder, like a spring.” I accompanied my explanation with a few hand gestures.

A light bulb shone over Izzy’s head. “Oooooww, yes, I think I have one of those somewhere… uuuh….”

With a hop, she dove headfirst into one of the other piles of junk that 'adorned' the area near the entrance to our home, emerging victoriously a few seconds later with the missing part. "Found it!"

I didn't need to be a mechanic to know that what she had in her hoof wasn't a solenoid. "I said like a spring, not literally a spring!"

“Shhh, Sunny doesn’t need to know.” She flashed me a playful wink and merrily went around the scrap monstrosity in search of a fitting place for the ‘solenoid’.

“Guys, I uh…. I’m definitely lost right now.” Zipp finally relented at trying to make any sense of Izzy’s creation and instead chose to take off and fly around the unstable tower, phone in hoof and seemingly recording our unicorn friend who, in a spectacular show of agility had managed to climb all the way up, placing the spring right on the top as one would place the star atop a Christmas tree. Or the Starship Enterprise, if you were so inclined.

A chirping sound brought my sight away from the craz… I mean, crafty unicorn. I found Hitch patiently listening to the birds chirping as if he could make any sense of it.

As it happened, he could. Another ‘small’ tidbit they forgot to mention. Somehow, his newfound earth pony magic, whose origin was still a mystery to me, included a one-way animal-to-pony translator, a skill only one other pony had possessed as far as I knew. Perhaps it was the yellow coat?

“Wow, that’s very inspiring, Kenneth!”

Whatever they were discussing was lost to me, although I couldn’t help but wonder why he was granted such ability. It became clear he had an innate affinity with animals since the moment I’d met him, shown by the abundance of critters that always seemed to follow him everywhere he went. Just as their innate earth pony magic had been… the best term I could come up with was boosted, perhaps that other ability had been boosted too. Another incognita to my ever-growing-never-shrinking list of pending mysteries and promised headaches.

“Eeeeeee!! This is gonna be the best birthday present for a friend I've ever made because I finally have a friend and it’s her birthday!” Izzy suddenly cheered in a random bout of excitement.

“Not if you fall down, it ain’t going to be!” I warned her, as her little outburst had shaken the tower in a way that gave me the jitters. That definitely looked as unstable as the Gryphonian economy.

“Pshhh, re-lax. You’re dealing with a master crafter hereaaaAAAAAH!”

And, of course, the ‘master crafter’ promptly lost her hoofing and proceeded to stumble down from her magnificent creation, with said magnificent creation following shortly afterward in a tremendous clutter. In a split-second, I was ready to intercept her fall with my magic, but a surprisingly speedy earth pony sheriff beat me to it, and by ‘beat me to it’ I mean ‘rudely push me aside’ as he scrambled to save our unicorn friend. Said rescue ended with a human eating dirt, an earth pony acting as a cushion for a disoriented unicorn, and a pegasi who cracked up with laughter until her wings almost gave up.

And not to forget a baby dragon giving us his best applause for the little show.

“Pfff! Dude! What was all that about?!” I demanded as I spat the dirt from my mouth and cleaned my now ruined clothes.

“I’m sorry, I couldn’t control it. It dragged me all the way here!” Hitch looked as confused as the unicorn currently incorporating above him.

“What are you talking about?!”

“Uh, Alex, you might want to take a look.” Zipp offered her phone as she made a landing nearby. She had recorded what had happened, and what I saw left me even more confused. Hitch’s newfound earth pony magic had activated in response to his stress and had dragged his hooves over the grassy ground all the way to the base of the tower, following a path drawn by the same mystical vines that appeared every time said type of magic was used.

“What the actual fudge…” There were baby dragons present, mind you. “Hitch, what am I looking at?”

“I don’t know!” Answered the distraught sheriff. “I’m struggling to just keep it under control in the first place. You’re the magic expert, you tell us!”

“I’m not a… bah, it doesn’t matter.” I was going to rewatch the video again, but Izzy seemed to be looking for something with visible concern. “Everything okay, Izzy?”

“Nonononono NO! I lost my crafting glasses! I need my glasOUCH!” Said pair of glasses fell from the sky right into her forehead in a typical Equestrian show of nonsense. “Oh. Well, that’s convenient.”

‘And I’m the only idiot who bothers to ask how that works.’ I thought with a dejected sigh. Izzy put back her glasses and proceeded to assess the damage the tower had endured while Hitch went to stop a certain daredevil from making an even worse mess of the front yard. Zipp, for her part, wanted to show me something else.

“Hey, check this out too. I’m not entirely sure what to make of it.” She rewound the video back to the beginning, where Izzy’s flank appeared in full view.

“Oh, wow, that’s some nice flank you got there Izzy, it looks great on camera!” I praised loud enough for the wacky unicorn to hear.

“N-No! That’s not what I….”

Izzy’s head suddenly appeared from behind the pile of junk. “Awww, thank you. There’s more where that came from.” She flashed us a naughty wink and returned to her crafting, to my amusement and my friend’s visible embarrassment.

“Ugh, that’s not what I wanted you to focus on!” Zipp chastised me with a frown.

“I’m an XY, Zipp, that’s as much as you can ask of me.”

Zipp decided to ignore my comment and returned to the video, this time moving the time set a bit forward, where Izzy’s flank remained in view. However, I now could see what puzzled her.

Izzy’s cutie mark was glowing, and I meant like glowing glowing. As if some kind of light was being emitted from it, accompanied by a few telltale sparks which always accompanied magic.

“Can you make any sense of it?”

I struggled to give her an answer. “Um… I mean, it’s not the first time I’ve seen a cutie mark glowing. But never in that fashion. Can’t remember any mentions of something like it, either. What are your thoughts?” I asked in return.

“I still need more situational data before reaching a conclusion, sorry.”

“Don’t be.” I patted her between her wings. “When you think you’ve reached something, let me know. If there’s anything I can tell you about cutie marks, it’s that their magic is nothing like any of the three tribes’ own brands of magic. Waaay more obtuse and complicated, so don’t break your head over this, ‘kay? It doesn’t seem harmful to me, anyway.”

“Hmm, if you say so... but that ain’t going to stop me from investigating!” She puffed her chest with renewed resolve.

“Of course it isn’t.” I gave her a confident smile and decided to allow her to take this matter into her own hooves. I already had enough to deal with, and I knew how much she liked a mystery. It seemed that the lost princess was slowly finding herself. I had to say I was very happy for her.

A disgruntled cry brought our attention to the not-so-magnificent-now tower. “AAAGH!! I’m running out of time; I have to finish it before Sunny…!”

The front doors opening and closing marked the end of the time Izzy had to finish her present. A tired-looking orange mare struggled to rub the sleep from her eyes, slowly becoming fully aware of her surroundings. “Did anypony hear that? It shook the whole of the Crystal Brighthouse.”

The vision of the terrible mess that adorned our front yard quickly woke her up the rest of the way. “W-What?! What going on here?!”

All present slowly switched our gazes towards the culprit of this mess, who with a nervous laugh struggled to find a convincing answer.

“Hehehe, um…. One sec!” After which she jumped back headfirst into the collapsed tower, leaving us awkwardly standing there without an answer.

I decided to seize the opportunity and turned towards Sunny. “Well, this might or might not take a while. In the meantime, happy birthday, Sunny.” I kneeled in front of her and tenderly nuzzled my nose against her snout, eliciting a cute giggle from her.

“Thank you. I’m SO looking forward to tonight’s party!” She cheered with a little celebratory dance.

“YES!!” Izzy’s victory cry signaled the end of her impromptu search in the pile of junk. She held in her hooves some kind of… bracelet? It looked like a bracelet from where I was standing, anyway. Bouncing over to us, she offered it to my earth pony friend. “Happy birthday, friend! And happy first-time-saying-happy-birthday-friend to me, hehe! I made you a present!”

Sunny took Izzy’s improvised present in her hooves and couldn’t help but smile. “Aww, Izzy!” To our surprise, she decided to clip it to her mane. I guess that it wasn’t a bracelet after all. “Oh, this is the most amazing birthday present ever! I totally need to show it off! *GASP* Wanna go to the Maretime Bay Craft Fair?”

Izzy didn’t need any convincing whatsoever. “With my friend on her birthday? Of course I wanna go!”

With that said, she turned back toward my standing form and patiently waited, her smile not once wavering. By her posture, it was evidently clear what she was waiting for.

“That’s a bit presumptuous of you.” I joked, making Sunny avert her eyes with an embarrassed blush. “I’m just messing with you, Sunny. I’ll give you your present tonight at the party. You know? What it’s actually customary to do on birthdays, hm?” My last comment was directed to our unicorn friend, who playfully stuck her tongue at me in return.

“I can’t wait!”

With that, we made our way towards the Craft Fair, the girls excitedly talking about Sunny’s present and tonight’s party. Hitch and Zipp had volunteered to clean up, bless their hearts. It was a huge mess to clean up, though. I didn’t even know where Izzy kept all that stuff.

As we made our way down the slope of the cliff, the rustling of bushes distracted me from my friend’s conversation. Looking back, I couldn’t discern anything out of order.

“Something wrong?” Sunny asked after noticing I had stopped following them.

“… No, everything’s fine. Just thought I heard something.” Feeling a bit uneasy, we resumed our walk towards our destination. It surely was some critter foraging in preparation for the upcoming fall.

“Pheeeew! That was a close one, Misty. You’ve gotta be more careful!”

Chastising myself wasn’t going to get me to where I wanted to be. So, after finishing my early report to Opaline, and making sure they were far enough down the road to not notice me, I resumed lurking behind the trio, keeping my eyes open for anything worth reporting. I barely needed any time to confirm Opaline’s suspicions about the stabilized magic. Just as she had said, it seemed stable and working fine once again, with the earth ponies slowly getting the hang of their new magic. She had ordered… no, asked me to investigate anything I could, as she couldn’t yet make the trip and reveal herself to the ponies, and especially to that ‘hooman’. Whatever it was that happened between them, Opaline never wanted to talk about it. It always made her angry, so after a few tries I thought it was best to just drop it. Although, I knew it had to be something really bad to get her all riled up like that.

Her magic pool had allowed us to get a few glimpses of the ponies I was sent to investigate. But seeing them up close… I wasn’t sure what to think. I didn’t want to disappoint Opaline, but…. they didn't feel like they were the bad ponies she’d painted them as. They seemed… normal, I guess.

The same couldn’t be said for the hooman. Finally catching a a glimpse of him up close only reinforced my thoughts on him. The only word I could use to describe him was ‘weird’. I hadn’t seen anything like him before, although… I guess I’d never really had the chance to see much of anything. There’s only so much the books from Opaline’s stronghold could show me… the ones I’m allowed to read, that is.

However, just as with the ponies, he didn’t seem that terrible to me. He was trading jokes and laughing with the rest. They seemed to be having a good time, in fact. I couldn’t understand how that behavior fitted in with Opaline’s description of him, which depicted him as a dangerous monster whom I, under no circumstances, should ever have any interaction with.

‘Enough of that, Misty. We have work to do. Opaline is counting on us!’

I kept in the shadows for the rest of the way, sneaking my way behind them until they crossed the arched entrance to the town proper. From there, I made use of the crowd the fair had attracted to blend in and search for a better position to spy on them.

I found said position over a bridge that crossed over the main street where the fair had been placed. There were dozens of ponies milling about, checking over the stands where other ponies sold their crafted wares. It took me no time at all to find Sunny’s smoothie stand amongst the multitude of other refreshment stands.

The hooman rested against the counter, chatting with Sunny as she began to move stuff around in preparation for the opening rush. The unicorn Izzy seemed to have preferred to check over the fair, stumbling with the pegasus Pipp soon after leaving the other two behind. I kept my binoculars set on the figures over the smoothie stand. Sunny was my mission, after all.

“Hmm. I wonder what they’re talking about.”

I couldn’t risk being discovered, so I had no other choice but to wait for him to leave her side. Thankfully, I didn’t have to wait for long, since only a few minutes later I saw him wave his weird-looking claws in what I believed was a goodbye gesture, and he then left for the deeper part of the town.

“Great! Now’s my chance!”

However, my readiness was short-lived since a considerable bunch of customers had chosen that exact moment to replace the strange creature at the stand.

“Uuugh, come ooon!”

It seemed I was going to have to wait until the rush hour had passed, which with the festival in full swing, wasn’t going to arrive soon.

“I can’t wait all day! I’m at risk of being discovered, and Opaline wants me to report back before dusk! Thinkthinkthink THINK!!”

I returned my eyes to the binoculars and desperately searched for an opportunity to sneak in, perhaps through an alley or something similar where I could slip in unnoticed; even a distraction would do. For several minutes I searched without finding anything useful.

“So, who are we spying on?”

I must have jumped twice my height from the sheer scare of being caught hooves on, almost dropping the binoculars into the street below as I crashed into the stone bridge. Before I had the chance to locate whoever had spoken, I stuttered my pathetic improvised excuse. “S-S-Spy? I-I’m not spying. I’m just, uh… taking in the views, yes! The town looks so beu-”

Unfortunately, the sight of the very same hooman, whom I had been ordered to steer well clear of, standing behind me immediately shut my muzzle tight, as I felt a deep apprehension take root inside of me.

The hooman soon noticed my rising fear, and with a concerned expression, kneeled in front of me and spoke in a soothing tone. “Wow, I sure gave you a scare didn’t I? Sorry about that.” He flashed me an apologetic smile, but I couldn’t get my body to move, much less answer back, making the situation even more awkward.

“Um, okay. Let’s try this again. Hi there, I’m Alex. I don’t think I’ve seen you around town before, first time visiting?”

With my legs still shaking like leaves under me, I struggled to get even the simplest answer out of my muzzle. “K-K-Kinda?”

The last thing I wanted was to make him suspicious, much less anger him. If Opaline’s warnings held any truth, then I was in for a bad time if I did so. I had to bolt out of there ASAP before I had the chance to mess it up. But against all my preconceived thoughts about him, he was actually being kind, which in this particular situation worked against me.

“Well, I’m sure you’ll love the town; I know I do.”

He stood up on his… hooves?; and offered one of his weird claws to me. It took me a second to realize he was offering to help me stand up too. My initial reaction was to shy away from it, which only worsened his concern. Realizing I was only making things worse, I nervously gulped down my apprehension and accepted his help. His appendages were very smooth, yet strong enough to grasp my hoof and pull me up. It felt... strange.

“T-Thank you….” I managed to stutter as I dusted myself and replaced the binoculars around my neck.

“So,” He began, repositioning himself to rest against the bridge’s railing. “Can I get a name at least?” He inquired with a friendly grin.

I spoke without thinking. “M-Misty… I’m… Misty.” I was quick to realize my mistake. ‘Nono NO!! Stupid, stupid, STUPID!! You should’ve made something up! Opaline’s gonna be so mad!’

“A pleasure, Misty.” He extended his claws, closed up in the form of a fist which I hesitantly bumped as I shut my raging thoughts at my carelessness. “I gotta say, Misty, I really like your mane ‘n tail.”

It took me a second to realize he was complimenting me. It caught me by complete surprise. “Uh?....” ‘He… likes my mane and tail?’

“Yeah. You don’t see ponies with curly hair that often. That’s more common in zebras and sheep in my experience. Very charming.”

‘…. What is going on?’ I struggled to make any sense of the situation. I’d never spoken to another pony aside from Opaline before. After all that I’d read back at her castle, I had absolutely no idea how to address his compliment. Should I answer with one of my own? Should I giggle politely?… Should I just jump off the bridge and make a run for it? ‘Opaline’s lessons didn’t cover any of this!’

“Um… Thanks. I, uh…” My struggling brain reasoned it was best to answer his complement with one of my own. However, a quick analysis revealed just a little bundle of brown hair atop his head, and only a sickly amount of fur covering his exposed arms. I couldn’t work with that! So, I tried with the second-best option. I hoped. “Um… your skin is very… white?”

His widened eyes and perturbed expression told me that my sad excuse of a compliment had achieved the complete opposite of its intended purpose. ‘Oh, Misty. What have you done?’ I lamented as I waited for him to regain his bearings.

“Ah, um… that’s… very kind of you, M-Misty.” It was evident that his words carried anything but that message. “However… I, ah… would have chosen, perhaps… something about my clothes?”

Now outright panicking, I tried to salvage whatever I could from the awkward moment. “I-I’m sorry! I wasn’t trying to ofe-”

He interrupted me with a vigorous wave of his claws. “No no! It’s okay, just… it’s a complicated matter for us humans as well, don’t worry. You're fine.” He flashed me a smile that was more unnerving than reassuring. I could now discern a pair of small fangs adorning it, although it was far from as menacing as I was led to believe. Opaline’s words sounded like they were a fair distance from the creature that nervously chuckled at my side. I didn’t know what to believe at that moment.

“Hey, um. Sorry to cut it short all of a sudden, but I’m kinda busy. I’m in the middle of a secret mission, you know?”

It had earlier seemed that I’d totally flunked it with my big mouth. Whatever confidence I’d managed to build quickly shattered under my out-of-place comment, but now, he sought a quick end to our awkward exchange. That definitely worked to my advantage though, since it meant that I could finally resume my mission. However, I couldn’t help but feel a little bit disheartened at having to cut our encounter short.

Before he had the chance to slip away, my curiosity got the better of me. “Secret mission?”

“Mhm. It involves sweets and a candle. And with the fair over on Mane Street I doubt I’ll find any left around here. I’m going to try Mulberry’s, and see if I can sneak some away.” He flashed me a playful wink and stood back from the railing. “Guess I’ll see you around, Misty. Enjoy the fair!”

Before I had the chance to realize it, he reached across with his claws and playfully tussled my curly mane as he made his way past me and toward the opposite side of the bridge. I remained petrified for a few more minutes, equal parts relieved at his departure and confused by his behavior toward me. This was the heartless monster that brought ruin to Ancient Equestria? Who conspired with the evil princess to steal Opaline’s magic?

‘… But, he was so nice…. he even complimented my mane and tail…. Opaline’s never said that to me…’

I slowly fell against the railing, my back sliding down until my rump made contact with the cold, sorry floor. My mind was filled with questions, questions which, after today’s mess-up, Opaline would definitely NOT be willing to answer. When I got back, I was going to be in for a lot of yelling and I was definitely going to end up grounded. Since the appearance of the hooman, she’d been more irascible than ever, and that’s saying something.

“Come on, Misty. We’ve gotta finish the mission and get our flank out of here! I’ve already exposed myself too much as it is.”

Peeking once again over the railing, I saw a chance to enact my plan as the crowd of customers had shrunk considerably. If I took to the side streets and snook up from behind, I could leave the mirror on the stand and be out before anypony realized.

With renewed determination, I slipped towards the opposite end of the bridge and into the shadows of the narrow alleys that bordered the main street, patting my mane to make sure Opaline’s little gift was tightly secured.

I sighed to myself as I resolved to finish the mission.

Let’s hope this works.

“Ups. Sorry about that.” So absorbed was I with my surroundings that I didn’t see the unicorn mare exiting the small store in front of me, causing me to lightly bump against her side and we almost dropped our respective purchases.

My ‘secret mission’ had been a complete success, allowing me to acquire a small treat for later, to share after the party. I didn’t want to skip the tradition, even if it was kind of pointless for me given the present circumstances…

Leaving behind the slightly disgruntled mare, I resumed my path through the multitude of ponies that were going from stand to stand with cheerful enthusiasm, buying every and all trinkets that called out to them, to the delight of the numerous craftsponies who accompanied each purchase with a warm smile and heartfelt gratitude.

Dodging the numerous passersby, I retraced my steps until I reached the smoothie stand at the end of the street, beyond the multicolored amalgam of stalls that adorned the avenue. There, Sunny was stacking the last batch of fruit boxes next to her workspace, empty after serving the multitudes of customers who enjoyed a refreshing snack as they hopped from stall to stall. I had managed to catch a glimpse before leaving for my short trek. The earth ponies of Maretime Bay were starting to experiment with their newfound magic, breaking record after record for both quantity and size of all kinds of vegetables and fruits. Even some new ones that I was not able to recognize. I was truly impressed.

Recognizing my characteristic two-in-two-step pace, Sunny hurried to finish her work and returned behind the counter of her little stall.

“Hiiii! *GASP* Is that my birthday present!!” She bellowed as she lunged over the counter, trying to sneak her muzzle inside my bag.

“Aaaah ta ta ta ta!” I stopped her advance mid-jump with my hand over her muzzle.

“….”

I reacted first after a few tense seconds, using said hand to tickle all over her neck and forcing her to retreat into her stall, her laughs filling the immediate area before being assimilated into the hustle and bustle of the crowd. Playfully sticking my tongue out, I lowered the bag and secured it between my legs.

“Sorry, Tangerine, you’ll have to wait ‘till tonight’s party.”

“Awww…” She attempted to soften me with her most adorable pout. However, as much as I was a sucker for puppy eyes, I had years worth of practice in my pocket, so after a full minute of trying she had no choice but to surrender with an annoyed huff.

“If you’re done with that, I’d like to order a banana and strawberry smoothie, s’il vous plaît.”

She scrunched her muzzle in a dignified pose. “Hmph, I don’t know… what’s in it for me?”

“Uh, money?” I shook the coin pouch in emphasis.

“Meh, I already have enough of that.” She answered passively, absentmindedly checking over her forehoof as she leaned over the counter with the other.

“… The point is getting more of it, last I checked.” I tried again, but she didn’t relent with her passive demeanor. “Money can also be exchanged for goods and services, you know…”

“Well, if you can’t offer me anything else, I’m afraid I’ll have to…”

“I’ll give you a full body massage.” I sharply interrupted her, offering my most mischievous grin. I’ve never known a pony to willingly pass up the opportunity.

Sunny’s ears stood to attention as her posture froze. A small blush crept over her cheeks. “U-Uh, w-why would I…”

Her words died in her mouth at the sight of my wriggling fingers, her brain swiftly making the connection, visible via a full-body shudder and widening eyes.

“… Deal.” She finally spoke, but I was feeling a bit impish that day.

"Mmmmm, you know what? Nah. I think I’d rather go over to Vanilla’s and get a shake." I started to get up from the counter and march in the opposite direction when Sunny's threatening voice reached my ears, mad at my decision to go to one of her competitors.

"Don't you dare, Alexander!! Don't! You! Da-!"

Confused by her sudden loss of words, I followed her gaze down the principal avenue, where my eyes met an amalgam of floating objects encased in a halo of lavender magic. Behind them trotted Izzy. Far from her usual peppy self, she seemed distressed. We had parted ways with her shortly after arriving, claiming she wanted to take a stroll around the fair in search of inspiration. And that was NOT the expression of an inspired pony.

In silent agreement, Sunny and I left her stand behind to follow our distraught-looking friend. We found her unceremoniously dropping all that stuff over an empty table near the fair’s starting point, with her upper body soon following.

‘Wow, this is not looking good.’

Sunny was the first to address our unicorn friend. “Uhhh…”

“Do I look desperate?!!” Izzy’s sudden query made us both jump back in surprise. If she looked distressed before, she now looked as if she was about to blow a fuse. Her left eye was even twitching a bit. It appeared that that was a common trait between lavender-furred unicorns. Or rather, unicorns and alicorns.

“Um, a little?”

“Definitely.”

Sunny’s subsequent glare didn’t deter me from backing away from my claim. “What? We must address the issue if we are to solve it.” I implored in my most innocent tone.

“Good, because I am super desperate, and I have no idea what I'm doing!” Izzy’s interruption prevented any possible argument from arising between us. “I mean, even my piles aren't mighty towers anymore! Doesn't that say it all?...” She cast a dejected look over the small piles of materials littered around the desk. Whatever differences between those and that morning’s stunt, overall size apart, I couldn’t tell.

“What do you mean?” I inquired, taking a seat just beside Izzy.

Izzy sighed dejectedly. “I… found Pipp while browsing the stands and she l-o-v-e-d Sunny’s birthday gift and told all her fans about it and how they could find me if they wanted one for themselves.”

Oh, dear…

“And… you got ambushed with loads of requests, right?”

“No! I mean, yes! It’s just…”

“Is this about what you told me before, at the smoothie stand? About how you did that one as a special gift for me and you feared that you wouldn’t be able to replicate it?” Now came Sunny’s turn, who seemed to have nailed it, as Izzy slowly nodded her head up and down.

“Mhm… Pipp told me to listen to my fans and let my creativity flyyyy.” She sang in imitation of the small pegasus. “But… I guess I’m just not feeling it.” She sunk further into the pile of stuff over the desk. “Ponies are asking for exactly the same as yours Sunny, but I just can’t get it right! I haven’t been able to make a single one for anypony. They always end up passing ‘cause it ain’t the same…” She finished with a sad whimper, her face now completely buried in the disorganized chaos in front of her.

My short laugh was the last thing both mares were expecting after that, which forced me to quickly explain myself. “Sorry, it’s just… this reminds me of a certain unicorn who faced a very similar issue.” Both mares tilted their heads in curiosity. “A story for another time, girls. So…” I scurried closer to the upset unicorn and wrapped my arm over her back, slowly petting her foreleg with my thumb. “Let’s see if I got this right: you want to create unique crafts for everypony, but all they want is the exact same thing you crafted for Sunny, which you aren’t sure you’ll be able to replicate, and it sits wrong with you to make the same thing over and over without being able to add a bit of Izziness to each of them?”

I felt her nod against my shoulder where she had decided to rest her head. “Well, what do you suggest, Sunny?” Of course, I already knew the answer, but I reasoned it would be better to give the still-learning earth pony a chance.

Faust, how I wish I had that journal.

Sunny didn’t require long to come up with an answer. “Nopony can dream up such unique creations as you do! That’s who you are, Izzy.” Sunny gave her a friendly nuzzle. “Just…. dig deep and, I don’t know, go back to your roots?” She offered with a reassuring smile.

Izzy’s eyes lit up with an audible gasp. “Sweet sauce horseshoe toss! Are you saying what I think you’re saying?” She asked with an excited shake of her bushy tail.

Sunny and I looked at each other, unsure of the unicorn’s meaning. After a moment of silent debate, Sunny offered with a nervous smile. “Uh, yes. Yes, I am.”

Izzy’s sudden return to her hooves pushed me slightly backward, almost making me knock off the numerous materials and making the mess worse. “Careful, Izzy!”

She stuck out her tongue in embarrassment. “Sorry,” And promptly glomped Sunny. “Thanks, Sunny! You’re the best! Also, happy birthday, friend!” Once again, she surprised herself with her own words. “Oh, that is so fun to say…”

And with her merriest trot, Izzy proceeded towards… wherever she was heading off to, leaving us both amused yet confused by her antics. However, not ten steps into her journey, a last-minute thought halted her progress. “Oh, before I forget!” She strained her neck and looked back at us. “I think Pipp was also struggling with her new hit. She looked a bit bummed when I left her back at the brighthouse. Why don’t you guys check up on her? I’m sure she’ll appreciate it! Ta ta!”

With the lavender unicorn disappearing into the crowd, Sunny and I were left behind to ponder our next step. “Hmm, I’ll go check on Pipp. She should be at Mane Melody if she’s composing her new song. Why don’t you head home when you’re done and help Hitch and Zipp with the clean-up? I doubt they’ll be able to finish soon with all that mess, sheesh.” I shuddered a bit at the idea of facing such a task. “See if you can also practice your alicorn magic, ‘kay?”

Sunny offered no complaint and quickly returned to her smoothie-serving duties. I set off towards the flashy mane saloon (and karaoke), arriving to see no customers waiting outside for pampering or styling. I guessed that, with the fair in full swing, ponies were more preoccupied with things other than mane and tail care. Nothing that couldn’t be fixed by waiting for tomorrow, when the business would surely return to its usual pace.

Not finding the ‘CLOSED’ sign posted on the entrance, I made my way in and found both of Pipp’s coworkers carrying out their routine tasks, managing supplies, reshelving what needed to be reshelved, the usual. However, both sported concerned expressions, directed towards the defeated pegasus mare sprawled on her belly over the edge of the small stage where she would, on occasion, entertain her customers with some live music. Head and forelimbs hanging over the edge, it was evident that progress on her much-acclaimed new hit was not going well at all.

‘Damm, that’s sad.’

Passing by the empty stylist chairs placed along the central corridor, a small shrug and a lost look were what I received from Rocky and Jazz when they saw me entering. Signaling that I was taking care of it, both returned to their tasks without much fuss, although I had to take a step back and check over Jazz again. Knowing what I was about, she annoyedly pointed towards her head, more precisely her ears which stood proud over her magenta mane. I swear they weren’t there just a second ago. I swear!

Not giving it more importance, I approached the gloomy pegasus, who remained oblivious to my approach. Lowering myself to rest with my back against the stage’s edge, I waited for any reaction from Pipp, only receiving long sighs and a few sad whimpers. I knew she tended to be a bit of a drama queen, like a certain unicorn I knew all too well, but it could be plainly seen that she was having a very bad time at the moment. I had read the hundreds of posts asking her, more like demanding if you ask me, when the new hit would be released, and how they wanted it to be. Pipp was the kind of artist who could get ten songs done in a day if she set her mind to it, and rarely would she ever disappoint her fans.

But this sad excuse of my friend wasn’t looking like she was getting anything done, much less getting it done today as she’d promised her fans.

Gently grabbing one of her dangling forelegs and raising it above her head, I let it go, the limb falling back into position like that of a lifeless ragdoll, still without any reaction from Pipp. I felt she was facing a similar problem as Izzy was back at the fair. But, this mare at my side wasn’t Izzy, so I had to think of a different approach.

Removing the headphones I had been carrying around my neck since that morning, I connected them to my phone and searched around the music library I had stored inside it. Finding the desired track, I pressed play and placed the headphones over Pipp’s droopy ears.

If my presence and my messing around with her limbs hadn’t elicited a reaction from her, the music playing over her ears did the trick, her entire upper body rising to give me a puzzled look. I said nothing and allowed her to listen to the full track. She did so in earnest, the gears in her head turning to analyze the melody coming from the headphones.

It wasn’t a long track, about two minutes perhaps. As the sound of the acoustic guitar faded away, Pipp removed the headphones and passed them back to me. “So, what did you think?” I asked the still-puzzled princess.

She didn’t take long to answer. “Uuuh, there were a few notes out of place around the beginning, I think, but overall I liked it. It was a pleasant melody and the rhythm felt right, not rushed or wavering at any moment. Who’s the one playing? I don’t think I recognize the hooves.”

“Me,” I answered in short, returning the headphones around my neck.

The surprise woke her from the support she had submerged herself in, her eyes widening at my claim. “Y-You?!”

“Yes.” I gave her a coy smile.

She practically shoved her muzzle into my face. “You play the guitar?!” She asked as she grabbed me by the jacket around my shoulders.

“I do.” I continued with the short answers. A few seconds passed as Pipp's brain registered what she had just learned.

“… And why am I only just now learning of this?!” She angrily demanded, shaking me to emphasize her displeasure at being kept in the dark about it.

“‘Cause you never asked.”

I was dangerously close to getting a face full of hoof if I continued with my cocky answering, so I decided to take the smart option and gave Pipp what she wanted, helping her get her mind away from her creative block. “Wanna hear the story behind it?”

“Uh, yeah!”

Chuckling at her newfound enthusiasm, I scooted a bit in search of a more comfortable position, with Pipp mirroring my movements, placing her head over her forelegs, ears forward and attentive. I allowed myself a small victory whoop. Phase one of the plan was complete: get her thoughts away from her depressive state.

“Well, there’s really not much of a story to be told.” I began, “Back in high school we had a subject called ‘Music,’ which kinda covered a bit of everything: history of music, reading and interpreting scores, even learning to write some music by ourselves. It was nice, I guess, not my personal favorite but not the worst, either. However, there also was the part where we had to learn to play an instrument. Can you guess which one it was?”

The small pegasus shook her head no, her attention completely focused on my narrative. “The flute. A school flute to be more precise, although I think my British friend would have called the one he had a ‘recorder’.” Her head tilted sideways in bafflement at the choice of instrument. “Yeah. Cheap, small, easy to carry and store, hard to break, easy to take apart, and as simple an instrument as you can get, perfect for teaching young kids the basics of music.” I chuckled at the fond memories of my childhood. “Gosh, how much I hated that thing.”

“You did?” A surprised Pipp inquired.

“Oh, yeah. It was a pain in the ass to get the notes right. None of us in the classroom could get a proper hold on it, making the small rehearsal lessons a cacophony of screeching noises that made you want to jump out of the window. The headmistress was smart to propose soundproofing the music room before the start of the school year. Mother of Faust, what a torture of lessons they were...”

I recalled the memories with fondness, to the bewilderment of my pegasus friend who looked a bit horrified at my articulate description. “Come on, it couldn’t have been that bad.”

“Yes it was, Pipp,” I insisted. “That’s what actually drove me to learn how to play another instrument. It wasn’t going to be the flute, I ended up loathing that cursed multi-holed plastic stick.” I repositioned myself to regard the resting mare with a side glance, resting my head over my arm. “I’ve always been a good student, so I generally got my homework and studying done pretty quickly, leaving me with a lot of free time in the afternoons. I was never a sports guy either, so going out to play football with the rest of the kids wasn’t really an option for me. So, in an effort to peel me off the computer screen, my parents thought that perhaps I could give music a chance, and learn how to properly play an instrument.”

“And why did you choose the guitar?”

A smirk grew on my lips. “Well, there wasn’t enough room to place a big instrument such as a piano or a drum set, and I wanted NOTHING to do with wind instruments.” An embarrassed blush lit up my cheeks. “And then I remembered all those movies where the cool guys would play the guitar to get the girl’s attention, so… yeah.”

A few tense seconds passed before I could meet my friend's gaze from sheer embarrassment. As I feared, Pipp began to laugh her head off, rolling over the stage from the sheer strength of her cackling. Back near the storefront, Jazz and Rocky held their hooves tightly against their muzzles so as to not reveal their eavesdropping with their own set of guffaws.

I could only bury my head in the crook of my arm, happy at having achieved the second phase of the plan: lift her spirits. If only it hadn’t cost me my dignity…

“Oh my gohohohosh! AHAHAHAHAHA!!”

Her fit of laughter didn't look like it was going to end anytime soon, relegating me to wait with my best face of circumstance as I busied myself counting the blue dots that adorned the pink decor of the saloon walls.

When I finally heard the cackling dying out, I returned my gaze to the out-of-breath pegasus who dried her tears with her hooves as she tried to get her breathing under control. “Are you done?” I asked in my flattest tone.

“……….Pfffffff, AHAHAHAHA!!” Nope, she wasn’t done, returning once again to bust her belly out as my tired sigh was drowned under her laughing.

Once she got her bearings under control, and promised me she was done making fun of my poor prepubescent reasoning, I continued with my story. “Well, after this rude interruption,” I cast a nasty glare in her direction, eliciting one last giggle from the pink pegasus. “I chose to learn how to play the acoustic guitar, and I did so by myself. Lots of YouTube tutorials and a few apps got my fingers moving over the cords well enough to get some semblance of a melody going. And you know what? I liked it. I kept playing past high school and all the way into college.”

I twisted my body to fully look at Pipp, resting both arms over the stage and my head above them. “I played for myself. I would record myself to later listen and improve over it, the best recordings I saved because… well, if I’m allowed to say so, they’re pretty good.”

Pipp flashed me a proud smile. “If they’re anything like what I've just listened to, I guess they are.” She finished with a wink.

That allowed me to drive my point in. “I never played for others, just me playing alone in my room, whenever I felt like it, playing whatever songs I preferred. But that’s not how it is for you, am I right?”

Her posture sagged at my words, her eyes returning to the carpet that ran over the middle section of the stage. “No… I guess it’s not…”

“Pipp, when was the last time you just jammed? You know, grab the microphone and the synthesizer and just play some tunes for yourself, regardless of what you or the Pippsqueaks want? Try new stuff, speak with other artists, or simply just… listen to music and enjoy it. Enjoy it for yourself, without wondering what your fans might or might not like.”

Her muzzle remained shut, but her eyes told me everything I needed. Pipp was so obsessed about pleasing her fans, that she had forgotten the real reason why she composed music in the first place.

“Pipp,” I gently grabbed her withers. “I know you love your fans. You show it every single day in your livestreams and in each and every song you make. But they need to understand that you’re not a hits-spewing robot who can whip up a tune the moment they demand it. Your music is beautiful, and for it to be so, it has to take as much time as its composer needs.”

I took her muzzle with my other hand and turned her head toward my direction. The beginning of tears matted her cheeks as her eyes sought an answer to her predicament in mine. “I’ve seen the videos on my way back from town. ‘Like the old ones, but different and better’” I cited.

“A-And what’s that supposed to mean?” Her broken voice inquired.

“Isn’t it obvious? They want more of Pipp.” Her scrunched muzzle told me she wasn’t getting it. “And Pipp shall deliver, but only when Pipp deems it ready. And Pipp will stop obsessing so much about catering to each and every one of her fan’s demands and actually enjoy what she’s best at. ‘Cause the day she doesn’t, Equestria will become a bit darker.”

A silent minute passed between us as Pipp mulled over my words, her saddened visage slowly regaining its light. The silent moment was broken by a tiny chuckle from the recovering pegasus.

“What?”

“Nothing just… you’re good at this. Like, really good.”

“Ha! If I had a bit for every time I said ‘If I had a bit for every time I’ve had to give the pep talk’…”

Pipp's crooked smile only heightened my amusement. With one final laugh and a big hug from the recovered pegasus, we decided it was best to call it a day at Mane Melody and head back home. There was a birthday party to set up, and since it was Sunny’s first party with actual friends, we wanted to make it as special as we could. Also meant that it was best if I kept my mouth shut and let the ponies celebrate to their heart's content. I would deal with my own thing after the party.

I sighed as we took off, eventually reaching the cliff; when we started our final approach toward the looming brighthouse, Pipp voiced her last concerns. “I guess…. what scares me the most is suddenly finding out I have nothing else to give. Like, this is it, this is where it ends. Livestreaming is great, it helps to be in touch with the Pippsqueaks and all that, but…”

“But it’s something anypony can do. You want to give them more, bigger and better.” I finished for her.

“Yes! That’s exactly it!” her wings pumped in enthusiasm. “My music allows me to achieve that feeling. It’s the best I can offer to them. But you said it yourself. I can't always give it to them when they demand it, or rather, I could, but it’ll end up being empty and repetitive.”

“Hmm, perhaps something different to fill those gaps will help you? Although your hooves are full of work already with Mane Melody and all.”

“I don’t mind as long as it helps me be the best pop star princess I can be!” She pumped her hoof in emphasis.

“Well…. back on Earth there was this trend of making podcasts, where people just sat down in a group and recorded themselves sharing opinions on various subjects, some of them even interviewing semi-famous people. A lot of online content creators gave it a go, some with better results than others. How does that sound? ‘The Pippcast.’”

Small jitters soon exploded into a fuzzy ball of energy as Pipp practically exploded with excitement at my proposition. “Yes yes yes, it’s perfect!! Oh my glitter, I can totally make it work!” She excitedly flew laps around me as she voiced her ideas out loud. “I-I can give interviews, and talk about news, and other things like music, fashion a-and EEEHEHEHE!” She couldn’t contain herself as she launched herself and me, trapping me in another big hug.

“And you, mister,” She playfully threatened after releasing me, jabbing my chest with her hoof. “Are so going to appear in it.”

“As the princess commands.” I gave in with a mock bow.

With her mind bustling with ideas, we finished our trek to find our friends finishing with the enormous cleanup operation. It seemed Izzy had made quite a mess in search of supplies after leaving with us for the fair. Thankfully, everything was back in their proper crates and ready to return to the storeroom.

As Pipp sped up the ramps and into her little studio at the girls’ shared bedroom, I was met with the sigh of Sunny glaring daggers at one of those crates, her muzzle scrunched in impotent effort. And no alicorn magic to be found.

“Wow wow, simmer down, girl. You’re gonna pop a vessel if you keep pushing it!”

With one final cry of effort, Sunny let go of herself and relaxed her posture, the crate unmoved and the mare mad at her inability to summon her alicorn form. With an annoyed huff, Sunny resigned herself to dragging it into one of the carts we’d stored for carrying heavy loads and began pushing it toward the door of the storeroom where Zipp held it open.

With the task finally over, we could focus our efforts on assembling the birthday party. A painful sting pierced my heart at the memory of Equestria’s number one party planner. We would’ve been done in no time if we’d been able to call for her help.

‘Come on, Alex, enough of that! We knew how it was going to be!’

The feeling of a pony’s head burying into my stomach ended my short mental scuffle. It was Sunny’s, whose failed training session had taken a toll on her.

“You’re doing great, Sunny, Next time you’ll get it.” I gently rubbed her droopy ears. “Come on, none of that on your birthday uh… day, yes?”

Slightly invigorated by my reassuring words, Sunny extracted herself from my belly and, with a parting thankful smile, joined the rest of the gang in their party assembling. From our tiny group, Izzy was the only one missing. I prayed whatever she was working into didn’t take much more time, since the party was set to start just after sunset, which was still a couple of hours to go, but knowing where that unicorn’s head could lose itself…

I used the chance to take a little detour towards my room, crossing paths with a positively beaming Pipp who in record time had already finished a rough draft for her newest project, and had already listed the attendants for the first few chapters, a.k.a. my pony friends and myself. It wouldn’t be my first interview, but it would be my first in a podcast format. I gotta say I was kinda looking forward to it, which contrasted ironically with my still-lingering introversion.

Carefully setting aside numerous notes and diary entries, I placed my purchase over the table and grabbed Sunny’s birthday gift… well, gifts actually, since another little thing had caught my eye the other day while taking a stroll through town. I was positive she was gonna love it.

Sneaking back down the ramps, I managed to place my gift, the big one that is, with the rest, although I didn’t miss a certain orange-furred mare casting a wanting look from the living room’s entrance towards that tempting pile of gifts. Gently pushing her back on my way out, Sunny’s whines of protest fell on deaf ears. “Sorry, Tangerine, you’ll have to wait until after blowing out the candles. How many are there, by the way?”

“Twenty-six.” She answered, her eyes betraying her unrestrained desire to dive into the pile of gifts from her most cherished friends.

“Oh my, aren’t you an old hag already?” I playfully jabbed, winning a tongue sticking in return.

“You’re one to talk mister ‘I’m too old for this.’” She spoke imitating an old pony’s accent as her legs shook in mock weakness.

“Har har.” I tussled her mane and ushered her towards the kitchen where the last touches to the cake were surprisingly being delivered by a certain sheriff.

“You?” I asked in bewilderment, to which Hitch’s answer was a simple shrug.

“What can I say? Grandma Figgy taught me plenty.” He clarified with no little amount of pride.

“I can see that.” I had to admit, he did a pretty decent job. It wasn’t Pinkie Pie-sized, thank goodness, but still enough for all of us to get a bite. Two layers of sponge with a strawberry n’ cream filling, topped with pink frosting. It had been quite a while since I’d last had cake. I’m not ashamed to admit my mouth watered a little at the sight of it.

Near it stood a series of snacks, meticulously organized by type, the work of a certain white-furred pegasus who flapped down from the pantry, carrying in her forelegs a blessed sight for my thirsty eyes.

“Oh ho, now we’re talking!” As I lunged towards the apple cider bottles, Zipp quickly pumped her wings to escape my reach.

“Sorry, big guy, not until we’re all settled and ready to get started.” She landed at the other side of the kitchen table and placed the box with the bottles over the counter behind her, standing watch in front of them with narrowed eyes.

“There’ll be consequences for this treason, Princess.” I jabbed her using the royal titles she so eagerly despised.

“I shall be waiting, your Highness.” She jabbed back to the amusement of our friends who chuckled at our little exchange.

“Where’s Izzy by the way? We can’t get this party started without her!” Hitch addressed the group as he gently grabbed a sneaking Sparky who sought to take a bite out of the positively-appetizing cake, the poor baby dragon making his displeasure known with a few threatening growls.

“I still can't make any sense of her note, I’m afraid.”

“What note?”

Zipp passed me a hoof written note which only read ‘B.R.B.F.B.B.B.’ “Uh….” Was all I could muster.

“Yeah, that’s what I thought too. Guess we’ll have to ask her when she returns.”

The next couple of hours were spent finishing the preparations for the party, after which we joined together in the living room, leisurely waiting for the missing unicorn to arrive. An overcurious Sparky had taken an interest in the bottle of apple cider I’d managed to sneak away from under Zipp’s attentive gaze. With soft growls, he made his desire for a taste known, to which I complied with, carefully passing the bottle towards him.

“Alex! What are you doing?!” An alarmed Hitch inquired after seeing his adoptive son taking a swing of the liquid delicacy.

“What? It’s just apple cider.” I innocently shrugged.

“It’s alcoholic!”

“And he’s a dragon, Hitch.” I calmly answered. “He could drink an entire barrel worth of cider and wouldn’t even notice. Were you listening when I explained dragon physiology to you?” I flashed him an accusing leer.

Nervously scratching behind his head, Hitch suddenly found the couch’s cushions very interesting. “Um… it kinda gets a bit hard to keep up sometimes… most of the time.”

With my flattest look, I switched to address the little dragon on my lap. “Your dad ain’t smart, Sparky. I’m sorry.”

“Grrrrah!”

“Hey!”

Hitch’s offended protest brought a laugh out of all present. Sparky jumped down from my lap and proceeded to scamper around the place in a childish fashion. Listening to the ponies talk about their things, I laid back in comfortable silence, resting my head against the back of the sofa and closing my eyes.

A furry presence brushed against my right side, hesitantly moving back and forth as if it could not make up its mind. I didn’t need to open my eyes to know who it was.

“You may cuddle with me, Sunny. I ain’t feeling like taxing it today.” I caught the orange-furred mare with a side glance as I raised my arm in invitation.

She eagerly accepted my offer, pressing her side against mine and resting her head on my shoulder, my arm hugging her from behind and absentmindedly petting her other side.

“You were jealous when I mentioned going to Vanilla’s for a shake, eh?” I playfully noted.

“Jealous? Pfff, sorry mister, I simply was looking out for my business.” She offered with her snout high in the air.

Her resolve slowly crumbled under my knowing look. “My smoothies are better...” She muttered under her breath after escaping my gaze.

“Yeah, they sure are.” I gave in with a few vigorous rubs over her barrel.

We enjoyed each other's company as we listened to an excited Pipp, who detailed her plans for the podcast with the rest of the gang and asked (but totally demanded) their eventual appearance in it. All of us agreed, although she didn’t really give us much of a choice.

“I’m baaaaaaaack!~” Izzy’s singsong voice echoed through the enormous hall and into the living room, announcing her return from her little trip to wherever she had gone in search of inspiration.

We all joined her near the main entrance, where a frowning Pipp chastised her for her tardiness.

“Where have you been by the way? I didn’t catch a glimpse of you over at the fair on my way back.”

“Oh, it’s been amazing, Alex!” Izzy began retelling her little trip. “So, I took Sunny’s advice to go back to my roots and rushed towards Bridlewood. Didn’t you guys read my note?”

At Pipp’s confused visage, Zipp handed her sister the note they had found. “B.R.B.F.B.B.B.?”

“Be right back from Bridlewood, best buddies!” Izzy clarified with a cheer, electing a collective ‘ooooohh’ from the ponies.

“Yeah, I wasn’t gonna crack that one,” Zipp admitted in mock defeat.

“You guys made me realize I had to be more creative about being creative. And I needed more supplies too!”

“You thought you could go to Bridlewood and back before Sunny’s party? It’s almost half a day away on hoof!” Zipp exclaimed, eliciting an embarrassed grin from the unicorn.

“Yeah I, um… kinda realized it on my way there… but! Just as I was on my way back, I found something buried in the mud near the road!” She finished with an energetic hop.

“What did you find?” Hitch voiced our thoughts.

Izzy flashed us a coy smile. “Why don’t you guys come ‘n check it out?”

Without waiting for an answer, Izzy pranced back outside, with us following in tow after exchanging confused looks.

From Izzy, I could have expected anything, but what waited for us outside jammed the gears in my head.

“Tadaaaaaaa! Prrrresenting, Izzy Does It!!... does it… does it…” Izzy proudly presented her finding, which was parked just outside the brighthouse’s lawn.

“Uh… that’s, um… very nice, Izzy.” Sunny’s attempt to make sense of the silver vehicle displayed in front of us brought a little chuckle out of the unicorn.

“Aww, thanks, bestie. It IS my best work so far!”

At that moment, thoughts resumed to flow through my mind. “You got a scooter.” It wasn’t a question. Parked in front of me was a metallic silver, almost a pale shade of azure scooter adorned with a few floral adorns, as well as Izzy’s cutie mark proudly displayed in the rear, and carrying a huge trunk on its back. The size was pony-friendly, and the lack of visible engine parts as well an exhaust tube signaled it must run with some kind of electro-thaumatic engine.

Holy fuck. I did see some of the first attempts from the guys in Detrot with modern vehicles, but this is one I’ve never seen before.

“Uh Uh! It’s my uni-cycling cart.” She jumped into said vehicle. “My trailer of treasures! My wagon of whimsy! My…!

“A scooter.” I cut her presentation.

Izzy jumped back down from her newfound vehicle and slowly approached me with a defiant gaze. “Uni-cycling cart.”

I mirrored her movements. “A scooter.”

“Uni-cycling cart.”

“Scooter.”

We went back and forth until nose and snout were almost touching, the rest of the gang enjoying the show, amused by our silliness.

“Ssssssssssscooter.”

“Uni. Cycling.Cart!”

“Sssssc-” Instead of continuing with the back and forth, I surprised Izzy lunging for her neck, blowing a raspberry that got her to fall on her back with a yelp, with me immediately after assaulting her in a tickle attack.

“Nohoho! AHAHAHAHA! Y-you ch-cheateHEHEHEHER!”

A minute later, I ended the assault on her sides, leaving the out-of-breath unicorn madly giggling over the grass. “And that’s for making us wait for the better part of the afternoon for your tardy flank.” I playfully scolded her.

Izzy was still unable to stop the giggles from escaping her muzzle, the moment I used to give her scooter another good lock. “But seriously, it looks great, Izzy. It just screams ‘you’.”

Once back on her hooves, her telekinetic grasp trapped my jacket’s sleeve. “Oh ho, you ain’t seen nothing yet!”

Izzy gave us an impromptu ‘tour’, showing us all the trinkets and modifications she had added to what now could be used as a mobile mini-workshop, perfect to whip up her crafts on the go instead of being cooped up in her workshop. And she had done so in the space of a few hours making use of the tools back at the local tramway depot. That unicorn was good.

“So, you like it?” A positively beaming Izzy asked our friends.

All the ponies showed their enthusiasm and congratulated Izzy, with Pipp apologizing for the terrible advice she’d given her that morning about pleasing her fans since the pegasus herself hadn't been able to follow her own words. A warm hug later, the two mares stood as if nothing had ever happened.

With the last pony now back at the fort, the gang set to get the party started once and for all, Sunny taking the chance to thank Pipp for some mirror she had given to her as a birthday gift. I must have missed that. However, Izzy wouldn’t join them until she’d heard my verdict, standing at my side with expecting eyes.

“Again, Izzy. It looks great. I’m very proud of you.” I offered her my proudest smile.

Not able to resist, Izzy vigorously began to nuzzle my chest after my praise, pushing me slightly backward, almost making me trip over her scooter.

“Yes, yes, you’re very welcome, you cuddlebug.” I scratched her under her chin with a chuckle. Leaving behind her new mobile workshop. We went back inside to rejoin the rest for a night of partying. Izzy energetically pranced back into the brighthouse in a very Pinkie Pie fashion, her mane and tail bouncing up and down which each hop.

‘Heh, I guess some things never change.’

The party went on for the rest of the afternoon and well into the night. The dreaded ‘birthday song’ moment got a blushing Sunny embarrassingly squirming in her seat but never losing her smile. Got to give it to Hitch, the cake was delicious. A certain pink earth pony mare would be proud.

The moment the last piece of cake was devoured, Sunny practically shoved us into the living room, barely able to contain her excitement. It was time for the presents.

“EEEEEHEHEHEHE!!”

Yeah, she was looking absolutely forward to it.

Pipp’s gift, aside from that mirror she had surprised Sunny with earlier, was a new collection of perfumes, which were the first in a new line of natural scents or something. Zipp’s presents were a pair of aviator sunglasses similar to her own, with Sunny’s cutie mark engraved on the rim. Izzy had already given Sunny her present that morning, but she was nonetheless smothered in a hug by the earth pony. Hitch’s present was a new cookbook, which Sunny eagerly devoured with her eyes for a few minutes.

And then, my turn came, the birthday mare standing before my sitting form, ogling the big present, which rested in my lap, wrapped in star-themed wrapping paper. Her front legs jittered in excitement, as did her tail, excitingly wagging back and forth.

“Here you go, Sunny girl.” I handed her the present, whose wrapping she tore apart in an instant, her eyes growing to unsettling sizes at the sight of the brand-new state-of-the-art telescope.

“The girls told me how you lost the other one when your lighthouse’s tower collapsed. And the Mareseid meteor shower happens in a few weeks, so…”

Sunny’s muzzle hung wide open, but no words came out of it, holding the metallic case on her hooves as if it was a long-lost treasure. I made use of her astonishment to give her the other present.

Leaving the couch and kneeling in front of her, I reached for my one of pants pockets and extracted my old pendant. Sunny’s attention left the new telescope and instead fixed itself on the ornament that was shaped the same as Twilight’s cutie mark.

“W-What is…?”

“This was a gift from Twilight. I found it in her room back in Canterlot during our trip.” I explained. “After my… accident with the Legion of Doom, Twilight commissioned it for me from the Mages Guild. It holds extremely powerful protection magic.” I sad smile grew on my lips. “She gave it to me to make sure I would never go through anything similar ever again.”

Sunny remained speechless, but words weren’t necessary when her eyes told me everything. Gently reaching forward, I tied it around her neck, centering the ornament to fit in the middle of her chest fluff.

Sunny, struggling to process the gesture, placed her forehoof over the shape of Twilight’s cutie mark, lifting it so she could glimpse it over her muzzle.

“Mmm, it fits you well, methinks.” I offered with a playful smirk.

Sunny’s gaze lifted from the pendant and met my own once again, the begging of tears matting her cheeks.

I sat back on my butt, expecting the mare to jump at me and squeeze the air out of my lungs.

However, I was deeply surprised when, instead of doing so, Sunny stepped over the telescope’s case, climbed on my lap, and placed her lips on my cheek in a loving kiss. A kiss that lasted more than what you would expect.

‘Oh my, that’s four Mississippi already.’

Pulling back with a burning blush, she sought to escape the embarrassment from the ponies’ collective ‘awww’ by burying her muzzle in my neck, her forelegs surrounding me in a warm hug.

“Thank you. Thank you so much.” I heard her whisper as her muzzle brushed against my exposed skin.

“You’re very welcome, Sunny,” I whispered back, tightening my grasp on her. However, I felt like being a bit mean. “Oh, my, gosh, guys, did you see that? Sunny gave me a kihehehess!” I began cheering like an excited filly, electing amused chuckles out of my friends and an annoyed nip from the now burning-from-embarrassment earth pony snuggled against my chest.

The party continued with a blast, with the ponies drinking it up as best as they could since it technically was the first amongst true friends, an occurrence as common as Derpy crashing on a roof back then, and now a concept almost foreign for the new generation of ponies. I laid back with a smile and rejoiced in seeing the ponies having such a great time.

That is until an acoustic guitar was forcibly shoved in my grasp, courtesy of a knowing Pipp.

“Oooff!” I struggled to get a grip on it before it could fall onto the floor. “Dammit, Pipp, that wasn't necessary!”

“Less complaining and more playing!” She demanded while resuming her seat beside her sister.

“What is going on?” Inquired Hitch.

“It seems our tall friend here knows how to play the guitar, and decided to remain silent about it.”

Izzy’s excitmentometer promptly exploded with the news, almost shoving herself in my lap. “YOU KNOW HOW TO PLAY THE GUITAR?!”

“I do,” I answered, shunning back from her invasion of my kinesphere.

“I KNOW HOW TO PLAY THE GUITAR TOO!” She informed me, her muzzle slowly inching with each word.

“That’s great Izzy.” I nervously offered.

“PLAY A SONG FOR US!”

I looked at the guitar and sighed. “Do I have to?” I never felt comfortable playing in front of others, but no amount of pleading would deter my friends’ desire to hear me play a tune.

“Fiiiine,” I gave in, taking a few minutes to tune the instrument to my liking, running through my mental lists of songs.

However, my gaze found Sunny’s, and an idea popped into my head. ‘Mmmmm, let’s see if the movies were right after all.’

Pipp’s excitement rose tenfold when she heard me clearing my throat, knowing full well it meant I was about to add some lyrics to the melody.

With a deep breath, I closed my eyes and began strumming my fingers over the cords with practiced ease.

“Imagine there's no heaven

It's easy if you try

No hell below us

Above us, only sky

Imagine aaall the ponies

Livin' for todaaay

Ah ah aaah.”

Opening my eyes to check my friends’ reactions, Sunny’s sparkling ones told me everything I needed to know about her opinion regarding my choice of lyrics. With a silent chuckle, I continued with the song.

“Imagine there's no countries

It isn't hard to do

Nothing to kill or die for

And no religion, too

Imagine aaall the ponies

Livin' life in peace

You-hoo ooh-ooh.”

I then turned to fully look at the mare seating beside me.

“You may saaay I'm a dreamer

But I'm not the only one

I hope someday you'll join us

And the wooorld will be as one.”

I decided to cut it a bit short, allowing the last note to hang in the air before ending my little show.

Pipp was the first to speak. “That’s the supposed ‘divorce-inducing’ singing voice you claimed to have?!”

I mock-sighed at Pipp, “I’m sorry it has to end like this, Pipp. I’ll have the divorce papers ready by tomorrow.” I jocked in fake sorrow, eliciting a tired eye roll from her.

For as much as I always denied it, everypony always told me I had a nice singing voice. Perhaps it was a bit of human preconception on my part. What can I say? I’m an introvert, and I’m sure many of you can empathize with that.

The rest of the ponies shared similar opinions, Izzy immediately asking (again, demanding) for us to play together, when I got my own guitar that is, since the one I was currently using happened to be hers.

Turning towards Sunny, I asked for her opinion. No words came from her muzzle. Instead, a teary laugh warmed my heart. She had loved it, a point for me.

Past midnight, everypony, and the baby dragon, had partied to the point of exhaustion and, a bit tipsy from all that cider, fell onto the nearest furniture which could pass as a bed, except Hitch who responsibly left a bit earlier with Sparky to ensure the baby drake got enough sleep, more for the sheriff’s security than Sparky’s convenience. A grumpy dragon stings alright, and a baby one even more.

With the array of colorful ponies passed out all over the living room, Izzy somehow ended up atop of Sunny, covering both their heads with her long mane, I took the chance and tip-toed back to my room, grabbing my purchase and taking it down into the kitchen. A single chocolate marbled vanilla muffin.

Searching around the drawers of the counter, I extracted the appropriate number of candles, only to realize my own stupidity since there was no way I could fit thirty candles on a muffin.

‘I mean, unless I turn it into a hedgehog muffin….nah’

Opting for using a single one instead, I stuck it in the top of the little treat and lit it up with a weak flame spell.

“Well, here we are again, Alex.” I began talking to myself. “Heh, I don’t even know if it should be thirty, seven hundred and some or whatever the equivalence on Earth’s years would be.”

Equestria’s calendar contained an impressive four hundred and twenty days spread across twelve months in a similar fashion to Earth’s Gregorian calendar, with days lasting twenty-six hours, fourteen hours of light and twelve of darkness in summer and vice versa in winter, all of it agreed between the species inhabiting the planet since having the sun and moon manually orbiting around you makes any kind of conception of time making use of both rather arbitrary.

This also meant that, in reality, I should be in my mid-thirties…

“But what does it matter to an Empyrean, uh?” I dejectedly mumbled. “No, we gotta go on and on until she gives us the kick, guides to our peoples, bringers of harmony…”

Memories clouded my sight, recalling the moments after discovering my curse, my desperate mind trying to make sense of what was happening to me, a raging Twilight demanding answers from the royal sisters.

“My task yet unfulfilled, no rest until I do so, whether of age, sickness or injury, forward… always forward…”

The candle was about to run out, ushering me to quickly make a wish before it did, but what was there for me to wish? I had everything I needed, and at the same time, I had nothing.

My thoughts drifted to my old friends, the burning desire to see them again, to smother them in hugs and tell them how sorry I was. To Twilight, to how much I missed her company, our long nerd talks well into the night, her closeness, the feeling of her fur against my skin…

The wall of cold rationality had kept the immeasurable pain of losing them from making me do something stupid that would endanger the mission. No matter of mental preparation nor cold, heartless resolve could protect me from the burning shame of leaving them behind, from the devastating fact that I wouldn’t be able to be with them again in this life. As much as I had attempted to fool myself, I knew better than anycreature how messy time travel was for the stability of the world, and how the simplest mistakes could trigger unimaged consequences, shattering the continuum being the most likely scenario.

I couldn’t risk the future I was fighting so hard to protect for my selfish desires. I had caused enough damage to this world already. I knew what I was getting myself into when we built that chamber, when we designed the stasis spell…

And yet, my lips spoke the wish, my selfish wish, and the candle’s flame was extinguished, plunging the room into darkness, only broken by the twinkle of the moon’s light in my tears.

Author's Note

In case you didn’t know, the Pippcast is an actual thing. It’s on Spotify.

Chapter 25- Learning curve.

The rattling of the train provided a tranquil atmosphere; the process of climbing atop Canterhorn Peak was now routine for me and my companion. The early morning rays provided enough illumination for the purple alicorn to comfortably go over her checklist and annotations regarding today’s initiation ceremony at the renewed Twilight’s School for Gifted Unicorns, inherited from her mentor after her takeover of the throne was confirmed. The School of Friendship, located in Ponyville, had now fallen into Starlight’s capable hooves. With us permanently moving up to Canterlot, Twilight was more than eager to take up Celestia’s role as Headmare of the ancient institution, while still dabbling in some teaching as her predecessor had done.

Thus, today was the start of this year’s school term, in which an inauguration ceremony would be held in the assembly hall, where new pupils and teachers would be introduced to each other under the new leadership of my marefriend. I couldn’t express with words how proud I was of her. However, since advanced magic was taught in this school, I wasn’t eligible to teach there as I was back in Ponyville. I surprised myself when I realized just how much I would miss the experience of teaching, but my obligations both as a Prince as well as the head of the ISIT Program would keep me inside the royal castle for unhealthy lengths of time; for that reason, we both decided to move permanently to Canterlot alongside my little brother Spike, who napped peacefully over the seat across from our own. Spike was not an early riser, which was quite ironic considering he was in charge of taking care of Twilight’s castle as he had with the library. The job of ‘faithful assistant’ never ended for the little dragon, but Spike was more than willing to lend a claw if that meant he could stay with us.

The weak morning rays, while providing just enough illumination, didn’t carry with them enough heat to warm the almost empty train car, and since Equestria lacked most technological conveniences like air-conditioning, Twilight and I were forced to snuggle together for warmth.

The nerdy alicorn tucked against my left side ran her eyes with practiced speed over the endless scroll which contained the itinerary for today’s ceremony, as well as all possible considerations and potential shortcomings and how to manage them, as well as her speech, which I had no heart to admit would bore the unsuspecting students to tears, as well as the list of said students that would accompany her in their first year…

Yeah, she was like that, and I loved her so much for it.

As she devoured the contents of the scroll for the umpteenth time, my hand tenderly petted her mane and behind her ears, electing small coos of pleasure from her now and then. She looked adorable, it kept her calm, and it kept me calm. Everycreature won.

“Ugh, I have to remember to talk with her after the ceremony…” Twilight mumbled to herself.

“Hmm?”

She took her eyes off the list of names. “Oh, nothing, just taking a mental note to speak to the last-minute addition.”

I was unaware of that development. “You’ve got a last-minute addition?”

“Mhm, it’s from when we were away on that diplomatic mission to Neighpon last month. Moon Dancer told me an interested unicorn had visited her, wishing to enroll for the fifth-year advanced classes.”

“Fifth-year advanced classes?” That sounded a bit strange; most students enrolling were young fillies and colts whose potential in magic called for a specialized education, both for bringing out their full potential as well as for their well-being and the well-being of those around them, since powerful magic and a lack of proper training tended to end very badly for all concerned.

However, the school was open to all interested unicorns, regardless of age, who were looking to improve their magic in any field they so desired, as long as they passed the entrance exam like everypony else. However, entering during the fifth year of advanced magical students was unheard of. That was only one year before graduating!

“That’s no foal enrolling.” I offered.

“Nope, a young mare, with great potential according to Moon’s letter. The committee approved a late entrance exam which she passed with flying colors, so she decided to make an exception and allowed her to enter. But I haven’t been able to get in contact with her since. I would have preferred an interview with her before the beginning of classes, but…”

I sneaked a kiss on the back of her ear, earning a loving smile adorned with a rosy blush from the alicorn snuggled against me. “You’ll have to introduce us later, then. If she was allowed to enter beyond the usual deadline, she must be very good.”

She reached with her head and planted one of her own on my lips. “Of course I will.”

Twilight’s attention returned to the list of names in front of her. “What’s her name, by the way?” I asked as I leaned back on my seat, thinking about taking a little nap myself until we arrived.

“Opaline Arcana.”

A week after Sunny’s birthday, I found myself starting my morning rounds across town after a stellar start to my day finding my office’s entrance blocked by numerous vines grown ‘accidentally’ by none other than Dahlia, who’d only sought to make a nice gesture and open the door for me.

How that turned into a bunch of overgrown vines blocking the doors I’ll never know, but as I was already running late I couldn’t lose time with that issue. I sighed, thinking of all the paperwork I’d be behind on because of all these delays.

‘I think we have a pair of pruning shears back at the brighthouse…’

Reviewing my mental inventory of all the stuff we’d stored down in the basement, I proceeded past the main square and into Mane Street northbound, where I came across a strange sight that brought my slow trot to a screeching halt.

My tall friend Alex stood near… I don’t know what to call it, but it was some kind of plant. A bunch of vines twisting and branching in resemblance to a small tree, not unlike the one blocking my office. He was carrying on his back that huge double-bladed sword he had brought back from his trip with the girls to Canterlot. In his hands were his two trusty gauntlets.

He stood arms crossed in front of the weird plant, in which a certain trio of fillies seemed to have ended up stuck in embarrassing positions.

Of course, I had to check it out.

“Girls… I don’t know whether to congratulate you or scold you.”

The trio of fillies averted their gazes at his serious tone. “Um… congratulations?” Spoke a hesitant Seashell.

Shaking his head in a firm “No”, the fillies' hopes dropped with a sorrowful ‘aww’.

“What’s going on here?”

Hearing my query, Alex turned his upper body and offered his fist. “Good morning, sheriff.” I took his offer and reached with my hoof in a hoof-bump. “I was on my way back from getting a bit of early morning training when these troublemakers wanted to show me their cool new powers and, well…”

He didn’t need to add anything else. As earth ponies got more and more comfortable with their new powers, more and more examples of this kind of situation had begun to spread all over the town.

Don’t get me wrong; I was ecstatic seeing my citizens learning to use their new magic, and the absolutely crazy things they’d managed to achieve with it, but…

“This is getting out of hoof…”

“Come on, Hitch, it’s not THAT bad.”

“Oh, last Tuesday’s little problem with Dahlia’s flowers wasn’t THAT bad?!”

A guilty smile grew on his lips at my raised eyebrow. “I mean… it gave us a lot of work back at the lab, so…”

“Because half the town ended up symptomatic whether they were actually allergic or not! Giant flowers burying the town in pollen, Alexander!”

“Fine, fine.” He gave in, making calming gestures with his hands which only served to unnerve me further. “It’s a completely new type of magic, with no available experts to analyze it and make any more sense of it than what we can. It’s going to have to be trial and error, Hitch.”

I wasn't prone to that approach at all in my work. “That ‘trial and error’ could get somepony injured, or worse!” I clamored to my human friend who had begun using his levitation to untangle and lower down the pouting fillies. “Some precautionary measures are in order!” I finished with a stomp.

Kneeling in front of them, Alex playfully tussled the fillies’ manes and ushered them to get a move on and to please be more careful. With a final triple ‘sorry’, the trio scampered off to cause mischief someplace else. “It’s your town, sheriff,” He began while incorporating, “I ain’t gonna to step in your way.” He dusted off his pants and fixed the holster on his back. “But, nothing good comes of bottling up magic, especially new magic like this. Ponies have gotta learn and get a grip on it. They need guidance, not restrictions.”

I remained firm. “Not until I’m one hundred percent completely sure it’s safe.”

With a shrug, he motions with his hand for us to continue our way uptown, “Again, it’s your town. But don’t come crying to me later.”

“Psh, have a little faith, I’ve been going over it for the better part of the week and…”

“IT’S EVERYPONY FOR THEMSELVES!!!”

That, and more panicked yelling brought our attention toward the road that led to the old Canterlogic factory, where a gigantic glimmerberry rolled down at an impressive speed, endangering the early-rising ponies who sped away from it like a Tartarus demon was on their tail. For a moment I thought I could see Sprout amongst the fleeing ponies, who had been found hiding in that very same factory after a month of searching. I would have passed a worse punishment for the destruction he caused to Sunny’s property, but with her mom on the town’s council, he had gotten away with a bunch of hours of community service instead.

Shaking my head to clear away the intruding thoughts, my training kicked in and I began evacuating any remaining ponies from the vicinity as Alex unholstered his sword and charged towards the approaching berry screaming something that sounded like ‘Leeeroy Jenkiiiins’, whatever that meant…

I managed to clear out the nearby ponies, and I started to gallop behind Alex to lend him a hoof. However, one last mare had tripped over the abandoned fruit baskets one of the fleeing ponies had left behind, falling dangerously close to the rampaging berry’s path.

Alex wasn’t as fast as a pony, not without that spell he knows to boost his speed, which he seemed to have forgotten to cast. I wasn't sure if he was going to make it in time. In a split-second decision, I switched targets and rushed toward the recovering mare, quickly overcoming my human friend who looked like he’d had the same idea as me.

I tried to help her back on her hooves and get her out of there as fast as I could, but it was too late. As the berry loomed over us, I tried to use my body as best I could to protect her. Clenching my teeth, I prepared for the impact… but it never came.

Alex had caught up to us, jumping over us with surprising agility, twisting his blades alongside his body in a circular motion, slicing the berry in two before it had the chance to hit us.

No harm came to any of us… but we ended up covered in glimmerberry juice, along with half the street.

As I released my grip on the mare and helped her back on her hooves, I heard Alex laughing hysterically, standing proud in the middle of the berry’s remains. As proud as you can be covered in purple slime, that is.

“What are you laughing at?” I asked, genially confused.

“Sorry, Hitch.” He answered after finishing his laughing fit. “This was just another Tuesday’s morning back in Ponyville. I can't help but miss it sometimes.” In his eyes shimmered a shade of longing.

“Ugh.” The feeling of berry juice sticking to my fur brought a new level of uncomfortableness. “Why didn’t you use your speed spell, uh, ‘acceleration’ or something? Could have gotten less dramatic.”

“I completely drained the gems with today’s training. They need to recharge to function again. Forcing ambient magic doesn’t work that well with most spells and… it kinda hurts.” He explained while rubbing the aforementioned gem with his thumb.

Remembering his explanation about why he ended up so roughed up every time he used too much magic, I understood his hesitation. It was a terrible price to pay, but as he had told us, while his body was not truly prepared to deal with magic at such levels, he was more than willing to pay the price.

“In that case, it’s fine. BUT!” I took a few steps closer to stand in front of him. “This is exactly what I was talking about before!”

He released a defeated sigh. “Fine, fine just, don’t overdo it, please?”

I offered a nod and, after checking that everypony was accounted for and safe, we decided it was best to look into the giant berry problem before another one had the chance to endanger the citizens again. My much-needed shower would have to wait even as I could feel the juice saturating places I didn’t even know I had.

Alex managed to shake a fair amount of junk out of his clothes, and most of whatever ended up over his exposed skin quickly fell away. I guessed this was one of those occasions where having fur was a disadvantage. That juice wasn’t going to come out soon, no matter how much I shook my body.

On our way up to the abandoned facility we were joined by a giggling Sunny, who had witnessed our heroic act and now made fun of our ‘injuries’, and Sprout, who was apparently to blame for the overgrown rampaging berry.

“Har Har, laugh all you want, Sunny, but fruit juice funk can stay in your mane for weeks!” I lamented, giving my body one final shake before desisting.

“Sorryyy, it’s just, this plant-powered magic is something special. Growing stuff at the stomp of a hoof? I still can’t believe it!”

“If you want to believe, you can look down the street! That mess ain’t hard to miss, I’d say!”

Sunny patted my side twice, a zone free of junk that is. “Come ooon, Hitch, you can't judge all earth pony magic on one little mishap.”

My flat look was all the answer I needed to express my opinion.

“Um, little mishaps?”

“…”

“Okay, medium-sized mishaps.”

“…”

“Fine! It’s been pretty chaotic these last few days, are you happy now?!” She gave in with forelegs raised in frustration and a little pout.

As it happened, I wasn’t happy. “Sorry, Sunny, but considering how earth pony magic seems to react, combined with the the total lack of control shown by some of the citizens, I’m afraid some restrictions are in order. This way we can prevent more, um… this,” I pointed towards the messed up street, “From happening again and putting ponies in danger.”

Without waiting for her rebuttal, I asked Sprout to repeat what he had been doing just before the accident.

“I swear, I-I don't know what happened! All I did was stomp like this.”

And so, he did, just innocently stomping on the stony path. And yet, his hooves shimmered with green energy, and at the same time, what once was a berry bush now started growing to impossible proportions, to the point where its stem threatened to crack the small wooden encirclement around it from its sheer width.

“Stop the stomping!” I commanded just moments before the weight of the berries became too great for them to remain attached to the stem, crushing us under even more berry junk. With a sheepish smile, Sprout stopped his stomping and remained as still as a stone.

“First, Maretime Bay was shaken up with magic, and I said nothing.”

“Uh, that's not true. You actually said a lot.”

I decided to ignore her and continued. “Then Discord came to turn everything upside down, and I said nothing.”

“I wouldn’t say you didn’t…”

My glare quickly shut her muzzle. “Now earth pony magic has suddenly appeared. NOW I’m saying something.” I stomped to emphasize my point. “I keep this place safe, and I say that it's now too dangerous without some rules.”

While our human friend had decided to remain out of the discussion, Sunny, her being how she is, didn’t share my concerns. “But if our magic can produce something this perfect, there might be no limit to what we can do. We can't cut off a whole planet of possibilities!” She exclaimed while grasping the overgrown berry hovering just a few centimeters over our head.

“More like a cosmos of calamities!”

“Ugh!” Sunny groaned with a tired roll of her eyes. “But how are the earth ponies gonna grow and learn and… learn to grow, with restrictions?!”

Just as I was going to answer, Sprout decided that now was an appropriate moment to loudly sneeze with a little hop, his magic somehow taking a cue from that gesture to activate again, enhancing the plant’s growth even more, to the point now where the wooden fence cracked, causing a sharp piece to fly out before being dexterously caught by Alex a moment before it could pierce one of Sunny’s eyes.

“Sprout. On your haunches. Now.” He commanded. Sprout did so immediately, making sure to look everywhere but us. It seemed Alex finally had decided to join our little debate.

“I’m with Hitch when it comes to setting a few new rules.”

Before Sunny and I could begin with our respective victory and protesting arguments, Alex’s raised hand signaled that he wasn’t finished. “What the earth ponies need is guidance, not strict prohibitions. Since none of us is more experienced than the next pony, it’ll have to be a community effort, with a designated space where ponies can learn how and when to call their magic, so it ceases to appear in random spots, which means that they can then have a designated space to learn how to modulate and reverse the effects of their magic.”

He pointed to the piece of fence grasped in his hand, making direct eye contact with me. “I leave that part to you since it’s your town. But as I said before: do NOT overdo it. Yes?”

I could work with that, so I returned a firm nod. “I’ll give it some thought.”

“Good.” He turned towards Sunny. “And I also leave that to you. I know it’s your kinda thing, so why don’t you put all that enthusiasm into this and work something out? Didn’t you tell me something about a community garden the other day?”

Sunny’s excited dance in place was all the answer we needed.

“Uh, you guys mind lending me a hoof? I’m not sure what to do with this.”

Sprout, still obediently sitting on his haunches, pointed towards the massive berry tree.

“Sorry, mein kleiner Fürer, I’m fresh out of magic, and I ain’t cutting that thing down. We’ll be stuck cleaning the factory’s windows for the rest of the month. I’m afraid you’ll have to learn how and fix it yourself.” Alex finished with a knock on Sprout’s hardhat.

Sprout, at the prospect of having to take responsibility, crossed his forelegs and pouted like a foal.

‘Ugh, why did I even consider making him a deputy in the first place?... Oh, yeah ‘cause his mom asked, that’s why.’

My mind was already going through possible solutions and measures when the sound of a protesting Alex broke my train of thought.

“Cut it out already!” The human whined as he batted away Sunny’s muzzle, who was dead set on licking whatever remnants of berry juice and pulp that still clung to his skin.

Rolling my eyes at the duo’s antics, I grabbed Alex’s sleeve and motioned for him to walk back towards town, as we headed for my home. “Come on, Alex. There’s work to do, and we are both in desperate need of a shower.”

“Whatever to get that slimy tongue of hers away from me. Yes! I’m looking at you!” He pointed an accusing finger towards an innocent-looking Sunny, who busied herself cleaning the remains of juice from her muzzle using that new hoof mirror of hers.

“As if you cared that much...” I teased as we exited the ramp and entered the juice-covered avenue.

“Oh, that’s how you wanna play, uh? I recommend you Zipp it, or else something might end up slipping…”

I spent the rest of the way muzzle shut and eyes forward.

“Grrrrr, this is pointless! What use do I have for an enchanted mirror if she won’t be fussing over it every minute of every hour of every day?! How am I supposed to learn anything?!”

I remained behind Opaline as she continued screaming at the projection from the magic pool, where only seconds earlier Sunny’s image had faded away as she had finished using the mirror.

We had barely been able to learn anything. To Opaline’s surprise, it seemed Sunny wasn’t as concerned with her image as she was, meaning that Sunny had barely used it outside of the Crystal Brighthouse since I slipped it into her smoothie cart.

This also meant that I was due for another infiltration mission as soon as she lost her patience, which wasn’t much to begin with.

“Curse that Twilight Sparkle for preventing me from stepping a hoof in that backwater town! If only I could find a way, I would have been done ages ago!”

With a nervous gulp, I tried to help her. “B-But Opaline, I never have any problem going back and forth. P-Perhaps…”

“SILENCE!” With a startled jump, I tried to escape her anger by fixing my gaze on the marble floor, ears pinned to my scalp. “Do I really have to explain it to you again, Misty?”

“N-N-No, Opaline. I under-”

“HOW AM I SUPPOSED TO STEP HOOF IN A PLACE I CAN’T SEE?!!”

My legs took a few involuntary steps back, shying away even more from her fury. “I’m sorry…”

“That’s the only reason I needed you in the first place, Misty.” She loomed over my shrunken form.

A painful jab pierced my heart at the sound of those words. She didn’t mean that. I knew deep inside she cared for me. She was just so mad, and I mean even more mad than usual. Since that hooman appeared in town she’d practically been crawling up the walls for some reason, and after meeting him I still couldn’t understand why. She was too busy yelling at me when I told her about our meeting for me to even begin to ask what happened between the two of them.

“Hmph.” She scoffed once she had calmed down, her sight returning to the projection of the coastal town. “This calls for a change of plans…”

My ears perked up. “A new plan?” I hesitantly asked.

“Since you’ve already screwed up and revealed yourself, there shouldn’t be any problems with you going about and learning whatever you can directly from the townsponies. As long as you keep. Your. Muzzle. Shut!”

I vigorously nodded, promising to never, ever, ever mess up again. “Good. Continue with your infiltration, get as much out of the citizens as you can, subtly. Better for us to get them used to you before we attempt to infiltrate further. The answers I need are inside that lighthouse, I just know it!”

Once again, she began trotting menacingly towards me. “And do not, I repeat, DO NOT, interact with Alexander. Don’t talk to him, don’t look at him, don’t even stand near him. If there’s anycreature who can sniff out our operation, it’s him. As far as he is concerned, you’re just another silly tourist trying to make sense of the town, understood?” She inquired with an ominous glow in her eyes.

“Y-Yes, Opaline.”

“…”

“Then what are you waiting for?! Go already!!”

I practically flew out of the throne room, leaving Opaline to continue mulling over her plan. As I exited the room, my ears caught her last words.

“Those crystals aren’t going to keep me away for long, Sparkle. Soon, I’ll finish what I started…”

I stood alongside Zipp and Pipp in the middle of the congregation of ponies, all of us called by Hitch for an important announcement over the main plaza.

‘Oh boy, please don’t overdo it, please don’t overdo it…’

“Citizens of Maretime Bay.” Hitch began with his speech from the stand inside the gazebo. “I know we started the day with a pretty disastrous, I-I mean, magical morning, ahem. After surveying the recent magical changes in Maretime Bay and the messy ways they've disrupted our daily lives, I have decided there will be... no use of earth pony magic at all!”

“Ugh!” I slapped my forehead in frustration. Alex had warned us not to strictly prohibit the use of earth pony magic. The ponies needed to learn how to control it, and my idea of a community garden where everypony could grow whatever they desired while learning would be the perfect training grounds.

And there went Hitch, doing exactly the opposite of what we discussed.

“That is… until I've collected enough data from all of you to form proper regulations and guidelines!”

The crowd began to murmur in protest. Like myself, they weren’t particularly happy with the prospect of earth pony magic being off-limits.

Sensing the growing unease, Hitch set out to correct it. “Now now, folks, I assure you this is all for your own safety. We don't know what's possible with earth pony magic yet. Until I've taken proper inventory of every flight, float...”

“Seriously…” I muttered under my breath.

“ ...flora, and fauna power, magic is off-limits! That is all.”

With a collective groan, the ponies dispersed to resume their daily activities. Feeling a scowl growing on my features, I followed the pegasi sisters to catch up with the retreating sheriff, who busied himself picking up whatever litter he passed nearby and throwing it into the nearest trash can as he made his way back to his office.

“I thought you said you weren't gonna do anything drastic!”

Hitch slowed his pace to allow us to catch up. “Nooo, I said I would think it over! And my thoughts are telling me it's bad and it's only gonna get worse if I don't step up!”

I quickened my step and stood in front of him. “But earth pony magic is powerful! You can’t expec-”

“Exactly!” He interrupted, walking past me. “What's gonna happen if we have more mishaps? It's my job to make sure everypony is safe!”

I wasn’t going to give up. “Earth ponies need to practice! Like t-the Pegasi and unicorns had to!”

“….Seriously, girls?” Instead of answering, Hitch's features morphed into a flat look. Following his line of sight, I was met with a well-known trio of Pippsqueaks hanging upside down, trapped within what looked like overgrown vines in the shape of a miniature tree.

The fillies giggled nervously. By Hitch’s reaction, this didn’t seem to be the first time this had happened.

“Um, it’s just uh… g-growing pains! I’m sure they’ll get it!” I launched myself in front of him to divert his attention from the trapped fillies.

“Guessing you ponies were too... ‘tied up’ for the town hall earlier, uh?” He ignored my distraction and went to help them get down from whatever kind of plant that was supposed to be. Once done, he placed a sticker with a ‘prohibited’ sign on each of the fillies’ forelegs. “Just a little reminder of the new rules.”

“Awww.” The three lamented in unison.

I could feel my left eye twitching. “You made stickers?”

“Sunny has a point, Hitch.” Zipp thankfully interceded before I could blow a fuse. “It's too early to know if Earth pony magic is anything to worry about. Have you talked with Alex about this?”

“Yes, I have, and he told me he trusted me to take care of the situation as I saw fit.” Hitch firmly answered.

“That’s not what he said!” I tried to protest.

“Look.” He ceased his march with a stomp. “I'm part of the reason earth pony magic is here now. What if I become the reason earth ponies get hurt? As sheriff, I can't let that happen!”

Seeing we weren’t going to be able to change his mind, the girls and I decided it was best if we accompanied him on his experiment runs, seeing as he was dead set on collecting evidence from the townsponies so he could build a more comprehensive vision of earth pony magic. We would try to make sure he didn't go too far… more than he already had.

Hitch decided to start with Dahlia, seeing she had had a bit of a problem with her flowers the previous day, culminating in burying half the town in pollen.

Zipp, her faithful phone in her hoof, hovered above us as we stood in front of the mare’s house, making sure to record everything for later study.

“This is a controlled magic experiment to collect data, Dahlia. Just muster your magic in a little burst.” She instructed the nervous-looking earth pony.

Closing her eyes in concentration, she gently pawed the ground, her hooves shimmering with green energy. I held my breath, praying she would be able to command her powers and do as instructed, if only to prove Hitch wrong.

However, to my dismay, instead of a few weeds growing, with a flash of magic, Dahlia found herself completely buried in flowers.

Sticking her head out of the flowery tomb, Dahlia spoke with a running nose. “Uhh, is now the time I mention I'm allergic to gardenias? Aaaachooo!” She finished with a potent sneeze which ended up covering an indignant Hitch in flower petals. Drawing a huge cross on his list, Hitch stuck another sticker on Dahlia's foreleg and proceeded out of her property with us dejectedly following in tow.

The rest of the morning was spent going back and forth, interviewing ponies and asking them for a little demonstration of their usage of magic, most of them if not all ending up in disaster. By the looks of it, it felt like any success the earth ponies might have achieved with their magic until that day had been completely accidental if their total lack of control over it was any indication.

All around ponies tried to prevent their magic from accidentally activating, their intense focus on the task achieving the opposite effect, since plants continued growing all over the town without control.

Sadly, Hitch was too engrossed with the list of measures and regulations in front of his muzzle, born from that morning’s observations, to realize what was happening around him. “See? I just need to plan and plot out a perfectly thought-out list of precautions all before you ponies can say ‘Presto’!’”

“Presto! Presto!” Zipp and I tried to gain his attention, unsuccessfully.

“Har Har, girls. I meant literally.” He muttered without taking his eyes off the list in front of him.

“No Hitch!” I tried again. “The ponies! They’re…”

“Safe and protected now that we've put a stop to this. You’ll see…”

“Magic is out of control again!” A panicking Jazz cried as she ran across the street running away from something we couldn’t glimpse at first, soon followed by other ponies who tried to escape from the growing plants that were slowly taking over the town.

Where our warnings had failed, the panicking ponies were enough to unstick Hitch’s muzzle from his notepad. “Why didn't you try to tell me?!”

Our collective answer was a flat look, but now wasn’t the time for that. We had to help the ponies!

“The magic’s bottling up. It’s trying to escape wherever it can!” Zipp exclaimed after taking a look around the mass of panicking ponies, whose magic manifested under their hooves even when they were only trying to run away.

“I was wrong.” Hitch spoke after a minute of silent contemplation. “I shouldn't have put a pause on earth pony magic.”

‘Oh, thank hoofness he finally sees reason...’

“I should've gone straight to the Unity Crystals! When ponies united and the Unity Crystals were created, everypony got their magic! Maybe if we remove the earth pony one...”

Whatever relieved thoughts were running through my mind were swiftly gobbled up by raising panic. “W-W-WHAT?!!”

Zipp landed in front of the sheriff, placing a hoof on his chest. “Woah woah, slow down, sheriff. That’s not what we meant!”

Hitch batted her hoof away. “You were right, Sunny! Earth pony magic is powerful! Too powerful! We have to stop it from the root. Come on!” Without waiting for an answer, he began speeding towards our home, where the Unity Crystals continued pouring their rainbow magic towards the sky.

With the pegasi sisters taking to the air, we rushed to catch up with Hitch. In between breaths, I tried to make him see reason. “Hitch, this is NOT the answer! Have you forgotten what happened the last time a crystal was removed?!”

He kept his sights straight forward. “Last time, Discord forcefully ripped one off and scattered the rest. This is different Sunny, without the crystal, earth pony magic will cease to run wild. I’ll leave the other two unbothered.”

“That’s not how it works!” I yelled as I struggled to keep up with his pace.

“And how do you know?” He rudely rebutted. “None of us know how it works, Sunny. But we have to try! It’s the only way to keep Maretime Bay safe!”

I lost my chance to answer as I was forced to dodge at the last second a vine that suddenly appeared from the ground, making me momentarily lose my focus and leaving me behind Hitch.

We were unable to catch him until he had already reached the brighthouse’s entrance, the sisters’ pleas falling on deaf ears as we rode the elevator up.

“Taking the Earth Pony Crystal out is the only way to keep everypony safe from this mayhem!”

“Slow your roll, Hitch! You don't know that!” Zipp pleaded as she stood between the crystals and the scowling sheriff.

“Removing a crystal is not like flipping a switch! This time, we could lose everything!” I desperately tried one last time.

But our pleading was not enough for him. “But if we don't try something, we could still lose everything!”

Forcefully shoving Zipp aside, Hitch crossed the remaining distance and raised his hoof towards the diamond-like crystal.

“Hitch, NO!”

But it was too late. Hitch’s hoof made contact with the Unity Crystal. Closing my eyes and clenching my teeth, I wanted for the inevitable but was only met by a profound silence.

A silence that was broken by a recently-arriving Izzy. “Guys, what’s going on? I saw you running like madponies from Hitch’s office!”

None of us answered, our eyes fixed on Hitch, who stood as still as a statue, his hoof still over the Earth Pony Crystal, but he made no attempt to pull it away from the others.

After a few tense moments, he took a few steps back, falling back on four. “What am I doing?”

A resounding sigh of relief permeated the room. Approaching the distraught-looking stallion, the girls and I approached him, with Zipp placing a reassuring hoof on his back.

“You’re right. This isn’t me.”

“It’s okay, Hitch,” Zipp reassured him as he leaned into her.

“I guess I'm just... so scared. Magic doesn't operate by any rules. Rules are what I know. What if I can't be the sheriff everypony needs now?”

“You'll always be a strong sheriff, Hitch. Because you care.” I stood at his side, placing another hoof on his back.

His head lowered in shame. “I'm so sorry, everypony. I just love Maretime Bay so much. But maybe having less magic isn't the answer…”

Zipp reached all the way over his back and pulled him into a side hug. “But we're gonna find out what the answer is, together, right ponies?”

A cacophony of cheers echoed through the room. With Hitch now back on his A game, it was time to properly tackle this issue.

However, just as we were about to head for the elevator, a warm feeling spread through my flanks. Confused, I stole a glance back at them, and my eyes grew to dinner plates at the sight of my cutie marks glowing with shimmering magic.

And it wasn’t just me, all of our cutie marks started glowing with a resounding hum. This wasn’t the first time this had happened however, since Zipp had caught this phenomenon happening to us now and then. Neither she nor Alex had been able to crack the reason why yet.

As the energy built up in our cutie marks, so did the energy in the Unity Crystals, drawing our sight towards the levitating gems which almost seemed to be vibrating.

“Guys? What is going o-”

Izzy couldn’t finish her question. In a flash, the energy buildup escalated tenfold, bathing the room in a purple aura that momentarily blinded us.

But when the bright spots left my aching eyes, a looming holographic figure stood projected in the middle of the room. A figure I’ve only known in books and stories, but which I recognized immediately.

*My dear ponies, if you’re seeing this….*

“What’s this crap supposed to be?” I angrily inquired, holding the sticker I took from the fidgeting mare in front of me.

“It was Hitch’s idea. He’s forbidden earth ponies from casting any magic before he can work out a better plan to regulate it.” Jazz Hooves answered while doing her hardest to remain in place, hooves glued to the stony floor lest they began casting magic again. She had managed to get them under control a moment ago, and was now resigned to staying put so they wouldn’t start again and contribute to the already messed-up town.

“Of course he did…” Just as I explicitly told him not to. New magic needs time to settle, the connections need to be cemented between ponies and the leylines they draw magic from. It’s always chaotic in the beginning, but strictly forbidding its use only provoked a bottling-up effect which prevented the flow of magic from stabilizing, building up into a feedback loop, which would only worsen the situation.

And that’s exactly what was happening. You ever try to bottle up magic? It’s going to come out, one way or another, whether you want it to or not. Good luck keeping your baby unicorn from releasing its first magic bursts, the difference you’ll get is the magic coming out ‘explosively’ instead of randomly.

Not that the baby would blow up, mind you. It’s complicated. Magic’s always complicated.

I crumpled the sticker into a ball and levitated it into the nearest bin. “I’m gonna go and talk to him, and possibly smack him upside down.” I tiredly shook my head. “You know where he might be?”

Jazz mulled for a second. “Um, I think I came across them while, um…. stretching my legs for a bit.”

“Outright panicking.” She wasn’t going to fool me.

With a little pout, she conceded. “You meanie… fine, I came across them while escaping the vines that kept growing under my hooves with every step I took, you happy?! I think they were heading for the brighthouse.” She flashed me an adorable glare.

I playfully poked her muzzle. “Thanks, Jazz. I’ll see what I can do. Stay put!”

Snorting at the weird feeling, Jazz’s glare intensified, but I was already on my way. Cooped up in the lab that morning after training, I had missed most of the plant disaster, only finding out what was going on when the nurses alerted us of a patient coming in after a nasty hit from, and I quote, ‘a tentacled monster who wanted to eat him.’

In truth, he had just been entangled in one of the many vines which seemed to be the predominant manifestation of earth pony magic as far as I could see. A bit creepy if you ask me. That’s what too much internet and too much tentacle-related media does to your rotting mind.

Taking in my chaotic surroundings, I set out on my way back home, carefully selecting the words for the scolding I was going to give Hitch. Just as my legs began carrying me toward my destination, my phone began buzzing in my pocket. Somepony was calling me.

“Ja?”

*Alex! Where are you?!*

“Oh, hey Sunny. Just got off work, I’m…”

*Great! We need you back home. Right! Now!*

“Yeah, I was on my way, why? Did something happen? Apart from the town falling apart, that is.”

*Hitch became desperate and tried to pull the Earth Pony Crystal out from the rest…*

“HE DID WHAT?!!” My scream made a few passersby jump in fright.

*N-No! He changed his mind at the last second. B-But then s-something happened, a-and…*

She sounded like she was on the brink of a panic attack. “Sunny, Sunny, remember what we talked about. Take a deeeep breath and the-”

*OurcutiemarksbeganglowingandthenaproyectionofTwilightSparkleappearedandgaveusamessage!*

“...”

*Alex?*

“…”

*A-Alex?!!*

“… I’m on my way.”

I hung up before giving her a chance to answer. My heart must have skipped a few beats when my brain registered the name of my ex-marefrend and the word ‘message’. I was left standing still in the middle of the road, my eyes reduced to a pair of pinpricks and my thoughts running a mile a minute.

“Excuse me, uh, sir.” One of the passersby approached me with concern. “Are you… feeling alright.”

“... Move.”

“E-Excuse me?”

My eyes met the mare’s with rising panic. “Move!”

And move she did, jumping aside with a yelp, freeing the road ahead.

“Accelero!”

With heightened speed, I crossed the distance to the brighthouse in a matter of minutes, discerning the waving figure of Izzy signaling me their location in the crystals’ room from the balcony.

Flying up to the girls’ shared bedroom, I silently cursed the slowness of the elevator. It was my turn to suffer a panic attack, it seemed.

Jumping out of the elevator before it could finish its journey up, I madly scanned the room in search of Twilight’s projection, but only found an empty room, flabbergasted ponies aside.

Swearing under my breath at having missed it, I crossed the room towards the group of fidgeting ponies, more precisely towards a certain pink-furred pegasi.

“Show me,” I demanded, harsher than I would have preferred.

“W-What?”

“I know you’ve recorded it, Pipp. I need to see it.”

My hunch was proven correct. The petite pegasus reached for her wing holster and passed me her phone.

Tearing it out of her hoof, I searched for the latest video in her gallery, walking all the way out to the balcony and taking a seat against the railing.

I had to hold back a sob when the image of Twilight appeared on the screen. I could have sworn she had grown a little bit more, her alicorn form was manifesting more and more each week back then, but it was hard to tell from the projection alone. She wasn’t wearing any royal regalia, not even her crown, as I knew she always preferred.

The ponies took positions around me, Sunny and Izzy pressing against my sides. I felt Sunny sliding her hoof under my shirt and placing it over my scar in a comforting gesture.

Pressing play, I fixed my gaze and strained my ears to absorb as much of the message as I could.

*My dear ponies, if you’re seeing this, it means the Unity Crystals have been reunited, and magic flows once again through ponyk- kzzzzzzzk*

For whatever reason, some fragments of the message had been corrupted, screeching static obscuring parts of the message as the projection of Twilight flickered and distorted.

*kzzzzzzzk -arth pony magic will be manifesting for the first time in the hi- kzzzzzzzzk -questria. Magic is alive. Always changing, growing stronger. There are forces out th- kzzzzzzzzzk -want to exploit it. Once, a pony tried to steal all the mag- kzzzzzzzzk -herself, and almost succeeded…*

‘Is she talking about Opaline… or Cozy perhaps? It can’t be Stygian if they’re a she. Daybreaker? Eris?... No, Eris ain’t a pony… Faust’s sake there’s so many it’s outright ridiculous!’

*-kzzzzzzzk -did all I could to prote- kzzzzzzzk -by summoning all my magical strength as well as- kzzzzzzzk -agic flow through them, safe and protected as long as they remain active- kzzzzzzzk.*

A particularly long period of static followed, allowing my brain a few seconds to realize she was indeed talking about Opaline’s failed attempt to overthrow her, as Discord had told me.

*kzzzzzzzk -but the spell is broken. You’re exposed to the world once again. You must watch out f- kzzzzzzzk -befo- kzzzzzzzzzzk -unsure at which moment he will appear, but if you can, find Alexa- kzzzzzzzzzk -‘ll help you against- kzzzzzzzk -and please, tell him I’m- kzzzzzzzzzzk -I’m with you.*

Then, as suddenly as it had appeared, the hologram of Twilight fizzled out one last time before disappearing completely, leaving behind a group of mares frustratingly demanding for it to reappear, as well as a haunting yet incomplete message.

The static combined with the fact that this was a recording of the original message made it a bit hard to understand some of the fragments. And yet, I wasn’t surprised the message had cut off at the most crucial moment. Knowing my luck, it was not going to be an easy task for me. It never had been, so why start now? No, I was meant to continue stumbling around blind. The warning of a threat was plainly evident, just as Harmony had expressed in her cryptic message.

But who or what is the threat we should be looking for? Gosh, I could think of a hundred different names of creatures who realistically might still be lurking around. And perhaps it was a new one entirely, or several!

‘She’s asking them to find me…. why? Why would she trust me after…’

“Alex?”

Sunny’s hesitant voice brought me back from my musings. Handing Pipp back her phone, I asked her to please send me the video so that I could check it over again. It was looking to be a loooong night for me.

Izzy’s light headbutt brought my attention to her concerned visage. Gently scratching behind her ears, I turned to the group, struggling with all my might not to crumble in front of them. I didn't want them to see me like this... any more than they already had.

“I…” I was about to say I was fine, but that was far from the truth. “I… need some time to process this… alone.”

Sunny tightened her grasp on me, letting me know that she did not agree with my request. Izzy mirrored the earth pony’s movements, effectively trapping me under their joined fluffiness. On any other day, I wouldn’t have minded a bit, but at that moment all I wanted to do was to look at that message over and over again, taking in as much of Twilight’s image as I could before I eventually broke down.

“Guys, please…” The panicked screams of the townsponies could be easily heard from the balcony. “You’ve got work to do down there before the town ends up overrun. I’ll join you as soon as I can but, please…”

With extreme reluctance, my two favorite mares let go of their embrace, but not before bathing me in comforting nuzzles which I made sure to reciprocate with a small peck behind their ears.

As the ponies slowly moved back towards the elevator, I addressed the sheriff one last time. “I don’t think I need to explain how this should be fixed.” I warned with a pointed look.

Hitch returned a firm nod. “I’ll take care of it. For real this time.”

“Good.”

And with that, the ponies went on their way back to town, flashing me one last worried look before disappearing down the elevator, leaving me with my butt firmly stuck on the balcony’s floor, tiredly looking at the three crystals from where the projection had emanated from.

“…So, they are protecting the magic, and not just from the ponies themselves… is this the change of plans Discord mentioned?”

I continued voicing theories to myself, trying to connect the message from what I had learned from the talk I had with Discord after our confrontation.

“The spell broke, so they’re exposed to the world once again… the world… meaning they were hidden from everycreature, not just whatever this threat is.”

It made sense considering Equestria, while one of the most powerful, wasn’t the only superpower in Equus. Westria was a land full of riches in many ways, riches many would be more than willing to exploit if the chance presented itself.

Celestia and Luna’s influence, and sheer raw power, had proven to be enough deterrent for the surrounding kingdoms to even consider attempting something drastic… for the most part, at least. A certain changeling queen thought she could get away with it.

We all know how that ended, both times.

“But without them, ponykind wouldn’t have had a chance against any of the attempts of being taken over, especially if they were too busy destroying themselves at the moment… a risky move, but I would have done the same.”

Discord told me the three cities suddenly reappeared one day a few years ago. Whether it was the spell running out of energy or a programmed occurrence, he had no way of knowing.

A small ding from my phone signaled a new message, from Pipp, who had now sent me the recording of that message. I had no strength or desire to go anywhere else, choosing instead to review it where I sat. Over and over, I studied the message, trying my hardest to milk it for all the data it was worth.

My vision blurred the longer I saw her image, to the point I ended up forgetting about the message entirely and I instead focused on her, her familiar voice soothing my ears, my fingers brushing the screen in a feeble attempt to feel her silky fur… Gosh, how much I missed her, how many things I wished I could say to her…

I sniffled in a feeble attempt to clear my nose. “What have we gotten ourselves into this time, Twilight…?”

Without warning, a full-body shudder brought me back from my stupor, a feeling I recognized as a big magical outburst. Years of living surrounded by it had allowed me to develop my own kind of ‘sixth sense’ for magical energies, which served for little more than sensing when something big magic-related was happening close by, nothing any other creature from Equus couldn’t do, but I would take what I could get.

“What was that?” I asked myself as I looked over the railing. Whatever happened seemed to have done so near the end of Mane Street close to the path that led to the abandoned Canterlogic facility.

‘I swear, if it's another glimmerberry rampage…’

It WAS another glimmerberry rampage in fact, since I found my friends covered head to tail in berry junk, just as Hitch and I were that very same morning, the ponies all laughing amongst themselves as they tried their best to clean their coats. Sparky, who Hitch must have collected from his home on his way back, tentatively gobbled up globs of juice dripping from the sheriff’s coat. A small crowd had gathered around the disaster area, all eyes strained towards a new addition that surely wasn’t there this morning.

An addition that chilled my blood and halted my steps before I could fully reach where my friends were gathered.

“I-Is that a….”

“Hey, over here!” Izzy sought to gain my attention, but my sight was set on the tree in front of me, grown straight from under the stony path enough to reach well over five meters, a height which usually took a tree of similar properties several years to achieve. But this wasn’t a normal tree. This kind only grew under very specific circumstances.

‘A Together Tree…’

This wasn’t about the color of its peculiar, shimmering flowers, the shape of its leaves, or the roughness of its bark. A tree such as this could take many different forms, and grow in a multitude of places.

No, it was the magic it radiated, and the presence residing within it that was my concern.

Traveler…

With panicked steps, I tried to put as much distance as I could from the magical tree, hands twitching and gauntlets humming with a restrained desire to burn it to a crisp.

My sudden reaction was enough for my friends to notice my growing unease. “Whoa there, big guy, everything okay?”

Zipp’s question didn’t register in my brain, as my feet continued carrying me backward step by step toward the interior of the town.

Sharing worried looks, the ponies hurried to catch up to me the moment my panicking brain decided it had had enough and thought better to find refuge within the narrow alleys bordering Mane Street.

I wandered aimlessly until reaching a small park near the border of the second level, where the town’s grounds met their end, and the surrounding meadows stretched until reaching the tree line of the nearby forest.

After having lost my trail inside the small labyrinth of side streets, Zipp caught sight of my sitting form under the shade of a tree after she’d decided it was best to take to the air while the rest continued on hoof shouting my name.

“Guys! Over here!”

Following her directions, the group of ponies stood in a half circle around me, concern painting their features, unsure of how to proceed. I pressed my back against the bark and fought to regain my breath. This was a safe tree; I didn’t feel her presence inside it. It was safe. It was safe….

‘There’s no safe place from her….’

It shall be our legacy, our duty...

“SHUT UP!!!”

Chapter 26- The Slave.

“SHUT UP!!!”

All of the ponies present jumped back in fright at his rather sudden outburst. We had chased him through the narrow alleys across the second level of the town and all the way to its outskirts, where a small park made use of the greenery stretching up to the forest line. It wasn’t until Zipp had descended for an aerial approach that we’d caught sight of him. With her sister following her in the air, Izzy, Hitch, and I followed the trail of her colorful wings until we managed to get a sight of his sitting form, taking refuge from whatever had scared him, under the shade of an imponent oak tree.

Almost tripping over my rear legs, the contents of my trusty saddlebag were dangerously close to spilling out, such was the lingering sense of near-panic from the earlier surprise.

My friends fared no better, some falling to their rumps as they scrambled to keep up with their own erratic pace, our shared concerns now threatening to cross over to bone-chilling anxiety. Not only was it about his screaming plea, asking for silence when nopony had even had the chance to speak in the first place, but it was also the way he covered his ears and clenched his teeth, trying desperately to keep something out.

“They won’t become your puppets! I won’t allow it, do you hear me?!”

His voice carried a demand to be heard while his mind attempted to escape the very same thing his dark murmurings were directed at. It was clear something was very wrong with my human friend.

With my heart aching and my mind a mess of apprehension, I recomposed myself as best I could and slowly approached him, apprehension slowing my steps as my eyes scrutinized him in search of any signs of another outburst.

But, there were none. Instead, he remained closed off to the world, continuing to whisper nonsense as his legs slowly rocked him back and forth against the trunk of the old tree. The sounds of numerous hoof steps were heard as they punctuated my friends’ attempts to approach the distraught human, each of them stepping back at the last minute as they contemplated the consequences of interference.

We’d collectively judged that he would likely remain unaware of us nearing him, since his attempts to keep whatever was tormenting away him didn’t lessen in the slightest; a silent debate was conducted among us, in which it was decided that I would be the one to try and bring him back to us.

As if trotting over shattered glass, I crossed the distance separating us from him, a small sense of relief spreading through my body as it entered the refreshing shade of the tree, a feeling which I promptly pushed away since the reason for our concern now sat only a breath away.

Unsure about how best to tackle the unfamiliar situation, I opted for the safest approach. The last thing I wanted to do was scare him more than he already was. An unwelcome smidge of fear buzzed within my thoughts, as I recalled some of his previous outbursts and how he tended to react under pressure. His behavior towards Discord still perturbed me, even after knowing the reasons behind his unfiltered hateful tirade. It was a side of him I never, ever wanted to witness again.

‘Don’t be stupid, Sunny. He would never hurt you like that. He likes you too much to ever consider doing that… I mean, likes me as… an… um…’ My heart and mind decided that this was totally an appropriate time to start disagreeing, as they had become accustomed todoing these past few weeks every time I found myself near him. ‘Ugh! This is NOT the time for that, Sunny! Focus!’

Pushing the distracting thoughts to the back of my mind, I parked my haunches and slowly reached out with my hoof, gently placing it over his unprotected chest.

With a sharp inhale that almost made me jump back again, his eyes soon reopened and locked with mine. Breathing hard and shaking lightly, I couldn’t remember ever seeing him so disturbed, not even after crossing paths with Discord for the first time, nor the first time we met at the old lighthouse. I had seen him cry, rage, and scream the injustices bested upon him to the four winds…

This was the first time I was witnessing a true sense of fear fogging his chocolate-brown eyes.

Quickly going over what I had just seen, and remembering Zipp’s in-depth explanation regarding what occurred in the crystal’s room the day of the Maretime Bay Day festival when she and Alex had started to investigate, I began to recognize what all this was about. And it only worsened my dread.

“She’s talking to you… isn’t she?”

My theory was proven true when a shimmer of surprise made its way through the anxiety running through his cowering form. “S-Sunny… I-I…”

“Shhh.”

I didn’t need to hear it. Instead, I gently moved my other hoof to the back of his head and slowly nudged it forward so it could meet mine, foreheads touching and his smaller nose brushing against my snout.

“Don’t listen to her. Focus on my voice, okay? I’m right here.”

I couldn't think of a better way to help him, a small part of me feared that he would shy away at my sudden proximity. But he didn't; instead, he pushed lightly against me, struggling to regain his composure. With our breaths mixing, I could feel his heart rate steadily descending with my hoof that had come down from his chest to rest over his scar. I'm not sure why, but I always felt the need to protect that place when we were close to each other.

“I-I… I can’t…” I heard him whimper.

“I know… I know.”

I didn’t know. I couldn’t ever imagine what he was going through. What had tormented him since the day he arrived only seemed to worsen the closer we got to understanding the truth behind all of what was happening. I couldn’t offer anything else to him.

Feeling he had at least calmed down a bit, the rest of the gang approached him too. Izzy trotted her way to my side, sitting as I had and taking one of his hands into her forehooves, grabbing it against her chest fluff as she held it against her with warm compassion.

After a few more seconds of caring reassurance, I felt him push back more forcefully from my embrace, as he rested his back against the tree with a deep exhale.

“Gosh, you guys must be thinking I’m a complete lunat-”

“Grrrrr.”

Suddenly, whatever compassion radiated from my unicorn friend was snuffed out by the menacing growl that escaped her muzzle, leaving me deeply puzzled by her abrupt change of demeanor.

“Come on Izzy, I wasn’t…”

“No.” Came her sharp rebuttal to whatever Alex’s excuse was building up to be.

“Fiiine.” He complied with a resigned sigh, seemingly enough for Izzy to lose her threatening attitude and resume her tender caressing of the hand she still held in her hooves.

“Was it Harmony speaking to you again?” Zipp, ever thirsty for answers, was the first to seek an explanation for his behavior.

“… Yes.” Came his hesitant reply, his gaze avoiding our searching eyes by fixating on the grassy ground below us.

“And… what did she want?” Zipp pushed on. “Was it about Twilight’s message?! Does she know something we do-”

“Zipp.” Hitch cut her. “I don’t think this is the best time for that.”

“B-But…!” She sought to reason with him, but Hitch’s stern glare was enough to deter her. “Fine.” she pouted, a frustrated sigh escaping her lips.

“She spoke to me of duty.” Alex surprisingly conceded, toying with some weeds between his fingers as he still wouldn’t raise his gaze from the ground. “Making my choices her own. Cause and consequence, sticking to the path…”

His words were gibberish to my ears. Whatever Harmony had meant, none of us could make any sense of it, and something in his tone told me Alex couldn’t either, at least not fully.

“Okay, um. This is getting way too creepy for me. So how about we do literally anything else besides this? Please?” Pipp, still as shaken as I was sure we all still felt, pleaded to the group.

“I wanna go to the beach,” Alex spoke after none of us offered any proposals. “I need a cold bath and a swim to get my thoughts in order.” Giving us a look over, he lightly smirked. “And you guys could use a bath too. You’re all covered head to tail in berry junk.”

With the sudden scare and with everything that was going on, we had all forgotten the fact that we were still drenched in berry juice and pulp after ‘successfully’ having prevented another berry rampage by growing that tree on its path of collision. A little unconventional, to be sure, but it still stopped anypony from getting hurt. Still, Sprout was so going to have it when I got my hooves on him…

Getting his hand back from Izzy’s grasp, he got up on his feet and stretched his long limbs and back. “Perhaps you should go retrieve your dragon, Hitch.” He said, finishing with a good full-body shake.

His eyes turned to pinpricks when the realization hit him. “SPARKY!!”

Just as with the berry juice coating our fur, we had forgotten about the baby dragon who was playing around the newly grown tree from the moment we’d sped out behind Alex.

Leaving a trail of uprooted grass and dirt, Hitch pumped his legs in a mad rush to retrieve his surrogate son before he could get into any trouble.

“... Well, at least he knows where to find us later.”

Kneeling in front of Izzy and me, he beckoned for us to approach him. Doing so, he pulled us in with a single-armed hug and surprised us by planting a tiny kiss behind our ears.

“I know I say this a lot… but, thank you, girls.” He gave us a thankful smile, lighting up an embarrassed blush on both our cheeks.

“Why do you do that?” Pipp asked from behind us.

“Hmm?”

“The kissing behind the ears. I see you doing it a lot. Kinda strange for a stallion.”

Alex answered with an amused laugh. “I may be half British, but I’m still one hundred percent Mediterranean.” He explained as if it was the most obvious thing in the world.

“… Huh?” Pipp mumbled to all the ponies present.

“And also, because you’re all very cute and I can’t help myself.” He added with a coy smile.

“Awww.” Izzy cooed and proceeded to smother him in nuzzles. I could only stay paralyzed as my blush deepened against my will.

‘He thinks I’m… cute?’

“You’re weird, you know that?” Zipp jabbed.

“Says the talking pony in front of me.” Alex rebuked as he tried to pry himself free from Izzy.

“That’s racist.”

“Says the literally white talking pony in front of me.”

“Why would that even matter?!” Inquired Zipp with a hint of bemused desperation.

“Ah, isn’t that the question, Zipp?” Our human friend cryptically offered, ending their little scuffle and ushering us back into the town.

With a full body shake, I got the hormonal rash under control and rejoined the group on our way to a relaxing afternoon at the beach, now calmer since the scare had practically worn off, leaving behind a profound sense of confusion. As I distracted myself by talking with the girls, it took me a while to notice the absence of the two-by-two-step pattern from Alex. A quick look around found him sneaking away towards Vanilla’s stand.

“Oh, no he is NOT!”

With angry stomps, I caught up to him before he’d had the time to reach Vanilla, and halted his progress with a leer.

“Seriously?”

His flat tone fell on deaf ears as I sat on my haunches in front of him, unmoving.

“Hey! Leave my customer alone!” The light yellow-furred earth pony from the shakes’ stand demanded, hence becoming the receiver of my hard look.

“This one is mine!” I sharply stated, grabbing the sleeve of his jacket and practically dragging him away from the competence. Perhaps there’s a slight chance I had allowed my scrambled feelings to act over my logic.

Very little, almost infinitesimal chance….

“Wow, Sunny, talk about ensuring customer fealty…”

An emergency stop to the smoothie stand was in order. I almost felt bad for my coworker Freshy, who I practically dragged out from behind the counter. I was going to make him the best smoothie he had ever tasted, and he was going to love it!

I don’t think I had ever whipped up a smoothie with so much angry determination driving me.

Not a minute later, it was done. Strawberry banana, which I knew for a fact was his favorite. Withering under my intense leer, he took the cup and tentatively sipped from the straw.

“Mmm, very good Sunny, as always.” He congratulated me, not that my glare left any room for anything else but praise.

“And you’d better remember it!”

Having asserted the superiority of my smoothies once again, to my human friend’s dismay and the rest of the gang’s amusement, we set out towards our original destination without further interruption.

In the waters of Horseshoe Bay, Alex indulged in a refreshing seawater bath, opting to swim the entire length of the bay, while being accompanied by Zipp, who mirrored his course in the air. The rest of us rested quietly on the sand.

It took him surprisingly little time, although a closer look made it clear his body was more suited for swimming than a pony’s body was. And the lack of fur prevented him from looking like a drowned rat whenever he would return from a swim.

Pipp, lost in her phone as she was accustomed to doing, leisurely allowed the late sun rays to tan her body, although how would any of us notice said tan under her fur was a mystery to me. Hitch, having found Sparky where we had left him, now fell victim to the little dragon’s revenge for being left behind, as he was now being systematically buried under repeated spadefuls of sand, to the young reptile’s great amusement. I had to give it to him, not once did he protest. He was such a great dragon dad, even if he didn’t believe it himself.

Izzy and I lay on our stomachs, both of us content just watching Alex enjoying his swim as Zipp gifted us with a few daring tricks of her own over the bay.

Finishing his lap around the coast, Alex decided he’d had enough for the moment and proceeded to leave the refreshing waters, shaking his body to free himself from as much of the clinging salty water as he could before reaching the shore.

With only his boxers covering his… privates, he headed for our location, where the rest of his clothes were carefully tucked away so they didn’t catch too much sand. The sight of his semi-naked form, a rare sight since he spent most if not all the time fully clothed, brought my unicorn friend and I to stand at attention as he covered the short distance towards our resting place.

“Nice….” I heard Izzy mutter with a naughty grin, no doubt enjoying the view as much as I was, although I preferred to keep such heated opinions to myself.

“See something you like, Izzy?” Alex teasingly inquired, noticing the unicorn’s sultry look.

“I sure do.” She answered with the same amount of coyness, licking her muzzle in a very unmarelike manner which threw our friend into a laughing fit, and caused me to me avert my gaze in embarrassment.

‘Celestia’s mane, Izzy! At least I try to be subtle.’

Since this had turned out to be an impromptu visit to the beach, none of us had bought any of the usual necessities, not least of which were some towels.

Using his shirt to dry his upper body as best he could, Alex took a seat right by our side. Izzy, quick as lighting, took advantage and shifted her pose, moving to lie on her back between his legs, resting her head and withers against his belly. Not protesting, Alex amused himself playing with her bellowing mane and ears, forcing me to consciously refrain from jealously twitching my tail.

Gosh, how much I wished I had a mane like hers. Mine was always such a disaster that I had to keep it under control in a ponytail. Alex had assured me it looked great on me when I asked, but still…

Not giving it further thought, I too scooted closer to the snuggling pair, remaining on my belly as we three admired the sunset colors slowly but surely draining from the sky as the sun set behind the mountains far away inland.

“Hey, Izzy,” Alex called in a low tone fitting for the relaxing atmosphere.

“Hmm?”

“Why do you hate it so much when I say bad things about myself? You know I don’t always mean it.”

Izzy’s posture sagged a bit as her mood fell into one of silent contemplation. After a few moments of hesitation, she began to explain.

“Well… you know that I was always the weirdo growing up in Bridlewood. When I was a filly I didn't really give it much thought. I was happy to give life to whatever crazy ideas ran through my head with whatever was available around me, and I was more than eager to show them to everypony willing. That’s how I got my cutie mark, actually.”

‘Oh, so that’s how she got her cutie mark…’ I mumbled to myself. That wasn’t a story we’d traded yet, which kinda bothered me since it was a fairly usual thing to reveal between friends.

“But,” She continued. “As I grew up, I began to truly realize how much of an oddball I truly was. How everypony would give me a wide berth or outright avoid me, lest they ended up ‘jinxed’ or something worse.” She lamented, snuggling further into Alex’s stomach. “How all my childhood friends started to avoid me, not wanting to mingle with the ‘weirdo of the Amethyst Sector’.”

Alex stopped his petting and grabbed her under her forelegs, pushing her up a bit and hugging her tightly against his body. “I’m so sorry, Izzy. You didn’t deserve that.”

“That’s the thing,” She continued. “I wasn’t sure if I deserved it or not. I realized I was just so different from the rest of them, how all the other unicorns in Bridlewood would treat me like I was sick or something…” A few silent seconds passed, her now vision clouded with painful memories. “I ... began to blame myself, thinking things I shouldn’t have been thinking. I became very close to just… losing myself, to start acting like all expected me to. Taciturn, moody, and without any sparkle at all.”

“Oh, Izzy…” I couldn’t stand it anymore, quickly moving towards the cuddling pair and tenderly nuzzling her under her head, resting it there seeking to provide as much comfort as I could. I felt Izzy returning the gesture with a thankful smile.

“But you didn’t.” Alex voiced.

Invigorated, Izzy continued with her story. “Nope. I was very, very close to doing that. But then, one day, a little filly came to me while I was trying to sell my latest creations at the market. Her name was Violette Rainbow. She was very interested in my crafts and wanted to know everything there was to know about how to create them.”

I saw a tiny smile break through her somberness. “She has brown fur with white spots all over her.”

“Vitiligo?”

“Mhm.” Izzy confirmed Alex’s assumption.

“Mmm, that’s a fairly rare trait to possess. One in two thousand or so if I remember correctly.”

“It was enough for the other foals to pick on her, and she was having a rough time … just like I had.” Izzy lamented, eliciting a comforting ear rub from the human. “She was very adamant about wanting to learn from me, regardless of what other ponies thought about me or my craft. It took some bribing with her parents, but soon I adopted her as my ‘protegé’, so to speak.”

“She did good?” I wondered.

“Oh, she did splendidly!” Izzy answered excitedly. “Without magic, we had to use our hooves to get things done, and she was almost as talented as I was at her age.” A fond smile grew on her muzzle. “She… reminded me why I loved doing what I do best. She showed me that there was nothing bad in being different. We’re all ponies, we’re all different, and our sparkle should shine brighter for that, each in their own way!”

Izzy’s energetic statement brought a chuckle from our human friend. “You said it, girl.” He rewarded Izzy with a few more scratches under her chin, which the unicorn drank up without protest.

I felt Izzy’s muzzle gently brushing against my mane. “And then, I remembered that note I had found when I was a filly. The one you and your dad sent.”

A bittersweet pang pierced my heart at the memories of my father. ‘Oh, dad…’

“And then, a I had huge epiphany!” Her bold claim was accompanied by her forelegs rising into the air. “If there wasn’t anything wrong in being different, why would it be any different for the earth ponies in Maretime Bay? Like, all my life I’d been told that they were our enemies and that I should never ever, ever, ever even consider the possibility of going near that place.”

Her orchid eyes met mine under the early night sky. “Well, I believed that was a load of nonsense, and the prospect of meeting new friends that would be different like I was egged me on and…. well, you guys know the rest.” She finished with a knowing grin which I was more than happy to reciprocate. Yeah, that had been an adventure alright.

“You’ll have to introduce us when I visit Bridlewood.”

Izzy was more than eager to comply with Alex’s request. “Oh, I have so much to show you there! You’re going to love it!”

After Izzy’s excited approval, a more serious atmosphere descended over us again. “That’s why I don’t like it when you say bad things about yourself.” My unicorn friend revealed. “I know how it is, and I know where that road leads… I don’t want you to go down that road…”

Without hesitation, Alex pulled Izzy closer to him and planted a loving kiss atop her head. “Then, I promise I’ll try not to do it anymore, okay?”

Izzy’s bright smile was all the answer he needed. After sharing one last nuzzle, a comfortable silence fell over the group. As Pipp continued looking over her feed for what must have been the hundredth time, and Hitch building sandcastles with a now not-so-mad Sparky, the three of us remained close together as the first stars made their shy appearance over the darkening sky.

Finding Izzy’s body heat and fuzzy fur way too comfortable to resist, I remained still, resting my head against her chest fluff, hearing her beating heart as well as feeling it against my cheek. She didn’t change her position either, remaining tucked against Alex’s belly as her forelegs surrounded me in a comforting hug. No one dared to move, our little group finding our current arrangements too comfortable to end it, especially since the chilling breeze blowing from the sea only got colder and colder with the coming of the night. I felt a bit bad making distinctions between our friends, but the fact Izzy, Alex, and I had grown closer than anypony else was undeniable… not that I didn’t love all my friends, mind you.

After pulling out of an especially long loop, Zipp decided she’d had enough for today and flew towards us in a calm descent, making for a smooth landing so as not to not disturb too much sand.

“What do you guys think? I believe it came out pretty good!” Zipp sought our opinion regarding her little show.

“You’d make Rainbow Dash proud, Zipp.” Alex sincerely offered.

Zipp, knowing full well who he was talking about, could only scratch the back of her head with an embarrassed blush.

“Come on….”

Chuckling at our friend’s reaction to a little praise, Izzy and I offered our own, sharing Alex’s opinion of how a spectacular show it had been. She was really talented in the air, especially considering it had been barely a month and a half since pegasi had regained their ability to fly. Although it’s also true that she’d spent many an hour researching flight in her little secret hideout back at Zephyr Height’s abandoned station.

“Hey, um…· Zipp began after taking a seat near us, focusing her attention on Alex. “Seeing as you seem to be feeling better now… miiiind answering a few more questions about Twilight’s message?” Zipp tried with a not-so-convincing toothy smile.

A bit bothered by her rashness, I set to lecture her about her lack of tact, since it was still a bit raw, and mostly because it would ruin the moment between the three of us. But, Alex beat me to it.

“Gosh, always the inquisitive one, aren’t you, detective?” He playfully noted. “Fine, ask away.”

With a victory pump of her foreleg, Zipp scooched closer to our pony and human pile and began her questioning, thankfully not finding our current arrangements weird.

“Great, so…” She cleared her throat. “Did you find anything else that we might have missed? The glitching was awful and it sure seems like some important things have been lost!”

Alex took a few moments to mull over his answer. “Well… most of it I already knew from my talk with Discord. However, I’m starting to see a different reason, which would explain the Unity Crystals’ existence, apart from the one you already know.”

“And that is?” Zipp asked, inching closer as the rest of the ponies, catching up to the ongoing conversation, rejoined the group, sitting around us and listening attentively.

“Twilight speaks about gathering all her strength as well as something else to force the flow of magic through them, safe and protected. I believe that something else to be Discord’s chaos magic as we, well, Spike in truth discovered back then, would work perfectly to bend the leylines in a way to fit the crystals’ purpose of severing the connection to the ponies, something that theoretically broke a handful of elemental rules which Discord’s magic doesn’t give a damn about. But by doing so, it also ensures that nocreature could… let’s say, ‘access’ it again… its power, I mean. The crystals would stand in the middle of anycreature seeking to steal the magic, which is kinda a recurring theme in Equestrian history.”

I chastised myself for having left my notebook back home, as I would very much have preferred to jot all of this down. Thankfully, Zipp’s phone has been recording since the very first word Alex had uttered. “She also speaks of a broken spell, making us ‘exposed to the world’, or something, once again.”

“Mhm,” Alex affirmed. “Discord said something similar, about how when he returned from his failed search in those parallel dimensions, he found an Equestria completely devoid of ponies. As if they’d been completely wiped out without a trace. And how that changed a few years ago, when the three settlements reappeared out of the blue.” A contemplative look adorned his face. “That means some kind of cloaking spell had been cast upon the crystals, or perhaps into the land itself, hiding your existence for these past few centuries.”

“But, why?” I asked, intrigued by such a notion.

“Well, as I repeatedly warned Twilight, a magicless Equestria would render its population extremely vulnerable. That, summed with the fact that the three tribes wanted nothing to do with each other, well… let’s say that if one of the other superpowers sought to attempt an invasion, or something similar, they would’ve found it pathetically easy to overrun us. Celestia and Luna had stepped down from the throne, dragging their influence with them too, if you know what I mean.”

A pale shadow fell upon us, understanding the implications behind his reasoning. “Oh, ponyfeathers…” Muttered Zipp.

“Yeah, I too believe it was better to keep the remains of pony society hidden, in hopes that it would rebuild itself eventually. The spell wasn’t attached to the crystals reuniting, it would have broken at that precise moment anyway. It would have kept you hidden for centuries, no matter whether ponies became friends again after ten years, a hundred, or even centuries later. Says a lot about how much we trusted the other countries, allied or otherwise…” He finished with a somber chuckle.

“But, you told us you became friends with the other creatures after that summit you attended, right?” Zipp asked, referring to the short story Alex told us back in Canterlot about the Convocation of the Creatures.

“Allies, Zipp, don’t be mistaken.” Alex corrected the white pegasus. “The pact we established was one of cooperation, common interests, and mutual goals. I mean, the reformed changelings, the crystal ponies, the hippogriffs, the yaks… those I can say for sure are friends with Equestria and I can’t see them attempting anything drastic in the face of a power vacuum. However, the griffons, dragons, minotaurs, Abyssinians, storm creatures, the moose… who knows. It wouldn’t be the first time they tried something.”

“Was it really like that? That doesn’t sound like true friendship between species.”

“What can I say, Sunny? There’s always been a lot of bad blood between them. We offered a fresh start, a new chance for the betterment of us all, especially after how the Storm King’s invasion turned the southern territories upside down before reaching Equestria proper. I offered them the chance; some took it, others didn’t. As long as there was something to profit from, they would respect and support the alliance. But what strength is there in an alliance that promises friendship and unity for all, if the very same ponies who started it can’t even uphold it between themselves?”

His words rang true. Since the fall had begun by ponies’ own hooves, the rest of the world would have thought it better to cut loose from the sinking boat, leaving the scene exactly as it was, if not worse…

“Okay, there’s that.” Zipp stopped the recording and tagged it properly before starting a new one. “And what about that pony Twilight mentioned? The one who tried to steal all the magic?”

Alex’s features visibly darkened. “Again, Zipp; stealing magic is what three-quarters of Equestria’s villains have sought to attempt to date. I can give you a dozen names and a dozen different reasons for each of them to have attempted it. But, just as with the rest, her message corroborates Discord’s words in that regard…”

He seemed hesitant to continue, an issue which Izzy fixed with a reassuring nuzzle, her position changing alongside mine so we could look at him straight into his somber eyes.

“Who was he and Twilight talking about?” Asked Hitch, having freed himself from Sparky’s punishment.

With a nervous gulp, Alex continued. “They’re talking about a unicorn mare by the name of Opaline Arcana. She was one of Twilight’s most promising students until she abandoned her studies. Sometime later, we discovered that she’d been the lead instigator during the first breaches of order that began arising throughout the country. Poisoning ponies’ minds with her twisted logic, deepening the wounds that had already begun manifesting… accelerating the fall to the point of leaving us without any practical options.”

His eyes fogged as the memories of that time flashed in front of him. All of us gasped at his revelation, completely enthralled by his tale. My dad’s notes had failed to mention such an occurrence.

“So… she’s the one responsible for the ponies not being friends until now?” Asked Izzy.

Alex shook his head. “No. Or at least, she’s not directly responsible. I’ve told you already how things were, she just… worsened things faster than we could patch them. She went from town to town, preaching her insane logic, manipulating the facts of recent events, or even just outright lying to her congregations. She would address each of the three tribes separately, accusing the other races of the problems that just so happened to be caused by her current target. She promoted an air of mistrust and a sense of self-sufficient individuality which was only reinforced by what my technology could offer. It escalated to bursting point. You know…. the ‘Incident’.” he said, using a strange hand motion to punctuate the word where he bent two fingers on each hand as he said the word ‘Incident’.

I got a lump in my throat remembering that moment in the cave, where Alex revealed to us what was surely the true beginning of the fall of Equestria, where the trust between the three races was irrevocably broken.

“But… how was she able to almost succeed in stealing all the magic? She sounds like a charlatan alright, but she would have to go against Twilight of all ponies!”

Alex remained pensive for a moment, processing Zipp’s question. “What I am about to tell you happened after I had entered stasis, so I only have Discord’s as a reference point. He claims that… somehow, and I can’t really wrap my head around this, Opaline gained alicornhood, granting her the power to challenge Twilight before she could activate the crystals, rendering all of them completely magicless.”

The mention of alicornhood piqued my interest, my ears standing to attention. The inevitable question escaped my lips. “L-Like me?”

“No, Sunny. Just as what happened with Cozy Glow, her wings and horn were genuine. No offense, but to be able to stand against an alicorn like Twilight, you need WAY more than what you currently have.”

I took no offense at his words. He was right, of course; I wasn’t on the same level as a true alicorn. After all, I was still struggling to summon my wings and horn at will to even consider stepping up my game to match theirs, if that was even feasible in the first place.

“How is that even possible?” A flabbergasted Pipp wondered.

“I don’t know Pipp. I sincerely don’t know.” He dejectedly offered. “Celestia and Luna were the last true-born alicorns since the fall of Skyros. An ascension to alicornhood only happens under VERY strict circumstances. As far as I know, only to Cadance and Twilight was the honor bestowed… heh, honor…”

My head tilted in confusion at his last statement, spoken barely above a whisper. However, Zipp wasn’t finished with her questioning.

“Do you think this ‘Opaline’ is the one Twilight’s warning us about? And perhaps Harmony too?”

Just as he had before, a few seconds passed before he could come up with an answer. “I asked Discord that very same question, and he told me he would have noticed an alicorn lurking over the land. That kind of presence is not easily hidden to someone like him, and Opaline wasn’t what you would call ‘discrete’, although…”

He seemed like he was about to postulate another possibility, but the words died in his mouth. “… No. Even then, it’s just not possible.”

“Why not?” Zipp pushed.

“It’s been over seven hundred years, Zipp. It’s just not possible.”

“But she’s an alicorn! Aren’t they supposed to be immortal or something?”

A chilling dread washed over my whole form. ‘Does that mean I’m also…’

“No, Zipp, it doesn’t work like that. They’re long-lived, but they’re not immortal. That’s… another thing…”

Alex’s hesitation on the subject was evident, but the ever-inquisitive Zipp continued pushing despite his reluctance. “What other thing?! If there’s a chance she could…”

“No Zipp, there isn’t!” Alex sharply cut her, now sounding more annoyed with each question.

But Zipp wasn’t going to back down, to our dismay. “How could you possibly know that?!”

“Because she’s not an Empyrean, Zipp!! She couldn’t…” His outburst was short-lived, since the words that escaped his lips soon registered in his mind. “… Faust, dammit.”

The same question ran in all our minds. “Empyrean? What’s that supposed to be?” Pipp was the one to voice it.

“Nothing.” Came his brief answer, but the uneasiness of his voice betrayed his feelings.

“Oh, it sounds like something to me!” Zipp insisted, her focus now on the mysterious term slipped from Alex’s heated faustian slip.

Practically sensing his reluctance from where I was seated, I thought it was best to at least tone it down, else he would start getting defensive, which wouldn’t get us anywhere. “Zipp, perhaps you should back off a bit… please?. If he’s not comfortable with…”

“No, Sunny.” Zipp stood firm. “This could be important information. I thought the time of hiding stuff was beyond us. If it’s even remotely related to the threat we’re currently facing, we have to know.”

Zipp’s determination fought against Alex’s reluctance, the former casting a strong glare toward the latter, who twiddled with his thumbs and bit his lower lip. The rest of us stood aside, unsure of how to proceed. Zipp was right, any piece of information could only be beneficial for our cause, but she was coming on a bit too strong, as she had done so several times in the past. I could admire her determination, but that normally got her acting insensitively towards whoever was in her scope.

Fortunately, Zipp herself seemed to realize her choice of approach only returned detrimental results. Her features softened, and slowly approached the distraught human who still hadn’t uttered a word.

“I’m sorry, Alex.” She apologized, placing a hoof over his left arm. “I shouldn’t have come at you so hard on you, but, please… we’re completely in the dark here. That message is our only solid lead, and you know more about it than all of us combined…. please?”

“………. I am.”

We had to double-check with each other since his words were spoken in a volume so low that it almost seemed like we had imagined them. “What?” Asked Hitch.

“I am an Empyrean.” He repeated, this time loud enough for us to register.

“You are?” Came Zipp’s turn.

Up and down he moved his head in silent confirmation, his eyes lost in a far-away place as his arms moved to hug his legs against his chest.

“Um, is that somehow related to you being a prince or something?” Now Pipp.

“Yes.” Came his brief answer. “And no.”

“Huh?” Izzy tilted her head in confusion.

He wetted his lips as he searched for an explanation. “Empyreans are guides, leaders, the maximum exponential of a species’ potential, the epitome of what a race should aspire to be.”

No mention of said individuals came to mind. “I don’t understand.”

His lost eyes found mine. “Celestia and Luna were Empyreans, leaders of all ponykind. Chrysalis was an Empyrean for the Changelings before being overthrown by Thorax. Queen Novo of the Hippogriffs. King Aspen of the Deer. King Abyss and Queen Persia of the Abyssinians, Queen Arlena of the Sea Ponies, Dragon Lord Ember of the Dragons, Queen Rain Shine of the Kirin, Queen Lorri of the Harpies…”

My eyes widened at the sound of those names, legends amongst the lost past of Ancient Equestria.

“Those sound like the leaders of some of the different races of Equus. Is that what being an Empyrean is about? Like, a title?”

Once again, Alex shook his head at Zipp’s question. “Becoming an Empyrean is as much a gift as it is a curse. It’s not about the amount of power you possess or the titles you might hold. It’s about possessing the best attributes to ensure your own species’ prosperity, acting as a guide through the ages, immortals until the time comes for another to step up.”

His features darkened with the following statement. “I’m sure you can guess who grants such ‘privilege’.”

His words dripped venom, enough indicative for us to understand who he was referring to. “Harmony…” I muttered to myself.

“An Empyrean won’t be touched by age, but that doesn’t mean an Empyrean cannot die from other causes.” Alex continued. “King Ulstar of the Hippogriffs died of a strange illness centuries ago, leaving Novo widowed and Skystar fatherless. King Grover of the Griffons was murdered by the seven noble families of Griffonstone after failing to protect the Idol of Boreas from the Arimaspi. High Chieftain Afridi died in battle when the Zebrican Empire was shattered into the Thirteen Tribes. And there’re many races not led by an Empyrean, like the diamond dogs, the kelpies, the yaks, the minotaurs, the cattle, the storm creatures, the kobolds, the thestrals…”

Silence fell over the beach as we digested his words, the last of the sun’s rays casting a fading glow over his sitting form. None of us said a word, the weight of his story-telling rendering us speechless.

“And then, there’s me, ascended after Harmony brought me back to life, immortal in every sense of the word since I literally cannot die.” His sight rose from his knees to meet mine. “When I told you she decides when my goal is complete and when I get to rest, did you think I was speaking figuratively?”

I didn’t know what to say, the memory of that night was still fresh in my mind. “I-I…” I could only stammer helplessly.

“Sunny, I’m currently twenty-nine years old. Equus years last for four hundred and twenty days. That’s fifty-five more days than one of Earth’s years, which means in truth I’m biologically way into my thirties.”

He rubbed his arm anxiously. “And yet, I haven’t aged a day since I was brought back from the dead, and I won’t until Harmony releases me. After I’ve fulfilled whatever great task she has in mind for me.”

He turned to look at all of us. “Guys, why do you think I’ve come here? As in, why did I choose to travel a thousand years into the future?”

None of us answered at first, his true motives were still a bit obtuse to us. He had claimed something about Twilight not being able to interfere with his plan.

“In this current age, Twilight wouldn’t interfere with whatever you wanted to do with the crystals, right?” Zipp mirrored my exact thoughts.

“Correct. And why did I enter in stasis to do so?”

For that question, none of us had the answer. After waiting for a few moments, Alex resumed his explanation. “Don’t you get it? I could’ve just waited sitting still. I wouldn’t have even needed food and water since she would just bring me back over and over again. Twilight wasn’t ascended as an Empyrean. I was. I entered stasis because if I had to wait for a thousand years to enact my plan, I would’ve gone stark-raving mad!”

Realization lit up in our features, accompanied by a chilling dread more than a sense of accomplishment. “No mind can withstand living for such a long time, much less a human mind.” He finished, leaving us completely astonished, an emotion which was slowly replaced by pity for our friend.

“Twilight wasn’t ascended as an Empyrean?” I couldn’t help but ask.

A dark chuckle escaped his mouth. “An Empyrean of what? A crumbling kingdom that wouldn’t last for a few years more? Why would she be ascended, why would Harmony think she was deserving of such?”

Such a concept found no room in my head. How could Twilight not be worthy of such a task? “B-But, she did…”

“Yes, Sunny, she most certainly did.” He interrupted me. “But it is not about the power you possess, or the titles you hold, or the achievements you might have accomplished.” He repeated. “It’s about your purpose. Your place within her plans, to keep everycreature happy, to keep them prosperous yet complacent, to ensure harmony within the ponies and beyond.”

“Because she exists within said harmony. She needs it to… be.” I finished for him, understanding slowly tainting my scrambled thoughts.

“She does. It empowers her, it allows her to manifest in this plane. It’s the very essence of the harmonious magic flowing to and from the Unity Crystals, the very same magic which I believe lights up your cutie marks.” Zipp’s ears stood to attention at that particular piece of information. “The same magic emanating as a byproduct every time one of you ponies enters into one of your synchronized musical numbers or any other harmonious act, the magic which molds a pony’s own soul as their cutie mark settles to fit the role it represents, the magic the Bearers wielded against the darkness that sought to extinguish it…”

Alex pulled his knees tighter against his chest. “The same magic that grew that tree in the middle of the road…”

It all made so much sense more sense to me now. That’s why he had freaked out so much that morning. We had grown that tree together, all my pony friends standing as one against that glimmer berry. It was Hitch’s earth pony magic that did the trick, but it was all of us standing united, in harmony. We had brought a piece of her right to our doorsteps!

‘Oh my pony, it makes so much sense!’

“There are ways to extend your lifespan via magic.” Alex continued. “Most relying on the use of forbidden magic, but it is achievable. But, there was no magic to use those spells after the Exodus. And Opaline is not an Empyrean either.”

Alex’s attention returned to our pegasus friend. “So no, Zipp. While alicorns are long-lived, there’s no way she could have lasted until today. Even more so considering that she was stripped of her power after her battle with Twilight. It's just… it’s not possible.”

The way he worded it sounded more like he was trying to convince himself of that rather than it being a settled truth in his mind. Our knowledge about alicorns was outright nonexistent aside from the names of those who ruled in the past. We had no choice but to trust his reasoning. And yet, an exploratory look around the group showed that none of us were fully convinced.

“So… who is Twilight warning us about then? She asked us to find you!”

Alex remained silent after Zipp’s exclamation, leaving us to mull over what we had learned that afternoon. Another piece of himself, another terrible truth my dad’s notes never mentioned. Immortal until you are no longer useful, robbed of your destiny so that you can fulfill another’s, a mere tool to complete a task which you never asked for, and of which you can’t escape.

“I don’t know, Zipp,” Alex spoke once again. “Pray it’s not her, for none of us is ready to face an alicorn, even a powerless one.”

His warning loomed over us like a dark cloud, leaving us painfully aware of how underprepared we actually were to face whatever threat was coming for us. Only I possessed some semblance of power in the form of my alicorn magic. We had no Elements, no experience, no princesses to support us, no army, and no allies outside the three settlements.

We only had him to help us, and even then, it wouldn’t be enough at the moment.

Izzy slowly approached Alex again, supporting herself by placing her forelegs over his tucked-in knees. With a sorrowful voice, she asked the unspoken question. “And…. when you finish your task… what will happen to you?”

“I will be free.”

“W-Will you…?” Izzy’s voice cracked, not being able to finish her question, yet all of us knew what she was implying.

“Yes.” He shortly answered, making us skip a breath. “One day, when my time comes, just like everypony else.”

Relieved breaths filled the now empty beach, both happy at the prospect he would live his life just like anypony is supposed to, but at the same time hurting for all he had and would have to endure until that moment arrived.

Alex released the hold on his knees, offering his lap to the distraught unicorn with open arms. Izzy graciously accepted; her head being held in his hands as he slowly petted her matted cheeks. “There’s a lot of things I want to do first, mind you. And I know I can count on you guys to help me see it through.”

“Of course we will,” I affirmed without needing to think it through.

“Yeah.”

“You know it, buddy.”

“To the end!”

“Grrrrah!”

Even little Sparky, who had remained uncharacteristically silent this whole time, joined our renewed promise. The same promise we all made after meeting him, the same that held us together.

Night had finally fallen upon us, the sky now painted with a thousand stars as the moon shone over the tranquil sea. The cold breeze had worsened to the point of becoming uncomfortable, so we decided to call it a day and return home. We parted ways with Hitch, who hurried to carry a drowsy-looking Sparky back to his house to fix the baby dragon some dinner before tucking him in. The rest of us accompanied our human friend, Izzy and I staying close when we felt him tense up as we approached the street in which the tree had become its new addition. Fortunately, our road home didn't require us to pass through that street, but still, the uneasiness wouldn’t leave him until well after having passed under the arch at the town’s northern entrance.

Once back into the comforting warmth of the Brighthouse’s interior, the pegasi sisters offered to fix some late dinner while Izzy and I set the dishes. Their culinary skills were far from mine and Izzy’s, meaning dinner would consist of sandwiches and a salad, but we were all too tired to give it much thought. Alex excused himself, heading to treat himself to a warm shower to remove the itching sand and salt after his long swim.

“How could she do that to him? It only gets worse the more we know…” Zipp voiced over the sound of cutting knives and settling plates. “I can’t wrap my head around it. It’s just… evil.”

The rest of us remained pensive, agreeing with our pegasus friend, but barely able to comprehend the implications behind the curse our human friend had suffered. In the stories my dad used to tell me, immortality seemed to fit somepony like the alicorn sisters. Eternally wise, leading ponies for a thousand years and more. Fables couldn’t do justice to the harsh reality. With me sharing their alicorn attributes, albeit in a more ‘artificial’ form, I couldn’t help but imagine myself sharing their immortality too, seeing all my friends eventually pass away, trapped within an endless loop where your loved ones couldn’t follow…

My whole body shuddered at the prospect of such a cruel destiny.

‘How can any creature be forced to endure something like that? It’s not natural...’

Once Alex rejoined us, dinner was served and we spent it in relative silence, all ponies sporting their own reflective features, slowly digesting that afternoon's talk.

“You guys must be tired of me dropping bombs like that all the time, huh?” Alex's comment broke the heavy silence, noticing the weird atmosphere that permeated the kitchen.

“Oh, no, it’s not like that, Alex! We’re just…”

“It’s okay, Pipp. I understand.” He reassured the smaller sister. “Guess you can at least glimpse how complicated things were back then.” He noted with a tired smile.

“Just…. why?” Zipp’s voice reached s from the other side of the table.

“Why what?”

“Why would Harmony do that to you! To anycreature?! It’s monstrous!” She exclaimed with wings flared.

With a deep breath, Alex contemplated her angry claim. “Hmm, it’s a bit unfair. You’re only getting my point of view, after all.” He took another bite of his sandwich. “But,” He swallowed. “Regardless of how it sounds, you shouldn’t see it as an evil act.”

“WHAT?!” Pipp jumped. “How could it NOT be evil?! Forcing creatures to live for centuries only to fit her little plans for a perfect world!”

“There are many who would jump to the chance of living that long, Pipp. Many, if not all Empyreans before me, took on their task out of love for their fellow creatures. Living for so long provides unparalleled wisdom and insight, albeit at a terrible cost.” He calmly spoke. “But, you guys are missing the point.”

“What point?” Zipp prodded.

“All rational creatures like to measure everything in opposites. It’s easy to understand and provides definitive resolutions. Something is good or evil, with a gray area in between but, in the end, it always tips onto one side or the other of the scale.” He mimicked a scale with his hands. “So, you guys must be thinking Harmony is evil for doing what she does.”

“Yes!” Was our unanimous answer.

“Harmony with capital H is a creature who embodies one of this world’s fundamental properties: harmony with lower case H. Just as Discord is an avatar of chaos, many times referred to as the one who brings disharmony. Does that sound like two ends of a scale, right?”

“Mhm.” Answered Izzy.

“So what stands in the middle?” The question floated over the room without receiving an answer from any of us as we looked at each other in search of inspiration.

“Nopony?..... What stands in the middle should be something akin to ‘balance’, right?”

“I guess… that makes sense?” Zipp offered, not looking one hundred percent sure.

“It would make sense, that’s what almost everypony came to believe back then...” A dramatic pause followed. “The thing is… during one of the most bizarre occurrences that happened during my years back with the old gang, I was… let’s say, ‘enlightened’ to a different reality.”

“Enlightened?”

“Mind-controlled.”

My muzzle shut tight after that revelation. He had shared some stories of his time with the Element Bearers, but this one we haven’t heard.

“To keep things short, in one of the many shows of pony-patented senseless coincidence, the very same Discord underwent a profound transformation, the product of a phenomenon called the Cosmic Convergence, an alignment of celestial bodies which rocks the flow of magic astray or something crazy like that, I never learned the full story.” Another bite of his shrinking sandwich. “And from that transformation, a new version of Discord arose: Accord. You know what he was the spirit of then?”

Five heads shook in unison, our own dinner all but forgotten. “Orden.” He shortly stated. “He was now a creature of order. Perfect, pristine, in sync, flawless order, which he ensured to share with all of Equestria in the form of mind control, amongst other things.” He finished with a tired sigh.

“Wow.”

“Yeah, it was a mess alright, Zipp. It ended fine in the end, like always, but… it wasn’t a pleasant experience.” His whole body shuddered at the memory. “The point is, he had become the exact opposite of his true self, and that opposite was not harmony.” He finished his dinner with one hefty bite. “Harmony is not the other end of the scale; it IS the scale. The balance that sits between chaos and order. Two forces entangled in an endless competition, struggling to rise above each other. Chaos, which brings change, discontinuity, opportunity, struggle, blah blah blah; and order, which brings security, continuity, rigidity, control, etc. Neither is good on its own; the world is governed by the existence of both. Harmony is the middle ground, where everything... 'exists' in the best possible way. And Harmony, the being, is in charge of maintaining that balance, tipping the scales from one side to the other through her interventions. Empyreans to guide the races, Elements of Harmony to fight against that which seeks to upset that balance, heroes from all parts of the world to carry out their missions, like you lot." He pointed at us.

Conflicted looks were exchanged between the five of us. “Don’t you see it? Izzy,” He addressed the unicorn sitting by his side. “Not only the fact that I woke up prematurely from stasis to meet you all, but you, the ONLY unicorn upon all of Bridlewood who would even consider the possibility of making friends outside your race, were the one who stumbled upon Sunny’s message of friendship, which triggered you leaving your home and finding her years later, which then triggered your little adventure who concluded in the reunification of the three tribes. Doesn’t that sound a bit too coincidental?”

Our eyes met and our features blanched, the implications behind his reasoning leaving us completely speechless.

‘Is he saying… that all of what we’ve been through was somehow… staged?!!’ My mind raged considering that possibility.

“Make our choices her own…” Zipp murmured, bringing back Alex’s previous words when we’d found him under the tree. “That’s so unfair!” She indignantly protested while slamming her hoof over the table.

“Now you understand how it works,” Alex concluded. “It is unfair. And yet, we are all standing here because of it. There were those seeking to promote chaos, like Tirek or Stygian, just as there were those seeking to enforce order, like Starlight or Accord. And many more whose motives stand within that gray area in the middle. It’s all the same, no matter if it’s ponies or other creatures. It’s not about being good or evil, it’s about preserving balance. That’s her job, that’s the reason for her existence. She favors ponykind because it is the most magical of this world's races, it makes you the most capable of carrying out her purpose, but her influence spreads throughout all of Equus. There’re stories of heroes and villains in all of its cultures, and all of them are about the exact, same, thing.”

With another long sigh which made him look genially old for a few moments, Alex’s gaze lowered to his crossed arms, thumbs twiddling nervously around each other. “… I’ve made my peace with what I've become. I hate her for it. I loathe her with all my might for forcing this upon me, but I can understand it. What bothers me the most is the fact that Harmony had never gone as far as resurrecting someone to remain on schedule. That’s completely unheard of. Which means whatever task I am to complete is absolutely critical… but I cannot be told what it is.”

“Why?”

“You remember that old poem from that book back in Upsilon Tower?” Alex addressed the oldest sister.

“Um… yeah?” She returned with a nervous twitch of her wings.

“That’s exactly it. Principle of Cause and Consequence. Know what will happen…”

“… And it won’t happen.” The words escaped muzzle before I could even register I had spoken them.

With a proud smile, Alex rewarded me with a gentle scratch under my chin. “I see you’ve been looking over the copy I brought back from Twilight’s castle.”

Embarrassingly averting my gaze, I confessed. “I’ve been looking over some of them. What’s good enough to read, that is.”

His gentle caressing turned into a firm hold. “Don’t feel ashamed for feeling curious. Curiosity and determination can change the world.”

Smiling brightly, I lost any semblance of embarrassment and thanked him for his support with a nuzzle of my own, my heart betraying me by beating faster at his closeness.

“Well, at least you guys know the gist of it. It’s a lot to digest, I know. Most ponies live their lives without ever asking themselves these kinds of questions, but I think you deserve to know. It’s unfair, but we can make the best out of it.”

Quickly finishing the rest of our meals, each pony, and human, headed for their respective beds, drained after today’s emotional rollercoaster, another one of many yet to come, I was sure. Wishing everypony a good night I snuggled deeper into my blankets, Luna’s moon bathing me in a calming light that soon lulled me to sleep.

Chapter 27- Sisters in the end.

*POP!!* “Ouch!”

I shouldn’t have stretched my back that much, but I was feeling positively sore. No pegasus should spend so much time sitting in front of a screen without stretching their wings. My sister might be used to doing that by now, but not me, no sir.

But that’s exactly how I’d spent the better part of the previous week, going over Twilight’s message over and over again, scrutinizing it for anything our combined sight might have missed. Alex had assured us, after having sifted through the message numerous times, that without those missing pieces, there was little more to interpret from what we’d already seen. We had tried to summon it back, each of us touching the crystals in the hope that Twilight’s projection would return. Perhaps the second time it would be clearer, or even an entirely new message would appear.

None of that happened. All five of us ponies tried, and all five of us failed miserably. Alex wouldn’t touch the crystals, fearing its defenses would trigger again against his presence. ‘Better not risk it’, he claimed, disappointed. I would have preferred him to at least give it a try, but after my reckless behavior during our conversation back at the beach I didn’t want to come off as too pushy… more than how I already felt I had been.

So, I took it upon myself to find the truth! Or, at least as close as I could get to it with what I had, which seemed to be only a few scraps. My detective senses were screaming at me that we were missing something crucial. The answer was there, I just knew it! I had to conduct more research!

However, the only available material, apart from the message itself and Alex’s long conversation with Discord, was Argyle’s notes, which Alex was about to finish checking over during his own research efforts regarding the nature and true purpose of the Unity Crystals.

I went to him asking if there was something more on them that could help identify the new threat in light of what Twilight’s message had provided. The answer was the same as last time: nothing that he already didn’t know. It was true that he had lived through most of the events retold in Argyle’s notes, immediately before the fall, but there was always the chance something might have slipped. Some time had passed since he’d entered stasis and the separation of the ponies.

Also, that alicorn he’d told us about, Opaline, didn’t sit well with me. There was something about them that just didn’t click for me. Alex’s reasoning was solid, it had been centuries since those events transpired, and against our previous beliefs, alicorns are not immortal, at least not by natural means.

“How can she do that to somepony… how can it benefit anypony at all? Even after what Alex explained at dinner…”

That’s what I’d kept asking myself over and over for the better part of that night, until my eyes couldn’t keep themselves open anymore. All our friends were rendered speechless when learning that horrifying reality, and not in the good sense. Alex was immortal, just as countless leaders of numerous races all over Equus had been. All Empyreans were leaders, but not all leaders were Empyreans. Even if his purpose was not to lead in the same sense as the alicorn sisters had, he was still trapped under her influence, a slave in all but name.

As firstborn, I will one day inherit my mother’s throne; I have been schooled all my life knowing that that was my role in life. I knew for a fact nopony of the pegasi royal line had been bestowed the role of Empyrean. But, just imagining myself endlessly ruling over the pegasi for countless centuries while my friends and family died around me…

Only a monster could do that to somepony else.

Shaking my head to dispel the mental ranting, I finished with my morning stretches, albeit more carefully, and quietly jumped down from my bed so as not to wake my still-slumbering sister. I wasn't looking forward to another day of blindly looking over notes and theories until my eyes fell out of my sockets, but somepony had to get the job done, and who better than your trusty detective Zipp on the case!

‘Hmm, gotta print some contact cards someday…’

With my laziest groan, I drowsily flapped all of the way out of our shared bedroom and down to the kitchen, where I fixed myself some coffee and grabbed a muffin, Sunny’s latest attempt at baking. A complete success, in my opinion.

I decided that I at least deserved to properly enjoy my breakfast, instead of scarfing it down where I stood like I usually did. I resisted the urge to wolf down my cupcake to maximize the time I could spend researching. This morning, I decided that I would take it slow, and that meant having a relaxed breakfast while watching some TV like anypony is entitled to do so on a Sunday morning.

To my surprise, the living room was already hosting some occupants in the form of my friends Alex and Izzy, both hoarding the couch facing the TV. Said TV was already on and broadcasting the morning news from Zephyr Heights.

Noticing my wing flaps, Alex’s head turned over the couch to find me awkwardly hovering behind the pair. “Oh, good morning there, detective slash princess slash speed demon slash marshmallow.”

“Marshmallow?” I scrunch my muzzle at the weird term.

“Any white-furred pony is automatically a marshmallow pony. It’s scientifically proven.” He explained with confidence, returning his sights to the TV.

Too sleepy to put up with his weird antics, I corrected my flightpath and landed on the smaller side couch, depositing my mug of coffee on a small table and then taking a bite out of the muffin.

‘Mmmm, vanilla….’

Now fully facing them, I glimpsed the weird choice of sitting arrangements the pair found themselves sharing, especially Izzy. While Alex sat leisurely on the right side of the couch, Izzy’s hindquarters took over his lap while her upper body rested over the rest of the couch facing away from the human. Her muzzle was buried deep within the space between the cushions and the back pillows, almost like a filly having a tantrum would.

“Uhhhh…”

Chuckling at my utter lack of understanding, Alex proceeded to explain. “Well, it just so happens that I’ve forgotten to give Izzy here their mandatory good morning hug, a ritual whose existence I was unaware of, and now she’s mad at me. Izzy, come on…” He called to the grumpy unicorn, shaking her flank to gain her attention.

Izzy’s response was a low grumble and a wiggle of her body so she could bury herself further into the couch.

“So… yeah,” Alex concluded, resting his back against the couch as his fingers lazily traced the contours of Izzy’s cutie mark.

“And why don’t you just get up and… oh, right. You legally can’t.” I remembered that silly law Alex claimed to be an actual thing.

“I mean…” He mulled it for a second. “It’s kinda a gray area here, ‘cause she’s technically not using my lap…”

Another grumble, this one noticeably more threatening, put an end to our brief search for a loophole. With a shrug and a supportive smile, I left the pair to their antics, my attention now fully focused on my steaming mug of coffee that would provide me with a much-needed kick in the internal clock, waking me up the whole way, ready for another boring day of looking over the same notes repeatedly until the idea of throwing myself out of the window with my wings tied and bound started sounding appealing.

‘Now, that’s the part of being a detective I most assuredly do NOT enjoy.’

“Meh, at least I can delight myself with the all-you-can-grab buffet in front of me.” Alex playfully voiced, referring to the unicorn’s flank resting over him, which he decided was an intelligent idea to get a good grope on.

A blue tail with faint taints of lavender on its end smacked him in the face, rewarding him with a mouthful of tail hair for the ‘delight’ of his taste buds. It took the entire time I spent finishing my muffin for him to spit out the last of Izzy’s long tail hairs.

“Blegh… how can such a thing be so kinky and so disgusting depending on the context?” He wondered to himself, pulling one last strand from his tongue.

“For one, there’s a chance your own tail gets in the other pony’s mouth?” I answered his rhetorical question.

Taking a moment to process my answer, confused by the fact we all knew he didn’t possess said appendage, Alex's eyes lit up in understanding. “Damm, Zipp. That’s a good one!” He praised with an amused chuckle.

“Thank you.” I humbly took it with a mock bow.

The morning news ended with nothing major to report, giving way to a cooking show from a local pegasus celebrity chef and her assistant. I knew her personally since she was part of the royal ensemble of cooks back at the palace.

“Dammit, now I’m hungry…” Alex lamented, seeing the appetizing delicacies the pegasi pair prepared on screen.

“So why don’t you go get yourself some breakfast?”

With a tired look, he pointed towards the hindquarters still resting over his legs. “Oh… right.” I embarrassingly averted my gaze.

“How’s the search going for you?” Alex changed the topic.

“Terrible. You?”

“Little progress here, too.”

Both of us seemed to be at an impasse regarding our respective research efforts. His attempts at deciphering the Unity Crystals’ spell matrix and true functions were rendered pointless since any available research material had burned alongs with the rest of the Restricted Wing of Canterlot Castle’s library. All he could had now were guesses and half-baked theories from his early efforts designing them all those centuries ago.

“Hey, Zipp?”

The change of tone caught my attention. “Yeah?” I asked over the steaming mug in my hooves.

“Um… aside from all that detective stuff and investigating… what is it that you do?”

My head tilted in confusion. “Huh? What do you mean?”

“I mean… what do you do for a living? You’re the only one among us who doesn’t have a paid job per se.” His innocent claim hid an undertone of smugness.

‘Oh, so that’s how you want to play it...’

“I’ll have you know that I’m a full-time heir to the throne of Zephyr Heights. While not my choice or preference, I am bestowed with numerous responsibilities befitting to my position, responsibilities I take with pride.” A humongous lie. “And I’m confident to say that my position gets me more money than you make in a year! Hah!” I proudly proclaimed in a tone my mom would be proud of, holding my head high.

However, any semblance of confidence promptly drained from my face as the smugness on his evil grin raised tenfold, flashing me a good view of his small fangs. “My dear Zipp. Do you realize that, as the last Prince of Equestria, all of Canterlot’s riches both in land and treasure are mine by right?”

I almost spat my coffee out when he said that. It was true. While we didn’t visit it, both Sunny and I were well aware that there was a royal treasury full of treasures somewhere around the castle. And the absence of any evidence that any other creature had stepped hoof in the old city for a long time only reinforced my suspicion that it must still be overflowing with ritches.

And in front of me stood proudly the rightful heir to it all.

Izzy’s ears perked up at the news as mine did. Quick as lighting, her mood flipped upside down as her pose did too, now laying on her back over Alex’s lap, bedroom eyes and a coy grin growing on her muzzle as a naughty hoof brushed under Alex’s left cheek. “Well, hello there, handsome…”

“Sorry girl, I only date lavender-furred ponies.” Alex swiftly ended Izzy’s shameless advances.

Her muzzle scrunched at his words. “Huh? What’re you talking about? I AM lavender-furred.” She motioned towards her fluffy chest in emphasis.

“No, you’re not. You’re purple.”

I could see Izzy’s eye twitching. “… It’s the same thing!!”

“It’s totally different.” Alex calmly denied, not even bothering to address the unicorn’s bold advances.

No matter how much pleading and whining left Izzy’s muzzle, Alex remained impassive. Finally giving up after several failed attempts, the once-again grumpy unicorn resumed her previous position, burying her head even further into the couch, having failed to bribe the human after learning of the size of his saddlebags, so to speak.

“You’re cruel,” I muttered after shaking away the astonishment.

“But just.” He swiftly countered.

Rolling my eyes at his silliness, I allowed the human to have this one. The cooking program didn't quite catch my interest, so instead I spent some time going over my phone, checking if there was anything interesting on ClipTrot.

“Dude,” I called my human friend. “Why is your last post so popular?”

“Which one?”

I selected the post from the feed and showed it to him. “This one.” I pointed with my hoof over the short video that had accumulated a surprising amount of views over the last two days.

“Oh yeah.” Recognition flashed in his eyes. “What about it? It’s hilarious.”

“… It’s a waffle flopping over the counter.” I flatly described. That’s what it was. A twenty-second video of a waffle standing straight until it falls flat on the kitchen counter at the last second. For some reason, a lot of ponies found it hilarious. I swear, for the life of me, I couldn’t understand why.

“Mhm.”

“… So, how is that funny?!”

“Oh, Zipp.” He condescendingly declared. “You’ve SO much to learn still...”

“Ugh.” Seeing I wasn’t going to get a straight answer, I decided to let it pass, not wanting to waste what little energy I had on more human nonsense.

Finishing the last of my coffee, I decided that I’d fooled around long enough and, albeit regrettably, decided to head back to the kitchen to return the mug, after which I’d fly up to my little studio within the shared bedroom… but, not without witnessing one last attempt of my human friend trying to remove the grumpy unicorn from his lap.

Tapping on her flank he began in a singsong, “Izzy, are you okay? So, Izzy, are you okay? Are you okay, Izzy? You’ve been bit by, you’ve been bit by, a smooth criminal.” After which, his deranged mind thought wise to get a chunk out of Izzy’s unprotected cutie mark, making the unsuspecting unicorn jump in the air and land back on the couch, hindquarters clenching in preparation, muzzle red in embarrassment and narrowed eyes glaring daggers at the innocent-looking human.

“Oh, so now you act all offended after all those sultry looks and rump wiggling an- NO!!”

Pouncing like a lion, poor Alex had made a terrible mistake this morning, and he now found himself on the receiving end of one of Izzy’s nipping sprees. No manner of protecting himself would keep her jaws away from his delicate skin.

“You’re so stupid,” I said, stating the obvious.

“HELP ME!!!”

“Oh, neigh way dude. I’m not getting in the middle of that.”

Leaving Alex to his punishment, I exited the living room in haste, pumping my wings and flying out before on the receiving end of any collateral damage.

After a quick stop in the kitchen, I left the mug to dry and flapped into our shared bedroom, the sound of my sister’s voice addressing her online fans behind the door letting me know she was wide awake. Doing my best to remain unnoticed, I allowed her to continue with her morning stream as I sneaked into my little studio. However, her excited mentioning of this year’s royal portrait painfully jabbed the memory of what day today was right into my forehead.

‘Oh, no no no, please not today…’

“*GASP* Ziiiiiiiipp.” Pipp, after finding out I was in the room with her she teasingly called to me, phone in hoof and still streaming.

‘Nonononono!’

Speeding across the room, she practically shoved herself against me and forced my head to look at the camera. “Tell the pippsqueaks: What do you think of my combo for today’s special occasion?!” She demanded, referring to her choice of accessories.

“Ugh!” I detached myself from my sister and tried to cover as much of my desk with my body. “Pipp! No cameras! This investigation is private!”

“Alright, alright!” She finished the recording and put away her phone. “No need to be so grumpy about it, sheesh…” She scoffed.

“How can you even think about Portrait Day when the mystery of that warning from Twilight Sparkle is still waiting to be solved?!” I exclaimed, somewhat miffed at her disinterested behavior. This was our number one priority, and Pipp was acting like it was no big deal. “She said we are in danger, Pipp!” I jabbed her chest in emphasis.

“Uh, yeah, we ARE in danger…”

‘Thank hoofness she finally gets it…’

“In danger of looking awful in a portrait printed on the cover of Pegasus Weekly and referenced by the media for all of time! Canternet does NOT forget, sister!” Pipp loudly finished, her attention back to her phone, threatening to resume her livestreaming.

I couldn’t help the twitching of my left eye, biting my tongue in an effort to prevent me from spewing something I would later regret. It took all my strength, but a long sigh saw the end of my outburst. Deciding it was best to just leave my sister be, I turned on the tip of my hoofs and faced my workplace again, mind already set on resuming yesterday’s progress…

*PING!* “Oh, Mom says she’ll meet us at Mane Melody in an hour or so!” Pipp informed me with a happy trot in place. “We’d better go ahead and get ready, she’ll want us all to go together back home. Oooh, I can totally work on her mane! Mom’s gonna LOVE IT!!”

Pipp's enthusiasm drowned out the sound of my head smashing against the desk in resignation. It seemed that I wasn’t going to get any progress done this morning and, knowing how Mom hated me skipping family occasions, I was due for a looong, boring day of standing still while some painter pony took over five hours to achieve the same result a photo could provide in ten seconds!!

“Siiiiigh, let’s get it over with…”

"You're so melodramatic," Pipp muttered under her breath accompanied by a sideways glance.

"And you're a pain in the flank," I murmured back.

Like an angry filly, my sister stuck her tongue out at me, a gesture I returned in kind. With a final huff, I followed my sister out of our room and down the ramp towards the hall, where a very satisfied Izzy headed for her workshop with a peppy stride.

A disgruntled-looking human soon followed after, the stub of hair atop his head as much of a mess as his clothes were, the uncovered parts of his body full of bite marks from one unhappy unicorn. My sister was, again, too absorbed in the digital world to notice, but his state didn’t escape my attentive gaze.

“Had fun, did you?” I teasingly asked.

“Shut up, Zipp.” Came his unamused answer.

His voice wasn’t unheard by my sister. “Oh, good morning, Alex.” She unglued herself from the screen and addressed him, her muzzle scrunching as her eyes took in his sorry state. “Wow, you’re a mess.” She talked without filter, eyes widening as she quickly realized her mishap. “I-I mean, um… y-your mane could really use a bit of TLC… and a surgical intervention, perhaps…”

“You think?” His question was loaded with sarcasm.

“We’re heading for Mane Melody, some important stuff came up. Want to tag along? Sis can fix you up…” I pointedly looked him up and down. “... fix whatever’s left to fix, that is.”

The truth is, I wanted him to tag along in a desperate attempt to distract my mom while I sought out a chance to play hooky, ‘cause extremely urgent investigation pending or not, the last thing I wanted was putting up with her and my sis and all that royal portrait nonsense, much less on a Sunday. It was fun when we were younger, I guess, but now? Ugh…

“Whatever it takes to get me away from that… monster.” Alex jumped at the chance, a fearful look directed towards Izzy’s working station.

“But you guys had so much fun.” I teased, bumping my hip against his.

Flapping away to avoid his attempt to flick my ear, the three of us set out on our way into town, shying away from my sister’s uninterrupted streaming of our trek, endlessly asking her fans for their opinions on her numerous choices of attire for our little ceremony. Well, at least I shied away; Alex continued making silly faces in the background to the pippsqueaks’ amusement and Pipp’s utter bewilderment.

“What are you ponies laughing about so much?” She asked her viewers, The fact that she was so focused on herself that she didn’t catch the human’s silly expressions behind her was both amusing and a bit worrying.

Being a Sunday, Mane Melody was closed to the public so my sis and her coworkers could take the chance to restock and prepare everything for the upcoming week’s rush of clients, although they’d never said no to a customer with a ‘fashion emergency,’ which was exactly what my sister claimed we were currently having, which to her was apparently reason enough to drag my flank into a salon chair and stick my head into a mane steamer.

Our little entourage accidentally bumped into Sunny as she was finishing her morning deliveries. That mare really loved her job, enough to work even Sundays. Well, every other Sunday. One of the perks of being the owner, you open the shop whenever you want.

A quick explanation later got Sunny hooked into accompanying us into my sis’ salon, excited at the prospect of learning more about pegasi traditions… or the traditions of my family, to be more precise.

“And just what happened to you?” Sunny noticed Alex’s disgruntled state.

“I got into a fight with a racconicorn.”

“… And?”

“I lost.” He briefly replied, not meeting Sunny’s gaze in an attempt to preserve his dignity.

Scrunching her muzzle in bewilderment, Sunny decided to leave it there and proceeded to follow us on her skates.

Once inside the salon, Pipp thought it better to start with the most urgent case, that being our human pal who she dragged into the closest chair as I took the one furthest from them, my thoughts automatically returning to the cryptic message from the presumably long-dead princess.

Sunny, ever the curious mare, bombarded my sister with a thousand questions about Portrait Day, which she was more than happy to answer as her hooves worked to fix and trim Alex’s… mane? Whatever it was, Pipp expertly tried to fix the hair in it.

“Come ooon, Sunny. You aren't actually interested in this stuff, are you?” I couldn’t help but jab into my sister’s tirade.

“Of course I am! Who else gets to learn about royal pegasus traditions like this from actual royals? What's not to like?!” Ever curious Sunny wondered.

“Uh… everything?” I stated the obvious. “Getting primped and pampered all day just to sit still for hours? My wings are twitching just thinking about it…” The feathers of said wings ruffled in discomfort. “Besides, there are more important matters at hoof. I mean, we all saw that hologram thingy, right?” I directed my question to my human friend, straining my neck to watch him over my chair. A grunt of acknowledgment was his only answer.

“Zephyrina Storm!” My sister flew up in my face with a scowl.

“Only mom calls me that...”

“Wait.” Alex’s focus left the mirror in front of him. “Your full name is Zephyrina? Like the orchid?”

I didn’t know what he was referring to. “Uuuuuh, yeees?”

“… Pfffff.”

“Don't you dare!!” I sharply threatened as a laugh struggled to escape his flat muzzle.

Pipp tapped me with her wing to regain my attention. “Ziiiipp.” She whined. “You used to love this stuff when we were little. Why not recapture that feeling and just enjoy it, hmm?”

My rebuttal was cut short by the doors suddenly opening inward, a pair of pegasi guards flanking the royal figure of my mom. “Girls! Oh, my hoofness! It's been far too long! Quick! Hug your mother!” She greeted us with open forelegs.

“Mom!” Pipp flew into the embrace, with Sunny following in tow with a respectful bow. Alex remained in his seat, using the distraction to undo my sister's extravagant work on his hair. I felt a little bad for him.

“Hi, Mom.” I offered a scarce greeting, not feeling my sister’s excitement in the slightest.

“That's it? Just a ‘Hi’?” Her brief look of hurt drove me forward into a somewhat convincing hug. “Now, that's the princess… Oops! Sorry. That's the detective Zipp I like to see.” My mom corrected herself with a playful wink. I was thankful that she was at least trying, although I knew for a fact she’d have preferred me to take my royal status more seriously like she’s been insisting on since I could remember.

Taking a quick look in one of the saloon's numerous mirrors, my mom soon realized her own messy state. “Oh, dear. It seems the trip here has done a number on me, Pipp. Flying through heavy wind is just dreadful on the mane!” She dramatically exclaimed.

Having fixed himself up as best he could, Alex rose from his seat and offered it to her. “All yours, Haven. I’m finished here.”

“Thank you, darling.” My mom took on the offer, lightly chuckling at my friend’s lack of use of royal decorum. While others might have found it disrespectful, my mom’s always been easier on the subject.

With Rocky accompanying her, he and my sis began preparing anything necessary for my mom’s turn. “Come on, Zipp. One more chair with your name on it.” My mom called to me, pointing towards a chair at her side, the other one now being occupied by Pipp, ready to start her own round of pampering after the preparations were completed.

“I was thinking maybe I'd skip the…”

“Zephyrina Storm!” An echo of the previous warning, this time from my mom, put an end to my feeble attempts at fleeing.

The session ended up being as terrible as I had expected, culminating with the three of us with our faces slathered with…. some kind of sticky, smelly lotion which Jaz claimed to work wonders for the wrinkles and other imperfections.

‘Is she calling me an old hag?’ My brain angrily thought, already fuming at the situation I was forced into.

My mom kept rambling on and on about her day and something or another while my sis and the rest politely listened. I wasn’t so subtle about it, the unhealthy amount of goo and the cucumber slices over my eyes made a great work of hiding how my face screamed to be anywhere else but here.

“Ugh! What even is this stuff?” I couldn’t tolerate it any longer and began freeing my face from the sticky product, not being able to stand it a second longer.

The only answer I got came in the form of my mom’s continuous rant about how the preparations for today had been going. My ears threatened to fall off my head if they had to listen to it any longer. The solution came in the form of Alex, or more precisely the wireless headphones he was accustomed to wearing since Pipp had gifted them to him.

Since my mom was right next to me, I silently gestured as best as I could about my urgent need for them to him. With a confused frown, my message got across and he levitated them to me. Quickly linking them to my phone and selecting the first classical music track after a quick search, I shoved the headphones over my mom’s ears.

“How about some calming music, mom?”

For the first time since she entered, there was silence at Mane Melody. Sweet, merciful silence.

With my mom distracted, for the time being at least, I took the chance at another escape attempt. “Psst! Hey, Pipp! So, is this the time you're finally gonna ditch this thing with me?”

The little amount of hope bearing in my heart promptly shattered. “Of course not. I actually like taking time to be pampered. It's my favorite thing!” She confidently stated. “Right after singing, spooky stories, and... selfies!” The sound of the camera clicking immediately followed, the pictures terribly out of target since her face was still covered in green slime with cucumber slices over her eyes.

“Ugh!” I had to rethink my strategy. “Huh… Hey, Sunny! How well can you do an impression of me?”

Puzzled by my request, Sunny rose from her seat and took a pose. “Uh... Is that a mystery over there?! Cool, cool!” She did her best to imitate my voice.

It was terrible, and a smidge worrying if that’s how my friends saw me. “… I’m taking offense in that.” I offered, scowling at her sad imitation.

“Are you kidding me? It was perfect!” Alex offered his two bits, eliciting a threatening growl from me.

With an embarrassed blush, Sunny returned to her seat, leaving me without any options that would get my mom’s attention. “Looks like I'm stuck suffering through another Portrait Day…” I lamented.

But my grief was short-lived; a second later, my phone buzzed with an incoming message. Believing it was my sister’s doing, I turned to protest about the fact that I was literally at her side for her to send me messages when I saw she remained in her little world, hooves away from her phone for the first time since this morning.

‘Huh… if not her, then...?’

Puzzled, I tapped on the pop-up message. The image that opened took my breath away, long-buried memories resurfacing at the sight of the Ocean Lily on the screen. “No way…”

Excitement washed over me. “Hey, Pipp!” I jumped from my seat and reached out to my sister from behind her. Bothered by my interruption, my sister removed the cucumber slices from her eyes with a grumble. “What now?”

“Look!”

Shoving the phone in her muzzle, a deep gasp escaped her muzzle. “Oh... my... gorgeous! Is that the rare Ocean Lily that only blooms once every decade?! The only time I've ever seen one is when we wore them in our manes for Portrait Day! *GASP* This could totally blow up my socials!” She cheered excitedly. My mom at her side remained lost in the music. “Wow! Who sent this to you?”

I hadn’t thought about that with the rush. The message stated it was from an anonymous sender.

‘Uh, weird…’ “I don't know, but it must mean the flower is in bloom right now! We HAVE to go find it.” I proposed as I bolted for the doors.

“But…but…” My sister’s hesitant voice brought me to a halt as I was to reach the exit. “Portrait Day…” She whined, looking back to our mom conflicted.

I knew exactly how to bribe her. “Oh. Oh, no, you're right. Who needs a picture with the most ponygrammable, once-in-a-decade flower there is anyway?”

That did the trick. “Mmmmm... Okay! But we'll be back to Zephyr Heights in time to sit for the actual portrait, right?”

“I promise we'll get back in time. Hoof to heart.” My sister and I exchanged our little gesture of compromise. However, one last problem remained to be solved.

“What are we gonna tell Mom?” My sister noticed.

We had to keep her distracted for as long as it took us to find the Ocean Lily, time that I, in reality, could use to keep working on Twilight’s message, even if it was only reviewing it in my head. I had seen it so many times I had practically memorized it and could recite it by heart.

My sight fell on the two friends who had accompanied us, the guards accompanying Mom having been dismissed for the time being. “Hey, Sunny!”

My earth pony friend left the magazine she was reading to meet my call. “Anything I can help with, Zipp?”

“We're gonna take a little break from Portrait Day prep, so we're gonna need you to cover for us. 'Kay, thanks, bye!”

“W-wait!” Sunny reacted before I could make for a hasty escape. “What about Queen Haven?”

“Um… Keep the cucumbers going, and she won't even notice we're gone.” I spewed the first thing that came to mind.

“You playing hooky?” Alex commented, noticing my hurried attempts to leave my sister's local.

“Ye-” I began to answer, only to notice Pipp’s harsh glare. “NO! No, we’re just… there’s something we have to take care of. We’ll meet Mom back at Zephyr Heights if we take too much time, nothing to worry about. I’m just about done with the pampering myself anyway.”

“Well, I most certainly am NOT!” My sister exclaimed. “So, we’d better hurry and come back soon. I need to get myself presentable for, you know? The whole pegasi race scrutinizing us with their overly critical judgments!”

Rolling my eyes at my sisters’ dramatism, we didn’t delay any longer and set off on our ‘search’. The truth is, I was far more interested in returning to my studio and continuing with my research, as much as it pained me to spend the entire day sitting on my rump instead of enjoying the skies. Perhaps I could go for a quick lap around the bay if I did it quickly.

“Ah, finally out of that stuffy salon!” I thought as I stretched my cramped wings.

“Hey!”

Stupid of me for not realizing I had thought it out loud. “I-I mean… great salon! Hehe…”

My pathetic smile wasn’t bought by my sister, but she chose not to delve further into it. “So, where are we headed anyway?”

“Um…” I began my attempt. “I think I left something back at the brighthouse. Better go now and get before I can fog-”

Said attempt was interrupted by both our phones vibrating with an incoming message. Checking them, we were rewarded with more photos from our mysterious sponsor, this time revealing more about the location of the flower.

“How did that mysterious pony get my phone number?” My sister wondered after having received the same message on her phone and was promptly met by my flat look. “Oh… right.” She remembered the fact she was an Equestria-wide pop star princess with a sheepish grin.

With her interest now peaked, I couldn’t make for an escape without raising her suspicions regarding my true intentions. ‘Ugh…. I guess I now have to see this through.’

“Those rocks look just like the ones by the beach,” I informed my sister after a quick analysis of the photos.

Of course, my sis’ one-track mind could only make one thing out of it. “Ooooh! Beach day! Selfie in the sand.” She then took said selfie. “Definitely good for my feed!”

‘But, we’re not even in the… bah!’ And with that, my sister took the lead in our trek towards the coast, taking far too long for my liking since she was constantly stopped by her fans asking for a picture or an autograph.

“Why didn't we choose to fly there?” I lamented under my voice.

After a painfully long time, sand replaced the feeling of stony roads under my hooves. As we made for the southern part of the bay, the right way judging by the direction the shadows the rocks were casting in the picture, my mind continued to return to the cryptic message, analyzing it for any hidden meanings or piecing out the blurry fragments.

That alicorn Alex had warned us about sounded like a promising lead, but he was adamant it was impossible for her to be the culprit, and that opinion stretched to most of the villains he’d faced off with in the past. While he claimed that long-lost villains returning to torment Equestria once again was a recurring theme during his adventures, the absence of magic closed many doors for that particular chain of events to happen in our age. Whoever wasn’t trapped in Tartarus until the end of time was most likely dead. Twilight’s message revealed we’d been hidden from the world somehow during all those centuries as the three tribes remained within their own settlements’ borders.

‘How can you hide an entire country from the world like that?.... Was it even the entirety of Equestria?’

That and a thousand more questions plagued my mind as I continued going through her message in my head. Who was she warning us about? Was she actually warning us about somecreature in particular, or was it more like a generic ‘watch out for danger’ kinda warning? But Harmony’s own warning had mentioned an incoming darkness. That’s something specific. Were they even talking about the same thing?

If there was anything I’d been able to make out of the message, it was her request for us to find Alex. Funny, considering we’d done so already. I know that he would help us face whatever was coming, we didn’t need her message to know that he would.

My total lack of progress was only worsened by my sister’s endless tirade of streaming and selfie-taking. No matter how many times I asked her to please stop it, in case Mom or somepony else found out about our search, it fell on deaf ears. Not only we would be busted, somepony might take that flower before us… not that I cared much about the flower, but still!

I was starting to regret asking her to accompany me. There’s no fun in playing hooky with your sis if she’s just gonna lose herself in her own little world and completely miss the point of the search. She could at least stop being so annoying and grant me the peace I needed to think!

As we reached the end of the bay, the nearby landscape began to feel somewhat familiar. Following my gut, I opened the gallery app and searched for the picture showing the immediate area of the flower’s location. Comparing both the picture and the rock formation in front of me, I found a perfect match.

“Bingo!” I celebrated, for myself alone apparently since my sister had used the chance to take what must have been the millionth selfie of the morning.

“Zipp!” My harsh tone made her jump a bit. “What did I say about keeping our location a secret?!” I scolded her, again.

“Whaaat?” She whined “I turned the geotagging off. We're totally off the grid… technically.”

‘We’re literally half a kilometer away from the beach…’ “Whatever. Let's just go find this Ocean Lily already…”

As the clicking of my sister’s camera once again flooded the coastal environment, I set off on a quick search around the area for any more leads. Comparing the nearby flowers growing near the smaller rocky edges proved a dead end, none of them resembling the one in the picture.

“Come on, it’s gotta be around here somewhere…”

It would have been easier with two sets of eyes looking, but my sis remained occupied with her social media, and continued being so until I had checked and rechecked every single rock, crevice, and ledge around the area indicated by the picture.

“Flower mission. Total. Fail.” I dramatically fell on my side after having exhausted myself looking around the place, ready to give up. Snorting away the sand getting into my snout, my impact blew away some of the surface sand, revealing a single blue petal with yellow markings literally in front of me.

“Could this be…?” I wondered, taking out my phone and comparing. Sure enough, they matched. “YES! Pipp, I have a lead!” I cheerfully cried. Seeing this one buried under a thin layer of sand, I pumped my wings, creating enough wind to blow the thinnest layer of sand away in the area in front of me. More petals were revealed under the sand, most likely having been buried by the sea breeze that clashed against the cliffs, blowing the smooth loose sand over them, completely dry since the tide had lowered earlier in the morning. Which also meant it would rise up again soon, erasing any potential evidence left for me to find. We had to hurry!

My enthusiasm was short-lived against her total disinterest in my efforts. With an angry stomp, I loomed over her. “Pipp! For the last time! NO! SOCIAL! MEDIA!”

Pipp remained impassive at my strong warning. “But I put a filter on it so nopony will be able to tell where we are!”

I just couldn't stand her nonsense any longer. “Your influencer stuff has been getting in the way all day!” I angrily stomped, lifting more sand and making us both sneeze at the same time.

“Ugh!” She protested as she scratched her snout. “I thought the whole reason we were searching for this flower was for us to look our best for Portrait Day!”

“The only thing you care about is Ponygram, and ClipTrot and... whatever the remaining hundred apps are called!” If that was how she was gonna be, then I had no reason to continue pretending. It was pointless and made me waste a lot of time. “You know what?! It was never about the flower! I just needed an excuse to get out of Portrait Day, okay?!”

“W-what?” My sister asked, surprised as well as hurt.

“I have to admit, I did actually get into the search for a while there. But the truth is I don't care a salt lick about your Ponygram posts!”

My sister’s pained expression was enough to throw me away from my angry fit, her hurtful eyes thrusting an icy dagger into my heart. “Wait, I didn't mean…”

“Well, fine!” She cut me off, any semblance of sadness erased in a second. “If this Lily is so silly to you, then why don't you just go home?!” With her muzzle held high, she followed the trail of petals, some of them having been blown away from the strength of the current I had generated.

“Oh no, no, no. I'm NOT giving this up now! I came all the way out here! I'm gonna see it through to the end!” Mirroring my sister’s pose, I followed her to the very edge of the bay, where a cave’s entrance was hidden behind a particularly big protrusion of the rocky cliffs, basically cutting through the beach, forcing us to use our wings to reach the entrance.

Both of us shared a moment of excitement, which immediately died after remembering the fact we were mad at each other. As Pipp shamelessly trotted towards the deepest parts, I remained a bit behind, my searching eyes on the hunt for the prize.

Her singing voice filled the cavern. “Mmmmm, great acoustics.”

Only smelly seaweed could be found near the entrance. Bothered by another failed search, I threw a particularly long string of algae in the air in a fit of frustration, almost hitting my sister accidentally.

“Um, could you not be so annoying? Don't even know why you're still here…” Pipp ‘kindly’ asked.

“Uh, I did all the hoofwork in this investigation. I deserve to see what I tracked down.”

Continuing deeper into the cave, we reached its end in the form of a big cavern, in its middle a small lake shimmering in the pale sunlight filtering from the ceiling’s cracks as well as from some bioluminescent plants that hung from the ceiling and walls. More algae left behind by the current decorated the interior. The ground mirrored the beach’s sandy texture, muffling the echo of our steps.

Both my sister and I gasped in surprise, but once again avoided each other’s enthusiastic looks with a humph.

However, the prize, in the form of the Ocean Lily, proudly rested over a solitary rock at the very end of the cavern. Any other day I would’ve celebrated a successful hunt with a victory loop in the air, but my sister’s tantrum had sucked all the joy from the search by that point.

“Well, we found it.” I pointed at it with a flat voice. “Go ahead. Take your picture.”

“Well, maybe I don't want to anymore. Wouldn't want to ruin my feed with the bad vibes you brought to the bloom.” My sister stubbornly refused.

I could practically hear my teeth grinding from the sheer anger I was experiencing. “WHAT?! You’re not gonna take a single pic, after all we've just gone through?!”

“Well, if you hadn't l-iiied, we wouldn't have ‘gone through’ anything!” Pipp rebutted, getting into my muzzle.

“I can't believe you're acting this fillyish!”

“Oh, well, I can't believe that you are a liiiiiar!”

Before we had the chance to continue with our back and forth, a deep rumbling shook the entire cavern, small pebbles began falling from the ceiling, soon followed by rocks big enough to cause some serious damage.

No verbal communication was needed as the decision to bolt the hay out of that place crossed between us. Pipp began to flap her wings, but my reaching hoof grounded her. It was too risky to fly with all that debris falling down. We would have to hoof it!

Pumping our legs as fast as we could, we exited the cavern and reached back for the short tunnel leading to the exit.

However, lines were traced in the sand as both of us were forced to a screeching halt when the cave entrance completely caved in, trapping us inside the seashore cavern. Without the light of the midday sun illuminating the entrance, the ambiance turned even darker, leaving us both breathless and disheartened within the dim gallery, which at that moment I remembered would most likely flood back again by the time the sun began hiding behind the mountains.

“No! Nonononono! No!”

Ponies didn’t make for excellent swimmers. Outright passable at best, compared to how Alex managed himself in the water, that is. Training had allowed me to hold my position stationary in the air for a good while, but my sister was unlikely to be able to hold that long.

In other words, we were screwed.

“Damm. I can see where Pipp gets her voice from.” I praised the Queen of the pegasi, amazed by the little musical number she had rewarded us with as a product of another of Sunny’s feeble attempts to keep her within the salon for as long as she could. I was having a blast seeing her coming up with one sorry excuse after another. A typical show of pony silliness I had grown to adore.

“Encore! Encore!” Sunny cheered in her own bout of praise.

Haven, an embarrassed blush adorning her muzzle, didn’t entertain us. “Oh, thank you! But I couldn't possibly do another. Now where were we? The brighthouse?” The pegasi queen recalled the last of Sunny’s excuses, that being the sisters returning to the brighthouse for their tiaras and best not meeting them there since the brighthouse was apparently a complete ‘mess’.

“We can’t!” Sunny, once again, sought to delay the queen with a half-assed excuse, and no musical number would work this time to distract her.

“Now, why not? And don't try to push that ‘mess’ business again.” Haven inquired, looking a bit tired of Sunny’s constant delaying tactics.

“Well… the truth is…” Sunny’s brain worked a thousand miles per hour in search of a new reason. Not finding one, her eyes meet mine in a pleading request. My answer came in the form of several gestures from my seat behind the queen: my phone, thumbs crossing and hands flapping in imitation of a pair of wings, and finger pointing towards the rough direction of the mountain range behind the forest lining the coastal town, where the pegasi city was located.

Taking a second to process it, Sunny understood my proposal and jumped towards her phone, currently resting on the mirror’s shelf. “…. Zipp and Pipp just, uh… texted me!” She informed Haven, looking over her phone as if the sisters had actually done so. “They wanted me to let you know that they've already headed to Zephyr Heights and that you should just meet them there.” She finished with a not-so-convincing grin.

Tense moments passed under Haven’s scrutinizing gaze, poor Sunny sweating bullets under her prying eyes. Luckily, our little bout of improvisation bore its fruits. “Ah. Of course, they did.” Haven bought Sunny’s version, leaning back on the salon chair. “You know,” She began with a hint of melancholy. “Those two can be quite the hoofful. They are doing okay on their own, aren’t they?” She asked with a healthy dose of maternal concern.

“Absolutely.” Sunny replied with absolute confidence. “They do have their moments of fighting over who used whose manewash and such, but I think living at the brighthouse has brought them closer!”

Haven's lingering worry evaporated with a sigh, a tender smile growing on her muzzle. “I'm so happy to hear that…”

“Did they… get along as fillies.” Now came Sunny’s turn to ask about the pegasi pair, noticing the queen’s change of mood.

“Ha! They were attached at the wings! They did everything together. Their personalities were always so different, but they laughed about it then. Not like now…”

“They grew up.” I offered, gaining the queen's attention.

Queen Haven let out a heavy sigh, a sigh that only a parent could truly understand. “I guess they did. Gosh, how I miss those days now, it almost feels like it happened in the blink of an eye!”

“Yeah, that’s how it is…”

Haven took notice of the shift in my features. “I know that smile, darling. Is she like that too?” She hinted with a playful grin.

‘She got me.’ “Oh, she most definitely was….”

“Ugh, come on! I thought we were besties, phone! Come on, just give me one bar! One bar!” My sister pleaded for the umpteenth as she went up and down the length of the cavern again and again, sticking her phone into any crevices she could find. I had decided to take a more direct approach to our predicament, which consisted of me trying to dig our way out of the mountain of rubble standing in our way. I didn’t want to alarm her, but I could feel through my hooves the slight rise of humidity in the sand below them, meaning the tide had begun to reverse; soon, water would begin to filter inside the cave as the tide flowed back in.

I was unsure of how high it would reach, but there were algae and loose stalks of seaweed from previous floodings resting over the rocks and creeks of the walls at least two pony heights up.

“It was your ‘bestie’ that got us stuck here in the first place.” Not wanting to alarm her didn’t mean I wasn’t positively pissed at her and her behavior.

“Um, if I remember correctly, it was your idea.” She pointed an accusing hoof at me after landing back on the sandy floor, her search for a phone signal a complete failure. “Who trusts random Dewdrop photos anyway?”

She had me there. I hadn’t given it much thought at first, reasoning it must have been an anonymous fan that had seen the flower in our first portrait back at the castle and had found the same flower here and wanted to surprise us, or play with us or something. I didn’t give it much thought since I wasn’t planning on pursuing the search to the point of completion, instead just deciding to use it as an excuse to get out of Portrait Day and back into the important stuff. I had allowed my stubbornness to get the better of me.

“I thought it would be a thing to do together! But noooo. Somepony had to tag along ONLY when she thought it'd get her a few extra hooftaps!”

“Ugh! I can't stand you!” My sister got in my face as we went back and forth until we had exhausted all possible ways to express how mad we were at each other.

Not standing to be near each other for a second longer, my sis flapped back towards the cavern’s interior, sitting on her haunches in front of the tiny lake that had begun to grow in size, the water threatening to grow quite dangerously at any moment.

I resumed my digging efforts, albeit completely heartlessly, barely managing to move a few pebbles out of the way as my heart ached for my sister.

‘Faust dammit Pipp, this is not how I wanted things to go…’

Tired of arguing and being mad at her, I abandoned my efforts to find a way through the rubble and joined her near the lake, sitting back-to-back as I looked for the appropriate words to apologize.

But Pipp beat me to it. “Well... looks like you got your wish. No Portrait Day for either of us now…” She murmured with a sniff.

Nothing hurt me more than seeing my sister cry, not even after almost having my wing torn off by a timberwolf. “That's not what I wanted… Ugh. I really did want you to play hooky with me this one time, to have fun together like we used to have. But... it was selfish of me to trick you into coming along. In the end, I made it all about me. I haven't been a very good older sister, huh?”

Sniffs continued to reverberate through the humid cavern, leaving my question unanswered. No amount of words could express how sorry I was for putting her up to this, for putting her in danger! She's my little sister, I was meant to protect her, to take care of her, to be a good role model for her.

But our combined foolishness had left us trapped in a musty cave without any chance of escape and, in our attempt to keep our little search a secret, leaving no clue of to our location to anypony that would miss us.

A simple sorry sounded empty and meaningless. Hurtful words had been exchanged. It hadn’t been the first time we’d gotten into a sisterly fight, but we always patched things up in the end. Now, we might not have the chance. Right now, I’d happily take sharing one meaningful moment again with her, even if it meant staying put for endless hours until the portrait would be finished.

A crazy idea popped into my mind, something I would never consider doing, much less in public. But now… I realized I couldn’t have cared less.

Taking a deep breath, I began to sing that little song my sis had come up with all those years ago. “….Be still, don't move….”

“*GASP* Our song…” My sister soon recognized the lyrics.

“It's easy to smile with you by my side. Don’t blink.”

“Don’t blink.”

“Big smile.”

“Big smile.”

“Just beeeing with you, my heart opens wi-i-i-i-i-i-i-ide.”

A full-body shudder brought my feet to a halt, my sight impulsively focusing on the southern end of the bay, where my poor magic-sensing instincts had suddenly triggered in response to a sudden surge of harmonious magic, a brand of magic I was painfully familiar with.

“Is everything alright?” Sunny, whom I had left Pipp’s salon with after Haven had taken off towards Zephyr Heights to join her daughters, asked with concern.

Since the pegasi queen had left for her home, and most likely would not find her daughters waiting for her, Sunny and I had decided it was best to search for the missing sisters. Whatever they had planned to do, they had had enough time already to see it through. It was time to meet back with their mom before she had a chance to blow a fuse.

It was painfully evident Zipp wanted to play hooky. After asking Izzy on the phone, I was surprised to hear she wasn’t back in her little studio back in the brighthouse, neither was she up in the crystals’ room running her analysis. They weren’t answering their phones either, so we both had started to become worried for the pair, especially considering the fact Pipp would never willingly miss a phone call.

Asking around the town had pointed us to the direction we were now heading in: the beach, where some ponies had caught a glimpse of the sisters walking together alongside it, heading south. Just about the same direction my senses had pointed to.

“… I’m not sure.” I answered with uncertainty. “Best if we hurry and find them before Haven returns demanding answers.”

Just as we reached the town's limits, taking the furthest path down the coast, both our phones buzzed at the same time. Hurriedly checking them over, we searched for any indication regarding the sisters’ whereabouts. We were rewarded as such, but in a most unconventional way.

*Heeey, pippsqueaks! I'm in a bit of a bind! Me and my sister need some help, like, yesterday!* A short video of Pipp was portrayed in the post, followed by a geotagged location pointing towards the southern end of the bay. Not much could be discerned about their location since the background was somewhat dark, but I could see she was flying, and she was inside some kind of cavern.

“Faust dammit, what have those two gotten into?”

Sprinting towards the location marked in the post, we were met by a certain trio of fillies standing atop the cliff where the bay ended and gave way to the rest of the coastline. A pile of rocks was spread in the middle of the three, rocks which the fillies were hurriedly removing, each of them using their own brand of magic.

“Yes! That’s it, keep going!” The voice of Zipp reached my ears from that very same pile of rock, or most precisely, from under it.

Asking the fillies to stand aside, I assessed the situation. Through small gaps between the rocky formation, the flying forms of Pipp and Zipp could be discerned, both nervously waving at me with their hooves.

Needless to say, I was not amused.

“Fly back. This could get messy.” I warned the sisters and powered up my gauntlets. Some of the rocks were too large for the trio of fillies to safely move aside without the unstable roof of the cavern collapsing over the sisters’ heads. I had to take the matter into my own hands.

My sister’s plan had worked! After finishing our song together, we patched things up, as good sisters should. None of us meant what we had said and, with a tearful hug and words of forgiveness, we returned to be the best sisters Equestria had ever seen.

But our time of reconciliation had to be cut short, since now our hooves would splash with each step we took, the seawater slowly but surely consuming the sandy floor we were stood upon. For some reason, the bioluminescence from the hanging plants had risen tenfold in response to our song, allowing us to get a better view of the cavern's interior, revealing a series of cracks on the surface of the ceiling, possibly weak enough to be punched through. A few reverse dive bombs and a sore hoof later, the smallest of openings allowed the late sunrays to filter inside the stuffy cavern. My sister took the chance and, miraculously, found a single bar of signal on her phone. Cheering as if she had just won a singing contest, she recorded and sent a short message explaining our current predicament and location.

Soon enough, the clamoring of little hoofs resounded over the cavern’s roof followed by the sound of three of Pipp’s most devoted fans coordinating with each other to begin removing what was soon revealed as a bunch of loose heavy rooks blocking the natural exit leading out towards the upper part of the cliff.

With cheering from my sis and I, the fillies managed to remove enough debris for a fair amount of light to begin filtering inside, followed by oh-so-refreshing clean air which worked wonders to disperse the stale, humid ambiance built up by the cavern’s sealing.

Heavier hoof steps soon followed the fillies’, accompanied by my human friend’s telltale bipedal pace.

‘Oh, thank hoofness, they’ve found us!’ I silently cheered.

Searching through the small gaps opened by the work of the three fillies, Alex’s unamused leer met mine and my sister’s nervous greetings. Yep, he was angry alright.

Alex ushered the trio to step back so he could assume the more delicate work; while the cracks might grant us an escape route, they also revealed the fragility of the cavern's ceiling. One false step and my sister and I would end up buried under a ton of rocks. A slightly worse way to go than drowning but not by much.

The warning to the fillies also reached us. Still aloft, my sister and I flapped our wings and put some distance between ourselves and the growing opening, restlessly waiting for Alex to free us from our smelly prison.

The familiar hum of magic being cast reached our ears, immediately followed by a bluish glow surrounding the heavier boulders which floated upwards, clearing a big enough hole for us to squeeze through. Pipp took the chance and dived for the Ocean Lily, securing it within her mane, claiming that it would be a shame to leave it behind after all that effort.

“HURRY!!” Alex’s yell was enough incentive for us to get on with it and fly the hay out of there.

My sister went first, her smaller body granting her an easier path through the narrow opening. Just as her tail had disappeared through the hole, I went head-in, folding my wings and using my legs to squeeze through. However, before I had the chance to taste the clean air, part of the ceiling collapsed just from under my rear hooves, leaving me dangling from the opening, my wings still pressed against my side as its narrow width prevented me from opening them.

Tremors began spreading through the cavern’s roof, pebbles and dust trails falling from it as it threatened to collapse, splashing against the still-rising water. My forehooves began to slip, unable to acquire a good enough grip to resist gravity’s pull.

“NO! NononononoNO!”

That was it, that’s how it would end for me. Buried under a ton of rocks, an early grave within the shores of Horseshoe Bay. Not my first choice of a resting place; I would have preferred to be buried alongside my dad back at the palace, but my foolishness and stubbornness were going to rob me of that.

That is, if a pink-furred hoof hadn’t grabbed me at the last second through the crumbling opening.

“YOU ARE NOT MISSING PORTRAIT DAY, DO YOU HEAR ME?!!” Came my sister’s angry yet determined cry. Followed by another one of extreme effort, Pipp dragged my hanging form halfway through the hole, granting me enough momentum to push myself the rest of the way up. The moment I felt chilling stone stop pressing against my sides, I extended my wings fully and pumped them as hard as I could, catapulting myself and my sis away from the pile of rocks as it finally caved in, resulting in a thunderous splash and a tremor that ran through the entire length of the bay.

Entangled in a mess of limbs and feathers, Pipp and I made a rough landing just in front of our human friend, a positively worried Sunny standing by his side alongside the three pippsqueaks.

My feathers ruffled at the feeling of the magic emanating from Alex, four enormous boulders still trapped within his levitating grasp. So strong was the magical effect emanating from his gauntlets that he himself was levitating a half-meter over the grassy ground. Teeth clenched in effort and rivulets of blood running down his nose, he only relinquished his hold once Pipp had I had safely cleared the danger zone.

With muffled thuds, the boulders crashed back to the ground, Alex following immediately after, falling to his knees, wet coughs staining the grass under him a dark shade of crimson.

Sunny, after we flashed a quick look letting her know my sis and I were fine, rushed to his side, holding him as his coughing fit came to an end.

Disentangling ourselves, we too rushed to his side, the image of his devastated state after exhausting his magic keeping the null void open still fresh in our minds.

“Oh my gosh, Alex, are you okay?! We’re so sorry! We di-”

His raised hand interrupted my sister's anxious apologizing. Spitting one final bloody glob, he addressed us without raising his gaze from the ground. “Your mom’s waiting for you back at your palace. You’d better hurry there.”

“B-but…” I began.

“We’ll talk later.”

By his tone not only was it clear that he was positively pissed off with us, but he had no intention of continuing the conversation. Sharing one last concerned look with Sunny, my sister and I silently set off on our way back to Zephyr Heights, not even realizing the absolute mess our manes and tails were, let alone our soggy fur with pieces of seaweed sticking to it.

Said mess had to be explained to our mom once we had arrived, earning a well-deserved scolding from her as well as some motherly fussing over our wellbeing. Aside from our sorry state, Pipp and I had come out unscathed from our expedition. However, in haste to finish the portrait before nightfall, we were denied a chance to make ourselves presentable for it, a fitting punishment for our recklessness. The result came out with our mom proudly standing behind a pair of pegasi sisters sporting their best wet-rat look with a sheepish grin, but with the Ocean Lily adorning our manes like it had done so in our fillyhood days.

Darkness had begun to cover the land by the time the portrait was finished, now adorning the hallway leading to my mom’s room alongside the other two. Even more so it did once we arrived back at the brighthouse after some serious discussion over if it was in our best interest to return and face our friends' scoldings or just stay in Zephyr Heights forever. To our dismay, the obvious answer triumphed over, culminating in us planting our hooves in front of the brighthouse’s main door with rising apprehension.

We found our friends halfway through their dinner. My sister and I scurried along to fix ourselves some too and joined them over the kitchen table.

Alex was sitting with the rest, seemingly recovered from his overextension in spellcasting, but two pieces of tissue were very clearly stuffed into his nostrils to prevent further bleeding, giving him a funny look that was far from amusing given the circumstances.

“So,” he began after swallowing a portion of the salad on his plate. “Do you care to explain yourselves?”

And so we did, retelling our search for the Ocean Lily and our own personal motives behind it, eliciting disappointed yet relieved looks from our friends at the prospect of us getting out of that mess unscathed.

“I ain’t your dad, so it’s not for me to scold you as such.” Alex spoke after our synchronized ‘sorry’ in a similar way my sis and I used to do back in the day after having been caught causing mischief around the palace. “But there is one thing I can say to you, Zipp.”

I swallowed a nervous gulp under the weight of his full attention. “We older siblings have a responsibility to our youngest, I’m sure you know the gist of it. There comes a time when you want to just strangle them or wish they wouldn’t exist at all, but at the end of the day, past all the quarrels and arguments, you’ll always be sisters.” And with that, he returned to his half-finished meal.

“I-I understand.” I sheepishly returned, full of shame for my behavior. And yet, something from his speech caught my attention. “Wait, we?”

Alex’s features darkened as his chewing halted. I could see Sunny wincing a little from her seat, the rest of us expectantly looking at our human friend. “My little sister Elena.”

“You have a little sister?!” Pipp, as surprised as the rest of us, loudly asked.

“Had.” He briefly returned. “It’s been a long time since I left Earth…”

It only took a second for my brain to make the connection. He had arrived in Equestria centuries ago. Assuming time moved similarly both in Equus and back in his home world… and even if it didn’t, seven hundred years is a looong time.

Sunny, who must have known about this previously for her lack of surprise, stood up from her seat and pressed herself against Alex in reassuring comfort.

“Don’t take having a sister for granted, Zipp. I would go through any kind of annoying behavior or childish fights if it meant seeing her again.”

My gaze moved in search of my sister sitting across me, a new reality making itself known in my world. A reality where Pipp wasn’t there with me anymore, to cheer me up with her endless energy, to tease me with our own particular style of sibling nonsense, to listen to my ramblings and private stuff only sisters are meant to know about, to fly alongside with me, to share our responsibilities over the throne, to sneak under my blankets so we could read scary stories until dawn…

The chilling pain I felt surpassed that of seeing her hurt as I had inside that cavern, and by the look she was giving me she was feeling it too. Never in my entire life had I considered such a possibility. And now, after it almost happened for real, I could really comprehend the gravity of my mistake.

The rest of the dinner passed quickly, ponies and human alike eager to get some rest. Pipp and I finished last since we’d gotten a late start. In the solitude of the kitchen where we washed the dishes, no words were exchanged between us, but we wore the shame we felt for our stupidity as clearly as our coat. Once we were done with our dinner and the cleanup, I did the only thing I could think of after Alex’s speech. I hugged her; I hugged her so hard as if she was to disappear any second, with Pipp reciprocating. I don’t know how much time we spent like that, but it felt like it would never be enough.

Together we joined our mare friends in our shared bedroom, wishing each other a pleasant night. Her gentle breathing told me of her passing into the realm of dreams, but that journey wouldn’t come for me tonight no matter how much I tossed and turned under the blankets. I wanted to speak to Alex, even if it was just to personally apologize to him. I felt like I had to, the nagging feeling in the back of my head was preventing me from a good night’s sleep. So, as quietly as I could, I exited the bedroom and tip-hooved towards his.

I found the door half opened with no human inside. Intrigued, I took a quick lap over the ground floor, thinking he might just be watching some late-night TV or something. No sign of him there, either. The only possible option left was the crystals’ room. Not wanting to wake my friends with the elevator, I took the long path out of the living room’s window and went up through the balcony.

Lo and behold, there he was, sitting on the folding chair in front of the desk where his own set of notes, hypothesis and calculations occupied any spare room on its surface.

“Can’t sleep?” He called, not needing to remove his sight from the mess of papers in front of him to recognize my presence.

“I… wanted to talk to you.” I hesitantly told him.

Leaning back from the desk and moving the chair to one side, he invited me to sit in front of him with his hand. I did so slowly, not able to fully meet his gaze.

“So?”

“I just… wanted to say that I’m sorry.”

“I’m not the one you should be apologizing to.” He noted.

“I know, I know.” My feathers nervously ruffled. “I’ve already talked to my sis and patched things up, but…”

“Will it happen again?”

Now I did meet his eyes and spoke with as much confidence as I could muster. “On my life, that I will never, ever put my sister in danger again. Senselessly or not. Hoof to heart.”

My gesture seemed to be enough for him since a warm smile soon erased the scowl on his face. “Good. Make sure of it, especially after today.”

“Huh?”

“Receiving an anonymous tip of a flower’s whereabouts only for the entrance of the cave where that very flower was in to suddenly collapse, trapping you and your sister inside? Come on, Zipp, I know you're smart enough to realize that that was no coincidence.”

That idea had crossed my mind, it HAD been way too coincidental for my liking. “Are you saying somepony is after my sister and I?” I asked with no little amount of apprehension.

“You tell me. Is there anypony who might want you two out of the picture? Aspirants to the throne, enemies of your mother, somepony to whom you owe money…”

“No!” I loudly exclaimed. “Everypegasi loves our family. Nopony has ever considered a coup or something similar for as long as Zephyr Heights has existed. Not even after they discovered we had been lying about our ability to fly. Mom got arrested and all, but everything worked out in the end.” The prospect of somepony wanting to harm me or my sister chilled my blood. All our lives we had only known love and admiration from our fellow pegasi, especially my sister. Practically everypony alive was her follower. How could any pony even mull the idea of hurting us?

Only one possible explanation came to mind. “Perhaps…. The threat that Twilight warned us about?”

Alex considered my words for a second. “Hmmm, there are better ways to get rid of somepony. It seems a little too sloppy an attempt to me but… well, whatever clues they might have left behind must have already been washed out by the tide. Let’s hope it was just a matter of being in the wrong place at the wrong time.”

I wanted to believe that with all my heart, but the coincidences were too flashy for me to ignore. Another mystery for me to solve quickly if I didn’t want it to nag me for the rest of the year.

Now that we were talking about that mysterious threat, I took the chance to ask Alex something that had been bugging me since that day. “Hey, can I ask you something? It’s about the talk we had the other day at the beach.”

“Sure.” He conceded, wiggling in his seat to find a more comfortable position.

I struggled to find the correct words. “When you said you were completely sure there was no way that alicorn Opaline could be the threat Twilight was warning us about, you, um… kinda sounded like…”

“Like I wanted to believe in it myself above anything else?” He finished for me, hitting the nail on the head.

“Yes.”

His eyes left mine and focused on the nothingness above me as he searched for an answer. “… I remain firm in my claim. If it was truly her, she would’ve obliterated us by now. Even a powerless alicorn has enough strength to wipe us clean, so to speak. I told you already she wasn’t what you would call ‘discreet’. She’s one of those who loudly and obnoxiously proclaims her intention for anypony to hear.”

I listened with rapt attention. “And yet,” He continued. “You’re right. I want to believe she’s not the one. I pray to Faust that she’s as dead and buried as the rest of the alicorns are…”

“You… knew her… right?” I tentatively said.

Alex returned a pained nod of confirmation. “I did. I knew her as a unicorn. One of Twilight’s first and most promising students. Eager to learn and push her limits, very smug and condescending towards other students, but her raw skill and power spoke for her. Something very, very bad must have happened for her to be granted alicornhood. I already told you guys how it was.”

His words matched with his explanation from the other day. “But,” He continued. “What scares me the most, Zipp, is that she didn’t require an iota of her power to achieve what countless others had tried and failed to. Only words, that's all she needed to put Equestria on its knees. Relationships between the tribes are slowly but surely healing and cementing into what they used to be. It would only take a slight push in the wrong direction for everything to come crumbling down again. And she HAS successfully done so once…”

“She could perfectly do it again…” I finished for him, absorbing his words, and understanding where his fear came from.

“Yes.” He pointed towards the Unity Crystals. “Twilight said those crystals are protecting the magic. Since becoming the main conduits of magic in this world, anycreature who wants to get to it must go through these first.” His hand brushed over his chin in contemplation. “I believe I’ve finally figured out what the Unity Crystals are all about.”

That almost made me jump from the cold marble floor. “Y-you have?! But this morning you said…”

“Would you believe me if I told you I had an epiphany just as I was about to fall asleep?” He asked with a coy grin.

“Um… no?”

“Well, I had.” He proudly reaffirmed. “They exist to allow or deny access to magic as long as ponykind remains together or separated respectively, sensing it in the form of how much harmonious magic permeates the land as a product of pony kind’s harmonious coexistence, that we already know as a fact.” He pointed towards the constant flow of Prisbeam magic.

I nodded in understanding.

“They also protect the magic as I just told you. Being the conduits of magic means that, theoretically, all of it flows through them. I’m not fully convinced that’s entirely true but, if you wanna get to the magic, you’ll have to overcome its defenses, defenses not even Discord could penetrate by himself.”

“Whomever wanted to steal the magic would need a tremendous amount of power.” I theorized.

“Indeed. We’ve also seen how the three of them are required to be together to work properly. If one is to be removed with nefarious intentions, or the relationship between the tribes begins to erode, they begin to glitch and fail until magic becomes so unstable it’s impossible to be wielded safely, or at all for that matter.”

“No need to remind me...” I voiced with a shudder, recalling the disastrous event that Maretime Bay Day was.

“We also know they possess both active and passive defenses. Active in the form of a protective shield around them. Passive in granting Sunny her alicorn form.”

My ears perked at that claim. “Wait? That’s why Sunny has alicorn powers? As a means of protection?” It sounded wrong for some reason.

“I believe that, ultimately, that’s the reason behind it, yes. Whether it is by her actively defending them with her powers, or just keeping ponies in line I’m not quite sure.”

“Keep ponies in line?” I inquired with a confused tilt of my head.

“Mhm. Haven’t you noticed how ponies act around her when she’s sporting her wings and horn?”

I shook my head no, not being able to recall any weird behavior from the townsponies at all. “Well, pay close attention next time. You’ll see what I’m referring to.”

Unsatisfied with his answer, I made a mental note to do just that next time I had the chance. “Oookay. So, what do you make out of it all?”

“I’m glad you asked.” He playfully replied. “In order for such a thing as the Unity Crystals to exist, to be able to do such things at the same time, and the sheer power requirements behind their continued functioning, since bending an entire planet’s leylines to meet your settled criteria would require a godly amount of power; I can deduce two things.” He raised two fingers on his hand.

“… And those are?” I impatiently ushered him.

“One,” He lowered a finger. “Such a complex and lasting spell matrix fixed within a physical framework, that being the crystals, can only fit one description: smaller spell arrays intertwined within a superior matrix, interacting with each other, exponentially augmented in scope and intensity while filling multiple purposes.”

I almost fell on my muzzle from the sheer expectancy cursing through my veins, taking in his explanation and making sure to memorize it by heart. This could be key for my own investigation!

“That,” He pointed again to the crystals. “Is what we call a Megaspell.”

My muzzle scrunched in confusion. “A what?”

“A Megaspell.”

“… Again, what?” I repeated demandingly.

“I just explained it to you, Zipp. That’s what those crystals are. I cannot prove it since I lack the necessary equipment to run the tests, but I can’t think of another form of magic that could be equated to what my eyes can see. I was wrong with my initial assumptions, Zipp. That’s what they truly embody.”

I could only remain speechless, but he wasn’t done yet. “And two.” He lowered the remaining finger and got up on his feet facing the Unity Crystals, readying his posture.

“What are you d-” I found my voice again, only to lose it a second time since, in an instant, his gauntlets had charged up and released a powerful beam of magic against the floating crystals. Just as it had happened last time, a shield appeared around them, absorbing and dissipating the blast with a booming screeching that flattened my ears against my scalp.

“Dude, what was that for?!” I complained as I rubbed my aching ears.

“Did you see that?” He motioned towards the unbothered gems. “The shield that just appeared?”

“Uh-huh. Could have chosen another method that wouldn’t render half the bay dea-”

“That’s Opaline’s magic.”

I almost choked on my own words, the notion of a tangible proof of the existence of said mysterious alicorn just in front of my snout making my brain cells short circuit. “H-huh?” I managed to stammer.

“Remember what Discord told us down in the caves under the Royal Castle? ‘It’s not Twilight’s magic powering the crystals, at least not entirely.’ Opaline was stripped of her alicorn magic after her defeat by Twilight’s hooves. That’s where her magic went. To power up the Megaspell, perhaps also maintaining the spell that kept you guys hidden for so long.”

Dumbfoundedly switching my gaze from my human friend to the Unity Crystals and back, I stood back on my hooves and carefully stepped closer to the levitating gems, waving an exploratory hoof near them, not triggering a single response from them.

I felt Alex’s presence behind me, placing his hand on my scalp and gently rubbing it as I had seen him do so with Sunny many times. “Baby steps, Zipp, but we’re getting there, I’m positive.” He finished with a more vigorous scratch behind my ear. “Come on, that’s enough for one night, see if you can get any sleep, ‘cause I sure know I won’t.”

With that said, he returned to his work desk to finish scribbling down what was left to record about tonight’s discoveries. I remained there, my haunches protesting against the cold of the marble floor, but I couldn’t will my body to move. My mind was fully preoccupied with analyzing Alex's discoveries, a small part of it bothered by the fact he had achieved so much more progress than I had. But what can you expect from a scientific mind like his? It made me feel like I was stumbling around like a drunk pegasus.

Shaking myself out of my stupor, I took his advice and, through the same way I had left, I returned to our shared bedroom, passing near my little sis, whom was sleeping soundly. By some miracle, the screeching of the shields hadn't awakened the mares. I couldn’t resist after today’s events and gave her a kiss atop her head, a tender smile growing on her muzzle at the gesture. I vowed to look for a way to compensate her. Perhaps, much to my regret, I would allow her to experiment with my mane the next time I stopped by Mane Melody.

‘Come on, Zipp, it’s just a bit of mane dye and comb work. You can survive that!’

If Alex’s discoveries weren’t going keep me from a good night’s rest, that most certainly was.

“Okay, Misty, on the count of three! One… t-twooooo…”

No amount of self-convincing would get my trembling legs to finish trotting the remaining distance to the twin doors leading to the throne room, where Opaline was surely expecting my triumphant return after putting into practice her one hundred percent foolproof plan to take the two pegasi princesses out of the picture after what we had learned that very same morning.

The plan: using a rare Ocean Lily conjured by her… unorthodox use of magic to trick the sisters into a cave where the detonating potion, that she had prepared herself, would bury them under a ton of rubble, hence getting them out of our snouts.

It was obvious by her wording she would have preferred the pegasi to have been put literally out of the picture, but I couldn’t bring myself to commit such an atrocity, even if they’re supposed to be our enemies.

The first phase of the plan had gone swiftly, the two sisters following my anonymous tips without suspecting a thing. I just modified the plan a teensy tiny bit and waited for them to fully enter the cavern before using the detonating potion. Trapped inside forever instead of buried alive, it shouldn’t matter for us, right? They had water… salty though it was, and seaweed if they got hungry and…

“Misty!”

“AAAAGH!!!”

My heart almost jumped out of my chest, my previously unwilling legs now catapulting me twice my height in fright. I thought Opaline would be waiting inside her throne room, but she happened to surprise me by coming out from one of the castle’s side rooms.

Twisting my body as I fell back on my hooves, I swallowed a nervous gulp and hardened my resolve… more or less. “O-O-Opaline, I-I thought you…”

“Did you get them?” She tiredly asked without caring for my outright panicking nerves.

“Um… m-more or less…”

“What’s that supposed to mean?!” She strongly demanded. “Are those two pesky pegasi under a ton of rubble or not?!” She flared her wings, making me feel even smaller.

“W-well I, um… managed to trap them inside…” I squeaked, once again trembling legs barely keeping me upright.

Her scowl deepened. “And?!”

“I trapped them for a while… then the hooman came to rescue them. There were some fillies too, I think...”

*SLAM!!*

I fell on my rump from the sheer strength of her stomp. She was positively fuming, to the point I believe I saw trails of smoke literally leaving her nostrils. “Ugh! You are useless!” She glared at me so harshly I had to cower under my mane.

Forcefully shoving my shaking form aside, she proceeded towards her throne room, muttering obscenities I was lucky to be unable to discern.

“W-wait!” I tried to call out to her but her tail disappeared behind the twin doors. “I'm sure I can lure them out again! I just need to…”

“Don’t bother. “ She interrupted me from the opposite side of her screening pool. “It is high time I take a more… personal invovement…”

Author's Note

Those who have been around here for a while will surely know what he’s talking about...

Chapter 29- A city in the sky.

“Well, looks like we hit the nail on the head, huh?”

Izzy nodded cheekily, both our sights set on the oldest of the pegasi princesses as she tested her birthday gift while hovering back and forth all over the Royal Palace’s gardens; the topmost one, that is. A left and two rights from the throne room from where Queen Heaven ruled over the remaining pegasi of Equestria.

As it happened, another birthday came up before summer made way for the dropping temperatures of autumn. In light of this special day, Haven had invited us all, her eldest daughter’s closest friends and family, to celebrate Zipp’s birthday back at their palace, an opportunity I would take them up on to finally visit the pegasi city, something I’d been putting off for a good while now. I had caught glimpses of it on TV back at the brighthouse, and whenever Pipp would post online while visiting for a concert or a meeting with her fans. She’d already promised a fully customized tour for all of us, although it was mostly meant for me since the rest of the gang had already enjoyed the pleasure of visiting the city. Granted, it was originally as wanted criminals, but they were still visiting nonetheless.

But, before we could delve into its wide alabaster streets, we had a little surprise for Zipp, which also worked as the only bribe enticing enough to her to get her flank out of Maretime Bay and back to her home. Zipp really, really loathed anything and everything royalty-related, and much preferred to stay well away from the place where royal activities took place, even if that also kept her away from her mom. But, she was a grown pony, it wasn’t our place to tell her how to deal with her stuff.

However, for this particular surprise, Haven had enlisted the help of several ponies and, oddly enough, precisely one human. Izzy was tasked with getting the necessary measurements for creating a fitting piece of headgear. She’d decided to use Zipp’s aviator sunglasses for the task and had accidentally misplaced them afterward, concluding in a short scuffle between the raunchy unicorn and a very pissed-off Zipp who berated Izzy about her whereabouts. The sunglasses had been found in the end, and we had managed to keep the surprise secret, but just barely.

Meanwhile, I was tasked with providing remote assistance to the two main players of our little act, the twin geniuses Syntax and Boolean, lead software engineers for the pegasi crown, responsible for a big chunk of the pegasi's most recent technology; technology that could be found practically everywhere if you looked around the city.

And, of course, they were huge fans of me and my work. I was forced to threaten them with shoving my crotch in their muzzles if they didn’t stop bowing before the Prince of Knowledge. It had worked… for the time being, but you know what they say about software engineers: always be wary of threatening them with a good time.

Both engineers had been commissioned by Queen Haven to come up with the gear her daughter was now sporting, a heartfelt effort from a concerned mother to make her support for her daughter’s likes well-known in addition to aiding her in her endeavors. it was a kind gesture, which Zipp more than welcomed if her joyful laughing was any indication.

Using Izzy’s measurements, the twins and I… well, mostly the twins if I’m being honest, had come up with a small but considerably advanced piece of gear to aid Zipp in her detective endeavors. Multichannel holographic state-of-the-art spyglasses and a small single-propeller deployable spy drone, both with matching colors thanks to Izzy’s creative mind.

Zipp’s reaction to her surprise had been joyful, especially considering that the gift had come from her mom, who would much rather have had her eldest focus on her royal heritage and future duties. Lots of tearful hugs and words of gratitude were exchanged, and Zipp couldn’t wait to try everything out… so, enlisting the help of our friends, a small hide-and-seek game was arranged around the gardens, where the white pegasus used the opportunity for a test run while the twins stood in the sidelines, making sure everything worked flawlessly.

“I’m gonna go check in with them.” I left Izzy’s side with a pat on her head, or at least I would have if her telekinesis hadn’t trapped it there.

“Ugh.” With a stronger pull, I managed to free myself. “Clingy unicorn…”

“Bite me.” She swiftly replied, making me snort at the fact she was the one with a habit of biting.

The twins observantly stood nearby in front of a hastily assembled folding table over which both their laptops were opened and running diagnostics.

Ears twitching at my approaching steps, their eyes left their respective screens to meet mine and, in unison, flexed their forelegs in a bow.

“Aaaa ta ta ta!” I only had to point down my groin for the twins to sheepishly relent and resume their previous posture. “Everything working fine?”

Clearing his voice, Syntax motioned to me to see his computer screen. “Diagnostics show everything’s working as intended; we only had some minor last-minute bugs to take care of, but the code is already fixed in dev, we’re just waiting for the new binaries to compile.”

As is accustomed to happen with twins in Equestria, both siblings sported the same color sets but inverted. Syntax wore a dusty gray coat with a two-toned crimson and copper mane and tail, while his twin, Boolean, possessed the same colors but reversed, the red of his coat giving way to a rusty copper over his chest and belly areas as well as around his fetlocks. Both possessed the same dirty golden shine in their irises. Aside from their inverted color patterns, Syntax could only be distinguished by his oversized glasses while Boolean could be identified by the way he tied his slightly longer mane in a ponytail.

It should go without saying, they also tended to finish each other’s sentences.

Syntax continued. “The glasses’ response time falls within established parameters, and the…”

“...drone’s adaptive command directives are assessing the princess’ commands accordingly, incrementing the users’ interface use efficiency by thirty percent.” Boolean finished as if they were a single gestalt being.

“Did you manage to integrate the modifications for the gyroscope I proposed?” I inquired, referring to my contribution to the new gadget.

“Oh, you bet we did, sir! It works wonders to keep the drone stable with only one propeller. It would’ve been a hasste to fit it into the holster with more than one, otherwise.” Syntax energetically replied.

Wincing at the ‘sir’ part, I decided it best to leave the twin geniuses to their work and again distract myself by watching Zipp trying to find Sparky in the middle of the mass of bushes and flowers that scattered around the grounds of the gardens. With normal vision, it might’ve taken her a while to find him, taking into consideration Sparky’s scale colors. Through the infrared vision though, a fire-breathing dragon stood out like a sore thumb.

“AHA! Found you, little guy!” Zipp yelled while dive-bombing towards some bushes around the eastern end of the gardens, emerging with a giggling Sparky secured on her forelegs. She used the chance and took the little dragon for a slow ride around the place. Sparky flapped his tiny wings energetically, too young still to carry him through the air, but his instincts for flying were already kicking in.

“Her sparkle is so bright!” Izzy loudly observed from where I had previously left her.

“Hehe, yeah, I guess it is.”

With Sparky found, the improvised game was finally over, not that it had lasted much in the first place. As the rest of the gang made their way back to us, Zipp swooped down in front of me, albeit gently as she was still carrying the baby dragon on her back.

“I can’t thank you guys enough for this, it’s amazing!” Zipp thanked us for what must have been the hundredth time.

I waved my hands dismissively. “None of that, Zipp. Those guys put in most of the work and your mom provided the money. It’s them you should be thanking, not me.”

“Still.” Zipp refused to give in. Standing in front of Izzy, she shared an apologetic nuzzle with the unicorn. “I’m sorry for giving you a hard time over the glasses. It was fillish of me.”

“Awww.” Izzy returned the gesture in earnest. “You’re one hundred and thirty-three percent forgiven!”

“That’s an oddly specific percentage.” I gave Izzy a side look. “May I ask why that amount?”

“Reasons…” She cryptically returned without uttering another word.

Before I could comment on her randomness, the rest of the group caught up to us.

“Okay, guys. Who’s ready for the ‘Princess Pipp Patented City Tour’?!! Oh, why do I even bother asking? You’re all shaking in your horseshoes!” With Zipp’s test run over, it was time for her little sister to take the lead. We had adjourned with Queen Haven for now, agreeing to her invitation to join her later for the party she was throwing for Zipp, complete with the blowing of candles and all that, meaning we had the rest of the morning and the afternoon available for sightseeing.

After leaving Zipp’s new gear with the twins for some additional finishing touches and both figurative and literal polishing, Pipp dragged us all with surprising strength back into the palace and down the impossibly tall elevator down to the upper level of the pegasi city. Haven offered to dragonsit Sparky while we were gone, something about missing the old days she mused to us. It only took a bit of convincing for Hitch to relent and agree to it.

“Okay, so!” Pipp flew in front of us, practically trembling with barely restrained excitement. “Since I know this city like the back of my hoof, I’ve taken the liberty of designing the perfect tour to maximize our exposure! First…” She pulled out a folded map from her meticulously combed mane. “...we can head over to the upper market district for some shopping. Then…” She pointed with her hoof over the map as she went over the plan. “...we can head down to the middle market district for some window shopping… ugh, everything’s just so expensive down there…” She scowled grimly.

‘Says the princess with an unlimited budget under her wing.’

“Then!” She proceeded. “We can go over that dumpster fire thatZipp likes to grab lunch at…”

“Hey!” An indignant Zipp protested.

“Oh, come on, sis! You can throw the junk they sell into the palace fountains and it would literally float from all the grease in it!”

“Then thank hoofness I’m in possession of a perfectly toned and healthy body, so I can treat myself with some junk food every once in a while.” A very confident Zipp raised her snout in the air.

Yeah, that hit a nerve, betrayed by Pipp's twitching eye.

“Does she have a toned and healthy body?” I whispered to Hitch standing by my side.

“W-Why are you asking me?” He had the nerve to act surprised, at which I only blinked twice. “Ugh.” He rolled his eyes and made sure to avoid my gaze, making Sparky giggle on his back.

“You and I will have some serious words later, sister.” Pipp threatened with narrowed eyes. “Ahem. And finally!” She cast one final leer toward her sibling. “We can head down to the lower district and visit the eastern viewpoint. You can see the entire city from there. It’s a spectacular view if I do say so myself.”

‘It must be. I believe I’ve counted over sixty-eight selfies taken there… and that’s just from the last week alone.’

“Sounds great, Pipp!” Sunny agreed to the tour with as much energy as the petite pegasus had radiated in her explanation.

“What’re you ponies waiting for?! Get those flanks moving already!” Izzy, who had seemingly teleported herself all the way to the stairs, ushered us to get a move on.

As the ponies amicably yapped among themselves, I lost myself taking in the views of the metropolis surrounding me. I can honestly say it might as well have been the most amazing city I’ve ever laid my eyes on since I arrived in Equus, even more than Canterlot if I may be so bold. Because it was that city that Zephyr Heights reminded me of. It shared its golden and white tones, albeit missing its purples and blues. Since it was located considerably higher than the late capital of Equestria, a few stray clouds sneaked their way between the tall buildings, providing a mesmerizing aura. Teams of pegasi patrolled the skies and got rid of anything that would block any pedestrian road, lest somepony end up tripping or bumping into another.

However, for all its radiant magnificence, what struck me most were the details that hit me closer to home.

Gigantic digital screens loomed over the streets, attached to practically every available wall and roof that could adorn them. Ads, news broadcasts, even some of Pipp’s most recent social media posts; all that and more were being constantly projected everywhere, giving the city an air of Times Square that the pony city of Manehattan could only have dreamt of. I had only visited New York a couple of times back in the day, but the resemblance was undeniable.

Just as I had envisioned when the project was established back in the day.

“Breathtaking, huh?” Zipp, noticing my silence as I took in as much of my surroundings as possible, bumped her hip against mine with a knowing grin.

“It’s amazing, Zipp. Leagues better than what I could’ve imagined.” I answered honestly.

“And now that we can fly, it only gets better.” She spoke enthusiastically but sighed melancholically after. “I miss this place, I really do.”

“Then why don’t you visit it more often? You don’t need a pegasi-pulled chariot like we do.”

“I know, and I should, but…” She bit her lip and spoke no further.

“You should give your mom more credit, Zipp.” I softly chastised. “She’s making an effort to give you your space.”

“Yeah, she is.” Uncertainty permeated her every word. “I guess it’s more of a reminder than anything else.” She forlornly took in her surroundings as we entered the commercial district. “I love it back at Maretime Bay. There, I can be Zipp, just Zipp, free to do whatever I want. But here…”

“You’re crown princess Zipp Storm, heir to the throne, and you’re expected to act as such.” I finished for her, knowing well where her worries came from.

“Just, look at me!” She quickened her gate and splayed herself in front of me. “I’m only a ‘princess’ ‘cause of the family I was born into. I have no interests, barely any skills, and I definitely DON’T have my sister’s talent for dealing with the public. I’m awkward around others, I don’t enjoy dealing with that kind of stuff. I…” Her angry tirade died as her words failed to emerge. Her sight returned to the numerous ponies walking and flying over and between the tall buildings. “This,” She waved her foreleg all around the place. “This is my family’s legacy, and it’s one I’m supposed to uphold, to ensure that it endures and prospers, especially now that the three tribes are friends again!”

“Zipp,” I closed the distance between us. Our friends were already way ahead of us, unaware of our little conversation. Not wanting to prolong this further, I asked her the important question. “Is this about you not wanting to, or is it about you not feeling prepared to take on the mantle of your mother?”

“W-Well, I…” She bit her lower lip, unsure of how to approach the question. “I guess I’m…”

“No, Zipp.” I cut her off, catching her by surprise. “That’s not something you can answer for me right now. You don’t know what you want, and you can’t bring yourself to choose without thinking only about yourself.”

Seeing her ears dropping, I gently grasped her head with both hands, forcing her eyes to meet mine. “I told you then, and I’ll repeat it now: nopony, not your mom, nor your sister, nor the noble houses, no one can decide this for you.” My grip hardened a bit. “And if your choice means another pegasi sitting on that throne, even if it means the end of the royal line, so be it.”

Her eyes widened as if I had just uttered the biggest of heresies. “There’s always been a pegasus on the throne! How can you ask me to even think about such a thing?!” She pumped her wings anxiously.

“Ah.” I chuckled lightly. “Zipp, that way of thinking has brought down more kingdoms than I care to remember. Let me tell you something….” I came up with a small example as we quickened our pace to catch up with the rest. “The country I was born in, Spain, is technically a kingdom, in that it’s ruled by a monarch, a king called Felipe the Sixth… or rather, was when I was last on Earth. Yet, the king, and by extension the royal family… don’t really govern the country. However, they still serve roles as the country’s main representatives on the international stage, which effectively made them our chief diplomats. The king’s actual role is referred to as ‘Head of State’; he commands the armed forces and is called into politics only under very specific circumstances, like reforming the constitution or major things like that. The country itself is what is known as a ‘representative democracy’.

Zipp cocked her head in an open invitation to continue. “Spain has political parties that each campaign on major issues, members of which get elected to our parliament in elections that the public votes in, from which are appointed ministers to oversee government departments, along with a prime minister, whom we refer to as ‘president’ due to an odd quirk of tradition, and blah blah blah. If my friend was here, he’d talk your head off for hours about the British government; Christ, he nearly bored me to tears sometimes.”

Zipp listened with rapt attention, unconsciously dodging passersby ponies as her full attention was set on my explanation.

“In short… don’t mistake my proposal as a radical approach; just don’t forget there are many, MANY different possibilities and, if I’m being honest, Equestria is in urgent need of some of them.” Having finished my speech, I didn’t want to sour the mood on her special day. I reached out with my hand and playfully tussled her mane. “But, we can bust our brains with that another time. Today’s your special day and, by the looks your sis is giving us, we’re due for a greeeeat time shopping. Doesn’t it just sound peachy?” I voiced with as much enthusiasm as her tired visage reflected.

“Hey, slowpokes!” An antsy Pipp waved from the entrance of what resembled a mall, right at the end of the avenue we’d been traversing. “We’ve gotta hoof it if we wanna stay on schedule!”

And thus began our amazing, exhilarating, wondrous endeavor of visiting each and every store within the three-story building. Well, clothes and beauty-themed stores at any rate, but still, a man suffers when faced with such a fate.

Zipp had made clear that she didn’t want any gifts, claiming that us being with her on this day was more than enough. Still, against her protests, our friends had given her a small present each, Izzy and I sharing ours in the form of her new equipment.

But her sister would have none of it and was more than willing to drag her disgruntled sister up and down the place, its marble floors and golden decorations mirroring the city’s standard patterns. And by dragging, I mean literally dragging. As in, dragging her by her two-toned tail. We managed to amass a healthy number of viewers, all of whom had turned their attention to the high-pitched screeching of a pegasus’ barrel and chin dragging against the spotless floors.

My own definition of a city tour would include visiting historical sites and places of tourist interest instead of spending two months’ worth of royal stipends on dresses and accessories, but I took the chance to browse some winter clothes since the temperatures would soon begin to drop. My ol’ jacket was definitely alright, but I needed sturdier clothes since winters in Equestria always tended to bring heavy snow. I wondered how it would turn out without the pegasi’s interference. Just as it did back on Earth, I reasoned, but who knew? This place somehow always found a way to surprise me.

Learning of my predicament, Pipp introduced me to one of the top-class tailors specialized in stallion wardrobes. I preferred to omit that, due to my unique physique, the fact that whoever made the clothes was specialized in one particular gender was irrelevant.

His name was Oddity. Oddity Trend. I almost had a heart attack when my brain made the wrong connection with an old friend. Still, he seemed like a nice fella, considerably less flashy than the unicorn fashionista I’d gotten to know very well. Thank goodness Pipp was there to pick up the pace for her.

Not wanting to disappoint the princess, he attentively noted all my requests and advice and, leading me to the back of the store for some privacy, took my measurements in a matter of moments. Since it was a big custom order, it would take him a while, but when I expressed regret that I lived away from the city for a prompt collection, he offered to have the complete set of clothes delivered to me at Maretime Bay in a surprising display of mercantile prowess. It always felt great when sellers didn’t give me weird looks or outright refuse service to a non-pony. I had grown used to it, but it always felt nice nonetheless.

“HEY!!”

Just as I was about to pay for my purchase, Izzy caught me with my hands in the proverbial cookie jar. She had proclaimed herself my personal seamstress and graciously whipped out some simple spare clothes for me soon after my arrival in their time period, and would do so again in earnest if the need arose. Her crafty skills had made fine work of them, but they were not sturdy enough to withstand the brunt of winter.

It took me a while to ease her anger and bribe her to let the poor stallion be, but now he would be met with a glare every time he crossed paths with Izzy.

That mare could be a handful sometimes.

While I was making my purchase, the rest of the gang headed to the only store able to awaken a minimum of interest in the birthday pony: ‘Nicker’, or as my fellow humans would recognize, Nike. Since anything Zipp bought that day would be covered by her sister, or by whatever funds were left after her own shopping rampage, the alabaster pegasus came out with a new set of sport horseshoes, a new pair of flight goggles, and leg warmers for her early workouts in the chilling mornings and late nights when she was in the mood.

“Not a single dress, or a new perfume… or even a simple necklace, ugh,” Pipp muttered in defeat as our group got back together with our purchases covered.

“It’s my birthday, Pipp. Deal with it.” Zipp jabbed with her muzzle held high.

“Oh, I’m going to deal with it alright. I’m going to deal with those abominations you call leg warmers when you least expect it…”

With the sisters bickering back and forth, we used the chance to further explore the mall. It was exactly what you’d expect from such a place: a huge open space in the middle with plenty of resting areas, around which three stories of shops, restaurants, and even a cinema on the opposite end from the entrance were built. Glassy roof, tacky decorations… it had been a long time since I’d felt such a familiar emotion. Ten equestrian years had passed since I’d left Earth before entering stasis, and scarce were the chances that I could experience a piece of my old home. It was no Puerto Venecia, but it still brought me a comforting sense of familiarity in what was still an alien world to me.

With our first stop completed, it was time to head down to the middle level and find ourselves a place to grab some light lunch, since tonight’s royal feast promised an abundance of delicacies I was more than looking forward to sampling.

Zipp’s single bag and Pipp’s seven were filled to the brim, of course, all of which were handed to the big strong stallion entourage to deal with. Equestria’s reverse gender roles had a funny way of working in some particular situations. Absolutely exhilarating…

Now considerably more loaded, Hitch and I were reduced to acting as the group’s pack mules, while the four mares trotted in front of us, taking in the sights and chatting amicably about their recent purchases. The sheriff and I, however, from our vantage point, were more interested in another piece of the scenery…

“… Left to right?” I proposed without missing a beat.

“Left to right.”

I started first. “Okay. Seven point five. A bit too small for me.”

“Agreed. Seven point nine.”

We passed to the next. “Eight point two.”

“A solid ten.” He graded without hesitation.

“Of course she would be a ten for you.” I elbowed him in the ribs with a cheeky grin.

“I’ve no idea what you’re talking about.” He refused to acknowledge my teasing, but couldn’t hide the subtle blush on his cheeks and ears.

“Sure you don’t. Okay, next. Nine point five. Earth ponies always have great flanks.”

“... Dude, I can’t, I just can’t. I’ve known her my entire life, she’s practically a sister to me.” Hitch complained, wincing and averting his gaze.

“Fiiine. And finally, nine point seven, I mean…” My hand gestures were self-explanatory.

“I concur, nine point three.”

“What are you colts scheming back there?” Pipp called to us over her shoulder, her eyes narrowing.

“I was explaining to Hitch how he should be on the lookout for any greedy tendencies Sparky might develop, since if left unchecked he could unleash a growth spurt and cause him to grow up to ten times his size in less than a day. I’d rather have a roof over my head when the winter hits us.” I calmly explained without giving a reason to suspect.

“W-Wait, h-he can?!” Hitch loudly asked in deep shock.

“Mhm. Happened to Spike once, but I wasn’t there to witness it, so…”

Satisfied yet considerably stunned, the mares bought my lame excuse and resumed their friendly bantering, not without one lingering knowing look from Izzy. Another self-explanatory hand gesture got her giggling naughtily.

“What’s so funny, Izzy?” Innocent Sunny wondered innocently.

“I’ll tell you when you grow up,” Izzy answered nonchalantly to the earth pony’s bewilderment.

Soon enough, we’d taken another elevator down and arrived at the middle level, a bit more residential-themed than the upper concourse, but still with a fair number of street shops to browse from.

A series of hardware stores caught my attention. Through their window displays, I caught sight of the pegasi's latest technological advances, at least the ones related to daily use. Most if not all of them resembled Earth’s own brands of technological gimmicks. I was aware that the ponies had taken my own devices as a base for developing theirs all those years ago, but their striking resemblance brought back one of those strange phenomena I was made aware of soon after my accidental arrival in Twilight’s Castle.

For a pony, many daily utensils and conveniences were shaped to fit a human more so than a pony. Cutlery, doorknobs, shopping carts, medical equipment, machine controls… heck, even their weaponry. The kinds of things which, without needing to necessarily alter their function, other more fitting shapes would better accommodate a quadruped such as a pony, especially for those without a horn.

Now, the size and shape of phones, headphones, laptops, remotes… perhaps I was biased by the fact I came from another world but… I don’t know, it always seemed a bit weird to me.

Following Zipp’s directions, we took a sharp left and stumbled upon a small viewpoint that served as a side street too, partially concealed from the hustle and bustle of the main road it led to. From there, a stunning view of the city below as well as the sharp barren mountainside could be enjoyed, its tall buildings climbing over the puffy clouds, shining in a blinding golden light depending on where you looked. A faint scent of grease permeated the place. My nose pinpointed its origin in a small fast-food joint, its sheltered terrace making use of the space provided by the viewpoint where a couple of pegasi enjoyed their early meals sitting comfortably.

Pipp’s muzzle scrunched up in disgust. “Ugh, I can almost feel gravity pulling harder on my poor body...” Her snarky comment reflected her opinion of Zipp’s choice of restaurant perfectly.

“Must be from all that makeup you’re wearing.” Her sister punched back, motioning with her wing to the passing waitress as the rest arranged a few tables and chairs to fit us all.

“I’m not even wearing any makeup!!”

“I genuinely can’t tell anymore, Pipp.” Zipp snorted. “You always wear so much that I’ve internalized it. You look the same to me now regardless of how much makeup you use.”

As Pipp took great offense and continued with their sisterly scuffle, the rest chuckled and waited for the waitress to return with the menus. Lunch with a show? I couldn’t complain about that.

“A pleasure to see you once again, Princess Zipp.” The waitress saluted the embarrassed pegasi who disliked visibly royal manners and hoofed us the menus. It was a junk food local, so the dishes were what you would expect from such a place. I ordered the carrot dog, a house’s specialty according to Zipp. Carrot was never my favorite vegetable so I made sure to load it with as many toppings as the menu could offer.

“Damm,” Zipp noted, stunned at the sight of the monstrosity I had ordered once the waitress returned with our meals, making hers pale in contrast. “You wanna roll down the rest of the way or what?”

“You’ve got us draggin’ your stuff all the way from the mall. Let a guy eat his fill, princess.” I jabbed at her in mock anger.

Lunch was spent with friendly chatter, the royal sisters talking for a long time about how life was in the city for them and their subjects. They’d been living here until very recently and had a lot to share with all of us who were eager to learn, especially a certain orange-furred mare.

I finished my meal like a champ, earning applause from my companions which I gratefully accepted with a bow. As much as I would have preferred to lie down and take a nap, there were still a couple of places to visit, and Pipp wouldn’t have us lazing around on her special tour, no sir.

The lower level encompassed most of the residential portion of the city. Due to its particular characteristics and location, all the buildings were conceived as apartment buildings with, curiously enough, special entrances on different floors that a flying pegasus might make use of instead of the main entrance at ground level. How the previously flightless pegasi thought to make use of them, I couldn’t begin to guess, but they were now littered with citizens ingressing and egressing the structure via the aerial landing zones, leaving their homes with a mighty flap of their wings.

The viewpoint the sisters had mentioned was located all the way to the southeastern end of the colossal city, within the lowest point of the district we had been traversing. It was a popular place for the city’s residents to lounge about, and now too for the couple of earth pony and unicorn tourists that eagerly soaked up the pegasi way of life for the first time in ever.

We were rewarded with a complete view of Zephyr Heights, substantially different from the one you could get from atop the palace, which from where we stood could be easily discerned towering ridiculously high above the rest of the buildings. Its golden shine outmatched that of the city under it, almost as if it were serving as a lighthouse for those soaring above the clouds.

For once, it was the rest of the gang’s cameras that endlessly clicked with a hundred photos taken and not Pipp’s, who regarded them with a knowing grin. I chose instead to just enjoy the view and take it all in without the aid of technology, feeling a sense of pride in such an accomplishment of a city Zephyr Height had turned out to be, for it was meant to be one of Equestria’s greatest projects in which my work and that of my colleagues would be exhibited for the world to see. A new, reinvented, all-species-friendly Equestria. One of the three planned that would be constructed in key spots around the country, and hopefully, around the world as the other nations began following our example.

A shame it wasn’t meant to be…

One building in particular caught my attention our collective viewpoint of the city. It didn’t particularly stand out from the rest, but its domed, glassy roof and quadrangular shape made it somewhat distinctive, more so due to the fact that there were several cranes lifting heavy cargo inside the building through an opening in the glass panels on the ceiling. It was a shape I had seen several times before.

“Hey, Zipp?” I called the pegasus standing nearby. “That building over there,” I pointed with my finger. “Is that a station of some sort?”

All the ponies followed the direction of my finger. “Ah, yeah.” Zipp affirmed with a chuckle. “That’s the old abandoned station. I used it as my personal hideout before I stumbled on Sunny and Izzy.” She fondly recalled from their first adventure together.

“Oooh, what’re they doing with it?” Izzy inquired after noticing the construction equipment around it.

“Well, we’re steadily getting more and more visitors, and not everypony enjoys the long hike up, so my mom ordered for it to be renovated and ready to welcome new arrivals. They’re going to set up a cable car system linked to another smaller station at the base of the mountain.”

“Can we visit? I wanna take a look at that mural Sunny mentioned.”

“Um,” Zipp was hesitant to comply with my request. “I’m not sure if we’re allowed there, with all the renovation going on…”

“Thank goodness you’re a princess then. They aren’t going to say ‘no’ to you, I reckon.” I turned slightly towards the younger sister. “And perhaps we can actually visit a place of historical renown for a chance, hmm?”

Ignoring Pipp’s scowl, I led the group away from the viewpoint and back into the city; that is, until I became completely lost and sheepishly allowed Zipp to take the lead.

The cranes I’d managed to glimpse were only a diminutive part of the whole renovating effort the workponies were immersed in. Pegasi flew up and down the scaffolding littered all around its exterior walls, fixing cracks, smoothing surfaces, giving it a healthy coat of paint…

The interior fared no better than the exterior. After a few moments of bribing the site’s forepony, we were granted a short visit inside, wearing the appropriate headwear, of course. Izzy barely managed to dodge my flying smack for laughing at how oversized the hardhat fit me.

“You melon-headed ponies…” I muttered under my breath.

As teams of pegasi and a few hired earth ponies worked tirelessly fixing tiles, cleaning up debris, widening stairs, reinforcing columns, and building the scaffold for the future cable car system, the forepony led us to the opposite end of the station, where in times past ponies would wait to catch a commercial airship leading to anywhere in Equestria and perhaps even beyond.

“Okay, colts! Got the Princesses here wanting to get a look at that mural. Bring it down!”

At his command, two pegasi flew up and untied the knots keeping the protection screen in place over the glass mural. Falling down with a loud FLOP, the midday sunlight painted the interior in a myriad of colors as it went through the stained glass.

“There’s a couple of pieces missing. The guys back at the history museum are working on fixing them and adding them back as fast as they can.” Zipp informed me, motioning towards a few missing parts of the mural, including the central lower piece which would have depicted an earth pony if its sisters were any indication. A pegasi with golden wings and a unicorn with a golden horn were displayed holding their sights high toward the central upper decoration, which was a bigger depiction of Twilight’s cutie mark surrounded by a myriad of carved shapes and colors. Above the pegasi, a representation of the Pegasi Crystal was etched in the glass; a broken fragment over the unicorn’s head seemed to fit a missing Unicorn Crystal, while the central one would be more of the same with the earth pony.

It must have been assembled not long after I’d gone into stasis, as the Unity Crystals were clearly displayed in it. And before the eventual breach between the three tribes, there was that uncertain period of time in which even Discord himself had trouble remembering what had happened. That meant the work of art in front of me must have been at least seven hundred years old. Just like me.

Sunny trotted to catch up with me and pressed herself against my side. “When Zipp first showed it to us, we thought there was only a unicorn and a pegasus crystal. Both had always been depicted as the ones possessing true magic, leaving us earth ponies to be the odd ones out, not special in the slightest.”

“But that turned out to your advantage in the end.” I managed to speak after regaining my voice, still mesmerized by the colorful display in front of me.

“Mhm.” She agreed. “Nothing special meant nothing to fear. We were the weak ones, so we had to fear and be ready for anything.” I felt her press her barrel against my side further. “Thank hoofness it doesn’t have to be that way anymore.”

While relishing in her closeness, the admittedly impressive sight of Twilight’s cutie mark painting the hall in whites and purples made my stomach churn rather uncomfortably. After Celestia and Luna had stepped down and passed her the throne, her cutie mark, and my sigil, had taken over from the sun and the moon as the… let’s say the ‘symbols’ of the nation. Some discussion even arose between the noble families over whether the Equestrian flag, depicting both alicorn sisters, should be changed to accommodate the symbols of a new era. Symbols proudly displayed, symbols of everything we had accomplished, and what was left to accomplish.

“At least this one came out right, Twi…”

“Hmm?” Sunny’s ears flicked as they almost caught my mumbling.

“Nothing.” I eased her wondering. “Guess I’ll have to come back when it’s reassembled. Can you give us a rough estimate on how long it’ll take?” I addressed the forepony who patiently waited for us to finish, albeit a smidge bothered with the time we were taking away from his work.

“A month at the earliest, and probably two until its sister station is completed down the mountain… we then need to run tests on the new cable car system. After that, we can safely fix the mural before we officially open the station to the public.”

Noticing his hardening tone, although quickly correcting himself after a side look to the pegasi princesses, I decided we’d taken up enough of his time. “Thank you, sir. We won’t trouble you further. Come on, guys.”

Once everypony had thanked him for his time and we had returned the headgear, we began our march back to the palace, changing our original route to visit other places that caught our eye on our way up. I witnessed the pegasi’s vertical gardens where they cultivated anything and everything the city required, far away from the dangerous ground level. We also caught sight of several cloud harvesters, which the pegasi used to collect water from the dense cloud fields that completely masked the town if you were to look from the base of Zephyrs Peaks. They resembled giant turbines, which gently moved the surrounding air, forcing it through several cooled micro-thin steel-weaved nets responsible for catching and condensing the water within for later use.

Albeit more discreet than Canterlogic’s Factory back at Maretime Bay, several technological companies hosted their own manufacturing centers through the periphery of the second level, making use of the metals and other minerals the mountain provided to assemble their products. When searching for the location, this mountain range proved to be ideal for a self-sustaining city, as within its entrails run deposits of most of the materials that would be required after its construction. The pegasi had done an outstanding job in making use of them, especially considering their expertise in construction was historically limited to where clouds were concerned.

On our way back we traversed numerous streets, significantly emptier of pedestrians according to the sister's words since pegasi could now opt for a shorter flight to reach their destination. Some traffic signs were being assembled in key areas to regulate the sudden increase in air traffic. Everypegasi seemed happy and eager for another beautiful day in the city, and the few tourist groups we kept stumbling into eagerly shared the sentiment.

“Well,” Zipp called to us as she stopped in her tracks right before the stairs that would take us to the elevator used to reach the palace. “I guess this is it. I mean, we could stop by the history museum, but I don’t think you guys need to learn more about Equestrian history.” Zipp gave Sunny and me a knowing look.

“Can we please take a rest? My back is killing me.” Hitch wailed after having carried with me the mare’s, although practically the sole mare’s purchases, wheezing and panting as if he had just run a marathon.

“Wow. You’re worse than a little filly.” I teased the sheriff, eliciting amused giggles from the girls and a dark scowl from the huffing stallion.

“*GASP!!*” Pipp made us all jump from her sudden outburst. “Ideaaaaa~!!” She chanted in her singing voice, sending her sister a look the alabaster pegasi quickly recognized, and feared judging by her reaction.

“Absolutely not!” Zipp flared her wings in protest.

“Absolutely yes!” Her sister rebutted. “Look at these poor stallions.” She pointed with her wing at our ‘sorry’ state. “It’s the least I can do!” She placed both forehooves over her chest in a sign of sympathy. “And perhaps you’ve forgotten, but I still care to remember you owing me a proper pampering session!”

“… Are you seriously still fussing over that?! We nearly DROWNED that day, and all you car-”

“Yes! Well, ahem.” Pipp rudely interrupted her sister. “Follow me ponies, let the wonders of the royal treatment soothe aaaall your pains and worries.”

“Hmm,” I mulled loudly, gaining the pony's attention. “A ‘spa chapter’, huh? Took the author long enough to fit one of these in…”

Just as I expected, five tilted pony heads snapped to regard me with profound puzzlement.

Pinkie would’ve been so proud of me.

Labeling it as more ‘human nonsense’, our little group began the ascent back onto royal grounds, where Pipp once again took the lead and showed us the way to the royal spa deep within the palace’s lower levels, but not before summoning a couple of guards to take our (but mostly her) purchases back to our temporary quarters.

I took amusement in the deadpanned expression of the pegasi guards now relegated to the undignified task of carrying our stuff up the palace stairs. “Should’ve gone to college instead, huh?” I teased the bored guardmare, who for a moment flashed me daggers before her gaze relaxed.

“I… can’t let my mom know that she was right all along.” She flatly responded, earning a hearty chuckle out of me. I didn't even ask her name.

The spa was exquisite and was clearly surpassing in my mind the closest approximation I’d ever encountered, which was a spa in a hotel in Germany. Well, and the twin’s spa in Ponyville, of course, but I ended up avoiding that place eventually since every time I stepped foot in it the twins hammered me with the chance of working there as a masseuse. I have a college degree, for Faust’s sake! I don’t do massages!… to the public, at least.

Still, this spa had a more… oriental-themed presentation, its heavily charged atmosphere reminded me of the time I visited the Neighponese archipelago on a diplomatic mission.

‘Celestia, I miss sushi.’

Taking a deep breath of the steamy atmosphere, Pipp ushered the ponies straight into the hot bath. I remained behind in search of a place to store my clothes and get a towel... and some privacy for the procedure.

Just as I was to remove my shirt, I noticed a purple blob through the corner of my eye.

“… Are you gonna stand there waiting for me to…?”

“Yes,” Izzy answered curtly, cutting me off with a playful flick of her tail, making no sign of moving to join the others.

“Izzy.” I pointedly looked her up and down. “When was the last time you got drilled?”

She wasn’t deterred by my straightforwardness “Ugh, waaaaay too long ago.” A pervy smile split her muzzle, her tail now mischievously wagging back and forth.

“Hmm,” I muttered pensively. “I wonder if the staff here offer some kind of treatment to help you?” Turning on my heels, I waved to one of the employees who was passing by. “Excuse me, my friend over here is in dire need of a good buMMMPH!!”

A very flustered Izzy reached with her levitation, and both gagged me and pulled me away from the bewildered stallion. “Hehehe.” She flashed him a nervous grin. “Don’t listen to my friend here, the steam goes right to his head, you know?”

Leaving the stunned employee behind, Izzy dragged us both to the other side of the room, quietly so as to not bother the rest of the personnel further.

She freed me once we had reached a safe distance and, taking a deep breath to lessen the embarrassment lighting her cheeks, gave me her deepest scowl.

“Serves you right.” I ignored the leer she was giving me and bumped her flank with my knee. “Get a move on, you horny hornhead.”

With a loud huff, she did so in an exaggerated manner and joined the rest of the now-soaked ponies, leaving me with my desired privacy. Undressing down to my underwear and tying a towel around my waist, I followed the unicorn’s hoof steps to the hot bath. Leaving the towel near the edge of the pool, I entered the water one foot at a time.

“Nnnnngg.” I couldn’t keep the relieved groan inside once my body had sunk into its steamy depths, immediately noticing the effect it was having easing my aching feet and back.

“So dramatic…” Pipp muttered with a roll of her eyes from her place across mine.

“For your birthday, Pipp, I’m gonna get you one of those granny carts and save my back a lot of trouble. Nnngg.” I moaned again.

“A… granny cart?” I saw her head tilt over the mist.

“You don’t have those here?” I responded with another question. A myriad of shaking heads was my answer. “Huh, I guess that’s another thing I’ll have to introduce here.” I blabbed to myself.

A peaceful silence fell over the room, only broken by the sounds of the staff going around the place, submerged in their chores, and the occasional trickle when somepony’s hoof disturbed the water. By the way the staff addressed the youngest of the princesses and how they seemed to know what she would require before she even asked, it was evident that Pipp was more than just a casual visitor.

I let my thoughts wander as my muscles were slowly unknotted by the warm embrace of the water, lazily spinning around Izzy as she floated belly up in front of me, lost in her own thoughts, as I was lost in mine.

The absence of an essential part of the experience broke my concentration. “Wait.” I strained my neck to look behind me in search of a button. “Where’re the bubbles?”

“Over there, big guy.” Zipp extracted a wing from under the water and pointed it towards a smaller tub across this one, over on the opposite side of the room.

“Oh.” I had half a mind to leave the hot bath and try that one for a moment, but my aching muscles went into an uproar at the prospect of the slightest exercise. “Meh, I’ll try it later. How much time do we have, Pipp?”

“As much as we want, of course. I mean, it’s our private spa.” She answered with a smug undertone.

“Damm, we didn’t have one of these back in Canterlot Castle.” I recalled from my days as a permanent figure within the gold and alabaster building.

“You can visit anytime you want. It’s meant for royals after all. Hear that, Huffy?!” Pipp called for the same stallion employee I had used to mess with Izzy.

“Copy that, your Highness.” He answered from within a supply cabinet in search of towels for our little group.

“Do I get a flashy membership card or something?”

A devious smirk showed me her pearly white teeth. “Oh, that won’t be necessary. Your face is quite… recognizable.” She worded it in a teasing manner.

“And what about us?” A slightly jealous-sounding Sunny demanded.

“Oh, for you guys I can surely get membership cards, hear that, Huffy?!”

“Copy that, your Highness.” The stallion tiredly replied in the exact same manner.

“Excellent.” Satisfied, she fell back to the edge of the pool, slightly curved to accommodate a pony’s neck, and reached behind her for a couple of cucumber pieces to place over her eyes from the plate the staff had left there previously.

A painful groan reached my ears from the left side of the pool, where Hitch tried his best to massage his own aching shoulders. “Any chance I get a massage in here, Zipp?” He asked the pegasus resting closely beside him.

‘Ah, baby steps Zipp, baby steps…’

“Sure, right behind those curtains there’s a couple of massage tables.” She pointed with her hoof towards a pair of sliding curtains masking off a portion of the spacious room. “Just head over there and they’ll attend to you shortly.”

“Thank-you.” And with that, the sheriff exited the bath and, after a good full-body shake, disappeared behind the curtains, falling flat onto one of the massage tables.

“I swear, stallions these days are a bunch of cryfoals…” Pipp once again spoke under her breath, earning a blank, somewhat harsh look from her sister.

Since my sight had returned to the oriental-themed patterned ceiling I didn’t notice Sunny scurrying along the pool's carved seats, only realizing when I felt her forehooves over my right leg.

“Hmm?”

“I just happened to remember you owe me a full body massage.” She calmly announced.

Her sudden comment called for a moment of careful thinking. “… Um, no, I don’t,” I answered in a similar manner, recalling our conversation at her smoothie stand the day of the Crafts Fair.

“Yes, you do.”

“No, I don’t.” I pressed on. “I didn’t get a smoothie, so there’s no paym- ugh.”

But Sunny remained impassive to my protests and, in a swift move, scooched up and rested her haunches over my lap, facing forward to the pool's center.

“I’ll be generous and only ask for my back and shoulders, if you’d be so kind?” She haughtily commanded, tilting her head upwards and relaxing her shoulder blades. The rest of the ponies could only watch, bemused at her particular attitude.

“Okay then.” I cracked my knuckles and flexed my fingers. “Listen up, my fuzzy friends, for I shall take the chance to deliver a master class in pony massaging.”

I had gained my friends' full attention, as well as that of some of the spa’s employees who discreetly ceased their activities or modified them so they could remain close to where I was to deliver my lesson.

“You see,” I began, digging my fingers into Sunny’s shoulder joints, feeling the cramps I was expecting to find and eliciting a shudder from her. “As quadrupedal mammals, your neck is subject to a continuous force holding your head upright and leveled, transmitting that force down to your shoulders and chest muscles.”

Slowly kneading her stiff muscles under the damp fur, I moved inwards towards her spine, feeling each individual vertebrae from the upper neck down between the shoulder blades. Sunny tried her hardest not to make a loud spectacle of the session, but the foreign feeling summed with the immense relief on her back was enough for concealed moans and whinnies of pleasure to escape her muzzle.

“You ponies have BIG heads compared to the raw size of your body, and you also possess a relatively low center of gravity.” I went on, moving my hands up where the neck connected with the head near her ears, kneading with my thumbs deep into the joints. “That becomes a considerable straining effort that needs to be countered by said body parts, so you don’t end up walking balanced on your forelegs, rump high in the air with your muzzle dragging on the ground.”

I saw Izzy snickering at the image of Sunny’s scalp brushing my left cheek. The mare in question had stopped paying attention and was now completely immersed in her happy place. It looked like I was doing a fantastic job, which, to my dismay, meant the chances of being asked for an encore were high.

I’m just kidding; you wouldn’t find me complaining about a repeat performance of this any day of the week.

“So, along with the haunches and knee joints, those areas are the ones in direst need of attention when you are massaging a pony.” Finishing going over her pectoral muscles under her fluffy chest, which would’ve been highly indecent had she been a human woman, I brought back my attention to her neck, but with a different procedure in mind. “And yet, sometimes, stress is suffered for so long that the joints are forced to sit in the wrong position, making the discomfort a continuous ordeal.”

Sunny, still lost in her own little world, failed to notice my grip becoming firmer between her neck and left shoulder joint, where I had noticed a particularly stubborn cramp resisting my ministrations.

“Those issues require a… different tactic.”

Pulling hard on her neck and shoulder, Sunny’s pleasured hums were immediately silenced by the resounding SNAP of her joints releasing the accumulated pressure.

“Eeeeeeeeeeee…”

Freezing up in shock, she breathed out a high-pitched squeal, almost on the brink of becoming subsonic, and slowly slipped away from my lap until submerging herself entirely, her shrill squealing becoming bubbles under the water. Our friends and the staff alike stared, both mesmerized and horrified at me.

“Dude, you killed her!” Zipp alarmingly cried.

“I killed her backache, you mean.” I calmly replied, carefully rubbing over Sunny’s shoulder where I had released the pressure explosively. Having run out of breath, her orange muzzle breached the surface, followed by the rest of her head, now wearing a face of profound relaxation.

“Better?” I asked the mare floating over my lap.

“Mhmm…” Came her drowsy reply, eyes half-lidded on the verge of falling asleep.

Securing my arms under her to keep her afloat, I let her remain in her happy place and turned to address the now unashamedly attentive spa employees. “You wrote that down I hope?”

Having been caught, the ponies snapped to attention and resumed their tasks, whistling innocently. Yet I was positive they had learned a thing or two.

A hoof tapping on my shoulder alerted me of Izzy’s presence who had floated to my side. Giving me her best puppy eyes look, she silently pleaded for the same treatment.

“Later, okay?” I replied, petting the damp fur on her chest fluff.

“But, whyyyy?” She whined, redoubling her efforts in trying to break my resolve.

“’Cause you’d start moaning and grunting so loud they’d end up kicking us out before I can even begin.”

Flushing in embarrassment, Izzy’s attention suddenly found something under the water worthy enough to catch her full attention, yet made no comment to refute my prediction.

Yeah, she reminded me enough of Pinkie to safely draw some conclusions….

As it happened, some loud obnoxious moaning came without Izzy’s intervention, easily discernable from where Hitch was enjoying his massage. Judging by how he was voicing it, whomever was working on him was breaking him apart and building him up again from scratch.

Without missing a beat, I used the chance to tease him. “Make sure to wear a condom, Hitch,” I called loud enough to reach where he was resting. “You already have one baby to take care of, you don’t need a second one!”

“Shut uuuuup…” Came his slurred reply, eliciting a chuckle from the rest of us. Although I didn’t miss the somewhat bothered look Zipp was giving the curtains masking whatever was happening behind them.

Once the sheriff was done with his treatment, and refusing to acknowledge anything that might or might not have happened behind the curtain, we treated ourselves to a short sauna session. The ponies looked mesmerized at how the sweat formed over my skin, every droplet revealing where a sweat gland was located.

“Weird, huh?” I uttered, laughing at the looks they were giving me.

Nodding in unison, the conglomeration of curious ponies watched Pipp move an exploratory hoof over my shoulder to touch where the highest accumulation of droplets had gathered. Well, that would have been if I hadn’t playfully snapped my jaws at her when she was about to, surprising her with a yelp and making her fall over her sister in surprise.

“Alex!” She cried annoyingly, slapping the back of my head with a wing.

Not wanting to cause a ruckus, we all settled down and spent the rest of the session in peaceful silence until the heat became almost unbearable and we had to leave the sauna. Another quick bath to clean off the sweat saw our trip to the spa over. Pipp wanted to head back with her mom and lend a hoof with that night's birthday celebrations, and Zipp wanted to tag along to make sure her sister wouldn’t go overboard.

I offered to dry them quickly instead of wasting time with the mane dryers, making use of my gauntlets and a quick spell to summon a warm breeze which got their fur dry in an instant in a similar fashion I used to dry my clothes.

And fluffy, so overwhelmingly fluffy. I couldn’t resist.

While I was occupied hugging the stuffing out of Sunny and Izzy, Zipp and Pipp were forced to include an emergency visit to the palace’s mane stylist. Their expressions were far from happy. Hitch, not caring much about his adorable look, headed up in haste to search for his baby dragon, antsy after having spent so much time away from him.

My two favorite mares and I remained behind, enlisting my help to smooth their fur to the best of my ability. Once they were satisfied with their appearance, a couple of guards offered to show us the way to one of the palace’s lounging rooms where we would be met by Her Highness once she was done supervising tonight’s preparations.

“So, do you collect sneakers?” I addressed the spring-green pegasi guard on our right, whose name I learned was Thunder Flap.

“Mhm, it’s a hobby of mine.” He answered with no small amount of pride.

“And you want how much for mine?” I pointed down to my own shoes, which were more of a pair of boots than sneakers per se.

Tilting his head in thought, he analyzed them carefully, almost tripping over his own hooves after having lost the notion of what was in front of him. “Phew, that was close…” He breathed a relieved sigh. “I… don’t know, I’ve never seen a pair of sneakers like those…”

“They were custom-made and are way over seven hundred years old by now.”

I could see his sparkling eyes widening in wonder, his muzzle almost burying the spotless floor. I swear I saw a strand of drool hanging from it.

‘Damm, he sure is into it.’

“Thunder!” His partner, a sky blue guardsmare by the name of Zoom Zephyrwing, harshly chastised him. “Focus, for heaven’s sake!”

“B-But, Zooooom…” The stallion whined but was only met with a harsh glare from her partner, ending his short bout of nerdy excitement and reverting back to his standard guard face.

The lounging room was small compared to most of the palace's premises. Cozy, and clearly meant for small private reunions. Members of the castle's staff entered in a hurry after the guards had taken positions outside, quickly taking note of any refreshments we might desire while we awaited the Queen’s arrival. Asking for a few light drinks, we fell back on the biggest of the two couches and patiently waited for the rest to rejoin us.

“So,” Sunny began, making herself comfy over the couch we shared, laying on her belly and resting both forelegs over my leg. Her beautiful eyes searched for mine, flashing me one of her sunny smiles. “How are you liking Zephyr Heights?”

I rested a gloved hand over her back. “What can I say? What I caught on TV didn’t do it justice. It’s simply amazing.” I answered sincerely.

“It certainly has a more welcoming atmosphere when they aren’t chasing you in the middle of the night,” Izzy recalled their impromptu escape from the palace with a dreamy look and a goofy smile. “Ah, those were the times…”

“Izzy, that happened only three months ago.” Sunny flatly clarified to the unicorn resting over my other side.

“The times indeed…” Izzy wasn’t deterred by Sunny’s comment, her longing eyes peering into the nothingness.

With a nicker and a shake of her head, Sunny let the unicorn be. “Izzy’s right. Now that we can visit more calmly, and not as wanted criminals, it is truly a wonder to experience.”

“It also kinda reminds me of home,” I added to the surprise of both mares.

“Home? You mean back in the past?”

“Mmm hmm.” I shook my head no. “My home world, Izzy. It reminds me of Earth.” I explained further.

“It does?!” Sunny incorporated a bit, her tail shaking excitedly at the prospect of learning more about my old home.

“It's closer to what a modern human city would look like.” I satisfied her curiosity, smiling at her eagerness to learn something new. “The humongous screens, the shops, the malls, the food, the architecture… I don’t know. Those whites and golds are way flashier than what you’d find in a modern metropolis, but at times I could almost feel like I was back on Earth...” Now came my time to become homesick. “Although, considerably less populous here than there.”

“Are you kidding?” Izzy exclaimed, perplexed at my last comment. “There are TONS of pegasi everywhere! How can this be NOT populated?”

I couldn’t help but snicker at their ignorance. “The most populated city on Earth, Tokyo, has over thirty-seven and a half million humans living within the city’s limits.”

Both mares became paralyzed in the adorable way that ponies are accustomed to doing when learning of something shocking, eyes wide and muzzles hanging open in bewilderment.

“So, yeah.” I gently closed Sunny’s jaws with my finger. “I can certainly enjoy the fact that I’m not completely surrounded by other humans to the point of asphyxiation.”

“Wow…” Izzy mumbled, vigorously shaking herself out of her stupor, making her headband jingle behind her head. “And what about your home? I mean, the place where you lived?”

“Well, I lived most of my life in a little town on the residential outskirts of my country's capital city.” And by tiny I meant a couple tens of thousands of inhabitants, nothing to do with Equestrian towns with barely a few hundred ponies residing in them. “It was a nice place, quiet for the most part. Kinda posh if you compared it to the more working-class districts to the south.”

“Is it like Maretime Bay?”

“In a sense, yeah.” Sunny’s tail gave a happy flick at the news. “Although it wasn’t located on the coast. Quite the opposite actually, dead center of the peninsula. Which was a royal pain if you wanted to spend a day at the beach.”

Sunny and Izzy wrung as much knowledge about my old home as I could provide, their enthusiastic tirade only momentarily interrupted by the castle staff bringing our desired refreshments. Hitch joined us sometime later, Sparky riding on his back in his usual manner. It had taken him quite an effort to pry the little dragon from Haven’s clutches.

“I swear, the guards were giving us some weird looks after that.” Poor Hitch lamented as he nursed his own drink.

“She must miss the old times when her daughters were just fillies.” I patted him sympathetically on the back.

“Perhaps…” He mumbled after taking another sip.

“Hey, Sparky.” I turned to the little dragon currently occupying my lap and hungrily devouring all the threats within reach of his little arms.

“Grrru?” He growled with his mouth full.

“Who’s the best princess?”

“Grrah! Rrrgr, brrbgra!” He answered energetically.

“Heh, damm right she is.” I rewarded his enthusiasm with a few head rubs, sending the little reptile into a giggling fit.

“You understood that?!” Hitch demanded within his own frustration of being able to understand all of the critters except this baby dragon.

I nodded nonchalantly and let the issue hang in the air for a few moments until the ponies couldn’t bear it any longer.

“And what did he say?!” Now was Sunny who asked.

“I could answer that, but it would make a lot of ponies mad,” I explained without a fuss. “So, you’re free to guess.”

Izzy’s muzzle scrunched in confusion. “But why would ponies be mad? I think Zipp and Pipp are both amazing princesses.”

“Who said I was talking about them?” I raised my eyebrow mysteriously, leaving the ponies even more baffled.

The double doors of the lounging room burst open suddenly, making us slightly jump in our seats. Two different guards entered first, taking positions at either side of the opened doors after a quick look around the room. The Queen of the Pegasi entered next wearing a tired look. The reason for such sentiment came in the form of the two princesses bickering back and forth, muzzles almost pressed against each other, protesting about decorations being too overloaded or attires being too flashy or whatnot. The usual.

“Girls! That is quite enough!”

Haven’s sharp call made both pegasi flinch and immediately cease their bickering, their heads and ears lowered in shame. In a way only a mother can muster, her scolding leer instantly morphed into an inviting smile when she turned to address us.

“Good afternoon, darlings. My daughters have told me what a great time you’ve had in the city!”

“Oh, it’s been wonderful!” Sunny raised from her place at my side with a vigorous jump. “U-Uh, your Highness.” She quickly caught herself and respectfully bowed.

“Oh, please, none of that, my dear.” Haven waved her foreleg dismissively. “My daughters’ friends are my friends too, and I won’t stand for such formalities between friends.” She half asked half pleaded to her, but addressed all of us present.

Smiling sheepishly, Sunny complied and raised her head again.

“Great news, everypony! Everything’s reeeadyyyyy~!!” Pipp loudly announced in her singsong voice, flapping her wings and striking a pose in the air.

“Indeed, my dear.” Haven lovingly nuzzled her daughter as she landed back on the carpeted floor. “I’ve cleared the rest of my schedule for the afternoon, so we can head over to the great hall and get the party started!” She celebrated in a youthful display of energy.

Those particular words made my head snap around the room automatically in search of a certain pink party mare.

“What are you doing?” Sunny noticed my strange gesture.

“...Nothing, just… force of habit.” I eased her worry.

‘If there's a pony who could pull that off, it would be you, Pinkie…’ I mulled melancholically.

Nopony protested the Queen's proposal, the room instead filling with vigorous cheers as everypony who wasn't standing up did so, and, with both guards leading, headed for the great hall where the party would be held. I, too, stood up and made for the exit, but an outstretched wing from the Queen held me back.

“A word, please. If you’d humor this old mare.” Haven petitioned.

“Pfff, if you’re old then I’m a fossil.” I joked, earning a polite giggle from her. “I know a couple of mares who would die to look as you do in their forties.”

“Oh darling, my youngest was right, you ARE a charmer.”

After everypony had left the cozy room, we followed in tow albeit far enough for our conversation to remain private.

“I know I’ve already asked, and Pipp has talked at length about your little adventure this morning.” She began as we walked side by side through the tall corridors within the western wing of the palace. “But I wanted to hear it from the stallion himself. How did you find my city?”

Smiling to the mare with a sideways glance I spoke honestly. “Simply amazing, Haven, worthy of being called a major city of the Equestrian kingdom. You and your family have done a fantastic job given the circumstances.”

A sigh of profound relief left her nostrils. “You have no idea how relieved I am to hear that, darling. My ponies would never speak badly of their Queen, but hearing it from you soothes my worries.”

“Why is that?”

Haven’s knowing look betrayed her thoughts. “Please, my little Pipp tells me everything, including the particular arrangements of your presence here. Hah! It seems you DO outrank me.” She revealed with a tiny giggle and a wink.

“Of course she would.” I cast an annoyed leer on the ceiling. “Especially when I asked them explicitly NOT to reveal who I am to others.”

“I’m sorry, dear. You might be in her close circle of friends, but I’m her mom.” She went as far as giving me another wink and a hip bump. Another sigh filled the wide corridor, this time from exasperation.

“None of that now! This is a wonderful opportunity!” Haven cheered in an attempt to lift my spirits. “I’m sure your friends will have already asked too many questions, but I can’t help but feel curious myself. We have quite a large collection of books down in the archives, but I can’t possibly read them all, not with all the work that needs to be done.” Haven lamented with a tired groan.

“I’ll be happy to tell you whatever you want to know when you have a moment.” I offered without hesitation. “Although you say you have a library somewhere?” My curiosity was definitely piqued; it could present a huge breakthrough in my investigation.

“We certainly do, but almost nopony bothers to check it out. The tomes in there have been collecting dust since the old times when the city was first established. Well, the original tomes, anyway; we’ve made sure to transcribe them as many times as was required, we never knew if we might have needed them in the future so we planned accordingly.”

“That’s a smart move.” I congratulated her on their initiative. “Make sure to digitize them too, just in case. They deserve to last longer than their physical limitations would otherwise permit. We started doing that on Earth with our oldest written records, to help preserve them for the future.”

Haven took my proposal in earnest. “I’ll be sure to notify the archive caretakers.”

“Would it be okay for me to check them over at some point? Perhaps there’s something that might help me.”

“You’re welcome anytime you wish, just make sure to let the guards know that you have my permission.” She offered with a warm smile.

Rejoiced by her complete willingness to cooperate, my stagnant investigation was now presented with a potential new opportunity to advance. I only prayed that whoever had written and rewritten those books had done so without a biased point of view. If there was something I’d learned to recognize across many examples of Equestrian scientific literature was how on numerous occasions biased opinions stood in the way of the content, which was childish and unacceptable in a healthy scientific community.

Our combined steps bounced alone over the painting-covered walls, now far behind the rest of the entourage of ponies. After a sharp turn to the right, I caught sight of a small terrace that served as a makeshift garden too, where potted fruit trees threatened to shed their leaves in anticipation of the approaching autumn.

My feet carried me out following the sudden train of thought that erupted in my mind. Resting my hands over the railing, the now familiar sight of the city stood before my eyes. The pegasi citizens were now reduced to specks flying back and forth, enjoying the few remaining hours of sunlight before the cold embrace of night urged them to return to their homes. A golden shimmer painted the surrounding sky in its brilliant colors, reaching us through the sparsely scattered clouds swayed by the ascending air currents crashing against the mountain slope.

Haven followed me, puzzled yet not speaking a word. She joined me over the railing, raising herself on her hind legs and resting her forehooves over the painted metal bar.

“Do you know how this city came to be?” I spoke after a minute of silent contemplation.

“My, that’s a complicated question, darling.” She returned with uncertainty. “It’s been so long that everypony just assumes it’s always been here. But I do know that it was built during the time Equestria was united.”

I wetted my lips against the chilling breeze that sought to dry them. “Back in those days, over eighty-six percent of all Equestria’s pegasi lived within the magnificent cloud city of Cloudsdale.” I narrated for the pegasi Queen listening attentively. “And, since it was literally made out of clouds, only pegasi could truly reside up there, unless you were trusty enough to wear a cloud-walking charm around your neck every hour of every day.”

Her amused chuckle reached my ears. “Oh, that would definitely be a hassle.”

“It was. While the rest of the settlements around the country could be enjoyed equally by the three races, Cloudsdale had always maintained that ‘pegasi-only’ demeanor. Since aaaall the way back to the time it stood as the great city of Timbucktu, before the Era of Unification.” I squeezed my brain in search of those history lessons Twilight had unceremoniously shoved inside during my early days with her. “Always so proud, the pegasi. Strong-willed and prone to battle, constantly ignoring the sister’s attempts of annexation until their kingdom became overrun by changelings. That spirit remained up to the recent days of the Diarchy.”

A couple of pegasi flew close to the terrace, waving their hooves in a friendly manner at me, and immediately bowing in the air in the presence of the Queen. “Hmm, that doesn’t sound healthy for the cohesion of the country,” Haven commented.

“It wasn’t THAT bad, but the crown thought they could do better. So, to keep pace with population growth, it was decided that new settlements were to be founded, but the pegasi were reluctant to leave their fluffy cloud dominion. They could just expand their city indefinitely since it was made out of clouds.”

A sad smile grew on my lips. “There’s only so many clouds you can stick together without bringing forth some very nasty weather if you know what I mean.”

Haven’s eyes narrowed in contemplation “I… believe I do.”

“So the crown offered an alternative which would satisfy the pegasi who would miss living in the sky, yet offering a chance to anypony to inhabit it if they so wished.” A wide motion with my arm swept across the city on our feet.

“Oh…” Haven’s eyes widened in realization.

“And then I came by.” I continued, spinning on my heels and then resting my back on the railing. “The weird alien with a head full of ideas and crazy knowledge from his home world. Those crazy ideas manifested in the form of the ISIT program, whose resounding success drew the attention of powerful investors and ponies involved in the development of the new settlements.” I couldn’t help the proud smirk I threw at her. “An Inter-Species Integrative City. High on the clouds yet firm on solid ground. Designed and built with the new developing technology in mind, fully functional without a smidge of magic, yet able to meet any and everypony’s needs.”

Haven’s ears stood straight at attention, her features betraying her bewilderment.

“ISIC-1. The first of many, we had hoped. Following the example of the ones I had shown them through the pictures of my home world. Modern, better, perfectly timed to meet the beginning of a new age. For everycreature around the known world to see.”

Blinking hard, Haven regained her voice. “My word, darling, I’m afraid our records fail to mention this.”

Albeit disappointed, I couldn’t say I was surprised. “I feared that would be the case. But what I just told you isn’t this place’s true purpose.”

“It’s not?!” Haven inquired, taking a step closer and readjusting the crown on her head after her outburst had dislodged it.

A stronger breeze crashed against the palace’s walls, making us both shudder. I tried to keep it short from that point forward. “When the Unity Crystals threatened to cut the ponies’ connection to magic, precautionary measures had to be taken. Magicless pegasi cannot live on clouds, so an emergency plan B had to be devised.”

My gaze returned to the brimming city below me. “The original designs were altered to host as many pegasi as could remain on the continent, which I can now see weren’t that many. And we had to make sure they could live in it without making use of their wings and cloud-walking abilities at all.” I swallowed hard to wet my dry throat. “I wasn’t there to see it built though, but now you know why Zephyr Heights exists in the first place.”

Silence fell over the terrace while Haven did her best to assimilate my words. However, she was denied the chance to do so when a couple of guards startled us, agitated after realizing they had misplaced their Queen on our way to the great hall. With calming gestures, Haven defused their worries and agreed to resume our way to the great hall. The ponies would have arrived by now and might start getting worried if we took too long.

“Thank you for telling me this,” Haven spoke softly as we re-entered the humongous corridors.

“You deserve to know.” I gave her a thankful smile of my own. “And thank you for keeping this place up and running, even after so many centuries of isolation.”

“Ho ho! It’s been my family’s task since time immemorial, my dear. But one thing I can tell you. It’s NOT been an easy task.” She jokingly complained.

“Ruling is never easy.”

Chapter 30- A royal birthday.

“Ugh, finally! Where had you two gone?! We’ve been waiting for ages!” Pipp loudly demanded when she caught sight of Alex and the Queen crossing the threshold of the door leading to the great hall, flanked by the same guards that had led us there and had gone off in a worried search for them when noticing they were missing from our group.

“It’s only been like… ten minutes, Pipp.” The tired voice of Zipp joined her sister’s after a quick look over her phone.

“Yeah, an eternity!”

“Forgive me, my dear fillies.” The Queen left Alex’s side and nuzzled her daughters lovingly. “I’m afraid we got a little bit sidetracked back there. I wanted to know his thoughts regarding your trip to town this morning.” She warmly informed the pegasi sisters. “He also has graciously offered to retell the true origin of Zephyr Heights to me, since he was there to witness it!” She directed a sideways glance at the waiting human. “More or less.”

“That I did.” He confirmed with a firm nod.

A gasp escaped me when my ears caught the news. Another piece of Equestrian history! And I wasn’t there to hear it!

Nickering annoyingly, my legs suddenly grew a mind of their own and unsuspectedly dragged me closer to my human friend. Once at this side, I made sure to address him with my most innocent look.

“Anything I can help you with, miss Starscout?” He questioned in his trademark mock serious tone.

“Mmmmm, perhaps…” I let it hang with a winning smirk, my tail flickering excitedly behind me and betraying my apparent disinterest.

‘Ugh, I swear I’m gonna chop that thing off one of these days… ouch.’

“Then I’m afraid that thing will have to wait, miss, for there's a party awaiting us.” He motioned with his stretched hand.

Denied of my chance to learn a new piece of a long-lost age, I was about to start pouting, my most effective counterattack, but his gloved hand found its way under my chin and began scratching, hitting me dead on my weak spot and rendering me utterly defenseless.

“C-C-Cheater…” I managed to stutter between unrestrained hums of pleasure.

“And proud of it.” He smugly returned.

I had to give myself a metaphoric kick in the head to escape his prison. We were in the presence of royalty! This was no time to start acting like a filly!

Although I made sure to remind myself to resume the session later.

Seeing my poor attempts at a temporary retreat, he let go of me with an amused chuckle. “I’ll tell you some other time, it’s not that big of a deal.”

I took deep offense at such a travesty. “What do you mean it’s not ‘that big of a deal’?!! Anything regarding our lost history is a big d-”

“GUARDS!!” The piercing call of the Queen made me flinch and flatten my ears over my head. “Please inform the royal chefs that they may begin bringing forth the treats and refreshments. Ohoho, it’s sure been a while…” She cheered to herself in a manner that brought a crooked grin to my muzzle, and an embarrassed one to her daughters’.

“Time’s up, Tangerine.” I couldn’t help the blush warming my cheeks at his use of that nickname. “Now, to stuff our faces with whatever the chefs have prepared, else we offend Her Royal Highness.” He dramatically uttered, shaking his hands in front of my face.

“That’s the last thing we’d want.” I joked back, and with a shared laugh joined the rest of our friends around the long table covering up the central portion of the hall.

Or at least, we tried to, but on our way, we almost stumbled over Hitch, who was desperately chasing his baby dragon who, encouraged by the smell of soon-to-be-arriving tasty food, was already making a beeline towards the unsuspecting waiters.

“SPARKY!! NO!!”

“Grrrrah!!”

Leaving the poor sheriff behind, I couldn’t help but fondly comment. “He makes such a great dad…”

“If my visits to the Dragonlands are any indication, I believe he is,” Alex added after me, his sight also fixed on the galloping stallion.

“You’ve visited the Dragonlands?” I now realize it was kinda stupid to ask considering who he was, but my curiosity got the better of me at the moment.

“Mhm, several times. My brother and I had some work to do with the dragons after the establishment of the UH. And by some I mean a huuuuge load of.”

‘The Dragonlands! The mythical lands of the dragons under the rule of the mighty Dragon Lord who… wait.’

“Your brother?!!” My ear-splitting inquiry was enough to catch Izzy’s attention, making her stop harassing the poor waitress for more avocado bites and tune in her ears to our direction.

“Who’ffs ffrother?” She mirrored my question with her muzzle full of tasty bites.

“I thought I’d told you already.” He twirled on his heels to address us both. “I spent a lot of time with the little guy. I mean, we lived in the same castle, always surrounded by mares from ALL directions. With time and a lot of guy talking we grew close enough to consider each other siblings and, after my formal adoption into the Sparkle family, it kinda became more or less official.”

“Your brother was a dragon?!!” Izzy asked again, not before stuffing another bite in her hungry jaws.

“Yeah.” He scratched the back of his head sheepishly. “I have a weird family.”

Izzy pointedly dragged her gaze along his entire length. “I can tell…” She teased, surely referring to his weird anatomy. I mean, not weird just… peculiar.

‘But you want a piece of it alright.’ My brain was kind enough to remind me.

“I was talking about you, idiot.” Alex reacted before Izzy could escape, whereupon he playfully tousled her curly mane and secured her between his arms.

“AAAH!!” Izzy cried in surprise. She gave her best to try and escape, but Alex’s strong arms kept her in place. Tussling her mane to the point it mirrored her usual morning bedmane monster, Alex only let go when he was satisfied. Although we couldn’t see her eyes behind the mess of blue hair, it was evident Izzy wasn’t amused.

“There’ll be consequences…” She announced in a threatening voice.

“I’ll make sure to dampen the noise around the room later tonight, then.” He teased back in a suggestive tone.

With a pump of her forehoof and a victory ‘YES!’, Izzy's attention returned to the long table which now held new treats freshly prepared.

“You’re not serious right?” I asked, definitely NOT feeling the slightest bit concerned about his suggestion.

A few tense seconds passed between us, after which he simply returned an exaggerated shrug and went to join Izzy in grabbing a bite, leaving me behind to watch blankly at the exuberant curtains Pipp had chosen for the occasion.

‘He’s only joking… He IS joking!’ I convinced myself… more or less.

“Ponieeeees~” Pipp’s call saved me from mentally slapping my nonsense away. Pumping her wings, she had her back turned to us and held her phone high, ready to take a snap. Hastily bringing forth my best smile, I only noticed Alex’s return to my side when I felt him dragging me closer to him with his left arm, resting it over my back and kneeling to stand at our height. Izzy accompanied us at his other side so that the three of us together could pose for the impromptu selfie.

“Say cheeeeese!!”

Following her lead and smiling broadly, the clicking sound from her phone concluded the short photo session. “Oh, I’m so getting this framed!” Pipp celebrated with an excited twist in the air.

Not a second later, a ping from my phone alerted me of an incoming message, that being Pipp having sent the picture through our shared group in Teleprance. A fond smile lit my reflection on the screen when the sight of us came into view, Alex hugging both myself, Izzy, and Hitch. The butterscotch stallion had finally secured the rampant dragon between his forelegs, and he sat on his haunches alongside Zipp, whose wing draped behind the sheriff’s back. Pipp’s face barely clung to the bottom of the picture in her haste to take it, but we all looked amazing together.

‘Yeah, I think I’m getting it framed too.’

Letting go of Izzy and freeing her to resume her bouncing around the hall, I noticed how his arm didn’t move from my back, instead moving up to grab my previously, and now positively stress-relieved shoulder.

“You sure you’re okay? Perhaps I went a bit overboard back there…”

Warmed by his concern for my well-being, I assured him I was totally fine with a thankful nuzzle to his arm. Smiling tenderly in return, he let go of my shoulder and raised himself on his hooves… um, feet, and motioned for us to join the bigger group of ponies, who now included several of the guards in charge of the protection of the royal family. The Queen had granted them temporary leave so they could enjoy the party with us, yet their uniform and equipment never left their side.

“WAIT!” Pipp jumped into the air from within the circle of ponies and sped towards the music equipment the palace staff had arranged in advance. I hadn’t even noticed it since it had remained silent since the party started.

“I can’t believe I almost forgot!” She dramatically bellowed in front of the folding table atop which the twin speakers rested. Plugging in her phone and quickly browsing through her seemingly endless playlist, her hoof finally tapped on the screen when she’d found her desired track.

An upbeat rhythm filled the air, the melody roughly matching that of Pipp’s usual pop hits, yet this song wasn’t hers. My hooves, making use of that mind of their own, started tapping in sync with the music bouncing on my ears.

“Ah, this is one of my favorites,” Alex observed, his own feet slowly following my lead.

“Is this from your world?” I couldn’t help but wonder, feeling the beat now reaching up to my hips.

A simple nod of confirmation, which soon transitioned into a bobbing motion of his head. “Come on, Sunny. Show me what you got.” Now loudly tapping his feet on the marble floor, his body began swaying to the beat of the song that had just entered the refrain.

Had it been anypony else asking, I would most certainly have begun feeling apprehensive and shily refrained from complying. I wasn’t a very good dancer… I wasn’t a good dancer, period.

But not with my best friends, and especially not with him. If something had become clear to me from the time spent with him, especially during that alicorn fiasco thingy from a week ago, it was that I could trust him. I could allow myself to feel vulnerable around him, where I could just be myself, and never would he try to take advantage of it, or make fun of me.

Previous experiences had made me hesitant to expose my true self to others, but meeting the ponies who are now my closest friends, and Alex as well, had drastically changed the way I saw the world.

“Come ooooon.” He egged me on. “You can’t be a worse dancer than me.” He jested, striking a pose and mirroring holding a mic to his muzzle while following the song’s chorus with his lips.

A quick glance saw the rest of our friends already far into the beat, a very energetic Izzy flailing her limbs wildly in her own particular style of dancing. And, funnily enough, I caught the Queen herself shaking her body in a very youthful manner to the visible surprise of her guards, who made sure to give her a wide berth.

“Hit it, Mom!!” Pipp cheered from the air where she performed dance move after dance move in a manner only a pegasus could achieve, making full use of her wings.

It felt overwhelming but in a good way. My own birthday party had been a blast. The dancing, the jokes, the gifts, the games, the… perhaps a smidge too much cider. I felt then like I was living a dream, a dream come true. And I craved more of it, more of that wondrous notion of having the time of my life with my friends.

My eyes met his once again, friendly and inviting. His hand reached towards me and, with a tiny nod, the invitation was extended. A thousand butterflies fluttered in my tummy, the warmth threatening to asphyxiate my entire self. I could hardly believe my eyes. Me, the weird mare with the crazy ideas who always got into trouble and was the butt of everypony’s jokes, asked out to dance with the guy I… well, it was undeniable what I felt for him at that point.

So many unfulfilled hopes were all but accomplished over these past few months, and I was about to fulfill one of my most cherished dreams. Not even that idiot had asked me out on a dance during the short time we spent together, and the last thing I wanted to do was to think about that prick at a time like this.

So, leaving behind any lingering inhibitions, and feeling my cheeks and ears light up to impossible temperatures, I took his hand into my hooves and let go.

“Yeaaaah!! Go Sunnyyyy!!! WOOO!!” Izzy, having caught sight of us begging to dance together, loudly cheered without missing a beat of her own moves.

For a moment I grew worried about the fact that, considering our anatomical differences, dancing would become a very awkward matter or outright impossible. However, my concerns were unfounded. With practiced ease from his time prior to our first meeting, he guided me through the motions of pony and human dancing, which from an outside perspective might have seemed ridiculous, but at the time I couldn't care less. During slower songs, the tempo would slow down enough for me to get up on my hind legs and dance alongside him. When it sped up, my wobbly bipedal position was not agile enough to keep up, so I got back on all fours and started shaking my body to the tune of the music. I even tried to imitate some of his dance moves, ‘freshly arrived from Earth’ he quoted. I tried my best, but most moves demanded his superior flexibility.

Song after song we danced the afternoon away, only taking brief pauses for some much-needed hydration, and a longer pause for the dreaded birthday song moment. Poor Zipp almost succeeded in bolting out of the hall in embarrassment had it not been for her sister pinning her down in front of the massive cake. And when we all began to sing, she tried to hide underneath the tablecloth but was foiled by her mother’s exceedingly strong hold on her nape.

Most of the time I danced with him, although Izzy would steal him from me from time to time for a dance in which, I’m ashamed to admit, she was way more talented than I was. I used the opportunities to switch partners and share a dance with the rest of our friends. I was relieved to see poor Hitch similarly fumbling over his hooves like I had been, taking a small amount of delight in knowing that I was at least sharing the title of the evening’s ‘Worst Dancer’. Who would’ve thought he’d be such a ladies’ stallion? When Alex and I weren’t dancing, we rested our limbs together while enjoying another bite of the scrumptious meal the palace’s cooks had whipped up for us. His hand always unconsciously searched for my mane and it made me weak at the knees.

A permanent blush had taken root on my cheeks and ears, and my foggy mind could barely register what was transpiring. So many stupid fantasies and dreams were fulfilled in a single day, I felt like my heart was going to burst out of my chest!

An amount of time later I didn’t bother to register, both of us found ourselves panting like we had just run a marathon. Another catchy song, this time from the pop star princess herself came to an end, granting us precious seconds to catch our breath and have another portion of the considerably emptier silver plates. Trotting by his side away from the dance floor, I saw Alex stretching his now sore legs.

“Mmmgg, I’m too old for this…”

“That’s grown old by now.” I flatly noted after hearing his recurring lament for the billionth time.

“I have, you mean.” He joked back, eliciting a hip bump and an eye roll from me, accompanied by the silly smile permanently stretching my lips.

Seeing as how all the partygoers were exhausted by this point, as soon as we’d polished off the rest of the food, we decided to call an end to the party… or at least the party being held in the great hall. Tomorrow was a working day for the palace’s staff, the Queen included. We had gone through the better part of Pipp’s playlist, and the afternoon sun had already made way for the pale moon hanging over the night sky. But, seeing as we weren’t feeling particularly sleepy yet, mostly thanks to the absence of any alcoholic slash salty drinks in that night’s celebrations, we decided to continue in the sisters’ shared bedroom, although in a calmer mood so as to not bother the palace’s other occupants.

Thanking the ponies in charge of the catering for their service, we left the clean-up for the night shift crew and followed Zipp and Pipp to their bedroom, who claimed that the room was big enough to accommodate us all. The rest of us had been assigned guest rooms but, as I said, we weren’t feeling like hitting the hay yet. A unanimous desire to milk as much as we could from this night was shared between our little group. Hitch made for a quick detour to his room to tuck in a passed-out Sparky, having exhausted himself from all the fooling around and running himself ragged in foalish delight.

Their shared bedroom was huge, even for a two-pony room. Two beds stood against the opposite wall from the entrance, one with colorful bed hangings, plush pillows, and a thick mattress, with the other bed sporting a more simplistic and rustic aesthetic. It was evident who slept in what. A large window separated the two beds, the faint moonlight filtering through, but barely noticeable against the powerful ceiling lamp that illuminated the entire room. A simple wardrobe stood proud near each of the beds, while marks on the floor and walls revealed traces of several other pieces of furniture that had once adorned each of the sisters’ corners, but now accompanied them back to their sleeping arrangements in the brighthouse. That made the room feel somewhat empty, but on the other hoof, it meant more than enough room for all of us to hang out. Several blankets and pillows were arranged over the chilling marble floor for our comfort.

“Okay, ponies!” Pipp called out once we were all settled in, with Izzy and I in our usual positions at Alex’s sides while the rest closed up the circle. “Are you feeling up for some games?”

A few nods and words of excitement prompted the eager pegasus to vigorously beat her wings and flap them over her bed while she snuck a foreleg into the saddlebag resting above it in search of something.

“Come on… I know I put it somewhere…” She muttered under her breath, sticking her tongue in concentration. “AH-HA!!”

Her victory cry was followed by her forehooves rising in the air, a deck of cards held tightly in her grasp. Alex, straining his eyes to better discern the logo printed over the cardboard case, facepalmed once recognition flashed in his eyes.

“Mother of Faust…”

“Who’s up for a game of ‘Match it’?!!” Pipp asked, quickly gliding back to rejoin the circle.

“UNO, Pipp. It's called UNO.”

“Huh?” The Pink pegasus scrunched her muzzle. “Um, no it's not.” She pointed with her free hoof over the printed name of the game over the casing. “See?”

“It’s called UNO.” Alex stubbornly refused to give in.

“Match it.”

“UNO”

“Match it!!”

“UNO!!!”

“MATCH IT!!!”

“UNO!!!”

“UGH!!” Pipp desperately pulled down on her cheeks. “It’s literally printed right here!!” She now heatedly jabbed the colorful logo. A crooked smirk betrayed our shared amusement, but no pony made a move to interrupt their scuffle.

“That!” He pointed with his finger. “That is rip-off of Earth’s version, and there it’s called UNO!” He crossed his arms over his chest and pouted. “And I refuse to call it anything else!”

Pipp’s left eye was now rapidly twitching, a snarl emitting from her muzzle and an accusing hoof stretched before her. “Yours is the rip-off! And I won’t stand you desecrating the greatest card game to ever exist!”

With a humph, both stuck their snouts in the air and refused to acknowledge the other, casting the room in an awkward silence.

“Soooo, are we gonna play or…?” Zipp spoke after a few tense moments.

“Hmph, I will make an exception and play your silly game.” Alex begrudgingly conceded, still refusing to make eye contact.

“And I’ll be the bigger mare and accept your proposal.” Pipp agreed in a similar manner to the pouting human. Opening the casing, she extracted the deck and began shuffling the cards.

Placing a comforting hoof over his crossed legs, I looked up at him. “You’re being dramatic.”

“It’s heresy, Sunny.” He lost his offended demeanor to meet my gaze. “Heresy!”

Comforting pats on his knee were enough to at least bring him down from his tantrum and, once Pipp had begun dealing the cards, he picked them up as if they were soiled nappies.

“Eugh.” He scrunched his flat muzzle while analyzing each of the cards he had been given. “What are these designs…”

“Stop whining already!!” Pipp heatedly demanded as she dealt the last of the cards.

“…Oh, what have they done to you…?!” Alex ignored her and continued whining, now casting a sorrowful look at the colorful numbers printed over each of the lively cards. Izzy and I could only look at each other behind his back and hold in our giggling with a hoof pressed against our snouts.

Since only the sisters had played beforehoof, a quick practice round was called for. The rules were fairly easy and soon everypony, and human, got the hang of it. A few rounds were played, the winners rotating between the sisters and Alex, all of them having played previously, the experience giving them the upper hoof. But none of us protested, instead attentively watching their three-sided duels once the number of cards in our hooves was big enough to make it clear we wouldn’t win that one either.

“UNO.” Alex called with a single card grasped between his fingers, making Pipp growl menacingly once again.

“You’re supposed to say ‘Last one.’” Zipp, seeing her sister on the brink of blowing up, decided to speak for her.

“Never.” He flatly answered in another stubborn bout.

Rolling her eyes tiredly, she returned her focus to her own hoof of cards. This round ended up being hers in the end, making the three of them tie in the number of accumulated wins. Of course, we couldn’t let it hang like that, so a final round of winners was quickly arranged. The stakes were high since the winner would hold the right to call the game by the name of their choosing, putting an end to the debate of which game was the rip-off.

A very smug Pipp meticulously hoofed the cards to the three contenders, the rest of us already having pulled out of the circle to stand aside and enjoy the show.

“Aww, if only we had some popcorn…” Izzy lamented with ears lowered, a sentiment that only lasted a second that is before her peppiness returned. That’s how she was.

“One of these days, Izzy, I’m going to teach you how to access the Hammerspace.” Alex said, briefly addressing our friend’s lament with his sight never leaving the cards arranged between his fingers.

“The what?” Hitch wondered.

“I’ll explain later; for now, I need absolute concentration.”

With that, the final round began, searching eyes looking over their hoof of cards and over the other players, trying to figure out their rivals’ moves. We didn’t voice it out loud, not risking our friends taking offense, but Izzy and I were rooting for Alex. I could feel her tail tapping on my back now and again from her excited wagging. Fewer players meant this last round took considerably less time. Pipp was down to only two cards while Zipp bit her lip nervously, her eyes running over her remaining three cards. Alex had five cards remaining, making his chances of winning poor, yet his expression remained impassive and focused.

“Aaaaaand, last oneeeee~!” Pipp chanted, proudly placing one of her two remaining cards over the pile which, by that point, had fallen sideways from the sheer number of cards stacked atop one another. “I’m so sorry, my dear human friend, but the Queen remains unbeaten!!” Pipp goaded with full confidence in her impending victory.

“Is that so…” Alex returned, unbothered by her taunting. “Zipp, if you will…” He ushered the oldest sister who had to draw twice before finding a matching card.

“Ugh.” Zipp lamented her chances of winning now all but dust in the howling winds of Zephyr Peaks.

“Oh please.” Pipp waved her hoof dismissively. “Just recognize your crushing defeat and don’t embarrass yourself furth-”

“Draw four, draw two, skip, draw four, uno!… aaaaaaand…” He raised the remaining card for all of us to see, dropping it forcefully over the collapsed pile with a victory ‘HA!!’.

A heavy silence fell over the room, with neither a muscle twitching nor a snout breathing. Spectators and players alike witnessed how the smugness drained from Pipp’s features as her posture slowly sagged forward, her last cards falling from her limp hooves. Her muzzle, slightly opened, struggled to utter a sound.

Crawling on his knees and avoiding the scattered pile of cards, Alex slowly approached the defeated pegasus with his own victory smirk. Moving his mouth near her droopy ears, he spoke in a whisper.

“I win. At what game did I just win?” He asked with a toothy smile, making Pipp’s limp ear twitch.

“U-u….uuuuuu…”

“Yeeees?”

“Uuuuunnnnn….”

“I can’t hear youuuuu~”

“Uuuunnnnnnnnnoo…” Pipp managed to squeak, wincing when the foreign word escaped her lips.

“You’re damm right I did.”

As he retreated with his evilest grin, Pipp’s forelegs came in, dropping her unceremoniously over the pile of cards in front of her, scattering them in the air and all around the room. Some fell over her coat and mane, sticking and only adding to the sorry sight of her crushing defeat. Low pained moas could be discerned from under the mane covering her face, snout tightly pressed against the cold marble floor and forelegs stretched before her. Her sister patted the poor pegasi's back comfortingly, yet unbothered by her dramatic performance.

“Guess we'll have to issue a royal decree to change the name. Sorry, sis.” She rubbed her back reassuringly, eliciting another pained, now considerably louder wail from the youngest princess.

With a sigh of profound accomplishment, Alex fell on his back, his head resting near where Izzy and I had been witnessing that final game.

“I did it, girls.” He glanced at us, flashing an upside-down smirk.

“You sure did.” I reached and patted his brow with my hoof, forcing his eyes to close. Izzy wasn’t so subtle with her congratulations, falling to her belly and tenderly nuzzling his face.

“Ah, the spoils of victoryAUCH!!” Alex’s entire being snapped upwards when the notion of Izzy nipping his nose registered in his brain. The culprit in question pursed her lips and whistled innocently, suddenly finding a spot on the painted ceiling worthy of her full attention.

Making a mouth shape with his hand, he snapped over Izzy’s muzzle, making her return the gesture and throwing them both into one of their usual scuffles.

“Guys, come on. You’re gonna wake the whole castle up.”

Hitch's soft scolding was enough to cease their fray. The biting contest had degenerated into a mares’ fight of sorts, with forelegs and arms equally flailing in the air but failing to hit one another.

A big yawn left my muzzle before I could see it coming, spreading to Hitch and Zipp whose own muzzles opened wide, following mine. The… now-renamed UNO Championship had been exhilarating but had worked wonders to drain the last of our energy reserves.

“Come on ponies,” I called my best friends. “Time to hit the sack, we can pick it up again tomorrow at breakfast.” I finished with another poorly disguised yawn.

“You remember where your rooms are?” Zipp inquired, dragging her still limp sister to her bed.

“Down the hall, two lefts, one right, one flight of stairs, a left, another left and…”

“Just across the hallway to our right.” Alex cut Izzy’s crazy tirade off, nogging her softly on her scalp.

“Yours is the furthest away on the right. I asked the staff to arrange a bed to fit your size.” Zipp informed our human friend.

“And by ‘arrange’, you mean ‘shove two beds together’, am I right?” He playfully hit back with a raised eyebrow.

“Well, excuuuuuse me for not anticipating the arrival of a legendary hero from the past who happens to be twice as tall as us.”

“The nerve, am I right?” Alex lightly jabbed my side with his elbow.

“Oh, yes. Totally unacceptable.” I went with the flow, our offended features soon breaking into shared chuckling.

“Hehe, well. G’night everypony.” Zipp said, flapping over her bed and falling flat on her belly in a very unprincess-like manner.

“I’ll have my revenge,” Pipp growled from her bed, narrowed eyes peeking over the sheets covering her and boring into Alex’s innocent visage.

“I shall be waiting.” Alex’s shit-eating grin only managed to drive her further up the wall. Yeah, tomorrow we were in for some rain clouds, alright.

Three ponies and a lone human marched down the corridor, our rooms arranged facing two-by-two at the very end of the palace’s dormitory wing. Her Highness’ bedroom lay at the opposite end of the long corridor. More portraits lined the walls we passed; most of them, if not all, were portraying members of the royal family, some long gone and others more recent. Zipp and Pipp stood proud in three of them, from their time as little fillies to the one painted only a few weeks ago. Their soggy manes, seaweed-covered coats, and guilty smiles welcomed us to our rooms, mine facing Hitch’s, and Alex’s and Izzy’s right at the very end where a sharp turn left would bring us back to the central corridor connecting all the way back to the throne room. The sounds of the last of the palace’s employees topping off the cleaning effort bounced around the otherwise completely silent halls. Since they were hired employees and not servants per se, their dwellings were within the city below, meaning that by the time night covered the land, the palace would become almost empty aside from the required night guard detachment for precautionary measures. One of those night guards stood at attention on that very corner, flashing us a warm smile and wishing us a good night along with a reminder to come to him should we require anything during our stay.

“Sleep tight, ponies.” Hitch tiredly waved his hoof and whispered, not wanting to disturb the little dragon resting within his quarters. Returning our hushed goodbyes, the sheriff disappeared behind the golden-decorated door, hiding a yawn behind his foreleg.

My room stood right across from his so, turning on my hooves, I too made a beeline toward some much-needed rest. Alex and Izzy walked the rest of the distance to their own rooms. Izzy reached her room first, opening the door wide, but remaining right in the foyer, using her body to block Alex’s progress towards his destination with an inviting hoof outstretched and her most sultry grin possible.

Snorting at her boldness, he gently flicked her snout, making her flinch and snort loudly in return, ceasing her unashamed efforts. He made use of the distraction and swiftly went around the now pouting unicorn and, with a wave of his hand, wished us a good night’s rest and disappeared behind the confines of his accommodations.

Scratching her itchy snout, Izzy scowled dejectedly. “I almost had him…”

“No, Izzy.” I patted her comfortably on her withers, my ears twitching at the restrained laugh of the guard who did his best to remain neutral to our little number. “You didn’t.”

“Meh, it was worth a try.” Her sad demeanor quickly morphed into a playful one, flashing me a cheeky wink and nudging my side with her elbow. “G’night, bestie.”

And with that, she pranced into her room and kicked the door shut with her rear leg, leaving me slightly perplexed yet already used to her usual silliness.

Seeing no reason to keep myself away from my cozy arrangements, I trotted the distance separating me from my lodgings and entered in a swift movement, trying hard to make as little noise as possible. The room I was given resembled that of the pegasi sisters’ in decoration, yet this one was meant for a single pony or a couple if you didn’t mind sleeping close together.

Without further ceremony I secured my saddlebag over a nearby chair, removed my horseshoes, tucked them near the bedside for tomorrow’s use, and then undid my braid, leaving my wild mane free to tangle and untangle itself in its usual mess.

‘Sigh, one of these days I’m getting rid of you, I swear…’

With a hop, I reached the mattress and quickly slipped under the thick covers, slightly shivering at their soft yet still chilling feeling, something I would fix soon and finally get some rest from that day’s crazy city tour slash party adventure.

Closing my eyes and smacking my lips, I waited for sleep’s peaceful embrace to take me, my mind replaying that day’s events with a smile growing on my lips. Yet, from all the experiences and cherished memories I had created that wonderful day, my thoughts kept getting stuck on a series of scenes, and it was the scenes where I had danced with him.

Faust, I could barely describe the sheer amount of feelings running wild through my head. Not even then, when all the hustle and bustle had passed, did my thoughts flow clearly, and neither could I find the words to express what my heart was screaming to me. The familiar warmth that filled my entire self every time I thought about him in that way was more than enough to chase away the freezing temperatures of the closing summer.

Tugging on the covers reaching my chin, my previous grin blossomed into a full-thrill smile which couldn’t prevent a few fillish squeals from filling the enclosed quarters, my rear legs kicking softly under the covers.

‘My hoofness, Sunny. You’re worse than a school filly!’ I mentally chastised myself, but the butterflies in my tummy reminded me in uncertain terms about my feelings towards him. That night had been absolutely magical if nothing else, and our proximity, his warm demeanor, his patience while teaching me how to adapt my steps to his… I fell for him even harder, if such a thing was even possible.

And yet, from within the fuzzy cloud of hormones and heated thoughts, a chilling dread froze my train of thoughts in its tracks, and promptly dragged them towards a new direction: the room across mine on the right.

“Izzy…”

My best friend in the whole world, my partner from the very beginning of the greatest adventure of our age. The pony I trusted with my life, the one who would know my first thoughts, my insecurities, and my dreams. My confidant, my…

“My wingmare…”

That’s how I had envisioned her at first. She would be the one to help me out of my shell and drive me to take the last step, for I knew for sure I could never muster the confidence to approach him with the dreaded question all by myself. That night, I had broken free from my inhibitions, and had we been alone under different circumstances, there would’ve been a slight chance I might have dropped the ball on him.

I had grown accustomed to her silly antics and saucy humor by then, the dynamic between her and Alex was something that always brought a smile to my lips. Yet, the wiggling worm in my ear kept yammering about her potential interest in him, too. My best friend had turned into my rival. That’s something that the cheesy romance ponies would whip out in some obscure place on the Canternet. This was real life, we were all grown ponies, and that kind of foalish reasoning was unbecoming of a mare.

And yet, no amount of mental flexing would make it shut up, and the closer I felt to him, the louder it screeched its ugly words to me.

I had to do something about it.

‘What are you gonna do? Barge into her room and demand answers? Secure your position and leave her in the dust? Some friend you are…’

“Shut up!” I seethed to my stupid brain. “I would never do that to her!”

‘So, then what? You're still gonna wait around while she grows the courage to ask him and then hit your head against the wall calling yourself ‘stupid’ over and over again?’

My brain knew me better than myself. “No! Ugh!” I rolled over onto my side, the coziness from the warmed-up blankets now a foreign dream.

‘Come now, Sunny, let’s be honest, you don’t have a chance.’

“Of course I do!”

‘Pfff, did you take a good look at her? How do you expect him to choose you over that?’

Yes, I wasn’t afraid to recognize it; Izzy was gorgeous, had a great figure, filled flanks, a flowing mane, beautiful eyes, a creative mind, a permanent cheery mood, always striving to get a smile out of you. Compared to that I was…

‘What? What are you, Sunny?’

Swallowing loudly, I initially couldn’t come up with an answer, curling around myself further into the blankets.

“…I’m his best friend.”

‘So is she.’

“…I’m an alicorn.”

‘Oh please, the last day's pitiful stunt wasn't enough?!’

“…I’m pretty too. He’s said it before.”

‘He’s a charmer. He says it to every mare he passes by. Don’t think yourself that special.’

I was running out of options by then, my mane was the only part of myself uncovered by the thick blankets by that point.

“I’m…” I stuttered and was forced to wet my lips. “I… I remind him of Twilight…”

‘HA! And how’s that supposed to be a good thing?!!”

“NNNNGGG!!” Aggressively rolling onto my back and kicking the sheets covering my head away, I grabbed the pillow and muffled a desperate yell, leaving me with bated breath and the beginnings of tears threatening to paint my cheeks.

‘So, who are you, Sunny, that Izzy or any other mare is not?’

On the brink of falling apart, his image intruded into my derailed thoughts, a memory of our first journey to Canterlot during the Discord crisis. ‘You only have to be you, Sunny. That’s all we need.’

I clenched my teeth and, as a stallion would word it, ‘grew a pair’. Forcefully throwing away the remaining blankets trapping me under their comforting warmth, I jumped down on my hooves and steadily made for the door.

‘Wait, where are you go-?’

“Silence!” Once again, I shut my stupid brain, this time meaning it. “I’m going to Izzy’s room, I’m going to spill my guts to her, and we will approach this manner as the grown mares we are! Do you hear me?!”

No answer was uttered. Satisfied, I retraced my steps back to the silent corridor, flashing a sign to the attentive guard that everything was fine.

Reaching Izzy’s room, I knocked twice on her door but received no response.

“She must already be asleep.” I reasoned dejectedly. “Perhaps it’s best if I try later… no, I have to do this now!”

It hurt me to bother my best friend in such a manner, but I knew that if I didn't get it done then, I might never grow the nerve to try again.

Steeling my resolve, I gently twisted the doorknob and cast an exploratory look around the room, an exact yet inverted mirror of mine. The lump of sheets slowly rising and falling gave away my friend’s sleeping form.

“Psst, Izzy!” I loudly whispered, crossing the foyer completely and closing the door behind me. The guard on the corridor needn’t be aware of our affairs.

“Psssst, Izzyyy!!” I called louder, eliciting a sleepy snort from the unicorn who used the moment to scratch her flank under the blankets.

“Izzy!!” I yelled that time, scaring the unicorn from her slumber and making her jump her height over the mattress.

“Wha?! Who?!!” Izzy fervently searched around the place, still half asleep. The moment her bleary eyes met mine, her posture relaxed a bit. “Oh, Sunny! You almost scared the fur off of me!” She protested with a pout and crossed her forelegs.

“Sorry, Izzy.” My ears flattened against my scalp. “I, uh… I need to talk to you about something. It’s serious.”

Her eyes narrowed in contemplation, carefully analyzing me and leaving me without an answer.

“*GASP!!*” A light bulb lit over her head. “Sunny. Are you on your period?!” She grabbed the sheet’s rim expectantly.

“W-what?” Her weird question caught me by surprise.

“Oh, it’s something Alex always asks me whenever I’m acting extra wonky.” She stuck her tongue and crossed her eyes as she worded it.

“Um, no I’m… not on my period…” I made a mental note to ask him what he meant by that tomorrow. “But… it has to do with Alex.”

“Oh.” Now came her turn to be surprised. “Well then… hop in.” She patted the mattress in a welcoming manner. With a flick of her magic, she turned the night lamp on.

Taking her invitation, I crossed the distance with trembling legs and pulled myself up the bed, not able to fully meet her questioning eyes.

“So, what’s eating you?” She ushered me to voice my concerns.

I tucked my limbs under me in a feeble attempt to hide their shaking, but the trembling of my voice betrayed my uneasiness. “W-Well I, uh…”

‘Come on, Sunny, it’s now or never!’

Swallowing hard, I managed to stutter a few words. “H-How do you feel about A-Alex?”

Contrary to my positively terrified mood, a fond smile split her muzzle. “Why, I think he’s great! I mean, he might as well be the nicest stallion I’ve ever met. And I’ve met a couple of ‘em if you know what I mean…” Her teasing smirk saw her playfully jabbing my exposed side.

Her comment lit my cheeks and ears crimson, momentarily distracting me from the matter at hoof. “Ugh.” I gave myself a good shake. “What I meant is that… I want to know if you like him.” My features turned more serious.

“Um.” She scratched her scalp in confusion. “That’s what I just said…” Her ears flattened a bit, not following my reasoning.

“Like him,” I repeated a smidge harsher. “As in like like him.”

Her confusion lasted for a few more seconds before a profound revelation shaped her muzzle into an ‘O’.

“Oooooh...” She finally got my meaning, eyes widening in understanding. “Well, sure! You can’t blame a mare for being curious.” She answered nonchalantly as if I had just asked her what today’s weather forecast was. However, as easygoing as her answer was, it worked wonders to drain the blood from my face and limbs.

‘Oh, no…’

“I mean.” She continued, not noticing my rising panic. “He’s very nice, especially compared to those stuck-up snots from Bridlewood. Why, during last year’s estrus season, you would see a mare literally shake her flanks in front of a guy’s snout and only manage to elicit a bored ‘meh’. I swear sometimes I felt I could just…” Gritting her teeth in frustration, she mirrored choking somepony with her forehooves. She held her position for a few moments before relenting and taking a deep breath.

“U-Uh huh.” I acknowledged her protest, almost choking on my own words.

Snorting to release the last of her frustration, she twisted her body a bit in search of a comfier position. “Also, he has this… I don’t know, laidback and sophisticated aura around him, it almost feels a bit cold from the outside sometimes. He’s very cool and collected.” Another fond smile from her lit up the room. “But he also can be so goofy when he’s in the mood.”

The more she spoke, her less playful mirth tainted her voice, replaced by a tender softness that permeated every word. Her eyes left mine and instead focused on the space between us, her mind conjuring scenarios I was positive weren’t that different from the ones I had envisioned myself. “He’s very patient and doesn’t mind my saucy humor and playful flirting. He’s always there to lend a hoof if you need it, whether it’s some word of counsel or just a warm cuddle… ponies back in Bridlewood were just so cold…” Her whole body visibly shivered even while being under the warmed-up blankets. “And… I’ve heard some ponies comment about his weird looks and all, but I believe it’s high time we ponies stop judging each other by our looks.”

Finishing with a longing sigh, silence fell over the room, only broken by her tranquil breathing and my poorly disguised one, for as much as it warmed my heart to hear my best friend sharing my exact thoughts on the stallion I was falling for, it might as well have meant I had already lost the war before it had even begun.

Fighting the looming tears with all my heart, I tried my best to come to terms with reality and not give Izzy the wrong impression.

‘See, you stupid mare? Thinking you held even the smallest of chances…’

Reeling away from my brain’s chastising, I swallowed my nerves and shakily said all that was left to say.

“W-Well, it’s g-great that you f-feel that way.” I offered my most convincing smile. “Y-You two would make a great couple...” I was on the brink of losing it by the time I finished, my broken heart burning my chest in unfiltered sorrow, only worsened by the feeling of having made a fool of myself with all those stupid thoughts and crazy scenarios and plans and…

“Pfff, what?” She snorted the moment her ears registered my final statement. “I ain’t gonna do anything about it!” She declared, sounding way cheerier than anypony is entitled to be given the nature of her message.

Whatever pain ran through my trembling form promptly evaporated, leaving behind a profound sense of puzzlement. “W-W-What?!” I managed to stutter.

“Don’t get me wrong, on any other day I would jump at the chance.” Her posture lowered further in a sideways position, her head moving to rest over her upturned hoof. “I’m sure we can both agree that any mare who doesn’t realize he’s quite the catch is simply stupid.”

“I-I guess…” I was feeling more and more lost the more she talked.

“But, alas, he’s not mine to take.” Another longing, albeit a bit exaggerated sigh left her nostrils.

“B-But why?! You just said it yourself!” I surprised myself by starting to feel angry at her easy-going manner of throwing away such an opportunity.

“I did.” She returned, unphased by my growing aggressiveness.

“Then why don’t you do something about it!!” I demanded loudly, immediately covering my muzzle and praying that a certain human sleeping in the room next to ours remained unaware of our conversation.

“Easy.” She changed her position, her head now lying flat over the pillow with both forelegs resting under it. “‘Cause there’s another pony who’s better for him than me.”

“T-There is?” The prospect of another pony expressing interest in him only made the knot in my stomach tighter.

“Uh.” Surprised by my apparent ignorance, Izzy nudged forward with her muzzle, more specifically towards my resting form.

Her meaning was clear as day. “M-Me?!” I pressed my hoof against my chest in disbelief.

“Come ooooooon, Sunny.” She once again turned over the mattress, this time resting her back and looking at me upside down. “We may have only been besties for a few months, but mare, I can read you like an open book." She flashed me a playful wink. “Or was you practically eating his face the other day just a happy accident?” She narrowed her eyes in a knowing look.

Feeling the heat once again painting my muzzle red, I hastily averted my gaze. “T-That was a m-mistake! I-I just lost m-my mind for a second there…”

“Was it? Hmmm?” My sorry excuse failed to make it through her filter, making my blush shine ten-fold and my eyes search anywhere else to cast their attention on anything but her knowing smirk. “Awww, you’re so cute when you’re flustered.”

“Izzy!”

A merry giggle saw the end of her teasing, only to return the moment she took notice of my embarrassed pout.

“Okay, okay.” She waved her foreleg apologetically, the last remains of her cackling fading into the silence of the night. “But, seriously… I’ve seen how you look at him, and I’ve seen how he looks at you. You’re perfect for each other! Anypony can see that!”

“Izzy, I’m not sure…”

“Aaaand!” She cut me off. “There’s a chance he might or might not have something planned regarding your… ‘particular’ situation.” She concluded in a mysterious tone.

I could feel my heart bouncing all over my chest from the sheer impact of the bomb she had just dropped. “H-HE’s WHAT?!!”

“Uh uh uh!” She refused to acknowledge my question with a playful shake of her head. “That’d be spoileeers~! I know the author likes a slow burn and all, but mare, I don’t like spoilers.”

Ignoring her odd silliness again, I would’ve protested further if the deafening buzzing of the butterflies fluttering in my tummy had allowed some semblance of rational thought in me.

“H-H-He likes m-me too?!” I sputtered in a low voice, struggling to believe in what I had assumed was a lost cause.

“That, my dear bestest friend of all time, is something YOU are gonna have to ask him.” She softly jabbed my chest. “But…” Shrugging her shoulders innocently, the rest of the unspoken message carried all the meaning I required to build the picture.

I can’t express with words the sheer amount of joy I experienced at that moment. All the piercing pain and resignation evaporated like dew on a sunny morning. I had already accepted that I had lost the battle but, in less time than it took to blink, I realized that I had in fact won the war!

Feeling my smile stretching from ear to ear, I couldn’t help the excited squeal that escaped my lips, my limbs wanting to dance under me in unrestrained happiness. Izzy remained silent as my joy filled the darkened room, regarding me with a fond smile.

When my overexcited bout of energy came to an end, all that was left behind was a profound sense of relief. Clutching my chest fluff tightly, I allowed myself a deep exhalation as I regained control of my body.

“Oh my hoofness, Izzy,” I spoke between deep breaths. “That… that takes so much off my chest.”

“Heh, I can see that, sister.” She joked back, her tender smile never wavering.

But in that moment of deep accomplishment, the ugly face of the opposite side of the coin filled my vision. There’s always a loser when two compete, after all.

“Izzy…” My tone was now filled with sorrow for my friend. “That’s not fair to you…”

“Oh, I’ll be fiiine.” She waved her hoof dismissively. “I’ll just look someplace else. There’s a lot of game ripe for the taking now that the three tribes are friends again. Why the other day I saw this stallion over the beach… mmm, what a piece of meat…” Her eyes closed and her muzzle stretched into a lustful grin.

However, just as she could read me like an open book, I also knew my best friend’s mannerisms by heart, and I knew for a fact that the naughty desire she was expressing for whomever she was envisioning was far from genuine.

“Izzy…”

“I’m fine! Really!” She tried to convince me with her best smile. I had grown used to her constant smiles. They’re always so bright and genuine, meaning that the fake one she was sporting at that moment screamed louder than Hitch on roll call duty.

“Izzy…”

“Sunny! I’m… I’m okay! I…” Her façade was crumbling by the minute, her magenta orbs failing to meet mine anymore, casting a guilty look at the sheets under her. “I, uh… I just need to…”

I couldn’t stand to see my friend like that, much less be the one responsible for breaking her heart just as I had feared would happen to me. Scooching closer to her, I rested my head near the pillow where she had dejectedly placed hers.

“It’s not fair to you…” I repeated, mirroring her miserable tone.

Izzy sighed loudly as she finally admitted the truth inside. “No… I guess it’s not,” She whimpered after a few silent moments. “But that’s how it is…” She buried her head further into the pillow.

“There must be something we can do, Izzy. I can’t leave you in the dust like this!” I placed a comforting hoof over her withers but it elicited nothing more than a pensive hum.

“I mean,” She began after a few seconds of mulling. “We could… try that…”

“Huh?” I tilted my head in confusion, not sure of what she was referring to.

“You know…” She pointed at her, then at me, then at the rough direction of Alex’s sleeping quarters, and then joined both hooves together.

Her simple gesture was meaningful enough.

“I-I-Izzy! That’s…. W-We can’t…!!” I tripped over my own words. “That’s… not something ponies do anymore!”

“I know, I know.” She conceded, her spirits only lessening even more. “It’s a crazy idea, forget I said anything.”

“N-No, I… I-I mean.” My outburst had arisen from the certain knowledge that what she was proposing was a custom that had not been practiced for a long time, at least among the earth ponies of Maretime Bay, but her words had let me know that the situation was similar from where she came from.

Well, that wasn’t entirely true, it was known that a very small number of couples had attempted something similar in recent times, but they were far and between. Actually, at that moment I couldn’t come up with anypony I knew who was engaged in such a particular romantic arrangement. Fear of rejection, of criticism, feelings I had grown more than used to and wanted to under no circumstances ever experience ever again had lit the spark of my explosive comeback.

“It’s fine, Sunny.” She tried to reassure me. “It’s a crazy idea. And, honestly, we’re getting waaaay over our heads here, assuming a lot of stuff we can’t be completely sure about.”

When it looked like she had put an end to that train of thought, her previously hidden head turned slightly towards me, her beautiful eyes once again seeking mine. “But,” She restarted in her most tender voice. “If there’s one pony, ONE pony, in all of Equestria I would ever think of sharing something like that with,” The warmth in her sparkling eyes chased any lingering sadness and worry away. “It would be you.”

To say I felt overwhelmed would be a huge understatement, the raw meaning behind her message weighing like a hundred brighthouses over me. My voice got caught in my throat, my muzzle opening and closing like a fish, unable to will my vocal cords to form coherent words. A renewed blush once again made its presence known all over my face. Never in my entire life did I think I’d ever be considering such a possibility.

After several attempts at trying and failing to address her overwhelming proposition, one thing managed to leave me: a big, muzzle-splitting yawn.

“Wow, I can feel the love from here...”

“N-No!” I exclaimed once I had regained control of my jaws. Embarrassed, I assured Izzy that the last thing I was feeling from our heart-to-heart was boredom. “It’s just… It’s been a LONG day, lots of thoughts and feelings… ugh, my mind’s a mess and it’s gonna shut down soon whether I like it or not.”

Chuckling at my little mishap, Izzy’s muzzle followed my example. Smacking her lips once she was done, she snuggled deeper into the mattress with half-lidded eyes. “Mmm, me too. Although I’m not sure sleep is gonna catch up with me easily after this. A lot of stuff to mull over, you know?”

Nodding in agreement, I saw how Izzy struggled to lose herself to the realm of dreams. Feeling like I had bothered her enough for one night, although perfectly aware that there was a LOT still left to be talked about, I extracted my limbs from under me and began getting off of her bed.

However, Izzy reacted faster. “Thank hoofness my bestie is willing to help me and stay with me for an impromptu sleepover!”

Not leaving me room for protest, Izzy’s magical grasp surrounded my entire self and dragged me back closer to her side, the unicorn swiftly taking the chance to surround me with her forelegs and sink her head into my chest fluff, careful to tilt her head so as to not hurt me with her horn.

“I-Izzy!” I was about to complain, but her already deepening breaths and tender snuggling had left me virtually trapped, rendering me without a chance to protest. “Sigh, fiiiine.” With a humorous roll of my eyes, I let the unicorn do as she wished and returned the gesture, feeling the blankets covering us under her telekinetic command. With a quick flick of the switch, the night lamp was turned off, submerging the room under the gentle light of the full moon.

“…”

“So fluffy!”

“Sigh, Izzy…”

“Aaaand,” I finished mixing the contents in the bowl, tapping the spatula on its rim a couple of times to make sure anything sticking to it fell into the mixture. “That’s all there is to it. The remaining steps are those of any other omelet.”

Night gave way to another beautiful morning, and it had granted me much-needed rest, only the ghosts of yesterday’s aches still haunting my joints. The only noteworthy event I could recall was waking up after hearing some sort of scuffle over a certain unicorn’s room, but I couldn’t quite make out what had happened over there. Who knows what that pony could have been doing….? Nothing good, I reckoned.

Still, more than used to the Royal Castle’s usual schedule, I had regretfully woken up with the sun and was unable to get my sleepy self back to sleep. So, feeling like doing something useful to pass the time, I took care of my morning business and headed for the palace’s kitchens following the directions of the guard who had relieved the previous one for the morning shift right outside our dorms.

It took me little effort to bribe the kitchen staff to grant me the chance to show a little example of my homeland’s cuisine, driven by me feeling a bit bored of the usual toast and scrambled eggs I tended to partake in back at the brighthouse.

“Hmm.” Amandine, the palace’s Head Chef, regarded the mixture currently sitting over the counter with a critical eye, also sniffing the air and analyzing the few but necessary ingredients required for this particular dish. “Eez zee onion slices truly necessary?” She inquired with a strong Prench accent. From where she had acquired it, I couldn’t even start to guess.

She and her assistant, Sous Chef Cinnamon Swirl, took a hesitant step back when feeling my entire form hardening up. Stiffly, I slowly turned my neck to address the ponies now swallowing nervously behind me.

“Amandine.” I called the pony responsible for such a heresy. “To ask if the Spanish Omelet should be with or without onion is the same as asking if pineapple pizza is a reasonable thing or not.”

I got two very different answers from both of the top-ranked responsible ponies in the kitchen, who spoke at the same time with equal fervor.

“Ah, why! Zat eez but ze most grave of sins for zee tongue!!”

“Are you kidding? That’s simply the best thing in the world!”

If it hadn’t done so before, a tense atmosphere fell over the immaculate kitchen as both headponies realized what their counterpart had just proclaimed. Without a word being uttered, two sides were quickly formed amongst the kitchen’s staff, and, in the midst of the tick-tock of the clock, a loud fight arose at the moment the hands struck nine o’clock.

The remaining time I spent in the kitchen was spent in silence, finishing the dish I had prepared for my friends for that morning’s breakfast while an honest-to-Faust turf war was being waged behind me, where words, insults, and even a few kitchen utensils had been thrown by both dissidents and supporters of such a controversial topping.

‘Faust above, what have I unleashed?’

As the heated discussion reached the point where ponies were about to throw in hooves, I tucked the finished omelet in a fitting dish with silver trimming as décor and promptly left the premises, avoiding flying ponies and cutlery alike. Just as I was making my way out of the sizable kitchen, a detachment of guards was rushing in, alarmed by the sudden commotion.

“Good luck there, boys.” I wished for the stallions dressed in fitting armor as they began to assess whatever scuffle was happening within the facilities. The same guardsmare that had accompanied me from my sleeping quarters now guided me towards the dining hall.

“What did you do back there?” She couldn’t help but wonder.

“I enlightened them, and some didn’t like the truth I granted them.”

Snorting bemusingly, she remained silent and focused for the rest of the way. Behind the double doors, the pegasi sisters, along with their mom, awaited me, enjoying some early refreshments and the remains of yesterday’s cake while waiting for the main course to arrive. And it would take a while now to do so, to my dismay.

“Sorry girls. Something came up in the kitchen and the cooks are… well, let’s say they might be ‘distracted’ for a little while.”I informed them with my best apologetic smile.

“What did you do?” Pipp mirrored the guardsmare’s question.

“Only what my heart told me to, my dear Pipp.” I answered honestly, holding my hand over my heart. “But while we wait…” I placed the plate holding the spongy omelet in front of them, eliciting curious looks from the royal family members. “Enjoy.”

And enjoy it they did, to the point I had to remind them to leave some for our still missing friends, who didn't take long to arrive after my return from my cooking trip. At least, Sunny and Izzy had; Hitch seemed to have taken the chance to sleep in. Perhaps Sparky had given him some work over the night, but I hadn’t heard anything that might back that assumption up.

Contrary to the ponies sitting around me, I chose to enjoy my breakfast standing up, making sure to stretch my legs since, despite the efforts of the palace’s employees to best accommodate me, sticking two beds together only improved the situation widthwise, but not lengthwise. Add that to the fact that pegasi are smaller on average than the other races, and you can guess how it was for me that night, although it was nothing that I wasn’t used to by that point.

With the fork halfway back from my mouth, I felt Sunny’s presence brushing affectionately against my side, pressing her head over my chest and looking up at me with one of her patented sunny smiles.

“My,” I swallowed the remaining omelet in my mouth and petted her scalp with the back of my hand still holding the fork. “Somepony’s having a good morning.”

She didn’t answer verbally, but her continued cuddling told me everything I needed. Feeling Izzy providing the same treatment on the opposite side, I responded in kind, relishing in my favorite mares’ sudden attachment. Once they had gotten everything out, both joined the rest of the ponies over the table and also found my little treat a delicacy from the way they devoured their corresponding portions.

‘Damm, seems I’ll have to whip up some more back home sometime.’

“YOU!!” A sharp yell almost made me choke on the next portion currently being chewed. “Human!”

Spinning on my heels, I saw a long entourage of ponies led by the Head Chef and her assistant, all their uniforms ruined by uncountable stains from a myriad of ingredients, a disaster that had spread to their manes and tails and probably to the uncovered parts of their multicolored coats too.

“Can I help you?” I asked with a raised eyebrow, not flinching at the Head Chef’s straightforwardness.

“Eet ees time wee put an end to this!” She demanded with an angry stomp that bounced around the ample room. “What ees your take in pineapple pizza, hmm?!”

Shrugging nonchalantly, I calmly finished the current portion and gently returned the small dish on the table. “What can I say? Whoever thought about putting pineapple on a pizza is currently burning in Tartarus for all eternity. And if they aren’t, I’ll make sure they do.”

Before the kitchen staff could explode in renewed outroar, I raised my hand to shut their opening traps. “But, now that you’re here, I’m sure the Princesses and Her Majesty would rather have their breakfast while it’s still morning, yes?”

Casting a fearful glance toward the members of the royal family, the marching ponies paled at their collective unamused leers and hastily bowed as one.

“Mon dieu! But of course, your Highnesses, right away!” Turning towards her ponies, she began barking orders and ushering them out of the room and back to their posts. Such was her anger she kept switching back and forth between Equish and Prench.

I shrugged and raised both my arms in the air. “Some ponies just can’t handle the truth.” Shaking my head, I returned my attention to the assembled ponies and continued with my meal. The rest of the breakfast was spent in amicable conversation, all present waiting for a sleepyhead Hitch to arrive while enjoying the rest of our food. It was a non-working day back at the bay, so we weren’t in a hurry to return to the shoreline. Just as the ponies were about to finish their respective breakfasts, a sudden idea popped into my mind.

“Zipp?”

“Mmm?” The alabaster pegasus answered with a muzzle full of omelet.

“Do you think you could take Sunny for a quick flight around the city?”

My question stunned the aforementioned mare who almost spewed her coffee. “W-What?!” She managed to stutter once the contents of her mouth were sent down to her stomach.

“I want you to feel the difference now that we are way above sea level.” I reasoned, patting her back reassuringly. “Just take note of the difference in the air pressure, the air currents, and all that jazz. Oh, and you’ll also notice how you tire out faster since there’s less available oxygen up here, and with the additional work to stay in the air with the thinner air.”

Visibly anxious, her looks betrayed her itching willingness to do absolutely anything else but my proposal. It pained me to put her under pressure like that, but now that it seemed she had gotten the hang of summoning her alicorn form I wanted to use any and all chances available for her to practice using it. And what better place to practice than in a known location with a better flying teacher than I could ever hope to be?

“Come on, Suns.” Zipp flashed Sunny her most reassuring grin. “It’s gonna be a piece of cake, you’ll see. We’re gonna have so much fun!” Her wings pumped in an excited burst of energy, almost carrying her into the air from her seat.

Gulping loudly, her hesitation refused to leave her side, but a myriad of comforting looks and words of encouragement got her at least to stop hyperventilating.

Once everypony was done, we instructed the guards to let Hitch know of our new plans and location and, with a parting goodbye from Queen Haven, who regretfully had to return to her royal duties, we chose the same spot in which the ponies had partaken in their little game of hide and seek as the starting point for our two flyers to begin.

“Ready, Sunny?” Zipp prompted the now-less-but-still-panicking mare, giving her wings and legs a good stretch in preparation for their flight.

“Um… no?” Poor Sunny was still lacking in confidence, even after the huge progress she had made with her abilities. The earlier incident with the townsponies and her alicorn form had hit her self-confidence hard, and her resolve was clearly faltering. And while now she was able to summon her powers willingly almost every time, never before had she been so hesitant to make use of them.

‘She needs to learn. She has to! It might be our only hope…’

“Come on, Sunny.” I placed a reassuring hand over her scalp, lightly startling her out of her trance. Her fearful eyes almost ate away at my defenses and got me to call the practice session off, but she couldn’t remain hidden in her shell, not when we were so close.

With a tiny nod of resignation, she closed her eyes and stilled her breathing, taking deep gulps of air and relaxing her posture as I had instructed her to do.

Silent seconds passed while her features tensed more and more with each failed attempt. A frustrated snarl threatened to overcome her previous calm attitude.

“Sunny,” A light warning was necessary before she could blow it with her stubbornness. “It’s not about forcing it out. Remember, it’s a part of you. It will listen to you as long as the intention is clear in your mind.”

And that’s exactly what she had described it as: an intention. The day after her alicorn fiasco was a day when a lot of inner searching was called for, and from her efforts a clearer picture emerged. She explained how she could feel it, a warmth that grew alongside her desire to just help somepony. She believed she’d found the necessary trigger, but still couldn’t bring herself to fully trust in her instincts.

With a long exhale, she resumed her previous demeanor and tried again. However, this time her eyes remained open, rising slightly to meet mine. I saw something in them, something I couldn’t quite put my finger on, but the spark in them burned fiercely alongside her determination.

The hairs on my arms stood up in goosebumps that ran through my entire body. My weak but still ever-present sixth sense was more than capable of feeling the magic rising within her. Her gaze remained fixed on me and, now from a cooler approach, the telltale hum of magic powering up filled our ears.

This time it came less flashy than her previous attempts, a sign I interpreted as a consequence of Sunny improving her control over her powers. A pair of golden-tinted orange wings blinked into existence, a prominent horn soon following in its usual place. While not appearing in a flashy manner, I could feel the breeze that rose and ruffled my hair the moment her alicorn form consolidated. She oozed power, more than any of us could ever hope to achieve. No manner of practicing and studying would ever bring me to her level once she was capable of mastering her magic. Strangely, I felt relieved by that knowledge.

Powerful enough to protect anypony from whomever was stupid enough to attempt something reckless, myself included.

‘And what could you possibly try by now, Alex? Haven’t you messed things up enough as it is?’

“Awww, no light show?” Pipp whined, taping on the screen to cease the recording and returning her phone to her wing holster.

“D-Did I do something wrong?” Sunny, seeing how the usual process had changed significantly, anxiously inquired.

“Nothing is wrong, Tangerine.” I returned a reassuring grin. “It just means you’re gaining more control over them. Now they manifest in a less explosive manner.”

Breathing a huge sigh of relief, she tested her wings with a couple of powerful pumps and her horn with short bursts of magic.

“Ready, Suns?” Zipp, positioning herself behind the alicorn mare and patting her rump, stretched her wings in preparation. “Let's give these land dwellers a show!” With an eager wink, she was the first to take off.

Sunny, the last remains of nervousness still clinging to her soul, turned to regard us one last time. My raised thumbs and our friends’ words of encouragement pushed her over the edge of her uneasiness, and with a couple of strong flaps joined Zipp in hovering right over us.

“We’ll be waiting around for you, ‘kay?”

Nodding to Pipp’s affirmation, both mares turned tail and began their route around the pegasi city, Zipp taking the lead and making sure to give Sunny a master class on advanced pegasi aerodynamics as they flew away.

Once they had become two indistinguishable dots amongst the agglomeration of flying pegasi, those of us who were flightless along with a pegasus princess decided to wait and spend the morning enjoying the inviting late summer weather, relaxing over the trimmed grass and watching the clouds pass by and crash against the highest point of Zephyr Peaks.

A longing sigh brought my attention to the unicorn resting on her back at my side. You didn’t have to be a detective to guess what thoughts were running through her mind. “You still wish you’d rather be with them in the air?”

A sad nod was her answer, her attention fixed on the blue sky stretching above us. “It must feel amazing flying under your own power…”

“Heh,” I chuckled, moving my hand to provide some comforting belly rubs. “That’s something I always wanted to try when I first got hold of magic.” Moving her head sideways, her focus was now on me. “I tried once, and I failed horribly, never tried again.”

“You tried to fly?”

Smirking at her surprised visage, I nodded while inwardly cringing at the pathetic show I put on that day. “I saw Starlight move herself using a bubble of her levitation magic during the timelines crisis, so I tried it for myself later on.”

Her eyes widened to two pairs of dinner plates. “*GASP!!* I could do that?!”

I didn’t want to crush her spirits, since the necessary skill and raw power required for such a feat was way over what an average unicorn could master. One who had gained hold of her magic only recently much less so. Still, I decided to compromise. “Perhaps. I can help you try it if you want.”

With her most excited squeal, Izzy forcingly flung herself at me, forcing the air to take a rushed exit from my lungs and nailing her hooves against some very delicate places…

“Uff! Izzy! Careful, please…”

Grinning sheepishly, she engulfed me in a warm hug of appreciation, which I eagerly returned. But now that she had acquired an advantageous position, she wasn't going to withdraw, nuzzling her snout on the crook of my neck.

‘Sigh, well, not that I feel like complaining either way…’

Another foray into Maretime Bay had ended in failure. Well, not a failure per se; My targets had disappeared from the town, and the brighthouse had been locked down with a key. Any attempts of entering by smashing a window or something similar would quickly warn them of my intrusion and, since I didn't know where they had gone or how long it would take them to get back, I decided to play it safe and just take a walk around town.

And now it was time to return home and inform Opaline of my total lack of progress. Our last attempt had also failed, having achieved the complete opposite of our intended goal. Instead of winning her over to our cause, she had only grown closer to her friends. Although it was true I hadn’t seen her in her alicorn form much since then, and by much, I meant at all.

Whatever, Opaline had abandoned that approach. Sunny was too entangled with her friends for a change of heart such as the one Opaline had expected, and being all the time near that human would surely chase any possible doubts away. We were alone in this, just as we always had been.

Faintly noticing the remaining aftereffects of that strange feeling that ran through my body every time I crossed the edge of the forest on my way back, I carefully trotted over the stony bridge separating me from my destination, noticing how every time I crossed it, it seemed to have one or two stones missing.

‘Yeah, that’s not gonna hold for long…’

As I pushed the humongous main doors of her fortress open, the memory of our first encounter suddenly filled my mind once again, albeit fuzzy and distant from all the years that had passed since then.

She always liked to remind me how she had found me and decided to take me under her wing when I was just a filly. But in truth, it had been me who found her. Traversing alone, lost, and scared out of my mind. Her fortress was the first thing I saw once the mist had dissipated and that weird paralyzing feeling had left my tiny body. I remember having… lost something, but time and age had erased the finer details of my unexpected arrival at her doorstep.

Gosh, I still can feel the pain on my forelegs and back from the sheer amount of strength I had to muster to get the massive doors open, screeching loudly after centuries of disuse. I remember walking through those dark corridors, flinching every time a sound intruded the recurring echo of my little hooves clopping against the dusty floor.

I remember finding her in that huge hall just past the throne room. She was asleep in the middle of a strange… I don’t know. There were symbols carved all over the stony floor, glowing in a pale greenish light. She was unmoving, resting on her belly peacefully with forelegs cushioning her head. She was so still I almost believed she was dead or something! I was so shocked then that I completely missed the fact she had both wings and a horn.

Part of me dreaded disturbing her slumber, but she was the only familiar face I had stumbled upon since losing my way from…where…? I remember stepping over the concentric circles drawn in the ground, hopping when needed to prevent myself from stepping into any of the glowing symbols. I remember reaching her side, my ears twitching and failing to hear even the sound of gentle breathing. I remember stretching a trembling hoof to touch her cheek…

Another set of doors gave way before me but revealed nopony inside the throne room. Puzzled, I could only wonder where Opaline might be since she tended to spend almost every waking moment sitting on her throne looking, but mostly glaring at the images her screening pool conjured.

A faint sound made my ears flicker and turn toward the left side corridor. The sound of her voice was almost imperceptible, but it was enough to guide my steps right up to her quarters. Placing an ear over the wooden door, I strained to make out what she was saying. She sounded like she was speaking to herself…

“Ah, my dear Starlight, such blindness from those who called you mad, and how close you were to greatness…”

Starlight? I couldn’t recall anypony with such a name, but Opaline spoke little about her past either way.

“But fret not, for thanks to your help I am closer to my victory than ever before...” A muffled chuckle reached my ears from behind the door. “That pesky Twilight Sparkle and her entourage of idiots isn’t here to trump my plans anymore, and that human is but a flea to be crushed under my hoof!” The way she worded ‘human’ sent shivers down my spine, such was the sheer venom in her voice. “I will show them, and they will learn to adore me, to praise me as the only chance for their future I embody!” Another dark chuckle, this time longer and louder. “I will take what is rightfully mine, and those two self-absorbed cunts can watch from the heavens while I do it!!”

Another laugh, this time borderline maniacal, enough to make me slightly recoil backward from my hunched-over position against the door. Such was my rotten luck that I ended up tripping over my tail and fell backward with a startled yell. The moment my body hit the marble floor, her laugh ceased instantly, only for a sudden force to tear the door from its fringes, launching me yet further into the opposite wall. Watching from her bed with alert eyes, where she laid sideways with a book opened in front of her, a positively raging alicorn bore the full weight of her glare into my trembling form.

“MISTY!!” Her irritated cry made my ears flatten against my scalp, a nervous knot choking my breathing. “You STUPID fool! What do you think you’re doing eavesdropping like that?!!”

Making use of all my mental reserves to steady myself, I composed myself the tiniest amount from my crumbled pose and addressed the raging alicorn. “I-I, I j-j-just… I j-just w-wanted…” But no amount of swallowing would ease the lump in my throat.

“Out with it already!!” Her furious demand jumpstarted my mind with a swift kick.

“I-I j-just wanted to let you k-know I’ve r-returned from t-today’s s-s-scouting trip.”

“AND?!!” She demanded with a raised eyebrow which did nothing to lessen her venomous glaring.

“N-Nothing new to report, I’m afraid…” Even at that time when I was truly fearing for my life, my gaze lowered in shame without a conscious effort behind. I had grown so used to failure that it came out by itself by that point.

“Of course you don’t. You’re nothing but a useless waste of air!!” Her harsh words cut deep inside, making me recoil even further into myself. “Now be gone and leave me be!! And if I catch you eavesdropping again, I’ll cut your ears off and force-feed them back to you!!”

Encompassed in a shining aura, the door raised in the air and rearranged itself back on its hinges, hiding the raging alicorn behind it and granting me the chance to breathe once again. I remained motionless, tears threatening to burst from my eyes, yet I was still terrified of making the slightest noise. When no more lashing came from Opaline, I shakily stood on my hooves and made my silent way to my own quarters, where I crashed on my bed and let the floodgates open.

Whatever words I had caught from her were all but forgotten…

Author's Note

The UNO scene inspired by the work of the talented @Marenlicious.

https://www.deviantart.com/marenlicious/art/UNO-with-sister-965590228

Btw, we’re more or less halfway into the story. Hurray.

Chapter 31- Sleepover 101.

“Izzy, could you please slow down?”

That might as well have been the hundredth time I had prayed to the overjoyed, hyper-excited, and ultra-caffeinated unicorn to please slow down with her bouncing around the marketplace.

“NO!!” Her bouncing ceased for a millisecond before the springs on her hooves launched her back into the air. “Eeeeeeee!”

And by ‘springs on her hooves’, I mean LITERAL springs tied to her frogs, something about a revolutionary vision that had catapulted her out of her bed the night before with its unmatched awesomeness and practicality!... And also gave us the scare of our lives with a loud screeching only fit for a true visionary, forcing me out of my room in my underwear in a panicked rush, Binary in hand thinking a Drekavac had snuck into the brighthouse, nasty little buggers…

It would have been hilarious if it wasn’t me who’d made a fool of himself. Pipp, wide-eyed as the rest of the ponies, hadn't wasted a second to snap a picture of me in my undies holding Binary while crouching in my preferred lunging pose. I’m very proud of it. It became my new phone wallpaper afterward.

But that wasn’t the reason we were traversing the market district, full of the usual stores open all year ‘round and a few temporary wooden stands that only got set up on the weekends and special occasions, which with the ponies being ponies was practically every two days. No no, if what Izzy had experienced the other night had been a vision, what she had stumbled upon this very morning had been an absolute epiphany, a phenomenon never described before, an occurrence of unparalleled proportions!!

Izzy had made a friend. A unicorn friend, to be more precise.

And such an epic event demanded an equally epic ceremony, as was required by unicorn law, or else you would get the jinxes and be doomed for all eternity or something. You know, like your average religious movement. For as much as Izzy had assured us that she didn’t believe in that nonsense anymore, I still caught her sometimes fearfully avoiding certain behaviors or actions, almost unconsciously so in fear of being jinxed, only to do the EXACT same thing later without an ounce of dread on her fuzzy body.

She could be so random sometimes…

But this particular tradition called for a special type of ceremony, nothing about singing a song, preparing a special meal, crafting a special necklace… no, this ceremony was all of them at the same time: a ‘traditional unicorn sleepover’, where new friends turn into best friends and everypony is sure to have the time of their lives.

That was a thing now, it seemed.

It had been a couple of days since our trip to Zephyr Heights and the feedback we’d gotten from our impromptu late-night games and partying had been nothing but positive, which only worked to push Izzy’s eagerness for this meeting even further.

It was in this circumstance that I bumped into her as I was leaving mid-way through my shift at the clinical lab in search of something to eat while it was still morning. And, as the situation demanded, I was promptly dragged along by her on her overjoyed ride to assist with the necessary purchases so that all she had planned for that night turned out simply perfect. Tradition demanded it, or you'd be jinxed with... something.

“Okay! Okay!” She bellowed once we’d reached the very center of the market district, kicking away the springs on her hooves and sending them Faust knows where. We found ourselves standing in the middle of the usual traffic of quadruped multicolored ponies minding their own business, already used to our peppy friend enough to not even bat an eye at us. “We’re gonna need ten kilograms of corn seeds, a copy of ‘Trotting Hills’ from the rental store, an assorted mix of gems for crafting, a LOT of snacks…!”

On and on she went, listing things from memory, getting her to repeat some of the items once or twice, and pointing to each of the shops where we would find each of them as she listed them. I had tuned her out long ago, leisurely looking around the street, nodding to those ponies who I knew personally and happened to trot nearby.

“You got all of that?!” Izzy finished her wacky listing with inquiring eyes full of joy.

I couldn’t remember one single item on her list. “Sure, let’s go.”

Allowing her to take the lead, and saving me from one of her biting sprees, I spent the morning helping her go over everything she deemed a must for tonight's sleepover. Sleepovers were an activity I regularly shared with my old friends, most of them taking place in Twilight's castle which could accommodate all of us better. Long evenings of games, movies, and series from my home planet and theirs, along with chats and playful gossiping... at first, the notion of sharing a sleepover with a group exclusively made up of mares, and the sole other male in the form of Spike the dragon, was quick to fall into the universal shared conception of what was strictly and unilaterally forbidden, according to my human upbringing that is. But it didn’t take long for me to cast such inhibitions away and enjoy the experience of being together. Especially since our paths diverged and drove us apart more and more with each passing year.

As the volume of our purchases became excessive, one of the nearby stall vendors saw our plight and kindly offered to lend us his cart to alleviate our future suffering. It was a typical red cart with four wheels and an adjustable handle. Extremely grateful for his gesture, which saved me from repeating the pack mule experience from the other day at Zephyr Heights, I set about meticulously arranging the numerous bags and boxes inside the cart to maximize loading capacity while also putting measures in place to prevent everything from falling over the edge on our way up-hill to the brighthouse.

But Izzy had a different idea. Hopping into the cart in a swift movement, she comfortably loafed herself inside and, with her most innocent smile, lit up her horn and managed to secure everything in her telekinetic grasp.

A small part of me registered her visible skill with her magic, a huge improvement considering she had gained the ability to cast magic only a mere few months ago. However, that tiny doubt was easily overrun by the profound sense of bemusement I felt from her sudden movement.

“Um, Izzy…”

“Come on, Alex, we don’t have all day!” She ushered me, motioning with her head towards the handle currently resting against the stony road. “Chop Chop!”

Sporting my best fish cosplay, I could only stare blankly at the tucked-in unicorn. Her anxious request erased any form of rebuttal from me. Limply, I reached for the handle and proceeded to drown the nearby area with the squeaking of the old wheels turning after a long time of service.

If the passerby ponies hadn’t batted an eye before at us, they were certainly now watching with equal parts astonishment and mirth at the tall human toiling away in carting around a very pleasured Izzy who, with eyes closed and a peppy smile, enjoyed the ride around the coastal town with our purchases floating securely behind us.

“Um, Alex? What are you…?”

“I don’t know, Windy,” I said while casting a tired sideways glance at the puzzled pegasus who happened to trot across the road. “I really, really don’t know.”

Leaving her behind with the mass of confused ponies, I made my slow way up on the usual path to the northern end of the bay, with my ears catching Izzy humming a little song over the diminishing hustle and bustle of the town and the sound of the waves crashing over the cliffs. She looked so comfortable back there, seemingly unaware of my huffing, puffing, and sweating, which almost made me lose the grip of the handle a couple of times.

“Hah… Hah… you fat-flanked mare…” I cursed between tired puffs.

“Aww, thank you…” She waved her foreleg with a coy smirk on her muzzle, fluttering her eyelashes sensually. If the desired result was driving me further up the wall, she had succeeded at it with flying colors.

It took me considerably longer to reach our shared home with the heavy lump of pony tailing behind me, but I managed to climb up the road in a single go.

“Okay, Izzy.” After taking a moment to catch my breath, I twirled on my heels to address the still-loafing unicorn, not taking my hand off the handle due to the road leading up to the brighthouse’s porch being quite steep, and the last thing I wanted was our purchases flying down the hill. “Put whatever needs to go to the kitchen on the left, and then put the rest on the right.” I gestured to the porch.

Following my pointing finger, she understood my proposal and moved her eyes up toward the mess of levitating bags and boxes, sorting them in the air as I instructed before depositing them where I had chosen. With her distracted for the moment, I made use of those precious seconds to put the evil plan I had been scheming on our way up in motion.

Without her noticing, I slowly and very gently inched the cart away from the porch. The further I went, the steeper it got, and the pull of gravity on the cart became gradually stronger. Izzy remained unaware of my nefarious intentions, levitating all the stuff into its proper places for better assortment later.

“Okay, done and done!” She merrily announced once the magical glow around the last bag had evaporated. “Now we can…” The words died in her muzzle, eyes widening when she noticed the sole finger still on the handle preventing her from taking a quick trip back to town. “W-Wait, WAIT!!”

As she panickedly fumbled inside the cart, fighting to jump the boat before it was too late, I released an evil laugh and prepared to deliver my malicious speech.

However, I was rendered without a chance since Izzy, instead of trying to jump out as soon as she could get her legs from under her, had wiggled to reposition herself inside the cart, her new pose now facing away from me and into the homely town stretching in the distance, grabbing the rim of the cart with both forehooves.

“Ready.” She called over her shoulder, a determined gleam in her magenta eyes. With my evil plan crushed, I simply let go of the cart, deeply disappointed at having lost my chance for revenge and allowed gravity to do the rest of the work.

“WEEEEEEEEEEeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee….!!!” And off she went on her speedy way downhill. I stood still until her screams of delight had faded under the ripples of the waves and the low humming of the Prisbeam energy. The lack of any crashing sounds and startled yelling let me know she had managed to arrive unscathed…. or at least I hoped that that had been the case.

I sighed and shook my head slightly, unable to fight the amused smirk growing on my lips. “That mare…”

When I turned around and was about to make my way to the door, I realized at that moment how the peppy unicorn had tricked me; for now, all our purchases stood neatly all over the porch waiting to be carried inside and further assorted. A task that would be now carried by yours truly. Alone.

“Faust dammit…”

Grumbling obscenities under my breath, I powered my gauntlets and levitated as much as I could from the mess of snacks, crafting items, decorations, and whatever Izzy’s shopping spree had resulted in, the remaining items secured with both hands. Kicking the doors open since the rest of my limbs were currently occupied, I crossed the foyer of our cozy brighthouse, seeing nopony around at first sight. Which also meant no help for poor little me arranging all that stuff.

I decided to take care of the most pressing items, those being the snacks for tonight, marching over to the kitchen and spending a couple of minutes extracting everything from their bags and scattering it messily over the counter while putting in the refrigerator whatever snacks required it. Izzy would deal with the rest. The remaining bags I left in her workshop for her to do what she pleased with them.

The trek left me quite weary from toiling Izzy’s fat flanks all the way here. Not feeling like making the journey back into town, I contacted my coworkers and asked them to cover for me the rest of the shift. It was a slow day at the hospital so it shouldn’t have been much of a hassle for them. I resolved to treat them to lunch the next day as a thank you.

Not waiting for their affirmative answer, I dragged my tired feet to the living room, my only thoughts summarized in planting my rear on the couch and doing nothing until the rest of the gang arrived to get the sleepover thing going. I was looking forward to meeting this mysterious new friend of Izzy’s, somewhat surprised with all the pomp and circumstance Izzy was showing for this particular pony since she was already friends with most, if not all, of Maretime Bay’s residents. Must’ve been quite an encounter.

It was at the moment of entering the living room when I found the first integrant of our crazy team of ponies, and a handsome human of course. Her royal Highness and heir to the throne of Zephyr Heights lay over the middle couch… well, lay might not be the best term; she was sprawled on her back over the couch, resting upside down with her ear legs peeking over the back pillows, wings hanging limply at her sides and forehooves tapping over the screen of her foldable phone currently opened in tablet mode. From the way she was scowling at the contents of the display, it was obvious she wasn’t playing Candy Crash… or, perhaps she was. That game was every bit as evil as its counterpart from my world.

“Mmm, full focus mode, must be something serious,” I called to her while taking a seat beside her, referencing how she referred to that particular position where the blood would pool in her head, ensuring maximum thinking capabilities. I didn’t have the heart to tell her that that was far from how it actually worked, instead taking amusement every time I caught her like that.

“Grrr,” She acknowledged my presence with a low grumble. “I just can’t wrap my head around it!” She wailed while bumping the couch’s pillows with her hind leg.

“Around what?”

“You know what!” I became the target of her piercing glare. “This!”

Forcefully passing me her phone, I saw the reason for her anger. Crudely drawn was an outline with Sunny’s and Hitch’s cutie marks with arrows pointing at the other respectively, and a little picture of Sparky spewing his dragon fire right below it. Interconnected with several points and lines were annotations and hypotheses written by the same detective currently waiting for my verdict with hard breaths.

“You’re still going over it?” I asked once I had taken in all the contents on the screen.

“Well of course I am!” She exclaimed, almost sounding offended. “How do you expect me to just let it go?!”

“I don’t know,” I shrugged nonchalantly. “We found the culprit, and everything worked out in the end. I don’t see what’s left to see.”

Of course, I was messing with her at that point. I knew very well her detective instincts wouldn’t let her rest until she found everything there was to find from the other day’s cutie mark incident. As it happened, Sparky’s fire transmutation capabilities extend beyond simple objects. An accident with his dragon fire resulted in Sunny’s and Hitch’s cutie marks being exchanged. A pony-patented getting-into-each-other’s-horseshoes bonding experience ensured, with both affected parties learning about each other’s responsibilities and commitment to the community and loved ones, nothing that Equestria hadn't already seen a hundred times before, which is why I decided it was best to refrain from intervening and let them figure it out by themselves. It was these kinds of scuffles that led the Elements of Harmony to learn so much about the magic of friendship and grow into the role models they would eventually become. So many years in isolation had deprived my new friends of all sorts of similar experiences, and my failure in finding the Journal of Friendship to act as a baseline meant that it would be through these shared experiences that they would relearn those long-lost lessons.

But of course, Detective Zipp would not be satisfied until she’d figured out every single aspect of what had transpired. Even if her role in figuring out our little scaly culprit had been essential to working out the issue, she still was unsatisfied with the actual meaning behind such an occurrence. ‘How can two cutie marks just be switched like that?’ ‘Why did they suddenly start acting like the other would?’ Those and many more questions had plagued her and driven her to figure out the mystery. But, I could tell from the way she’d jumped down my throat at the slightest of pushes that that she was still far from her goal.

“Fiiiine,” I moaned exaggeratedly, deciding it was high time to offer my two bits since the lesson had been learned satisfactorily and bonds had tightened.

“Finally!” She cried to the heavens, rearranging herself into a proper posture, ears forward and attentive.

“Well, ‘the how’ is something you already know.” I started, handing the phone back. “Sparky’s dragon fire is more powerful than what we’d assumed at first.” While I had a couple of theories regarding that particular phenomenon, I decided to leave them aside until I could gather more solid proof. She already had enough to deal with as it was.

“And ‘the why’?” She instantly inquired, phone in hoof recording my every word.

Smiling cheekily, I wiggled into a comfier position since the moment would call for it. “Let me tell you a story.”

“Ugh,” With a beep, the recording stopped and Zipp leaned back on her seat with an irritated huff. “We don’t have time for sto-”

“It’s the story about how Twilight Sparkle became an alicorn, and therefore the Princess of Friendship.”

My short clarification flicked the attention button in her brain and turned up the dial to one hundred and twenty percent. As quick as the lighting bolt in her cutie mark, Zipp had erased any semblance of irritation from her features and now regarded me with the look a young foal would give their parents during bedtime storytelling.

“I’m listening…” She stiffly declared.

“I can see that.” I snorted in amusement at her sudden change of demeanor, playfully booping her snout. “Very well, this is a story of the days before my arrival in Equestria, so my words are those of Twilight as she told me the story herself.” That only made her two big dark pools of wonder spark ever brighter.

“During a day like any other, Princess Celestia turned to her most beloved pupil and gave her a… somewhat unusual task. Perfectly aware of her tremendous gifts with magic, she asked her star pupil to make sense of and finish a spell that the great wizard Starswirl the Bearded was never able to complete, one that would’ve become the old wizard’s magnum opus.” Clearing my throat, I dug into my memories for the exact words of the original incantation. “From one to another, another to one. A mark of one's destiny singled out alone, fulfilled.” With an eyebrow raised, I waited for the alabaster pegasus to make the connection.

“… Wait.” She mumbled once the gears in her mind stopped turning.

Cutting off her musings, I continued with the story. “Those exact words were spoken by Twilight while she was trying to decipher the meaning behind them, unaware that she had in truth unleashed the spell in its unfinished form.” My words got Zipp’s attention back. “She went to bed, unaware of the catastrophe she had just unlocked, and it was during the next morning when she noticed how things, more precisely her friends, were acting kinda weird…”

I related how every one of the Elements of Harmony had their cutie marks interchanged and, consequently, their behaviors, as well as personalities, followed in tow. Each of the girls tried to fill the role their new cutie marks demanded of them, and failed miserably in doing so, for it was not who they truly were, yet what choice did they have?

“‘Cause it’s what my cutie mark is telling me.” I finished, watching how understanding slowly invaded Zipp’s previously scrambled thoughts. “And, to keep it short, Twilight managed to understand what was going on; she completed the spell, and changed everything back to what it was truly meant to be. In doing so, she created new magic, something Equestria hadn’t seen in hundreds of years.” A familiar sense of pride for the young alicorn broke through the sticky sense of depression that nailed the painful knowledge of her loss, returning every time her image came to mind. “… It so happened that Celestia had already decided that Twilight’s most recent accomplishment was her final test. Pleased with all her previous achievements, Celestia called the time right and… well, through means I don’t fully understand and the details of which I am NEVER allowed to share with anycreature, Twilight was granted alicornhood, and ascended as Equestria’s newest princess shortly after.”

Falling back onto the couch, I waited for Zipp to fully absorb this new fragment of Equestria’s greatest heroes. Her muzzle scrunched and relaxed repeatedly in a cute fashion while the alabaster pegasus fought to bring some semblance of clarity to her thoughts, for she had successfully made the connection between that story and what had transpired just the other day.

“B-But…” she struggled to voice her conclusions. “How can a cutie mark… How can it…?”

“‘Cutie mark’ is just an Equestrian term for it.” Seeing her struggle, I decided to help her a bit further. “It appeared after the Great Unification. Do you know how ponies referred to them before that time?”

A silent shake of her head followed. “Destiny marks.” I revealed. “How and why the term changed, I can’t begin to guess, but deep inside that’s what they’ve always been. A manifestation of your true calling, your reason, your place within pony society, your…” I ran out of simple terms to describe them. “Well, you get the idea.”

Looking down at her flank, I pointed to her lightning bolt-themed mark. “Even with magic completely denied to you by the Unity Crystals, that is something not even they can take away from you. They were designed as such.”

Surprise gleamed in her eyes. “They’re… magical? As in, they’re made out of magic?”

I caught her by surprise with my loud bursting of laughter, making her recoil slightly. “Well OF COURSE they’re magical!” With all her unmatched cunning behind her reasoning, I was surprised she still hadn’t realized something as trivial as that. “Zipp,” Shifting my stance to rest sideways and give her my full attention, I closed and opened my fist repeatedly while coming up with a way to explain it so she would get it. “Let’s see… you’re very good at flying, right?”

“Um… yeah?” She conceded, confusion masking any undertone of smugness for my praise.

“How?”

“H-Huh?”

“How are you so good at flying?” I inquired further. “I mean, you’d never flown before the crystals were rejoined. Sunny told me how you’d mastered all the theory behind it, but you could never truly use your wings under your own means until very recently. And yet, in the middle of a sea of headless chickens trying not to bump into each other, you were flying around as you’d been doing so since you were a filly!”

Her muzzle opened and closed in quick succession, a rebuttal struggling to come out yet it was unable to do so.

“You didn’t know.” I continued in a lower tone. “Yet, you did know how.”

“…‘Cause it’s what my cutie mark tells me…” She whispered, her eyes now into the two-toned lighting bolt on her flank.

“And when it is exchanged for that of another pony....” I let it hang in the air.

“It changes you.” She concluded, finally achieving the desired ‘click’. “It IS you, but… not entirely. Because you’ve lost a part of you and changed it for a part of somepony else.”

Nodding in agreement, I provided the closing remark. “And with that, you got Sunny trying to fill Hitch’s horseshoes as the town’s sheriff and critter whisperer, and Hitch trying to fill in for Sunny both at her smoothie stand and as a pillar of the community. Not just acting like the other, but being the other. ‘Cause that’s what their cutie marks are telling them.”

A heavy silence fell over the living room, allowing the distant wisps of the rolling waves below the cliff to filter through the closed windows. Zipp’s focus remained on her cutie mark. What beforehand might have just earned a passing glance, now it was the reason for a sense of uneasiness darkening her gaze. Uneasiness matted with a touch of fear.

“… That’s not right.” Were the first words spoken by her after her choking silence ebbed away.

“Three guesses as to who came up with this wondrous idea.” I proposed with a touch of cockiness.

“Harmony.” Her answer came short and full of conviction.

“Ding ding ding!” I playfully conceded, failing to elicit even the smallest sense of merriment from the troubled pegasus. I reached for the rim of my shirt and pulled upwards, the motion returning her attention to me. Tapping with my finger, I motioned for my left pectoral. “See? I got one too.” I spoke referring to the ugly scar permanently marring my skin. “That means I’m also part of the game.” I finished with a creepy smile which only worked to disturb Zipp further. And that’s how I wanted her to feel, for it is the same way I felt when I understood their purpose. What ponies celebrated with pride and wonder, sometimes… sometimes I could only see shackles.

“N-No, that’s… t-that’s not…”

“It's got to be my destiny, and it's what my cutie mark is telling me~.”

Gripping her head with both forehooves, Zipp struggled to come to terms with the truth. It was a disturbing truth from an external point of view. Countless ponies lived their lives without even asking the why or the how. Just the usual ‘it’s my talent, that’s what I’m supposed to do. Funny how my magic and skills suddenly align with that which my talent is supposed to be, huh?’ A clever trick to achieve the perfect society, harmonious, peaceful, a TRUE paradise… as long as it remains in your interest.

And what about the dozens of different species who don’t possess cutie marks? Well, sucks to be them.

A loud bang abruptly ejected us from the gloomy atmosphere, the noise of the front doors opening signaling somepony had just entered the brighthouse.

“… gotta make a BIG entrance for you! EEEEHEHEEHE!! ”

The full power of Izzy’s enthusiasm was being forced upon a poor unfortunate soul who I guessed was the wacky unicorn’s newest friend, and our guest of honor for the night.

“Come on, Zipp.” I nudged the startled pegasus. “We’ve got a sleepover to prepare.” I informed her while standing up and stretching my limbs.

“… A what?”

“…’cause I’ve been missing Bridlewood SO much, and now we can spend hours and hours and hours bonding over Bridlewood experiences and showing my friends how we unicorns rooooll, right? Right! I have everything worked out! There’s so much we have to do if we wanna avoid the jinxes, ‘cause then our friends would also get jinxed, and they don’t know the traditional de-jinxifying dances!! So we must…”

I tried, I swear I did, but she just wouldn’t shut up!

I had to take a couple of mental breaths to keep myself from lashing out. I was already on edge while I was doing another round around town before Izzy caught me spying on her. You would’ve expected a pony at least a bit creeped out after finding somepony was spying on them, if not outright mad. That's what I had expected of her. And yet, instead of doling out the harshness, she forcefully introduced herself and dragged me into her stupid idea of a sleepover without giving me ANY chance to at least consider it. I mean, I can appreciate her energy, I could definitely do with some of it myself, but her overexcited eagerness was gonna get me caught and Opaline’s plans completely and utterly trashed… again!

And now she wouldn’t shut up and grant me the chance to come up with a way to prevent myself from throwing it all to Tartarus in a single day!

The other day’s ‘Opaline catching me eavesdropping’ incident had gotten her mad. No, mad falls waaaaaay short of the truth. She was positively furious, her rage practically incandescent and bubbling like a volcano about to erupt. So much so, she practically shoved my flanks out of her fortress and warned me to stay well away for a while, both to not see my face and to prevent herself from committing something we both would later regret since I was apparently still of use to her after that failure. You can see how I didn’t stick around and question it. I was halfway back into town by the time she stopped yelling.

But even during my temporary exile, she still wanted me to continue with my infiltration efforts, especially after the other day’s findings. She had managed to sneak a little magic-constructed spy into the Crystal Brighthouse, its alleged defenses either not identifying it or outright treating it as non-threatening. Whatever had been the case, she had found that Sunny’s lantern, the one she had dragged with her down that creepy hole in the ground during the Maritime Bay Day festival, had a smidge of the Prisbeam energy inside it.

Opaline wanted it; she wanted it bad, claiming it would help her regain her powers. She had given me an enchanted collar with a special gem inside which would help me communicate with her from here. It was kinda creepy-looking, so I tried to wear it as little as I could, and specifically to not wear it around that white pegasus and her friends. She would surely sniff something weird about it from a kilohoof away! Through such means, I had let her know about Izzy’s forceful invitation to her sleepover. I was convinced she would just straight yell at me NOT to accept the said invitation so I could protect my cover and not endanger the plan further.

However, I was surprised when she proposed the opposite; she wanted me to go, and at first, to mingle so I wouldn’t look suspicious and, at the moment the ponies were all asleep, snatch the lantern away and bring it to her. She assured me she would forgive me if I brought it back with me and, perhaps, only then PERHAPS, would consider the idea of finally giving me my own cutie mark.

I could only jump at the chance. I’d dreamed of having a cutie mark my entire life and, seeing as I didn’t gain one like other ponies did, she was the only means for me to get my wish.

And that brought me here, being practically dragged by my tail up the hill by Izzy, trying and failing to follow her endless tirade while shakily approaching the looming structure which served as the ponies as well as the hooman’s residence.

The hooman… no, human, as Opaline had harshly corrected my spelling earlier, Alexander. The one I was supposed to avoid like a plague. I had completely missed his presence while coming up with a plan to better blend in. I would be able to start from scratch with the ponies, but he already knew me from our previous encounter. Which meant no fake names, nor could I pass off a change of background, as he and that pegasus might then smell something fishy.

But what I had to make sure to do on top of everything else was to keep my big mouth shut. I had a bad habit of babbling every time I grew nervous, and more than once it has betrayed me by spitting out things I wanted to keep inside.

I had to keep my cool and stay in character, because as far as Izzy’s planning went, we all would spend the night together at the Crystal Brighthouse, and no doubt the ponies would be curious about little ol’ me.

‘Keep your cool, Misty. Opaline has trained you for this. This time I CAN’T mess it up, or she’ll…’

Gulping now the ball of nerves forcefully ended that train of thought. We had arrived at the brighthouse’s lawn, its entrance decorated by a gorgeous crystal mural I had spent several minutes admiring the first time I tried to sneak in. The subtle tingling in my horn sent a shiver down my spine from the sheer amount of magic being radiated upwards into the endless sky.

“Okay okay! AAARGH!!” My companion was about to burst from excitement, quaking in her horseshoes with barely restrained energy. “You wait here for a second. I gotta make a BIG entrance for you!! EEEEHEHEEHE!!”

“B-but…” I tried, but she had already burst through the twin doors, granting me a quick glance into the foyer and the humongous hall stretching as high as the residential part of the structure went, its walls not possessing the same crystalline shine as the outer façade had. The light filtering through the glassy mural on the entrance painted the nearby floor in a myriad of colors and shapes. Two ramps lead to the upper floor where several doors lead to rooms with purposes yet unknown to me. Another thing I wanted to do was get a bit of recon done from the inside, since whatever magical defenses preventing the screening pool from peeking inside remained as strong as ever.

My ears twitched when catching the slightly muffled voice of Izzy calling me from somewhere inside. Interpreting it as my signal I hesitantly took the remaining steps separating me from my goal and stood in the middle of the foyer, shying away from the group of ponies and the hooman regarding me with curiosity. “Fillies and gentlecolts! A big round of applause for my newest and bestest unicorn friend in the world… MISTY!!” Izzy stood before her friends; forelegs stretched in a welcoming motion.

However, her celebratory demeanor suddenly morphed into one of confusion. “Misty… uh…”

It took me a second to understand what she was implying, my eyes narrowing to two pinpricks. “I-I, uh… um…” These ponies were wondering what my last name was, but I had always been Misty. Just Misty. Stumbling over my own words, my panicking mind raced to find any available name I could use. My eyes darted around the place, searching for the tiniest glimpse of inspiration. In their panicked search, they stumbled over the cacophony of colors projected from the glass mural behind me. It was there where, after straining my neck to get a quick look at it, that inspiration came to me. And, honestly, I liked what I came up with.

“B-Buh… Brrrriiighhh…” The first idea that popped into my mind was ‘Brighthouse’ as my last name, but I quickly caught myself from blurting that stupidity. “Brrrrrightdawn!” I finally managed to spit out, followed by my most innocent smile.

“Misty Brightdawn?” The hooman asked, to which I answered with a vigorous nod. “Mmm, it has a nice ring to it. You didn’t mention it the first time.”

“Wait!!” Izzy interceded, jumping between us. “You guys know each other?!”

“Mhm.” He replied with an affirmative nod. “Caught her spying over the bridge during the Maretime Bay Day festival.” He flashed me a knowing smirk.

However, I failed to catch his playful tone. “S-S-Spying?!! I-I wasn’t s-spy-”

He cut me off with a sudden laugh. “I know, Misty, I know, I’m just messing with you.” Passing by my side, he patted my head twice while sending a wink towards my direction. He was heading towards the kitchen. “Well, now that you’re here, anypony care for some drinks? It’s a long night ahead of us.” He kindly offered to the group of ponies still arranged around me.

“Uh Uh Uh!” Izzy lit her horn and halted the hooman’s steps solid. Looking over his shoulder, he shot a puzzled look at the unicorn. A short jealous streak ran through my body at seeing this, since the absence of a cutie mark on my rear meant that I couldn’t make use of my magic like all other unicorns could. Not that Opaline had ever even tried to teach me anything since magic came back. Another thing I had to be careful to hide from the inquisitive ponies.

“Huh? What do you mean ‘no’?”

Grinning cheekily, Izzy bounced up the hooman’s rear and rose on her hind legs to place her forehooves on his back. “Sorry, Alex, but tonight’s a ‘girls' night exclusive unicorn sleepover’” She informed the surprised human while gently nudging him to get a move on.

“Uh… is that part of the tradition or something?” He inquired, remaining firm in his place.

“Nuh huh, just thought the mares and I could use a girl’s night for ourselves. You…” She poked him on the back of his head. “...are gonna crash at Hitch’s! I’m sure he could use the company, and you guys can have one of those ‘boy talks’ you stallions love to brag about.” She concluded with a merry giggle which was far away from pleasing Alexander.

“Waaaaitwaitwaitwait.” He took a long step forward, making Izzy lose her balancing point and falling back on fours. Turning on his heels, she addressed the unicorn with a scowl. “You’ve dragged me from my lunch, aaall over the town to get stuff for your sleepover, made me toil your sorry flank ALL the way up here, AND got me to organize our purchases alone, and now you’re giving me the boot?!!”

“Yep!” Izzy replied with her most winning grin, unfazed by the human’s aggressiveness.

He turned towards the rest of the ponies who, sporting guilty smiles, remained silent to his pleading eyes.

“... Fine.” He conceded with a defeated tone. “I still haven’t properly checked out Hitch’s coltcave either way.” He narrowed his eyes at the mares and pointed a threatening finger at them. “But rest assured that there is going to be a lot of gossip happening behind your backs... regarding the behind of your backs more precisely.”

Chuckling at this saucy humor, the mares just rolled their eyes and waved him off, wishing him a fun time back with the missing stallion and promising for all of us to meet up for breakfast here.

Retracing his steps, he passed by my side on his way out. “You have fun, Misty.” He spoke while gently bopping my snout, making me go cross-eyed. “Don’t let the girls bite too much.”

And with a parting wink and a hoof shake, he went on his way to the sole stallion of the group’s house for the night. A profound sense of relief quickly overcame my confusion at his words the moment his tailless rear disappeared beyond the doors. A couple of overcurious ponies were enough of a hassle to deal with, but with him here too, perfectly aware of everything that happened back then in Ancient Equestria… heck, knowing Opaline in pony himself…

‘You can count your lucky stars, Misty. He would’ve caught you in a second.’

Finishing their goodbyes, the previously rooted mares began heading for the kitchen, following Alexander’s initiative in getting some refreshments to begin the party… Was it supposed to be a party?... A meeting?... A hangout?

When you spend your entire life living in an isolated fortress with a millenary alicorn as sole company you can’t help but miss a couple of things.

“Soooo…” The pegasus Zipp began while matching my gaze towards our first destination of the night. “When did you say you got to Maretime Bay?” She inquired with a raised eyebrow, the rest of the ponies’ ears flicking towards us with renewed interest.

“O-oh, I, um… I didn’t…”

“In town just for a visit? Or staying permanently?” She pressed on, her eyes now narrowing in suspicion.

My saving grace came in the form of an over-energetic unicorn mare who swiftly stepped between us. “Zipp, Zipp, Zipp, Zipp, Ziiiiipp. Buddy, you're hoofing it up the wrong hill here.” Izzy cut off the pegasus’ interrogation and placed a foreleg around her withers, ushering her towards the other side of the counter and away from me. “Misty's our friend!” She reasoned, sending a wink towards my direction, to which I responded with a thankful smile. “Ooh! We're already way behind schedule! Come on, ‘uuuunicorns’~!” She made quotes with her hooves and promptly fell into another fit of giggles while encouraging us to hurry it up.

I could almost feel the sweat dripping from my coat onto the spotless floor. Not even a minute in, I had already been questioned and ended up on one of the ponies ‘suspicious’ list.

Sighing in lament, I decided to play it by hoof, for the time being; better to wait until everypony was distracted before attempting to take a peek around. I would enact the theft later while they were all asleep.

‘…Oh, who am I kidding? This is gonna be a disaster…’

“Cheers.”

With a soft clink, our bottles of soft cider touched, after which we brought them to our lips and took a long swig of them. After having been ‘asked nicely’ by the girls to leave them to their traditional sleepover slash girl’s night slash whatever demonic rituals mares perform during such meetings, I had to find a place to rest my sorry ass for the night. The best option I could come up with was the one the mare’s had proposed. A quick phone call later I was on my way to Hitch’s dwelling, which happened to be located right next to his office. The brighthouse had been our standard meeting point thus far, so I had never thought to visit his home.

The stallion himself welcomed me with enthusiasm since, just as it had happened to me during my arrival to Equestria, our circle of friends had grown to be mostly female, and this kind of occasion where two stallions… well, a stallion and a human at this point, could just hang out and talk about their things tended to happen less frequently, closer to practically never.

Since it had been an impromptu meeting for the both of us, no plans had been arranged for the night beforehand. Instead, we were content to just hang out at his home, watching crappy shows on TV and ordering Hayburger for dinner while yapping about stuff.

While we did so, Sparky was fully immersed in his baby toys, currently going through his newest addition according to Hitch. The usual colorful box with pieces of wood that fit into different slots in the box. He was stubbornly trying to fit the triangle-shaped one into the square slot. After the tenth failure or so, his baby eyes sought advice from us when he found he just simply couldn’t muscle his way in. I made a twisting motion with my hand, pretending to have the piece in it and reorienting it in the air. Sparky’s eyes lit up in understanding and, following the same movement, managed to fit the triangle in the square slot rotating it vertically.

“That’s cheating.” Hitch blankly commented, having watched our short exchange.

“But he understood perspective.” I clarified for him. “He’s a smart dragon, not like his dad.” I finished in a teasing tone.

“Yeah, yeah…” Huffing, he took another swing of his drink. A pensive look grew on his features, taking a few seconds to mull his thoughts before going for it. “Hey, um… can I ask you something?”

With a blank look, I responded with my best ‘duh’ gesture.

“Right.” He cleared his throat. “It’s… it’s about your brother…”

“Spike?”

He nodded silently, testing my reaction since he knew perfectly well that everything related to my past friends and family was a sensitive subject for me.

While painful jabs always pierced my heart every time I thought of them, I had no problem talking about the greatest creatures to ever live. “Go ahead, there’s a lot I can say about him.” I gave him the go-ahead and took another sip of my cider.

With my blessings, Hitch fidgeted a bit on the couch to make himself more comfortable and gave me his full attention. “I guess… what I want to know is… how was it? Living with a dragon, I mean. You know…” Anxious concern darkened his features. “How ponies treated you, both of you being different and all… Did they give him a hard time? Did he live peacefully with the ponies…?”

I knew where his worries came from. Sparky, while he was still a baby, baby dragon, one day he would grow up to be the humongous beast dragons were known for. While that would not happen until waaay after both of us had kicked the bucket (I hoped), his concerns were just the same as the ones that had tormented Twilight’s sleep when the responsibility for Spike's care fell on her hooves during her early years as Celestia’s private protégé.

“Hmmm.” I took a moment to mull over my answer, twisting the bottle of cider in my fingers “Well, the shortest answer I can give you is that it was just fine. Spike, while he was older than Sparky is at the moment, was still considered a baby dragon back when I first arrived, his height barely reaching my hip.” I reached low and placed my free hand around the approximate height for Hitch to get a better idea. “He’d been living with Twilight his entire life back in Canterlot, and continued doing so after they moved to Ponyville. Ponies were a little skittish of him at first, she told me, but they quickly grew used to him being around like any other citizen.”

“Didn’t they treat him differently, or… was anypony mean to him…?”

“Mm mm.” I shook my head sideways. “Nah, he’s a very charming fella, and growing around ponies smoothed down any aggressive dragon instincts or predatory behavior. He’s as normal as you and me. And I believe the same will happen to little Sparky here with the ponies of Maretime Bay. I mean, nopony has given either of you a hard time, right?”

Visibly reassured, he shook his head no, taking another sip of cider to further calm his nerves. “…Wait.” He scrunched his muzzle, something not clicking right with him. “You refer to him as ‘he’s’, as in ‘he is’?”

‘...Yeah, I let that slip.’

With a long sigh, I reclined further on the sofa, throwing my gaze upwards to the beige-painted ceiling. “Dragons live for hundreds of years, Hitch, a few even reaching quadruple digits.” My attention returned then to the tiny reptile still fumbling over with his toys. “If this little guy is here, it means there might be dragons out there somewhere… and one of them might be Spike.” A mental image of him all grown up appeared in my mind, eliciting a sad laugh. “Faust… he’ll bite my head off if I ever find him…”

“W-Why do you say that?!” He loudly inquired, sounding terrified at such a possibility.

Another cold spear thrust itself into my heart, my free hand rising instinctually towards the scar under my shirt. “‘Cause I promised him,” I revealed without hesitation, slowly losing myself in the memories of that day.

“Promise? What promise?”

Failing to meet his titled head and curious eyes, I instead focused on the tiny dragon, oblivious to the heavy atmosphere falling over the living room. A phantom of the purple and green-scaled dragon took his place in my clouded vision.

“… Dragons live for hundreds if not thousands of years. Alicorns too, not so much ascended ones than those pure born, but still… And Empyreans shall last for as long as they are needed by their people… Twilight, Spike, and I knew very well what the future would hold for us.” I had to stop for a moment to swallow the heavy lump in my throat. “We knew what would become of our loved ones as the years went by.” I gripped my hands tightly to prevent them from shaking. “… And in the face of this reality, we made a promise to each other.” The phantom image of my brother dissipated as my sight returned to the stallion. “That no matter what, we would face the ages together, after everypony we knew and loved had passed on, for however much each of us would last… We would face it together, as a family.”

With a deep breath, I fell back again onto the couch. “But, here I am… I broke a lot of promises that day. The day I left.”

“Grrru?” Little Sparky, noticing my growing unease, had forgotten about his toys and, without me catching him, had climbed into my side and regarded me with unworried eyes, big and adorable as any baby is meant to sport.

“Thanks, you little bugger.” I appreciated his concern, sneaking a finger under his chin and tickling him to his giggling delight. “So,” I continued with Hitch’s inquiry. “If he’s still out there and we happen to cross paths… well, I’m gonna fall on my knees and beg for forgiveness, and he’s gonna chew me between his jaws ‘till I look like a Jackson Pollock painting.”

“Alex,” Hitch, having listened attentively, reached with a comforting hoof towards my knee. “I don’t need to know your brother to be sure he would never do that to you.”

His comment brought a tiny chuckle out of me. “Heh, perhaps…”

“Although, I too would be mad.” He clarified further, using foal-friendly language yet making clear he would feel way more just ‘mad’. “But, if you explain why to him, I’m sure he’d understand.”

Before I could comment further, the sound of the doorbell startled us out of our conversation.

“Hmm, that’s our dinner, I reckon.” Being a polite houseguest, I offered to take care of it. A short walk later saw me back to the foyer, a framed photo of Hitch’s family alongside a rectangular mirror adorning the wall right next to the door. Not bothering to check through the peephole, I opened the door leading directly into Mane Street, a couple of ponies chatting on their way behind the tan-furred delivery mare patiently waiting with our orders. That was until she caught sight of me.

“O-oh!” She exclaimed, slightly startled at the sight of my tall form. She was quick to catch herself, casting a quick look at the number of Hitch’s house engraved in silver letters. “Forgive me, I…” She checked the address on her phone once again. “I thought this was Sheriff Hitch’s house.”

“It is. I’m just a friend hanging out.” I tersely explain, the appetizing aroma of our dinner already making my mouth wet and shortening my patience.

“Oh, o-okay then.” She conceded with a nervous smile. “In that case,” She reached behind her to her saddlebags and pulled two paper bags with the Hayburger’s logo imprinted on their side. “Herefff ffou ffgo!”

“Thank you.” I grabbed the bags from her muzzle and extracted my wallet from my back pocket.

“Oh, no no.” She waved her forehooves. “It’s already paid for.”

It was at that moment that I remembered that delivery apps were a thing now.

“… Of course it is,” I replied with an embarrassed one, eliciting another one from her. “In that case…” I extracted a pair of two-bit coins from my wallet and balanced them on the tip of her snout, making her go cross-eyed for a moment. “Excuse this senile old man.”

With a bright smile at the impromptu tip, she wished me a pleasant night and went for her next delivery.

Closing the door behind me, I re-entered Hitch’s lodgings, placing the bags on the dinner table.

“Dinner’s here,” I called, hearing the clopping of hooves moving away from the couch with the muffled tapping of a pair of baby dragon’s claws in tow.

Sniffing the air with his sensitive snout, Hitch’s muzzle too began watering from the appetizing scent of life-shortening pony-patented junk food.

“Mmmff,” Hitch moaned in bliss, muzzle full of Double-decker Cheese n’ BBQ Hay Burguer. “Sho, good…”

“A role model for the townsponies, I see…” I teased lightly, amused at the way he was devouring his meal. Not that I had any grounds to complain. I still was given weird looks by the staff every time I entered the establishment to get a burger for myself.

But I was just SO hungry that day…

“And Sunny wanted to ban this,” Hitch recalled after swallowing the surprising amount of burger he had managed to stuff into his muzzle. Pointing with his free hoof at the half-eaten burger, he shook his head sideways aggressively. “Not under my watch, she ain’t!”

“You know,” I began after finishing my portion of french fries, the all too familiar taste bringing me back to old times. “Hayburger was a thing back then in Equestria at the time I first arrived.”

Hitch’s eyebrows rose in visible surprise. “Ifft fffwas?” He inquired with his muzzle full.

“Mhm. And of course, it’s a fast-food franchise that’s capable of surviving an apocalypse. Can you imagine how many hundreds of thousands of burgers must’ve been served in all those years?”

“Damm…” Hitch muttered in a low voice: baby dragon still present. “Pony society crumbling and shattering, only to be brought back together. Magic lost and found again, and earth ponies with new powers too! But the only constant… burgers.”

“A profound reflection, we ought to print it sometime.”

Agreeing with a nod, we spent the rest of dinner set on finishing our courses.

“Hey, now that I think about it,” I spoke after a while, cleaning the remains of ketchup from my mouth. “How are you guys doing with your new magic? It's been a while already and I haven't heard of any other incidents.”

A proud grin stretched over Hitch’s features. “Almost everypony has gotten the hang of it by now. The Community Garden’s full of ponies every day.”

That was an understatement. Sunny's dream project had bloomed into a town-wide attraction. Every morning when I took the road downhill to the town I passed by several early ponies already hard at work trying new crazy combinations or just growing whatever what's on their mind for lunch that day.

“Whatever you grow you can take, that’s the one and only rule, and ponies are behaving surprisingly well. I mean,” He continued. “I haven't needed to patrol around or scold anypony as of yet.”

“That's great news, sheriff.” I congratulated him with a proud smile of my own.

His smile morphed into a tiny chuckle. “Heh. I teased Sunny with the idea of charging the ponies a small amount for the use of land the other day.” The chuckling grew into a belly laugh. “Oh, she gave me an earful alright!” He rubbed his left ear in emphasis.

“Yeah, she can be pretty scary when she’s pissed.” The mention of our friend brought up an idea, and never a better opportunity to ask than with her oldest friend present. “Hey, I know she’s already told me a couple of things herself, but I gotta ask you. How was Sunny back then? Before your little trip around Equestria?”

I offered to take care of cleaning up the table while Hitch made sure Sparky had finished his own dinner. “How was she?” Hitch began. “A royal headache was what she was!” He exclaimed with a hint of dramatism.

“Come on, it couldn’t have been THAT bad…”

The blank look he was giving me over his shoulder could’ve killed a manticore. “One hundred and thirty-two.”

I furrowed my brow in confusion. “One hundred and thirty-two what?”

“One hundred and thirty-two attempts at changing Maretime Bay’s mind about the unicorns and pegasi. One hundred and thirty-two attempts that either failed miserably or ended up with me catching her before any scandal arose.”

“Damm,” I muttered, surprised at her resolution. “That mare’s drive made a pony.”

Finishing our business in the kitchen, Hitch took a moment to tuck Sparky into his cradle within the sheriff’s bedroom, since he believed he was still too young to sleep alone in a room of his own, although I managed to sneak a look and saw how renovations for said room were already well underway for future use. Hitch had clearly fully immersed himself in his role as dragon dad.

“My dad was the town’s sheriff before me.” I caught Hitch’s voice returning from his room while I was heading back to the couch where I would crash that night. Turning around the corner, I saw him heading back to the living room with a pillow and a couple of blankets for me.

“Thanks.” I took the blankets from his back and left them nearby for later.

“No problem.” He conceded dismissively and plopped his rump on the couch at my side. “My dad and her dad were great friends, and just as I had to do with Sunny, he also had to keep an eye on Argyle sometimes. Although the old stallion was never as ‘radical’ as her daughter.” He talked with a fond smile, a hint of longing dripping from his words. “We practically grew up together, Sunny and I, still too young to fully comprehend what her dad was trying to do. Yet, Sunny wouldn't let that stop her from doing her part.”

I listened attentively, eager to learn more about the ponies I now called my family. “Sunny always followed her dad’s hoofsteps, even after he passed away ten years ago. You know?” He spoke hesitantly, an undertone of shame painting his voice. “After he passed away and Sunny took up his mantle, I… I, uh…” He fumbled nervously with his hooves. “I… blamed him for a while.”

My raised eyebrow was enough indicative of my surprise at this state.

“Y-Yeah. He’d raised Sunny by himself, and by doing so, I felt he’d turned her into a pariah like he was. Her unwavering faith and steely resolve, while it was a legacy of his, I felt that it had cost her practically all her friends and reputation in town…” His ears lowered a bit. “After both of us had grown up to be our own ponies, we’d fallen into our little game when she would attempt another of her crazy ideas and I would stop her or clean up the mess after her… but she never gave up.”

He slowly shook his head sideways with a smirk of renewed pride. “Never. And that’s how I’m fully convinced that, once she finishes her training with you, she’s gonna be unstoppable.”

“What is ‘jinxie’?”

Instead of answering me, Izzy fell into a loud fit of laughter, almost falling back on her rump, leaving me even more flabbergasted, if that was even possible by that point.

“Ah, Misty, you’re SO funny!” She exclaimed once she had regained control of her breathing and, with a peppy stride, headed for our next activity of the night, the rest of the ponies in tow. I just stood there, looking blankly at the wall, not understanding what was so funny about my question.

That was what this night was about; activities! Traditional unicorn activities for a traditional unicorn sleepover. Of course, having grown up with Opaline meant I had absolutely NO idea what a traditional unicorn sleepover was supposed to be, meaning that I had to bust my chops pretending to follow along while not making a fool of myself. I had to pretend I had grown up in Bridlewood with the rest of the unicorns and know perfectly what Izzy was attempting to accomplish with her friends who, just like me, were completely lost following the rampaging unicorn all over the brighthouse.

Izzy had planned a hundred activities for us, and all of them had to be completed satisfactorily and on schedule if we wanted to avoid the ‘jinxies’, like she had repeatedly warned us several times that night.

Her over-juiced drive to meet each and every one of the requirements meant we could only dedicate only a few minutes, sometimes not even a full minute, to each one of Izzy’s activities, since the unicorn was adamant that we go through all of them in a single night. I didn't need to have grown up in Bridlewood to know that that was virtually impossible, tradition or not, but Izzy would hear none of it.

The ponies were exhausted, and so was I, but none wanted to take the wind out of her sails, and just followed along with the overexcited mare who seemed to be the only one having fun by that point.

However, I hadn't just stood idly while being dragged all over the place. I had been taking careful notice of everything around the place. Such an opportunity for reconnaissance could not be wasted!

Yet, for all the comings and goings around the brighthouse, my primary target still remained out of my reach. Everything that was transpiring was happening on the ground floor. I still had to find the chance to sneak around for a while and at least find where it was located before snatching it away. But Izzy would not allow anypony to stray away from the tight schedule. Any wasted second was another chance for us to get jinxed!

… I still didn't know what that meant. It didn't sound THAT dangerous though…

“Okay, ponies!” Izzy called to the group from the living room, who had arranged themselves in a semicircle around her. Fumbling on my hooves, I hastily caught up with them, lowering myself onto the thin mattress Sunny had provided each of us with for our comfort. “It’s time for my favorite part!... Well, next to my other favorite part and my other, other favorite part… Ahem.” She took a deep breath. “It's the sleepover sing-along!” She exclaimed, raising herself onto her hind legs and waving her forehooves in the air.

Her excitement was drowned by the silence that fell over the room, since nopony knew what she was referring to, myself included. Seeing how none of us were catching up, Izzy explained.

“It's the traditional sleepover song! We sang this aaall the time back in Bridlewood. Even foals know it!!”

“Huh, for a bunch of mopey ponies you unicorns were, there seems to be a lot of singing in Bridlewood…” Zipp commented under her breath. I was unsure what she was referring to, but seeing how Izzy had portrayed her traditional sleepover, I highly doubted she was actually following it by the book.

“Uh, duh!” Izzy clarified as if it was the most obvious thing in the world. “Oooh!” A light bulb lit over her head. “Misty, You wanna sing along with me?! We can be the Unicorn Duet!”

“U-Um.” All eyes were on me then, making me recoil backward under the weight of their undivided attention. I attempted a pathetic attempt to free myself from what was set to be an embarrassing moment. “I-I, um… well…”

But of course, Izzy would have none of it. “Great! We'll jump into the chorus together, then you take the verse!” Not leaving room for protest, she cleared her throat and began to sing

‘This is it. This is where they catch me…’

“Sing noooow, sleepover frieeends. Time to dream of crystals and geeeems~” With her best voice, Izzy’s singing filled the cozy room. Everypony listened attentively to the foreign lyrics while the unicorn took the stage in the middle of the group. Without any other options available, I decided that it was best to just stand behind her, using her larger frame to hide my shame as best as I could. In a broken voice, I repeated the lyrics as Izzy sang them, trying my best to look like I knew them by heart, yet I spent half the time just humming along and praying the other ponies wouldn't notice.

Izzy’s loud number had caught most of the ponies’ attention, sparing me from their criticism for the time being. However, when the moment came for my solo performance, my mind came up completely blank.

“U-Um…” My mind worked a hundred kilohooves an hour to bring out the saddest, most horrible excuse for a verse. “G-G-Get on y-your hooves and… plaaaay… a-along, ‘c-cause it’s… a party and… that's w-what happens when you… uh, have fun with… frieeeends…'' Finishing with my most convincing smile, I waited for the inevitable shame of their laughing.

‘That was the WORST musical performance in the history of Equestria.’

Wincing, I peered over my lidded eyes to assess their reactions. However, instead of being laughed at, or worse, being called out, the ponies just waited patiently with a sympathetic smile for Izzy’s verdict. The unicorn in question was far from pleased with my performance.

“O-Oh, I guess… we just learned different versions... That’s okay…”

‘...Different versions?...’

Before I could process the fact that I had just escaped by the skin of my teeth, Sunny had risen from her seat and placed a reassuring hoof over the now sad unicorn.

“I'm sorry we don't know a ton of unicorn stuff, Izzy.” The orange-furred mare apologized. “But we're happy to learn!”

“It may just take us a while,” Zipp added with a guilty smirk.

Izzy turned to fondly address her friends. “Aww, thanks, guys. Maybe we can continue our list and... I'll just sing the song by myself later...” However, her tone indicated she wasn't completely reassured by them.

Seeing her demeanor, Pipp jumped at a chance to correct the issue, eager at the chance to sing along. “Nooo, nononono, NO! I'll sing it with you!” She offered with an eager pump of her wings, a golden microphone in her hooves.

“O-Or maybe we can play another game together!” Sunny proposed hesitantly.

‘This is my chance.’

While the ponies were busy discussing the next step of their sleepover amongst themselves I, who had remained in the background of the conversation, tip-hooved my way out of the living room and up to the first floor where I’d hoped to find their bedrooms. The first door I tried led me to a bedroom alright, but it wasn't the girls’. A single bed stood in the middle, with a work desk full of notes and diagrams immediately in front of it. The clothes scattered around the bed were indicative enough of whom these quarters belonged to, yet it was the scent coming from the room that nailed the identity of the owner.

‘Hmm, he smells… different, I guess?’

Not wanting to waste time in useless musings, I silently closed the door and tried the next room.

“Bingo.”

A large room opened up before me, five beds meticulously filling up the entirety of the periphery while a glass column stretched from the middle of the room and all of the way up to the ceiling. Inside, the Prisbeam energy discernable from kilohooves around the bay was born, and steadily but surely flowed up into the sky. Being so close to it, a tingling sensation ran down from my useless horn to the tip of my tail. Such power… the entirety of Equestria’s magic was flowing before my eyes. No doubt Opaline wanted to get a hoof on it. Who am I kidding? She wanted all four hooves on it.

But that was a prize for another day. Opaline’s little magic spy had previously located the lantern here in the girls’ bedroom. I prayed that I would find it in the same spot.

To my dismay, a quick look around saw no shining lantern for me to grab and bolt out of there, not that I would be able to sneak past the ponies while they were awake, but I at least wanted to locate it beforehoof so I wouldn't have to search around a bunch of slumbering ponies.

“Ugh! Of course it wouldn't be here!” I cursed under my breath after I had completed a second lap around the room. My eyes were then dragged towards the shimmering column of rainbow energy. More precisely, at how a section of the glass column facing the doors seemed to be able to separate from the rest. The keypad right at the side and the platform inside the column revealed the presence of an elevator.

‘Hmm, perhaps it’s up there…’

Up there was where the Unity Crystals were located. Opaline’s screening pool only allowed her to get so close. ‘A quick look won’t hurt anypony’, I reasoned, especially since I had no plans to even touch those crystals in the first place.

Confident that I would find what I was looking for, I placed my hoof on the button and waited for the doors to open. It was at that moment that a shrill alarm began to hammer my ears.

‘NO!NonononononononoNO!!’

I began to panic, and in my anxiety to bolt the hay out of there, I ended up tripping over my own hooves as I tasted the marble floor that decorated the entirety of the building. With a pained moan, I got back to my hooves, only to come snout-to-snout with an angry-looking alabaster pegasus.

With a loud yelp, I jumped back from the scowling mare, and almost ended back on the floor again. “I-I… uhh…”

“What are you doing here, Misty?” Zipp inquired, her tone making clear she wouldn’t take any nonsense.

“I, uh… I-I was just… trying to figure out this keypad to go up to the washroom! Hehehe.” I tried with an embarrassed giggle.

“You were trying to find the washroom in the elevator?” She inquired with a raised eyebrow.

Gulping loudly, I waved my forehooves energetically. “N-No, no, that’s, uh… kinda stupid, right?” Her expression remained neutral. “Y-Yes, well. I just thought… I thought I'd go look at the view first! It's a…. fun Bridlewood tradition! Which is probably why… you didn't know about it!”

Her eyes narrowed further, the pegasus taking slow steps toward me while her analytical gaze sought to crack me wide open. I remained firm… no, I didn't. With my most innocent smile, I took a step back for every step Zipp took forward until my rump collided with something behind me, my whole body shaking like a leaf. Just as I was about to throw it all to Tartarus and jump out of the window, Zipp’s inquiring leer gave way to a bright smile.

“Hah! First Bridlewood tradition I totally get! I love awesome views!” Her sudden change of demeanor allowed sweet, merciful air into my lungs once again. “Maybe I'll take you up there to look some other time. Buuuuuuut, the washroom is down there.”

Following her stretched foreleg, I saw her pointing out of the room and down where the rest of the ponies were surely wondering what the hay was going on.

“Heh... thanks, Zipp. Um, I'll be sure to take you up on that.”

Not meeting her gaze, I decided that it was best to just hurry up and comply and stop making a fool of myself… further, that is. However, in my carelessness, my tail brushed against whatever was over the night desk I had bumped against, making it fall onto the floor with a loud *clank*. Wincing once again, I stiffly lowered my head to assess the damage. However, you wouldn't believe my surprise when, from the cylindrical casing I had dropped accidentally, the upper end of Sunny’s lantern peeked through, casting the immediate area in a rainbow glow identical to the one coming from the Prisbeam’s, uh… beam.

“Oh no!” Zipp wailed at my side, quickly falling to her knees and carefully taking the lantern into her hooves. A quick look over revealed no visible damage. The casing had done its job. “Please, be careful, Misty. Sunny will have our hides if we break her lantern.”

With stammered apologies, I waited for Zipp to return the lantern to its previous location. The way the casing covered it masked most of its rainbow light from where I was looking. No doubt I hadn't seen it the first time! Also because I was mostly panicking, I reckoned.

“It’s very pretty.” I blurted out while double and triple-checking my mental notes depicting its location. The first part of the plan was done and done.

“I know, right?” Zipp agreed. “It didn't shine like this before, though.”

“What do you mean?”

Tilting it a bit so the rainbow light was visible again, Zipp began to explain. “It used to shine like a normal lantern, but one night Sunny took it with her and rode the elevator up. I think she was looking for Alex and wanted to take it with her since it was probably kinda dark around the place. The thing is, when she came out later, a piece of the Prisbeam energy seemed to have ended up stuck inside.” She shook her head dismissively. “None of us know how or why. It just looks like this now. An upgrade from your average lantern, if you ask me.”

‘So, there IS Prisbeam energy inside it. Opaline was right…’

“Y-Yeah,” I whispered after escaping my previous train of thought. “I guess it is.”

With our discussion seemingly over, I turned back towards the doors, not before shooting one last good look at my prize. However, before I could take a single step, Zipp’s voice rooted me in place.

“Hey, Misty…” She probed with notable hesitation. “Um… perhaps this a bit too soon, since we’ve just met and all, but… can I ask you a weird question?”

Deeply puzzled, I could only nod silently, wondering what had gotten the seemingly confidant pegasus to act so weird all of a sudden.

“Um, it's about your cutie mark.”

Of all the things she could’ve asked about…

“M-My cutie mark?” I croaked out, chastising myself for not considering that possibility. I had nothing prepared! What was I supposed to say? ‘Oh, this little thing? Just a drawing of a butterfly I saw in a book. I paint it on my flanks every time I come to town to hide the fact I'm possibly the ONLY pony in existence without one!!’

“Mhm,” She confirmed with a nod. “Does it, uh, how to say it… feel like you?”

If she hadn't done so already, her question caught me by complete surprise. I was expecting something more in the line of ‘How did you get it?’, or ‘What does the butterfly mean?’

“... What?”

“I mean,” Zipp tried again. “Does it feel like it’s truly who you are? Like, the true you?”

She might’ve been speaking in Neighponese for all I was getting from her. “Well, isn’t that what a cutie mark is about?” I offered, drawing from my limited knowledge about them I had managed to piece out of Opaline’s old dusty books.

An affirmative nod from her, but her continued silence prompted me to continue. “So… yeah. It feels like who I am. Like… with everypony else, I think.”

I was truly lost for words. A cutie mark appears on a pony’s flanks when she or he discovers that which makes them truly special, that talent that sets them apart from the rest. That much I knew, but all that philosophical nonsense? I hadn't the slightest idea where it was coming from.

“... Yeah, of course.” Zipp finally conceded after a minute of silent contemplation. She regarded me with an apologetic smile. “Sorry about that, I just… I talked with Alex just before you arrived and… I have a lot on my mind. Forget I asked.”

“Uh, sure.” Not wishing to make things even weirder, I conceded and, together, we made our way back to the rest.

“Everything alright, ponies?”

Pipp’s inquiry mirrored all our concerns since Misty and Zipp had spent an awful lot of time up there. The alarm she had installed for the elevator had been triggered. We chalked it up to Misty having lost her way, but why was it taking so long for them to come back? There were still a ton of things we needed to do if we were to stay on schedule!

Oooh, I could almost feel the jinxies lurking around the place already. A hundred years of bad luck awaited us! No, a thousand years!

Misty and Zipp’s heads appeared around the entrance to the living room as Pipp voiced her question. A quick explanation confirmed our suspicions. Poor Misty had lost her way looking for the bathroom and had become sidetracked with admiring the stunning beauty of the place we call home!... Or something like that.

“Sooo, what’s next, Izzy?”

Just as I was to answer Zipp, Sunny beat me to it. “How about we all tell stories?!”

That was totally in the plans for tonight, although it didn't come until step sixty-four. Still, I saw no harm in doing it earlier and, along with the rest of our friends, agreed on our next activity while settling back into our mattresses.

“Okay,” Sunny, having proposed the activity, volunteered to go first. Clearing her throat, she began with her storytelling, grabbing a flashlight and pointing it at herself for further ambiance. A clap of Pipp’s hooves triggered the sound-triggered light switch off, bathing the room in twilight. “This is the true story of the Guardians of Harmony…”

“I loooove this story.” Pipp celebrated with a clap, a sentiment I too shared. It was one of my favorite stories too. One all ponies knew even after having been separated for so many centuries.

Smiling brightly at us, Sunny continued. “Once upon a time, there was a very special unicorn. A bright unicorn, as bright as a shining star. One day, she was summoned by the Princess for an assignment: to learn about friendship! She came down from the great city of Canterlot and moved to Ponyville, where she met earth ponies, unicorns, and pegasi who became her best friends! Together, they taught her the power of friendship and unity and how to live in harmony with everypony in Equestria!”

A chuckle from Zipp brought our attention to her. “Heh, now that we know Alex, that story sounds like it falls a bit short.”

It was true. Our human friend’s retelling of his time in the past couldn’t be summed up in a few words like Sunny’s story. We had learned of the numerous adventures he and the Elements of Harmony had been through, and how they’d saved Equestria time and time again.

“I guess you’re right, Zipp. But the long version would take us the rest of the night, and I’m sure our hostess here doesn’t want us to stay rooted here, right?”

Realizing she was referring to me, I shook my head sideways vigorously, eliciting a laugh from my friends.

“Thought as much. So,” She recovered the narrative thread. “Ponies far and wide learned to live in unity, and their harmony soon stretched around the world, touching a multitude of different creatures who saw in Equestria an example to be followed. The world saw an era of peace and unity like nopony had ever seen before.”

We all knew what came after, and it reflected in the darkening of her tone. “But then, one day, a magical accident happened! An earth pony got…”

It was at that moment that we all remembered about those certain… inaccuracies the original story portrayed against what our human friend had revealed to us. He was there to witness it in pony and, according to him, it was his fault it happened in the first place…

“Got what?”

Misty’s voice brought Sunny out of her momentary support. “... Hurt.” She mumbled, but the look we all shared spoke volumes about the truth behind the legend. “Everypony started fighting with each other! The unicorn-now-turned-Princess, wanting to protect her kingdom and all of the ponies in it, decided to seal all of the world’s magic into three crystals before it got out of hoof. However, earth ponies only felt safe with other earth ponies. Unicorns with unicorns. And pegasi of a feather flock together. The ponies galloped, trotted, and flew as far as they could with their crystals, settling in what would become Zephyr Heights, Bridlewood, and Maretime Bay. And that's where they lived, alone and isolated… until now.”

Any other day, loud cheering would have followed while we patted each other’s backs, us being the ones responsible for that enormous change and all. However, the truth behind the story had sucked out most of the joy in it. Never in our lives could we have imagined how bad it had truly gotten back then.

“Wait!” Misty’s sharp cry cut though the somber atmosphere. “But that’s not the true story at all!”

‘Huh? What’s she talking about?’ I wondered to myself. Even while remaining separated, the three tribes had shared the same story, for the most part at least.

“Uh, yes it is, Misty. We pieced together the crystal part ourselves. Literally.” Sunny voiced our collective thoughts.

“Why? What have you heard, Misty?”

Spurred on by Zipp’s curiosity, Misty took the flashlight on her hooves and gave us her version. “Well, it’s true that magic once flowed through Equestria. But most of it came from a very powerful pony, an alicorn queen!”

‘Wait. An alicorn queen? Equestria has never had a queen… Well, until now that is.’ I remembered Alex’s retelling of his past adventures, never once mentioning any other pony royal figure aside from the Princesses.

“She was too powerful, and the ponies were jealous of her ability. In an act of treason, the Princess stole the magic from the Queen and hid it somehow. Then, the Princess enchanted an invisi-bubble around the place where the ponies had fled to, so the alicorn queen could never find them again. The Queen was left alone, with only a sliver left of her strength and power, all while the other ponies created towns built with her stolen magic!”

Seconds ticked away while my friends and I processed Misty’s story, a twisted and completely derailed version of the one the three tribes shared. Worried eyes met one another, a silent debate being exchanged with only one possible conclusion.

“What?” Pipp was the one to finally break the silence. “That's the true version?!”

“Who told you that?” A click from Zipp’s phone signaled her recording over, only for another to start immediately after her question.

All our attention was on the sky-blue unicorn, who was quick to catch our shared reluctance to her version of the tale. Grinning nervously, she shuffled with her forehooves while slightly flinching away from us.

“Ah! Um… N-Nopony! Uh, I... you know, I may have made some of it up, hehe.”

‘Some of it? Try ALL of it…’

Her sorry excuse failed to work on our friends, who continued to press her further, making her start sweating as if she had just run the Bridlewood Annual Marathon and recoiled even further. No matter how weird her story had been I couldn’t stand for our star guest suffer like that!

I jumped in front of her and blocked the girls’ incessant questions. “‘True’, ‘made-up’, what difference does it make? Each story was great! Especially that alicorn queen part, Misty.” I reassured her trembling form with a playful wink. “ So creative! So epic! Got any more?”

The ponies were quick to catch my gesture and thankfully stepped back a bit. Although their attention was now on me.

“So, is this like an old Bridlewood pony's tale or...?”

I shook my head vigorously. “I've never heard it, Pipp, but maybe that's just my own corner of the community.” I looked at the shy unicorn over my shoulder. “Where did you say you grew up exactly, Misty?”

“Yeah, where did you grow up, Misty?” Zipp pressed on once again, skyrocketing my already growing frustration with her. She had spent the entire night with that attitude towards Misty. I could understand her detective jitters kicking in with somepony new, but even after she had promised us to not do it again she was pressing her buttons way too much.

And, of course, a pony can only take that much. “Uh, n-nowhere! A-And, I-I… Um, I s-should probablygottagetgoingtogetbackrightaboutnow! Bye!”

In a panicked blur, the sole reason for the slumber party to be an actual thing flew out of the room as if a Tartatus demon was on her tail. Ignoring my friend’s cries, I bolted behind her, pumping my legs in an effort to catch her before she reached the front doors.

“Wait, Misty! You can't leave! This party is all just for y-”

But the resounding slam of the twin doors closing forcefully sharply ended my pleading, making my ears go flat against my scalp and breaking my run, barely managing to stop myself before tasting the white painted wood.

Falling on my haunches, I could only stare longingly at the closed doors, waiting and praying for my newest friend to suddenly have a change of heart and come trotting back with the merry smile I had worked so hard to get from her the whole night.

I felt a presence at my side after a few moments, but I lacked the heart to address it. “Hey,” I recognized Zipp’s apologetic tone. “I didn't mean anything by all my questions. I was just trying to get to the bottom of things and figure out the real truth.”

“Heh, the truth.” I chuckled darkly, making Zipp take a hesitant step back when noticing my complete lack of amusement. “You wanna know the truth, huh?” I rose on four again and slowly loomed over the alabaster pegasus. “The real truth, Zipp, is that my first real sleepover in Maretime Bay has been a complete and total jinx-a-thon!!”

I saw her gulping loudly, ears down and slightly glossy eyes asking for forgiveness, but I was just tired by that point. Everything was going so well, and I was going to have the chance to feel back in Bridlewood, even if it was for a single night.

‘...Who am I kidding?’

“That means ‘failure’, by the way.” I felt the need to clarify, slowly trotting past her and back into the living room to deliver the bad news.

“Izzy…”

Ignoring her, I re-entered the small room where our friends waited with visible worry. “Party's over, ponies.” I heartlessly announced, letting their protests go over my head while flopping over the couch to sulk at the fire warming up the chilling night.

‘I could really use one of Alex’s belly rubs now…’ The random thought failed to bring any spark of happiness.

The familiar scent of my best friend signaled her approach. I felt the couch sinking slightly under her weight at my side. “Izzy, we don't have to start cleaning just yet.” I felt her hoof slowly stroking my shoulder. “I know this didn't go as you planned, but the night is still young…”

“Yeah! We can still have more fun!”

Pipp’s energetic attempt was accompanied by nods of agreement from all present, yet reluctance still clung to me. These ponies were my best friends, and I loved them with all my heart, but they just couldn't understand.

With a longing sigh, I turned my head the slightest amount towards them. “That's really sweet of you to say, but it isn't just Misty leaving…” Although that accounted for the biggest part. “This isn't a real celebratory sleepover without being in Bridlewood, anyway. I just wish I could…” Images of my birthplace filled my vision, memories I cheered as much as the ones I had made in Maretime Bay. “… just lay on the ground and stare up at the big branches of Bridlewood trees rustling above me. It's what I always did when I felt... un-sparkly.” And considering how things were before the reunifications of the crystals, that tended to happen more often than not.

“... Sometimes I miss my unicorn stuff so much. And I thought having Misty here would help…” That had been the main idea for the sleepover. Another one of Izzy's ideas going down the drain…

Right before my eyes began leaking, Sunny’s hoof, still on my shoulder, acquired a firmer grip, pulling harder to force me to meet her decisive look.

“What exactly do you miss about Bridlewood?” She suddenly inquired, making me tilt my head in puzzlement. “Be specific.”

“Uh,” While I was not sure what that was all about so suddenly, I saw no harm in it. I loved to talk about Bridlewood. And boy did I have a lot to say. “Do you reeeeally wanna hear?” Three heads nodded firmly. “Are you suuuure?” Again, another firm nod. “The list is longer than the lyrics to my unicorn sleepover sing-along song, you know?”

The ponies turned a deaf ear to my warnings. “Guess we're gonna have to get comfortable.” Zipp quipped, falling on her belly along with her sister, yet Sunny remained attentive at my side.

“Weeeell…” I took a deep breath and let the floodgates open. “I miss the jinxie dances! Horseshoe games! Sparkle seasons with hot chili peppermint honeysuckle iced teas! The critter contests! The bunnicorns! The Wishiehoofs! The bongo beat poetry! Learning how to hold my breath for long stretches so we can excitedly exclaim long lists like this very one that I'm exclaiming now…!”

On and on I went, listing a thousand and one reasons why I missed the magical forest I grew in, deflating like a balloon with every little thing about my birthplace which I missed dearly and wanted nothing more than to experience once again, and with my bestest friends in the world along with me! I don’t know for how long I went, countless memories breaching through the mist and taking over my voice. I failed to notice Zipp and Pipp sneaking away while I continued with my long tirade, nor Sunny silently directing instructions to the pegasi pair.

“... Crunchy unicorn corn cakes! Sweet, salty horn-shaped strudel! Knitting scarves for armadillos in the winter!” A tapping on my head derailed my train of thought. Looking up, I saw Sunny’s orange-furred hoof as the culprit. Following it, I was met with the very same mare still at my side, now sporting a crooked grin which made me feel a bit self-conscious.

“Hehehe, perhaps I overdid it.” I croaked out in an embarrassed tone.

“Not at all, Izzy.” Grabbing my foreleg, she ushered me out of the couch and up on my hooves. Before I could question her, she stepped behind me and covered my eyes.

“Hey! What’s going on?!”

But instead of answering, she nudged me forward. Blindly following her directions, I realized that we had left the living room and were somewhere in the hall.

“S-Sunny, wait!”

We continued up the ramp to the first floor. My ears caught the doors to our bedroom opening and closing for me. A few steps into our quarters, I felt Sunny’s nudging stop. Without any warning, my vision returned to my eyes when I felt her pull back. Now deeply puzzled, I voiced my confusion.

“What are you ponies do-”

But the words died in my muzzle when my eyes filled with the sight in front of me, a familiar sight, one I had been longing to experience again for some time now. Glowing crystals from my own collection hung from the ceiling, bigger ones littered all around the place, bathing our room in the gentle light the ones from back home emitted too, albeit poorly since magic didn't flow as it should back then. Small decorations, trinkets, and hastily-pulled adornings decorated the area around my bed, some of them I recognized from the very same list I had just… listed.

“What is…?”

“It’s all the stuff you miss from Bridlewood.” Zipp clarified with a nudge of her hip. “Well, most of it.”

Bright smiles adorned everypony’s muzzles, excitedly waiting for my reaction, a reaction which struggled to come out since my astonishment wouldn't wash away.

“I-I can't believe it…” I mumbled, drinking as much of the sights as I could, warmed by the sense of familiarity it stirred in me. “You guys did all of this just as I was talking?!”

“Well, to be fair, you had a lot to say.”

A chuckle was shared after Zipp’s playful comment. It was then that the ponies had their desired reaction, which summed up to me glomping them onto the floor and nuzzling the stuffing out of them.

“ThankyouthankyouthankyousoMUCH!!”

The three mares surrounded me in a group hug, apologizing for their lack of perspective and failing to understand the true importance that this celebration held for me.

Of course, I was more than willing to accept their apologies after what they had just pulled off. Now, the sleepover was back on its rails! You’re not gonna get us this time, jinxies!

With my smile reaching past my ears, I allowed the mares to regain their bearings after my show of gratitude. Skipping in place with barely restrained excitement, a sudden thought ran through my mind.

‘Hmm, I wonder how the colts are doing?’

“JUMP!! JUMP YOU IDIOT!!”

“I AM JUMPING!!” The stallion yelled back while furiously smashing the A button on his controller.

After having tucked Sparky in, and already bored of watching TV, Hitch had pulled out some video games he had stored in his TV cabinet, entertainment I was more than looking forward to trying for myself, curious to see how their technological advancement had impacted on their rough gaming industry from back then.

To my dismay, that improvement summed up to be a jump from sixteen to thirty-two bits, changing the arcades and bulky home consoles for rough attempts to what you could find from the late nineties to the early two thousands more or less. Don’t get me wrong, it was a fair improvement, but it had been seven whole centuries since the Equestrian golden age of video games.

‘This ponies I swear…’

Nonetheless, I swallowed my protests and took him up on his invitation to a quick game which, boys being boys, ended up dragging on for the better part of the night.

“Dammit, Hitch, you got two left hooves or what?!!”

“I HAVE TWO LEFT HOOVES!!”

Technically, he wasn't wrong, but that didn't excuse the complete disaster that was his coordination. We were playing Super Pony Bros 3… you already know how names work here by now; in two-player mode, and currently facing the usual ‘escape before the bad guy catches you’ level. I was fresh out of lives, meaning it was all on Hitch jumping through the obstacles to reach the end of the castle before a conveniently-shaped dragon with a bunch of spikes on its back roasted him down to a crisp.

“Comeoncomeoncomeon…” He mumbled in concentration, hooves flying over the gamepad. A synthetic boom, a bunch of flames swallowing his character, and the always infuriating ‘Game Over’ screen saw the end of our flawless run through the latest number of the series (now in amazing 3D).

“You suck.” I bumped the back of his head, quickly retracting my hand before his hard fetlock could swat it away.

“Bah. Those pegasi developers think we all have feathers to use on the controller.”

It never ceases to amaze me the dexterity of the pegasi with their wings, both in flight and using their primaries as the closest thing a pony will get to actual digits. Still, his whining was as annoying as that of a little foal.

Thank goodness a mouth-splitting yawn prevented me from letting him know about it. A quick look over the phone told me that it was now one-thirty in the morning.

“Damm, I gotta be up for a morning shift tomorrow,” I complained over my breath, feeling exhaustion pulling down on my eyelids.

“I work the morning shift every single day, you baby.” Hitch jabbed with a swat of his tail against my leg. “Time for us to hit the hay.” He ordered, followed by a big yawn of his own.

A longing sigh left my nostrils. “Ah, the day when I’d stay up the entire night drilling a good RPG…” I felt so old at that moment.

Chuckling, Hitch rose from the couch to disconnect the gaming console. “Pipp giving you classes in dramatism?”

“I gotta practice for the podcast. She's almost got everything ready and will drag my ass there the first chance she gets. I gotta play the part.”

“Mmm, you finally going to tell the ponies who you really are?” Hitch asked with a raised eyebrow

“Ha! As if. The last thing I want is ponies bowing to me everywhere I go or something. You guys can be so dramatic sometimes.”

“Only the best of us.” He returned with a cocky smirk, which was erased by another yawn that sealed the deal. “Yeah, that's it for me tonight. Breakfast with the girls tomorrow?”

“Mhm, I’ll call Sunny in case she needs us to get anything from the market before heading there.”

“Awesome.” And with that, he wished me a good night and disappeared into his room, not bothering to move silently since only a freight train crashing into a mountain could hope to wake up a slumbering dragon once they go into REM sleep. Perhaps not even that.

The blankets provided were more than enough to cover me, yet the cold of the night was nipping hard at my furless skin. Nothing that a quick heat spell under the insulation of the blankets wouldn't fix.

‘The commodities of magic… And me trying to make a business out of it. Faust, what was I thinking…’

With those thoughts, I fell into sleep’s embrace.

“Stupid stupid stupid STUPID!! AAAARGH!!” Angry cries and cursing pierced the tranquil early-night scenery. The source? A sky-blue unicorn absolutely incapable of keeping her muzzle shut. It had not been the first, the second, or even the third time that my big mouth and flimsy nerves had put me in a tight spot.

Now? I had made a complete fool of myself and made the ponies even MORE suspicious to the point I couldn’t understand how I wasn’t behind bars by then. Not only I had ended up looking like the creepy unicorn who for some reason seemed to have forgotten EVERYTHING about the very same place where she was supposed to have grown up… which I hadn't, but still!

No, I just HAD to blurt out the version of the story that Opaline had drilled into my head for as long as I could remember. A version which… if I’m being completely honest, I don’t fully believe myself either…

But that wasn’t the point. Opaline had a vision, a very very VERY crucial plan to enact if ponykind was to have any chance of survival, especially now since there were apparently so few of us and we are but a shade of what our ancestors were. And I am an important part of that plan. It was on me to acquire what she needed, and she would then deal with the rest, giving me the thing I’d been longing for my entire life in the process.

“But you just couldn’t keep your muzzle shut, could you, Misty?! No. Now we have to get the hay out of here before those slow-minded ponies finally realize who you truly are!”

Angry stomping accompanied each frustrated scream, carrying me from one side of the communal garden to the other, where I was not-so-subtly trying to hide for the time being, in a fit of self-loathing and frustration.

“No! And where will you go, Misty?! Opaline has kicked you out until you can bring her that accursed lantern! You think she’s gonna let that pass once she catches you returning with your tail between your legs like a LITTLE FILLY!!” More angry stomping saw the release of all the weight of my repeated failures that had accumulated over the last month. Opaline had taught me, she had taught me hard how to best infiltrate the pony settlements, and she had shown me many of her tricks. And best of all, not an ounce of magic was required for them, which fit my complete lack of spellcasting abilities like a glove.

“And for what?! When you’re just MOMENTS away from getting it right for ONCE, you have to open your trap and mess it up! AAAARGH!!”

I don’t know how much time I spent there, but I must’ve gone through my very short list of curses at least three times. Once I had let out all of my steam, I was left standing there like an idiot, mentally drained and physically exhausted. You would’ve thought trotting all the way here and back to Opaline’s fortress as a routine would've improved my stamina.

“... I have to get back.” That was the most logical conclusion. Even better, it was the ONLY conclusion left for me. I didn’t know when the next opportunity would present, and Opaline not wanting to see a hair of me back home meant I was virtually homeless. “I’ll go back, say I was hungry or something and play the silly innocent unicorn for the rest of the night. I can’t allow them to rile me up. What were you expecting, Misty? They’re the enemy, of course they’re meant to blurt a lot of nonsense!”

With my mind set, I gave myself a couple of minutes to regain my bearings and get my breathing under control, lest they began asking questions… again.

With a confident stride, I retraced my steps up the hill and, once in reach, knocked on the doors twice, taking a step back and waiting patiently while coming up with an excuse for my out-of-the-loop behavior.

One minute passed. The two. Then five. I couldn’t believe the ponies would just call it quits and go to sleep!

‘Yeah, that’s the last thing I need right now.’

Puzzled, and not wanting to lose my last chance, I slowly turned the knob and took a peek inside the foyer. Nopony was there, nor were they in the main hall either. Light wasn't coming from any of the side rooms either. However, muffled voices could be discerned coming from the upper floor.

‘They must’ve moved the party upstairs.’

Tip-hooving all the way, I took the same path I had used during my first reconnaissance of the site. The only problem was that now my main target was in the same room as my other targets who under no circumstances could be made aware of my intentions, a poor job by me so far, but I still had the rest of the night. Once everypony pony was a’ sleeping, I would take the lantern and get a’ trotting…

I can’t help it, I always start speaking nonsense when I grow nervous.

“Um, h-hi…” Once I had reached their room, my muzzle, the only thing visible from the slightly opened doors, spoke in an apologetic tone. Those very same doors were suddenly flung open all the way by a purple telekinetic aura, almost throwing me back all the way I came.

“MISTYYYY!!” Izzy, comfortably tucked on her bed over the sheets facing away from the pillow with the rest of the mares forming a semicircle on the floor around her, called with an overabundance of joy. The sheer happiness radiating from her got me a bit flustered at that moment. I couldn’t recall anypony ever being so genuinely happy to see me…

“Y-yeah… it’s me…”

The same magical aura grabbed me and practically launched me all the way to where the girls were gathered, throwing me into the open forelegs of Izzy who had hopped off her bed, and proceeded to hug the stuffing out of me.

“Ooooh, I’m so happy you’re back! I thought we had scared you away forever!!”

“O-Oh…” I stuttered, fighting to breathe while pleasantly shocked by her apparent interest in preserving our new friendship. All of this was painfully new to me. Seeing a positively relieved Izzy choking the air from my lungs while the rest of her friends smiled warmingly at us brought out a series of feelings I couldn't quite explain at the moment. A sense of… I don’t know… I couldn't explain at the time.

But I liked it. A lot.

“Of course not, um… Izzy.” Once she had released her from her bear-trap forelegs, I blurted out another half-flanked excuse to take the weight of their attention off my shoulders. “I-I just… had a nasty hunger cramp and… a-and I saw those delicious glimmerberries at the garden on my way here and… well, I had already eaten a lot of your popcorn and… didn't want to impose…”

“Aww, Mistyyyy.” It didn't take Izzy a second to buy my sorry claim, trapping me in her embrace once again. “I made it just for you! How could you think you would be a burden?!”

Before I could embarrass myself further, Izzy’s head rose from its place atop mine to address somepony behind her, who I couldn’t discern since she was still snuggling my head against her chest.

“Aaaand,” She began. “I believe there’s somepony else who wants to tell you something.”

The clopping of said pony’s hooves bounced around the room for a moment until stopping at my side. Once Izzy had released me again, I was met face to face with the eldest princess of the pegasi herself, the one who was moments away from sniffing out my true persona.

‘Oh, horseapples…’

“Misty,” Zipp’s forehoof came to rest against my trembling shoulder. “I just wanted to say…”

‘SheknowssheknowssheknowsSHEKNOWS…’

“... I’m very sorry.”

“... H-Huh?” I shuttered between clenched teeth.

“I’m very sorry, Misty. I’ve been acting like a jerk to you with all those uncalled-for questions and prodding. I…” My eyes widened when I saw her sheepishly rubbing the back of her head, her gaze directed to the floor below us in embarrassment. “I, uh… It’s a bad habit of mine, I’m working on it.”

I had been expecting something more along the lines of ‘I know you’re working for Opaline’, or ‘I just wanted to say that your secret is no longer, uh… secret to us’. But witnessing the most inquisitive pony in existence apologizing for being too inquisitive?

“Uh… no, you’re… I-It’s fine, don’t worry about it…”

“It’s not fine!” Zipp wailed, ignoring my comment and taking a step closer to me. “All of this is for you, Misty, so that you and Izzy could share some unicorn bonding time! But… I guess I couldn’t just shut my muzzle and let you guys have fun…”

Her ears drooped and her posture sagged, a mirror of the profound shame and regret she was oozing. Against my better judgment, I actually felt bad for her. I mean, I can get ponies being curious when a total stranger suddenly pops out, but it was true she was taking it WAY too far with me, regardless of the fact she was dead on the snout with her suspicions.

And I actually was feeling bad for her.

“Um… well, I guess just… don’t do it anymore, please?” I offered with a nervous smile.

She answered with an ashamed one of her own and, after reincorporating herself a bit, extended her hoof in a peace offering. I hesitantly took it, sharing what might as well have been my first hoof bump ever and sealing her apologies.

“Eeeeeee! I just love it when my friends get along!” Squealing like a filly, Izzy celebrated with a fidgety dance in place, ONCE again catching us in her embrace, both Zipp and I this time.

“Ugh.” Zipp tiredly protested at her gesture, yet her tiny grin betrayed her true sentiments.

Once the lavender unicorn had gotten everything out of her system, she let go of us and hopped back to her bed where, with trumpet-like noises, summoned her friends around her. Now that the worst part had run by, I saw how her little corner of the room had changed quite a bit from the last time I had seen it, which had been but an hour ago, Numerous crystals and other smaller decorations had been arranged around her sleeping arrangements, their pale glow adding to that of the rainbow stream of magic emanating from the transparent column as well as the moonlight bathing us with its gentle light.

“Just like in Bridlewood, am I right?”

The pegasus Pipp brought me out of my momentary stupor, having caught me ogling the new decorations with renewed wonder.

“Uh… yes?”

“Hah! We’re just the best!!” She self-patted her back and flopped on her belly near her sister

However, her question stuck with me a bit longer. She asked me if it reminded me of Bridlewood, my ‘home’, just like it was the home for the rest of the unicorns. Yet that wasn't true for me. I had spent all my life with Opaline, her fortress had been the only home I’ve ever known.

And yet… the pale glow of the crystals… their shapes, their barely perceptible hum…

There was something, a tiny sense of familiarity nagging the back of my head. A memory fighting its way out, yet failing to do so.

‘My… home…’

“Hear, hear.” Izzy, standing proud over her bed, began to announce in a dramatic fashion. “I, Izzy Moonbow of the Bridlewood Moonbows, hereby start the unicorn sleepover ceremonies again!”

A loud cheer emanated from the ponies, one I joined a second too late, but the sentiment was there. And to restart our traditional sleepover, she proposed another of her traditional songs, one she wanted all of us to sing along regardless of our knowledge of the lyrics.

It came out way better than I expected, all of us sharing a laugh after it ended. Now that the suspicion was no longer on me, I found myself actually having fun, more so since Izzy had promised to put on the brakes on the crazy pace we had been following before, granting us the chance to actually enjoy the activities she’d planned.

A couple of hours passed before the ponies could no longer ignore the call of dreamland and, seeing we were all in their bedroom already, decided to just use their regular beds. A sleeping bag and a mattress were provided for me, and Izzy insisted that I sleep at her side.

I saw no reason to protest and joined the ponies for their night’s rest. Once the last of them had fallen into peaceful slumber, the second phase of my plan was a go.

A few guilty cramps upset my tummy. These ponies had so generously given me such a great time… Who am I kidding, it had been the best time of my life!

But my mind had been made the moment I stepped into the brighthouse. I was far too committed to step back now, and Opaline’s threat was still fresh in my mind. I was genuinely sorry for these ponies, but I simply had no other choice.

From my low point of view on the floor near Izzy’s bead, I couldn’t see the ponies on their beds. I had to strain my ears to discern their breathing and, tucking myself in the sleeping bag, just waited.

And waited.

And waited some more.

And, just as I was about to fall asleep myself, I decided I had waited long enough and disentangled myself from the comfy sleeping bag. The moon was already halfway in its journey over the night sky. I wanted to save enough nighttime to slip away unnoticed so, as silently as Opaline’s magic mouse, I tiptoed my way from Izzy’s little corner of the room and into the middle of the room.

My searching eyes found the lantern still in its casing, on the same stop as before: right over Sunny’s bedside table.

‘Okay, Misty, quietly now…’

Slowly inching my way towards the nightdesk, and the slumbering pony right beside it, I strained my senses to discern any change in the ponies’ sleeping pattern. Hooves weren't exactly discrete when sneaking around, especially over marble floors, and especially in the middle of the night when everything was supposed to be quiet and peaceful. The harder I tried to be as quiet as I could, the louder I thought I was being.

An excruciatingly long time later, I had arrived at the side of the earth pony’s bed, assessing her continued slumber with a sideways glance. She looked so peaceful, so innocent…

I felt so bad for doing this to her. The way Zipp had explained it to me, and the events we saw during the festival implied this lantern was very important to her.

“... I’m sorry, Sunny. I hope one day you’ll understand.”

With my target in reach, I swiftly grabbed it in my muzzle, and, just as quietly as before, I bolted out there, praying for the mantle of darkness to cover my escape.

‘I hope you all will understand.’

Chapter 32- The Lantern Thief.

“... Robbin' people with a six-gun. I fought the law, and the law won. I fought the law, and the law won~”

The Clash saw the two most handsome studs of the Bay on their merry way across the morning rush of ponies readying their businesses for another beautiful day in Maretime Bay. It had been the song that the randomized alarm clock on my phone had chosen, and now would be stuck in my head for the rest of the day.

However, I’d woken up feeling a bit impish that morning, and wanting to mess with the townsponies on our way back to the brighthouse. So, humming the lyrics and falling behind my companion, who also happened to be the town’s sheriff, with both wrists tightly pressed together in front of me as if they’d been cuffed, I was sure to attract the attention of passing ponies who, dumbfounded, didn't know what to make of our little procession.

“Alex.” Hitch tiredly called over his shoulder, accompanied by his blankest gaze as he trotted in front of me, doing his absolute best to ignore the crooked smirks and titled heads the citizens were sending us.

“Yas?”

“You’re an idiot.” He stated, clear and simple.

“Of course I’m an idiot. Don’t you see that I fought the law, and the law won. I fought the law, and the~…”

It seemed Hitch had woken up on the wrong side of the bed that morning, since my flawless and intelligent sense of humor was met face first with his cold indifference, holding a blank look for a couple more seconds before returning his attention to the road with a tired sigh. Little Sparky, however, was having a blast riding the sheriff’s back and seeing me fooling around.

Some ponies just didn't have a healthy sense of humor…

We’d contacted Sunny before our departure, and she’d asked if we would be so kind as to pick up some blackberries and blueberries for her special ‘autumn season pancakes’ from the community garden. That would be our first and only stop on our way back to our breakfast meeting with the rest of the gang. Through our shared group chat we had also caught a message from Misty, claiming something urgent had come up regarding a family member and she had to bolt early in the morning, and regretfully wouldn't be there to join us for breakfast.

A shame. I wanted to ask her about her time with the girls, seeing how together they can be… entertaining.

I also hoped the experience hadn't been too much for her, given how she always acted so shy around others. She reminded me of somepony, alright.

The community garden was mostly deserted when we caught sight of it halfway up the hill, with only a handful of ponies coming out with saddlebags full of produce for their future meals. This new earth pony magic sure was a hit, granting them the chance to manipulate plants actively rather than passively, accelerating the results by a huge margin.

And, seeing how it was still a relatively new branch of magic, who knew what else would come out of it?

A courteous greeting later, the ponies were on their merry way and Hitch and I were left to ourselves amidst the lush garden packed to the brim with the last of the summer’s harvest. He offered to take care of the blueberries, enlisting the help of his baby dragon, while I headed to the opposite end for a handful of blackberries… and a few strawberries if I caught sight of ‘em.

We worked silently for a few minutes, with nothing worth mentioning transpiring during our short foraging session. The only thing that truly caught my attention was the messy state of the southern end of the garden, right near where the lettuces and cabbages were grown. A dusty shovel had been left carelessly on the floor nearby, a couple of holes half-dug in random places around it. It was almost as if a group of moles had partaken in a competition to see who could dig better or faster or… whatever competitions that moles competed in.

Since that was an unlikely case, I would’ve thought that earth ponies would have been more mindful of the state of their shared community garden, but reasoning how it surely belonged to some lazy pony having left in the middle of a job, I didn't give it much thought. I didn't want to keep the girls waiting for long so, catching sight of my prize, I grabbed a handful of berries and stored it in my pocket for Sunny to use. I didn't want to grab too much since I hadn't grown them in the first place. No strawberries, though…

“Done here!” I warned Hitch, who yelled back upon the completion of his own search. With nothing else to keep us there, we joined together at the upper exit of the garden and, taking hold of his berries and storing them in my other pocket, we traveled the short distance to the looming crystalline lighthouse, the Unity Crystals continuing challenging the heavens with their rainbow magic without interruption. I was overjoyed to see how no other weird glitches or anomalies had arisen to make a mess of the town again. Everything was going according to plan… well, whatever plan it was that had prevented me from carrying out my original mission.

I let him know about the mess somepony had made of the southern end of the community garden on our way out. He promised to take a look later and talk to the culprit. Once we had reached the entrance, I dug into my memories of Earth for another bout of human nonsense.

“Knock Knock! Uber Eats!” I announced loudly, not waiting for an answer before crossing the foyer with Hitch in tow, eliciting yet another bemused head tilt from him. I loved messing with the ponies using Earth references. Sparky, munching on a berry the sheriff had sneaked for him, vigorously jumped from his back and hurried in his search for his favorite unicorn with a mischievous giggle.

“Sparky! What did I tell you about running inside other ponies' homes?!” Hitch, eyes widening at seeing his scaly charge making a swift escape, bolted behind the baby dragon.

Noise could be heard coming from the kitchen. Somepony was already up and preparing our promised breakfast. Leaving the poor sheriff to deal with his rampaging dragon, I set out the kitchen as my next stop, my mouth already watering at the prospects of delicious pancakes, especially if the involved pony had chosen to follow my recipe… or, Spike’s recipe to be more precise.

The mare in question was none other than Sunny who, humming one of the many songs from my late home world she’d learned, was already hooves full in preparing the pancake batter.

“Guten Morgen, mein kleine… uh, I forgot the German word for pony.”

Sunny, ears perking at the sound of my voice, strained her neck to find me over her shoulder without missing a beat on her stirring, a tiny smirk adorning her muzzle.

“I wouldn’t have understood it either way.” She joked back, the tip of her tongue slipping through her lips mischievously.

With a chuckle of my own, I walked around the island and joined the earth pony over the counter, reaching for my pocket and placing two handfuls worth of berries on the counter.

“As requested, my lady,” I spoke with deference, offering a small bow.

“Why thank you, my good sir.” She playfully lowered her head in return, attempting to look courteous, yet the numerous blobs of pancake batter staining her hooves and fur made her look kinda ridiculous.

Without further ceremony, she took the aforementioned berries and dropped them whole into the batter, stirring it up energetically to make sure the mixture became as homogeneous as possible.

Once she was happy with the result, she ceased her mixing and covered the bowl containing the batter with a thin film of plastic.

“Okay! Now we let it rest for a bit before adding the cinnamon and chocolate chips.” She happily declared while removing her pink heart-themed apron and unceremoniously resting it on the counter. I waited patiently while she washed her batter-covered hooves, just silently enjoying watching her having a blast while whipping up her special recipes, my heart beating faster at her closeness. It was simply undeniable at that point, and a lot of thinking and self-exploration had brought me to my final decision, one I would let her know during the Mareseids meteor shower, just shy of a week away.

Once her forehooves were clean and dry, Sunny, her eyes sending me as much love and warmth as mine did for her, approached me and reared on her hindlegs, comfortably tucking her forelimbs over my shoulder, now meeting me eye to eye. With a mind of their own, my arms surrounded the mare, coming to rest on the small of her back while slightly pushing her against me. Faust, how fuzzy it made me feel having her nearby…

“Must’ve been a terrible night’s sleep without me around, huh, Tangerine?”

Pursing her lips, she dipped her head to the side in a dignified manner. “Never slept better.” She spoke dismissively, mockingly raising her snout in the air.

“I’m sure you did.” I chuckled at her silliness, tenderly rubbing my nose on her snout in the way I knew she adored. A fond smile erased the smugness on her muzzle, followed by a playful lick to my nose.

“So, a lot of gossipping happening behind our backs?” I teased with a knowing smirk, absentmindedly scratching around the base of her tail, one of a pony’s many sweet spots. “I hope anything said about my chiseled body has been gravely exaggerated…”

“Pfff.” She released an annoyed snort. “I wished we had! But… well, Izzy…” She dragged on with hesitation.

“Dragged you all night long around the place without stopping?” I finished for her. The way she went limp against me was all the answer I needed. “Heh, that mare sure is something.” I chuckled at the peppy unicorn’s exhausted behavior.

With a long sigh, Sunny took the chance to sneak a few head rubs against me while she rested tiredly against my body. “It was an interesting night. We got her to see reason at the end and she slowed down, and I don't feel any jinxies on me.”

“How would you even know if you got the jinxies?” I wondered aloud, rubbing my fingers behind her ears. All she returned was a shrug, breathing deeply of my scent while enjoying the free dose of snuggles.

“Well, at least you girls had fun. How was Misty? Did she enjoy the sleepover?” I was curious about the newest integrant to our circle of friends. While she mulled her answer, I caught the faint echo of the main doors opening and closing in the distance, alongside the telltale melody of Pipp’s colorful humming. I guessed that she wasn't gonna stay for breakfast either.

My new inquiry had gotten her attention and, begrudgingly, she unstuck herself from me to meet my gaze. “She was very shy at first, but I think she had a great time. Especially when we got Izzy to slow down and dedicate more than a single minute to each of the activities.” She explained with a fond giggle. However, her features suddenly chilled in a worrisome frown. “Although, during storytime, I chose the tale of the Guardians of Harmony and… well…” She fought to find the words for a moment. “My version seemed to… rile her up a bit.” She voiced with uncertainty. “And she told us her version of the story afterward; a twisted and VERY wrong version of the tale, I might add.”

I could see in her eyes and how her voice wavered that whatever Misty had told them had gotten her worked up quite a bit.

“A different version? How so?” I asked, intrigued since I knew the three tribes had shared a similar story about the times before the fall.

“W–Well.” She stammered, failing to meet my gaze in favor of my shirt. “She talked about an alicorn qu-”

“IT’S GONE!!!”

Zipp, having appeared out of nowhere, thought it was wise to scream into our faces at the top of her lungs. It went without saying that both of us jumped twice our height from the scare, barely saving the contents of the mixing bowls from falling from the counter.

“Jesus Christ, Zipp!!” I cried alarmed, annoyed at her sudden invasion of our space as well as her apparent need to shout like that. My hand went to my heart since I swear I felt it skip a beat or two. Sunny fared no better, almost tripping over her tail and clutching her fluffy chest while wheezing out long breaths. “What the hell was that about?!!”

“It’s gone!!” She repeated as if we automatically would understand what she was implying with her loud screeching.

“What’s gone?” Sunny inquired once she’d gotten her pulse under control.

“Your lantern! It’s not in its case!” Zipp wailed, still hovering in front of us with fast-paced wingbeats.

While Sunny’s eyes narrowed to match the panicking pegasus, I could only furrow my brow in confusion. “Her dad’s old lantern?”

But Zipp was no longer paying attention to us. Instead, she was dating all over the place, searching for something which, after a few hurried laps, apparently failed to find. Releasing an anguished groan, she flopped over the kitchen island while extracting her foldable phone from under her wing holster.

“And it's not here with you! Which means it’s missing!” She wailed to herself, hooves flying over the screen.

Don’t get me wrong, one of our friend’s most cherished possessions going missing was serious business, but none of us would be able to make heads or tails of the problem if Zipp wasn’t going to stop hyperventilating like a madmare. “Zipp, take a breath and expl-”

“I need to find it!” She rudely cut me off, outright refusing to take a second and see reason and taking flight with her wings once again. “B-But it could already be too late! Don’t you know that the first few hours after a crime are critical for clues?!” She suddenly addressed us once again, her left eye twitching in unrestrained panic.

Sunny, ever hopeful and hating to see her friend in such distress, went for the most obvious possibility. “Zipp, wait! I'm sure somepony just left the lantern somewhere in the brighthouse. I-I mean, you guys know you’re free to use it whenever you need to.” She tried with a hopeful wish.

Detective Zipp didn't buy it. “When? We were all asleep just an hour ago! Who could have grabbed it without us noticing?!”

She had a point there, which only worked to unnerve poor Sunny further, the mare now beginning to hyperventilate following the pegasus example while Zipp continued rambling about theories and possibilities and whatnot.

“My dad’s lantern…” Sunny whined in distress. We all knew the importance of that lantern to her, and it was even more important now that we knew it contained a smidge of the Prisbeam energy inside. In other words, it was a LOT of pure, unfiltered magic, tightly bottled into such a little container. While not outright volatile or anything like that, it could very easily be harnessed and could be used for some very nefarious purposes that I’m sure a potential thief would be very interested in attempting. Or just a curious pony prodding where they shouldn’t be and hurting themselves, or worse.

Zipp’s urgency was justified. We HAD to find that lantern, both for Sunny and for the power it contained. But that didn't mean we should start clucking aimlessly around the place like headless chickens. The best approach for this kind of situation was a cool-headed, rational one.

“Zipp.” I placed a reassuring hand over her shoulder to gently nudge her down to land, the other one busy petting a panicking Sunny between her ears. One hyperventilating pony was enough, thank you very much. “I want you to take a deep breath and listen to me.”

She struggled to do so, her wings fidgeting at her sides despite her attempts to keep them in place, while her forehooves shuffled nervously beneath her as her eyes betrayed her urgency by casting frenetic looks around the place as if she believed that they could catch something of interest from where she was standing.

“Okay.” I began once she was more or less settled. “First, nopony besides us knows about the lantern and the power it contains, which rules out somepony from the town just sneaking in and stealing it from under our noses.”

“B-But…”

“Second.” I interrupted her before she could launch herself into another bout of nonsense. “Since nopony from our group has left the brighthouse, it means that in case somepony misplaced it, should still be here somewhere.”

“B-But…”

“So.” I cut her off once again, earning an annoyed twitch from her tail. “I can think of two possibilities: One.” I raised a finger. “Hitch’s critters are playing a prank on us again, just like the last time, and they’ve hidden it somewhere. That leads me to possibility number two.” I raised another finger. “Somepony DID take it and misplaced it without remembering that they did it. I believe Izzy tends to sleepwalk sometimes, perhaps you should ask her.”

A spark of inspiration struck Zipp's eyes. I could practically hear the rusty gears in her head turning and coming up with a solid plan.

“Yes…” I heard her mumble.

I had one last thing to offer. “Aside from all that, if somepony did sneak in and out, there must be hoofprints on the dirt path leading downhill… unless it was a pegasus, in which case they would've just flown out a window. That’s gonna be harder to track down if that’s the case.”

“Oooow, what if it was a pegasus? And they’re now hundreds of kilometers away?!” Wailed Sunny, who pressed herself against me in distress. “This is gonna be another Discord incident!! Why is everypony so intent on stealing from us!!” She cursed to the heavens, stomping her hooves angrily on the marble floor.

The answer was obvious. “‘Cause we hold things of great power in here, Sunny. You’re the new Guardians of Harmony, which means that the road is gonna be everything but easy.” I explained while moving my hand behind her left ear to provide a gentle scratch.

My touch failed to ease her anger. “Some work we’re doing…” She muttered darkly under her breath.

“I’m gonna follow your advice, Alex.” Zipp agreed with me while taking it to the air once again. “I’m gonna finish turning the brighthouse upside down. If it’s still here, I’m gonna find it!” She assured us boldly, but her ears flattened immediately after. “If not…”

“If not, you take that determination outside and search all the way down to the town. Hoofprints, stray feathers, mane ‘n tail strands…”

Nodding firmly, she pumped her wings hard and flew towards the interior of the structure, but not before reassuring Sunny one last time that she was going to find her lantern if it was the last thing she'd do. With full confidence in her friend's abilities, Sunny gave Zipp her blessings while coming up with a plan to find her lantern herself.

“I’m going to try the townsponies and see if anypony has seen it since this morning.” Sunny turned on her hooves to face me fully and quickly explained her strategy, the delicious pancakes-to-be waiting on the counter all but forgotten by now. “I need your help.” She begged with her best puppy eyes. Not that she needed to, I was more than willing to lend a hand. I had a firm hunch that the lantern was going to be crucial for us in the future. You don’t cut a slice of your power to fit it inside a lantern just for the sake of it, so the urgency to find it was more than justified. The more eyes on the search for it, the better.

It was shaping up to be a very busy morning for the lot of us. “You know you can always count on me, Sunny.” I stated the obvious, slightly bending on my knees to rub my nose over her snout.

A thankful smile and a warm blush grew on her muzzle. With no more time to waste, we rushed out of the brighthouse. Sunny pointed out to me that we needed to make a stop at Hitch's office before we started. I could already imagine what he was up to…

Under the beds, inside the drawers, inside its casing (again, just in case I was blind or something), in the shower, Alex’s room, the crystals’ room, the complete mess our storage room was, and still, it’s…

No matter where I looked, Sunny’s lantern was definitely missing. I mean, there were only so many places a pony could misplace a rainbow-glowing, metal-cased, size-of-your-head shining lantern. My search was bearing no fruit, and my immediate options were running out. Izzy was busy in her workshop after having given little Sparky his daily dose of unicorn cuddles. While not as bad as when we first moved in together, she still tended to sleep-walk once in a while, especially during vivid dreams when she would rise to her hooves after having spent a good while mumbling in her slumber. There was a chance she might have taken it during an episode or she might’ve grabbed it while awake to search for some leaves for that tea she likes to prepare when she felt restless and later woke up thinking it had been a dream. If I had a bit for every time that had happened… I’d have two bits, but it’s weird that it’s happened twice.

That had happened to me too once when I was little. I thought I had dreamt I’d eaten a muffin because I was feeling hungry after being sent to my room without dinner that night. If it hadn't been for the muffin crumbs over my muzzle and the wrapping carelessly discarded on the floor I would’ve never known it had been real. My mom gave me a royal scolding the following morning.

And, well… things happen around Izzy… weird things. Alex told us we shouldn’t worry about it, that she was just ‘being Izzy’.

I was still working on that mystery.

But I couldn’t allow myself to get sidetracked. Interroga- uh… kindly asking Izzy if she remembered having taken the lantern during the night was definitely on my list of objectives, but before I started madly throwing accusations around like I did yesterday with Misty…

Misty…

Misty.

‘She called an emergency and apparently had to leave early in the morning. I didn't hear her leaving… but it’s also true that she would have left during the small hours of the morning when we all would have been sleeping our deepest. Perhaps…’

“Now now, Sparky. What did I say about gnawing other ponies' personal belongings?”

Hitch’s light scolding brought me out of my musings. Misty being responsible for this was a solid possibility. Heck, in reality, it was now the most promising lead I had! But I was very hesitant to doubt her after my previous night’s behavior towards her; I still felt really bad about it. Once I had come down from my ‘detective high’, I only saw a scared mare whose first time hanging out with her newest friends I had completely obliterated with my lack of consideration and forceful attitude. True, she did say some weird things… but that didn't excuse me acting like a complete jerk to her and Izzy.

My ears flicked at the sound of raspy growling below me. Sparky had sneaked his way under my chest and was lovingly hugging my foreleg, his big reptile-like eyes wishing me a good morning, while his little jaws clamped shut around one of my sister's socks…

Why did she even wear socks? Actually, when had she ever worn socks?

“Hey there, you little rascal.” I gently took the baby dragon in my forelegs, sinking on my haunches and letting him nuzzle his little face against my cheek. “Dragon dad treating you good?” I softly asked the little guy, earning an expected gurgle in return. “Heh, I’m glad. A Sheriff’s salary can only buy so many gems for you to gobble up, huh?”

“This Sheriff’s salary is more than enough to cover anything he might require, thank you very much.” An offended Hitch, having followed his little charge to our bedroom where I had concluded my search, stuck his muzzle in the air with a ‘humph’.

“Well, you’re the only sheriff in town.” I chuckled at his indignant attitude, returning Sparky to the ground where he scampered towards her dad. “They ought to keep you tied to your post somehow.”

“Hah! Tell that to the Council!” He loudly exclaimed, rubbing his fetlock over the dragon's head in greeting. “I believe there’s a whole drawer in their archives reserved exclusively for me and the endless complaints I’ve filed asking for more funding for the office, my own salary included.” He stated with a tone indicating he was far from pleased with the outcome.

“Awwww, you poor baby…” I playfully teased the grouchy stallion. “But don't you worry, I’m sure this princess can lend you a bit or two to keep your office from collapsing on your head.” I teased with a smug grin, holding his unwavering gaze until we both couldn't keep it inside any longer, and exploded into snickers.

“I’ll take your word for it.” He lowered his head in mock deference, a gesture that Sparky took advantage of to climb onto his withers and settle on his back in a surprising demonstration of agility. “Ouch! Sparky! Gently, please!” Hitch complained while rubbing his aching neck where Sparky had taken a good grab on his fur and mane to climb to his preferred place on his back.

“Grrrru?” With an innocent dip of his scaly head, any blame promptly evaporated from him when his puppy dog eyes crumbled Hitch’s resolve. With a sigh of submission, the stallion let his surrogate son escape scot-free from this one. My heart warmed at the sight of the pair, now an official family after he had finally made up his mind and had presented formal adoption papers to the town hall the other week. It wasn't looking likely that a dragoness was going to suddenly appear from beyond the ocean in search of her missing baby, so he might as well have a real family with the stallion.

But that warm moment wouldn't last for much longer, for I had a lantern to find. “Hitch,” I called out to my best friend, shifting his attention from the tiny reptile to me. His features turned firmer following the tone of my call. “I need your help.” I requested solemnly.

He was quick to notice that something was not right. “Whatever you need.” He agreed without hesitation.

Sighing mentally, I silently celebrated his cooperation. “I need you to do one… no, two favors for me.”

With a silent nod, his ears perked attentively while he took a step closer to me.

“Sunny’s lantern has gone missing, and I can’t find it anywhere in the brighthouse.”

I saw his eyes widening at the news, only to immediately harden under his furrowed brow. “Another thief in our home?!” He inquired aloud with rising embers in his eyes.

“I don't know.” I declared with a solemn shake of my head while I absent-mindedly tapped my forehooves against the marble floor out of nervousness, to the point where I was probably making a dent. “I believe it’s very likely that somepony might have misplaced it somewhere…”

“Did you find anything that might point to a theft?” He inquired, falling into professional mode. Sparky whined softly on his back, feeling the stallion's unwelcome change of attitude.

Another shake of my head. “Not so far, but I’ve searched everywhere inside and I’ve found absolutely nothing.”

With a pensive hum, Hitch averted his eyes to the side, a hoof rising to rub under his chin. “Hmm, that’s definitely weird.” He muttered loud enough for me to catch. “I mean, Sunny’s lantern is not exactly inconspicuous…”

“I know!” I wailed desperately, feeling my frustration get a hold of me. With a deep breath to rein in my wings, I extracted my phone from its holster and motioned for him to approach me. He did so immediately, falling beside me to take a good look at the complete lack of evidence I had worked to acquire during my search.

I felt his warm coat brush against mine as he slightly pressed against me to get a better look, making my hormones scream some very distracting, but not unwelcome,thoughts to my brain.

‘Zipp! This is the LAST moment to be thi-’

“What did you want to show me?” His voice dragged me out of my mental chastising, making my cheeks light up in embarrassment.

“S-Sorry...” I stammered like a filly in front of her crush, which in my case…

‘NO! This is NOT the time for that!’

I sifted through each and every photo I’d taken, the spy drone having captured them where I’d pointed, and sent them to my phone automatically. My spyglasses hadn't revealed anything noteworthy either. Some shed fur from the lot of us, hoof marks scattered around from our previous sleepover, and a bit of filth from our hasty renovation efforts of Izzy’s own corner of the room pending cleaning…

“No signs of forced entry, no other items missing, nothing else out of order.”

He took a careful, analytical look at each of the pictures. After a slow process of meticulous scrutiny, he reached the same conclusion.

“Nothing I can see either.” He lamented, slightly pulling backward to continue mulling over our poor findings. A small part of me registered disappointment after the loss of contact with his side, a tiny part I promptly silenced.

“Have you spoken with the girls?”

“Everypony but Izzy, but the rest claimed to have seen it before going to sleep,” I explained, pulling the next step of the search into motion. “And that’s where you come in,” I informed him while returning the phone to its holster.

“Hmm?”

“First, I need your help with the case, Hitch.”

“Always.” He spoke without skipping a beat, forcing a disguised smile on my muzzle.

“Thank you. Second, I need you to ask your critter friends if they’re playing a prank on us. You know what they did to the town last time.”

Poor Hitch visibly cringed at the memory. “Ugh, don’t remind me. It took us the whole day to make an inventory of everything missing.” He lamented with a shudder, earning a comforting pat on his head from the dragon on his back. “Thanks, Sparky.” He nuzzled the baby dragon in return.

Smiling warmly at their little moment, I waited for Sparky to settle down on his back. “We cannot rule out the possibility.”

“I’ll check the critter’s corner, although I’m sure some have already left to get an early start foraging for the winter, so not everycritter will be there.”

I’d also checked the critters' little corner of the brighthouse, assembled after the cutie mark fiasco of the other week between Hitch and Sunny. The little guys absolutely loved it, and more often than not you’d catch some of them playing around or simply lounging. And also, they were close to their favorite sheriff, so it was a win-win for them.

However, if they had been the mischievous culprits, they hadn't hidden their booty in their artificial dens down on the ground floor.

“Anything you can wring out of them will be crucial,” I noted, nodding in gratitude for his help. “I’m gonna start checking over the outside perimeter and make my way into town. We’ll meet on the road or there when you’re finished, sounds good?”

“Let’s crack this case, Detective Zipp!” With a playful wink and a winning hoof-bump, Hitch galloped his way down to the critters’ den while I took to the air, spy glasses on and drone buzzing, ready to catch a lantern thief.

‘If you could crack Discord's case, you surely can catch a two-bit lousy thief, Zipp. With Hitch’s help, we’ll be done in a jiffy!’

So, do you remember my flawless plan? The one I’d claimed to be so simple that it was virtually impossible for it to derail, nosy pegasus princess aside? Two simple steps: get in and out with the prize.

The first part came out perfectly… well, almost. That pesky pegasus princess sticking her muzzle where it wasn’t welcome almost tramped my plan’s perfect execution, but it ended up being my new ‘friends’ who had scolded her and gotten her to back the hay away from me, or else that crazy unicorn would’ve begun crying… or something. It was hard to read that mare sometimes, which didn’t particularly work well in my favor. But still, Zipp had suppressed any and all further questions and fell back in line with the rest of the enthusiastic ponies.

I kinda felt bad for her. After all, she was dead on the nose with her suspicions, but regardless of what a great time I had spent with them after all the ruckus had died down, I couldn't allow myself to go soft on them. They were the ENEMY. The ones interfering with Opaline's critical vision for the future of Equestria!

I also had to gather info from them, which they gladly divulged. I couldn’t understand most of it, but I still memorized all they had talked about during the sleepover. Perhaps Opaline would find it interesting…

Regardless of having spent my entire life living inside an isolated castle, I’m neither heartless nor an idiot. Opaline made sure to nurture that second part. The first, I believe she’d rather wish that I’d lost that part of me a long time ago. I knew that what I was doing was wrong, toying with their trust like that. Poor Izzy truly thinks we're ‘best unicorn buddies’. Heck, she came up with that entire sleepover nonsense just for me!

Never before have I had such doubts assault me, nor have I ever endured such… strength from doubts before. What kind of ‘enemies of Equestria’ invite a thieving, lying scoundrel like me to a slumber party and wish to be your friend from the bottom of their hearts?

I would have enough time to bust my brains over it once I returned with the lantern. I was in far too deep to succumb to guilt and spill my guts to everypony. For once in my life, I would get it right! After that…

After that, there was a lot of thinking to be done.

That took me to step two of the plan. Slumbering ponies, happily lost in their little dreams, wouldn't notice me sneaking out with Sunny’s lantern. I’d had plenty of practice sneaking around; Opaline’s fortress is sooooo big but completely empty. Any step you take bounces all around the place… when she isn’t screaming at me or speaking to herself, that is.

My escape had been perfect, barely eliciting an ear twitch from the lantern’s owner. All that was left was to bolt out of there and take my usual path home. With a steady pace and more than a little bit of Faust’s luck on my side, I would soon be well away from the town and relaxing on my bed inside the fortress, a very proud Opaline complimenting me for a job well done. Perhaps she would bring the ice cream out!

A mare can dream…

However, it was that last little detail that the ‘flawless’ part of my flawless plan shattered like one of those very old vases Opaline once had in her room during a storm. I imagined myself, happily eating a hypothetical bowl of ice cream, chilling in my room, and telling the empty ceiling what a fantastic adventure I’d been in. And of the ponies here, who were now searching for a lantern that was a fair number of kilohooves out of reach…

It was obvious. It was so painfully obvious. So much so, that I simply couldn't believe that I hadn't considered it sooner. The realization brewed as I galloped down the dirt path to the intersection that diverged between the town, or further inland. I was debating whether to take the short path into town and risk being spotted or turn right for an excruciatingly long detour around the bay when the full force of that realization hit me.

I hit the brakes so hard that I almost dropped the lantern I was carrying in my maw, with me falling immediately on my behind. Not wanting to risk being spotted sitting in the middle of the road like an idiot, I quickly got up and sought refuge in the berry bushes growing inside the community garden to formulate another plan.

I felt like baptizing the place as a spiritual refuge for Misty to chastise herself, for it had been the second time that night that the lush vegetation, carrying the scrumptious last produce of the harvest season, enjoyed front-row seats watching a sky-blue unicorn mare calling herself a complete fool

And that's exactly what I did… for a couple of minutes at least.

I ran through in my mind what they would think when they woke up: A rainbow-emitting, glowing lantern, one of Sunny’s most cherished possessions, suddenly goes missing. And then, that weird unicorn mare with the useless horn? Why, would you look at that? Gone too, both happening in the dead of night. Isn’t that very coincidental? Isn’t that very suspicious?

The town was virtually off-limits; there was no chance of me accomplishing anything there, much less hoping to step hoof in it without having that pesky pegasus and her little group of friends seek me out like a wounded timberwolf.

But it's not like I could go back to them to with my tail between my legs claiming a ‘silly mistake’ led me to take the lantern.

“‘Oops, sorry about that guys. I thought it was a little gift from a souvenir shop, the one you guys don't even have in the first place. Hehe, silly me…’ Yeah, they're gonna buy it straight out the horse's mouth. Uuuuugh!”

The good news was that I had found the fatal flaw in my plan before it was too late. The bad news? There was a fatal flaw for me to deal with. That's what I get for putting together a plan in the time it took to trot from the main square to the brighthouse.

The only possible solution I could come up with in my angry, panicked state was to compromise. I would hide the lantern, and claim that I had an emergency to justify my absence for the time being, yet make sure they saw innocent Misty around town lanternless and completely off the hook.

And then, after all the fuss was over and they wrote it off as lost, I would reclaim it and bring it to Opaline. And after all that effort, I could surely no longer call myself a cutie-markless pony!

But where to hide it? The town was obvious as a first choice, but several things made it less than desirable. First, it was full of ponies. Sleeping ponies, sure, but it would still be risky if I had to move stuff around to hide the lantern. Also, a lot of ponies in an enclosed space meant more chances to be discovered regardless of my efforts. Second, it was dark; not on the streets, themselves thanks to the streetlamps of course, but the dark, enclosed alleys (which would be my preferred hiding places) would surely be as dark as the pit of a manticore’s jaws. And it's not like the inert, pointy lump of bone sticking out of my forehead was gonna help me light the way.

My immediate surroundings became my saving grace. It was considerably more secluded, and the lush vegetation would prove very useful. Also, there were a couple of shovels discarded in a corner. Nothing better to hide a lantern than a good ol’ hole in the ground, am I right?

“Aaah… Aaargh… Heavens, these earth ponies make it… aaah… look so easy…”

It required more time and muscle than I had expected and digging as quietly as possible meant all movement needed to be done in slow motions.

You can imagine how much of a pain in the flank it is digging a hole in slow motion.

Several attempts were needed, the soil proving too hard in some places, too many roots in the way in others, or simply too exposed for my liking. The glowbugs buzzing around the place provided the bare amount of illumination needed to ease my work, the stars and moon covering for the rest. I must've half-dug-half-buried at least a dozen holes before hitting the jackpot.

But I did it! A nice, inconspicuous hole at the foot of a lush glowberry bush, from which I took a hooffull of berries once I was done. I deserved them.

I placed the lantern inside, tilting it slightly to better fit its hiding place, and carefully returned the dirt to its proper place. Well, as much as I could collect since some ended up too far for my immediate reach... and, honestly, I was simply too tired to care, covering my deceit with just enough dirt to entomb all the glowing light coming from inside the lantern. It was messy and far from perfect, but it would work. It was practically under their snouts, which on this particular occasion only worked to my advantage.

Discarding the shovel, I dusted my hooves and allowed myself a momentary victory pose since loud cheering was out of the question. A quick message regarding a family emergency suddenly arising would be good enough to deflect most questions. All that was left was to wait for a bit and I would return here tomorrow to collect my ill-gotten gains.

And so, it was time for some much-needed rest!

But where; back in the brighthouse, maybe? In that comfy sleeping bag, that the unicorn had graciously provided for me? And risk waking up the ponies and get them buzzing around me again?!

… I had found an abandoned shack far from the outskirts of town some time ago. I had used it previously during my longer runs around the bay. Tonight would be no different.

Nighttime was rough, as you can expect from spending it inside a freezing, half-rotten shack. How I woke up with several thorns embedded far into my skin with all that protective fur was beyond me. I gave myself one final mental kick for not having taken the sleeping bag with me.

But if I wanted to avoid repeating such a wonderful experience the next time, and possibly for the rest of my days if Opaline willed it, I had to put the new plan in motion!

The first step of the new plan was already done; dig a hole and hide the lantern. Done and done. The second step was to return to the brighthouse bright and cheery, apologizing for the rushed exit and assuring them my uncle's leg sprain was nothing to worry about.

I hoped they'd be concerned. It's the polite thing to do, after all.

The third and last step was to let the situation play out, look as shocked and crushed as the ponies, and then promise my very best to ‘assist’ with the search. Once the lantern was declared lost for good, I would return for my reward, gallop all the way back to Opaline, and then take a sixteen-hour-long bath. I was itching to scrub off those sorry excuses for cutie marks on my flanks. Although I wouldn’t mind if the actual thing looked similar, I had grown fond of my own design.

Morning ablutions involved erasing any trace of me having spent the night role-playing as a mole and sleeping under the beautiful cover of the stars and half-chewed roof planks which, possessing a staggering number of zero toiletries, was an adventure in itself.

‘Faust above, why is the sea so cold?!!!’

I must've aged a decade from all the cursing I had made through the course of that night. But a freezing bath and an hour of sunbathing later as my method of drying myself saw me ready… and very much awake.

Seeing as there was no further need to remain inconspicuous, I chose to take the direct route through town, making sure everypony saw little, innocent Misty doing absolutely nothing besides taking a morning stroll. I wanted to see that pegasus’s face when she’d eventually get to asking the townsponies about me. Although I hoped it wouldn't come to that, seeing how a random hiccup was enough to throw that mare off, any help in that regard was more than welcome.

The walk uphill was spent humming a little song, one I had learned from Opaline. She tended to sing in the shower, can you believe that?!

I could almost see it. Me, standing in front of a smiling Opaline, eyes full of pride, praising me for a job well done. She would take the lantern and… do something with it, I guessed; and I would trot merrily to my room with a pair of shining cutie marks adorning my rump. And that useless carrot on my head would finally glow up with my newfound magic!

The brighthouse was well in view by the time the sun had reached its zenith, and so was the community garden where my prize patiently waited. It went without saying that I hadn't had any breakfast, and my tummy made sure to let me know loudly and repeatedly. Those glimmerberries of yesterday suddenly sounded very appetizing. Perhaps I was growing an addiction or something?

I couldn't have cared less. My growling stomach took over my hooves and I made a beeline towards the garden. No pony was walking near the plant thankfully, meaning I could sneak a couple of berries and check in on the lantern on my way out.

…

The lantern was gone. A couple of hoofprints, a bunch of reflecting, aquamarine glitter mixed with the scattered dirt, and a lanternless hole under the shadow of the nearby bush.

And then there was me, standing frozen in place, not looking like an idiot, no; but the worldwide unchallenged champion of the morons!!

“....... NnnnnnnggggggggffffffffffffffBU-!!!!”

“Misty.”

“AAAAAHH!!!”

Jumping thrice my height, almost cartwheeling in the air while I was at it, I made a rough landing in front of a very serious and very prepared pegasus mare, kitted out in full detective gear she had presumably brought with her from their trip to the pegasi city.

Which meant that she was already detectiving… Is that even a word?... Whatever, it is now. She was detectiving for their stolen lantern, which had been stolen by me and had now been STOLEN FROM ME!!!

… I simply had to come up with a bad joke about it. It would be the perfect start!

“Z-Z-Ziiiipp!” I managed to squeak out, hoof clutching my chest as if my fast-beating heart was gonna make a run for it. “Y-You can't go around making ponies jump outta their horseshoes like that!”

“I called out to you.” She blankly replied. “Several times. You were just… standing there...” She concluded with a shrugged muzzle.

My sight fixed on the dirt my forehoof was sheepishly pawing. “Hehe… y-yeah I, uh… sometimes space out… a bit…”

“Misty.”

Her sharp call brought me out of my pathetic number. “Y-Yeah?”

“We need to talk.” Her professional, albeit unnerving scowl was driving me to the edge.

“D-Do we?”

“Something bad has happened.” She shortly stated, taking one step forward.

“I-It has?” I meekly replied, not daring to break eye contact. “B-But what could poss-?”

“Sunny's lantern has gone missing.” She swiftly declared, taking another step forward, this time accompanied by one backward step from me. “Neither hair nor feather of the culprit has been found. Hitch’s talking with his critters in case somecritter’s playing a prank on us, but I don't think that's gonna be the case.”

She took another step forward, again forcing me to retreat until my rump was pricked by the thin branches of the bush behind me. Cold drops of sweat ran down my forehead and around the sheepish grin stretching my muzzle, a poor attempt to hide my mind-numbing panic.

‘SheknowssheknowssheknowsAGAIN!!!’

“Do you know anything about it, Mi-?”

Suddenly, the full strength of her suspicion was lifted from me, and was now focused in full over the not-so-discreet-anymore hole at my hooves.

“Huh?” Her head tilted to the side, her forelegs bending to bring her closer to the ground. Her little spy drone detached itself and, following a silent command, began taking picture after picture of the scene.

“O-Oh, yes!” Miraculously saved by the bell, I used my chance. “I saw it too when I came in. I was hungry for some berries after having walked all day away from my uncle's place, nothing serious after all, thank goodness. It rubbed me strange seeing all these holes around as if a bunch of rambunctious moles…”

“Gophers.”

“Huh?”

Zipp, having ignored my nervous babbling while carefully analyzing the half-filled hole, suddenly clarified with a slight tilt of her head in my direction. “This hole is more likely to have been dug by a gopher, not a mole.” Her hoof went to rub under her chin as a sudden realization lit her eyes. “And it could very well fit a lantern too!”

“You don't say!” I celebrated, making myself sound as surprised and oblivious to the matter as I could. A faint hope considering who I was trying to fool, but it's not like I could do much more than play the innocent pony.

“Mhm.” She enthusiastically nodded. Say what you want about her, but the spark in her eyes and the joy in her voice spoke volumes about how much she truly was enjoying it. Even when dealing with something as serious as a theft, the joy and commitment that went into her efforts was a clear reflection of her passion for being a detective. A striking contrast when compared to how she was acting around me the other day. I guess a good detective has to play their game in different ways depending on the situation. You won't get a pony to split the guts with warm smiles and supporting words.

At least that was what Opaline had taught me…

“But a gopher would not leave hoofprints behind!” She exclaimed while pointing to an alarmingly clear hoofprint well-imprinted in the nearby mound of loose dirt, surely from the same pony that had left all those other hoofprints around the hole that had now been re-baptized as a crime scene. But I had nothing to worry about… at least regarding that matter. They weren't mine and those that were would’ve already been muddled over by the sea breeze carrying small tidbits of the sea foam from the waves crashing against the cliffs… terrible thing for the mane, I tell you. Thank hoofness mine was already curly by nature.

“And what is this?” Zipp continued with her investigation, vigorously skipping to the side to assess the scene from a different angle. I prayed a silent thanks to Faust for the pegasus’ enthusiasm, having already forgotten about me and the fact I was at the crime scene to begin with. “Glitter? A magical remnant?... No, those flitter away quickly after spellcasting.”

She caught me off guard by going as far as taking a hoofful of dirt and giving it a good, analytical lick. My muzzle scrunched back and my eyes narrowed in disgust while hers did so in contemplation.

“Hmmmm… still considerably humid, it’s not been uncovered for long. Perhaps somepony buried it and then only unburied it recently? But why? That'd be kinda stupid.”

‘Well excuuuuuse me, princess. Not everypony is a smarty-smart, snout-deep-where-she-shouldn’t-have-it McSmartypants! Ugh!’ I mentally scoffed, remaining on the sidelines while Princess Smartflank dirtied her snout like a common earth pony…

That was racist, wasn't it? Not like I would've known at the time…

“And your fancy glasses couldn't have told you that?.” I shot with no short amount of snark.

My inquiry actually got her by surprise, eliciting an embarrassed grin as she lowered said glasses over her eyes. “Heh, I’m… still getting used to having them.”

She went on with it for a while, bringing up stuff like print size and depth, soil composition, magical residue, and whatnot. I had tuned her out after a while, mentally debating whether I should try and quietly sneak away while she was absorbed in her investigation, or whether I should stop to grab some glimmerberrys first. I was as hungry as a horse!

“How's your uncle, by the way?” Zipp suddenly spoke after several minutes of silent investigation. She had her glasses on, so I couldn't fully decode her expression.

It seemed I would have to play my cards sooner than anticipated. “O-Oh, he's fine, thank-you for asking,” I replied in my most convincing voice. “It ended up being a bad bump, nothing broken. He actually called me when I was halfway there, and said that I shouldn't bother with such a long journey in the middle of the night and all.” Zipp remained focused on her work, but her twisted ear told me she was very much listening, and this was far from a simple pleasantry. “I… uh, it was very late when I came back and… I didn't want to bother you girls so I… spent the night at the inn…”

“Maretime Bay doesn’t have an inn.” Zipp shot, now turning her head towards me.

A nervous gulp drowned any further words on my muzzle. You can only go that far with petty lies and excuses, I lamented in resignation.

“Although there's this nice old mare, Mayflower, I think she was called? She's renting rooms for tourists until an actual inn is built. Are you talking about that?”

Another last-minute save. I simply couldn't believe my luck. Dumb as it was, it also got me out of sticky situations once in a very long while.

“Y-Yeah, that's it!” I exclaimed as if I had suddenly remembered. “Sorry, we don't have that kinda thing back in the fortre- ah! Forest. Bridlewood Forest. Yeah…” I sheepishly apologized, biting my tongue after that barely avoided slip-up.

“Why would you have one? It's not like you unicorns were expecting visitors!” She chuckled and returned to her analysis. “Gotta say it, you guys went a little too far with the ‘keep out’ signs.” Another amused giggle. “It almost seemed as if a bloodthirsty monster was looming inside.”

“I'll… let the ponies know when I return.”

“Nah, they'll have removed them by now.” Seemingly finished with her analysis, she raised back to her full height and motioned for the drone to take a final picture. “You know. With everypony being friends now and all. Not very welcoming to keep them there, huh?”

“Well of course not!” I loudly agreed, my voice breaking a bit from the fake enthusiasm behind the claim. “Now that everypony can travel wherever they like, that's the last thing you want. I mean, I am here.” Zipp followed my hoof up towards my horn.

“You can say that again.” She finished with a smile, which quickly turned to a puzzled look. “Although, now that I look at it, I've never seen you use magic. Why?” She asked as if it was the most obvious thing in the world. “Now that you guys can, it sounds like a missed chance.”

Now that tiny trick I wouldn't be able to physically prove, so I had to improvise. Again. Lucky me.

‘ThinkthinkthinkthinkthinkthinkTHINK MISTY!!’

“Weeell… I mean, I can TOTALLY use magic if I want, b-but,” I swallowed another nervous lump. “I'm not very skilled with it, outright terrible actually. And ponies… um, they asked me not to in case I ended up lighting somepony else's house on fire which, you know… living in a forest and all...”

Zipp’s eyes widened in surprise. “Oh, um… woah, that's rough.” She said with a long whistle.

You might think it was such a stupid story that it could end up working. The thing is, it was an actual story, more or less. No magic involved, of course, just a curious filly playing around Opaline’s alchemy room, accidentally dropping several vials of chemicals that shouldn't under any circumstances be mixed…

Thank hoofness that a shallow stream runs under the fortresses’ bridge. Up to that day, I was still sore from all those buckets filled with water I had to carry back and forth.

“Well, you do your thing, Misty. I, for one, am gonna enjoy these babies to their fullest.” She extended her wings to their full length, flexing into a smug pose in the process.

“Woah, they’re very pretty.” That might as well have been the first truly honest thing that had left my muzzle so far that day.

“Why thank you. I use this special shower gel which…” But her speech was interrupted by her phone buzzing under her wing. Carefully extracting it, she removed her spyglasses and looked over the incoming message.

“Huh?... Oh, Hitch’s done with his part.” She noted to herself while her eyes ran over the text. “Mmmg, he’s not had any luck either, guess we'll have to take it to town.”

She returned the phone to its holster and flapped her wings once again, readying herself for liftoff.

“Misty.” She called as she was about to launch into the air. “I need you to please stay vigilant and immediately text me if you see something suspicious.” She asked, at which I nodded firmly. “Thank you. I'm not sure if there's anypony still at the brighthouse if that's where you're headed. Breakfast’s canceled.”

“Yeah, I can imagine. I'll keep an eye out, detective.” I promised with a hoof on my forehead in military fashion.

With a final nod, she pumped her wings and disappeared against the midday sun. She had told me that perhaps the brighthouse was empty, a golden opportunity if the Unity Crystals had been my goal. But my hooves carried me back into Maretime Bay.

I had a thief of my own to catch.

Sooooo, morning business ended up being less busy than anticipated, which doesn’t mean I wasn’t busy myself. I felt bad for having to ditch my friends after the sleepover. Sunny had promised breakfast together with the colts, but Mane Melody called for her owner to lend a hoof with the alleged ‘morning rush’, which ended up being but a mere trickle of customers asking for semple redos or manecuts. Nothing my wondrous companions couldn’t deal with.

Perhaps not the best news for the business, but most definitely for me! Summer was on its tail end, and that meant a mandatory renewal of MM’s inventory. Seasonal fragrances, hooficure patterns, autumn-themed mane styles… Ugh! Simply so much work to do!

One hundred and thirty-seven fragrances made up my current inventory, brought from aaaall over Equestria. And it was up to me to take this mismatched arrangement of odors and come up with new BREAKING sensations in time for the leaves to fall.

And that was what I was doing at the moment, standing in front of my creation board, an analytical frown running over the different combinations I had come up with, which I would later combine, bottle up, and try on myself and a couple of willing volunteers…

My coworkers. Sometimes I felt like I really didn't pay them enough…

Buuuuut, that wasn’t all. Nononono. After my… particular finding that very same morning, I had to stay away from my sister while taking good care of the lantern I had stumbled upon on my way here. The very same lantern I caught her searching for all over the brighthouse like Mom did when she lost her phone, only to have it tucked in the holster under her wing.

Poor Mom, age is indeed merciless…

But Zipp looked like she was having soooo much fun. It rubbed me the wrong way to hide something so important from my friends, and especially her owner, but just looking at her giving her best in the search and having such a great time…

I would let it play out for a bit, wait for her to eventually follow the PAINFULLY OBVIOUS clues to me, all too lead to a climatic, SHOCKING revelation. Princess Pipp?! A thief?! Who could possibly have guessed?!!

It would be just like in the movies! Ooooh, I simply couldn't wait!

But I’m sure you might be asking, ‘Pipp, where did you find the lantern?’ The thing is, the where I could tell them, but I can’t really explain why I found it where I did.

On my way out of the brighthouse I caught the marvelous sight of the gorgeous community garden we had all grown together, and I simply couldn't resist taking a few pictures to light up the feed early in the morning.

So there was me, looking my best for the camera and searching for the best shot when I suddenly tripped over a half-dug hole, one of many littered around as I saw later, only from my phone to slip from my hoof and land into another one just below one of the berry bushes, almost completely stripped from any delicious treats.

“Ugh… Why do I even bother to brush my mane?” I remembered cursing under my breath, for it hadn't been the first time my looks had been ruined not even an hour after my thorough early-morning pampering ritual. Don’t get me wrong, I LOVE Maretime Bay, but ever since the return of magic, this town has swung from one crazy event to the next in the few months since we banded together to rejoin the Unity Crystals. And semi-apocalyptic events do NOT work in favor of your mane and coat.

Brushing the filthy dirt from my fur and fixing my mane as best as I could, I went to retrieve my phone, praying it hadn’t suffered any damage. Not like I didn't have, like, seven spares or anything stored back in the ‘Heights, but I wasn’t particularly feeling like flying all the way and back again, especially since Mom would snatch me away the moment she caught sight of me and wouldn't let go until later into the afternoon.

She misses us so much… I had to plan a visit for that weekend.

My prayers had been answered, for my phone hadn’t suffered any damage beyond getting as dirty as I had. Brushing away the loose soil and detritus from the screen, I turned it on again, the default rear camera popping up the moment I pressed the button. I was about to continue with the impromptu photo session when something caught my attention. The camera was pointing down to the ground, more precisely the half-filled hole I had extracted the phone from. For a moment I panicked, since the image showed a spec of dark blue where only dirt should appear. I thought for a second the camera’s lens had cracked or something, not that I used the rear camera that much, but still! These things are expensive!

But the camera hadn't been damaged, judging from my inspection of the mechanism, and on the ground, I found the same spec of color mixed with the loose dirt and a few leaves fallen from the bush atop it.

“What in the wingfeathers…?”

It was so unusual that I simply had to check it out. The idea of dirtying my hooves wasn’t particularly appealing, but my hooficure was already ruined from my earlier trip, so not much additional damage would be done.

The touch, and the sound it made against my hoof, revealed it to be something metallic. Somepony had buried something. Poorly, that is, but still. A hidden treasure perhaps?!

The ground was loose enough for me to dig the mysterious object out without the need for a shovel. Better that way since there was less of a risk of damaging whatever it was that I was unearthing.

I had been expecting some discarded garden equipment, or perhaps a bracelet somepony had lost if you stretched it.

“... HUH?!!”

Sunny’s lantern, dripping sand and completely covered in filthy dust, shone its rainbow light against my hooves that gripped it ever so carefully.

My sister was going crazy searching all over the brighthouse. And yet, it was here. In the middle of the garden, poorly buried by… well, whoever had snuck it away.

“... Um… okay?”

I didn't have my sister’s interest in mysteries, so I was left completely puzzled as to how, or even better, WHY Sunny’s lantern was out here of all places. The only reasonable explanation I could come up with was Hitch’s critters playing a prank or just demanding attention like last time. It took me a whole week, a WEEK, to find my favorite mane brush, only to find a SKUNK of all critters had made it her own because she liked how it felt when she used it on her tail.

OF COURSE IT FEELS NICE, THAT’S WHY IT WAS MY FAVORITE!!!!

… I didn't dare touch that brush ever again.

“Well, whatever the reason you’re out here, I’m sure Sunny’s itching to get you back.”

Patting it gently a couple of times to loosen as much of the filth sticking to it as I could, I secured the lantern, returned my phone to its holster, and flapped my wings in the direction of the brighthouse.

“I guess the mystery is over…”

Just as I was about to land and open the doors, voices coming from the kitchen reached my ears. Flying low to peek over the rim, I saw Alex, Sunny, and Zipp in the kitchen. Their muffled voices told me they were discussing several possibilities regarding the lantern’s location. From where they stood, Sunny and Alex’s backs were turned to me, but I had was a clear picture of my sister, eagerly listening to Alex’s proposition, that same sparkle now present in her eyes when a mystery was ahoof, clad in her full detective gear.

I couldn't really tell from where I hovered, but I could've sworn her cutie mark was positively glowing!

“Oooooww...”

I couldn't do this to her. I couldn't trump down her fun so quickly, not when she was having the time of her life after a few weeks of relative peace. This was her first true mystery since the Discord incident, and since the search for the Ocean Lily ended up being waaay more than what we could chew.

We’d barely made it out of that alive. I still dream about it from time to time…

“No. This mystery is gonna be solved under MY conditions!”

I had the best idea a pony could come up with! The lantern would be safe with me, and Zipp would be allowed to continue with her investigation, an investigation that would eventually bring her to me. I only needed a couple of things to get the game started.

Rapidly pumping my wings, I silently made my way to the upper floor, using the window over my bed to enter our room, and I quickly snatched a bottle of my all-new Pipp-brand wing glitter. Aquamarine, just like my sparkle! It was simply the best.

I then spread that glitter at the very same place I had found the lantern, accompanied by a noticeable hoofprint well placed over the little mound of soil born from my excavation.

My sister would crack it the minute she saw it.

And that, my pony friends, is what brought me there. The lantern was safely stored in the backroom of Mane Melodt, and little, innocent me worked on my fragrances without raising suspicion, impatiently waiting for my sister to burst through the doors with an accusing hoof screaming ‘HALT, THIEF!’

‘ME?!! Why, sister?! How could you possibly believe I would commit such an outrageous act?!!’

I couldn't help but excitedly giggle thinking about the upcoming moment. It was gonna be so epic!

However, my imaginary scenarios were promptly shattered by the sound of a familiar voice screaming her lungs out as she passed in front of my shop.

“... -ergency! We need your help! Join us in the plaza for a very impor-...”

And off she went. It sounded like Sunny had taken the matter into her own hooves and, making use of Hitch’s megaphone, she was rallying the townsponies to her cause.

Not far behind her, our human friend walked at a brisk pace behind the rushing earth pony, hands in his pants’ pockets and assessing the unfolding situation with an amused smirk.

Once again, curiosity got the better of me. Leaving behind my vision board and half-cooked formulas, I rushed out of the shop to meet up with them.

Hearing my approaching wingflaps, Alex turned his head to catch me landing just at his side. “Oh, good morning, Pipp. Everything alright? You kinda bolted on us back there.” He greeted me with a friendly scratch on my ear. I let him do as he pleased as long as he didn't mess with my mane. One fashion crime a day was more than enough, thank you very much.

“Sorry about that, but Mane Melody beckoned me for some emergency fashion do-over for the new season. Lots of work, so little time!” I apologized for my escapade, tilting my head to give him better access. I understood why he claimed Sunny and Izzy to be addicted, it felt really good… far from my carefully brushed mane, that is. “We can all meet up for lunch if you want.”

He took my proposition in earnest, but the most pressing matter was well on display. “No complaints from me, but we are kinda in the middle of something…”

“Sunny's lantern.” I finished for him. “I read Zipp's message. How could anypony just take it from under our snouts like that?!” I wailed, doing my best to fake my anger.

“We don’t know if it was stolen or just misplaced, Pipp.” He clarified, returning his hand to his pocket while his eyes searched for a rampaging Sunny, who worked her best to rally as many ponies as she could around Mane Square, with limited success, sadly.

Whining softly at the disappearance of the nice feeling, I followed his sight towards the orange mare, who was momentarily taking a breath from all that shouting while we resumed our march towards where she stood.

“What’s her plan?” I couldn't help but wonder. Screaming at your fellow townsponies’ faces with a megaphone didn't seem to me like the most productive method of enlisting help for searching for a lantern.

“She wants to rally them up together. She believes that the more ponies there are together in one place, the more harmony is created and the brighter the Prisbeam shines, including the Prisbeam inside her lantern.”

“Weeeell, it’s not the worst plan I’ve heard...” I muttered loud enough for Alex to catch.

“Meh, Zipp’s already hard on the case. Doesn’t hurt to take a look around town and ask some ponies while we’re at it.”

Sunny, still a bit breathless after her screaming show, noticed our approach. The poor mare was huffing and puffing, leaning against a streetlamp when her eyes lit up at the sight of us.

“Pipp!” She called, pulling her weight back on her hooves and trotting towards me. “Pipp, it’s awful!!”

“I know, Sunny girl, I know.” I pulled the distressed mare in a winged hug. She was shaking, both from exhaustion and sheer nerves, I reckoned.

“They took my lantern!” She wailed after pulling back from my feathery embrace. “It was a gift from my dad, Pipp! I can’t lose it!”

It crushed my heart to see her teary eyes seeking comfort from me. I felt so bad I almost launched myself from there back to Mane Melody to retrieve her precious lantern.

“We’ll find it, Sunny. Trust in Zipp.” Alex beat me to it and, taking a step forward, captured her in an embrace of his own, running his fingers over her scalp in a soothing manner. “I’m sure it's just a silly misunderstanding. We’ll get it back.”

Sunny was more than willing to accept his reassuring hug, burying her head against his stomach. Her posture relaxed and her breathing slowed the moment his close proximity erased her nervous twitching. I didn't miss the disguised smile growing on her lips at his touch. Even with her lantern still missing, she found time to smile when he was nearby.

‘Oh, these two are SO gonna end up together if it's the last thing I do!’

He had told me he had something appropriate planned for the occasion, and even enlisted my help to get both of them alone when the time came. I was more than willing to help, of course. Between them and my sister’s ‘foalish, completely invented, and absurdly unrealistic’ crush on Hitch, her words not mine; I had my work cut out for me.

And what about poor, ol’ me? Where was the dashing stallion who would sweep me from under my hooves and carry me into the sunset?

Who even said it had to be a stallion…

But those were musings for a later time. Now, we had more concerning matters at hoof.

A quick look around me revealed Sunny’s partial success in calling forth the denizens of Maretime Bay. I was sure many just thought this was another one of Sunny’s crazy initiatives and simply went along with it, just like the other week with the garden.

“Sorry to disappoint, Sunny.” I addressed the mare still snuggling with our tall friend. “But I think you’re gonna need a pair of wings and horn to get these ponies' attention.”

Sunny, hearing my proposal, also cast a look around the immediate area, becoming even more dejected at the poor numbers she had managed to amass.

“Not again…” She whined under her breath, ears pressing against her scalp.

Alex didn't turn a deaf ear to her plea. Reaching with both hands, he placed them over Sunny’s ears, pressing them gently against her head.

“Ready now, Pipp.” He suddenly warned me. I caught his gauntlets powering up from the corner of my eye.

Puzzled, I wondered what he was planning. “Huh? Ready for what n-?”

“PONIES!!! THINE PRINCE DEMANDS YOUR PRESENCE!!!!”

Whatever followed was virtually drowned by the high-pitched beeping assaulting my poor ears. Unsteadily struggling on my hooves, I had to use my wings to remain upright and not end up pushed down on my rump from the sheer strength of his yell. I swear on my crown that I felt the ground positively SHAKING under me.

After a moment to collect my bearings sounds finally began to push through the squealing pitch in my abused ears. The far-off crashing of waves against the beach, the twittering and tweeting of a couple of birds… but, what my hurt ears didn't catch was the sound of the passerby ponies on their daily routines.

Opening my eyes and blinking hard, I first brought my gaze to the pair beside me. Sunny, also struggling to regain her hold in reality, unstuck herself from the tall human to regard him with absolute shock. Alex for his part rubbed his throat while uncomfortably flexing his jaws.

WELL, HE BETTER HAVE BEEN SORE AFTER THAT!!

“Alexander!” I loudly demanded, incessantly rubbing my aching ears. “WHAT IN TARTARUS WAS THAT ABOUT?!!!”

Instead of answering verbally, he motioned with his head towards the new sight around us. Where only a few curious ponies had been railed by Sunny’s summons, now a town’s worth of ponies filled the plaza, ears attentive and forward, waiting restlessly for something.

It was as if a switch had been flipped. A bit creepy, if you ask me.

“B-But…” Sunny, also wincing from the pained throbbing in her ears, struggled to comprehend what was transpiring.

“Sorry about that, Tangerine.” Alex apologized, tenderly rubbing the aforementioned appendages. “But it’s faster this way.”

“This way how?!” I demanded once again, leveling up on my wings to reach his eye level.

A crooked smirk split his flat muzzle. “What can I say? When you’re crowned a prince you earn some privileges, like the Canterlot Royal Voice.”

“THAT was the Canterlot Royal Voice?!” Sunny, her knowledge of times past surprising my own by far, loudly inquired, raising herself onto her rear legs to also meet him eye to eye with boundless curiosity, the aching all but forgotten in the light of learning something new.

Alex placed his arms on her back to secure her. “Mhm. Luna taught me the spell, but she made me pinkie-promise to only use Old Equish every time I used it.”

Her eyes twinkled with unrestrained wonder while mine rolled in their sockets. How she saw that number he had pulled out of his flank a wondrous thing to witness was beyond me. I didn't need to SCREAM my lungs out to get ponies to listen to me! Just a targeted post here, a subtle comment there… tricky business, you know?

Getting a fair amount of bad vibes from seeing all those ponies standing to attention as if petrified, I made for a rushed exit. It reminded me of a cheap zombie movie those guys at Horseywood would come up with.

“U-Um, well, I-I can see you guys have got this under control.” I lightly stammered, slowly returning to the ground and tip-hoofing my way back to Mane Melody. “I-I’m gonna head back now, still a couple of customers to att- oh, no.” Both mares my coworkers had been attending to were also there among the multitude, manes half done, one with a mane straightener still clinging to her hair. “There they are, hehe. Um… see ya!”

And with that, I bolted the hay out of there, Alex’s loud belly-laugh filling the absurdly quiet plaza.

‘Sheesh, royalty sure packed a punch back then…’

“What were you fillies doing at exactly four twenty-two in the morning?!!”

The trio of quaking fillies shared a hesitant look with each other, swallowing nervously and nudging each other in an attempt to get one of them to cave in and answer my question.

But, why such a specific hour? Well, I don't know. But, usually, more concrete evidence works better to crack a pony open during an interrogation… I believed… I hoped.

And why were Maretime Bay’s most infamous trio of fillies the focus of my interrogations…?

Honestly, I didn't know anymore by then. I was tired, cranky, and my overworked mind thought it was reasonable for them to be the culprits since they were small and famous for causing mischief around town. I know it sounds stupid in retrospect, but I was on the brink of pulling my mane raw from my scalp in frustration.

After a short silent debate, Seashell ended up drawing the short straw. “U-Um, four twenty-two… Um, we were… totally asleep! Yeah!” She hesitantly claimed after being nudged forward by the two other members of their little group.

“Yeah! We definitely weren't up watching YouHoof videos!” Peach Fizz, emboldened by her friend's initiative, took a firm step forward, although her bravery promptly died under my piercing look.

“Hmm…” I mulled silently for a second, although there wasn’t really anything to mull about, it was just for show. While an adorable effort, a foal is not the type of pony you'd choose to keep a secret. “That was very specific. Too specific. And not very convincing!”

That’s all it took for them to spill the beans. “Fine! I admit it, okay?!” Seashell cracked under the pressure.

“We were up late watching Princess Pipp glow-up tutorials! She just released a new line of wing glitter!” Peach Fizz continued, the three of them boring the combined strength of their cuteness and teary eyes on me.

“Please, don't tell on us!” The three of them pleaded in unison.

With a deep sigh of disappointment at another, albeit ridiculous dead end, I waved the fillies away, wordlessly promising to keep my lips sealed. The three did so in earnest, any traces of fear from my harsh interrogation evaporating the moment they were given a free pass to continue turning the town upside down with their antics.

I was running out of leads. Hitch had texted me a while ago saying the lead of the critters playing a prank on us had led to nothing since nocritter had admitted taking part in any prank recently, although he had mentioned how some of them weren't present since they had begun foraging in the nearby forest in preparation for the upcoming cold months. Also, while not claiming to have hidden the lantern, he had managed to squeeze out a couple of mischievous acts from his little friends carried out during the last month. It seemed some had taken a liking to playing pranks on the bigger, meaner ponies, although no substantial damage nor anything of worth was stolen. Still, the possibility of one of the missing critters being the culprit couldn't be fully discarded.

However, I was more focused on finding the lantern itself than catching the culprit by that point. I had combed the area around the brighthouse and the way into town when I bumped into Misty…

‘Damm it, Zipp! Stop thinking like that about her! You already gave her enough of a hard time as it is during the sleepover!’

But my head just wouldn't let, it, go! She appeared out of nowhere, had practically no idea about unicorn traditions even though she had grown up there, asked a lot of weird questions, and… I don't know! But my guts wouldn't stop screaming at me that something was way, way off with that pony.

I didn’t want to think bad of her. She was actually very sweet, when she wasn't stuttering and shaking like a leaf. I mean, I get being shy around new ponies. I for one was guilty of that. But she always sounded defensive and… weird.

And on the very same night she stayed with us in the brighthouse, Sunny’s lantern went missing. But if she was the culprit, then why was she still around? What was she doing at the community garden, so close to the brighthouse. Was it one of those cases where the perpetrator returns to the crime scene? This wasn't a cheap movie! This was very much a real-life problem!!

“Come oooon, give me something!”

No matter where I looked, my spy glasses didn't catch any trace of dirt from the area around the garden, nor that totally-out-of-place glitter somepony had left behind while digging that hole. Nor was there any noticeable hoofprint trail I could follow. The ponies must’ve been freaking out watching me tearing the town apart in search of clues, now dressed like a cheap futuristic detective with my new equipment. I didn't want to repeat the events of the festival, but this hunt was proving as fruitless as the last one, and the one before that…

I’d talked with several ponies as well as with Izzy before I’d left for town. Talked, not interrogated, I promise! None had seen Sunny’s lantern or anything that might reveal its hiding place. And Izzy, while admitting having borrowed it on previous occasions to find her way around the community garden to gather some leaves for her weird knock-out tea, hadn't needed to use it that particular night.

No, actually, that’s not what she said. She said she hadn’t consciously taken the lantern, but couldn’t promise she hadn’t grabbed it and misplaced it while sleepwalking, but since her dreams tended to be, and I quote, ‘uni-tastic’, and they were hard for her to remember in the mornings.

Considering her antics and her reputation for sleepwalking (she had given us more than one scare by this point), I couldn't fully rule out that possibility either, leaving me once again back at square one. But again, I was beyond pointing hooves and much more eager to find that Faust-forsaken lantern! It’s not just the fact it was Sunny’s property and, well, very special to her. That lantern held power, power none of us fully understood, not even our human resident who in theory designed the very things granting it that wonky rainbow magic! Energy! Whatever!

Ground, street, sky, and back. Over and over I targeted my sights following that pattern, praying that the scanners in my glasses would pick something up, but over and over that annoying, infuriating *beep* from a negative match stung my ears, followed by a red, flashing warning across the AR screen. I had to give it to the brothers, they sure knew what they were doing when they came up with this. It just happened that the pony behind the glasses wasn't as good as them in getting the job done, apparently.

*Beep* Red, no match. *Beep* Red, no match. *Beep* Orange, no mat-.

“AAAH!” Pumping my wings, I barely avoided crashing into a yellow furred stallion, currently sporting his side band where his sheriff badge was proudly attached for the citizens to see.

“Um,” Hitch, tilting his head sideways, stood before me as I landed back on the ground. “Everything okay, Zipp?”

I could feel the vein in my temple threatening to pop. ‘Okay? Does it look like I’m doing okay?!!’

Taking a deeeeeep breath to calm my pulse and prevent me from senselessly lashing out, I trotted back to his side, sporting a frustrated scowl against his innocent and well-meaning query.

“No, Hitch, it’s not okay.” I sharply shot as I passed by his side, his raised eyebrow betraying his surprise at my moody tone. Falling in tow behind me, he followed quietly as I resumed my scrutiny of the surrounding area, although I knew by then I would come hooves empty from it. I simply didn't know what else to do.

“Soooo, no luck on your side either, huh?”

The scolding glare I sent his way quickly made him recapacitate, smiling sheepishly while skipping a step or two to gain some distance from me.

I cursed under my breath. The last thing I wanted was to push him away, especially now that my feelings for him were kicking in harder than ever. Heck, if it hadn't been for this lantern issue, I might have mustered enough guts to at least test the waters with him. I wasn't as bold and direct as my sister, but I didn't want to be a pushover either. Perhaps I would take a page out of her book and ask him there and then.

But that would have to wait for after this case was solved, or until I threw in the towel and had to drag myself to Sunny and beg for her forgiveness. My heart almost shattered at the mental image of her crushed features and spirits.

‘NO!! You’re going to find that lantern, Zipp, even if it kills you!’

“Um,” Hitch tested once again from his safe distance away from my fuming self. “Sooo, do you still want my help? I can ask around or something…” He hesitantly proposed, nervously pawing the stony road before him. “I don’t wanna get in the middle of...”

Witnessing the usually bold and confident sheriff now rubbing the ground nervously like a filly asking for more ice cream both melted my heart from sheer adorableness as well as made me kick myself harder for acting like such a jerk. If there was something I was improving on, it was being a jerk to other ponies.

Wordlessly, I looked over my shoulder and, lifting my glasses to look him in the eye, motioned to him with my free hoof to approach me.

He did so slowly, his posture slightly hunched backward as if expecting me to snap at him any second. I didn't, instead removing my gear and storing it in my saddlebag for the time being. He reached my side and stood still, questioning eyes losing their hesitation while filling with expectation as to why I had called him to my side. I used the moment to sit back on my haunches and rest my upper body against him, my head coming to rest against his muscular neck where I softly nuzzled him, both in apology for my harsh behavior as well as seeking reassurance. I felt him tense up for a moment, but he didn't move a muscle to refuse me, a gesture I silently appreciated.

“... I don’t know what else to do, Hitch…” It came barely over a whisper, my tone a mirror of my tiredness. He didn't answer verbally, but I felt him sitting on his rump at my side while moving a supporting foreleg around me, lightly pushing me closer. “Every minute I waste is another minute that Sunny’s lantern gets away from us.” The sense of defeat I was experiencing pushed a few angry tears out of my closed eyes. “She’s gonna be so crushed,” I mumbled, voice threatening to break. “She’s gonna be so angry at me for being such a failure…”

I didn't know what to expect from him, perhaps some encouraging words, the usual ‘you can do it, Zipp. We trust you’ and all that jazz. But the feeling of his hoof booping my snout while my sight remained in the dark was not on that list.

Rapidly opening my eyes and blinking away the stingy tears, I pulled back slightly to assess him with no short amount of puzzlement. “Uhhhh, what are you doing?”

“I’m pressing the reset button.” He explained as if it was the most obvious thing in the world.

“...”

“‘Cause the Zipp in front of me was not the one who’s gonna find the lantern.”

I was lost for words, my frozen brain barely registering the foreign, albeit not unwelcome feeling of his hoof on my muzzle. Hitch took my silence and bemused blinking as a signal to continue.

“Yeah. The Zipp I know would never stop until she found the truth, and she would very much turn this town upside down ‘till she had examined every last bit of evidence.” I felt his foreleg rub against my back and the space between my wings in reassurance, his supporting smile slowly chasing my self-doubt and sadness away. “The Zipp that never gives up. The one who asks for her friends’ help when the case turns out to be more than she can handle. That’s the Zipp that Sunny trusts to find her missing lantern.” With one final pat, he rose back on his hooves and offered a hoof to help me stand up. “And that’s the Zipp who’s gonna find it, now that I’ve pressed the button.”

It was so random, and so stupid, that I did the only thing a sensible pony could do in such a situation…

I began laughing my flanks off and, gosh, how good it felt…

“What?” Hitch asked with a playful pitch in his voice, not retracting his offer for help.

Covering my muzzle with my forehoof, I grabbed his stretched foreleg with my free one and rose to my hooves, my snickering not wavering as his dorky joke ran its course.

“Oh, you’re such a…” A spoke between chuckles, catching his eyebrow raised playfully at my incomplete claim. “Ah, forget it.” I decided best to let it hang in the air, swallowing down the last of laughs to refocus on the task at hoof.

“Thank you, Hitch.” A pathetic demonstration of how much I appreciated his company and, well, getting me out of the slump I had dug myself into.

“Always, Zipp.” He returned with a warm grin of his own. That finished driving the nail. I was so gonna do something about it after we got all this lantern ruckus solved.

‘Yeah… Yeah, Zipp. Let’s do something about it!’

The thought of what my near future held for me only worked to rekindle my resolve further. Call it something to look forward to.

With another pair of searching eyes and helping hooves, the sheriff and I resumed our scrutinizing of the little coastal town, encountering one dead end after another but, now that he was at my side, every failure only served to push me further. Any loose string we grabbed and released got us closer and closer to the truth. I could feel it in my guts, we were getting close!

*PONIES!!! THINE PRINCE DEMANDS YOUR PRESENCE!!!!*

It wasn't only the jumpscare that launched me in the air. It was something in the words from that lung-bursting yell, something that… compelled me to comply. I saw it in the nearby ponies from my vantage point hovering near the ground. All of us became paralyzed, ears pointed towards the center of the town from where the ear-splitting command had originated. One by one, ponies began leaving the avenue we had been traversing to trickle away through the side streets following the authoritative shout. And I almost followed in tow, if the urgency of the search hadn’t rooted me in place.

‘Thine prince… Who speaks like that anymore?!’

“What in Celestia’s mane was that?!!” Hitch mirrored my thoughts, albeit in a more vocal manner.

I was transfixed by the sight of how ponies, either pulled by that weird feeling or out of raw curiosity, followed the herd toward the origin of the voice. And yet, one particular pony stood out from the colorful mass. A sky-blue-furred unicorn with a distinctive, two-toned curly mane and tail. She seemed to have ignored that piercing command in her urgency since her bated breathing and frenetic eye movements betrayed her nervousness as well as her panicked attempts to look for something, and failing miserably by the looks of it. She might as well have been a mirror of myself.

“Misty?”

I wasn’t calling for her, just wondering aloud to myself. But it must have been loud enough for her to catch it as immediately after her name had escaped my lips, her ears prickled towards my direction, her sight following in tow. Now that she was here, I wanted to at least ask how she was doing and what had gotten her tail in a knot. And, at the same time, perhaps inquire if she had found anything regarding the lantern as I’d asked her when we bumped paths earlier in the community garden.

Instead of getting anything useful from the uneasy mare, or at least a polite ‘Hi, Zipp. Very busy right now, sorry!’, her eyes narrowed to a pair of pinpricks and, as if a Tartarus demon was on her tail, she began running. Running away from us.

I had promised Izzy. I had promised everypony. And I had promised myself, but that was the straw that broke the pony’s back.

‘Yeah, no, this is too much to sweep under the rug.’

Leaving a puzzled Hitch behind, I pumped my wings and began my pursuit of the fleeing unicorn. Perhaps she was trying to lose me amongst the crowd, kinda stupid considering I had the aerial advantage. Perhaps it was the very same crowd cutting her escape routes short, but her hurried galloping only brought us closer and closer to the point where the yell had originated. The muffled voice of a mare bounced weakly against the walls. I recognized that voice as Sunny’s, addressing the silent crowd that the loud creature, which now I suspected was Alexander, had amassed in the middle of Mane Square.

But the crowded plaza full of ponies wouldn't be our final stop. In a dextrous show of agility, Misty managed to avoid the attentive ponies, skipping left and right without slowing down. I had no such trouble aside from a couple of pegasi hovering over the earth-bound ponies to get a better view and partially blocking my path. Nothing a pair of well-executed acrobatics couldn't solve.

“Misty, wait!” I tried to call out to her. Not ordering, for it wasn't like I was going to arrest her or anything, but I needed to talk to her. She was only making things worse for her by fleeing like that.

But Misty, catching a quick look behind her to find me gaining ground on her, only became more invigorated, quickening her galloping once she had freed herself from the crowd of ponies, running unrestricted through Mane Street in a northbound direction.

“Zipp! Hey, Zipp!”

A masculine voice reached my ears, but my brain, dead set on the chase, didn't register it. Nor did the half-blurred sight of my human friend standing on the edge of the crowd waving at me. I was going too fast to notice, and I couldn't allow myself any distractions if I wanted to remain on her tail.

In what I could only call a desperate move since she could’ve never hoped to outrun me on flat ground, she made a sharp left turn and forced herself into one of the side buildings lining the street. And it just so happened that this building was none other than my sister’s mane saloon (and karaoke, ugh).

The faint telltale two-by-two steeping rhythm of my approaching human friend was drowned out by the raw expectancy filling my body at the prospect of finally catching the fleeing unicorn. Finally! Something good I had managed to accomplish! And the way she was galloping away from me spoke volumes of her alleged culpability.

Ooooh, the lantern was close alright, I could feel it in my bones! And that mare was gonna show me the way!

A first look inside revealed a striking lack of customers, no doubt most having been dragged to that impromptu town meeting. Only Pipp’s co-workers remained inside, attending to a customer who was wearing headphones, most likely not having heard Alex’s booming call. How or why he had pulled that eardrum-bursting move out was a question for a later time. My sister was nowhere in sight. Perhaps she was with the rest of the herd, I reasoned.

But I didn't give it much thought. My target now was the mare pathetically attempting to hide from me by masking her features with a deactivated mane dryer over her head while innocently pretending to skim over a fashion magazine.

Ignoring my sister's co-workers' greetings, I slowly approached her, like a lioness about to pounce on her prey. I saw her shoulders tensing up with each step closer I took. I could almost taste it, sweet, sweet victory.

Pulling hard on the stylist’s chair, I forced the unicorn mare to face me. A nervous grin stretched her muzzle, the magazine falling from her limp hooves to the immaculate floor.

“U-Um, H-H-Hi, Zipp. H-How’s the search going?”

I simply wasn't in the mood. Pulling on the rim of the mane dryer, I forced it upwards to fully reveal the unicorn under it. She was on the brink of a nervous crisis, the tangy scent of her sweat permeating her fur. One last vain attempt to scurry away was pulled by her when I had removed the protective casing of the dryer from her head, but my pegasus reflexes kicked in hard to keep her pinned to the chair.

“U-Um,” She began stuttering once again. “I k-kinda need to use the little f-fillies ro-”

“Enough with your nonsense!”

My sharp cry worked to nail her in the chair fully, muscles tensing and muzzle scrunching in a grimace while her eyes darted around the place to fall anywhere but in my murdering glare.

“Misty.” I forcefully called for her attention. “I’m so tired of you and your attitude!” Her nervous gulping and hurt eyes could barely scratch against my cold resolution. “I know everything, Misty! And I know that it was YOU who stole the lantern!” I bashed my forehoof into her chest fluff in emphasis, pushing her further against the pink, leathery fabric of the chair.

“W-What?! Zipp, I-I would never…”

I wasn't going to fall for more of her horseshit. The time for ‘Miss Nice Detective’ was over! “Ever since the unicorn sleepover, I’ve had a weird feeling about you!” I rudely cut her off, driving daggers into her shivering form. “Those probing questions about Sparky, not knowing anything about Bridlewood, and then finding you trying to activate the elevator up to the Crystal Room?!” She recoiled further and farther with each accusation. “And that creepy version with the alicorn queen? What was that about?!”

She opened her muzzle in a vain attempt to defend her innocence, but I wasn't going to allow her. “And then, I found you right beside the crime scene! And now, after you promised to help me look around, the moment I called out to you, you started galloping away! The shadiness and half-flanked excuses are over, Misty! Speak, or as Celestia is my witness, I’ll…”

“STOP!!!”

I felt a force dragging me away from the unicorn, who had begun to shed terrified tears by then. I fell belly down to the cold floor and, after a moment to shake the surprise away, I stumbled with the image of my sister dragging me away from the culprit.

“Pipp! What do you think you do-?!”

“It’s me! I’m the lantern thief!”

Any trace of rational thought promptly left me the moment her claim reached me, leaving me open-muzzled and blinking owlishly at my sister.

“N-No.” I croaked out, working to get my hooves under me to recompose myself. “She’s the thief, I cough- uff!”

Something hard and metallic crashed against my exposed chest, dragging me back to the floor. Gazing beyond the tip of my muzzle revealed the very same thing I had been hunting the entire day half buried against my chest fluff, gently lighting my white coat in a marred of colors slowly swirling from their casing.

“W-Wha-?”

“I found it this morning as I made my way out of the brighthouse.” My sister proceeded to explain further, stepping towards my upside-down form with a furious scowl of her own. “I’ve had it the entire time!”

I was left speechless. All those leads, all that chasing ponies around, searching in every nook and corner for clues…

And she had it all along.

The sound of the front door opening and closing filled the small shop, followed by the clink of the door bell signaling that a new client had entered.

“What in fuck’s name is going on in here?” I recognized the voice of a human compelling an explanation from Jazz and Rocky, who had remained on the sidelines unsure of what to do.

But my entire attention was set on the lantern resting against my chest and the fuzzy ball of anger in front of me. “Y-You…”

“I wanted to tell you right away, sis.” Pipp continued, folding her legs to rest her body in front of me. Misty remained rooted in the chair, having calmed herself a bit in the absence of immediate danger, but remained tense observing the situation unfold itself. “But your cutie mark was just glowing, and you were having so much fun investigating, and I…”

“What have you done, Zipp?” Now came Alex’s turn who, having left the pair of coworkers behind, had reached us to try and understand what the hay was going on. His tone left no doubt as to his own fury, directed exclusively toward me. Ain’t I a lucky mare…?

I simply didn't know how to address both of them. “B-But… the h-hoofprint…”

“I put it there!· Pipp jabbed her chest with her hoof. “To keep you going! And the wing glitter was a clue to lead you to me! ME, Zipp, not HER!” She pointed towards Misty, who was now being softly reassured by our human friend, having stepped away from me to assist the quivering mare. She clung to him like a lifeline, hiding herself from me against his bigger frame while my sister bore her frustration into me.

“N-NO!” I managed to regain some of my rapidly leaking drive, balancing on my elbows to push myself up to at least sit on my haunches. “She’s the culprit!” I pointed another accusing hoof towards her. “She’s been hiding something for us. I know it!”

“She is hiding something.” Alex suddenly shot, momentarily leaving his attention on the mare pressed against him to bore his scolding eyes into me. His fingers gently brushed against her mane in a conforming gesture, a striking contrast to the fury permitting his features.

His claim stole the words from my throat once again. “And it’s none of your business.” He concluded harshly, completely surrounding the mare with his arms and pulling her towards him as he rose fully to his feet, carrying a still-clinging Misty against his chest as he passed beside us heading for the exit.

‘She… is?’

He had said it. It came straight out of his flat muzzle, just like that. And he had also said it was none of my business…

How was her keeping secrets NOT my business!!!

But he had already left the saloon, carrying Misty with him, well away from my prying hooves, leaving a defeated detective transfixed on the empty space in front of her, clutching the object of her frustration tightly against her chest.

“I’m so sorry, sis.” My sister scooted closer to me, pressing her side against mine and resting her forehead against the side of my head. “But I've never seen your cutie mark glow like that! You finally got to be a true detective! You were having so much fun!”

“No!” I abruptly pulled back from her reach, lightly startling her. “I wasn't… I mean, I WAS having fun! At first! But you can’t… I, I-I almost… I was about to…”

It came crashing down like a hurricane. So fixed on finding the lantern right? That’s what I had believed for myself, the drive that urged me forward.

But it was a lie, a self-webbed lie to hide the fact that I was itching to find a culprit, and if that culprit turned out to be the very same mare I had been cast my suspicions on for the entire night, the better! A reason for my suspicions, a justification for me not being just a crazy, paranoid mare!

Why was I so transfixed on finding her guilty? Yes, she was shy and weird to be around. It was plainly obvious that she wasn't used to being around other ponies, but was that enough reason for me to start shining the light of suspicion over her?

But I was so sure, so convinced it was her, if not the thief then something, something sketchy, something…

“... What is wrong with me?”

“Oooh, sis...” Pipp, having caught my depressed mutters, launched herself at me whether I was feeling like it or not, trapping me in a sisterly hug that sought to chase away all the pain clinging to my everything. “It’s my fault, sis. I shouldn’t have kept you in the dark.” She apologized earnestly. “B-But, I made it SO obvious! How did you not get it? The hoofprint, the glitter. It was aquamarine, Zipp!”

Well, of course it made sense now, hindsight is twenty-twenty after all. Why hadn’t I seen it? Because I wasn't actually looking for it.

“So… my whole investigation was for nothing, then?” I asked rhetorically without an ounce of heart behind my words. “Just me looking like a fool and accusing Misty of a bunch of terrible stuff she didn't do?”

A pained sigh escaped my sister’s nostrils, pressing herself into me while lightly nuzzling my face. “There’s a lot of apologizing for us to do, sis.” She mumbled dejectedly, dreading our friend's reactions as much as I was, those who hadn't already caught in the mess we’d brought upon ourselves, that is.

“Yeah. Yeah, we do.” I agreed, dread filling my every bone.

And the first one would be the unicorn mare I had been persecuting and baselessly accusing without fundament for an entire day. I had no hope she would ever forgive me, but I had to try. I owed her that, at least.

With renewed strength, I pushed myself up and, hoofing Sunny’s lantern to Pipp for safekeeping, hurried out of the saloon in search of the pony I had to apologize profoundly to.

“Misty!” I called just as I was crossing the door. “Misty, I’m so-”

But she wasn't there. Instead, Hitch had caught up to us as well as Sunny, who seemingly had concluded her speech to the townsponies, whom now filled the streets again as if nothing had happened. Alex was there too, but no unicorn was in his grasp. Instead, he stood near Sunny, talking to her and Hitch about something when I interrupted them with my desperate call.

“W-Where is Misty?”

“Gone,” Alex replied, venom figuratively dripping from his mouth. “What were you expecting?”

Noticing his dark demeanor, Sunny looked back and forth between us. “What 's going on?” She could only ask, feeling the animosity between us.

However, her confusion was short-lived as her features brightened up like the rising sun the moment my sister exited her establishment behind me, cradling the lantern in her foreleg.

“My lantern!!” She cried in ecstasy, forcing her way past me and into a waiting Pipp, who had to take a step back to prevent Sunny from literally crashing into her. “Oooooh, thankyouthankyouthankyouthankyou!!!” She hugged my sister so hard that her eyes threatened to pop out.

“Hehehe, yeah I… I found it, eheh…” Pipp chuckled nervously while darting her eyes around, lost as to whether to play along or spill the beans there and there.

There would be time for that later. I had to find Misty!

Extending my wings fully, I prepared for a hard liftoff. I would comb the entire town if that’s what it took to find her. But, just as my wings pulled down and my hooves lost contact with the ground, a telekinetic grasp rooted me in place. Its mixture of bluish and white hues betrayed its caster.

“Leave her alone, Zipp,” Alex demanded with an arm stretched and a gauntlet humming with intimidating magical power.

“No!” I pleaded. “I have to…”

“I believe you’ve done more than enough already.” He swiftly crushed any further attempts at pleading, his telekinetic hold only strengthening the harder I tried to pull myself free. Sunny was too preoccupied with coddling her precious lantern like it was a foal, but my sister did notice what was happening, as did Hitch who tried in vain to get Alex to relent his hold on me.

“Alex, wait!” Pipp flapped her wings to land in front of the glaring human. “It’s my fault. I’m the one to blame!”

“Misty told me what happened.” He addressed my sister with no less amount of anger. “The fact that it was you who had the lantern doesn't excuse your sister's behavior. This isn’t the first time we’re having this discussion.”

The amount of shame I experienced at that moment cannot be described in words, for it was indeed the same thing we’d discussed after Pipp and I had almost gotten ourselves killed searching for that Ocean Lily. Albeit in a different context, the issue was still the same: me being a reckless hot-headed loudmouth who didn't know when to stop.

“Please.” My sister tried to succeed where I had failed. “I take full responsibility. Let her be and I’ll deal with her, alright?”

A short staring duel was conducted between the imposing human and the relentless pegasus, the former finally giving in and releasing me from his magical hold. An uncomfortable feeling ran through each of my feathers, making them ruffle in my wings, tightly pressed against my sides. We pegasi don’t like feeling restrained, now more than ever that we’ve regained our ability to fly.

With a deep exhale, he powered down his gauntlet and, thankfully, lost the murderous look he was sending me, one of profound disappointment replacing it immediately afterward.

“Are you gonna be the one to explain to Izzy why her newest friend is fleeing the town like a wanted criminal? Huh?”

He didn't wait for an answer, choosing instead to leave me in the dust and start on his way up the main avenue, possibly to return to the brighthouse to inform Izzy about what had transpired with her friend. Perhaps he was just done with me being around. I couldn’t really blame him.

Watching him leave, I felt as if all the trust I’d built up with him, all of the times we’d spoken about me and my unilateral rejection of anything royalty-wise and my insecurities and all… I felt as if I’d sent all of that progress down the drain. He was mad. No, he was furious, and rightfully so. Hitch for his part remained where he was, unsure as to what to do or what to think. He didn't look disappointed or angry just… lost, I guess.

“Zipp.” Sunny, having witnessed my exchange with Alex, called out to me with a similar amount of puzzlement as the sheriff. “What happened?”

My sister and I shared one last defeated look. There was a lot of explaining to be done…

Long-due explanations were delivered, and the ponies involved took it better than I could ever ask for. I mean, don’t get me wrong, Sunny was far from happy that Pipp had kept her lantern hidden from us to help me play detective, for that was what all my investigation work turned out to be. She understood why she had done it, and she was more than happy to know how bright my sparkle shone when I was on the hunt for clues, but kindly asked that, the next time we did this, we chose something else to hide beside one of her most cherished possessions. Pipp apologized long and deep to her. I, well, I apologized to everypony for acting like a major jerk and chasing Izzy’s newest friend away.

Talking about our resident unicorn, who had virtually missed all the ruckus while dragonsitting Sparky and being engrossed in her creations. She was NOT happy with me and my attitude around Misty. Both from the sleepover and especially from today. She made sure to let me know verbally, and also physically to some extent. That mare might as well have been an earth pony with how much she was packing in those hooves.

Still, once she was done berating me and bumping my head, and making me swear on my name and kingdom to never, ever, EVER lay into Misty like that, we all decided it was in our best interests to take the rest of the afternoon off just to chill and let the bad vibes fly away.

Izzy would try to contact Misty, and see if she could convince her to come back to town, for me to apologize to her and for her to hang out with us some more. And, as a self-imposed punishment, I promised not to delve into any detective-related activities for the rest of the summer. I was also itching for a timeout myself after that day. Enjoying a few flaps around the bay sounded nice, and perhaps assisting Alex with his own research efforts, assuming he still wanted to be around me anymore. At least he had lost his scowl by now, no doubt thanks to his two favorite mares' proximity. Whatever the reason, I swore to never lose myself in the hunt for clues like that ever again. Whether he believed me or not was up to him.

A few cold drinks had been passed around. Hitch distracted himself with his surrogate son and a foal-friendly puzzle. Alex, Izzy, and Sunny chatted amicably about the upcoming meteor shower and the coming of autumn. And my sister sunbathed… however much you can sunbathe with a body covered in fur with a setting sun beyond the mountains.

I, for one, remained mostly quiet, listening to my friends go through many topics while enjoying their own drinks and light snacks provided by our gracious, permanent host. I didn't feel like participating, nor did I feel like I deserved to. Even if all had been forgiven and bygones had claimed to be bygones, I still felt some lingering uneasiness around them. Best to shut my trap for once and let things play out for a bit.

Only one thing remained behind, restlessly hammering my tired mind. Alex claimed Misty was indeed hiding something from us, but that it was none of our business. I would never doubt his words, not after all he had done and was doing for us. Perhaps he had misunderstood me and was simply referring to something very personal surrounding the unicorn.

Whatever it was, he had promised it didn't involve any of us or the Unity Crystals or anything that we should be concerned about, that it was something that Misty would reveal IF and WHEN she chose. My sister was the one who tried to pry it from him for us, since I felt like if I even hinted my desire to know I was gonna trot away with a face full of fist. He ignored my sister’s pleas and repeated what he had said previously.

“Sunny.” The very same human’s voice brought me out of my silent musings. “This morning, what were you going to say about Misty telling a different version of the story?”

The mare’s eyes lit up in recollection. That weird version had been one of the weird happenings around the unicorn that had triggered my detective senses. I remained put while Sunny cleared her voice to finish the conversation I had interrupted that very same morning.

“Um, she told us a… well, it was kinda creepy. A different version of the tale of the Guardians of Harmony. She was very adamant that it was the true version.” She recalled from the previous night with all of us in the living room. “But then she backtracked, saying she had made it up or something. She was very nervous.”

Izzy nodded in agreement. “Mhm. I think it was kinda cool. Definitely some imagination required for that one, but who am I to judge a fellow unicorn?” She happily claimed white asserting her place against the human’s side on the garden couch they shared with Sunny.

“Think you can tell me?”

Wetting her lips, Sunny dug in her memories to bring forth as close a version as the one Misty had narrated as possible, with the rest occasionally pointing here and there where the earth pony had missed something. A pensive look grew on his features the further Sunny went into the story. A flash of worrisome recognition as well as an undertone of incredulity. Yet the most predominant feeling coming from him was defeated resignation. It practically oozed out of him, especially once Sunny was done with her storytelling.

“... Faust damm it, seven centuries and still the same crap as always…”

His face came to rest in his hands as he leaned forward into them, a tired sigh the finishing touch of his cryptic message. He remained like that, lost in his musings, until a certain unicorn nosed her way into his hands where she promptly nuzzled them away from his face to bump her snout against his tiny nose.

Alex couldn’t help the crooked smirk stretching his slips. “You silly filly.” He chuckled while gently grabbing Izzy’s head, bringing her closer to plant a thankful kiss below her horn. Smiling brightly, the peepy unicorn eagerly accepted his gesture, happy now that she had succeeded in turning his frown upside down.

“What do you mean by that?” Sunny inquired once he had returned his back against the back of the couch.

He didn't turn to address Sunny, instead fixing his sight on the flower-patterned foldable canopy above us

“... Well, that version, while overly exaggerated and twisted, is what many ponies believed of Opaline when she began her quest to break the three tribes apart.”

“Huh?” Pipp, losing her sunglasses, composed herself to better listen while I did the same in my seat.

“Yeah, Discord claimed something similar. In the end, those who agreed with her lies would file behind her against Twilight, and I’m afraid to say those weren't your usual two or three crazy rioters.” He recalled dejectedly from his time in the past. “She would fill entire plazas worth of ponies during the speeches she gave on the towns she visited after abandoning the School for Gifted Unicorns.” His thumbs rubbed nervously against each other. “Misty knowing that story means that perhaps there are still ponies out there who believe in her words, or at least ponies who don’t know better than that version of the story.”

“... That’s definitely preoccupying.” Hitch offered from his place, supervising Sparky’s efforts in completing the puzzle.

A puff of air left the human's nostrils. “Whatever. I’ll deal with her when I next see her and I’ll see if I can learn of anypony else who clings to that version. I don't think it might, but there's always a chance it drives ponies against our cause in the future.”

Sunny, the main promoter of the change that we were advocating for, was more than in an agreeable mood, the rest of us following close behind. I guessed it made sense how, when having three segregated communities of ponies living in isolation, some old-rooted notions and ideas can stick within a population. Parents to foals and all, not a reason to wonder or doubt. That could pose a problem for us in the future, and we would have to keep both ears open.

The chilling bite of the incoming night bit on our coats, prompting the ponies to seek refuge inside our shared home. Alex, Sunny, and Izzy left first, with the earth pony wanting to restart her work on her ‘autumn season pancakes’. Tonight was breakfast-for-dinner night, it sounded like. Pipp soon followed, claiming she wanted to get more progress done with her new line of fragrances to begin test-mixing tomorrow. A chance had it, Hitch and I were the ones who remained behind, the fatherly stallion playing with a very proud Sparky on his lap, the little dragon exalted after successfully having finished the puzzle.

I had promised myself I would deal with the storm of feelings twisting my heart in regard to that very same stallion once the issue with the lantern was solved, but my current mood just wasn't feeling the moment. Still, I reasoned it was as good a time as any other. If he was up to it, I would be the happiest mare alive. If not, well, it wasn't like I could dig myself further into the ground by that point…

With my mind made, I rose from my seat to reach the modest-sized garden bench they were sharing. Hitch welcomed me and invited me to share a seat beside him in his usual friendly manner.

“Hitch.” I began, nervously rubbing my fetlocks together once I had lowered myself on my rump. “Am I a bad pony?”

It didn't take him but a second to answer. “Of course not, Zipp. You just… lost yourself for a bit and went too far.” A guilty smirk grew on his lips. “I should know how that works after my dramatic number during the flora magic crisis.”

I chucked at the memory. That had been a crazy day if we ever had one.

“You just need to work on yourself a bit.” He continued. “We can’t blame you for your initiative or determination. Just… pull on the reins for a bit and listen to us once in a while?” Hitch finished with a friendly pat on my back.

A comfortable silence fell between us while I gathered the courage necessary to spit the dreaded question. Sparky for his part remained oblivious to our discussion, happy to gnaw around the longer fur of Hitch's fetlocks.

“Thank you, Hitch,” I spoke from the bottom of my heart and steadied myself. “Say… and this is purely hypothetical, by the way…”

“Shoot away.” He invited me, oblivious to my rising nerves.

“Um…” I hesitated for a moment, rational thought fighting a fearsome battle against my heart. In the end, a clear victor arose and took over my lips. “In the case that a certain princess should want to ask a certain town sheriff on a date…” I fought to squeak out, rubbing my forehooves so hard smoke was beginning to come out of the friction zone. “W-What would the sheriff’s hypothetical answer be?”

Instead of startled surprise or offense, a coy smirk saw his eyelids slyly falling over his eyes. “Oh my, I didn't know your sister thought of me like that...”

A rough punch to his side got him to stop messing around with me. After batting his forehooves in mock defense, he got the rest of his cackling out before responding.

“Okay okay. A very serious matter, clearly.” He joked with a final chuckle, clearing his throat afterward. The pressure in my chest threatened to burst out of it explosively. A long pause followed, bringing me to the edge of calling out loud for an answer when his verdict finally came.

“Well, this sheriff would, hypothetically, of course; be very willing to go out on a date with the beautiful princess before him.” He spoke softly, his words carrying as much love as the one making my heart pound widely against my chest. “Somewhere very expensive, he hopes, since his pathetic sheriff’s salary can’t afford more than a sad hayburger, unfortunately.”

As my human friend would’ve said:

‘FUCK YES!!!’

…

“Awwww, Ziiiiiipp…” The very annoying and uncalled sound of my sister's coo coming from the window directly above us completely obliterated the moment.

“PIPP!!!!”

Author's Note

Sorry in advance if this chapter has more typos than usual. Docs' kinda buggy and struggles to tell apart Spanish from English, and comes with some weird spelling mistakes. I might've missed some.

Chapter 33- Starstruck.

Act IV: Better

The promised day was upon us! After an entire month of restless waiting… well, give or take; the stellar, breathtaking, literally out-of-this-world event of the annual Mareseid Meteor Shower would grace our skies once again that very same night!

Well, it was more like a week-long event, but today marked the beginning of it and would be the day that the density of meteors flying head-first into a swift end against our upper atmosphere would be at its peak, meaning that the chances of catching waaaay more than a few shooting stars were more than assured for any curious ponies coming out during the twilight for the occasion.

That night, however, held different meanings for my pony friends and I. For starters, it was an annual ritual I used to partake in, both in its equivalent back on Earth and with my old pony family here in ponyland. Luna always went out of her way to give her subjects an unforgettable show every year since her return from her banishment, her magical influence over the heavens painting the eyes of ponies, and other creatures alike, in awe and wonder with uncountable streaks of sparkling light that drowned out the very stars that were the embodiment of her love for her kin.

Also, on an entirely different set of news, that night would be the night I would finally confess my feelings to Sunny after weeks of mulling, and planning, and then mulling some more on whether to act upon them or not. I’d had a previous talk with our self-proclaimed matchmaker, Pipp, and she’d assured me that Sunny was more than itching for me to pop out the question and finally say ‘Yes’, assuming she didn't end up taking matters into her own hooves. So, a potential refusal that night wasn’t my main concern, as I’m sure it tended to be for the rough majority of my male compatriots when the promised hour was nigh. I’m sure you can sympathize.

No, my concerns resided on other… more complicated matters. Faust, was that an understatement. They concerned myself and the mare of the night; matters that had plagued me ever since the butterflies had first started fluttering in my tummy for the first time and had chewed on my resolve these past months. There was important stuff that I wanted to address with her so we both could come clean and, whatever we ended up becoming after that night, we would both be one hundred percent sure and ready. I figured that it would save me a lot of pain and trouble, more so in my particular position within this new group of heroes.

It would be very complicated, and I’d try my hardest to explain myself to Sunny, even if by doing so I ended up pushing her away. She deserved to know, even if it was at the cost of my happiness… it’s not like we’d stop being friends… I hoped.

For my pony friends, however, that night was another first-time-with-actual-friends activity to partake in and add to their growing list. Out of the ponies’ muzzles themselves, watching the meteor shower was more of a Maretime Bay thing since the pegasi, while considerably higher over sea level, couldn't really get a nice view of the night sky with all the light pollution from their digital screens and all, which is not so different from your average human city or even modest town. This also meant that the countryside still was the best place to get the best view, including what little countryside they had up there in the highest of the peaks of the Zephyr Mountains. For the unicorns… well, living under a perpetual-leafed canopy doesn't really work in your favor if your goal is admiring the stars, so they’d had to leave for the meadows surrounding their forest if they wanted a chance to see such things for themselves.

It also meant they could skip the Falling of the Leaves since their forest was apparently perennial… for some reason.

I had to visit that forest. I’d rile up Izzy for a guided tour one day.

But for one pony amongst our little crowd, this day was truly special, for it was the anniversary of the day she got her cutie mark. A celebrated day for everypony, like a second birthday of sorts. For her, it was a special day for both her and her dad, with an incredible story behind it, a sweet story she promised would share with us that night under the stars. It involved her dad and a little filly’s dreams, so healthy doses of emotions were sure to be shared.

The mare in question was scurrying back and forth around the ground floor of our shared residence, making absolutely sure everything was well and truly ready for our late afternoon picnic before the light show. The scrumptious meal she had whipped up for us, with the help of one hoovsey Hitch, was ready to go and safely stored away for later. Her brand-new telescope was also prepared, tucked in safely in its protective casing, pending some calibrations I would tackle while we munched on some delicious treats. A couple of scarves and earmuffs had been provided for everypony, since twilight temperatures before the sea tended to drop quickly and drastically, even during the summer months, now more so as we approached the second half of the year, and nopony wanted to catch a cold to welcome the new season.

“Are you sure those will be enough?” A motherly Sunny asked for the umpteenth time, referring to my choice of clothing for the occasion. My new winter-themed wardrobe had arrived from Zephyr Heights to the displeasure of a certain unicorn mare who, at the sight of my new garments, had spent the entire day I’d collected them making sure I understood in no uncertain terms how she would’ve done a better job than those rags that stuck-up pegasus had tailored. After a healthy amount of senseless debate, we reached an agreement in which she’d agree to knit the woolen gloves I would wear for the first time that night, and for the rest of the winter in case I was thinking otherwise. They were specially designed to fit over my gauntlets, trinkets which might as well have become a second skin for me now.

But they were just so practical to allow me to wield magic, which… you know, was the whole point of them existing.

“I’ll be fine, Tangerine,” I answered with a reassuring scratch under her chin to ease her never-ending worries. While her eyes narrowing betrayed how she’d rather have me wear yet another layer above the three I was sporting, she relented and scampered off to check with the rest.

“You ready for tonight, Izz?” Twirling on my heels, I switched my attention to the unicorn resting beside me, working with her levitation on her new lavender-and-blue-patterned scarf to make sure it fit snugly against her neck. She strained her neck in my direction from where she was sitting on her haunches, and her eyes narrowed threateningly at the sight of my new coat and cargo pants.

Ears falling against her scalp, rump wiggling in anticipation, falcon eyes targeting the left flap of the coat hanging loose under my arm.

The signs were clear, but I wasn't fast enough.

Lunging forward like a hungry timberwolf, she nipped the loose flap and made for a swift escape before I could bat her away.

“Tsk, you little…”

But she was already well away from my reach by then, giggling wickedly while scampering off in search of a safe haven, which came in the form of our resident pegasus popstar, who was busy checking herself on the front camera of her phone when Izzy bolted behind her.

“Auch! Izzy! You're gonna ruin my mane!” Pipp protested after being slightly shoved forward by the fleeing unicorn, who peered over the pegasus’ wings with narrowed eyes, an unspoken dare sent in my direction.

“Oh, I'll get you…” With a predatory leer of my own, I accepted her challenge. I’d get that mare, sooner or later…

“You comfy, Sparky?” Hitch, himself busy with tending to his baby dragon, had dressed the little reptile with his own set of winter clothing, summing up to an adorable beanie hat wide enough to cover his little ears and horns, and a pair of baby-dragon-sized mittens for his claws. Sparky, after testing his new garments, gave an adorable gurgle of approval to his dragon dad. With a fatherly smile, Hitch gently took him in his grasp and placed him in his preferred place on his back, ready for an exciting night out in the countryside. Well, as much as you can call the cliff’s edge in front of our home ‘countryside’.

We were only missing one pony, our alabaster pegasus with her short, spiky mane underneath her own winter hat, wearing a pair of earmuffs as well as a red-and-white patterned scarf. She idly stood on the sidelines while the rest of us finished our preparations. Every now and then, our eyes would meet, only for hers to quickly retreat into another part of the room.

This last week had been… weird between us. On the good side, in an unexpected move… for those blind enough to not having seen her and Hitch making goo-goo eyes at each other for a while now, she’d pony-ed up and asked Hitch on a date to the deep surprise of the stallion. Of course, being a smart guy and all, he’d taken the mare’s advances in earnest.

Those two having the hots for each other had been painfully obvious since the Discord incident, especially after their little two-pony adventure chasing Cloudpuff through the inhabited territories between Maretime Bay and the pegasus city while I was away checking Ponyville’s ruins.

And it had been that very same location, that secluded paradise where they had found the mischievous dog, that had been chosen as the place for an impromptu date slash private picnic between them. It had gone splendidly, by the sheriff's own words he’d shared with me during our ‘post-game evaluation’ over some beers. I can only guess what happened there, but they were officially a couple now. A funny coincidence, since hopefully, the number of couples would be doubled by the end of today if Sunny accepted my advances, Faust be with me.

However, for as exhilarated as the pegasus had been in light of finding her new soulmate, things between us had gone… a bit stale for lack of a better term.

You see, I had been very angry with her after her unfortunate behavior with Misty, and especially after all the numbers she’d pulled in search of Sunny's missing lantern. I’d warned her once, and then twice. And still, she acted as reckless and impulsive as the last time when she’d put both her life and her sister’s life in danger, this time costing us a new friend for a stupid misunderstanding between her and the other princess.

This time, however, I remained mostly silent on the sidelines as the affected ponies took the reins of the scolding, and the repentant pegasus practically begged for forgiveness. Both of them, actually. Of course, ponies being ponies, everything turned to a healthy session of apologies and hugs and reassuring words, but my disappointment in her had cut the white pegasus deeply, and for the better part of the week had kept her distance from me without sharing more than a few words at most.

Things had cooled between us, and that was far from what I wanted. But, she was a grown mare, old enough to make her own choices and deal with the consequences of those choices. If she wanted to cool the waters between us, I was more than willing to cooperate, but it wasn't my call to make. Also, she had been busy enough fawning over her new coltfriend to much care for anything else. While her royalty-induced social shyness had kept her from showing much physical affection in public, the moment they were between friends or alone she was head over hooves for him. And him over her, who am I trying to fool? Very adorable. They were good for each other, and for keeping each other out of trouble.

I had other things to keep me preoccupied on my side of things. Whatever short interactions we’d had over the last week remained mostly professional where both our research on the Unity Crystals and the Prisbeam energy was concerned. She had taken on her hooves the task of finding out why Sunny's lantern held only a fraction of the power emanating from the main crystals.

On my front, I had practically exhausted any possible approaches in my efforts to discern the true nature behind their initial purpose regarding the pony tribes. Something more complex lay hidden underneath, mirroring the complexity of the Megaspell that I was ninety percent convinced powered them. Charged with stolen alicorn magic, chaos magic, and whatever else that made them work, they had remained steady and quiet for the better part of the tail end of the summer. Good news without a doubt, but their identity continued to elude me. Nothing on Argyle's notes had shone any light on my search, nor would Twilight's message be of further use if we couldn't manage to re-summon it with the missing parts intact.

But don't believe for a second that the absence of progress on that front meant that I’d spent the days with my hands tucked into my pockets. No, my list of pending things to investigate was already painfully long enough for me to be lazing around like a thestral in the early hours of the morning. Sunny's alicorn training, supervising Sparky’s upbringing, digging for any clues about the other creatures’ fates during the time after I’d entered into stasis, keeping an eye out for the incoming darkness Harmony had warned me about...

And, you know, my actual job in the clinical lab… Oh, and I’d have to add dealing with my new marefriend if things went accordingly, fingers crossed.

“Okay, ponies!” The target of my thoughts called from the middle of the hall, her own unicycled earmuffs, courtesy of her bestie, ready to keep the biting chill of the night away. I was tasked with carrying the telescope while she carried the bags of treats. The rest of the stuff necessary was spread between the rest, everything meticulously prepared to make this night one to remember. “Everything ready?”

A chorus of nods and cheers filled the spacious room of the brighthouse, eager ponies itching to get a start on our tragically short trek to the grassy clearing at the edge of the cliff. I estimated around twenty or thirty steps was what it would take us to reach our desired destination, so we needed considerably more time to set up everything compared to the time of actually getting there. Well away from the trees bordering our shared residence, the picnic tablecloth was spread over the greenery, plenty of snacks and drinks finding their way over to it for us to munch on. Six mats and a couple of blankets for our comfort during the darkened hours were also provided; that day’s weather forecast had predicted cold breezes from the building autumn storms, yet nature would grant us a clear night to enjoy the celestial show. I couldn't help but laugh at the irony; ponies predicting weather instead of fabricating it. And what do you know? The world kept turning without their intervention…

Actually, no, their world doesn't spin, hence the need for the manual raising and lowering of the celestial bodies, but you know what I mean.

Pipp was flapping around the place, phone in hoof and live streaming for the thousands of Pippsqueaks tuning in for that night’s special broadcast, where she urged her fans to share with us the experience of watching a gorgeous meteor shower from wherever they could find a good spot. Hitch, assisted by his little dragon, joined forces with Zipp and Izzy to ready the food as well as settle the rest of the stuff accordingly.

Sunny and I, for our part, excused ourselves from the group to assemble her new telescope, which hopefully would grant us a better view of the night’s sky as well as record video of the meteor shower and send it to my laptop, high-end technology and all. I could practically see Twilight fuming in celestial jealousy, for the apparatus being assembled in my hands was considerably more advanced than the one she owned in her castle.

Actually, a better description of the situation would be me clumsily assembling the telescope while Sunny clung to me in a never-ending hug for having gifted her such a wonderful (and expensive) gift. Buy the girl you like expensive stuff to get to her heart. That might as well be the oldest, lowest trick in the book, but I can personally attest at its effectiveness considering I’d already lost count of the ‘thank yous’ and nuzzles that had come from her muzzle this evening.

“You’re very welcome, Tangerine,” I repeated what was looking forward to becoming my mantra for that night, rubbing my nose lovingly against her snout once again to demonstrate I appreciated her gratitude.

But she wouldn't let go of me. I guessed I wouldn't actually need the new winter coat to fight off the cold that night after all.

The plan was to eat sparingly so our supplies would last for the rest of the night while the calibrations were underway, and then wait for the sun to disappear behind the Zephyr Range as the moon shyly showed her face above the far-off waves. Once the stars had begun decorating the night sky, we could point the telescope to the desired quadrant of the sky and configure everything using the program it would synchronize with.

“Ooookay, all settled on my side!” Izzy chirped, having finished arranging the mats and blankets around the picnic cloth so as to not wet our behinds with the humid grass. “How about you two lovebirds?” She teased with a knowing smirk and a playful pitch, which soon lit a blush on Zipp’s cheeks and ears while Hitch chuckled embarrassingly.

“Dinner’s served, ponies!” The sheriff called after shaking the shyness away, having concluded spreading the succulent arrange of sandwiches, chips, light salads, and an unhealthy amount of sweets over the square-patterned picnic cloth. The aroma of delicious snacks already filled the area, even against the rolling breeze blowing from the sea that ruffled the ponies’ manes and my slightly long hair. Time for another visit to Mane Melody soon, I mused to myself. Zipp mumbled her own completion of the distribution of drinks and paper cups, remaining close to her coltfriend while sending her sister nasty leers every time she heard the petite pegasus’ camera taking another picture of the new couple.

“Pipp!” She warned her sister after one too many photos were taken. “No! Pictures!”

“But Ziiiiipp…” Pipp moaned, her puffy wings sagging a bit as she landed back on the grassy hill. “Mom said she wanted to see plenty of evidence of you two!”

“I think she has plenty of evidence by now, sis.” Zipp scoffed while crossing her forelegs over her chest. “It’s already a miracle she gave us her blessing so easily.” She mumbled to herself, only to earn a bothered ‘Ahem’ from the stallion cuddling against her, making her ears go flat and the color drain from her face… what little color her white fur possessed, anyway. “N-N-No!” Her right wing spread in anguish, the other one trapped against the stallion's body. “I-I didn't mean it like that!”

But the damage was already done. Sticking his muzzle high in the air, Hitch’s scrunched-up features and dignified demeanor elicited an amused giggle from their adoring public. “No no, I see how it is.” He leaned away from the pegasus while she tried to keep him in place. “Foolish of me to think I could ever hope to fall in love with a princess.” His tone dripped cold resignation and anguish, but the barely disguised smirk betrayed his joking spirits.

“Hiiiiiitch…” Zipp whined after the dejected sigh leaving the stallion’s muzzle, his defeated features slowly crumbling into a crooked grin as the pegasus practically climbed atop him to force his eyes to meet hers.

But, she’d had already fallen into his trap. Taking advantage of their new arrangements, Hitch snuck his forelegs behind the mare and, using their combined weights, dragged both of them into the grassy mattress, a startled yelp coming from Zipp as she felt her balance giving way.

Flopping over Hitch’s belly, it took her a couple of owlish blinks to realize where she had ended up. The stallion himself grinned smugly at the mare atop him, sneaking a kiss on her muzzle which finished waking her up from her short stupor.

“Oh my gosh, you… you…” Zipp, realizing she had been totally played, voiced her frustrations with a deep groan against Hitch’s chest fluff, with him once again surrounding his special somepony and pulling her closer against him, earning a dual ‘aaaaw’ from Pipp and Izzy who were enjoying the show with their heads cutely resting on their forehooves.

Sunny and I, having momentarily lost our focus on the telescope in favor of the ruckus from the newfound couple, also witnessed the tender moment between the pair. I felt her embrace tighten a bit at the image of our two friends-now-lovers sharing a warm moment, no doubt feelings of longing and the slightest tinge of jealousy arising amongst her scrambled thoughts. My heart went out to her. With any luck, it would only be a short while until I would pop the question and grant her her some much-needed rest from the brain-busting session I was sure she was going through if my previous experiences were of any indication.

“Okay, Sunny,” I addressed the clingy mare once all the pieces were in place and the computer had finished synchronizing. “Just a few touches left and it’ll be ready. Go ahead and join the rest while I finish here. I’ll be just a minute.” I asked, lightly pushing downwards on her clenching limbs to ease her down back into four.

With visible reluctance, Sunny conceded with a displeased groan, which I swiftly erased with another set of warm rubs to her scalp. The rising smell of home-cooked treats then drove the nail all the way in and, with a last nuzzle of gratitude, she parted my side to join up with the rest of our group of friends who didn't waste a second to begin digging into their promised meal.

I watched her go, my gaze falling from her gorgeous smile to her generous flanks as she trotted over the picnic cloth, because that's as far as a guy's intelligence goes with a striking mare in front of him. At least now I had a bit more space to maneuver. Biting my lower lip and shaking my head, I sat back and faced the computer resting over the plastic folding table, brought out from the brighthouse’s cellar, lest loose blades of grass or soil jam its fans; once I was comfortable, I set up the bot program that would allow us to control, observe, and record anything the naked eye couldn't catch through the telescope’s sight.

While I lost myself wandering around the foreign interface, I allowed my thoughts to drift into tonight's show, more particularly the alicorn mare in charge of making sure any and all matters concerning the night were dealt with swiftly and satisfactorily, meteor showers included. As the animated chattering from my new pony family was slowly drowned by the memories swirling into my mind, the image of the beautiful Alicorn of the Night made itself present in my inner vision. My relationship with Luna had been special. Well, perhaps ‘special’ was not the best term to describe it. My relationships with all the ponies and other creatures I’d had the pleasure of meeting were all special in their own ways. ‘Particular’ would be a better word for it, since the very first moment she and her sister had visited me in Twilight’s castle in response to the early warning that said alicorn had sent to her mentors, she had shown a keen interest in me.

I never truly learned why, but the amount of interest she and her sister showed in regard to my sudden and accidental presence in their kingdom had been both welcomed and a matter of concern during my early days. That mare and her particular way of dragging herself around struck me as utterly imposing during our first meeting, although that sentiment was quickly replaced when I learned about the mare behind the crown. Oh, how she craved the stories and facts about what humans had unveiled about the universe since that particular topic had been one that I’d taken a personal interest in since I was very little and, true to the title I would one day embrace, I possessed a fair amount of knowledge to share with her during the nights she would visit me, or when I would visit her to hang out and enjoy the stars. Under her strong facade and cold determination, a very, very lonely mare lived in the ever-present shadow of her oldest sister, no matter how much effort Celestia put into avoiding the issue that had brought their separation all those centuries ago with the ponies of this age.

Ponies don’t like change; they thrive in complacency and routine. Right after the Elements had purged her of the Nightmare, Celestia had issued an announcement to both re-introduce her sister to her ponies and outright crowned her co-ruler without accepting any protest from the High Council, or anypony else, for that matter. Not that she would’ve needed it, for they had accepted her return and position as ruler alongside her without complaint anyway. But when it came to things that mattered, their involvement with the new princess wouldn't reach much further than straight business and mandatory deference, making her position as diarch feel cold and irrelevant. Her words, not mine. Celestia had more than once personally thanked me for my openness and willingness to involve her sister in my personal life and share a healthy friendship with her. Luna would’ve never admitted it, but Celestia made sure to let me know how much her sister truly appreciated what I was doing for her. And what can I say? I liked being around her. It's not like I was doing it out of pity; I could only lament the fact of how, aside from the thestrals who, in light of the Mistress of the Night’s return, had finally concluded their self-imposed isolation in Hollow Shades, almost nopony would willingly share a bond with the Princess of the Dusk as they did with the Princess of the Dawn.

The few times I had taken a moment to marvel at the night sky since my awakening had revealed its striking beauty unchallenged, yet the marvelous canvas of countless constellations remained static, for nopony was there to rearrange it to the delight of the few of us who truly appreciated its marvel. The two royal sisters hadn't been on my mind much since my coming out of stasis, far from the amount of time I’d spent thinking about my old pony family. But that didn't mean I didn't miss them as much, for beyond the immense help they’d turned out to be during my initial integration, I considered them family as much as the rest of the Bearers, a sentiment which was only reinforced the moment I was officially adopted into the royal family… so to speak.

‘Perhaps the ponies of this age wouldn't have been judgemental scaredy-cats, Luna. Time has erased all of our pasts, it seems… Or at least the bits that matter most…’

With a silent prayer for her wellbeing wherever her soul rested now, I finished with my last-minute preparations and left the laptop behind in standby mode for later use, hurrying up to join with the rest before their pony-sized stomachs had devoured all the treats. I made a silent promise to share with them as much of her and her night as I could faithfully recall. And what better moment to do it than during one of the most spectacular events of the year, night-sky wise!

“Think fast.” Zipp’s sudden warning almost caught me by surprise, my left hand quickly darting out of the cozy protection of my coat pocket to catch the wrapped vegan burrito the pegasus had thrown into my direction before a certain purple, hungry muzzle could snatch it away.

“Awww…” Izzy, having eyed the burrito beforehand and biding her time, lamented missing her prey as I began unwrapping it to my immense enjoyment.

“Thanks, Zipp.” I thanked the alabaster mare as I plopped my behind beside Sunny, with Izzy soon scooting closer to fill my other free side with a pouty lip. “And what are you whining about? You’ve surely already had five of these, at least.” I playfully nudged away the surprisingly still-hungry unicorn nosing my treat without an ounce of shame.

“Six, actually.” Pipp added from her place at the other side of the picnic display, earning a glare from the aforementioned unicorn which she promptly ignored while checking in once again with her online fans.

“Be sure to hurry up, my darling Pippsqueaks, only a few hours ‘till the show!!” She communicated to the several thousand ponies who, with any luck, would share with us a night to remember.

A couple of minutes went by while we munched on our early dinner, falling into friendly chit-chat. The ponies were eager to leave the summer behind and welcome the autumn season. This was officially Harvest Season for the earth ponies, although with their new magic any season was now a harvest season, but the spirit and traditions still remained. Bridlewood Forest, while possessing evergreen leaves that lasted all year round, would see its colors change from gentle green and purplish hues to rusty reds and browns, according to an experienced Izzy. The pegasi would have to watch out for the coming rains and following snows, and Zipp’s memory recalled some nasty cloud formations rolling in from the sea and getting stuck around the tall peaks of the Zephyr Range. New restrictions and guidelines were inbound according to the pegasus princess, who was the first to be consulted since her flying prowess surpassed that of most pegasi. Depending on how bad the weather rolled out, the sisters would end up spending the holidays in one place or the other.

But those plans were still months away from completion, what concerned us at the moment was the light show we were only scarce hours away from witnessing.

“So,” Zipp, finishing chewing the last of her burrito, swallowing loudly and ruffling her wings a bit against Hitch, whom she was comfortably laying against. “You think that tonight’s gonna be as breathtaking as you guys claim it will be?” She addressed Sunny and I, the only two who’d truly had the pleasure of experiencing it to its fullest.

“Well… I certainly believe it will be.” I answered the pegasus, inwardly relieved at the lack of awkwardness in her voice. The presence of our friends worked wonders to smooth the bad vibes between us, which I welcomed in earnest. “But, Luna was in charge of these things back then. It's been a long while since, and she’s not around anymore to supervise...” I informed her, not masking the sadness that permeated the last few words.

“What do you mean ‘in charge’?”

Hitch’s inquiry caught me a bit off guard. Once again, another thing I had more than internalized during my years in Equestria against these ponies’ lack of knowledge from the past. “Uh, you know who Princess Luna is… was, right?” A chorus of affirmative nods followed, but the connection failed to click in the ponies. “Soooo…” A couple emphasized hand gestures later, and their eyes widened in surprise.

“Wait,” Zipp interjected, giving voice to the ponies’ surprise. “You’re saying she actually controlled the night sky?!”

“Of course,” I answered with a snort. “She was Luna Duskbringer, the Alicorn of the Night. The stars and other nearby celestial bodies were hers to arrange and toy with as she saw fit.”

Five pony muzzles hung loose in deep shock. Their knowledge about the past, while considerably more complete and reliable since I had arrived at their doorstep, still suffered from serious gaps which I would have to fill little by little.

I held their flummoxed visages for a couple more seconds before breaking into cackles, which only worked to confuse them further.

“Nah, it wasn’t like that.” I clarified once I had regained my breath. “She was VERY powerful, don’t get me wrong, but those stars you see up there are many, many light years away, anywhere from a few thousand to maybe millions. She used a few tricks to make it seem like she could control them, but her influence on the heaves reached as far as her moon and anything in between, just like her sister with the sun.”

Sunny, eyes sparkling in curiosity, had to secure herself with her forehooves on my crossed legs to prevent herself from falling flat on her snout. “Woah…” She mumbled in unrestrained wonder.

“A light year?” Pipp’s muzzle scrunched at the foreign term.

“Mhm, another human measuring unit I introduced from my world during the globalization effort.” I reveled with my proudest tone. “You know, like the metric system you guys now use.”

“Metric? But that's how we’ve always measured things!” Zipp exclaimed in disbelief.

“‘Course you have.” I jabbed with my smuggest grin, eliciting yet another tired groan from the princess. “Ponies used to measure distances in hooves, Griffons in tail-lengths, Abbasynians in ‘pounces’, Dragons in wing-flaps, and so on and on and on… You get the idea.”

“You proposed some common ground, I guess?”

“You got it, bud.” I winked at Hitch, who smiled in self-pride. “No species wanted to give in and accept the other races’ system as their own, so I offered my own, which, unsurprisingly, happened to be waaaahehey more practical compared to the rest.” An evil smirk grew on my lips. “And I never understood imperial units, so the Americans can suck it and weep.”

Of course, nopony understood my jab, but I was content with celebrating my small victory with myself.

“The Pippsqueaks are asking how much a… light year is,” Pipp asked after extracting her eyes from the digital screen of her phone.

“Uuuuh… wow, um… give me a second… my British friend could probably tell you in a hoofbeat,” I stalled as the petite pegasus stared at me for an answer while I dug into the dusty memories of my college days, snapping my fingers as the rusty gears slowly came to life. “Mmmm… I thiiiiiink… it’s around nine-and-a-half billion kilometers or so? European billions. The distance a beam of light travels through an absolute vacuum in the span of a year. It’s sort of like a speed limit of the universe; nothing can travel faster than that.”

I chuckled at their renewed, dumbstruck faces. They were so adorable when they were hit with some crazy knowledge. And no one better than your friendly neighborhood Prince of Knowledge to provide.

Yeah, Twilight had that face too when we had a similar talk.

“Or the distance covering Izzy’s flanks, take your pick.” I offered an alternative, teasing the mare lying on her side at my left, mischievously patting her rump twice.

Oh, amused she was NOT. Several protection wards were required to keep her sharp teeth from my tender flesh.

“Come ooooon, Izzy, it was a compliment!” I tried to soothe the fuming mare while dexterously aiming my summoned arm-shield where she would nip next.

“A light year’s where I’m gonna send you with a good buck!” She growled threateningly while the rest of the gang witnessed yet another of our regular scuffles with a crooked grin.

A few failed attempts later, I allowed her to get a nice grip on my coat’s sleeve, biting on it like a rabid dog. Dragging her along with my trapped arm, Izzy lost her hoofing and fell on her back in my lap, anger giving way to confusion in her innocent eyes while her hold on my sleeve didn't lessen in the slightest.

I knew exactly what to say to appease her. “You know? Back in the day, Luna would position her moon at the exact angle needed to summon a HUGE moonbow from the waterfall falling from Canterlot’s side. When it was still on top of the mountain, of course.” I revealed while scratching the chest fluff between her cutely folded forelegs with my free hand.

“She did?!” Izzy blurted out after spitting out my trapped sleeve from her maw.

“Mhm. It stretched high enough for the ponies of Canterlot to get front-row seats. And a keen eye could discern it all the way from Ponyville if you looked close enough.” I added as my hand lowered to rub the silky fur over her belly, earning a pleasured coo that finished ebbing her anger away. “It was one of the little things she did for her ponies, even if most wouldn't appreciate it as they should've…” A tiny smile stretched on my features as my mind filled once again with tender memories of the alicorn.

“You knew her well, right?” Sunny spoke from my other side, lifting my attention from the unicorn on my lap to her inquisitive visage. “I know you had close ties with the royalty…”

She wasn't carrying her trusty notebook this time, but that didn't prevent her from squeezing more information about the lost past. Playfully booping her snout, I was more than happy to talk about one of my closest friends.

“Of course we were!” I proudly proclaimed as Sunny rubbed her itchy nose. “We weirdos make great friends, am I right, or am I right?” I addressed the group, which answered with hesitant approvals. But that’s what we were, a bunch of weirdos going against everything ponies knew and changing the world while we were at it.

“You need to understand she had spent the last thousand years trapped in her own moon. After her return and re-coronation, she was absolutely out of the loop with her ponies and Equestria as a whole. And old tales and beliefs still clung with the ponies even after her return and Celestia's reassurance. They struggled to differentiate the Nightmare from the alicorn.”

Sympathetic frowns curved the ponies' brows. “Poor Luna…” Pipp mumbled in sympathy, remembering the short conversation I had shared with them about that exact same matter during our escape to the nearby woods a month or so ago.

“Yeah, those were a couple of rough years for her.” I agreed with the youngest princess. “Buuuut, I came around, as much out of the loop and a weirdo as she was. We both had a lot to learn from Equestria, and in the shared, half-disguised rejection from the ponyfolk we found a kindred soul in each other.” I explained with fondness.

“Ponies were mean to you?!” The unicorn in my lap voiced in disbelief

“Only in the beginning, Izzy. I looked strange, acted strange… some ponies are more tolerant than others.”

“Colt, do we know that…” Hitch mumbled, recalling the days of fear and mistrust between the three tribes.

“The exact same thing. But I came with a clean slate if you wanna see it like that. Luna had centuries of old mare’s tales and dark legends on her back, not to mention the thestrals who suddenly left their secluded home in Hollow Shades to proclaim themselves in their servitude of the Mistress of the Night, as their ancestors had done in times long past. Those guys also creep out your average pony more often than not, so it didn't exactly work wonders for Luna’s image. Very messy affair, I tell you, but we had a lot of fun hanging around when royal business wasn’t in the way, and I shared as much knowledge from the human night sky as she did of hers.”

I lightly jabbed Sunny’s side with my elbow. “She would've liked you a lot.”

“S-She would’ve?” Sunny, caught unprepared by the sudden comment, slightly blushing while stammering in disbelief.

“Didn't you say you’d spend entire nights watching the stars from the top of the old lighthouse?”

“Actually,” Hitch interceded. “She got her cutie mark during this meteor shower, right Sunny?”

“U-Um,” An unusual shyness fell upon our earth pony friend. “I-I did.”

“Hm, well that’s a story I didn't know.” I surrounded the mare in a reassuring side hug. “Mind sharing it with me?” I requested while running my fingers on her back.

My touch quickly broke through her nervousness and, now visibly calmer, agreed to my request with a bright nod.

“Well, it’s not really that much of a story…”

“Don’t sell yourself short, Sunny girl!” Pipp encouraged our friend. “I, for one, find it very inspiring!”

“Thank you, Pipp.” Sunny returned a thankful smile at the pegasus' cheer. Clearing her throat, she began. “As Hitch said, I got my cutie mark during the Mareseid Meteor Shower. I was only seven years old, and I had gone through really a bad day.” Her ears drooped a little after that. “My dad had recently returned from one of his expeditions, and me being… well, me, I begged him to tell me everything he’d found on his journey. And neither could I wait to tell the rest of my classmates all about my cool dad and his adventures, but…”

As her posture sagged further, her words trailed into nothingness, spurring Hitch to fill in the gaps. “The foals were mean to her, calling her a freak for believing her dad’s stories and discoveries from the past.” He recalled with an ashamed scowl. “And those foals’ parents weren't any better.”

“Hitch was virtually my only true friend back then, but that day I was truly feeling in shambles and I wanted to be alone.” Sunny picked up the thread of the story, sending a thankful nod in Hitch’s direction. “But my dad wasn't gonna let his little filly mope around the place like that. Especially not during such a special occasion.”

Her sight raised from her forehooves to the picnic display before them, and the ponies seated around listened attentively. A tiny chuckle escaped her lips. “Heh, he actually thought of the same idea we have here. He prepared some food, cut the living room’s tablecloth in half, and grabbed the telescope for a late picnic at our favorite clearing in the forest to watch the meteor shower from there, instead of our usual place on the lighthouse’s balcony. Far from the mean ponies and their mean words. Just the two of us, like it tended to be most of the time for us.”

Sunny wetted her lips before continuing, shuffling her forehooves a bit while I felt her tail curl around my lower back. “I… I’m not really sure why I got this cutie mark.” Her eyes fell to her flank where the depiction of a colorful shooting star glowed faintly against the setting sun. That was what Zipp was referring to during Izzy’s struggle with the Tower of Friendship.

Never had I seen a cutie mark glowing in such fashion. The how or why remained a mystery for both of us, but the ponies already treated it as a regular occurrence.

“Huh?” Pipp wondered with a dip of her head.

“I mean, it’s not a smoothie cup, or even a lemonade glass, which was what I started my business with when I was a filly.” She shrugged her shoulders as her eyes found mine. “The only thing I remember is watching the shooting stars over Orion when my dad called for my attention and pointed at my flanks with the proudest smile I’ve ever seen him with.” Another fond chuckle filled my ears and warmed my heart. “I was so transfixed watching the shooting stars and sending out so many wishes to them that I hadn't realized I’d gained my very own cutie mark in… stargazing, I guess? I don’t know what to tell you. It doesn't bother me anymore, but I never truly understood its meaning…”

As she finished her story, the last of the afternoon rays had disappeared behind the mountains, giving way to the moon that slowly but surely began to show her face beyond the purplish horizon. The show would begin any moment now, but we’d had to wait until a bit later in the evening to see it with our own eyes.

But the telescope would surely catch the first shooting stars before the big burst, and I didn't want to miss a chance to test it in all possible conditions; so, tapping Izzy’s belly to ask her to free my lap, I stood up and, with a shake of my limbs, walked over the laptop resting beside the telescope to boot things up and begin recording.

While I was set with the task, I attempted to cast some light on Sunny’s confusion. “Cutie marks are complicated stuff, Sunny. I’m not particularly keen on them if I’m being honest.”

I saw through the corner of my eye Zipp’s posture straighten up while leaning against her coltfriend, no doubt recalling the little chat I’d had with her after the cutie-mark-switch accident of the other week.

My fingers run through the computer keys with practiced ease, booting up the program and firing the link between the laptop and the telescope. Soon, the live image of its lenses pointing to the Orion quadrant filled the screen. A few filters and polarizers needed to be applied, but soon, the image changed to one resembling the night sky, only duller and blurry as the remaining rays of sunlight still hammered on its sensitive lenses.

Clicking on the record button, I let the program catch a short video to test how well it could filter out the sunlight’s interference. Curiosity got the better of me, and I had paid a ridiculous amount of money for that piece of overpriced junk. It better work as flawlessly as they had advertised it.

“You wanna know what I think about your cutie mark?” I offered while returning to my previous place amongst the ponies. But instead of planting my rear between the two mares, I kneeled before Sunny, taking her hooves into my hands while my most reassuring smile fought to chase her doubts away. “I think there’s no better way to represent a filly whose only wish was for things to be better and for ponies to become friends again.” I squeezed her fetlocks between my fingers as a rosy taint spread from her cheeks all the way to her ears. “A filly who didn't stay on her rump waiting for the stars to grant her wish, but instead took the matter in her own hooves and gave her all to help ponies all around, fighting to show them the truth her dad was uncovering, and the wonders that would follow if ponies would only join together once again.”

I released her left hoof and brought the right one over my heart with both hands. “A filly who turned into a star herself, and accomplished what the best of the best Equestria had to offer failed to do... I think that's meaningful enough.” I finished with a proud wink.

Poor Sunny was simply overwhelmed with emotion, her free hoof raising to her muzzle to suppress the half-sobbing-half-laughing that threatened to spill from it as tears spilled from her gorgeous eyes. It stayed there for barely a moment before the mare couldn’t take it any longer and sprung on her rear legs, launching herself at me, enveloping me in the biggest, warmest hug her smaller frame could muster.

I embraced Sunny as she sailed into my arms, pressing her tight as her mixture of choked sobs and blissful laughs warmed my neck where she had buried her muzzle, her body shivering slightly, overwhelmed by my kind words which seemed to have triggered something deep inside her. But it was all I could say about her, nothing but words of encouragement and gratitude, for she was the promoter of change where all of us had failed.

Resting my chin atop her head, I squeezed the trembling mare against me, running my thumbs through the peach fuzz behind her ears. From between them, I caught a glimpse of the new couple of the group, with Zipp having assumed a similar position as she snuggled against Hitch, sending a playful wink and a voiceless ‘Nice work’ while she nuzzled the stallion's chin.

I gave her the finger, which completely flew over their heads, and held Sunny until the wave of emotions had run its course.

“So inspiring…” I heard Pipp mutter as she dried her own set of tears, the passionate mare suffering from the aftereffects of our tender moment. The sound of hooves against grass revealed Izzy having gotten up from her place and trotted behind me, plopping on her rump at our side and hugging both me and her best friend as the proudest smile adorned her muzzle, all for the mare who had brought them all together and changed the minds of thousands of ponies.

Poor Sunny needed a few minutes to recompose herself, rewarding me with another tender peck on my cheek for my kind words which I promptly teased her about to the merriment of our friends. It wouldn’t be long for the show to begin, the moon having already reached its proper place in the firmament, with only the slightest hues of orange and purple painting the darkening silhouette of the Zephyr Range. The highest density of meteors should happen between nine o’clock and midnight, after which only a scarce few stragglers would hurry to reach their sisters as everypony tucked in for the night. At least that’s how it was when Luna was in charge. I assumed their orbit around the ridiculously small solar system of Equus hadn't been altered in these few centuries.

Seeing as how we were literally meters away from the brighthouse, we took the chance to clean up the remains of our meal and bring back the trash and cutlery as well as rearrange the mats in a line to get a stunning few of the horizon and the tranquil sea shimmering with the twinkling of a million stars. Hitch, the faithful dragon dad as always, took the chance to carry a drowsy Sparky on his back who, after having stuffed himself with as much food as his little claws could snatch, was more than ready to hit the hay.

Once we had taken care of the remains of the picnic, and the little dragon had been delivered to the spare cradle in the girl's bedroom, we waited patiently for the first streaks of whitish light to pierce the heavens, positioning ourselves near the telescope, the expensive device ready and recording the night sky after a quick command. Pipp was finishing rallying her fans for the special live stream in which I would share the video the telescope caught as it recorded it on my account. The rest of the gang arranged themselves along the cliff’s line, close to each other to fight against the bite of the freezing sea breeze blowing from the east.

While we waited, I shared a couple more stories about my adventures in Ancient Equestria, like my first visit to Griffonstone, the time when the Elements and the Pillars rescued Stygian, the crazy days at the Friendship School… the ponies drank in my words as a bunch of excited foals listening to a wandering storyteller from lands beyond. I had a lot to share, and in their eyes, I glimpsed a flash of recognition when some of my experiences struck home to the ones this new group of ponies had begun experiencing for themselves. While my fight was against history repeating itself, some things would never change, especially when ponies were involved.

“... so you need to understand, the layout was constantly changing! Even Thorax was struggling to m-” As I was retelling our impromptu rescue operation at the changeling hive, a streak of light sped through the corner of my eye. Casting my gaze upwards, I saw the first shooting stars the naked eye could catch burning in the atmosphere. “My, would you look at that…”

It began slowly. First, a single streak cut through Orion’s belt, then five, then ten. And then, right on time, my pony friends' eyes filled with a thousand streaks of light, swallowing the very glow of the distant stars, raining from the heavens into the far horizon beyond the moon. A spectacle no meteor shower from Earth could compare to, for this one had been meticulously crafted by the Mistress of the Night herself. And even after hundreds of years of being left unchecked, it still was as breathtaking as ever.

Once the collection of stunned ‘wows’ and coos of wonder had passed, the ponies left their comfy resting places to stand as close to the cliff’s edge as it was safe to do, Sunny breaking away from the group and scampering on to take the reins of the telescope and get an unparalleled view of the night sky. The rest stood in a line, sides brushing against each other to preserve as much warmth as they could while their muzzles pointed high to the heavens.

I followed them, placing myself behind them so as to not block their view and simply enjoyed the moment, filling my vision with the shimmer of uncountable shooting stars finishing their long journey through space by crashing into our planet's upper layers, their last act providing an unchallenged spectacle for the ones living inside it.

“I gotta admit, I don’t quite remember it being this huge...” I heard Zipp mumble as her eyes remained fixed on the trail of meteors. Her sister, for her part, pointed her phone upwards and tapped the screen for the autofocus to kick in, in a vain attempt to catch anything with her phone.

‘Sorry, Pipp, but if the Pippsqueaks want a show, they'll have to come to MY channel.’

Inwardly giggling maliciously, I quickly checked with the live stream from my account, the images coming neatly from the telescope straight into the web. A striking number of thirty-five thousand ponies were hooked into it, all of them chatting excitedly while many shared their points of view with videos and photos of their own.

“With all those huge screens you’ve got everywhere, I don’t doubt that the light pollution from them would've swallowed everything.” I reasoned, earning a distracted hum of confirmation from the alabaster pegasus, her right wing draped over her coltfriend's back as the two shared a warm moment under the stars.

Happy with the success of my little plan, I stored the phone back in my coat’s pocket and returned my attention to the heavens, smiling at the thought of the very same Princess of the Night watching us from beyond, smiling in return at my attempt to rekindle the ponies’ wonder for the night sky.

“This is amazing!!” A thrilled Sunny exclaimed as she unstuck her eye from the eyepiece. “You’ve gotta see it, guys!!” she invited us, taking a step back and offering the telescope to us for a better view.

Izzy, spurred on by her friend's invitation, quickly snatched the first place in line, almost tripping over the device as she latched onto the eyepiece. Pipp asked to be next, her creative mind already drawing inspiration from the spectacle before us for her next song, a few rough verses leaving her lips in hushed bouts while she didn't skip a beat in recording with her phone, tapping furiously in search for a filter or augment that would improve the darkened image her camera was barely capable of catching. Our two resident lovebirds were too busy making out under the stars to care about us anymore. I was quick to snatch a picture of the two. It’d be a nice gift if properly framed, or an endless source of teasing material otherwise.

I would’ve held grounds to crown myself Prince of the Buzzkills if I were to interrupt them, so I left the couple be and walked to catch up with the rest, Sunny and Izzy sharing excited words about what they could glimpse through the telescope.

Pipp for her part had desisted in her attempts to stream the shooting stars with her phone, having acquired nothing but a dark image with an over-saturated glow from the full moon. I caught her watching my own livestream over her shoulder, muttering jealous curses under her breath.

“Ah, nectar to my fuzz-less ears…” I teased with my smuggest grin, placing a patronizing hand between the pegasus’ wings as her jealous scowl worked to chill the night even further. “How does it feel to be second on the top list for once?” I couldn’t resist the jab.

“Enjoy your momentary victory, human.” She snarled with narrowed eyelids, promising retribution. “I’ll make sure it’s short-lived.”

“Heh, I’m sure you will.” I chuckled, unphased by her mock threats as I rubbed my thumb over her wing joints in a gesture of peace.

Seeing how she had lost the streaming race, momentarily, mind you; Pipp focused on her other traits and continued humming rough verses of the new song she was trying to come up with on the go.

“... mmmhmm, dreams so… bright, like… sssssstars that… blaze… Ugh, no, that’s not it!” She bumped her forehead as she met another dead end.

“Need some help?” I offered, continuing rubbing her wing joint in a calming notion.

Sticking her snout high in the air, she huffed in offense. “The day Pipp Petals requires the help of a smelly human to bring out her magic, is the day she leaves the stage!!”

“Smelly, you say?” I purred, biting my lower lip as I readied my shattering rebuttal. “Then I guess I’ll have to buy my cologne from somepony else…”

“YOU…!!!”

“Ha! He’s got you there, Pipp!” Izzy stoked the flames, her eyes still fixed on the eyepiece with her ears flicking in our direction. Sunny for her part couldn't help but giggle at the sight of the fuming pegasus.

Pipp and I continued with our bantering until her turn came to watch through the telescope. Izzy and Sunny, filled with curiosity, bombarded me with more questions regarding Luna and the Equestrian night sky. From the sheer abundance of interest, it looked like we could add stargazing to our growing list of joint activities.

The show, while as spectacular as ever, lasted considerably shorter than what I remembered, only dragging on for half an hour before the endless sea of shooting stars lessened down to a trickle that would continue bombarding the darkening canvas for the rest of the night and the days to follow. Without Luna here to replenish them, this show now had an expiration date. I hoped that time wouldn't come for a long time, since that night would mark a special occasion for all of us, one that we would be itching to repeat every year.

However, the end of the meteor shower marked the beginning of operation ‘Cardamomo’...

Nah, that’s a terrible name, but the objective was clear. The night sky was almost empty of shooting stars, and the moon was slowly approaching its zenith, meaning that it was time for us to gather our things and return to the brighthouse for a good night’s rest. At least, for the rest of the ponies it was, since I needed some time alone with Sunny to speak what was on my mind.

Thankfully, I had enlisted the help of the perfect mare for the job.

22:34. Pipp, it’s time.

A short chime rang on the pegasus’ phone. Extracting it from her wing holster, her eyes widened a bit with the contents of the message. Searching for me, she returned an affirmative nod when she found me with Sunny near the telescope.

Faking a big yawn, she smacked her lips before addressing our friends. “Okay! That was gorgeous, ponies, but this pegasus needs her beauty sleep if she is to shiiiiine~!!”

Nopony disagreed, and together we began gathering our stuff and heading back to our home. Well, most of us, since Zipp apparently had other plans in mind as she began to drag the sheriff in the direction of the town with a firm hold on his nape, a smug grin, and twinkling eyes full of naughty desire.

“U-Um…” Poor Hitch, his mind quickly flooding with ideas as a burning flush filled his entire being, wasn’t precisely resisting the pegasus’ advances. “Izzy,” He pushed his restrained neck in search of the unicorn. “M-Mind taking care of Sparky tonight. I have… t-things to take care of…” He was practically trembling both from excitement and embarrassment.

“Sure thing, champ!” She agreed with a playful hip-check as she passed by his side and grabbed his load of stuff in her levitation. “You two go have some fun~.” She wished with a wink.

“Hitch,” I called before his marefriend had dragged him out of bailout distance. “Between the wingblades.” I instructed, followed by biting gestures that carried all the meaning he needed.

Now it was his turn to act cocky. A malicious grin painted his features as Zipp faltered in her hold on him.

“Don’t even think about it!” She warned, taking a step back as her wings spread out defensively.

“Oh, I’m so thinking about it...”

With their playful bickering drowning in the distance as the couple hurried on their way to Hitch’s abode, Pipp engaged to eliminate the remaining pony.

“‘Kay, Izzy. I need a hoof with all this stuff while these two finish with the telescope.”

“Sure thing, Pipp.” Izzy was more than happy to help, taking a portion of the pegasus’ load, and adding it to the one secured in her levitating grasp as the two went on their merry way back into the looming structure, Izzy offering to prepare some of her special tea for Pipp in case she was feeling as restless as she was. The pegasus in question flashed me one last encouraging wink as they disappeared behind the doors.

And then, there was just the two of us. Now came the easy part.

‘Come on Alex, we’ve mulled this over and over for the past month. It’s time to stop beating around the bush and man up!’

The more time I’d spent with Sunny, the clearer my feelings for her had become. Yes, I saw much of Twilight in her. Both shared numerous qualities which I found desirable, and that had become my most pressing concern when the familiar butterflies made their presence known in my tummy.

My past would forever chase me, and a part of me would always belong to Twilight and all those I left behind. But I wanted to try. To try for a new beginning, to amend my mistakes in every way I could. I wanted Sunny, I wanted to be with her, spend the rest of my days with her, and fight alongside her when the time undoubtedly came. I loved all my new friends, but with her, I was willing to take the next step...

But my bag was heavy with my own, staggering load which in times past I would be reluctant to share with anypony but myself. Yet, time and my friends had basically drilled into my head that to follow that path would eventually lead to dark places.

However, would Sunny accept me and my past as I was willing to accept her and her past? Was I good enough for her, and the destiny that awaited her?

‘Am I even deserving of it?’

“Sunny.” I softly called out to the mare, who was busy disassembling her telescope.

“Hmm?” I saw her ears flicker to attention behind the optical tube, the rest of her face soon following as she regarded me with curious expectation. “Need something, Alex?”

I wordlessly beckoned her to approach me, lowering my rear into the damp grass with my legs opened before me where I motioned her to take a seat, a pensive look in my eyes.

With a dip of her head, she complied, leaving the device behind for now and quickly crossing the distance between us, sitting on her haunches before me as slight concern matted her features after my sudden change of mood.

“Is everything okay?”

Warmed by her concern, I simply reached forward and, taking a firm hold under her forelegs, gently dragged her towards my sitting form, pressing her back against my chest as she straddled my lap, securing both arms around her barrel as if she had become a lifeline.

“Um…” While not offering resistance, she was beyond puzzled by them, looking over her shoulder in search of meaning.

As is customary to happen in this situation, any prepared speeches of mine promptly evaporated from my mind, leaving me completely blank as to how to approach the issue. It hadn't been my first time dealing with matters of the heart, but no doubt this one won the prize in being the most convoluted.

“So,” I hesitantly began, the mare noticing the jitters that threatened to send me into a loop. “I, um… a little birdie told me something.”

Scrunching her muzzle, she voicelessly ushered me to continue with a dip of her snout.

“Yeah, she told me something about a certain town mare who might or might not have the hots for our resident furless alien…”

Now had she caught on, the blush rushing once again through her cheeks bright enough to light up the twilight that enveloped us. “S-S-She h-has…?” She stuttered while quickly averting her gaze elsewhere but my prying eyes.

“Mhm,” I hugged her a bit closer. “Do you know anything about that?”

“Um…” In a striking imitation of my late friend Fluttershy, she fumbled with her forehooves as she wetted her lips, mulling for an answer that was plain as day. “M-Maybe…”

Perhaps it was a bit mean on my part, but seeing her as nervous as I was actually made me feel a bit more reassured. I didn't want to mess with her either, seeing how this was a delicate matter between the both of us. Encouraged by the reaffirmed knowledge of her own interest in me, I reached and placed a loving kiss atop her head, resting my chin there and softly whispering in her left ear.

“Well, I like her too...”

For a moment, I feared Sunny might’ve hurt herself from the sheer speed her neck turned to address me with as much surprise as if the very nature of the universe had been laid in front of her.

“Y-You do?!”

I let off a chuckle at the sight of her beautiful eyes widening as my words registered in her head. “Why, of course I do!” I merrily answered. “She’s kind, hopeful, and pretty to boot, too.” With every compliment that I spoke, her blush turned up a notch or two. “She has the most beautiful smile in the world, and her cute laugh is always infectious. She has a spirit like no other creature in Equestria and has more guts than any member of the Royal Guard could ever hope to possess.” With my left hand, I gently grabbed her cheek, running my thumb over her rosy-tainted fur in a loving gesture. “She has done the impossible, and changed the world far more than this old fossil could ever hope to.”

“Alex…” Her eyes slowly glossed, completely underwhelmed by my confession.

“And, if she wanted it, I’d very much love to spend the rest of my days with her.” Emotions slowly but surely erased any trace of rational thought from the mare, leaving her completely blank as to how to react to the absolute bomb I had just dropped on her. But, just as she was stopping imitating a fish to croak a few words out, I cut her off, for I still had one thing to say.

“But I’ve hesitated.” I blurted out as I softly silenced her, moving the palm of my hand over her lips. “I’ve known these feelings for a while now, but there was a lot in my mind keeping my lips shut.” My eyelids dropped a little, a familiar warmth spreading through my entire self, yet a chilling sensation clutching my heart. The easier part of the easy part was over. Now came the true reason why I wanted to speak with her alone. “And I think the mare in question has also hesitated.” I made for a wild guess, which turned out to be on target with how her sparkling eyes quickly lost a bit of their shine as her gaze once again fixed on the forehooves she was nervously shuffling over.

“... yes.” Came her hushed reply.

‘Thought as much.’

Not wanting to worsen the tense atmosphere that was building up around us, I secured my hold on her and lightly shoved her against my chest as my fingers searched for her ticklish spots near her armpits. “Soooo, seeing as how I have the mare in question trapped in my claws,” I playfully growled as Sunny squirmed in my grasp, her laughs filling the air and clearing away the uneasiness that threatened to fall upon us. “What better chance than having a little one versus one with her.”

Once my tickle attack had ceased and her giggling had run dry, she agreed to my proposal by lovingly nuzzling her head against mine, wiggling her body in my lap in search of a comfier position. Once she was comfortable, I snuck my arms around her barrel, her forelegs hugging over them while her head remained close to mine, her muzzle almost touching my nose. I felt her breathing slowly relax, synchronizing with my own, our mutual proximity quickly evaporating our initial nerves.

“Mares first.” I invited her, placing another tiny kiss behind her closest ear.

“Weeell,” She began after taking a moment to plan her approach, her ear slightly flickering when coming in contact with my lips. “I guess… I guess what I was most afraid of is what scares most ponies when it comes to this point...” Her concerned eyes shimmered with hesitation.

“That I would say ‘no’ and our friendship would turn into an awkward mess.”

Dead on. With a silent nod, Sunny confirmed my assumptions. That piercing dread, summoning a hundred different scenarios in your dreams, all of them reaching the exact same end. Rejection, and the rancid feeling that haunts you afterward, when you try your best to keep things as they were with the other party, but almost never managing to keep your friendship intact.

An awkward thing that justifies walking on steady hooves before popping the question.

“In that case, I’m happy to announce that’s something you don’t have to worry about,” I claimed while lovingly rubbing my nose against her scalp. “For I very much like the mare in my arms.”

The smile that grew on her muzzle could've outshined a thousand suns, warming my entire self to the point I stopped filling the bite of the seaside breeze blowing from the sea.

Smacking her lips again, her gaze turned pensive again. There was still something on her mind.

“There’s… another thing.”

“Tell me,” I whispered, spurring her onwards with comforting shoulder rubs, feeling her back arch against me as my fingers dragged through her silky fur.

“Um,” She began to anxiously shuffle her forehooves again, my touch not enough to ease her revived jitters. “What really pulled me back from telling you was that… that…”

The words were failing her. Whatever was haunting her sounded like a heavy thing.

“Tell me,” I whispered once again in a more encouraging manner.

“I felt like I was unworthy of you.” She forced the words out of her muzzle, her eyes clenching shut as if expecting a harsh rebuttal from me.

But that was far from what I was feeling. Surprise would be a more apt description, for by the life of me I couldn't understand why she would feel unworthy of calling herself my mare.

“...Unworthy?” I voiced out loud, earning another jerky nod from Sunny, her ears threatening to droop against her head.

I was NOT going to allow that.

“Sunny,” I called the mare snuggled against my chest, gently directing her gaze with my hand to meet mine, pushing on her cheek as my thumb rubbed the peach-fuzz fur rosy in a permanent blush. “Why would you feel that?”

“Why?!” She cried, an undertone of surprise in her query after my failure of catching on with her. Wiggling in my lap, she twisted her body to fully face me, pressing her forehooves over my chest where her back had previously rested. “Because you’re Alexander Kintobor! Prince of Equestria! National hero! A living legend!”

So that's what it was all about…

A deep sigh escaped my nostrils. For each of my titles she named, a cold dagger plunged into my heart. That hadn't been the first time my titles had acted as a gorge that separated me from the ‘common pony’...

‘Common pony.’ What a disgusting taste on my tongue every time I heard the term or had to act on it. When dealing with royal business, I had no choice but to tolerate it. But with my friends and family? Never. Ne-ver.

“Stop.” Both with my words and a hand gently covering her muzzle, I ceased the tirade of titles and accomplishments, which had apparently made her believe I was in an entirely different league from her to even consider courting me. “Please, stop.”

She couldn't have been farther from the truth.

Her eyes widened and her tail twitched nervously behind her, my sudden gesture having caught her by surprise.

“B-But…” She blurted from under my gentle grasp.

“I’m not better.” I cut her off rudely, practically snarling the words out, clenching my teeth hard. “Those titles were empty even back then. Now, they’re nothing.”

A glint of defiance shone in her eyes, denoting how she didn't share my opinion about them. But my own pleadings for understanding behind the anger of my words made her falter. She simply didn't know how heavy those titles weighed on me, the amount of pride I felt for them fell far short of the amount of grief that they had brought upon me. Heavy titles, heavy as chains. Chains I wanted nothing more than to break free of.

“Sunny,” I freed her muzzle, dragging my hands downwards to hold her chin. “If there’s one creature here who doesn’t deserve the other, it’s me not being deserving of you.”

Her muzzle opened to protest, but I silenced her again with my thumb over her lips. “No, Sunny, this isn’t pitiful modesty or cheesy stereotyping. You’re a wonderful mare, so full of life and passion, a drive strong enough to rile the three tribes of ponies into following your example. That alone,” I pressed a finger into her fluffy chest. “Is worth more than all I have ever accomplished as Prince of Equestria or otherwise.”

“How can you say that?!” She half-complained-half-whined, pushing my finger from her chest. “You’re a creature of legend! You’ve helped THOUSANDS of ponies!” In a swift move, she rose up onto her hooves and began pacing in front of me. “A-A-And I’m just a simple town mare who knows how to make smoothies! Yes, I went with Izzy to search for the crystals and bring everypony together, b-but if it hadn't been for her stumbling into town, I would’ve given up then and there! I was ready to give up! H-How can that compare to all of what you and Twilight Sparkle did for the po-”

“Don’t do that.”

Sunny’s tirade was cut short as my warning sealed her muzzle. Ceasing her pacing, she found me standing on my feet behind her, looming over her with narrowed eyes.

“Do what?” She squeaked, swallowing the lump in her throat.

“Compare yourself to Twilight.”

Sunny took a hesitant step back, fearing she might have struck a nerve after blerting out the name of my ex-marefriend. She knew Twilight was a delicate subject with me, but Sunny saying her name wasn't what had bothered me.

“I don’t need you to be like Twilight. I don’t want you to be like Twilight.” Not wishing to unnerve her further, I took a second to calm my breath. Clenching my fists to lose some of the accumulated energy, I sighed deeply, bringing a hand to my mouth and rubbing it over my lips as I considered how to express what my heart was hammering into my head.

Sunny, breathing easier now that I had calmed down, lost her retreating posture and silently trotted back to me, rearing on her hind legs and balancing against my shoulders. We were practically mouth to muzzle, feeling her warm breath against my lips even with my gloved hand covering them.

“Sunny,” I struggled to croak out, freeing my lips as I surrounded the mare, placing both arms above her rump. “The years I spent with Twilight were the best of my life. Beyond the adventures and dangers I lived with her, all the crap of the royal business we had to deal with, and Equestria itself crumbling around us, I will always carry her in my heart, just as I will always carry my old family, and the sins of my past with me.” Lowering my gaze in shame, the trail of words derailed into a barely audible whisper. “... It’s a heavy burden to carry, one I thought would toll on me until it crushed me under its weight.” The tiniest of smiles lightened my features. “But now,” I raised my gaze back to meet the mare’s concerned eyes. “Now I understand I don’t have to. I can start again. With our friends, with you…”

“Alex…” She whispered.

“Sunny. If I had been a random guy who suddenly appeared at your doorstep,” I began to ask. “Without knowing anything about the past, much less belonging to it, would you have fallen for me?”

It was a weird question. I knew it, but that question summarized my most pressing concerns, born after that little talk with Pipp when she revealed how infatuated Sunny was with the human from her dad’s stories, and perhaps not with the man who was there and then. For as much as it pains me so, they are and always will be the same person.

“Yes.”

Her short answer brought me out of my musings, not an ounce of hesitation that my ears could catch. Her fond smile was genuine, as were her gorgeous eyes sending all the warmth and reassurance they could muster.

With a profound sense of relief washing through me, I returned the smile and brought her closer to a full-body hug. “Then that’s all I want to be to you, just as all I need you to be is Sunny Starscout, the most striking mare of this little town…”

Everything had now been said.

It was selfish of me to strive for a blank slate with her and our friends. I was being honest; I did NOT deserve it, nor in the uncountable years Harmony would hold onto my soul as she saw fit, not in saving Equestria a thousand times to level the scales. I had kept a lot of things with me, horrible things done to and by me, fragments of my past I didn't want to share. Because they were painful, and because I feared what the ponies would think of me if they knew.

It was selfish, and it made me feel like the lowest piece of shit. But I wanted it. I wanted this new chance, one that had begun with my arrival into the future, once that had settled with the meeting of my new pony family. One that would bloom with the mare in my arms.

What would my old family think of me? Would they be happy for me, or would they curse my traitorous name for having left them behind while I rebuilt my life elsewhen? What would Twilight think? Our rupture had been as much her fault as it had been mine. We were stupid, overwhelmed, and angry with everything happening around us.

It shouldn't have ended like it did. I should've been better to her, I should’ve listened, I should’ve buried my stupid pride and helped her!...

But that chance was long past, and a new one had presented itself before me. Perhaps one day, the guilt would disappear. Perhaps it would never leave my side. But I knew what I wanted, and I knew what she wanted. I had closed my heart one too many times in the past.

That night wouldn't be tonight.

Sunny giggled at my cheesy compliment, breaking the hug to put the minimal distance between us so she could face me fully.

We were very, very close, even closer than before. I could practically feel the fuzz of the tip of her snout in my nose, our breath quickening in expectation and excitement for what was bound to happen.

I had beaten around the bush for long enough. I had said everything I wanted to say that night. I would talk to her more at a later time. But at that moment, there was only one thing left to be done.

Crossing the infinitesimal distance between us, I brought my lips for a gentle peck over hers. She didn't try to pull back. Au contraire, her muzzle dipped forward wantonly the moment my lips left hers. I was more than happy to oblige, rearing up for another gentle kiss, and another, and another one as I slowly inched my way to her right cheek.

Lidded eyes full of love followed each other as our lips met again and again. For each kiss, I felt her pressing against me further and further. On the fourth kiss, Sunny decided I had teased her long enough, and the dam broke.

With a hungry lunge, she captured me fully, forcefully pushing with her hooves against my chest as a throaty moan filled the encompassing silence of the night. I was so engrossed with her taste and the feeling of her furry lips tickling mine, that it took me a while to realize I had ended up back on the humid grass. Sunny straddled me as her muzzle pressed hard against me, puffed breaths leaving her nostrils as her exploratory tongue demanded entrance.

I was pleasantly surprised by her boldness. The sheer strength of her passion revealed how much of a restrained desire she had been holding in, one that finally had been released explosively. She must have been holding it for quite a long time too, since I was left without a chance to even grant her permission as her pushing against me raised tenfold, virtually pressing me against the cushioning vegetation while her stronger tongue forced its way into my mouth, searching for mine and sharing a passionate dance the moment it found it.

Sunny snuck her forelegs under my head, virtually holding me in place as if I would make for a swift escape at any moment. Needless to say, that thought was far from my mind. I could feel her heartbeat against my chest while her hips sought to sink into my own from where she was straddling me. My own desire was spurred beyond rational thought when the feeling of her winking against the fabric of my jeans breached my hazy mind.

But I wasn't that kind of guy. There’d be a time and a place for that later. At the moment, I wanted nothing more than for us to enjoy each other for as long as we could hold our breaths, our tongues fighting for dominance in my mouth where the battle was being held, not that I had much of a winning chance against an equine tongue. Just as her forelegs snuck under my head, mine traveled south to her flanks, groping them with desire, eliciting another cacophony of moans from the mare. She wasn't gonna be the only one to act bold!

We both had been itching for these moments, for a good while if the amount of passion being bled into our make-out session was of any clue. Small, full-body shudders ruffled her silky fur each time she ran her strong muscle against my canines, pathetically sharp compared to other carnivores of this world, but enough to trigger the exhilarating fight-or-flight reflex I had learned drove ponies wild.

If it had been up to us, we would’ve spent the rest of the night intertwined with one another. Sadly, there is so much time a pony and a human can hold their breath before being forced to break apart and suck in a good mouthful of the live-living gas. Ragged breathing synchronized with one another, love and lust dripping from our every pore.

I gave her flanks another big squeeze, forcing a muffled gasp from her as she bit her lower lip in barely restrained desire, looming above me as a predator about to devour its prey. Funny, considering where each of us actually stood in the theoretical food chain. I don’t think I need to explain how hard I was by that point, and I saw in her predatory eyes how she had noticed it too. But we were tired, sweaty, and with a hazy mind full of one specific thing.

With the utmost reluctance, I squeezed her cutie marks one last time before bringing my hands away from her generous rear to grip the forehooves pressing against my chest. “Now now, Sunny, there’ll be more than enough time for that later.”

Oh, she was NOT happy with me cutting our heated session short, an angry pout creasing her features as her rump and forelegs pressed harder against me, seeking to keep me rooted.

“Come on, baby,” I took the liberty to call her as such since, you know, I believed it was more than official by then. “We’re gonna catch a cold if we stay out here for much longer.” With how steamy the session turned out to be, my clothes were virtually damp with sweat and moisture from the chilling sea breeze; nothing like the scalding warmth spreading through one’s body to make one aware of the bite of a cold night’s breeze.

With a healthy amount of reluctance of her own, Sunny conceded, but not before a warning. “We’re NOT done here, mister.” After which, she delivered one last heated kiss, and then she released me from her hold to give her body a good shake.

“I sure hope we’re not.” I joked back, drinking in her form while raising myself on trembling legs and giving myself a good shake too. We still had the telescope to disassemble and store in its casing. Fortunately, the recording which I had completely forgotten to stop included no sound whatsoever, else our viewers would’ve been invited to an exhilarating show of heated moans and hungry groans as they witnessed the images the telescope recorded through its potent lenses. I could only imagine the scandal on the socials the following morning!

I had only taken but two steps when I felt Sunny already pressing herself against my side, a gesture she was already accustomed to doing frequently when we were together, but now holding a new, deeper meaning. Also, it helped that she was hip-checking me, wordlessly ushering me to move my rear and finish wasting time we could be spending trading saliva or other things…

Chuckling merrily at her impatience, I complied with her wishes and hurried to gather our stuff, returning everything neatly to its place and accompanying her back to the brighthouse, the feeling of her soft fur against my hip a constant companion now.

Now that we had extracted ourselves from the cloud of passion and hormones, I found something particular about her taste, a taste I had only acquired but the faintest sample of when she had kissed me after revealing the purchased grounds for the community garden to her. It was at that moment that it clicked for me.

“Oh my gosh.” I blurted with a crooked smirk.

Sunny, eyes full of love and admiration, dipped her head to the side. “What?”

“You actually taste like a tangerine,” I answered, fighting a losing battle against the chuckling that threatened to spill.

Sunny did a double take, sending a look that carried equal parts surprise and offense. “I do not!!”

But I was already laughing my ass off. “Yehehehes you dohohoh, ahahahaha!!”

“Alex!!!”

The short way back was spent dodging flying hooves and nips from an offended and madly blushing Sunny. All ponies had this tendency of possessing a fruity flavor of their own, more or less. But the fact hers was that particular one was simply too much for me to hold in.

I had to swallow the rest of my cackling once we’d crossed the foyer into the darkened interior of our home. In the twilight of night, you could faintly make out the rainbow hues of the Prisbeam energy as it painted shadows and shapes in the uppermost reaches of the towering walls.

While my lips were forced shut, the playful mirth in my eyes sparkled every time they met Sunny’s offended ones, unnerving her even more and making her puff her cheeks like an angry filly.

It wouldn’t last long though, for a strategically placed kiss on her lips quickly changed her pout for that stupid grin you’d see any lovestruck mare sporting twenty-six-seven.

No lights welcomed us from the living room or the upper floor, telling us that the ponies inside, minus Hitch and Zipp who were now doubtless in the middle of something nasty, were most likely asleep. Tip-toeing our way up the ramps, I followed the path to my bedroom with unconscious practice, expecting Sunny to do the same towards her shared bedroom. I twirled on my heels to wish her a good night and send her a kiss, and a promise that there’d be more from where all that had come from come tomorrow, when I almost tripped over the mare in question, patiently stuck to my side instead of going her way to her own abode.

“Um…”

With a smug grin of retaliation, Sunny ignored my confused blabbering and strode into my room as if she owned the place, which she technically did.

Not feeling like being left there standing like an idiot, I followed Sunny who hadn’t wasted a second to snuggle into my bed, wiggling playfully under the covers for a moment before coming to a comfortable position on her side, beckoning me with her hoof while her aquamarine eyes sparkled with the intruding moonlight.

“What?” She purred. “Did you think I was gonna miss a chance to cuddle with my new coooltfriend?~”

The way she had dragged that last word was all that it took to evaporate any hesitation that might’ve still been clinging to me, dragging my feet to the other side of the bed before my mind had even registered the notion of movement.

My winter coat was off faster than you could say ‘cupcake’, followed by my shirt, shoes and pants. Sunny, having rolled over so as to not miss a second of the show, undressed me with her eyes while I undressed myself… well, the usual way. Her sultry demeanor, while foreign to the normally cheerful and bright mare, was far from unwelcome. Faust as my witness, we’d have so much fun together.

But not that night. That night I simply wanted to be with her, to hold her in my arms and never let go. Long-lost feelings resurfaced as if they’d appeared for the very first time, that bundle of emotions tickling your heart at the beginning of something wonderful.

The moment I touched the covers, Sunny was already draped around me, hugging me tight as if I was an overgrown teddy bear, nuzzling her snout under my chin while she took an undisguised whiff of my scent. Sighing deeply, her entire self relaxed, limp as a noodle except her limbs which held me tightly.

My heart threatened to leap out of my chest from the sheer amount of love I felt for her at that moment, reciprocating the gesture and encapsulating her in my embrace.

“Sweet dreams, love,” I whispered, nuzzling into her sunflower-scented mane.

A slurred, half-hum-half-yawn was her answer, her breathing deepening as her muzzle snuggled deeper into the crook of my neck. Following her example and relishing in the feeling of her heartbeat against my naked chest, I mimicked her and allowed myself to fall into what would be the best night’s sleep I’d enjoyed in a very long while.

‘Helikesmehelikesmehelikesmeohmygoshhelikesmeaaaggmbnfnmshmgmgrfm!!!!’

I believe that’d be a very apt description of what was running through my mind the moment his lips whispered what my heart had been pining for for the last two months or so. Even with Izzy’s reassurance, I truly thought I had no chance whatsoever of him thinking of me like that. Sure, we were as close as two ponies could get, and I simply loved spending time with him as I knew he did with me. But from the bottom of my heart, I swore I thought he'd choose Izzy, or any other mare for that matter, to call his soulmate.

So, you can imagine my surprise when, after more or less forcing out my own half-flanked confession of my feelings for him, he’d actually reciprocated. I hadn't planned on confessing that night, or any other night for that matter, since I was still summoning the guts to drop the question in the first place, much less planning anything meaningful for it.

But, from what I later learned had been a masterfully executed, two-pony plan, he had cornered me well, teasing the answer straight out of me. What followed, I can only describe as one of the best, yet most unusual happenings of my entire life. After practically losing my wits, and hurting my neck a little, he explained how he, just like me, had also mulled over whether to say anything or not, for he had a lot in his mind that he wanted to share before sealing the deal. My own concerns were those that you can already imagine: He not feeling the same way as me and delivering a swift end to our close friendship, the both of us then reduced to awkward smiles and passing comments as our standard interaction.

He had made sure to swiftly root out that worry, for even if his answer had been no, the last thing he wanted was for our friendship to change, much less to end.

The other, heavier issue was what had tormented me during my self-chastising sessions deep into the night when my stupid brain wouldn't shut up about how foalish a dream my hopes for him truly was. For every reason I came up with where I believed I could be good for him, a sharp rebuttal would follow. Do you hear that, you stupid brain?! He's mine now! Mine, do you hear me?!!

Please, don’t think I’m going mad, but it was truly driving me up the walls the more time passed with us spending valuable time together as close friends and not as something more.

For his part, he’d also had several things he wanted to share. And if I believed my worries were heart-wrenching and convoluted, his simply left me without words.

His past, the life he had shared with the Element Bearers, and uncountable other creatures he had shared his life and work with. All his accomplishments, his titles, the legends behind the stories… He didn't shy away from them, but in his chocolate-brown eyes, I saw the staggering weight he carried on his shoulders. Far from believing myself unworthy of all he represented, he had asked, pleaded, and begged me, to not only act as if they weren't a thing but simply to consider him as any other random guy I could stumble upon on a regular day.

If he had been a random guy stumbling onto my doorstep, would have I fallen for him the same way? Now, that thought had caught me unprepared. Every time I thought of him, I saw the human my dad would tell me stories about, an idol on par with the Bearers or the Princesses. Yet, as unprepared as that out-of-a-sudden question had caught me, it didn't take me even a second to realize that, yes, I would’ve fallen for him the same way. For it hadn't been the stories that had captivated me during my fillyhood that made me fall for him. It had been us, living together, adventuring together, learning about each other, spending time with each other, that had made the hidden feelings inside me bloom.

I saw so much pain and guilt behind his confession. How he fought to let go of the past, yet he couldn’t help feeling like a traitor for doing so. Feeling like he’d left behind an unpayable debt for the ones he left behind, and how by wanting to share the feelings he’d once held for a mare, he was spitting on her grave. But, at the same time, he confessed how, by living with us, he saw a chance for a new beginning, A chance he wanted nothing else but to take. How in our friendship and hospitality he had found a new family to call his own, and in me had found a new chapter in his life. The hurtful words of Discord would forever haunt him, calling him a traitor and a runaway. The doubts he held in that regard told me how, deep inside, he believed those words to be true.

A tiny part of me thought, at that moment, how painfully far this was from what Pipp’s cheesy romance novels and cheap movies portrayed. Our first meeting had been an unorthodox one. Our relationship, if it was to be, would be far from normal too.

But I was NOT gonna give up on him nor give up on myself. I understood his feelings. I would harbor them and respect them, for no mare can hope to gain such a stallion’s heart with petty jealousy and a lack of sympathy. He would always carry a piece of his past with him, that he had made abundantly clear, and I was okay with that! I couldn't ask him to forget everything he had lived for, everypony he had known, and the mare he had loved, only to gain ‘exclusive’ rights to him. If other mares wanted to be like that, fine with them! But I loved this human for all he is, and for all he had been.

A lot was left to be said. I knew he still harbored mixed feelings about the step we were about to take, and I made up my mind that it was my task to help him with that, just as Izzy and I had promised we’d do for each other. But whatever words we’d exchanged had been more than enough for one night. What followed… well, I don’t think I can quite put it into words. I remembered things getting hazy, and alarmingly steamy for a moment there. To say that, as our kissing turned deeper and deeper, I felt like I wanted to take him there and then. We’d both been dancing around the issue for far too long and now we wanted nothing but to share everything we had for the other, in the usual way couples partake in such activities if you know what I mean…

I became very turned on, and if the poorly disguised lump in his pants meant anything, he too was itching to go all the way in that field. Thankfully, his head had remained somewhat cooler than mine and, albeit to my straight reluctance, had cut our steamy tirade short before I was driven wild enough to rip his clothes off and ride him all night long. That would happen, but on another night perhaps, and by the stars above, I was gonna pour my combined frustrations from every single frustrating estrus week spent alone into his sorry body until he was nothing but a dried-out husk!!

… I think I should disguise myself as a changeling for Nightmare Night. The old ones, the creepy, love-sucking ones. It seems I had the mentality of one already.

With those musings and a lot of hotter, more visual thoughts, I reluctantly turned it down a notch or two and simply enjoyed the birth of our new relationship, one I would cherish with all my might, and would fight for no matter what other ponies might or might not think. I wasn't expecting anypony to say anything about it, much less now that the levels of tolerance were at all-new heights, but I couldn’t assume anything. One group of ponies I was positive would be all but exhilarated with us being together would be our friends. Zipp and Hitch had beaten us to it, becoming a couple after my lantern had been found. Albeit with much less ceremony and sticky business in between than us, they had become an item in the blink of an eye, with Zipp surprisingly taking the initiative.

Oh, not even with all my human coltfriend’s fingers could I count the number of jealous glares the town’s mares were drilling into a very smug Zipp the moment the news about our local hotshot having been claimed by her broke. Literally and figuratively actually, but that’s mare’s talk, none of your business...

After regaining our bearings, and a very undignifying and uncalled-for comment about how I apparently tasted like tangerine (a lie, I tell you), we had decided to call it a night and pack the rest of the stuff up, trotting side by side back to the brighthouse. I wasn't gonna leave his side, not on our way there nor when I saw him take the left path for his private room. If he thought he was gonna lose me that easily, he had another thing coming! Although, the image of him standing there in the doorway like an idiot had been very amusing.

We had slept together. No funny business that night except an unhealthy amount of cuddling and warmth-sharing, something I was going to be demanding a repeat of every single night that was to follow. And I was NOT gonna take a no for an answer.

The morning rays had been the culprits of dragging me out of simply the best night’s sleep I could ever remember having. Groaning in displeasure, I rubbed my crusty eyes and begrudgingly opened them, pawing first for the human pillow I had been hugging the entire night, yet only meeting empty air.

Scrunching my muzzle, I opened my sleepy eye all the way and confirmed what my hooves had felt. My human was nowhere to be found. Only my phone was, rested neatly over the wrinkled covers where he had laid recently. They were still warm, so it couldn't have been that long. And they smelled of him, so very much…

After the full-body shudder had run its course, I grabbed my phone and lit the screen. He must've been the one placing it there, for in the message box I found one from him.

7:31 Morning, baby (I’m calling you baby now *evil laugh*). Sorry for disappearing on you like that, got an urgent call from the hospital, gotta help with a sudden income of patients :( I’ll get off work asap and meet you at the stand for lunch, my treat.

And, thank you, Sunny. I know I say it a lot, but right now I want to make sure you understand how much YOU and what you’re doing for me means to me.

I’ll see you later. XXX

7: 32 PD: The girls surrounded me and I spilled my guts. Sorry in advance…

With a giddy giggle, I finished running my eyes through the text and hugged the phone against my chest, his message having already made my day before it had even started.

However, I took special notice of that last, short message. It seemed I’d have to deal with the girls sooner rather than later.

‘Oh, well, it was bound to happen soon anyway. I hope they don’t prod too much… Oh, who am I trying to fool...’

Knowing my friends, they’d tear into me until I had told them everything. I loved them so much.

With my morning stretches done, and the mandatory lip-smacking over, I rose to my hooves and, casting one last look at my father’s old room, now my new coltfriend's property, I made my way out and headed downstairs for some breakfast, taking a mental note to buy a different brand of toothpaste.

I did NOT taste like a tangerine…

“Suuuunnyyyyy~” The sweet chanting of a seapony filled the hall as my hooves left the smooth ramp, a sweet melody to drag the unsuspecting sailor into the clutches of its singer. That's what became of me the moment the ‘Council of the double X,’ as Alex had referred to us the other day for some reason, caught the sound of my innocent self all the way from the living room.

Gulping loudly, I made my shaky way to meet my demise, which came in the form of three mares and one baby dragon enjoying a cup of coffee, and tea in the case of Pipp, while munching on whatever biscuits the bottomless pit that was the baby dragon’s stomach had left untouched. The most evil of grins escaped each of their muzzles, lidded eyes filled with playful mirth. Izzy went as far as to lick her lips, already tasting the oh-so-sweet flavor of gossip.

“G-Good morning, girls.” I greeted with a nervous smile and a pitiful wave of my hoof.

“Oh, a very good morning indeed, right, Sunny?” Pipp, fluttering her eyelids innocently, purred wickedly while beckoning me to take a seat between her and her sister. Their predatory gazes made sure to announce how it would be useless to try and make a desperate escape. Trapped within their clutches, I was left with no other choice but to comply. Step after shaky step, I crossed the distance between us and plopped my rump on the couch between the aforementioned ponies, sweating under the intensity of their expectant gazes.

A tense silence fell as the mares granted me a couple of seconds to cook under the pressure when Izzy went for the most pressing of questions.

“Sooooo, how big is he?”

“IZZY!!!”

Author's Note

So I gotta ask. Is my version of Sunny's cutie mark origin story better than the official?

Chapter 34- Divers of the lost treasure.

Another beautiful morning in Maretime Bay, where the morning sun warmed up the last of the dew drops clinging to the browning leaves and fed it to the seaside breeze blowing from the east. The drowsy birds slowly stuck their beaks out of their nests, the welcomed sun rays rousing them into their morning singsongs as they got ready for the long trip south in preparation for the upcoming winter. We had crossed the Autumnal Equinox last week, officially calling the long summer to an end and welcoming the early precipitation that readied the stage for the snow that, year after year, covered almost the entirety of Equestria in a soft, white blanket.

Except in Las Pegasus. In Las Pegasus, it never snows ‘cause the weather team is a bunch of lazy tailholes. Or were, for that matter.

But those heavy snows wouldn’t come that morning, for the blue skies that stretched beyond the open windows of the living room promised another sunny day for everypony to enjoy. A last chance for beachgoers who wanted one last bath before the oceanic currents shifted and began dragging in cold water from the north seas and fed it to the tropical waters where Equestria more or less stood.

The chirping of the morning birds acted as the alarm I had forgotten to set last night, dragging me unwillingly from my slumber.

“... Mmmmngg, five more minutes, Twi…” I mumbled with a mandatory slurred voice, extracting my arm from under the warm covers that had pinned me to the couch to shield my eyes from the offensive light.

Since Twilight had inherited the throne of Equestria from the royal sisters, the responsibility of raising and lowering the celestial bodies had also fallen into her hooves. A task she needed some time to get the hang of, but also granted us the opportunity to sleep in whenever we wanted. Although we would have to apologize later for making the entirety of Equestria reset their clocks…

Meh, if they had time to complain, they had time to raise the sun themselves.

Needless to say, my slurred pleadings fell on deaf ears. Even with my eyes protected under my arm, it was already too late, my biological clock kicking in before I had the chance to fall back into unconsciousness.

“... Ugh.” The chance for more blissful shuteye was gone, and now I had to wake up the whole way. However, that was far from the only bad news. My sleepy mind remembered then how it was looking up to be an exciting day for us. I had planned something different for the gang and myself, something I’d rather have partaken in during the summer proper, but logistics and preparations had dragged on longer than expected.

But first things came first. Stretching my limbs as far as I could from my restrained position, I released one last yawn and smacked my gums lazily. My crusty eyes left their distracted gaze on the painted roof above us to fixate on the lump of blankets and fur that was the culprit of my inability to exit the couch and begin my morning ablutions.

“Baby…” I tenderly nudged the mare under the covers. Only her tail and a few loose strands of her purple and rainbow mane could be discerned from under the thick blankets we had cocooned ourselves in last night during one of our late-night movie marathons, finishing at a shameful hour into the night, and just feeling too tired to drag our asses a couple of steps up to our respective rooms. We had decided instead to fall asleep there and then. It was Saturday the next day, anyway.

“Mmmmm…” The lump of velvety fur and blankets groaned in displeasure, nuzzling in further against me in a feeble movement to escape my rousing attempts. Her warmth and the softness of her touch fought against my resolve to keep myself awake.

Since we’d officially become an item, we’d been spending even more time together, to the point she’d almost never leave my side. Not that I cared too much. Newly lovestruck mares tend to be very clingy, and I was more than happy to spend time with my new special somepony. A couple of improvised dates and a fair amount of heart-to-hearts had evened the ground between us, making us both come out clean of mind and ready for each other. I couldn’t physically thank her enough for being so understanding with me. The month that had passed between the night of the meteor shower and today we’d made about ourselves; without forgetting our friends, of course. Speaking about them, they were virtually bouncing off the walls with the news, albeit far from surprised.

Miss Pipp Smartflanks hadn't wasted a second bragging about how her unerring instinct had told her since the very beginning that we’d end up an item. Zipp and Hitch were excited for us, even proposing a double date of sorts which Sunny was more than happy to partake in. It had gone well enough, although seeing as how we literally lived together and spent most of our time with one another, there wasn't all that much to learn about each other like it tends to happen on these occasions. But it had been fun, a new thing for me as well as them to try.

And I discovered a nice place to take Sunny out on a date every once in a while.

Izzy, for her part, was practically vibrating when they squeezed out the news from me the morning I had to punch in early at the hospital and had proclaimed herself an advisor of sorts, going to great lengths to make sure Sunny and I had a great time together, and even offering special ‘therapy’ for couples in her office (workshop). Not that we needed it or anything, but the sentiment was still there, and we made sure to show our gratitude to the peppy unicorn.

Nopony from town had made the slightest comment about our particular arrangements, which was a profound relief for me. Couples between different races outside of the three pony tribes were rare but not unheard of back then. And, considering how things were now, Sunny and I were probably the first interspecies couple for centuries. Still, nopony gave us a hard time, just words of congratulations and encouragement.

Aside from all that, we’d fallen into the same easy routine as always, each of us focused on our jobs and daily lives, Zipp and I pouring what little was left to pour into our respective investigations, and my training with Sunny achieving slow but noticeable progress with her alicorn form. We’d covered the basics, and would soon move to more… applied magic.

“Baby, come on.” I nudged Sunny a little harder, sneaking my hand under the blankets in search of her ears, which I promptly began to scratch as I felt her tighten her hold on me.

“Mmmmmno…” She croaked out in her own raspy, morning voice, nuzzling her snout deeper into my chest while I felt her tail curl around my right leg possessively.

“But we’re going to be late.” I tried to reason in vain. An orange muzzle peeked from under the blankets at my claim. What little hope I had for having finally convinced the stubborn mare was snuffed out when said muzzle blew a raspberry at me, and then promptly disappeared under the thick blankets to nuzzle the scar under my shirt. She was well awake by then, but nopony was gonna tear her apart from her snuggly human until she said so. Such was my fate…

‘I’d rather stay like this forever too, baby; but we got places to be.’

With a playful sigh of defeat, I granted her a couple more minutes of blissful rest, enjoying the feeling of her fuzzy muzzle against the sensitive scar tissue that would forever accompany me. Ever since I revealed to them the events of the Second Battle of Canterlot, and what became of me in its aftermath, Sunny had felt the need to protect that specific part of me, like a silent promise that nothing bad would ever happen to me again as long as she had anything to say about it. That protective side was shared by most mares when it came to their loved ones, special someponies or not. Another curious trinket of the ‘selective’ reversed gender roles of ponykind. Selective, ‘cause the big, strong stallion still had to carry heavy stuff around, if you catch my drift.

Time for one last attempt to rouse my marefriend. “That’s fine, I guess,” I muttered in a disinterested voice as I ran my fingers through the peach-fuzz fur of her ear. “Although it’s truly a shame we’re gonna miss the kelpies…”

The mound of blankets covering us was yeeted into space, the mare below them almost following in tow. Now looming above me, and very, VERY much awake, Sunny’s two dark pools of wonder grew to impossible sizes along with that maniac grin that appeared every time something new and exciting regarding the long-lost past reached her fuzzy ears.

“Kelpies?!!!” She cried, forcing her snout into my nose with enough strength to bury me halfway into the couch while her forelimbs pressed against my chest.

“Mhm.” I squeaked out as best as I could through my restricted airways. “You know, water ponies?” Who are NOT seaponies. Don’t let a kelpie catch you calling them a seapony and vice versa. There are better ways to go than drowning…

“We’re going to see kelpies?!!!” She wailed once again, thankfully extracting her snout from my face and giving me a chance to catch my breath, but not dropping the slightest ounce of excitement from her now trembling body.

“No, we aren't if you don't get your rear into gear, baby.” I playfully called Sunny with a gentle pat on her rump, balancing on my elbows to get enough leverage to pull the rest of me up and going. “North Wind will leave without us if we don’t g- mmmmphhh!!”

I was gonna say that she’d leave for the Marooni Reef without us if we didn't present ourselves at the appointed time, but Sunny’s muzzle diving for my lips and forcefully pushing them apart stole any chance of rebuttal. My tongue was busy enough battling hers to finish my warning.

Something told me she was happy with my planning for that day.

Once she’d gotten everything out, she finished up with a lewd *smack*, her telltale smile screaming love and appreciation while a blush began spreading through her cheeks.

I, for my part, wasn't fully convinced by her affections. Smacking my lips twice, I pursed them and rolled my eyes in a pensive motion. “Eh, not fully there…” I commented with a playful shrug.

Sunny, catching my drift, giggled at my silly antics and, more calmly this time, pressed herself back against me and captured me in a short make-out session, moaning the moment our lips touched as her forelegs sneaked around my head. Now allowed to actually taste the mare on my lips and feel her breath against mine, I lost myself in the feeling of my marefriend as we shared yet another wonderful moment together. This past month had been filled with ‘first times’ which weren't in truth first times. But there was a lot to learn when dating a different species, and we had slowly but surely worked over all the aspects of that.

All of them. It had been fun, if a bit messy. I’m sure you can imagine.

Please, don’t imagine, it’s creepy.

Whatever lingering doubts had plagued us during our first outings together were now all but lost in the immensity of our love, one we made sure to express it to each other as frequently as we could.

Yes, it was corny enough to give Cadance a heart attack, but I want to see you in my place. I wonder what she would’ve said about us if she’d caught us in the act, once she’d stopped squealing and jumping about like a filly, that is. Part of the job description in her case, lucky her.

Out of breath, we pulled apart from each other, keeping close enough to feel her warm breath entwined with mine, her breathtaking, aquamarine pearls sparkling in the morning light, speaking louder than words ever could for the feeling we shared for each other.

“I love you,” I whispered lovingly, reaching with my head and pressing our foreheads together.

“I love you too.” She whispered back, tenderly nuzzling my nose where it met her adorable snout.

With the morning dose of cuddles crossed off the list, it was high time to drag our behinds from the confines of the couch and get a move on. Where Sunny’s slurry and lazy demeanor once stood, now a reinvigorated mare dragged me around the place in our usual tour of morning ablutions. You know a relationship has truly cemented when the both of you brush your teeth together in front of the same mirror, and waste more time than you should making silly faces at each other. Although, I wasn't that much of a fan of the new toothpaste Sunny had bought. It didn't taste quite the same for some reason…

Whatever, that wasn’t important. What was imperative was to finish getting ready and meet with the rest of the gang on Maretime Bay’s tiny-but-fully-functional harbor, from where the staggering amount of four vessels made their daily trips into the nearby waters in search of seaweed, mollusks (for cosmetic purposes, herbivore ponies and all) and whatever the earth ponies might need from the sea.

It had been during one of my first exploration runs around town that I’d found that place, and amongst the workers of the humble harbor I’d met a mare wearing a particular set of equipment I was deeply familiarized with. A short, friendly exchange later, I’d convinced the mare to rig one of her spare diving suits to fit me as well as retrofit the necessary gear, and in return, she’d gained a diving buddy to share her enthusiasm for the oceanic flora and fauna. Diving had been a favorite activity of mine back on Earth, an activity I had made the effort to continue after my arrival in Equestria. Sadly, since Canterlogic Industries had met a decisive end after Sprout’s tyrannical rampage, the necessary pieces had to be placed on order to the pegasi manufacturers in the ‘Heights who, in their sky-high isolation, had never come across the designs we were requesting, dragging the manufacturing process out into the better part of the remaining summer.

But, only a few days ago, North Wind called me screaming in ecstasy, announcing that the finished equipment had been delivered from Zephyr Heights and was ready to be assembled. From that news, I came up with the idea of a little expedition to the nearby waters that bathed the eastern Equestrian coast. More specifically, to the infamous Marooni Reef, forty-eight kilometers into the Celestial Sea, feared by griffons and pony captains alike for being the culprit of sinking a fair number of ships before more modern navigation techniques could be developed, making it an unparalleled place for divers as well as treasure hunters who, against the international laws for heritage preservation, dived in search for any lingering treasure that might’ve been left behind by the original rescue and recovery crews centuries ago.

But that wasn’t the kind of treasure North Wind and I were after. The Marooni reef was only part of a huge agglomeration of reefs and atolls stretching from the north to the south-east following the scar of the humongous Celestial Cannon, which in times long past had even breached above the waters as the biggest oceanic ridge this planet had ever know, stretching high into the sky and virtually cutting off continental Westria from its twin continent of Essia. That is, until the tectonic activity had somehow reversed, dragging the impossibly high range back with it into the deepest parts of the ocean’s reaches, leaving behind a Y-shaped scar in the form of a cannon that shaped the thermohaline circulation of this side of the Equus.

Millions upon millions of cubic meters of water traveled thousands of kilometers during the span of the seasons, from the poles to the equator and back, recycling the nutrients in the water and easing the global temperatures in and outside of the water. That particular arrangement had been exploited by the two biggest underwater civilizations of this world: the seapony kingdom of Submera, ruled by the Empyrean Queen Arlena; and the kelpie Republic of Hydropolis. The seaponies ruled over the north, while the kelpies’ rule stretched through the south and southeast, their society bearing close ties with the creatures of the southern reaches of Westria and Essia alike as well as the Summer Islands. Both made use of the underwater currents as we land-dwelling creatures made use of rivers to transport goods and people alike around.

The place we were heading to belonged to the kelpies who, while not meddling in the affairs of the surface people, had never outright opposed vessels sailing over their waters as long as they were respectful of those living under the waves, and had saved countless lives when the stubbornness of griffons and ponies alike had dragged vessel after vessel to its swift demise in the treacherous waters of the Marooni Reef instead of dealing with the not-so-permissive seaponies.

With any luck, and assuming the creatures from below the waves hadn't been affected by the poor choices of us living above the water, there was a high chance we’d catch a kelpie or two traversing the place, perhaps even a few foals playing around the shipwrecks like I’d encountered once during an expedition with a couple of Manehattanite divers.

Regardless of what we’d end up encountering or not, it was sure to be an unforgettable experience for all of us, something different to partake in. While only North and I possessed diver certification and skills (I had to ask her for a new set for me too), Marooni Reef was a scarcely deep formation with an abundance of life; not so good for big sailing ships passing by, but perfect for snorkeling if you preferred to keep your back dry. That’s what I had convinced the ponies to do with me, and all of them had agreed without protest. It had taken a surprisingly small amount of convincing since I knew from experience how ponies rather preferred to keep their hooves on solid ground. Whatever lay beyond the safety of the coast tended to unnerve those not attuned to the sea, making sailors a rare but highly demanded type of pony. To each race their own, I guessed.

But my pony friends were brave ponies. After facing the Avatar of Chaos himself in a grueling fight at the shores of a lava river, a snorkeling expedition was foal’s play. Also, with half of them having spent their entire lives either deep inside a mysterious forest or high above the clouds, this was one of the many activities they could’ve never partaken in before the reunification.

That very same group of ponies had already gathered near the entrance to the harbor by the time Sunny and I finished our morning preparations and hastily crossed the town to meet with them. The three mares and lone stallion were amicably chatting with our would-be captain slash master diver for the day. Sporting her sea-ruffled, royal-blue coat and short, salty, two-toned, sky-blue and white mane and tail, Captain North Wind was already well into explaining the trip's route as well as presenting the snorkeling ponies with their equipment. The pegasi sisters as well as Hitch, who’d left Sparky in the care of Pipp’s coworkers for the day, listened with rapt attention to the seasoned diver’s instructions and safety instructions. Our wacky unicorn, for her part, was distracted with closely checking out my custom-made BCD and first stage.

“Izzy! Stop wasting my nitrox!” I loudly called out to the mischievous mare once we had caught sight of our group.

Spitting out the mouthpiece, Izzy’s embarrassed grin saw her slowly retreating back into the security of the ponies with a guilty giggle.

North’s ears perked up at the sound of my voice, straining her equine head above the ponies’ to catch sight of my marefriend and I as we approached them. “Ah, there be me diving buddy. Ready to tackle the waves, grumete?!!” She greeted with a hearty wave of her foreleg.

“What did she call you?”

Rubbing my face tiredly, I addressed my marefriend with a crooked smirk behind the hand gripping the bridge of my nose. “Cabin boy, like a novice sailor. It’s a word from my mother language.” I explained to the amusement of my giggling mare, returning my attention to the smirking sailor delivering an offended rebuttal. “It was one time, North!”

“One time’s all I need, you landlubber!” She shouted back, making everypony’s muzzles stretch into bemused smirks at their particular way of talking. “Now stop yer bellyaching and give me a hoof with the gear!”

With a deep sigh, I complied with her wishes. “A sus órdenes, mi capitán.” I said as I switched to Spanish, making the seasoned mare grin in victory while the ponies’ befuddlement only continued to rise.

“Why does she talk like that?” Asked Pipp.

“Why do you talk like that?” Followed her sister, pointing her hoove at my strange choice of language.

“Any good sailor gotta stay in character.” I offered with a nonchalant shrug, messing Zipp’s mane playfully as I passed by her side. This past month our relationship had slowly but surely regained its original luster, so to speak, with both parties agreeing to just allow bygones to be bygones and focus on the important stuff ahead. Also, our friends were getting tired of the sticky awkwardness between us.

“A sailor, not a pirate.” Zipp countered, tisking in annoyance while fixing her already messy mane.

“This mare knows no difference, it’s an on-and-off thing, isn’t that right, Captain?!”

North returned a muffled hum of approval, muzzle full with carrying our diving suits after a good soak in the nearby shore to get them nice and slippery for us…

I can see where your mind’s going. Don’t.

“Help this old mare suit up, would you?” North requested with a sweet voice after spitting up our neoprene suits, nosing her own to me and turning to give a good view of her wind-rose-themed flanks.

Needless to say, my marefriend was far from amused.

“Fret not, my little pearl.” North flashed the fuming mare a reassuring wink. “I know this stud’s yours. Although…” With a naughty shake of her flanks, a sultry grin stretched her muzzle. “A mare wouldn't mind sharing sometime…” She purred, making me groan behind her where I was easing her rear legs and tail into the diving suit as Sunny’s nostrils released a noisy puff of steam.

“North, behave.” I chided, patting her rump to signal both that I had finished and to get a hold of her hormones.

“Ugh, these spineless landlubbers don’t know the virtues of sharing...” North grumbled in disappointment, grabbing her suit’s sleeves and tying them around her barrel. “Ye don’t be getting the privilege of choosing on the high seas, ye know?!”

Rolling my eyes, I left the salty mare with her nonsense while I busied myself gearing up my own suit, but not before getting a good, possessive rub of my marefriend.

“She’s just messing around,” I reassured Sunny with a scratch on her scalp.

But my partner would have none of it. “Don’t care.” She grumbled, making sure to rub every inch of her furry body against my semi-naked form, having lost my shirt and flip-flops with only my swim trunks to cover my sensitives.

“It’s not like anypony’s gonna tell with the smell of salt and seaweed.” I poked my marefriend on her third run against me, having covered my moist suit in orange hairs that would surely itch like hell later on.

“Don’t. Care.” She repeated, lower and with narrowed eyes.

It was time to shut up, my self-preservation instinct screamed at me. The shorter, albeit not particularly dimmer autumn season was looking to arrive soon this year, it seemed. Not the falling-leaves, dropping-temperatures autumn season. That kind of season. Crazy, hormone-high mares prowling the streets on the hunt for some stud to get their hooves on. Hitch and I were up for some fun in the coming days, but when it came to ‘mare versus mare’ when a stallion was concerned, things tended to escalate quickly.

The rest of the ponies, after the giggling fit had run its course, also distracted themselves with their own sets of gear, summing up to be the reglementary goggles and snorkel as well as hoof-friendly fins for their rear legs. Hooves don’t drag as much water as the slightly finned human hands, meaning big flippers were mandatory even when only treading on the surface when ashore.

However, an out-of-place sight caught my attention through the corner of my eye. More like an out-of-place behavior, actually. While the sisters and Hitch chatted amicably while testing the fitness of their gear, Izzy’s muzzle was scrunched in a guilty frown, magenta orbs quickly darting from the snuggling mare against me to the wet, wooden planks under us and back again.

‘Huh? What’s gotten into her?’

“Come on, ponies, let's get you a nice set of sealegs!!” My musings were rendered short by the captain's sharp call for boarding. Filing that nugget for later, I nudged Sunny in the direction of the vessel that would carry us offshore to our destination. Trailing behind the geared-up ponies, wearing their goggles on their necks and fins tuckered on their backs, we all boarded the modest yet considerably bulky ship, its overall shape that of a speedboat more than the old sailing ships that would fill every port on both shores of Equestria in times past. It was fitted for carrying passengers, although its distribution could be easily rearranged for cargo transportation too. With such a tiny amount of available vessels, the earth ponies had to make as much as they could out of each of them.

Painted with a warm mixture of reddish-orange and white stripes, North’s ship, the ‘Sea Roach’ (don’t ask, I don’t know) gently rocked to the rhythm of the high tide, its rubber protections bumping against the rim of the wooden walkway as our group slowly embarked and took a seat on one of the two facing benches, storing the heavier gear under them for later.

Taking my marefriend’s hoof, I steadied her on her way into the vessel, her shaky legs unaccustomed to the feeling of a rocking ship.

“This is so weird…” She mumbled with insecurity, her sight fixed on her forehooves as if she was about to trip with every step she took.

“I know, right?!” Izzy, having regained her ever-cheerful spark in the blink of an eye, excitedly called from her seat, her torso swaying against the movements of the ship and electing a snorty giggle with every jump the vessel took when a big wave crashed into it.

“I’m not sure about this…” Hitch croaked out after swallowing a nervous lump, the uneasy stallion seemingly suffering from the initial effect of seasickness. He had been the one who reacted strongly to the aftereffects of Discord’s teleportation, puking his guts out shortly after and barely avoiding making a mess of the hall.

“You’ll get used to it, buddy.” I patted the stallion on the head reassuringly. “If it gotta come out, do it. It's your first time, after all.”

“I’m fine for now.” Hitch waved his forehoof dismissively, although his yellow-furred features were growing greener with each passing moment. His special somepony, having taken a seat beside him, patted his back in a comforting gesture. Our resident daredevil would surely be the last of us to feel any motion sickness with her cutting through the air as if it were her plaything.

“The rocking will get better with some speed under us, Hitch,” I explained to the sick-looking stallion. “Again, take it easy.”

With that said, I tied the sleeves of my suit over my waist and took a seat in the free space at the front of the boat, getting a full view of the five assembled ponies with North positioning herself behind the wheel.

“Ready to get your hooves wet, ponies?” I merrily asked the group as I eased the ropes from the bow, freeing the vessel from the mooring and creating some distance from the walkway with a push. I was filled with excitement, finally able to partake in one of my favorite hobbies after so long.

A chorus of affirmative cheers and a sickly *urp* filled the rather empty harbor. Having freed her end of the boat, North turned the ignition and kicked the twin engines into reverse, maneuvering the vessel with practiced ease away from the dock and out of the harbor into the open sea. I estimated an hour and a half or so until we reached our target, so I fell back into my seat and, with a big stretch, relished the familiar motion of a speeding boat, the vibrating purr of its engines against the frame more than once having lulled me to sleep while on longer trips.

“Feel the wind in your manes, ponies. Taste the salt in the air!” Noth called over the roar of the engines and the displaced water. “This is as close as us flightless ponies will get to experiencing piercing the heavens!”

“Eh…” A smug Zipp shrugged with an evil smirk, earning a tiny jab from her sister. Pipp on her end had, without missing a beat, been live-streaming her point of view, her no-doubt thousands of followers hooked into experiencing through the screen what we were experiencing first-hand… or first-hoof for most of us.

“Are we gonna see a lot of fishies?!” Izzy wondered in her bottomless excitement.

“With any luck, we’ll get to see more than a few fishies,” I answered the peppy unicorn while sending a knowing wink in my marefriend’s direction.

Sunny returned her most excited smile, looking adorable with her big snorkeling glasses around her neck, trapping both her long braid and my old pendant within its rubbery grasp. The pendant hadn't left its place at her neck since it got its cord changed for a sturdier one. It was easy to miss buried in her chest fluff, which was extra fluffy now that the ponies would begin shedding their summer coat for a fuller, denser coat in time for the winter months soon. I was gonna cuddle that mare to death when that happened.

That thought, however, dragged my sight back to Izzy. More specifically the friendship bracelet which also had made a permanent residence on one of her fetlocks. The multicolored gems lining the lighter fur of her fetlock gave an idea.

“Izzy,” I called the unicorn, who had wasted no time distracting herself by looking over the rim and sticking her muzzle into the spray of displaced water and seafoam.

“Hmm?” She replied, blinking hard to lose the stingy droplets and wrinkling her snout at the tangy smell of seawater.

“Can I borrow your bracelet for the dive? I wanna show you something cool.”

“Ummm…” She shuffled her forehooves in hesitation.

“I won’t lose it, I promise.” I crossed my heart in a short version of a Pinkie Promise. “It’s something they show us in training. It’s cool, you’ll see.”

Under my reassuring promise, Izzy accepted and removed her bracelet, hoofing it to me to wear on my left wrist, right behind my gauntlet. I could’ve used the gauntlet gems too for a demonstration, but I didn't want to remove them, especially deep underwater. Those things were now truly irreplaceable with the elite of Canterlot’s I+D gone for good.

“Captain!” I yelled over the roar of the boat for the mare behind the wheel. “We brought the underwater camera, right?!”

“Are you stupid, grumete?!” She yelled back with a face that denoted my idiocy.

“Yeah, we’ve got the camera,” I added blankly to myself, eliciting a chuckle from the pony spectators.

The sea remained calm during our voyage, only scarce waves now hitting harder against the hull and making us jump in our seats. Izzy was elated with the experience, waiting eagerly for the boat to cut through a big wave and jump high, remaining half a second more in the air with the relative change of height, yet laughing lively at the particular feeling of momentary weightlessness in your belly. This was a completely new experience for all the ponies present, besides the experienced captain, so all of them were enjoying the trip to its fullest while I remained calm and lazy in my place, already used to such trips back and forth on speedboats or the closest the ponies of old had to them.

A heavy sigh broke through the sound of the wing rushing in my ears. “If only it wasn’t saltwater…” A slightly dejected Pipp clutched her mane, already feeling the effect of the seawater on it.

“You know it's actually good for your mane, right?” Pipp, cocking her head sideways, silently urged me to explain while trying in vain to smooth her already curling hair. “Saltwater’s harsh on the hair, but even more so on anything nasty living there. It's a natural antifungal and helps eliminate excess oil and sebum.”

Pipp, mane expert extraordinaire, hummed pensively while brushing her purple mane strands. “Hmm… perhaps I ought to order a saltwater bath for the saloon…”

“And where’re you going to place it?” Her sister stuck her muzzle in, “That place’s stuffy enough as it is.” She said, playfully teasing the pouting pegasus.

With a dignified huff, Pipp stuck her snout in the rushing breeze ruffling our heads. “Well, perhaps I oughta place it in our room instead, straight under your bed, and get all that ‘detective’ junk out of the way…”

‘Oh-ho, that's gonna hit bad…’

With an exaggerated gasp, Zipp’s wings flared out from her sides, catching the defending wind under her feathers and almost launching her straight up from the boat had Hitch not secured her in his forelegs.

A mistake on his part.

“Hitch, defend your mare's honor!” Zipp loudly demanded from the security of the stallion's grasp with a theatrical gesture.

“M-M-Me?!” Hitch stuttered like a little colt, earning the flattest look Zipp's equine features could muster. Swallowing loudly, Hitch rubbed his fetlocks as he met Pipp’s smug grin. “Um, please don't, Pipp.” He muttered in a striking resemblance to another yellow-furred pony I had known well in the past.

“Wow, my knight in shining armor.” Zipp blankly stated, receiving a pleading look from his coltfriend and a victorious laugh from her sister.

“B-But, honeeey…” Hitch whined, but the damage was already done.

Chuckling alongside the rest of our friends, I watched amused at the couple's antics, sending a side look at my own mare which was met with one from her, a silent recollection of the few times we’d also fallen into lover’s silliness this past month.

An hour or so into our journey, the first sandbanks began to breach through the calm waters, slowly emerging from the depth until creating a shifting, low-depth underwater plateau that had claimed its fair share of vessels from inexperienced sailors. Since these underwater dunes shifted constantly, growing and diminishing to the sea’s whims and the wind’s command, most of those ships had ended up being dragged deeper into the slope of the Marooni Reef, meaning you wouldn't see them marooned in the shallow waters anymore, instead making their slow but sure journey into the depths of the endless blue.

That was true for all but one of them, which I was pleasantly surprised to see still in its resting place even after so many years since the last time I visited.

“Captain, three o’clock, one kilometer! You see it?!”

Following my directions, North extracted a pair of binoculars from a store cabinet and scrutinized the horizon.

After a minute of searching, her eyes lit up behind the lenses. “Ah, is that what you were talking about?!”

The uppermost part of a mast, still with the crow's nest and a soggy flag stuck to the wooden structure, jutted from the depths, defying the gentle waves that sought to break it.

But this was no ordinary vessel.

“What?! What is it?!” Izzy jumped from her seat and latched onto the boat's rim, searching for the landmark I had pointed. “Wait, is it that black dot in the distance?”

“Mhm.” I nodded to her claim. “We gotta put it on starboard and continue for another seven kilometers until we reach the rocky formations. Light up the depth sounder just in case!” I called out to our Captain, twisting in my seat to face the front of the boat and keep an eye out into the sea. Centuries had passed since the last time I’d gone there, so I couldn't trust the finer details of my meager memories of previous trips.

Sticking her foreleg into the air, North signaled she’d copied and, slowing down the boat to a safer speed, followed my instructions.

The closer we sailed to our destination, the better the landmark could be discerned, until the curious ponies finally caught a good view of it.

“Is that a mast?!” Sunny asked, having followed Izzy's example and casting her full attention into the blue beyond.

“Indeed it is, baby.” I warmly congratulated Sunny. “Those are the remains of the HMS Luna’s Might, one of Equestria's mightiest warships at the time, hence the name.”

From the time of the second attempt of the griffons to invade Equestria, shortly after Luna's banishment, trying to take advantage of the subsequent political mess. They failed miserably, needless to say, but still, many lives were lost on both sides. But this ship hadn't met its end in a glorious battle. No, no, its story possessed a pathetic, albeit humorous end, where a proud earth pony captain, fresh out of having sunk a pair of griffon warships, wanted to cut through the reef in a mad victory rush to return to port and flaunt his recent victory with any mare willing to humor him. He and his sailors were drunk on victory and moonshine.

You can guess the rest.

I shared the short story with the ponies who, just as I’d done the first time I’d heard it, burst out laughing at such a pitiful end for such a mighty vessel.

“Yeah, even in the middle of the war, the griffons wouldn't shut up about it every chance they got to humiliate the ponies further.”

“Can we check it out?”

“On our way back, perhaps,” I answered Zipp. “We gotta head in a bit further to the rocky side of the reef. Underwater dunes shift and change too quickly for any sealife to cling to them properly. It’s like an underwater desert here.”

North Wind, an eye out on the sea and the other fixed on the screen navigated with practiced ease around the shipwreck and further into the slope. The sandy bottom slowly gave way to solid rock, deprived of sand by the strong current pulling inwards into the major cannon stretching far under us. At the same time, the bland, bluish-white of the empty sea bottom slowly bloomed with blurred colors and shapes at the same time its depth stabilized into a gentle slope, where countless creatures and plants found the conditions ideal to establish and form breathtaking submerged ecosystems.

The old mooring places for diver vessels had been long ago lost to the ocean, meaning we had to secure an impromptu place to park our boat for the time being. A jutting formation of gray, algae-covered rock did the trick. I secured the ropes around it and made the necessary knots to ensure our ride wouldn’t go anywhere without us.

I checked with North’s onboard computer to assess more or less where we were and plot a course for the ponies and myself to follow.

“Okay, how about we go thirty minutes northeast, do a couple of laps around the Dawn’s Hammer, and then come back using the current? Gives me enough margin of error with the nitrox and the gang can get a nice swim to boot.”

With a hearty nod, North Wind agreed to my proposition. “Sound’s good to me, grumete. I’ll keep an eye on them. They all know how to swim, right?”

“Ha! Imagine if they didn't.” I chuckled at North’s silly inquiry.

“It’d be a tragically short trip.” She joked back. Turning the keys, the purr of the ship came to an end, leaving the gentle sway of the waves and the wind rushing in our ears as our only companions.

“Hear up, landlubbers! Gear up and be ready in five!” North bossed the ponies who, getting into the role, saluted the salty mare and began gearing up.

“Oooh, this is gonna be so much fun!” Izzy couldn't help crying as she donned her hoof-friendly flippers.

Not wanting to fall behind, I returned to my previous seat and began dressing myself with my retrofitted diving equipment. With the safety checks done and everything in place, I drew from experience to be ready before the ponies had finished fumbling around with their flippers and donning their goggles over their faces. I didn't miss the funny look my marefriend was sending me.

“How do I look?” I playfully asked Sunny, who dipped her head in contemplation.

“Hmm, like an astromare from Izzy’s cheap movies.” She jested, earning a snicker from me and an offended look from the unicorn.

“Unicorn cinematography is but the MOST exquisite form of art, I’ll have you know!” Izzy proclaimed, sending her snout high in the air.

“Ugh, so weird…” I caught Pipp muttering, unaccustomed to the feeling of having to breathe through her mouth since the goggles blocked their nostrils, just as the ones on Earth would.

A bit of fumbling over their gear later, and the ponies were ready and eager to begin. North, wearing her own diving suit, took center stage in the middle of the boat and delivered our schedule to the ponies. They would remain on the surface, snorkeling to their heart's content while North dived close under them, with me going deeper and snapping as many pictures as I could, as well as searching for the aforementioned kelpies.

My interest in them was twofold. On the one hand, they were amazing creatures to encounter, so any chance of meeting one was guaranteed to be a magical experience. But on the other hand, as guardians of the southern waters, they were sure to know at least something about the state of the world in general.

I wasn't afraid of them not being around anymore. The underwater world was rarely affected by the noise from the lands above, so I was positive they’d still be around minding their own business. If I could find one and convince them to surface, I prayed for any nuggets of information they could offer regarding current or past events that I could milk from them. And if I was lucky enough, I wouldn't even need to pull titles on them. Although, considering what a rough spot I got them out of last time, they were sure to remember me or at least remember my titles, so I had that edge if the occasion required it.

I was to be the first to jump, the ponies wanting some cool pictures of them jumping from the boat. Humoring them, I placed myself into position and, sending Sunny one parting kiss, I inflated my vest, bit on the mouthpiece, and, with a deep breath, let gravity drag me into the chilling waters.

Shaking off the stupor from the temperature change, I reoriented myself to face the boat and readied the camera. One by one, the ponies jumped from the rim, striking a pose of their own choosing which I then each captured in a picture. Once all the equines were in the water and kicking to stay afloat, North ran one last look around her vessel to make sure everything was fine and followed my example down into the blue waters of the reef.

The ponies were quick to adjust and, having already partaken in more than one outing in Horseshoe Bay, found no trouble paddling doggy style in the default swimming way of the ponies, biting on their tubes and sinking their heads under the crystalline waters, marveling themselves with the underwater sights one could only find in the equatorial regions of the Earth.

While North submerged herself under the ponies and began monitoring them, I took a second longer to set the compass in place, using the boat as our reference to later find our way back the way we came.

Once I was satisfied we wouldn’t get lost, I expelled the air from my vest and began my descent. Soon, the striking silence of the underwater world displaced the rolling of the waves and the rushing of the wind. It’s an experience only those who have ventured into the endless blue can truly recognize. It’s hard to put into words, but the sheer calmness, the sense of weightlessness, the nip of the chilling waters that slowly evaporated away with you not even realizing it...

‘Faust above, how I have missed this…’

Down there, surrounded by countless sea creatures of all shapes and sizes, from branchy corals to schools of fishes of every color of the rainbow, going through the occasional turtle swimming an uninterested lap around me.

The path we were to follow mirrored the natural course of this side of the reef. As long as we swam parallel to it, we would stay on course, and do the same thing on our way back. At the end of it, another Equestrian vessel, this one a military cargo ship, awaited us, or so I hoped.

Twisting my body, I faced the surface to check on with my friends. They caught sight of my movement since all of them began saluting me from the surface. Returning the gesture, I snapped a couple of pictures of them before repositioning myself and beginning my slow journey northeast, but not before blowing a healthy amount of bubbles in their direction. Even from where I was, pushing ten meters deep, I heard their giggles when the bubbles tickled their exposed bellies.

At the same time, where the reef stretched northeast, it slowly sank the further we traversed it, reaching twenty-five or so meters before plunging sharply into the blackness of the deeper reaches. The Dawn’s Hammer was a spectacular sight, for it was balanced just at the rim of the slope before it turned alarmingly steeper in barely a few meters. Centuries of currents hadn't managed to push it past the brink, for just as I was about to breach through the end of the reef, the stern of the ship, tilted upward in its precarious position, met me with its breathtaking wonder. A quick look up at the surface revealed the ponies having managed to catch up, Zipp pointing to the same sight I was experiencing from my vantage point at eye level with its wooden frame.

Since I was close to twenty-five meters deep, the colors had already begun to fade. Those of you who have dived before will know what I’m talking about, the warmer colors dulling to an ugly brown as the water absorbed more and more of the wavelengths from the midday sun. I extracted Izzy’s bracelet, lined with a myriad of colorful gems, now considerably duller while suffering from the same phenomenon as the coral and sea life around me. I snapped a picture of it, wanting to show them the difference in the colors after we had resurfaced.

I swam towards the ship’s rotten frame and swam a lap around it, snapping pictures far and wide while trying to not push the depth limit too much to preserve as much air as I could. Since I was alone for this dive, which meant that North was too far up to reach me quickly in case of an emergency, I decided it was best not to delve inside the derelict ship. Whatever treasure that it might have hosted in the day was long gone, now a home for any creature who would find a safe, secluded place on its wooden insides.

Once I was satisfied and had drunk in the sights to my heart's content, I decided that it was time to execute the maneuver. What maneuver, you might be asking? The thing is, I wasn’t supposed to use it in the condition I was currently in, said condition lacking any kind of immediate danger or emergency, so sending a distress signal when no distress was present was considered rude and of little consideration.

Still, with nothing better at my disposal to stir up any passing kelpie or other sea dwellers than a distress signal, one I had learned to cast as a variation of the shockwave spell, I charged into my gauntlets, releasing a powerful burst of energy that quickly traveled in all directions, startling the ponies above me as centuries of sand and seaweed fell from the ship’s frame to float in a light dust cloud that momentarily clouded my vision.

The tranquility of the ocean was restored by the time the sand particles had dispersed enough to clean the view in front of me. I waited for a while, keeping a close eye on the dark horizon in search of any signs of movement. I waited for five minutes, and then ten, but the enriched oxygen stored in my tank was finite, and I was already cutting it close enough; so, after one last three-sixty look around me, I sent a dejected negative signal to my fellow diver above me.

What had helped countless sailors in the past from meeting a decisive end in the sea’s embrace had failed to summon any of the friendly waterponies that patrolled these submerged territories. Whether it was a case of simple bad luck, or them acting skittish after so many years of no pony sightings, I couldn't know for sure. Perhaps I would try at a later date, but the manometer marked the halfway point of my dive, meaning it was time to head back. The current would help us on our return trip, so it took considerably less time to make it back to the boat. With the safety stop done and my vest once again filled with air, I waited for the gang to reach me as I hung onto one of the ship's lifelines, privately cursing my bad luck. Still, I’d had a blast and had painted a new coat of memories over the dulled ones I’d harbored of past dives so many centuries ago.

“It was a wide shot, Alex. Either you cross the land bridge to Essia and take a peek for yourself, or you build a proper ship.” I mused to myself as I waved to my marefriend who, along with the rest, was a few short strokes from reaching me. “Either way, the other creatures are not going anywhere… I hope.”

The waterlogged suit was considerably heavier on my way up to our boat, but nothing I couldn’t handle. Once I was inside and the gear secured, I helped the ponies up one by one, with North taking the rear. If the ship’s deck had managed to remain relatively dry on our way here, six ponies vigorously shaking their coats dry made swift work of it. I couldn’t help but laugh at the curious sight. These ponies acted like anything but ponies sometimes.

The total amount of time I’d spent submerged couldn't have surpassed the fifty-minute mark, but regardless of that, every time I dived and came back, I always felt a bit queasy, the difference in pressure not agreeing with my stomach. Taking a seat and closing my eyes, I allowed the brisk breeze to chase the nausea away. That, and the onboard snacks North had brought with us, would leave me feeling refreshed in no time.

A very excited Sunny welcomed me; after reopening my eyes, I could see my marefriend’s beaming smile bursting with happiness.

“My, somepony’s had a good time.” I quipped, running my fingers through the damp fur under her chin.

Oh, a good time she’d certainly had, which Sunny made sure to ‘summarize’ by eagerly retelling each and everything she’d seen from the surface, with me listening attentively to my mate’s enthusiastic tirade with a heart full of love.

“... And did you see the size of that turtle?! It was huge!! Like, I thought it was gonna eat you or something!”

I chuckled at her exaggerated claim, my gesture lighting up that adorable blush on her cheeks which I had made a daily goal to enjoy at least once a day.

“I’m sorry we didn't get to meet a kelpie...” I apologized with a shameful frown once the laughing had left my lungs. She’d sounded so eager that morning…

The electrical feeling of her lips over mine stopped the cascade of shame dead in its tracks. Her aquamarine orbs, shining under the harsh sun, regarded me with as much love as her equine heart could muster and got mine to beat a hundred times faster in tandem.

“I had a lot of fun, honey.” She accompanied her soothing words with a gentle brush of my cheek. “Don’t beat yourself over it, okay? There’s always next time!” She finished with a peppy skip, a sure promise for a repetition of the activity when the weather was more forgiving.

Still feeling bad for having promised something that had amounted to nothing but smoke and mirrors, I heeded her and answered with a peck of my own.

“Hey! No frowning is allowed aboard the USS Friendship!”

Izzy’s damp, but nevertheless stunning mane peeked out over Sunny’s, her horn almost appearing to belong to my marefriend from that angle. Sunny, flicking her ears backward, leaned aside to find the horn’s owner giving us a warning look, which lost all its weight with the oversized goggles around her neck.

“The what?” I couldn't help but ask.

“You know? The ship we’re currently on?” Izzy clarified as if it was shared knowledge.

Sadly, our captain was quick to disagree.

“That's not what my baby is called!”

“Yes, she is” Izzy didn't skip a beat on her rebuttal.

“It’s not!”

“It’s so!”

“It is not!”

“Mine is much better!” The lavender unicorn dramatically raised her hoof high. “A fitting name for a vessel carrying the most awesome, friendliest group of ponies, and human,” she interrupted her number to send me a wink, “Equestria has ever seen!” Bringing herself down from whatever high had filled her system, Izzy addressed a fuming North with her smuggest grin. “Much better than the ‘Sea Roach’” She concluded with a proud flick of her tail.

Before North had the chance to literally explode and leave us stranded in the middle of the sea, I flicked Izzy on her flank to get her attention.

“Sorry, Izzy, but that one’s taken.”

“Huh?” She furrowed her muzzle.

“That ship became our capital ship, from the repurposed Storm King’s invasion fleet.”

With my marefriend's attention once again piqued, Izzy racked her brain in search of another name, although it was not like North was going to accept any of them anyway.

“Uuuh… Unity?”

“Second fleet, northern reaches patrol.” I crossed my arms smugly, relishing the feeling of Sunny’s wet fur brushing against me as she snuggled up against my side.

“Mmm… Magic?”

“Come on, Izz,” I quipped with a smirk. “You’ve gotta be more original than that.”

“Ugh!” Now she was furiously rubbing her temples. “... Compadres?”

“I personally named that one.”

“OH COME ON!!”

While Izzy continued spitting out gibberish by that point, I remembered that I was still carrying her bracelet in my vest’s pocket. Reaching down for it before I had the chance to forget it again, I used this time to also turn on the underwater camera to show them why I wanted to take her bracelet with me in the first place.

“Izzy.”

“Confidants? Bosom Buddies? Palsfourever?...”

“Izzy, look.”

Fortunately, I managed to pull the wacky unicorn out of the gutter and guide her attention to the back screen of the camera, where the picture I’d taken of her bracelet was portrayed. At the same time, I held her actual bracelet in my other hand for her to notice the difference. Sunny, her head resting on my shoulder, also wanted to take a peek in her boundless curiosity.

It took her only a moment to notice the glow-down her usual sparkling bracelet had acquired when submerged several meters underwater.

“Not so pretty down there, huh?”

Ignoring my rhetorical question, Izzy took her bracelet from my offering hand and, after a careful lookover, as if fearing it had permanently lost its luster as shown in the picture, returned it to its usual place on one of her fetlocks. She sent me a quizzical stare, a silent request for an explanation.

I was more than happy to oblige. “The more you descend, the more the warmer colors fade since the seawater absorbs the lower energy wavelengths. Reds and oranges get absorbed by the water first, then yellows and so on, down the order of colors in the rainbow.” I said, pointing to the picture during my explanation. “It all ends up catching sickly greens or tasteless blues, not quite like in the books, I reckon.”

With another nugget of knowledge shared amongst my friends, I turned the camera off and laid back in my seat, waiting for the captain to announce our departure.

She didn’t take long. After huffing up a storm and sending a death glare to our resident unicorn, North got behind the wheel and rigged the GPS for our trip back.

“Very well, Sea Roach,” Another leer towards a smirking Izzy. “We’ll get us nice and dry back into port, just sit back and enjoy the ride.”

“Let’s take a quick lap around the Luna’s Might first, Captain.” I proposed, catching a twitching Zipp visibly relaxing on her seat once her initial request had been fulfilled.

Rolling her eyes and huffing, North began the excruciating task of pressing two buttons to change our course a bit. Zipp, happy that she was gonna get a closer look at the sunken warship, returned to her previous place beside her coltfriend, who seemed now to be considerably less seasick than on our initial voyage.

‘We’ll see about that in a second…’ I inwardly chuckled, relaxing back in my place with my cuddly marefriend nuzzling me under my chin. With the sun’s warmth quickly drying my fur-less body up, and the feeling of nausea all but gone by then, I closed my eyes and leaned against Sunny, looking forward to a nice ride back home…

“Um… hello?”

Only to almost tear my eyelids off as I opened them to peer at… nothing?

“You guys say anything?” I asked the group, receiving negative answers from the assortment of ponies.

“Is everything alright?” My concerned marefriend inquired.

“I thought I heard somepony…” I answered, scratching my head while casting a puzzled look around.

“Uh, down here.”

‘... No way…’

The voice would’ve been enough indication, rising above the splashing of the waves with that telltale… I'm not quite sure how to describe it. It sounded wobbly as if you were trying to speak underwater.

Still, my eyes needed to believe what my ears were receiving. Startling Sunny out of her cuddly stupor, I almost launched myself over the board, the safety ropes lining the ship's rim the only thing preventing me from getting a mouthful of seawater down my gullet.

The owner of the voice was also startled by my abrupt movement, his translucid head sinking under the waves against my harsh peering.

‘No no NO, dammit!’

“Hey! HEY!” I called out to the ocean, tense seconds passing before the water reformed in the shape of an equine head, a pair of hesitant, pearly eyes peeking over the shifting waters. “Sorry about that, mate, I'm just very happy to see you.”

While my words were meant to be soothing, the manic grin I was sporting spoke otherwise. But the wondrous creature known as a Kelpie stilled his nerves and, spurred by the lack of aggressive intention, swam a bit closer to the boat.

“I heard a distress call nearby.” He exclaimed, his upper body now jutting over the blue. “It's sure been a while, but it's every kelpie’s duty to answer the call if our land cousins are in distress…”

I caught my pony friends sharing puzzled looks before rising from their seats to approach me. “I apologize for alarming you, my friend. We're all fine and about to head back.” I apologized sincerely, stretching out a welcoming hand towards the skittish sea creature. “But I really, really need to speak to you.”

That day was a crazy day, and that's coming from me! Summer had been a blast, easily the best time I could ever remember having. The fact that I had found a new family away from home kinda sealed the deal, and I would cherish forever the times I’d spent with my friends.

And yet, just as autumn had caught up with us, my human friend Alex had come up with an offshore adventure, a very ‘summer-themed’ one, but something about technical difficulties had pushed his plans out of schedule.

Still, I had a blast trying out snorkeling, and by my family's heirloom, I was gonna go down with him next time, even if I had to get the license for it in the middle of winter!

All that sea life you only get to see in pictures, or in your town's aquarium if you're one of the lucky ones, straight up in your face! Like, you can stretch a hoof and actually touch it! It was crazy!

With all that said, one would think that, after getting a good soak in the middle of the ocean and getting front-row seats to a nature-themed documentary, the highlight of the day had passed.

“You guys say anything?”

Alex’s sudden question brought me out of my thoughts. Thoughts revolving around him. And Sunny. And the two of them being an item now which, don't get me wrong, made me as happy and excited for them as the next pony.

But, still…

“Is everything alright?” My bestie asked, the concern in her voice snuffing out the jealous thoughts from my scrambled brain.

“I thought I heard somepony…” He replied scratching his head while looking around in a feeble attempt to find anything.

‘Must’ve been the wind’ I mentally reasoned, delving back into my musings.

“... -own her-...”

Now that I had heard, the surprise in my friends' features revealed they too had caught a word or two.

Alex, for his part, practically shoved himself off the boat, eliciting an alarmed cry from our captain who was moments away from starting the twin engines of her ship.

He had caught himself at the last second though, gripping tightly the safety rope attached to the boat's rim to balance himself on the edge. With the sound of the briny sea around us, it was hard to make out clearly, but it was evident he was talking to some… thing?

Sharing one last quizzical look, we ponies shared a collective thought and rose from our seats as one, approaching on unsteady hooves our human pal to discern who or what he was speaking to.

However, just as I was about to nudge my snout over his shoulder to take a peek, Alex suddenly rose back from his crouching position to his full length, taking a step back and bumping into me.

I was about to fall to my hooves when a securing hand grasped my withers and steadied me. Sending an apologetic look towards me, Alex turned to address our group.

“Clear the deck.” He commanded in short following his own example and nudged me to the side of the boat while taking a place beside me.

Just as I was about to ask who the hay was he talking to, a shapeless mass of water rose from the ocean, scaring the fur out of our coats and forcing half of us on our rumps, our winged pals the only ones able to retain their balance. Our sudden scare worked to clear a space in the middle of the vessel as Alex had instructed, space that formless glob of seawater used as a landing pad after forming a lazy arch over us. With a resounding splash, the deck of the Sea Roach was filled with salty liquid, wetting my fetlocks and tickling the frogs of my hooves.

You would’ve expected the intruding water to slowly drain through the holes on the boat’s sides. However, our breaths were stolen away the moment the water began disobeying the laws of nature and, instead of draining away to the ocean, it slowly crawled back through the deck to reform the glob of water that had landed on our deck.

The mass of water remained shapeless as the last trickles of the clear liquid rushed to rejoin the bigger mass. It was at that moment that, to our profound astonishment, the morphing blob of water slowly began acquiring a familiar shape. A very familiar, equine-like shape.

‘There’s no way…’

Two things happened at once after. While the pony-like sketch slowly gained more definition as the morphing water slowly crawled to shape, its texture and color also changed. Darkened portions of the unsteady mass gave way to a pair of ears, a prominent snout, a pair of beady, sparkling eyes… The area where the hooves were also acquired a darker tone, becoming once again translucent the higher the legs went. Their barrel was as see-through as you would expect from water, yet around the neck and withers the water bent and twisted to form ridges similar to gills. From the forming creatures' rump, a plume of water fell and thinned to give way to a tail, or the closest thing you could get to one in liquid state.

While the creature's shape remained intact, water droplets constantly dripped from it to the wet floor, only to rejoin the main body as if pulled by an invisible force.

It barely took a few gawking moments before our jaws practically touched the deck, owlish eyes blinking stupidly at the water-made creature who, once fully formed, cast a cautionary look around, visibly alert. For a being made of water, I had no problem discerning its features, which bent and flexed almost identically to a flesh ‘n’ blood pony.

“Um…” The creature before us mumbled with hesitation, its fetlocks somehow rubbing against one another without mixing with each other. “Is any creature here in need of help? I heard your call…”

From the mass of stupefied ponies, only one could muster the strength to break from their stupor.

“A KELPIE!!!” My bestie Sunny, in her boundless curiosity, wailed loud enough for our friends back on the mainland to hear.

‘Kelpie?’

“I mean…” The creature, which now had a name, once again mumbled in its wobbly voice. “It's sure been a while, but…”

“Please, forgive my family's ignorance. It has indeed been centuries since land and sea have met. Your sight is as alien to them as it was to mine during my arrival.”

My heart swelled when he called us his family without a flicker of hesitation. I'd reward him with some unicorn cuddles later. For the time being, we had a huge elephant in the room to address.

The kelpie, a male if I had to guess, although the wobbliness of his voice made it hard to pin down the tone, took a wet step forward and, to our even further surprise, took a silent bow before our tall friend.

“Centuries may have gone by, but the sea shall ever remember the Prince who saved its waters and its people.”

“...He WHAT?!!’

“Please, my friend, I've suffered through enough bowing in my past life to begin now once again,” Alex asked the water creature, visibly uncomfortable as his feet shuffled nervously against the deck.

The kelpie obeyed and took a calm step back as he regained his posture. Now visibly at ease, he ran another exploratory gaze around, resting a second in each of us with an analytical gleam in his beady eyes.

I can't put it into words, it was SO weird!! It was made out of water, yet I could clearly see a pony looking back at me! You simply had to see it for yourself.

“Saved them? What’s he talking about?” Hitch butted in.

“A big mess with a subaquatic volcanic eruption melted straight through long-buried uraninite deposits. A lot of radioactive material became exposed to the water, and the magma and radiation began heating it up quickly.” Alex explained while taking a seat on the boat's rim, all equines and equine-likes giving him our full attention. “Radioactive material is poisonous in the long run, even in diluted concentrations; and heated seas are bad news for the resident fauna and flora. Believe me, I know...” I noticed something about him during that last part, but I couldn't quite place it. Perhaps it wasn't the first time he had heard about such a phenomenon.

Our new, wobbly friend interceded then. “The Prince of Knowledge spoke of similar happenings from his birthplace and proposed a solution which had worked in the past.”

“Which was?”

“To drop tons upon tons of sand, lead, boron, and clay over the fissure point, an artificial shielding of sorts to contain the leak and take the brunt of the heating and radiation until the temperature stabilized and the oceanic currents could distribute the excess heat safely.” He answered Zipp’s query and rubbed his face with both hands tiredly, yet a smirk of self-pride grew on his lips. “Yeah, that would've been a mess otherwise…”

“The loss of life would’ve been unthinkable if it hadn't been for the Prince of Knowledge’s early warning and planning.” Once again, he dipped his head in deference. “The creatures of the Republic of Hydropolis shall never forget that act.” He spoke solemnly.

Sunny, whose sparkling eyes had been glued to our new friend, drinking in every single droplet of his water-based body, woke herself out of her trance and, with her proudest smile that could light a thousand nights, didn't waste a second to trot over Alex and nuzzle the stuffing out of his cuddly human bear.

‘Oooh, we're very, VERY much jealous right now, Izzy…’ I grumbled inwards, conflicted thoughts distracting me from the HUGE event happening before my very eyes.

Alex was more than happy to accept his marefriend’s gesture. “I did tell you I helped a lot of creatures back then.” He half-chuckled-half-whispered, planting a grateful peck behind Sunny's ear.

I believe I was turning green from envy by that point, and green is such an ugly color when paired with lavender. Or purple. I don't know which color I am anymore!

Stupid human…

“My friend,” Alex resumed once the snuggle session was put on hold, “Please, share with us your name.” He invited with a gesture of his hand.

Funny how, even with those fingers of his, we shared enough mannerisms for us ponies to recognize some of his non-verbal language. And yet, the meaning of sticking his middle finger to somepony still eluded me. He’d claimed it was for ‘grown-ups’ to know when I’d asked.

One day…

“I believe your tongues cannot quite pronounce the words of our language.” The kelpie, more at ease with the human’s friendly invitation, stood a bit taller as the flow of water alongside his frame became less erratic.

‘Does that mean he’s calmer now?... Ugh, and I thought meeting earth ponies and pegasi was like bumping snout-first with an alien...’

“But,” The sea-dweller continued. “Ikko shall suffice, Your Highness.” He finished his introduction with a small bow.

Alex returned the courtesy, an awkward silence reigning afterward as nopony could fully bring themselves out of their stupor. Noticing the absence of yammering, our resident human fixated on the ponies with a quizzical dip of his head.

“Um… aren't you guys gonna introduce yourselves?”

Being a smarty pants like my favorite human was not a thing Izzy could do well. But making new friends, however…

My legs zeroed in on the poor kelpie faster than my thoughts could keep me rooted.

“Hi, new friend!! My name is Izzy!!”

The poor creature almost made for a hasty retreat back into the safety of the ocean, shying back from my exuberant introductions only to stumble against Alex, inadvertently blocking his escape route.

“Fret not, Ikko, you won’t find a friendlier pony in all of Equestria.” He encouraged the skittish kelpie who, somehow swallowing a nervous lump (how a creature made up of water can do that is beyond me), sent a mumbled ‘greetings’ toward my direction.

I know I may come off as a bit too much sometimes, but I just simply couldn’t help myself. I LOVED making new friends, pony or otherwise!

Also, that human was getting an extra, extra dose of snuggles later for calling me the friendliest pony around. Not like he was wrong or anything.

The rest of the ponies introduced themselves, with Pipp taking an unhealthy dose of pictures to the kelpie’s befuddlement, and my bestie barely containing her own enthusiasm, albeit hers was more… academic-oriented, let's say. Her trusty notebook would never leave her side if she could help it, and this day was no different.

“Honey,” Alex placed a restraining hand on Sunny’s scalp before she had a chance to ‘dissect’ our new friend. “I know you have a million and one questions to ask our new pal here, but I really need to speak with him first.” He requested to the mare’s disappointment. “It won’t be long, I promise. Then you can have him for yourself.” He negotiated, to which his marefriend accepted, sealing the deal with a quick peck to his lips and returning to her seat on the boat's rim.

Ikko, whose sight shifted from the human to the mare with unease, didn't look very convinced by the deal. “Um… don’t I have a say in this?”

“Sorry mate, there’s no escaping Sunny.” He jested, pointing with his thumb behind him towards the pony in question who stuck her tongue playfully at him. “But, returning to the matter at hand, I’d like to ask you to indulge me while we return to our home by the shore. I have been… away for a long time, and I’m afraid the state of the world beyond Equestria’s shores is unknown to me.” He explained, joining Sunny in his previous place while the rest of the ponies followed his example. I was left standing in the middle of the deck before hurrying to take a seat too.

“North,” Alex called to our captain, who had remained unusually silent during our short exchange, and made a rolling gesture to her with his finger in the air. North understood this as our ‘returning to port’ call and scampered behind the wheel to reignite the engines.

Soon, the familiar purr of the twin engines fighting against the current filled the air, the vibrations running through the ship’s frame tickling my rump in a familiar manner.

‘Heh, it’s like that massage chair back in Zephyr Heights’ dungeons.’ I fondly recalled.

“Now then,” Alex’s features gained a more serious taint, his hands coming to rest on his lap as his fingers drummed against one another. “I presume that, as guardians of the southern portion of the eastern waters, you guys are bound to keep tabs on the happenings of the surface world, yes?”

Ikko, unbothered by the sway of the boat since his legs' length would adapt to the raising and falling of the vessel to keep him steady, answered with a firm nod, falling in tow with the seriousness of the conversation.

“Things have gone considerably quiet for a long time now,” he offered, “but I’ll be happy to share my knowledge with the one who embodies it.”

Smirking, Alex wetted his lips. What followed was a looooong, confusing, but far from boring exchange, where both creatures covered the state of the world outside the little corner our three cities formed. They talked about the griffons of the east, the hippogriffs to the far south, the diamond dog clans beyond the Badlands, and the missing dragons at the other side of the Celestial Sea. I noticed Hitch’s ears perk at that last part.

Harpies, yaks, changelings, abyssinians, storm creatures… poor Sunny looked ready to explode with the sheer amount of information being shared, her furious scribbling barely able to keep pace with our human’s conversation with the kelpie.

It took them most of the ride back to finish their run-down of current events. To our dismay, however, Alex was far from happy with what he had learned.

Poor Ikko, having spent himself sharing as much as he knew with my favorite human, held no hope of escaping our most inquisitive friend. With what little free pages her notebook still held, she planted her rump in front of the sea creature and bore the full weight of her boundless curiosity into the unsuspecting kelpie. They’d be distracted for a while, the rest of the ponies joining Sunny in learning more about our subaquatic neighbors.

I, however, stayed back to give a concerned Alex some company. His defeated features sure called for it.

“Everything alright?” I softly called, nuzzling my way under his arm to rest against his frame.

Alex welcomed the gesture, running his fingers behind my ears and sending shivers down my spine.

“... Well, it could be worse.” He blurted out, still deep in thought. “But it also could be much better.”

“At least the other creatures are at peace, right?” I tried to cheer him up with what little I could make out of their conversation.

“That’s what it looks like, yes. At least to the sea dwellers' knowledge, nocreature is at arms with each other for the time being.” With a tired breath, he leaned against me, eyes filled with concern and a thousand questions. “But the hippogriffs have gone into hiding once again, the changelings are missing, the abyssinians have fully conquered their peninsula and have expelled the pony settlers from Shire Lanka. Nocreature has seen a dragon in what sounds like decades, and the griffins are still butting heads with the minotaurs for the easternmost reaches of Northern Essia.” Another tired sigh, his hand coming to stroke the beginnings of a beard he’d have to shave soon. “The Diamond Dogs are still up to their same old nonsense, too. Nocreature had heard anything from the yaks, which isn't that big of a surprise considering how isolated they tend to be…” I could practically hear the gears turning in his head. “I have to pay a visit to the Crystal Empire too. I bet my arm I can find more answers there.”

I grabbed his arm tightly, concerned eyes searching for his. Alex noticed my apprehension and, with a warm smile, was quick to extinguish my fears. “And you guys can come with me if you want. We’re a team, after all.”

I had promised Sunny we would protect him, and his stubborn flank was not gonna keep us away while he searched for answers or fought against the evil that threatened us. We might be embarrassingly underpowered compared to him, and I might not have possessed alicorn powers like Sunny, but Faust have it, I wasn't gonna stay on my rump while the big things happened around us. Discord’s mess up was enough of a wake-up call, and the thing with the Unity Crystals during the fair got the message across that, whatever was bound to happen, it would take our entire family to face it!

Oooh, I always felt the warmsies every time I thought of us as a family.

To my bestie’s dismay, and Ikko’s visible relief, North announced our arrival at port. So absorbed had we all been on our own things that none had noticed the shores of Maretime Bay climbing up from beyond the blue horizon.

Reducing the speed of the boat in preparation for port entry, Alex instructed us to gather our stuff and ready ourselves to exit the vessel. With a grunt of effort, he holstered his diving equipment over his shoulder and rested a foot on the ship’s rim, ready to disembark at a moment's notice.

Ikko, for his part, had decided to stick with us for a bit longer, his curiosity getting the better of him and driving him to take a quick peek over Maretime Bay, for he had never seen a land-dweller settlement of any kind. Although he would go no further than the beach, lest he run out of water and… well, you can guess.

Just as North was maneuvering to line ourselves with the wharf, a curious dip of Ikko’s head betrayed his puzzlement regarding Alex’s equipment.

“Hmm?” The human inquired, noticing Ikko’s gesture.

“Why the need for such trinkets if you could’ve used a breathing necklace, Your Highness?” The Kelpie wondered.

‘A breathing what?’

A soft bump against the wooden frame of the wharf singled our definite arrival at port. Without missing a beat, Alex jumped out of the boat and, resting his dripping equipment against the wooden surface, hurried to secure the ropes on the front end of our ride.

“Those enchantments don't work with me, I’m afraid.” He answered Ikko while tightening the knots to secure Sea Roach. “And it’s not like these ponies have a bunch of them around either.”

With a pensive hum, Ikko commented no further. Instead, in another spectacular movement, he flew out of the deck and lost himself into the greenish waters under the harbor, only to resurface a moment later a couple of meters away on the shore proper, where he promptly scared off a couple of foals who had been building sandcastles.

“Ups.” I heard him wince over the crashing of the waves.

Not wanting to keep North waiting, the rest of us disembarked with our gear. Waiting in a row on the pier, we offered to help carry all the stuff back into North’s post.

“Nonono, you guys roll over and go deal with… him.” She pointed with her snout towards the curious kelpie, who was busy taking what little of the sights you could get from the beach. “I, for one, have had enough excitement for one day.” She mumbled tiredly, on her way to get a trolley to help carry all the gear back.

“See you next time, North. We’ve gotta tackle Baltimare Port’s sunken remains next time.” Alex waved the sea mare with the promise of their next dive. The captain replied with a flick of her tail and promptly disappeared behind the door of the warehouse. With a fond chuckle, Alex left the mare to her things and ushered us to meet with the waiting Kepie over the beach, where a couple of urgent explanations to a group of concerned parents were needed to assure them the strange-looking water creature posed no threat.

Now with a couple of curious foals playing around with the kelpie, mesmerized by his weird shape-shifting and water-manipulation abilities, the rest of the morning went by, as well as a good chunk of the afternoon.

“Well, it sure has been an… interesting day.” Ikko, having entertained the foals for as much as their young attention span could hold before scampering off somewhere else, stood up from his resting place in our circle where we had been chatting leisurely to announce his departure. “But I had better head off before the tide changes. My colleagues will for sure want an explanation for my disappearance.”

With a good shake to wake his limbs up, and covering us in droplets on the way, he addressed Alex one last time. “The Republic will want to know about your return, your highness... I am compelled to…”

“I understand.” Alex interrupted him. He didn't look happy with the prospect, but cold resignation shimmered in his brown eyes. “But I ask of you to remain as you were and don’t interfere, at least not for the time being. If the ponies of Equestria or myself are ever in need of your help, I know where to find you.”

“Your Highness.” With one last bow and goodwills for the rest of us, Ikko calmly walked into the sea until his body became one with the water.

What a unique, albeit draining day it had been! Tired after so much enthusiasm, we all decided to spend the remaining part of the day at the beach and rest up for a bit, talking about the huge event that had been meeting a creature from under the waves, the first of many we all hoped.

Hitch and Zipp had fallen asleep some time ago, the snuggling pair close together as they dried their fur under the warm sun. Pipp, whilst having enjoyed the trip as much as the rest of us, could only take the dried-up feeling of her mane and tail after a nice deep swim in sea water for so long, and had excused herself for a nice, relaxing bubble bath with an unhealthy dose of mane conditioner. She had offered to grab Sparky on her way, not wanting to disturb the slumbering pair.

Another member of our team had also lost the battle to sleep. The placid form of Alex had found a comfy spot on his marefriend’s rump, resting his upper body as his arms surrounded her barrel, nuzzling the soft fur of her cutie mark as a few mumbled words occasionally escaped his dreaming mind. He had said something about having entered DECO and nitrogen poisoning making him tired. He had worried us for a second, but quickly assured us he would be fine, only that he always felt sleepy after a long dive.

Sunny was more than happy to accommodate her mate, resting on her side while running her eyes over the countess notes she had gathered on her notebook, her tail covering the slumbering human, lazily stroking his form with it as the inquisitive mare relived the day’s events though her annotations with as much excitement as while living them.

I too laid on my side near the pair, resting my head on my forelegs as I observed them, yet my thoughts drifted far away from where my sight was set.

‘You promised you’d stay well aside, Izzy. She’s your bestie, and she deserves him. You have no right to stick your snout in.’

That’s what I had been repeating to myself this past month. It was easier when it was only words and promises. But now, seeing them together like that made me reconsider a bunch of things.

‘There are other stallions out there, Izzy. One of them is sure to catch our eye eventually, right?’

But I didn't want other stallions. I wanted what was in front of me!

Perhaps it was the beginning autumn heat scrambling my brains more than usual, but I simply couldn’t get it out of my head!

My uncomfortable shifting in place was enough to gain my bestie’s attention. Unsticking herself from her notebook, Sunny caught sight of me, more precisely of me ogling the sleeping human on her rear end. It took me a bit to notice her prying eyes on me, but the moment I did, I quickly switched the peaceful human for the boring sand trapped between my crossed forelegs with an embarrassed blush.

“Sorry.” I squeaked out, knowing well it was inconsiderate to ogle somepony else’s mate like that, even during estrus season.

It hadn't been the first time she’d caught me getting a peek at her coltfriend since they’d become a couple, and I felt so guilty afterwards. But she’d never said anything, aside from a friendly word or a bit of teasing to diffuse the awkwardness.

But my luck would only run for so long…

“Izzy,” Sunny called softly. I buried my head in my forelegs in shame, ignoring her. “Izzy, look at me.”

I did so hesitantly, peeking over my forelimbs expecting a scowl of disapproval or even some harsh words. A mare only knows how heated one can get during… well, heat.

Instead of a much-deserved scolding, I was met with Sunny's concerned orbs peering into mine, an unspoken gesture with her forehoof tapping on the sand near where she lay.

I swallowed loudly and obeyed, scooting closer to the orange-furred mare while fighting to come up with an excuse or the closest thing I could muster.

Using my mane to hide myself from her, I waited in silence, an embarrassed blush heating my cheeks as I silently prayed for Alex to remain asleep.

I was expecting many things, most of them gyrating around me breaking the promise I’d made to her to catch my fish elsewhere.

But nothing on Equus could’ve prepared me for the feeling of her muzzle reaching forward and brushing aside the long strands of my mane to plant her lips on my cheek in a loving kiss.

Shameful blushing gave way to a volcano of scrambled thoughts, the place she had kissed me burning with the strength of a thousand suns.

It lasted only for a second or two, but the notion of time was erased from my mind, the only thing filling it was the image of a smiling Sunny, far from angry or disappointed, instead sending as much warmth and love as she did for her mate.

Her hoof came to rest under my chin, gently guiding my gaze to meet hers while I made my best imitation of a fish out of the water.

“B-But…”

Her hoof came to rest in my snout, swiftly cutting my stammering short.

“I know what you said, Izzy.” Her voice came as a soothing summer breeze. “And I know what it is that you truly want.”

“I-I don’t w-”

“I want it too, Izzy.”

I was simply blown away, the hammering on my chest loud enough to drone out everything else but her words.

“We promised we would care for him together, remember?”

I did remember, right after we beat Discord and returned home. We promised to look out for him after we’d seen the alarming change he’d undergone when facing his long-time-friend-turned-foe.

“Yeah, we did…” I mumbled, fond memories resurfacing.

“Well, I can't think of a better way of doing it, don't you think?” She asked with a chuckle.

‘She’s not seriously… B-But I thought we said…’

“But,” she recomposed herself a bit, “We all have to be on the same page.” Her attention shifted to the sleeping human clamped to her rear. She brushed her tail over his flat snout, eliciting a tiny sneeze and driving Alex to snuggle deeper into her plush fur.

We shared a chuckle at the adorable sight, with Sunny's gaze lingering on the human for a couple more seconds. “Just a bit longer, okay? Until we find an appropriate moment.”

She was definitely proposing what I thought she was implying. A crazy notion when it first came during that night in Zephyr Heights. Never in my wildest dreams could I have thought Sunny would not only be okay with it but actually encouraging it!

And yet, one last lingering issue remained to be tackled. “A-And, the ponies…”

“I don't care.” Sunny was quick to crush it without the tiniest hint of doubt. “I don't care, Izzy. Not when it comes to our family.”

Sunny surprised me once more by, in a swift movement, snuggling her head against my chest, intertwining her forelegs with mine, and allowing a deep, relaxed sigh to escape her nostrils.

“Our family…”

With those last slurred words, Sunny too lost the battle to slumber, joining her coltfriend and our friends in a well-deserved rest, leaving me as the sole pony still awake with a rave party happening in my head.

Several things came up front. First, did I see myself sharing a relationship with my bestie and the human who turned our world upside down?

Uh, duh! Are you kidding me?! Those two are the BEST ponies I have ever met. And one is not even a pony! You'd have to be an idiot not to jump at the chance to become something more!

‘Oooh, we're gonna be so happy, I can see it already!’

I had to make a conscious effort to prevent myself from jumping in my hooves and springing around the place in unrestrained glee. But my friends deserved a good nap, so I filed away the celebrations for a later time.

That didn't prevent me from imagining a gazillion different scenarios with the three of us as the protagonists. All the things we could do together…

All the fun we'd have together…

‘Faust above, Izzy, rein in yourself!!’

Heat hormones, you'll have to excuse me. Or not. Your loss.

Another thing came to mind, but Sunny had already made swift work of it. If she wasn't gonna give a mare’s flank about what other ponies would think of us, so would I! We’d already spent our entire lives as the misfits of our respective communities. If ponies were gonna look at our herd and stick their snouts in disgust, it’d be more of the same for us.

‘Yeah, they'll be soooo jealous when they see us together!’

One final problem was the proverbial elephant in the room. Sunny and I were on the same page, but would Alex be? We only know of his previous relationship with Twilight Sparkle, even if he still acted evasive when the matter of their rupture came up. Had he been offered the chance to form a herd in the past and refused? Is it a thing humans actually did in the first place?

I would have to tackle that bull when the time came, but knowing the human snuggled to my, hopefully, future marefriend, a tiny, sleepy smile lighting up his furless cheeks; his heart was big enough to love the both of us.

Faust knows I’d love him with all my heart in return.

Author's Note

I'm currently diving in the Maldives and was in the mood.

Chapter 35- Family.

Author's Note

WARNING!! There's clop at the end of the chapter. It's kinda long scene, but entirely skippable if it ain't your thing.

If it is, I shall judge you silently...👀

Chapter 35- Family.

“Thaaaaaank you.”

With a bold reverence and exaggerated deference, Alex carefully took the pendant from Sunny's telekinetic grasp, hanging it around his neck and fixing Twilight's cutie mark decoration in the middle of his chest. His hand lingered upon it for a moment longer, a fleeting glimpse of longing shimmering in his eyes, a passing shadow that quickly gave way to hardened focus, bringing our human pal back to the world of the living.

“Okay then.” Loudly cracking his neck and knuckles (I think that's what he called them last time), Alex was ready for the next part of the demonstration. “A step back, guys. And pay close attention, baby.”

Myself and the rest of the gang obeyed, expectantly waiting for the demonstration that would soon follow. It had been only two days after our little adventure overseas and meeting the strange creature known as a kelpie. It sure caused a ruckus around town after Pipp’s post…

Posts. Many, many posts, but what can you expect from the Queen of the Canternet herself? Her feed became flooded with her uploads as well as a multitude of concerned or outright freaked-out fans lighting her socials on fire. An emergency meeting was needed where Alex quickly calmed the panicking population, and kinda reminded them about the fact there were indeed countless other species out there who also called Equus home.

It’s almost embarrassing to witness how much we’ve truly forgotten, it’s as if the world had simply moved on and left us behind while we remained stuck in our shared hatred for one another.

Whatever the case was, with our combined help the ponies were at ease and reassured; all in a sheriff’s work, even if it hadn't come from me alone.

Also, we had a tiny discussion with Pipp regarding her posting habits. Nothing came out of it, but we still had to try. That mare is one stubborn pony.

It had only been a scant couple of days since the impromptu meetings when we found ourselves again in our favorite spot at Maretime Bay’s beach, a considerable distance apart from any beachgoers for good measure since another training session between the human of legend and our resident alicorn had been arranged by the former. This time, however, all of us had decided to join the pair, at the cost of having to wake before the sun rose.

Why? Well, all of us wanted to get a bit of training done for ourselves, or at least all of us except Pipp, who was content with recording our ‘mighty efforts’ and cheering from the sidelines. That mare had many talents, but fighting was not in her blood. Not that I blamed her or anything; on the contrary, a stallion can appreciate a mare with enough wits to get things done her way without an ounce of violence. We tend to be more bullheaded, that’s why they do whatever they want with us with little convincing. I think. Mares are weird creatures.

Izzy also wasn’t keen on the fighting part, but neither was she gonna skip a chance to practice her magic; the peppy unicorn acted as a training buddy for Sunny while Alex went through several forms of basic and not-so-basic magic to add to the magic wielders’ collection, aka our horned members of the group.

My marefriend… gosh, it still feels weird to call her that, even if we had been at it for a while already; she wanted to get some wind under her wings and perfect the techniques she’d begun to try during Discord’s crisis. Also, she absolutely loved flying, so any excuse was enough to get her in the air and daring the currents with her dexterity.

A pang of fear and guilt pierced my heart at the notion of my soulmate herself wanting to learn how to fight; it felt like I wasn’t enough to keep her safe. A stupid notion, I know, but it didn't make it any easier. It was my duty to protect everypony, and her before any other.

And that left just me. I’d joined the gang at the beach to practice some hoof-to-hoof combat as well as test the reaches of our new earth pony magic, or ‘flora magic’ as everypony referred to it now. In both goals, I’d be assisted by Alex, who’d offered counsel as well as himself as a sparring buddy to practice my skills. I was curious about his fighting capabilities when those trinkets he always wore on his hands weren't involved. He didn't come off as particularly built or deft at fighting, but that was me being shortsighted, us being of a different anatomy and all. I knew better than to underestimate the human.

But before my training could begin, Alex wanted to finish the main lesson of the morning regarding defense magic and shielding, more specifically how the pendant he’d gifted Sunny for her birthday worked in the field.

Alex stood a bit taller every time he taught somepony something. We’d all noticed it on numerous occasions, and this time it was no different. “I've already taught you girls how to summon a shield. The shield spell is, like the levitation spell, one of the most basic spells any unicorn slash alicorn is expected to possess in their repertoire. And, just like levitation, it’s one of those easy-to-cast-hard-to-master kinda spells.”

As Alex delivered the lesson to his two horned pupils, he walked a lazy circle around the mares, hands behind his back and feeling perhaps a smidge too full of himself. Or perhaps he just really enjoyed teaching.

Don’t ask me why, but some very disturbing images came to mind.

Whatever the case was, I would bet my tail Sunny wouldn't let his coltfriend get too high on the clouds. That mare could be scary when her mind was into an idea.

With a magnetic-sounding hum, Alex's… twinblades, I guess? I’d never seen a weapon in either real life or fiction, but I digress; his blades obeyed his mental command and soared the short distance from where he’d left them to affix themselves in his waiting hand. He didn't bat an eye at the spinning blades coming towards him before reaching their destination, proof of his experience and confidence in his abilities.

As the words came out of his mouth, he began spinning them in his grasp, describing seemingly random circular patterns around his body the likes of which you'd expect to see in a circus, yet the power and lethality behind them would leave you anything but laughing if you were caught on the wrong side.

“A simple shield can get you out of a rough spot, but nothing beyond that. A good, solid shield cast by an experienced unicorn, such as Shining Armor, might as well be unbreakable.” His free hand came to rest on the pendant while the other sped up its movement, tapping it with a finger for emphasis. “His spellwork and Twilight’s magic reside in this, meaning the wearer's shields will be as strong as Shining’s regardless of their skill level.”

The circular motions became faster, his magic filling the gaps where his wrists could not. As they spun, both the solar and lunar blades acquired a white-tinged glow. I could virtually feel the heat coming from them from where I was standing.

“Strong enough to protect you from almost any form of direct attack.” He concluded, shifting his stance to face the open space alongside the beach north of us. Sunny and Izzy, ears perked to absorb every word, took a couple of steps back to completely clear what was slowly turning out to be a spectacular splash zone.

‘Let's see what this human is capable of.’

“Protego.” Alex murmured, his gauntlet flashing momentarily and a blueish dome of raw magic materializing where his sight was set, a couple of meters away from us but close enough for us to get a good look. Featureless beyond its dome-like shape, small whips of magic trailed its smooth surface in hypnotizing patterns.

Without warning, the amount of energy coming from the blades surged tenfold, making my fur stand on end from the sheer amount of magic being funneled into them. Alex readied his stance and, in a swift, practiced move, he twirled around on his heels to build momentum and he sent his blades like a projectile at the speed of light towards the shield.

Virtually no time passed between the moment Binary left his gloved hand to the moment it crashed against the dome. A flash of light was followed by an ear-splitting boom, the shockwave strong enough to reverse the waves as they came in again to lap the coast and send us all to our rumps, such was the power behind his attack.

Again, do NOT underestimate the human.

A huge plume of sand was lifted around the area of impact, the seaside breeze blowing it away quickly to reveal the translucent dome of blueish magic completely unscathed, as if the projectile smashed against it had been nothing but a spat-out toothpick. Not a single scratch, much less a crack or dent of any kind had been made in it. Our human friend stood in place, retracting the lingering throwing arm while casting an analytical look at the complete lack of damage. Smirking victoriously, he sent his sights over his shoulder with a smug twitch of his eyebrows. A wave of his gloved hand saw the shield dispersed into a thousand light particles fading into nothingness.

“Sheesh.” Muttered Izzy, vigorously shaking the clinging sand from her coat, a gesture that Sunny imitated once she could close her unhinged jaws.

“Remind me not to mess with that human.” Zipp’s sister commented behind me to the early risers amongst her fandom, who summed up to be her only adoring public at this hour. We’d decided to get an early start before the beach could become more crowded, and after that display of power, I was more happy than ever with our choice.

“A shield cast under the influence of the pendant will hold against almost anything.” Alex resumed his teachings to his two pupils. Stretching the same arm he’d used to throw the blades, he muttered a short word I couldn't quite catch, all of them being in that strange language he used. The magnetic humming returned, dulled at first and rising in frequency as the weapon returned to its owner, spinning madly as it cut through the air from the place it had ended up after the crash beyond our line of sight. Just as with the shield, not a single scratch marred the twin surfaces of its sister blades, still burning with the strength of the sun, immediately crystallizing the displaced sand where they’d cut the miniature dunes on their way back to their master, creating beautiful shapes of glass in their wake that sparkled with the early sun’s rays.

‘Beautiful, and sharp. That’s a violation of directive fourteen slash three-eight-B regarding safety conditions for beachgoers. Gotta deal with them after we’re done here.’ I filed a mental note for later.

His fist closed around the joined handles once the blades were in reach, his free hand going to his neck and removing the pendant, securing the cord around his palm to free his fingers while his posture readied again.

“However,” he proceeded to continue, “Without this, the strength of your shield will be that of the caster's actual skill and power output. It’s true, however, that there are several ways to cast a shield depending on the nature of the incoming attack, but it’ll be easier to focus on the basic form of the protection spell for now and leave the rest for later.” Once again, he stretched his free hand before him. “Protego.” Another shield then took the place of the previous one. A quick look revealed no difference between it and its predecessor, but I for one was NOT going to get in between that human and the dome-shaped dummy to get a closer look. I valued my physical integrity enough to stay rooted where I was, thank you very much!

‘And you’re gonna spar with that guy on a second's notice… I should've stayed in bed…’

This time it was simpler; no spinning blades around him or anything of the sort. Alex lowered his center of gravity and, with a big umph, threw his burning projectile straight toward the shimmering dome. Where the previous one had held strong, this one was cut through by the blades as a hot knife cuts through butter, exploding outwards in a myriad shower of particles before dematerializing completely. It offered no resistance whatsoever to the lethal weapon, which continued its path of destruction unbothered before meeting the cliffside at the end of the beach, bringing a couple of tons worth of rocks down with it the moment it made contact.

‘... Welp, I guess our beach just became a couple o’ meters shorter!’

Flexing his neck and cracking his wrists, Alex announced that the demonstration was over, stepping closer to the two mares and snapping his fingers to regain their attention, previously fixed on the atrocity he’d committed on our seaside landscape.

“You get the gist of it, yes?”

Sunny and Izzy offered shaky nods, gulping loudly at the earlier demonstration of sheer strength. While everypony enjoys a bit of self-pride once in a while, the last thing Alex wanted was to scare or intimidate anypony, much less his significant other, a sentiment I noticed in him by the slight flinching at the mares’ collective stiff answers. Bending a knee, he quickly beckoned both into his arms, sharing with them a big human-patented hug and a kiss on their heads to banish the uneasiness clinging to their sand-covered coats. It worked like a charm, especially for his marefriend, whose telltale smile and love-struck eyes were quick to return after his affections. How a creature so destructive can be so cuddly at the same time eluded me, but the same could be said for my mare, so best not to delve too far into it…

Once he was positive he’d shaken his pupils out of their stupor, Alex delivered their next exercise for the morning. “Great. With that out of the way, I want you both to take turns and practice your shield magic. One of you will attack with a basic magic beam, while the other will defend. Feel the easiest path for you to summon a shield as well as get a feel for how much it takes for you to hold that shield. It’s different for everypony, so that’s something I can't help you with, understand?” Sunny and Izzy returned affirmative nods, the former reaching to grab her pendant from the human’s grasp, only for him to retract the hand holding it.

“Nonono,” he playfully chided Sunny, who pouted adorably in response. “That’d be cheating, baby.”

Sunny’s adorable assault couldn't breach Alex’s defenses, an amused chuckle leaving him at the sight of his frowning mare. He made quick work of said frown with a tender peck on her lips, nuzzling his nose against her snout lovingly. “I want you to try first without it, to learn how it feels and what it takes to hold a shield on our own, just in case. I’ll return it after we’re done here, ‘kay?”

Seeing how her crocodile tears weren’t gonna get her anywhere, Sunny’s nostrils emitted a defeated sigh, and returning the human’s playful smirk, she planted a furtive kiss on his lips before trotting back to stand beside Izzy.

“Okay then,” Alex rose back to his feet. “Let’s go through the steps, sweetie.”

His marefriend nodded firmly, her loving features quickly hardening in concentration. Widening her gait a bit, Sunny went through the steps in a self-targeted whisper before committing to the transformation into her alicorn form. Her translucent assets weren’t a usual part of her scarce daily wardrobe; Sunny claimed that she felt more comfortable with her true self, which when summed with the almost mindless adoration the townsponies would exhibit in the presence of her shimmering wings and horn, combined together into something Sunny grew tired of very fast. No matter how the orange mare pleased, everypony always started acting weird when she transformed. Alex said something about a psychological thingamajig I couldn't make heads or tails of. Regardless of any of that, however, on the scarce occasions when she would summon her alicorn form, she could now do so almost effortlessly. It had taken a lot of practice and quite an amount of self introspection according to her. Whatever had been her path, we didn't question her methods as long as she could summon her two wings and horn at will, without them flickering on and off or appearing in weird proportions or some other crazy thing.

It’d been fun to witness; for everypony except Sunny, of course.

A deep breath, relaxed posture, and closed eyes to focus on a clear goal. Tense, silent seconds passed as the rolling of the waves accompanied Sunny’s even breathing, with no trace of nervousness or frustration, two emotions that had been the main antagonists in her very first attempts to transform. Soon after, I felt my fur stand on end, similar to when Alex charged his blades with magic. No explosion of uncontrolled magic sent us on our backs that time, only the gorgeous image of alicorn Sunny gracing us after a short flash of light which didn't harm us beyond a hard blink or two.

I simply can’t put into words how immensely proud I felt of her, that rambunctious filly who had given my father more than one headache as the previous sheriff, my best friend since I could remember. Now a proud, powerful alicorn, her abilities meticulously shaped by our human pal to bring the best out of her.

“That's my girl.” Alex celebrated proudly, giving the transformed mare a quick round of applause to which Izzy joined in, albeit in a more energetic, hoofball-match manner. Poor Sunny was never a pony to take pride in something, so the embarrassed red that spread all the way to her ears was a usual sight for us.

“Okay then, off you go! Train hard, and I’ll see about giving you a reward tonight.” Those last words were for his marefriend, whose blush promptly rose tenfold to the point she could've passed as one of the tomatoes somepony was currently growing in the community garden. Ignoring Izzy’s teasing laugh and Alex’s twitching eyebrows, and needing no further motivation to get her rear into gear, Sunny dragged the naughty unicorn by her tail to a free space to begin their training, which only lasted for a few serious minutes before derailing into a game of tag of sorts with one shielding and the other blasting off magic. They were having too much fun, those two.

A shame I wouldn't be able to join in their merriment; as soon as Alex had ushered the mares off to their training session, his predatory eyes zeroed in on me; an evil, almost manic grin now stretched across his lips.

‘Oh, boy…’

His slow, meticulous gaze toward me didn't help ease my growing apprehension, nor did the sight of his blades once again affixing themselves to his stretched hand from the pile of rubble they’d ended up being lodged deeply into.

“U-Um…” I sputtered the moment he came into voice’s reach. “You’re not going to use them, r-right? We’re only sparring.”

“... What do you think?” The two-legged, furless cougar about to pounce me purred, flashing me a toothy smile and making me swallow yet another nervous lump.

I was NOT happy with my shaky legs and scaredy front, especially since my marefriend had been considerate enough to postpone her training routine for a nice, front-row seat for the show of strength and bravery her stallion was about to give.

I’d felt very confident that morning when we’d discussed the sparring session. Now, Zipp was in for a show alright…

Alex stood tall and defiant before me, looking down at me with a manic gleam in his brown eyes.

‘Come on, Hitch, time to stallion up!’

I met his cocky façade head on, puffing out my chest and clenching my jaws, puffs of steam leaving my nostrils as my concentration hardened. If that human thought he was gonna tousle me around like a foal’s toy, he had another thing coming!

We held the standoff for a couple of tension-filled moments before the human couldn’t keep it inside anymore and burst out laughing, with me following close while doing my absolute best to hide the sigh of absolute relief under the false chuckling.

“Come on, bud, these are way too much for either of us.” He jested, sending Binary straight into the sand, the twinblades digging halfway into the moist soil with barely any strength behind them. I don’t need to tell you how happy I was that he’d decided to leave those aside for our spar. I was feeling even more confident now! When it came to raw physical strength, we earth ponies were unmatched!

“Run that monkey through the sand, cheesy buns!!” My dearest Zipp cheered for me, to my utmost dismay.

Alex, who was in the middle of removing his shirt, stopped his movements abruptly to peek over the upturned cloth’s rim.

“... She did not call you cheesy buns.” He prodded blankly. I could only nod in embarrassment. “‘Cause that sounds like…”

“I know. Can we please just get on with kicking the hay out of each other?” I interrupted him rudely, not wanting to delve further into the stupid nickname my mare found sick pleasure in calling me. With a metaphorical facehoof, Alex finished removing his upper clothing, crumpling it and discarding it carelessly nearby. Even with his semiregular training routine, he’d barely built up any muscle since the first time he’d showed himself shirtless. He’d excused himself with some science nonsense about building muscle with so little protein in his diet, but I suspected he just didn't have it in him to crank the ‘bells like a proper stallion. He even held onto the tiniest amount of belly which Sunny found irresistibly adorable, sentiment she had let slip once and was promptly teased about. But the most striking feature of his bare chest was the scar that forever moored his frame, something between a slash and a tear just under his left nipple (males with nipples, these humans are weird), around where I guessed a human’s heart would be located.

The scar was ugly, not gonna lie, but the story behind it was what truly chilled our blood back in the day. It was easy to forget the nightmares this seemingly normal being had gone through, and what manner of strength it took him to keep on smiling every day and not throw himself off a cliff.

The humming of his powering gauntlets brought me back to the waking world. “Hey hey hey!!” I called in alarm. “I thought we agreed on no magic!”

Alex ignored my warning with a knowing grin, banging one wrist with the other in an X-shaped maneuver once he was powered up. Flashing twice before settling, a magical construct materialized around him in the shape of a blueish, mostly featureless armor, as if a colt had drawn it over his body. Translucent enough to be see-through, almost resembling the texture of the domed shield of his previous demonstration, which hinted to me what this new spell was about.

“You’re an earth pony, Hitch.” Alex began while making sure the armor remained solid and stable around him. “Any good kick from you can splinter my human bones like a toothpick. So I’ll do you a favor and prioritize my physical integrity, lest you want Sunny on your tail after hurting her sugar bear.”

“Yeah… Yeah, no, I don’t want that.” I muttered to myself, fighting down a full-body shudder, world-ending scenarios flashing in my mind.

Nopony would ever find my remains…

“Don’t worry your pretty little tail. Still hurts like a bitch.” He tapped his protected abdomen twice. “Remember what I told you about good feedback?”

“That was for video games, you idiot!” I cried in exasperation for that human.

“Then I guess we’re playing Mortal Coltback.” He fired, getting into position and spurring me to do the same.

The time was ahoof to beat the snot out of each other… proverbially, that is. With slow, calculated steps, we ran a warm-up lap around each other, sizing up one another in search of weak spots and openings, our twitching muscles waiting restlessly for the appropriate moment.

Alex wasn't done with his teasing, however, as he shifted his weight to his left leg while keeping his sights on me. “We gotta give ‘em a good show, eh, sheriff?” He nudged his nose in the direction of the pegasi sisters.

Two could play at that game. “Actually, I’m just happy I can finally kick your flank after catching you checking out Zipp the other day.” Not actually true, but he didn't need to know that.

Alex didn't take the bait. Instead, he played around by casting a quick, almost imperceptible look at the aforementioned mare who, along with her sister, was drinking in the show on the sidelines, his devilish grin growing in size.

‘Oh, he is so dead!!’

Puffing out an angry snort, I pawed at the sand before me, getting a feel for the drag before charging what would soon be a dead human. I targeted his legs, reasoning his bipedal stance could be easily toppled, leaving him exposed for a nice, solid beating.

I’d forgotten he was an experienced fighter.

Just shy of a meter before running him over, Alex surprised me with a swift side step, his posture lowering with one leg stretching at ground level while the other knee won distance against his stomach. Before I knew it, I was snout-deep in the sand from a nasty kick to my side, cursing the names of all available deities while sneezing hard to get the sand out of my nostrils.

“Dude, that’s, like, the first issue I had to learn to deal with.” He called unamused, creating some distance between us before readying his posture again.

“Shut up.” I shushed him angrily, chastising myself for my utter lack of foresight. Mindless attacks like that were out of the question. This human was indeed at a fair disadvantage to us ponies while holding nothing but his natural gifts, meaning he was due to learn how to turn said disadvantages into strengths. More strategic, meticulous fighting was called for, and it was time for my sheriff training to shine.

The following rounds consisted mostly of prodding blows; only a few, strategically placed hits were exchanged, each of us further testing the other, finding weak spots where our initial dance had not. His limber frame and longer limbs granted him reach and flexibility, allowing him to dodge most of my attacks with his superior agility. He had stayed true to his word, for I could see him hissing and clenching his teeth when one of my attacks made contact with his protected body, eliciting a smear of guilty pleasure from me.

We’d brush it off as pals with a cold beer afterward.

I managed to catch him off guard after feigning an uppercut, upsetting his balance with a kick of my free leg, which sent him to the ground with a heavy headbutt to his exposed belly. With a pained grunt, it was his turn to eat some sand.

“Wooo!! Teach that human a lesson, baby!!”

Filled with strength at the sound of my mate’s cheers, I allowed myself to take a proud stance, utterly forgetting the first rule of combat and placing myself at a disadvantage.

Alex took advantage of my slip-up, getting the jump on me way faster than I would’ve anticipated. The cocky smirk was erased from my muzzle the moment I felt him jump and slide his back over mine, surprising me from behind by pressing a foot on my leg joint, bending it against my will, and forcing me into an awkward stance. The other leg flew in a very specific path toward a very specific place, and this world did not have enough previously cursed deities to thank for his knee stopping shy of crushing a very… sensitive part of my male anatomy.

“Oh, ponyfeathers...” I caught Pipp gasping, but I couldn't assess their reactions properly, for I was completely paralyzed, at the mercy of my sparring buddy who, at any given moment, could inflict a stallion’s worst nightmare upon me.

“Hitch,” He called cockingly. “Do you realize where my knee was headed?” He asked with what I could almost feel as a shit-eating grin sending shivers down my back.

“I-I do,” I answered pathetically.

“Do you know what would happen were it to complete that journey?”

I gulped loudly, offering a shaky nod. “Z-Zephyr Heights will go on without an heir, I’d reckon…”

“Is the future of Zephyr Heights worth… I don't know, a month-long exclusive right to your Pony Station?”

‘Son of a three-headed dog…’

“I believe they do.” I snarled between clenched teeth.

“Thought as much.”

And with that, I was free, and my tenders were left unscathed. A much-deserved sigh after escaping such a perilous situation was in order, but Alex was apparently in a hurry, for the moment his hand loosened its grip on my tail he was once again aiming for my legs, this time adamant about bringing me down entirely and winning the upper hoof.

If Hitch was to go down, on my father’s badge I was gonna drag that hairless excuse for a minotaur down with me!

Using what little inertia I’d gained from my stumble, I transmitted it to Alex, biting hard on the sleeve of his pants to trap him in a shared demise. I caught him off guard with my desperate maneuver, and the both of us ended up stumbling to the ground. I wanted to take advantage and turn his strategy against him. I knew he wouldn't stand a chance against me taking the upper hoof. He was quick to notice, and even quicker to act on it, for it was only by a fur’s edge that I missed getting a hold on him. Before I could recover from the stumble, however, Alex was well out of my reach and dusting himself off.

“Well then,” He talked between tired puffs. He was considerably more drained than me, and he knew I knew. “It seems like we have reached an impasse.”

‘Oh, now you chicken out.’

“So, I propose we move on to the next part of the training.” With a good, full-body shake, the magical armor around Alex’s frame disappeared at his silent command. “I wanna see what your flora magic can do.”

‘... Is this guy stupid?’

Alex was far from stupid, which we had seen proven on several recent occasions. But asking to face off against flora magic? Without his armor? I mean, not to toot my own non-existent horn, but from the few earth ponies of Maretime Bay who had any semblance of control over our weird, plant-based magic, I was proud to admit that I could use it quite well. It was actually very helpful at the office, getting me through towers of paperwork in a jiffy.

And it was strong. Perhaps it drank from our inner earth pony might, but I’ve seen entire houses lifted under the conjured vines of an earth pony worker, and not to forget the incident we had a couple of months ago with the overgrown flowers and half the bay buried in pollen.

I sneezed from the sheer memory of it.

“Bless you!” Alex offered as I rubbed my itchy snout.

“Are you sure about this?”

Puffing up like my winged deputies when we were on our rounds, Alex was quick to brush off my concern. “You still forget who you’re dealing with, mate.” That goosebump-inducing magnetic hum filled the coast once again, Alex’s twinblades leaving their resting place on the sand to fit their usual place at his right hand. He pointed the sun-themed one at me in a daring invitation. “You land a hit with your creepy hentai vines, I’ll take Sparky for the weekend so you two can go take care of that heir-to-the-throne business.” The flat surface of the same blade came to rest against his chest next. “I hold for five minutes, I take your girl on a date. Sound good, Zipp?!”

“Win-win for me!” My marefriend replied with a little too much enthusiasm. I bore the full strength of my incredulity at her, but her smug grin and cocky stance were too strong for the likes of me.

‘Traitor’ I mouthed to her, earning the playful tip of her tongue peeking through those lips I’ve had the privilege of sampling more than once by that point. You can say all you want about Zipp and her tomboyish attitude; if that mare gets a hold of you, you’re in for a ride in all the senses of the word.

I was more motivated than ever, and a bit intrigued too on the side. Since the festival fiasco and the appearance of our new magic, I’d only found room for day-to-day uses and such, but never a combat scenario, regardless of how unconventional this sparring session between the two of us was slowly working out to be.

‘Heh, sure could've used it against those nasty timberwolves…’ I lamented inwardly, the scarring sight of a wounded, bleeding Zipp hurting now more than ever with her being my mate.

“Your funeral, then.” I sent one last warning that Alex nonchalantly brushed under the proverbial rug. We both readied our stances once again, although no direct contact would follow that time. We both held a new advantage against the other, so this second round was looking to be way more interesting.

My… uh, ‘creepy hentai vines’ (whatever that means) would fill in where my slower frame and lesser reach failed to subjugate the human. I could control a bunch of those at the same time, and grow them pretty big pretty fast, too. I’d noticed how, even being magical in nature and all the jazz, they didn't do that well grown on the beach compared to summoning them elsewhere. I suspected the salt water didn’t agree with them, or perhaps it was another thing entirely. If the big brains still hadn't figured out the whys and hows of flora magic, this town’s sheriff was gonna be no different.

Regardless of that, I was confident in my ability, and the exact same thing could be said about Alex and the twinblades he wielded. Just like my magic, I’d never witnessed him using them in a real-life situation, but his training sessions were enlightening enough to denote both his striking ability with them as well as the power behind those shimmering blades.

For a man of science and cold logic as he came off as, that guy knew his way around a tussle, even if the silent regret behind every slash spoke of a different reality.

Binary burst to life, its two halves powering up at the command of its holder with, small, almost imperceptible tendrils of mist dragged from its tips by the seaside breeze. I felt for my little plants, but I was far more grateful that they were the ones to get the brunt of the beating. Those things looked like they could easily cook me just by standing next to them!

The deal was sealed with my human pal taking one last posture before firing the starting shot, with his huge weapon of choice held behind his back, torso in a semi-sideway turn, and a free arm stretched before him.

‘Wait, I’ve seen that before…’

“Is that from ‘The Phantom Menace’?” I recalled one of the many pieces of human media he’d shared with us.

His empty hand went for his chest. “I’m so proud of you…” He trembled with fake teary eyes.

Rolling my eyes tiredly, I filed any further nonsense away for later. Now, it was showtime!

“This is gonna be a battle for the history books, Pippsqueaks!!” Pipp excitedly cried to the screen of her recording phone. I was glad to see everypony was in the mood.

Empowered by one last encouraging, flying kiss from my mate, I steadied my nerves and felt the tingling of my flora magic spread through my hooves. I can’t quite describe the feeling, something in between a tickling and a tug, as if trying to reach for something that wasn’t quite there, something that you can't perceive without magic.

But, oh boy, it was most certainly there, for a group of five, earth-pony-approved, green n’ thick vines soon sprouted around me. Like snakes about to pounce, they swayed lightly on their axis’, tentatively waiting for my command to snare that human and squeeze a smoothie out of him…

Sunny did NOT find that funny later on.

‘Let’s see if his circus acts can keep up with me.’ I plotted with an evil smirk.

Even in light of the new threat, Alex remained calm and collected, chocolate-brown orbs analyzing each and every one of the vines, keeping a close eye for any sudden movements. Instead of engaging them one by one and granting him the chance to counter, I went for a swarming attack, commanding the five vines to engage him from every direction. I only needed one good hit to succeed, and his attention would be too divided to counter them all at the same time. The vines followed my will, stretching out from below the warm sand as a swarm of angry wasps ready to poke this human to Tartarus and back.

I saw his eyes widening for a second. It seemed like he wasn't expecting me to go with everything so soon. Still, he remained as he was for the half a second it took the vines to reach him before beginning his dance.

And what a dance it was.

Two from each side, and one to sneak under him and target his legs. Alex saw all of them coming and reacted accordingly. I had seen him spin his blades before, but never in the manner he displayed to fend off my offensive. Building up inertia with a few spins around his body, Alex lowered his center of gravity and, gyrating on his heels, spun around with his blades following, tilting them at an angle before releasing them. A thin trail of magic connected them with his gauntlet as the blades followed in a circular movement around him, describing a lap around the human and virtually eviscerating the attackers before returning to their sender. All angles were protected, and my vines were rendered tip-less, and a bit crispy on the side too, disintegrating into a puff of magical mist soon after, leaving n stupefied sheriff and a couple of cheering ponies behind.

“Motherbucker…” I cursed under my breath, pawing at the sand and snorting angrily at the sight of his shit-eating features.

“I was thinking of Molly’s, Zipp. Heard they have the best tomato soup this side of Equus!”

“AAAARGH!!!”

I was mad, and my mate’s giggling didn't help things at all. This time, I decided to erase the distance factor and summon vine after vine straight from under his feet, hoping to trap him and deliver a well-deserved buck to his stallion bits.

Alex felt the sand shift under his feet and, drawing from his maddening agility, made it out of my surprise attack with a nimble step back, trailing an upward slash behind him to cut the perpetrator in half.

One after the other I sent more and more vines against him, aiming for the weak spots I’d identified during our initial tussle. But, his newly acquired weapon covered all the openings his bare fists couldn’t. If I had to describe his style, it would be aggressive and extremely defensive, never leaving the proverbial bubble that the limited reach of his dual-ended weapon provided.

It was a nonstop dance, his blades never stopping even when no immediate attack was incoming, never losing inertia and always in close reach to counterattack in any direction. It didn’t matter what direction an incoming attack would take, one blade was always within close reach, their scorching edges making swift work of the plant-based attackers.

How he could hold the concentration required for engaging with two, three, FOUR vines at the same time, and keeping a close watch of each of them while using his limber body and spinning blades to keep them at bay, was completely beyond me. Nothing I could send would penetrate his bubble of doom.

After two minutes of relentless assault, one of the vines managed to get a hold of his left foot. Sending a silent command, the vine tensed and squeezed against his ankle, rendering him static and stealing the advantage of agility from him. Now rooted in place, Alex spewed a curse whose content was lost in the relentless buzz of his spinning blades, but he remained firm in concentration, opting to limit his reach further in pursuit of a tighter defense, granting me the chance to get closer with the vines before being decimated.

I was running out of time. I needed something to breach through his rock-solid defense, and fast! His immobilized state brought a new opening. Focusing, I stomped hard on the ground, the shimmering, vine-themed engraving stretched through the sand to reach the place where my next attack would appear.

This time I was aiming for the big guns. A huge, looming vine breached through the ground to reach five times Alex’s height. Had it been a monster of sorts, it would surely have roared to the heavens defiantly.

It was the human’s turn to gulp loudly, eyes fixed on this looming threat. I needed all of my focus to move that thing around, meaning it was impossible for me to summon another one nearby and use the distraction to catch him off guard. No matter, my new pal here was all it would take to knock that human down a peg or two.

“Let’s see you dodge that!” I couldn’t help but boast.

Smart-cookie Alex knew he couldn't let that thing get anywhere close to him, but my vine still held firmly to his ankle, snuffing out the possibility of a retreat. He’d have to go for a ranged attack, and that’s exactly what I was hoping he’d do.

Without any other alternatives, I forced Alex to repeat the show with the shield, sending his blades in a desperate attack to render the looming threat null before I had the chance to strike.

A shame that I’d anticipated that move.

Just as his blades left his hand, I commanded my new pal sideways, effectively dodging his swords-turned-projectile and sending the vine in a sweeping run, aiming to knock him on his tailless flank. If that didn't count as a hit, then nothing would.

I was sure of my victory. That human’s grabby fingers would remain well away from my marefriend while she and I partook in… adult things.

And yet, I’d missed a crucial detail in my victory drunkness. His primary weapon was out of commission for a short time, but I’d completely forgotten about his other asset. Assets to be more precise, in the shape of his two gauntlets which began to power up the moment Alex uncovered my plot.

He needed only the second it took the humongous vine to breach the distance to charge his spell, a simple, improvised shockwave spell, but powerful enough to send the vine reeling backward and drill a sharp sting to my forehead.

Momentarily distracted by the pain in my temple, I lost control of the vine and visual of my target since a plume of dust and sand had filled the area after the blast, precious moments Alex then used to resummon his blades, sending them straight into the vine around his foot instead of back to his hand.

I had lost my edge, and by the time the dust had settled, he was once again free and ready for the next wave.

“Aaaaaand, that’s five minuteeeees~” Pipp announced, having proclaimed herself Timekeeper without me knowing.

“Damm it!!” My head lowered in shame, ears plastered on my scalp as I looked down dejectedly at my still shimmering forehooves, the twisted engraving disappearing in a flash of magic, my flora magic following in tow as I relinquished my hold on the earth.

‘He’s good… He’s so very good.’

“Welp, that’s it then.” Alex nudged between tired gulps of air, as drained after the session as I was. The stinging in my forehead was slowly ebbing away, leaving behind a sense of tiredness I was unaccustomed to. Who knew that using magic could be as draining as physical exercise, or even more so?!

My ears twitched at the sound of his steps growing closer. I readied myself for some much-deserved gloating from him. However, the human remained silent during the short walk, leaving behind Binary to free a hand that came to rest on my withers, brushing my fur and delivering a couple of friendly pats.

“Congrats, mate. You won.” He spoke while rubbing his aching wrists.

“I-I what?” I stuttered in disbelief, seeking his pride-filled orbs for an explanation.

He shrugged nonchalantly. “You got a nice grab on lefty here.” He balanced on his right leg, wiggling his left foot before me. “I'd call that a hit.”

“B-But…”

“Unless you wanna get Zipp off your back using me…”

“N-NO!!! I…”

“‘Cause, dude, I've seen low, but you get the ooofff!!”

Izzy was gracious enough to save me from what would surely have derailed into a long, uncomfortable talk with my marefriend (who I was absolutely NOT trying to ditch, just in case you're a bit short in the upstairs department). She and Sunny had concluded their training slash game of tag a while ago and had balanced on their hooves in trepidation while Alex and I sparred. The unicorn was itching to comment on the fight, clinging to the poor human while replaying our movements as best as her creative mind could muster.

“... And then you went *slash*, and then he went *whoosh* and *bang* and…”

Alex, chuckling at the mare’s energetic number, placed an arm under her rump to secure her and tried to keep both of them steady.

Sunny strode in a more collected manner, although hers was a face of immense pride for her human, a confidant, somewhat smug sway in her flanks as she drank in the sight of her semi-naked coltfriend.

‘Oh ho, those two are in for some fun after their date.’

Alex managed to pry Izzy from his back, resting the unicorn on her hooves and tussling her mane in appreciation for her energetic reconstruction.

Sunny sneaked behind her coltfriend, providing her congratulations in a peculiar manner, that manner being shamelessly licking Alex's exposed, salty side.

“...”

“... A-hem.” Alex cleared his throat, catching the mare mid-lick.

Sunny put on her innocent mask and, with Alex's deadpan leer going over her head, smacked her gums and cast a distracted look around as if a butterfly had just fluttered around the place.

Tapping twice on her scalp, Alex sought his mare’s attention.

“Yes?” She asked sweetly.

The human’s gaze narrowed, and the tip of his tongue peeked through his lips, ready to give the mare a taste of her own medicine.

Like a startled cat, Sunny yelped and skittered to the side, fleeing as if a Tartarus demon was on her tail and leaving a stupefied Alex behind.

“Oh, I see how it is.” He wailed in faked offense and went to deliver the same treatment to Izzy who, just like Sunny, scampered off the moment the human went in for the pounce with a mad giggle, restarting the game of tag the mares had been previously engaged in.

I would’ve followed the trio’s antics for a bit more if it wasn't for the harsh pull I felt on my ear, demanding my attention elsewhere.

“Ouch!” I cried in pain to the inconsiderate pony. “What was that abobububu…” Only to meet muzzle-first with my marefriend's very much heated, lust-filled features, drinking in my exhausted self as a griffon would eye a fresh kill.

I could’ve passed as a cherry tomato the moment I noticed what kind of thoughts were going through Zipp’s mind. I felt my tired muscles scream at me for mercy, but that pony wasn't gonna give me any of it.

“H-Hi, honey.” I stuttered weakly.

“Stud.” She greeted me in short, dragging her eyes all over me slowly and meticulously.

‘Oh, boy…’

“Did I do good?”

“Sufficient.” She purred, licking her lips.

My throat was getting sore from all that nervous gulping. “U-Um, did you drink your morning nettle tea?”

“I did.” Her predatory pools narrowed further.

“A-And?” I squeaked out.

“What do you think?”

For every step she took forward, I kept the safety distance with one step back, although I knew I had no escape when her mind went places.

“That I-I’m gonna have to lend you a hoof?”

“Good boy.” Her voice came out husky and needy. A couple of steps more and she’d pushed me into the reach of the gentle, low-tide waves. Thankfully, Zipp decided she’d teased me enough, for the time being at least. “I’ll wrap things up here and I’ll meet you at the office.” She suddenly halted her advance, spinning on her hooves to head in the opposite direction, but not before shamelessly brushing her tail all over my face and giving me an unfiltered view of what awaited me. “Don’t bother showering.”

With a mighty flap of her wings, my mate took to the skies, pumping her wings hard until I lost sight of her beyond the cliffs bordering the bay, although something told me it wouldn't be long until I found her again. Or she found me, to be more precise.

‘Welp, you know how it is. A stallion’s job is never done while in estrus season.’

“Uh, sorry about that guys.” I turned on unsteady hooves to the group of ponies and sole human. “I, uh… have places to be.”

“You don’t say.” Alex teased with a knowing smile, eyebrows twitching in emphasis and re-kindling what I suspected had become a permanent blush by then. “Make sure you don’t trip on your dick on the way t- OUCH!!”

Alex’s smartflank-ed comment was rendered naught by Sunny’s sharp nipping at his butt, the mare giving the human a frown of disapproval.

“Hey! I’ve seen it happen before!” He protested while rubbing his tender flesh. “The guy had to get stitches after th- OUCH! IZZY!!” Only for our peppy friend to target the other cheek, sparking the game of chase once again, now with a vengeful human in pursuit.

As endearing a sight as it was, you’ll agree with me in how I had more important places to be so, running disgusting images of my grandma in my mind to quickly deal with the issue between my hind legs and save myself the embarrassing public display, I made my way to the real training session of the day.

‘I’m starting to feel Alex like with his ‘I’m too old for this crap’ nonsense…’

The morning’s training session had gone satisfactorily, I'd say. Our magic wielders had learned and practiced the basics of shield magic to keep themselves protected should the need arise, and I was confident in our sheriff's skill both in hand-to-hoof combat as well as in his domain of flora magic to help us out of any rough spots. Not that I ever hoped they’d have to put it into practice. Actually, I prayed for the time to never come, but an untamed Equestria without ponykind to look over it and tame it promised nothing but trouble for us brave enough to breach it, especially if we were to widen our search area on the hunt for more clues about the looming threat that promised to turn our little corner of Equestria upside down. Things had remained peaceful for quite a while, the relationships between the three tribes blooming and solidifying at a striking speed, to the point that it almost felt like the rift never happened in the first place.

‘We can rest a bit better now that we know the plan worked, and without us lifting a finger, mind you… Faust, what was I thinking?’

That was only half-true. Whilst Sunny’s bold initiative had driven her to take the necessary step forward and accomplish what I had hoped to do in this era, there was still a lot to be done. My initial goal had been fulfilled in the broader sense, but my everloving benefactor had been sooo kind as to bring me out of stasis sooner than planned and feed me nothing but vague notions regarding an incoming danger. Meaning that my intervention was both needed and secured by her. As Prince of Equestria and, you know, being a good guy and all; I wasn't gonna leave these ponies to fend for themselves, much less now that these silly, colorful horses had carved a new place in my previously shattered heart.

Things were looking up now that I was slowly but surely shaping this new team of heroes into the closest thing to the Element Bearers. I wouldn't be surprised if that tree in the middle of Mane Street one day went up and grew a couple of fancy necklaces to match. In truth, I was conflicted about such a prospect. It was undeniable my new pony family held the tenets of harmony as fiercely and proudly as the old one did; even if their individual traits embodied different elements than the original six, the essence was the same. But, the task of an Element Bearer carried the responsibility of upholding the tenets with the potential of the utmost consequences, going out to face unimaginable threats if the call arose, or filling in the role models ponykind should aspire to become. I could deal with the second one, the first one… not so much.

Only time would tell what awaited us. But for now, I had more pressing matters to concern myself with. Not in a bad way, mind you. It was actually looking to be a treat, for my loving Sunny and I were heading for a date that very same afternoon. We were way past the actual dating phase of the relationship, especially considering there hadn't been one needed in the first place. But we still enjoyed the occasional outing for the two of us, like any healthy couple is entitled to partake in.

We still had to take care of our morning jobs, though. Being lovey-dovey for each other didn't magically erase eother one's individual responsibilities. So, albeit reluctantly, we’d agreed to meet at the gazebo in Mane Square after we were done with our jobs, at the location where Sunny tended to partake in her weekly ‘awareness and citizen action’ campaigns. I made use of the hospital showers to rid myself of the worst of the stench (I’d gotten enough lewd side glances on my way there to last me a lifetime), and spent yet another slow morning at the clinical lab, partaking in a personal brand of research using the lack of activity to my advantage. It was almost done, although testing it would be another issue on its own.

Non-aggressive tendencies, healthy eating, daily exercise… Pony hospitals usually weren’t as populated as the ones back on Earth. That ought to teach my fellow humans a thing or two.

Five o’clock had been the agreed time for our meeting, plenty of time for a nice, easy stroll around town before heading for dinner and one of Sunny’s favorites. Nothing too fancy or the like, but they could pride themselves in making the best tomato soup my taste buds had ever had the pleasure of orgasming to.

I had grabbed something light on my way out after punching out and decided to just wait around for my marefriend, enjoying the cool shadow provided by the gazebo as I lazily kicked my legs against the steps I was reclining on, letting the buzz of the pony crowd drone out to the background while checking over my socials, an impossible activity in the previously technology-lacking Equestria. I found it absurdly exhilarating to be running my thumb up and down the screen once again after my long departure from Earth.

“Hi there!” A feminine voice unglued my eyes from the rolling screen just as I was about to click on Pipp’s livestream. In front of me stood two pegasus mares with a couple of shopping bags tucked under their folded wings.

One I knew well. “Good afternoon, Windy,” With the other, it had been a while. “Oh, hey there, Lumi, looking sickly as ever.”

Luminous rolled her eyes tiredly and followed Windy to take a seat at my side. I scooted over to leave enough space for the both of them, but not before receiving an offended nudge on the shoulder.

“You’re one to talk, you escaped lab experiment.” She stuck her tongue at me, earning an amused giggle from Windy.

“Ouch.” I scrunched up my features in false pain, rubbing my shoulder exaggeratedly as if she had given me a serious punch. “That’s a new one.”

“Points for me, then.” Lumi savored her small victory with a self-congratulating smirk, following Windy’s example and resting her bags on the steps before us to rest her wings. “Sooo, what’s crackin', big guy?”

“Just waiting for my significant other,” I replied nonchalantly, fixing my attention back to the screen. “We’re going out for dinner tonight.”

“Ooooooo~” Both mares teased at the same time with kissy faces and twitching eyebrows.

“Faust above…” I ran a desperate hand through my face, a half-assed attempt to hide from the embarrassment. Those two were having too much fun at my expense.

“Awww, come on, big guy.” Lumi bumped my shoulder in a friendly gesture. “We’re just playing.”

“I can see that.” I jabbed back in playful offense. The pitiful sight I had stumbled on the phone’s screen spurred me to share it with my two companions. “We’d arranged to meet in ten minutes or so, but it’s looking like Sunny won’t make it in time,” I explained, turning the device to show the pegasi pair what I was talking about.

Pipp’s livestream of that day was themed around how to get ready for a date, mares edition, and I’m sure you can guess which unfortunate test subject had drawn the short straw. Poor Sunny stood still in the middle of the room while Pipp applied make-up after make-up to her insecure features. I could easily recognize Mane Melody’s stuffy background behind the two mares. Those green dots all over the place could make you dizzy if you looked long enough…

*Pipp, I’m going to be lat-*

“Aaaa ta ta ta, we’re almost done, Sunny girl, just need to make sure the Pippsqueaks can see your sparkling cheeks shining with my latest product~!*

Begrudgingly following the pegasus’ instructions, Sunny went on a slow three-sixty turn in place to show the camera all available angles of her new, Pipp-approved dress and mane style. She was looking absolutely stunning, who am I trying to kid, but I knew my mate well enough to notice how uncomfortable she actually was under all that attire. Sunny wasn't a digger for fancy clothes and refined looks. Her braided mane and brushed tail were her preferred choice of wardrobe, alongside her trusty side bag, of course.

And that night wouldn't be any different, although it seemed Pipp would have a word to say in that regard.

“Sheesh, poor gal.” Lumi winced at the sorry state of my mare, surely not a fan of kilos-worth of blush on your cheeks and enough eyeliner to blind a pony in the middle of the day.

“I, for one, think she’s looking gorgeous,” Windy added her two bits over Lumi’s shoulder.

“She is,” I agreed with the red-furred pegasus. “But Sunny is more for the natural look if you dig me.”

“Ah, nothing to obstruct the view, eh?” Lumi’s eyebrows raised in insinuation, winning herself a strategically placed pinch on her snout. “Ouch! You’re no fun!” She protested with a muffled voice.

“And you girls are impossible during estrus.”

“Come oooon, I took a double-dose this morning!” Lumi nickered annoyedly with crossed forelegs.

“And you still scared that poor colt up the streetlamp…” Windy deadpanned, earning a glare from her offended companion.

“I wonder how with that eagle’s nest you’re so keen on wearing.” I ran my hand through her two-toned, blue and pink, spiky mane, and properly retreated it before it could get nipped by a fuming Lumi. “Oh, who’s no fun now?”

“I’m gonna dump both your flanks straight into the sea!” She promised to the heavens, her wings twitching at her sides with unrestrained desire.

“While you do that…” I left the pegasus to her cursing, typing on the phone as I hatched an evil plan. “Nopony messes with my mare and gets away with it...” I growled protectively.

My furious typing earned the pegasi’s attention back, both forming a semi pony-pile to look over my shoulder. One bit was worth the price.

Soon, a chime and a short fragment of Pipp’s latest hit interrupted her overdosed tirade regarding how to properly apply eyeliner without making yourself look like a circus clown. *Ow, we got another tip incoming!* She went to check on her tablet, her phone fixed on the tripod and recording. *Huh, that's a funny name… Um, @BestCatarrhini writes, ‘Hi, Pipp. Great news! My sister is pregnant! I’m gonna be a dad!’ Awww, congratulations! I’m sure you’ll be the best da-WAIT WHAT?!!!*

Windy bent over in laughter, having to secure herself against her companion with her wing as her cackling filled the clearing plaza, spinning the heads of the nearby ponies in search of the commotion.

“I'm so gonna prank somepony with that,” Lumi promised at my side, unable to fight down a good chuckle or two.

“You can’t beat a human at ‘The Game of the Internet’,” I announced with absolute confidence.

*ALEX!!!* The cat was out of the bag. Pipp, well versed in the ways of the net, needed only but a few moments to figure out my change of nickname. I caught sight of Sunny’s eyes widening in surprise behind the raging pegasus, lips pressed tightly in a desperate attempt to not burst out laughing too while trying to make herself as inconspicuous as possible. “I’m gonna call the twins and they’re gonna track you down! AND YOU’RE DONE FOR!!!* Pipp yelled to the still recording phone, not bothering to check with the bubbling chat for she knew she had lost them in their own merriment at my prank. With the mood broken, Pipp went behind the cameras to get in touch with the pegasi twins with her second spare phone (the first was the one she’d given me) and track my IP or something, I didn't know, leaving Sunny in the background to discreetly remove the unhealthy amount of makeup from her face. Once done, she rested the towel on the chair's rim and patiently waited for Pipp to return.

*I’ll see you soon.* I saw her lips voicelessly whisper to the camera, careful not to stir the coals on the already burning pegasus.

“I’ll see you soon, baby,” I whispered back, kissing two fingers and resting them over the screen.

*AHA!!* Pipp’s entire rage-filled face filled the livestream. *I got you now, human! Don’t you DARE move from where you are!!”

The last bits of the stream showed Pipp hurriedly exiting her establishment while Sunny quickly scampered behind her, spurred by her protective side fearing for my safety.

With the show over, I switched off the screen and patiently waited for my demise. “You girls wanna hang around and see me torn apart by a pink ball of fluff?” I carelessly offered while leaning back on the stairs, cushioning my head with my forearms.

“Wouldn’t miss it for the world.” Lumi mimicked my pose while Windy returned a nervous laugh.

It took little for the petite, feathery missile to find her target. Flying with deadly purpose, Pipp caught sight of my resting self from her vantage point in the air, my mate tailing her on translucent wings. I took a second to admire her breathtaking form with the falling sun breaking against her shimmering assets, cutting the air with practiced grace thanks to our resident daredevil-turned-instructor.

“Oh lawd, she comin’.”

Pipp made for a strong landing in front of the gazebo, bringing a storm in her wake. The pebbles trembled under her might, two flaming orbs glaring daggers into my soul…

Creep by Radiohead suddenly popped into my head, and I promptly began humming it without a care in the world.

“Damn, girl, you're gonna shed your coat if you don’t take a breather.” Lumi tried to cool Pipp off but was brushed aside with a glare from the smaller pegasus.

I didn't need my eyes open to feel the looming mare over me. Peeking from a narrowed eyelid, I was met with a very angry pony.

“‘Sup?”

“I was in the middle of a VERY important promotion!!”

“You stole my mare.” I blankly countered.

“I needed her for today’s livestream!” She snarled, pressing her snout to my nose. “And you couldn't have chosen another time for your stupid pranks! Now my business is ruined! RUINED!!”

‘Ah, you got a serious competitor here, my dear Rares…’

Opening my eyes and facing a puffing Pipp head-on, I drew from my utter lack of self-preservation instinct and promptly pecked her on the lips.

“... You’re so stupid.” Lumi facehooved while Windy covered her eyes in preparation for the carnage.

“AAAARGH!!”

Fasut was on my side that day, for Sunny was already there to rescue me, trapping the lunging pegasus in her levitating grasp before she could reach my jugular. Kicking and screaming, Pipp struggled to free herself, but Sunny’s magic had grown stronger in these past few months.

“Nnnngg, let go of me!!” Pipp loudly demanded. “I’m gonna drag that monkey to my castle and throw him off my room’s balcony!!”

“Sorry, Pipp, but no touching the goods before I have my date.” Sunny remained impassive against Pipp’s demands, carefully returning her to the ground a good chunk away from me for safekeeping. “You can tear him a new one afterward.”

“Always trust a mare to protect her stud.”

Sending a leer over her shoulder, Sunny flicked her tail to shush me. Pipp was still ready to murder me in the face, but Sunny’s healing personality was just too contagious, and her calming nuzzles soon cooled the scolding princess to a permanent glare in my direction.

“Fine…” She conceded begrudgingly.

Out of immediate danger, I rose back to my feet and approached the pair, leaving the others rooted in their places while they enjoyed our usual dose of nonsense.

Biting down a chuckle in the face of Pipp’s adorable pouting, I dared a hand on her scalp, running my fingers under her silky mane in an apologetic manner.

“Less glitter.” I offered out of nowhere, pointing with my free hand at my cheek. “Too bright under direct light, masks off the eyes.”

Pipp quickly caught up with my feedback on the eyeliner she’d been testing on Sunny on her stream. With a dignified huff, however, she ignored me and sent her attention anywhere else but me, although I could hear the rusty gears in her head slowly turning with my feedback.

“Yeah, you do that.” I patted her head twice and left the pegasus princess in the care of my two previous companions while Sunny and I made for a hasty retreat from the square before Pipp had a change of mind and sent me to the hospital, legs first.

“You’re mean.” Sunny quipped, bumping her rump against my leg as we left the premises to take one of the many side streets leading away from the town's center without a set destination in mind.

“Yeah, I am,” I answered with a guilty grin.

Just as I was about to ask my mate what she had in mind for the afternoon until our dinner, she beat me to it and bumped me again, this time harder, dragging us both into the relative privacy of a nearby alley, away from the few prying eyes of the scarce passersby that littered the side street.

“Um…”

Once again, Sunny was faster. She purred hungrily, her immediate choice of plan differing strikingly from mine, although who was I to protest?

She was on her rear legs and pouncing me before I could blink, capturing my lips and moaning deep into our shared embrace. You can see what half a day apart from her stallion does to a mare in heat, nettle tea or no nettle tea. Funny times indeed.

My hands went for their usual journey to her flanks, groping them wantonly as I felt my lips being pried apart by her demanding tongue. She was so warm, so sweet. I simply lost myself in the mind-numbing sensation and lost my grip on reality, the only time passing the one our lungs marked against the need for breathing.

Her eager huffs tickled my nose, our shared moans reaching dangerously high levels, but I was too deep into our mutual dance to care in the slightest. We dragged on our tongue fight for as long as we could, but the need for air won the battle against our fearsome passion. With a big gulp of air, we reluctantly broke the kiss, Sunny biting my lower lip on her retreat for good measure.

With a nervous chuckle, I released the hold on my mare's thoroughly groped rear to rest my hands against the small of her back, pressing her against me as much as her awkward bipedal stance allowed.

“Gosh, you sure had a lot to give.” I playfully poked, offering a toothy grin.

Sunny’s answer was a beaming smile and dreamy eyes, her tail wagging excitedly behind her. Her forelegs remained fixed behind my neck, chest fluff warming my heart. I wasn't going to go anywhere without her permission.

In light of this situation, I couldn’t help but jest, “Well, I can surely get behind your idea for the afternoon. I mean,” Searching left and right, I sought any passing ponies that might spot us. Finding none, I lowered my reach for one final squeeze. “It’s quiet enough for some head…”

The pony liked what she heard. Her eyelids narrowed and her beaming smile morphed into a devilish smirk. She failed to catch the irony in my words in her love-drunken state, and didn't waste a second to return on all fours and begin nosing her way into my pants.

“Woah woah.” I nudged a very displeased Sunny back, as much distance as the narrow alley would grant me. “It was a joke, baby. Come on, we're gonna make a scene!”

A very unhappy and animalistic whinny left Sunny’s muzzle. She was NOT happy with my proverbial blue-balling… can that term be applied to a mare?... Whatever, she made her displeasure known with an angry snort and a defiant paw on the cobblestone path.

“I know, I know.” I struggled to calm her, knowing fully well how complicated it is for them of the opposite gender. You might find it funny or even ridiculous seeing a mare so out of the loop, but they do have a rough time during estrus. Twilight once described it to me as a feeling similar to that building urgency to use the bathroom, which only gets worse the closer and closer you get to one, and how impossibly hard it is to ignore when the chance is literally in front of you. It’s maddening for them in the worst stages, and the remedy is not something one can provide in most places, much less public. “Tonight, okay? We can go a few rounds to cool you off and you’ll get a good night’s sleep, yes?”

It took her a moment to breach through the hazy fog of her hormones but, with one last frustrated nicker, Sunny caved in, taking a big breath and a good shake to knock herself down a few notches.

“Sorry, I-I just… when I’m so close to you, I…” She mumbled stammered apologies, dipping her head in shame.

“Hey,” I caught her falling muzzle with a hand, fixing her gorgeous aquamarine pearls on mine and offering a reassuring smile. “I understand, baby. I know how a literal pain in the rear is for you gals. I’ll make it up to you tonight.” I sealed the promise with a wink, which quickly skyrocketed her mood up to her usual cheery self.

Deciding it was best if we left the alley before one of us flew off the handle and landed both of us on the following day’s news, we resumed our previous walk towards nowhere, Sunny sticking close to my hip while trusting me to keep an eye on the road for the both of us since hers wouldn’t stop beaming at me.

“So, as much as I’d want us messing around,” I sent my hand for a teasing squeeze of her cutie mark. “Is there anything else you had in mind for us?”

With a soft nip of retaliation, Sunny mused my inquiry for a moment before a proposition sparkled in her eyes.

“Actually, there is something I’ve wanted to do with you for a while, but…” her tone shifted to uncertainty, slowing her gait until she left us stranded in the middle of the road.

“But?” I urged her, worried about her sudden change of mood.

“I, um…” She rubbed her fetlocks nervously, failing to meet my inquiring gaze. “I want to introduce you to my parents…”

‘...... Oh.’

And there goes my libido.

“... Should we stop at Lilly’s first for some flowers?” I proposed the only thing I could come up with in the face of such a delicate proposition.

“No, I, uh… I wanted to try something.” She tapped on the ground twice, her hooves shimmering in green momentarily before dispelling the magic.

I caught her drift and, without any further ceremonies, I fell in tow at her side, allowing her to take the lead towards our new destination.

The way up the town to the uppermost level was spent in contemplative silence, both of us lost in the images and memories of those who weren't with us anymore. I had made peace with my past life on Earth a long time ago, although that didn’t mean my thoughts wouldn’t go for my human family every once in a while. The more the years passed, the blurrier and far in between the memories of my human life became. My time in Equestria had been eventful enough to fill virtually all the gaps in my memory, to the point that I didn't even see human faces in my dreams anymore. It was daunting when I realized it at first, but now I understood the inevitability of it.

Maretime Bay’s cemetery was a bit away from the upper level of the town, taking a wide space over one of the numerous grassy hills surrounding the bay. Ponies weren’t religious beyond the occasional cult to Faust or the sun, meaning their graves were decorated around the deceased pony rather than a shared belief. Each grave was different, some more flamboyant than others depending on the family’s preferences and wealth. But something they all shared was color. Those of you who have traveled to Latin countries might know what I’m talking about. Far from the austere and gloomy looks of your average graveyard, ponykind’s approach was about celebrating the life of the deceased pony, with numerous decorations, pictures, tokens, words… Each tribe had their own particular costumes. Earth ponies, needless to say, were prone to hold onto their connection with the land even beyond death.

Sunny’s parents lay at the eastern end of the cemetery, meaning we had to traverse our way around the numerous graves of all Maretimeites that had lived and died within the small seaside town. It was during that said trek that I recalled their story, Sunny having shared it with me during a late-night chat sesson where we both happened to be feeling a smidge nostalgic. She had lost both her parents the same way, albeit at different times. Both went on a great journey of discovery beyond the reaches of the bay to never return, leaving her in the care of Hitch’s family until her coming of age when she claimed her parent’s lighthouse as her own.

“Here we are…” She gloomily announced, coming to a halt in front of a shared gravestone in which their parents' names were written. Their resting places were considerably more simplistic than the Cloverleafs’ mausoleum, for example, a couple of rows back. Just your usual tombstone with the features all of them shared: name, date, epitaph, and their cutie marks engraved on the gray granite.

‘Oh, so that’s Sunny’s mom’s name…'' I thought to myself as I ran my sight over the style carefully chiseled on the stone.

“Hi Mom, hi Dad.” Sunny greeted the empty space between us and the grave, ears droopy and posture sagging until she had to lower herself on her haunches, placing a forehoof over the flower-covered grounds that hosted her parents' bones. “There’s somepony I want you to meet. He’s a very special pony.” Her beautiful perls began to sparkle with the beginning of tears as they searched for mine. “And he’s not a pony at all…” Her breaking voice spoke with adoration.

With my most supportive smile, I lowered myself beside her and, careful not to sully the beautiful bed of flowers over their graves, I surrounded my mate and pressed myself against her, aiming to support her as much as I could. Sunny appreciated my gesture, leaning against me while her attention returned to her parents. With a gentle tip of her hoof against the grassy ground, she drew from her flora magic to summon a gorgeous flower crown, grown to rest against her parent’s shared tomb.

Satisfied with her work, she continued speaking softly. “I already told you how we met last time.” She revealed, referring to her occasional visits which I had respectfully distanced myself from to give her some space. With a sniff, I felt her head coming to rest against my shoulder. “We’ve been going around in circles for a while, but…” Sunny took a momentary pause while she sniffled, “.. b-but we’re together now.” She rubbed a fetlock over her snot-covered snout, and immediately kissed my cheek tenderly. “He’s the best stallion a mare could ask for…”

I had no words, so I did the second best thing I could and returned the affection, kissing her lovingly and holding her close as she shed tears of melancholy and longing. Gently rocking her back and forth, her quiet sniffs and sobs ran their course until a dull feeling overcame her, that tiredness when you’ve shed all there was to give and now felt as if you were empty.

I tried to take her mind off the mood with the question anyone eventually asks. “Do you think they would’ve liked me?” I wondered after a tender peck on her ear.

Sunny was definitive in her answer. “They would've loved you.” She spoke without hesitation, gently nuzzling her snout on my neck, hiding from the pain of her loss. “Although, they would’ve had a ton of questions for you too.” A muffled chuckle reached my ears.

“Reminds me of somepony.” I quipped, earning another half-sob-half-giggle from my defeated mare. It broke my heart to see her like that, but I knew these moments have to run their course so you can feel full and refreshed afterward. I would respect her pace and be at her side even if it took us the rest of the day.

“What about you?” She suddenly fired. “Your parents. And your sister. You never speak of them…”

Her question caught me off guard. It was true though. I’d never spoken about my human family beyond the scolding I’d given the sisters when I mentioned my sister. Not because I would crumble if I brought them up or anything. It had been long enough that I only felt a dull ache. I guessed the chance had never happened to come around.

“You want to know?”

She answered with a sad nod, now taking the supportive role and pressing herself against me, as little as there was left to press against.

“Okay then, um…” I was unsure how to begin, the last time I had brought them up was during a heart-to-heart with Twilight late into our years as a couple. “Well, there’s my dad, Ethan Kingston. Mom always said I was his spitting image, except for her eyes. I have my mom’s eyes…” I retold with a fond smile, Sunny’s ears up again and listening attentively. “Her name’s Marta Flores. It’s a Spanish name, but my dad would always introduce her as Martha Flowers. It riled up my mom so bad…”

Sunny’s giggle lifted our spirits a bit, even if the cold chains of homesickness struggled to bring me under the rain. “They were both doctors. They met at med school when my dad transferred to Spain to finish his studies. He said he stayed for the food and climate, but it was mom all along.” I finished with a pained chuckle, rubbing my thumb over Sunny’s furry shoulder.

“Would they’ve liked me too?” She asked with a hint of hesitation.

Twilight had asked me that exact same question, so I gave Sunny the exact same answer. “Well, there’d be a LOT of questions on their side too,” I playfully called her previous commentary. “There’s only humans in the sapience department back on Earth so, once done with explanations of how and why there was a talking horse in our living room, I’m sure they would’ve loved you as one of their own. Especially my mom. She would’ve doted on you so hard it would be considered fillynapping.”

Another fond giggle from the most beautiful mare in the world, her sad tears now gone from her rosy cheeks, drinking in my indirect flattery and nuzzling deep into my chest.

“Was there somepony else?” She wondered once the tender caressing had run its course. “What about your sister? And I’m sure you had a lot of human friends too!”

Resting my cheek on her scalp, I granted her wish. “I already told you about Elena. She was an oddball on her own. The only girl in a hundred kilometers with such an interest in computer science. I don’t know about you ponies, but for us monkeys, informatics was mostly a sausage fest.”

“Really?” She asked with a curious dip of her head.

“Mhm. I learned a lot from her. Mostly from her insistence. ‘It’s a digital world, tontolaba! You either keep up or you’re left behind!’... Yeah, she… she was as bitchy as any little sister would be, but I loved her more than anything.” I adjusted my position against Sunny to lay more comfortably against her, making sure to tuck my legs in and not damage the flowers. “I had a couple of friends at college, but if I had to mention one it would be my British pal Stuart. Heh, if you think I’m versed with computers you should’ve seen that guy, he was a monster. He’s the other half of the reason I know as much about tech as my actual field of expertise.” A fond grimace stretched my lips. “I swear, I thought one day I’d catch him after college in the mop room fucking his own computer or something.”

“Pffff.” Sunny couldn't help but laugh at such a moronic sight. But that was Stuart for you.

‘We did make a promise, pal. I hope you held onto your end better than I did…’

A couple more names came out on both fronts. The graveyard was filled with loving memories and more than one silly anecdote. It indeed felt refreshing to talk about them once more. My pony family (families now) would share a place in my heart with my human one forever. I only lamented the suddenness of my disappearance, blaming myself for the anguish and pain they must’ve gone through before moving on. Had it been a day? A century? A millennium back on Earth? I could never know. I had buried my family just as Sunny had buried hers. Now, our friends were our family, one we would cherish as much as we cherished each other.

I take a page from her book. I couldn't have asked for a better group of ponies to call my own.

We immersed ourselves so much in our anecdote-sharing that we completely lost track of time. Sheltered in the privacy of the graveyard, we were at risk of being late for our dinner. With the sun quickly hiding behind the Zephyr Range, we bid Sunny’s parents a warm goodbye and left the place at a respectful pace.

There was no time for grooming or ablutions of any kind, to a certain pink pegasus’ disappointment, I’d guess. A beeline was made for the restaurant I‘d placed reservations for, the same one I’d taunted Hitch with during our sparring session, the one I knew Sunny loved. Again, it wasn't much of a fancy place or the like, so my daily clothes and Sunny’s natural beauty would have to be enough.

My mouth watered on our way just recalling the taste of that tomato soup…

“You wanna know the story of magic?” I asked my marefriend after gulping down a big spoonful of tomato soup, steeling myself to prevent a very unwelcome moan to the embarrassment of Sunny and the concern of the other customers.

‘Faust above, this is so fucking good…’

“Uh, yes please?” Sunny deadpanned as if it was the most obvious thing in the world, which it was. Taking a bite of her spring salad, she waited eagerly for another history lesson from yours truly.

“Well, then you’ll have to take the rest of the week off. It's kind of a long story.”

Biting her lip and rolling her eyes, Sunny shook her head and urged me to stop being silly and get on with it with a gentle kick under the table.

“Okay okay! Auch!” I cried with an exaggerated rub over the damaged area. “You’re the boss.”

Taking another big spoonful, I assembled the story in my head so as not to lose her or bore her to tears. I loved Twilight to death, but not everycreature could go through one of her ‘shove entire book’s worth of knowledge down your throat’ history lessons and come out a sane creature. I’d give her the summarized version, both for her sanity and because I had a heat to clench with my masculine assets, at least for the next couple of hours…

We males should get paid for our services.

“First things first,” I began after a sip of my water. “There was a time in which Equus was just like Earth. A strictly non-magical place where creatures lived and evolved similarly as they did on my homeworld, and everything was fine and dandy. However, Equus had a peculiarity that my world lacked. Do you remember what I told you about the Aëther and how magic bleeds into this world and back again?”

“Mhm!” Sunny replied with a beaming smile behind her stuffed cheeks. She was enjoying her dish as much as I was mine, apparently.

“Great. So the veil between the Aëther and Equus was uncommonly thin back then, but not enough for magic to breach into this world. That is, until sixty-five and a half million years ago.”

“Mm,” Sunny swallowed her food to clear her muzzle. “That was the time of the great extinction, right?”

“Smart girl.” I winked at her proudly, resummoning a blush to her cheeks. “That’s exactly it. Equus and Earth have shared a fair amount of historical similarities, including the Cretaceous-Paleogene mass extinction that ended the dinosaurs. And it happened for the same reason too; a big-ass asteroid impact that caused the extinction of roughly eighty percent of all species inhabiting the world at that time, which passed the evolutionary baton to us mammals. Point for us furred freaks.” I bumped my chest proudly, but a sudden thought breached through my lesson “Although that’s not entirely true here, your dominant species pool is more diverse than Earth’s… Whatever, that’s not important.” Another sip to wet my already drying throat. “What’s important is that in both worlds the energy released on impact was simply unconscionable. On Earth, the extinction event followed and gave way to the biodiversity that fills up the entirety of Earth, us humans included. But here!” I pushed aside the soup for the time being and rested my head on my crossed hands. I always had so much fun explaining things to others. Comes with the title and all. “Here, on Equus, the energy released was so big, so ridiculously massive, that it became a breaking point for the already-thinning veil. The asteroid tore a literal fissure in the weakened fabric of reality right at the place of impact.”

“The Wellspring, am I right?” She offered with a cocky smirk. This girl had been doing her homework with the books I’d brought from Canterlot.

“Right again, baby. The Wellspring is the place where all leylines emerge and eventually end. One thousand five-hundred and forty-six kilometers beyond the Blizzard Barrier. Although,” I pointed with my thumb behind us to the towering rainbow emitting from our shared home. “I guess now we have a secondary nexus, so to speak.”

Sunny’s eyes followed my pointing finger, but quickly fixed themselves on mine again, silently urging me to continue as she searched with her lips the straw on her glass without breaking eye contact. She looked adorable, and I couldn’t help the fond smile which was quickly reciprocated by her once her thirst was sated.

“So, once the dust settled and the world stopped shaking, magic began seeping explosively into Equus, searching to fill the vacuum this world possessed until the entire planet was bubbling with magic. The leylines stretched under the ground, like fissures spreading from an impact point, seeking the paths of least resistance until the circle was complete and the flow stabilized.” I cranked my neck and stretched my limbs, satisfied with another history lesson well delivered. “The remaining creatures were exposed to this magic and, with the ages, adapted to it, resulting in the creatures we find today, you ponies included,” I concluded with a clap. The soup had gone cold by then, but Faust took me if I left a single scrap of that absolute blessing from the goddess on the plate.

“Woah.” She whistled with dreamy eyes, her happy tail wagging behind her and brushing against the tablecloth.

“Mhm.” I was warmed by the sight of my excited mare. She looked so cute every time the never-ending sinkhole of her brain absorbed another morsel of information. “The place of impact was so filled with magic that the expelled chunks of rocks and debris that didn’t outright leave the atmosphere became absolutely saturated with it, defying gravity itself and, with the passing of the millennia and a shared gravitational pull, eventually formed the floating continent of Skyros, home to the Kingdom of Ustaryn, the birthplace of Alicornkind and, at the time, was the most powerful empire this world had ever seen. Until the Father of Monsters showed his ugly face and, as the saying goes, the rest is history.”

I caught her pearls widening dangerously, a manic grin stitching her muzzle as she pushed herself over the rim of the table with her forehooves. I had to act quickly.

“History for another time.” I unfortunately had to take the wing out of her sails.

“Awwww.” Sunny wasn’t going to allow me, assaulting me with the full strength of her puppy eyes and quivering lips.

“Sorry, baby, I gotta save some stories for a later time .” I remained firm against her cuteness assault, flagging the waitress for the bill so we would get an early start back home. “Aaaaaand, I happen to remember we have some… pending business to take care of, hmm?” I teased with a quirked eyebrow.

If there was something that would take my mate’s mind away from piecing another nugget of the past together, was the prospect of some fun times with her significant other. And that was only during estrus, I wasn’t sure about any other time. Practically forcing me to swear on all my ancestors that I would share the story of the alicorns on our next date, we exited the establishment with a promise of returning soon to the owner and with me taking care of the bill. I was a gentleman after all… and she had kinda already covered all my expenses back at the brighthouse.

Stars already twinkled in the sky by the time we exited the town and faced the slope that would take us home. The winter calendar meant two hours less of sunlight, bringing forth the refreshing twilight sooner than we were accustomed to and urging everypony else to head for their respective abodes and settle in for the night. Almost nopony greeted us on the almost-empty streets, which on this occasion worked to my advantage, since Sunny also had in mind an early start of sorts.

An early start in getting me in the mood by consciously brisking her pace a bit to walk before me, swaying her hips and sweeping her tail in a manner no straight member of the male department could ignore.

‘... Sorry, my fellow humans. I’m too far gone…’

Surprise surprise, it worked. Had to remember to order pants with more room next time.

On our way past the front gates of our shared residence, we were welcomed by peaceful silence. We assumed Zipp and Hitch would be bunking at the sheriff’s abode for the night so his mare could squeeze the last out of him, but we were unsure if our two remaining friends were either asleep or just chilling in their room.

Either way, we aimed to not disturb them and made a silent, albeit impatient trip to my bedroom, which now doubled as our bedroom if you took into account the number of nights Sunny shared with me, which were virtually all of them unless the council of the double X needed privacy for some evil, female-driven plotting.

Sunny’s excitement grew in tandem with each muffled step that brought us closer to our destination, her little, unabashed show from before now upgraded to a needy dose of aggressive nuzzling against my side and impatient nipping at my annoyingly-obstructing clothes, which turned up the dial to both to express how ready she was for this as well as ushering me to hurry the hay up!

And turning me on further, thing I believed was impossible passed a certain threshold.

The door to my room was only a saving-miracle away from having been torn off its hinges… again. She hurried inside my humble abode head-first, virtually hopping across the frame straight into our bed while I cast one last exploratory look around the open hallways of the upper floor. There was a shy light peeking under the closed doors of the girl's shared bedroom, meaning there was a chance somepony was still awake.

‘Hmm, time for a bubble of sileAAAH!’

Sunny’s heat had worked her patience dry during the two seconds that it took me to look around, and promptly dragged me into the room like a ragdoll. My awkward dance in search of equilibrium ceased when I found a precarious purchase on the work desk, saving me from making a fool of myself and killing the mood with a nasty bonk in the noogie. Halfway resting my buttocks over the edge and gripping the rim with my hands, I shook the momentary dizziness away.

“Sheesh, girl, you gotta slow d-mmmmph!!”

That night, just as the couple previous nights, our born roles within the proverbial food chain were reversed. Sunny was a hungry predator who had been neglected for the better part of the day, and she was gonna gobble up this human-shaped morsel no questions asked, starting with my lips, which she kissed and smothered and bit and abused to her heart's content until nothing was left of me besides a madly blushing, starry-eyed fool.

With a loud smack, the mare-turned-leech freed my lips. “Mmm, much better.” She purred seductively, hungrily running her tongue over her lips to trap the first taste of me before coming down back on all fours. Leaving me to regain my grip on precious reality, Sunny went to remove the offending garments keeping her from her price. With practiced dexterity, my mare was a quick learner, she made easy work of my pants and needed little more to tear my undergarments away like a vicious wolf. Very sexy and assertive until her inertia died at the sight of my only-half-mast.

The blank leer she sent back up spoke volumes and other, more colorful things.

“W-Well, you startled me!” I offered a meek rebuttal.

Rolling her eyes playfully and snorting, Sunny finally dove in to deal quickly with what she hoped, prayed, would be the last setback, or she was gonna lose her mind and become a hormone driven monster.

I saw it happen once. Very nasty thing.

Her exploratory muzzle sniffed hard and dived for my crotch. She soon found her target, and began with the sweet torture that always drove me weak to the knees.

“F-Furtim zona.” I cast the silence-bubble spell before her ministrations sucked out all matters of rational thinking from me, amongst other things, and rendered me speechless. With an almost invisible field only a trained eye could catch, the transparent bubble of silence filled the entirety of the room.

I said it a lot of times on my day and would repeat it as many times as it took. Pony muzzles were made for blowjobs, enough to get your rocks off and bring your swift demise wantonly or not, no matter how much stamina and training you had.

Sunny hungry maw licked, nipped, and sucked her way to a desired full mast, moaning huskily with the taste of my skin and the musky scent of… well, me. I had to redouble my purchase against the table before I could melt like soft butter, her muzzle and tongue working me to my core with heavenly care and attention. Her aquamarine eyes burned with lust, never leaving mine as she slowly dragged her broader muscle on a maddening trip from the ridge of my base up without a hurry towards the head, making sure to coat the entirety of my hard, and already throbbing, erection.

‘Jehehesus!’ That's as far as my thoughts were carrying me, and we had barely started. I was trembling with anticipation.

My mate was a mare of method, even under a clouded mind of pheromones and lust. She liked taking her time and wringing out every ounce of pleasure, both literally and metaphorically, for the both of us. Previous experiences with another stallion, a mayor jerk who I'd have to smack upside-down if I ever crossed him on the street, had left her with a sour taste before I’d… figuratively come to her doorstep a crumbled mess.

Now, she would go aaaall the way to lift us up to cloud nine.

Her wet, sluggish trip finally concluded at my tip, her warm breath tickling my saliva-dressed shaft in the best possible way. One little kiss on my sensitive glans gave way to another, the smallest amount of sucking foreshadowing what would soon follow as her tongue teased the entrance impatiently. Her tail flagged and thrashing around, her posture widened and balanced to go for liftoff. Sunny was ready to give me the suck of my life.

‘F-Faust in heaAAAAven! Ah, Ah, fuuuuAAAck!’ My mind melted into putty, screeching gears struggling to keep up with the pleasure as I let myself go.

Once again, bless and curse her technique, she took her modest time, sending me up the wall in desire and frustration while she continued prodding my tip and toyed with the bumps and ridges of my underhead, already familiar with the different anatomy of a human’s male assets, and their weak points.

My relatively smaller size compared to a stallion’s girth actually played in my favor in this scenario. There was no way a mare (or stallion, no judging here) could choke on an equine-sized dick and come back alive… well, aside from a mare or two who I happened to know pretty well. Jokes on them. That wasn't the case for me, and Sunny had made this wonderful discovery soon into our frequently, newly-love-struck ruts.

The maddening warming up was over, it was now time for her main course.

Slowly and meticulously, she extended the reach of her trusts without speeding up, slurping past my head with each consecutive bob, reaching new heights, or lows, every so many pumps, and marking each victory with a hard suck on the center, bringing forth dying animals whimpers from me. Her broader, stronger tongue danced around my spear, working in tandem with her maw to fire all my nerves and run me into a quivering mess. Her lustful moans breached through her filled lips and filled the room, vibrating down on my shaft and tickling in a way no man could withstand for long.

My hands were no longer enough to keep me steady, driving me fully on my rear over the table while my hold didn't waver, else I'd fall right on my ass, bringing my mare down with me. This created new unwanted distance between me and Sunny, when my shaft made an unannounced exit from her vacuuming maw, a distance that she was quick to bridge down as she rose on her rear legs and pinned me down on my thighs, making use of our new arrangements to balance herself better and, with the strength and determination of a mare in heat, rutting me in place until she’d had her way with me and more.

Moaning and huffing like a marathon runner, I congratulated the superb attention from my mate. It was the least I could do short of returning the favor. “Mmmph, you’re so good, baby…keep it up.” My free hand came to rest on the left side of her head, lovingly petting her silky fur and playing with her twitchy ear, following the lead of her tail.

My gesture halted her bobbing mid-way, a loving twinkle in her eyes and an appreciative smile saw her head leaning against my caressing, her braided mane brushing right against my leg. Her fur was damp in sweat and effort, but my mare wasn't one to give up. Her tongue did not yield the assault on my manhood as she enjoyed my attention, lasting only a few moments before the loving gleam in her aquamarine pearls hardened in renewed determination.

Giving me her all, she resumed her bobbing. Harder, more aggressively. Each pump, each tongue lash sending electrified shivers down my entire being as her snout bumped against my abdomen. In a bold move, Sunny sucked her way up to the tip, running her tongue across the head a few times for good measure before diving down on my hardon, hilting me all the way until her tongue could lap my orbs with reckless abandon.

Then, she began swallowing over my rod. This girl was bold.

“Su-uh-ah-nny…” I called for mercy, but she would give me none of it. The electricity was mind-numbing, her motions barely registering amidst a fog of pleasure. With my entire self twitching with each of her gulps, I was putty in this mare’s hooves, or muzzle. Sunny soldiered through her gag reflex, almost giving the impression she had none to begin with, making sure to coat the entirety of my balls in a hefty layer of spit in resemblance to my wood while never wavering in her relentless assault. Smooth muscles flexed over my rod, milking it with grace and ease, hungry and demanding, rocking my core in a thousand directions. She held her assault for a mind-shattering minute in which I couldn't distinguish dream from reality.

Sadly, a mortal pony can only last for so long. Just as I felt I was about to pass out from the feeling of her clenching throat muscles, Sunny was forced to retreat, sucking greedy gulps of life-giving air through her nostrils, beginning her upwards path one last time. Gently, painfully slowly, going so far as to start dipping her muzzle side to side as she climbed to heighten the pleasure while slurping hard on the center of my manhood, rendering me like a mewling cat begging for release.

‘This m-mare is a ch-ch-changeling in disguuuuAAAise, I s-swear!!’

Just as her, a mortal man can only last for so long against such an assault. That mind-shuttering number had driven me to the edge. Sunny knew, for that had been her wicked plan all along. How she had figured me out in the short weeks we had been fooling around was beyond me, but I was one hundred percent confident she had completely ruined human women for me.

Once she had climbed the summit, she was ready for her much-deserved dues. Brushing her teeth over the sensitive surface, she gently bit behind the ridge of my head, lips tightly pressed and vacuuming on my shaft. Her tongue swirled around her moist cavern, anxiously teasing me to see her thirst quenched.

It was something in the taste of my jeez that drove her, and mares in general mad. The saltiness perhaps? I knew well how they liked to dig that stuff.

Her anxious demands became the tipping point for me, the sweet torture coming to an end with a desperate cry of her name. With the first spurt of my seed, Sunny's eyes became two pinpricks, only to widen up with the taste of my essence. She began nursing my head, moaning as the flavor of my human foal batter caressed her taste buds, her muscles and tongue rearing into gear to work wringing every last drop from me. Lewd, gulping sounds filled my mind, the hungry mare sucking with every jerky throb of my manhood for everything I had to give.

Every time we fooled around like this, I felt she’d surpassed herself, keeping me high on the clouds until the last glob of seed had disappeared down her gullet. Harsh, labored breaths struggled to leave my lungs, feeling as if I had just run an iron pony or cast a hundred spells on a single go. Or having a changeling feast on me, take your pick.

Her merciless sucking slowed down to a bobbing trickle once she’d wrung me dry, lapping around my head while savoring the aftertaste. Zecora’s herbal remedies and potions had improved my load both in quantity and quality beyond your average human; not completely up to the standards of a well-endowed stud, but enough to satisfy the panting mare in front of me. To me, and specially to her, that was all that mattered right now.

The unwelcome cold of the darkening room assaulted my spit-covered shaft the moment Sunny released it from her warm embrace. Our labored breaths mingled and bounced against the walls, muffled by my spell which I prayed had masked our lasciviousness. A tiny pool of desire coated the floor around her hind legs, her tail high and trashing and hindquarters twitching in anticipation.

Her hunger was satisfied for now, and a smidge of rational thinking poked its way through her hazy, lust-filled mind. Sunny had played her cards well and had ended up bringing me hard on my back, panting over the table like a ragdoll while I struggled to regain a hold of reality.

However, we were far from done. A relationship is a game of two halves, and whilst she had enjoyed herself as much as I from blowing me, it was my turn to plow her field and reduce her to a salivating mess.

That is… if she could keep my wood from softening.

“Oh, no you don’t!”

Like a lunging timberwolf, Sunny engulfed my shaft in her maw once again, sucking and licking to reverse the flow of blood back to where it was needed.

A tiny fragment of my mind rejoiced at the notion of the nipping cold disappearing in her moist embrace. The rest could barely bring itself together to moan like a dying moose.

“Meeeercyyyy...” I groaned in defeat, knowing full well Sunny would ignore me and continue with her ministrations until I was ready and hard for round two.

“Oh, don’t be such a cryfoal.” Sunny playfully chided, spitting out my tool once she was satisfied with her resurrecting work. Leaving my side, she strutted high and proud the short way to the bed, resting her upper body above the covers and presenting her rear to me, patiently waiting for me to stop dawdling and rut her brains out.

Feeling the centuries truly dragging me down for once, I struggled to rise from the grave, balancing on my elbows and searching with misty eyes for the missing mare. The orange blob of my blurred gaze promptly became crystal clear as it focused on the slice of heaven awaiting me on my bed. A short dizziness overcame me from the sheer amount of blood that begun rushing to my loins, feeling myself grow a centimeter or two just from the sight of her swaying flanks and her flagged, essence-cotated tail, taunting me in a captivating side-to -side while her smuggest grin and lidded pearls spoke a voiceless dare.

‘...... Damm.’

I had my work cut out for me, it seemed, but I wasn't gonna lose this fight to this horny monster of a marefriend I’d claimed as mine. I hopped back onto my feet, my quivering legs struggling to keep me steady. With a hungry growl worthy of this world’s fiercest predators, I caught up with my taunting mare, taking a moment to admire the heavenly view of her dancing rump and winking love-button, her lust cascading down her rear legs into a mess that one of us would have to clean later.

“Sooooo~” She edged me further, giving her rear a vigorous shake and widening her stance in preparation.

“Let a man enjoy the view for a second!” I pleaded with a hearty laugh, running my hand up and down my rod as I felt myself salivating like a foal about to pounce on some candy.

“I’ll give you more than a view…” She promised with a purr, sending her moist tail backward and brushing my hand aside, sensually running its velvety locks all over my length. Her long hair tickled me in the best way possible, its semi-prehensile capabilities, a treat possessed by all kinds of ponies, worked me like my own hand.

Her playfulness rekindled the game for a little while, yet the cocky leer she was sending over her shoulder soon mellowed into a pleading one as her body couldn't take any more dawdling. “I need you…” An impatient whinny betrayed her need.

“And I need you too, baby.” My mare was beyond foreplay by then, as guttural horsey sounds gave voice to her need and anticipation. I could’ve been mean and taken my revenge by further teasing the quivering pony in front of me. But, I too wanted nothing more than to lose myself in her quivering depths, so I decided to play nice and grant Sunny her wish.

My right hand came to rest on her flank, groping her cutie mark wantonly, doughing the fatty tissue under her velvety coat. The other went to her dock, thumb pressing on the sensitive appendage as I dragged her obstructing tail further away from my target. An electrifying current ran through my mare’s frame, her twitching hindquarters begging to be pounded hard.

My spear came to rest over her folds, coating it with an extra layer of lubrication as my massage of her flanks intensified.

“P-Please…” She begged with another anxious nicker, ready to burst if I didn't quench the pain in her loins.

Smiling lovingly and giving in to her needs, I pressed two fingers above my manhood, slowly sinking into her dripping flower until her warm cavern engulfed me fully, our moans becoming one and together we celebrated our union. I hilted myself fully inside her with a swift pump, her tight tunnel offering little resistance to my prodding member. I couldn't hope to reach as deep as an equine, but one thing I did have over them was stamina. Even if Sunny had made quick work of it on our initial rut, she was a cunning mare and had figured my pacing. Still reeling a bit from my previous orgasm, I would be able to hold on longer, hopefully bringing her to a high or two before reaching my limit.

“Mmmmngg, finally…” She groaned in bliss and thanked whoever was stalking us from the heavens. Reaching from her bent-over pose, she grabbed one of my pillows, resting it against her chest and beginning her end of the deal.

Her walls wasted no time to begin their massaging over my tool, gripping me in a vice-like choke and milking me with wanton need for all I was worth. I had to steel my mind and find an appropriate pace to keep up with her rising need and forceful motions. Lewd plaps found a shared rhythm, slow at first but deliberate, working up to a loving tango but not delving head-first into a mad rush. I wanted to drag it out for both of us as long as our shared endurances could keep up with us.

Tongue out and starry-eyed, Sunny’s lust-driven gaze searched for mine over her bouncing shoulders, puffs and moans escaping her muzzle with each thrust of my hips, sending her frame back and forth over the messed-up sheets and a screech of the old bed springs. Her plump flanks rewarded me with a show to be coated in my memory, rippling under my hands with every joining of our hips, sending her rear backward to meet me halfway and forcing my manhood deeper inside her vice-like, rippling embrace.

What few scrambles of her shattered rationality were left were enough to motion her tail to brush under my chin in a loving gesture as puffed breaths and animalistic whinnies left her muzzle. Me, being one to always reciprocate, bit on it the moment it was in reach and pulled, squeezing hard on her soft rear for leverage and quickening my humping to her delightful surprise.

“AAH!! Ah, aaah, mmmmmfff…” Momentarily startled, her wails of ecstasy were music to my ears, spurring me to go quicker and deeper, running her mare good with my erection until her unfocusing eyes shined with the light of her orgasm.

I felt how she was getting close. Her clit winked fervently, brushing against the underside of my member with each thrust in animalistic lust. Her walls quivered and sucked around me with reckless abandon, demanding for my essence to fill her depths and provide the only possible respite from her heat.

Spitting out her tail, I kicked into high gear and stopped fooling around, pushing her past the limit with a few strong, deep thrusts that almost sent her flying across the bed, only to finish deep inside, feeling her tunnel collapse around me and wiring my seed out, testing my mental resolve to the point I almost peaked alongside her.

Sunny, skyrocketing into nirvana, bit hard on the pillow supporting her upper body, screaming my name in the soft fabric while her body locked and spasmed for a long-drawn minute. Eyes closed tight and ears pressed against her scalp, she sucked in greedy gulps of air, riding out her orgasm with the passion only a mare in heat could show.

I was granted a momentary respite, rejoicing in the feeling of her collapsing marehood until the last tendrils of her orgasm had ebbed away. Panting and heaving, her starry orbs fixed into mine, shining with the fires of passion.

“Better?” I quipped, puffing out exhausted breaths too.

She was too out of breath to utter a word, but her marvelous body spoke for her. Burying herself further into the bed and readying her posture back into place, Sunny took a few minutes to regain her breath. Soon, she was ready for the final round. Her bedroom eyes left no room for questions. She wanted me to fill her this time, and I was more than eager to comply.

I resumed my thrusts once she had regained enough of her composure back, my grunts of effort and her mewls of pleasure filled the room, coming to an end against the transparent dome, keeping our passionate rutting a private event, else our friends at the other room would tease us to no end the following morning.

My hands returned to her rear, massaging those flanks like fresh dough. A squeeze here and a slap there drove Sunny feral, her jaws snapping over the abused pillow once again. Bringing my mate to such levels of pleasure warmed my being and pushed me to go further. I was more of a giver than a receiver kind of guy.

My thrusting continued for a little while until I felt my hips about to shatter. I prepared for the big finale, quickening the tempo to bring us both to sweet release. The absence of Sunny’s moans, her muzzle still occupied tearing into the pillow, was an unacceptable absence. Her braided mane had remained unused so fur. It was time I changed that. Reaching forward mid-thrust, I clamped my fingers around it and pulled back, hard enough to force her screaming muzzle away from the pillow for me to enjoy and bring that tiny twinge of pain that only reinforced the pleasure.

“AH!!” Sunny wailed, feeling herself being ridden in the closest of senses. “Do it!! Give me everything!!”

Who was I to deny my mare’s wishes? Pulling hard on her mane and pumping deep, I hilted myself inside her when I couldn't hold it anymore. My exhausted body came to rest over hers, pushing us both into the mattress as what seed remained inside of me rushed to meet her hungry marehood. A noiseless scream filled her muzzle, her walls clamping down hard and milking me once again, this time accomplishing their purpose. Her delicious ear was in reach, and I couldn't help but nibble on it, moaning into her soft fur as short, spasmodic thrusts brought my cum as deep inside her as I could.

The room reeked of sex and lust, matted fur and sweaty skin pressed hard together as I hugged her from behind, taking in her scent and nuzzling her scalp once I’d freed her twitching ear. I made out my name and slurry, countless words of love between her moans and mumblesas her mind melted and filled with nothing but blissful release.

I always had so much fun during estrus season, and I almost felt bad it was gonna end soon.

Once I’d regained feeling in my lower body, I hoisted myself up, not wanting to crush my mare under me for too long. Although with no little amount of reluctance, for her fur was impossibly warm and inviting. Her heat had been dulled for the time being, leaving behind the adorable, sunny mare I had fallen in love with. Few ponies I had met that had such appropriate names such as hers.

Now, it was time for a much-needed time out. Without the spirit to even take a shower, I wanted nothing but to snuggle my mare close and sleep for the next month or so.

Her greedy marehood had drunk all my cum, with only a thin, lewd tendril connecting her still-winking clit with my tip. The sight was indeed one to remember, and I made sure of it by summoning my phone from my discarded pants pocket and snapping a picture of my satisfied mate and her stuffed flower, her hindquarters still quivering uncontrollably, recovering from the aftereffects of our lovemaking.

‘Niiiice.’ I celebrated inwardly, satisfied with my result. Now I had a strong motivator to get me through work if the day ever got too long… or to keep me entertained during specially hard days.

Feeling a bit peckish, I felt like sharing it with Sunny, giggling under my breath since I was expecting an offended rebuttal and a command for me to delete it in embarrassment.

With one parting slap on her rump and one last brush of my head over her love-button, I made my way to the free space at the left side and promptly collapsed on the bed. Sunny, half her face buried into the mattress, sent her dreamy eyes to me, a thankful, loving smile peeking through the smooth covers of our bed.

“Look.” I showed her the picture I had taken. “The most beautiful, satisfied mare in the world.”

Expecting a harsh counter, Sunny caught me off guard with her loving gaze turning pensive for a moment, muling something on her mind as her eyes took in the image of herself before coming up with an answer.

“... Can I have that?”

“...”

“... You did not!” I bursted out laughing. “Ohohohoho my gohohosh! AHAHAHAHA!!”

“W-Wait!!”

But I’d already bent over in laughter, hugging my belly as Sunny tried to nuzzle her way to my face to deliver her explanations.

“A-Alex!!” She demanded, now sounding offended. “Stop being silly and listen to me!

Faust above, how I loved that mare…

Chapter 36- Hivebound.

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

Chapter 37- Nightborn.

“...I’m sorry that I disappeared. I had no control over it. I know that it must have left a void in all of your lives, and for that, I… I…”

I what? Huh? What could I possibly say to excuse my acts? To justify what would happen in less than two weeks from now? What crap could I spout to mend the lame excuses, the dumbfuck behavior to my friends, the half-assed lies… Faust, AJ was just only another pathetic lie away from bucking my ribs inside out. The harmful jabs, the hush-hush within my trusted circle of friends and coworkers. The abrupt end of a years-long relationship with the mare I loved more than life itself!!

No control over it… What a load of bullshit…

I had to force myself to finish it. The longer I dragged it on, the bigger the need I felt to grind the crystal into dust and send it all to Tartarus.

“I… will feel guilty for the rest of my life.” The only truth in a sea of pleading and crybabying. I had to steel my voice and push back tears of shame to keep the recording somewhat professional. “But, I did carve out a life here… and I even found love for a time in this strange, strange land…”

Strange, for this was the understatement of the millennium. Faces, voices, memories. Friends old and new, a life away from my human life on Earth. Years of work, of progress. Moving forward, helping the ponies, and creatures from all around the world eventually. My accomplishments, the crown that no longer rested on my brow, the pendant that no longer hung from my neck…

All for what? For what?! To steal away the ponies' most precious gift because they can’t learn a simple fucking lesson! How many oh-so-evil villains had we trashed only to end up doing the exact, same, THING that they wanted to do!!

Is this what I get for changing the world?

Another long breath, a necessary pause to puzzle the next figment, even if I felt everything that came out of my trap was empty and meaningless. “I ask that you not be sad that I was taken from you, but instead remember the good times we had...” I sure would, even if the most likely outcome would be my family hating my guts and the ponies spitting my name for what I chose to do… What they’d think of me, whether they end up finding these messages or not.

A selfish thought popped into my mind, a crazy notion previously explored, yet without a feasible outcome arising from it. “Who knows? Maybe we’ll see each other again…” Because I just couldn't swallow my guilt and live through the storm that would follow. Because I had to be the bigger man and fix my fuck-up in a time where I wouldn’t be stopped by my loved ones. My soul would forever rot in Tartarus, as if the chances of seeing them again were slim enough already.

“... And, if you’re as crazy as my old friend… crazy enough to want to go searching for these crystals… good hunting.”

I could really use my old pal here. He gave the best advice and the best kick in the nuts, both of them working in tandem to clear someone's mind and cut the bullshit straight from the root.

‘Nah, mate. You don’t deserve to go through this. One human has already fucked things up enough to last these ponies a lifetime.’

I had nothing else to say, the peaceful ambiance of our little ol’ Ponyville conjuring no further inspiration in me. I had said what I needed to say, to whoever would find these recordings, pieces of my mind as well as dumpsters to vent my pent-up frustration and rage. I only asked that they leave me alone. What I had in mind to do was enough to send me straight into Ponyville’s asylum in a straitjacket, but I was far too invested to backpedal now. Anycreature stupid enough to stick their snout into my business could trump the plan and possibly send the future of ponykind to Tartarus on the side. I simply asked to be left alone while I slept for a thousand years. A thousand years I could easily wait out sitting in a corner until either the guilt and paranoia drove me off the edge, or Twilight found me to throw me off that cliff herself.

After that…

‘After that, we stick to the plan, get the shit done, and spend the rest of our immortal life seeking out a way to return and face the music with everyone else or die trying enough times for Harmony to grow bored and finally let go of us.’

The shimmer of the Mnemosyne Crystal I was holding began to dim as the mental connection to the gem was cut. On cue to my silence, the sound of hoofsteps clopping over a dirt path revealed an approaching Starlight, who’d waited in respectful silence under the shade of a tree near the bench where I’d initially begun recording the message.

Breathing hard and casting a lasting look around the unbothered, rural landscape of southern Ponyville, where the dirt roads and thatched roofs gave way to grassy hills and meandering streams, I remained silent until the clopping of hooves reached me, a nearby presence now filling my left side. Soft fur brushed against my side reassuringly, bringing me out of my daydreaming. A side glance saw the prodigious unicorn mare returning a concerned one back at me, forehooves shuffling in place and a hesitant grimace on her muzzle.

She’d been the only one, the only one to get it. To agree to help me see my plan through without calling me a lunatic. She understood why Ihad to do it.

Without the strength to address her with anything beyond a grunt, I simply handed her the crystal, not wanting to do anything with it after my part had been played. That would be the first of several I’d record per our agreement, although my mood spoke volumes of my reluctance and distaste for doing them.

Therapeutic, she’d called it. Whatever…

“Thank you,” Starlight mumbled, grasping the crystal in her levitation magic and storing it in her saddlebag without further ceremony. I caught her muzzle smacking as she wetted her lips, unsure of how to proceed, for the unfriendly aura I was radiating was more than enough to keep any other pony well away from my fuming self.

“Hmph,” I grunted back, still not tearing my eyes from the morning ponies trotting back and forth on the road, lost in their daily lives and early chores, unaware of the ticking time bomb that was soon to be set high in the capital city under their beloved Princess’s command. Soon, the Unity Crystals would be ready, and Twilight wouldn't miss a moment to activate them, spreading her lesson of friendship and unity to her beloved ponies at the cost of their magic. Magic-held items of all kinds, floating near smug-looking unicorns would soon cease to be a usual sight. Just like the pegasi conquering the skies with their daring moves, or the earth ponies’ strength shaping the land around them, as was their birthright. Ponies would become one and the same in the blink of an eye. ISIT, while at first conceived as an easier, more practical way of doing things, would soon become the only way.

That was not what I wanted.

“I, um…” Starlight tried a hesitant attempt, reeling back a bit from the sight of my clenching fists as dark clouds loomed over my head the more I thought about it. “I have another crystal ready for you if you want to…”

“Not now, Star.” I cut the mare off rudely, not even deigning to look at her, just… watching ponyvillean life pass unscathed. “Not now.”

“Okay.” With ears drooping down her scalp, Starlight got the message and cut the magical flow to the fresh Mnemosyne Crystal she was already holding, returning it to her opposite saddlebag. She remained rooted in place, lost as to how to approach me, running her eyes through the same path as mine alongside the rural landscape of the little town we called home.

A long time had passed since such tension had traveled between us. From the days I wanted nothing but to murder her for trapping me in that twisted, apocalyptic version of Equestria in her delusions of grandeur, to becoming one of the most important ponies in my life besides my pony family and little brother.

And now, the only one amongst our group of close ones to believe in me, to see the trouble on the horizon as I had, to be willing to help me in my endeavor, even at the terrible cost of being left behind like the rest of us.

And dealing with my bullshit whilst she was at it. That mare was a treasure. Somepony set on spending the rest of her life atoning for her sins. I could only take a page from her book and do the same once my mission was complete.

We both knew what would eventually happen once the Unity Crystals became active, her days as a villain granting her a perspective none of our friends shared. Now headmare of the School of Friendship, her life had turned an absolute one-eighty. And yet, she was leaving behind all the responsibilities she could spare to help me build the chamber where I would sleep for a thousand years.

The way back to the current time had been discussed already. As I’ve said, nothing had come out of that train of thought that wouldn’t break the continuum if attempted.

The only way left for me was forward.

Forward.

Always forward.

During the years I’d lived in Equestria, I’d grown used to the intruding sunlight becoming the one to drag me out of my sleep in the early mornings. That is, when I wasn't needed before sunrise to lend a hand at the lab like what tended to happen during particularly bad days. A far cry from the nuclear ringtone from my phone’s alarm clock, virtually the only thing I could trust to wake my lazy ass during my college years.

But there was no sunlight to cut through my dreams and blur them into a shapeless blob until my brain understood it was time to wake up and get a move on. My biological clock had simply kicked in, jutting me out of my rest in the same paranoid mess I’d been in when exhaustion had won over my senses going into overdrive, searching for any sight, sound, or even smell that would hint at the presence of a predator nearby that might sniff me out.

Blinking the cobwebs away, my hands went in an automatic search of the furry pillow that was my Sunny so as to escape the offending sun in her fluffiness. They only met wet grass and scattered foliage, jumpstarting my drowsy brain into realizing where I was, and most importantly, a quick reminder of what had happened yesterday.

“... Right…” I slurred in my half-awake state, rubbing the sleep away from my crusty eyes while recuperating on my butt, the uncomfortable feeling of wet trousers from the humid vegetation-turned-bed becoming the highlight of my awakening. Even after a couple of hours of precariously-achieved rest, I still felt as if I could simply pass out for a week, or a month if chances had it. And I was only on my fourth day in! I dreaded thinking about what state I’d arrive at the Hive in… even worse, what state I would make it back to my family in. They’d simply finish me off if I was lucky. Whatever it took for them to forgive me.

It was this accursed forest’s fault, for which it was well-known to do. It was driving me depressed, nuts, and paranoid beyond all words. I blamed the lack of vitamin D like what happened in the northern territories of Earth, even if it was obvious how too little time had passed under the ever-present cover for that to be the reason for my shitty mood. I was simply pissed at myself and the cards I’d been dealt.

The rest of the trip would thankfully land me in open fields and empty slopes if I played said cards well. I needed to get out of the woods before something nastier than yesterday’s manticore found me and then kick myself into high gear across the central territories of Westria until the scent of the sea welcomed my nostrils once again.

“But not before I eat something.” I shared out loud to the vegetation around me. With careful rationing, what I’d raided from the brighthouse’s kitchen would last me for a week and a half if I wasn't picky and didn't mind going to sleep hungry. But, if I wanted to keep up the pace of the trek to meet the promised schedule, I’d need a consistent meal of more than a couple of cold leftovers and whatever water I’d find to be safe to drink.

“Hmm,” I mulled between bites of some pizza leftovers, a high-calorie, morning injection to shut my protesting stomach up, yet chewy and tasteless against my gums. “Perhaps I can find some lumigrapes growing around, they should be easy to spot.”

Following that thought, I cast a look around with little hope. Sure enough, no twinkling, yellowish fruits appeared to adorn my limited field of vision from where I lay.

“Hmph, the nightborn grew them all over the place last time I checked.” As per my recommendation, since that particular brand of fruit was the only real substitute for blood in their diet that wouldn't carry any nasty side effects and, well, being taken from the living and talking. That and legumes; lots of iron, but there was too little light to grow them in the heart of the woods where their home lay, and no Equestria was left to import them from either.

I couldn't help a chuckle. The things a drastically different point of view (mine) can do for a so-called cursed race. Hundreds of years of failed magic-based cures and potions and rituals and crap to eradicate the curse that plagued thestralkind and those of mixed blood. And one day, all of a sudden, a weird, tall monkey from outer space comes and figures it out in less than a month. Figures.

“I’ve always been a smart guy. It came off as obvious.” I talked to myself after swallowing the last bit of pepperoni pizza. The remaining slice I’d save for a later time. “But it’s also always been easier for ponies to blame magic for what they can’t either fix or understand. What a spell can’t fix, cannot be fixed. Sorry, bat ponies, it’s better if you stay in your creepy woods and don't scare anypony else, even if the ones actually scared shitless of the world are your kind. Yeah, Luna is back, we can spare a couple of you to enroll in her newly established Night Guard, since you guys are so over the moon with her. Get it? Ha Ha. Just, stay out of our sight while you’re at it, ‘kay?”

With those thoughts and a half-empty stomach, I rose to my feet and stretched my limbs. My morning stretching was a poor choice of activity as I was rewarded with a stabbing pain spreading through my left shoulder, spreading down my side and arm from where the manticore had stung me. A particularly painful pang had torn me out of my precarious sleep during what I could more or less guess was early night, my wound screaming at me for some much-needed attention. My gauntlets had recharged enough for a strong healing spell, and the adrenaline-induced shaking had passed alongside the crash before passing out for the night, meaning I was in a slightly better state of mind to cast the spell. Healing spells were always less efficient if cast on yourself rather than on another being, but it would be enough to spare me from the worst until I returned to Maretime Bay for proper medical attention.

My clothes, on the other hand, weren't something I could mend at this time. The shirt had gone back in the bag and was replaced by a fresh one, but my jacket was gonna follow me to the grave even if all that remained of it was a ragged handful of cloth tied around my waist. I could ask Oddity to mend it when I visited the Heights, if Izzy didn't have my head for it before that. She’d made it very clear that any further clothing business was to be carried out with her. I’d cross that bridge when I got there.

My boots held on surprisingly well, on the other hand, having been custom-ordered alongside the rest of my clothes with the help of that pegasus guard who was all over my sneakers. Weird guy, but who was I to judge? Caked in mud and debris, their muffled steps brought me out of my sorry hiding spot and back into the thick of the forest.

Another pained hiss followed the trail of ants running through my skin from the wound on my shoulder, sharp stinging pains making my entire arm twitch every minute or so. While out of immediate risk, the scarred tissue would need special treatment to prevent new skin from healing incorrectly or becoming infected. I didn't want to end up with a permanent tugging sensation on my shoulder like that guard I met once in Canterlot. Or lose my left arm entirely in the worst-case scenario, like that other guard. Poor guy, he gave his everything for his country.

I’d planned to avoid the nightborn whilst on the initial leg of the trip, for they no doubt would pose a distraction, if not an outright threat if I couldn't convince them of my good intentions. Easely the most skittish of races without counting our underwater cousins, I couldn’t help but feel it was justified by centuries of oppression and rejection until the return of Luna; always depicted as the bad guys of foal’s stories, with the ‘thestralborn’ hybrids of thestrals and ponies only barely allowed amongst the common folk, yet a cautious eye was always spared towards a subrace that wanted nothing more than to belong.

And I had the nerve to act surprised when the three races turned against one another. It was under our noses all this time. We’d simply been too trusting and forgiving.

Now that I was there and then, I couldn't even imagine what seven centuries of silence might have done to them, but my wound needed treatment they surely would be able to spare, as well as directions and counsel to make the two or three remaining days left to cross the forest more… amenable, if outright skippable should they give me a lift.

I would take my chances with them… if there was even a single bat pony left that could help me to begin with. I’d have to bide my time and press on until I found them. Or until they found me, to be more precise.

“Welp, seeing as I can't screech in subsonic, I can't think of a better way to get their attention.” I thought out loud as I mulled over an idea, grabbing Binary from my back and pressing the sharp edge of the solar blade over the soft skin of my left palm. With a gentle slice, a superficial cut bled my life-giving blood onto the mossy ground below.

“That you guys no longer need to drink blood to survive doesn't mean you can’t still sniff it out like a Yankee seeking out fentanyl.”

Closing my fist to somewhat steady the loss of blood, I was left to simply wait and see, trekking my way deeper into the oppressive woods as I waited for the first rustle of leaves and snapping of twigs that hopefully would reveal their presence, assuming they hadn't found me already. If not, I gave them half an hour, tops. Thestrals were always very wary of strangers and fearsomely protective of their home. Visits were always conducted under special protocols and regulations, both in agreement with tradition and to avoid unnecessary ‘accidents’ on both sides.

Of course, a lost human snooping his way around their lands didn't exactly scream out ‘adherence to protocol’, meaning our encounter was looking out to be a hectic one as long as their curiosity reined down their abrasiveness.

It’s not like I wouldn’t have minded busting a fuzzy-eared head or two either. I could always use the exercise and stress relief, and sometimes it was the shortest way to get your point across with these guys, them being so jumpy and all.

*Snap*

‘Ah, here we go.’

Right on cue. Not even half an hour into my slow-paced walk dodging trees left and right, my eyes, already accustomed to the ever-lingering twilight, thought it caught a shadow jumping through the ancient canopy above our heads. It was just at the limit of my senses, but I’d danced with these guys before to know very well how they liked to play with new things.

It made sense in retrospect. Flying under such a density of vegetation was impractical, to say the least. Still, their flight and other magic-boosted abilities should’ve been left alone according to the original design of the Unity Crystals. Our sins weren't theirs to pay for, just as it wasn’t for the griffons, hippogriffs, changelings, and so on to pay for, either.

Another shadow dared to enter my peripheral vision, this time coming from the opposite side. They had surrounded me already, and would now wait to assess me and decide whether I was a threat, a treat, or not even worth their time.

I would be very angry with them if they went for the second option considering all the effort I’d poured into fixing their condition. Give a scientist’s work some credit!

“Guys, come on.” I tiredly called to the apparent nothingness surrounding me, twirling my blades around my fingers with my gauntlet’s magic lessening their weight and drag. “Let’s cut with the nonsense. I’m on a tight schedule and I could use some help.”

I had to stifle a laugh when my sudden remark caught one of the stalkers by surprise, making them lose their hoofing mid-jump, a cutie-mark-less rear and a scrawny tail peeking out from the impenetrable leafy cover for a moment before scurrying away behind the protection of the thick branches.

With their sneaky charade broken, a full-fifteen bat pony squad saw no reason to keep playing hide and seek, and they dropped down from the dense canopy above supporting them, forming a tight circle around me, their blood-red eyes slitted and unmoving as they measured me up without issue under the scarce illumination of what little sunlight breached the trees and the swirling glow of my readied blades. They wore light, leather armor, possibly animal in origin since these guys had less problem with the harsher sides of nature than their more sensitive cousins. One striking absence I noticed was any reference to Luna’s moon on their gear, a sigil they’d taken as their own in honor of their night princess. Their armor was dyed in colors matching their navy blue and gray coats, with their manes and tails following a similar pattern. Small glimmers of white sparkled alongside the rim of their flagged, bat-like wings, revealing their fearsome wingblades for which they were well known, tucked in their scabbards for the time being, but ready to be out and in my neck the second I made a wrong move to slit my throat open.

Cute little fangs, although big enough to scare your common pony all the way to grow these guys’ reputation, were bared at me from every single one of my new companions. Low, threatening hisses were shared amongst the Nightborn, accompanied by merely perceived clicks and chirps as they chatted in a frequency my human ears couldn’t hope to register.

That is, without a magic trick.

Leaving Binary in a one-handed grip and resting it against my knee, the other came to my left ear, pressing two fingers against the tender flesh under my lobe. Mumbling the required logic-breaker, I cast the spell, leaving a tiny rune embedded into my skin until I broke the enchantment. It tingled a bit; nothing that a couple of jaw stretches wouldn't fix.

The nightborn noticed my gesture, their postures lowering in preparation for any indication of aggression on my part.

All they got was a shrug. “Oh, no, don't mind me, please.” I waved the very same hand dismissively before returning it to the handle of my twinblades. “Keep talking in your special language which my poor, human ears absolutely cannot perceive with the spell I just cast.”

The subsonic chit-chattering came to a screeching halt (get it, screeching) as the bat ponies caught on with my buckets-worth of sarcasm. I was feeling like acting like a jackass, don't ask me why. I wasn't in the best state of mind.

Who I guessed was the leader of this little… dang, now I can’t remember what a group of bats is referred to in nature; this little squad of thestrals took a step forward and addressed me, clearly unamused by my aloof approach to their intimidating show of strength. Her apparent leadership was reflected in her more sophisticated armor, silver linings running its length both as decorative ornaments as well as offering studier protection over several weak spots without compromising mobility, for that was their key strength amongst their rich battle repertoire. No helmets rested over anythestral’s head, as it messed with their echolocation and hearing. Yeah, they got echolocation too. And pegasi thought they were the cooler birds. You can guess who said that.

“I see you speak the language of ponies.” She, by her deep, accent-rich, feminine voice, spoke with authority, pursing her fanged muzzle in contemplation as she took in my form once again. “It has been a while…”

I kept being a bit of an ass. “The pony in front of me speaks it too, who would’ve guessed?”

Oh, a thing you do NOT do if you value your life is call a thestral a pony, their far cousins who hated and feared them as a plague until the return of Luna, and still did to a degree afterward. But I was tired and angry and half-paranoid and I simply didn’t give a bunnycorn’s ass worth of a damn.

“I’d watch my tongue if I were you, stranger.” She spat out that last word, her patience quickly running dry with my behavior. “These are our woods, our ho-”

“Yes, yes.” I cut her off rudely, only further driving her up the proverbial tree. They lived in trees, see. “Look, I'm on a tight schedule, okay? And, if I’m being honest, I was really hoping not to stumble upon you guys.” I changed my weight to my other feet, absentmindedly rubbing a thumb over the smooth surface of the solar blade while the thestrals tensed their posture even more. “But I’ve just recently tumbled with a manticore and I could really use some help, and some directions wouldn't hurt either,” I concluded with a tiny dip of my head.

Her vexed features mellowed down somewhat, a tinge of thought sparkling in her prying, cat-like eyes as she mulled my words.

“A manticore, you say?” She purred reflexively, her deliberate scouting over her muzzle revealing a condescending disbelief regarding my feat. “I highly doubt a… creature such as yourself could face such a fearsome beast and leave no worse for wear…” Her slitted orbs narrowed in suspicion, the commander flicking her tail in a signal to her subordinates, a call to be ready for the moment she’d sniffed out my ruse.

“Uh…” I offered my best ‘are you serious?’ deadpanned look to the untrusting bat pony, tapping my head twice with my blades just in case this gloomy forest had rendered these ponies blind and they hadn't glimpsed the huge twinswords at the ready in my grasp.

Two clanks against my empty head were enough to drive my point home.

“I see...” The commander of the troop hummed in though. “That is quite an impressive weapon for a strange creature such as y-” Her eyes grew twice in size and her words ceased when coming across Luna’s crescent moon sigil in the cross guard of the lunar blade.

I followed her line of sight and a glimmer of hope built in my chest. If they remembered their beloved Mistress of the Night, there was a chance I could enlist their help without resorting to violence.

“Ah, yes.” I breathed out with a hint of nostalgia. “Luna herself forged this weapon with the help of her sister. I'm positive you guys at least remember who th-”

“TRAITOR!!!”

And there went what little hope I had left. Shutting my trap and lining my lips, I was rendered speechless by such a harsh rebuttal to what I’d hoped would be some common ground. If they weren't beforehand, the thestrals were absolutely pissed now, following their commander’s lead and hissing at me as if I’d just pulled a string of garlic from my bag. Get it? Garlic?

Fucking forest getting me making bad jokes all the time…

“Ummm…” I blurted out what little I could amass. “What in the actual fuck is going on?”

I kept up with the nonchalant tone, yet my body was quaking in preparation, still not fully recovered from yesterday's romp with the manticore and I was fighting to keep track of all the bat ponies around me with my inferior senses. Thestrals specialized in ambushes and hit n’ run tactics, quiet and graceful as the night they embraced as they made quick work of you.

“You bear the mark of the Sunspawn and the Traitor!!” The commander flashed her fangs in disgust and defiance. “You’ve come to exterminate us! Just like the ponies in times of old!!”

If she was talking about the unification of Equestria, where the first settlers thought of them as a threat before ‘peaceful’ relations could be established, this bat pony had a good memory, for that had happened thousands of years ago. If not that, I was clueless as to what she was referring to.

“Uh…” I was simply lost, feeling a lot of context being thrown at me and missed by my limited knowledge of past events. “Look. I, uh… I have no idea what you're talking about. I'm just passing through, see? And in need of some help if you can spare it. Although, if you'd rather prefer being left alone, that's perfectly fi-”

The commander squeaked out a command that my enhanced hearing caught yet didn't understand. Words became unnecessary, however, when their meaning became crystal clear the moment the first thestral went for the pounce, his comrades ready to follow immediately after.

“... Hooves then.”

In a shake of a lamb’s tail, the bat ponies were beyond negotiation and tired of my bullshit. The Sunspawn trash I’d heard before, so that didn't come off as a surprise. But to call Luna a traitor? Her? Literally the only pony in Equestria to give two shits about this marginalized race?

True to their reputation, the attacking thestral was onto me in the blink of an eye, giving me no room to counter beyond using the broad side of the solar blade as shielding to fend off his slicing wingblades. Sparks flew the moment metal met metal, the heavier weight of my blade carrying enough drag to divert his trajectory and throw the smaller-framed pony from my back for the precious few moments I needed to prepare.

“Argh!!” I grunted in pain as the wound in my shoulder began to burn under the strain, the slice along my palm following suit. “I really, really can’t catch a fucking break, can I?!!” I cursed to the obscured heavens, mad at these thestrals for choosing the hard way when we could've simply just ignored each other for the rest of my journey out of their forsaken forest.

Powering my gauntlets, I cast a spell from my days of training with Shining Armor, bathing the twinblades in a shimmering, semi-translucent shield that would dull the deadly edges of my weapon into something more suitable for dealing out some serious headaches, and maybe a broken bone or two. But I wasn't gonna use lethal force with them. It was unnecessary, and I believed I’d already taken enough lives as it was.

I said it before and I will say it again. I hated and despised unnecessary violence such as this. It went against every belief I held.

Two thestrals came next from opposite sides of the enclosure, hoping to pin me down from both flanks and subdue me quickly. I was ready to meet them that time, drawing from previous experience in dealing with several attackers with defense-oriented techniques, which happened to make up most of my repertoire when it came to the blade.

Taking a step back and shifting my stance, I caught the left one with the solar blade, its now dulled edge sinking upwards into the bat pony’s exposed underside and sending him all the way beyond the circle of thestrals into the leafy blanket above us. His comrade had but a moment to act surprised before the lunar blade caught her on the back of her head, sending her straight into the ground where a tiny crater spewed moss and dirt in equal measure into the air.

Both were down for the time being, and the previously angered yet emboldened thestrals now felt a glimmer of doubt with their previously believed easy prey actually taking a stance. Hissing and snarling their revenge, the tables were set, and as one came down upon me.

Time to teach these bloodsuckers a lesson.

“Depulso!”

A wave of kinetic energy met their incoming assault, canceling their inertia, yet my spell was not strong enough to send them all flying to kingdom come. That was fine by me; I could pick them off one by one as they fell disoriented around me, starting with the one to blame.

I zeroed in on the commander from the midst of disoriented thestrals, her uniform ratting her out. Not allowed to regain her bearings, I struck with a horizontal swing, catapulting her off her hooves and into a nearby tree.

“Ufff!!” All the air came rushing out from her lungs. I was into her before she could catch her breath, feeling like sharing a word or two about my displeasure.

“I was having such a nice week, you know?” I growled, grabbing her mane and dragging her squirming form up to eye level. “Just chilling with my family, making progress with my mate, and bored to tears by my routine.”

The commander stretched a hoof, trying to get a hold of me and escape my vice-like grasp, the other one traveling up to pry my iron grip off of her hair. Painful mewls escaped her fanged muzzle as her soldiers regained their hoofing behind us. “I was having such a nice streak since the mess with the festival. Some very much deserved peace and quiet!”

I lost my grasp on her mane, granting her a momentary respite before the solar blade struck her right in her abdomen, wood breaking as I dug her deep into the trunk before the lunar blade caught her under the chin in its upward path, catapulting her straight into the canopy with her pal, several branches breaking in her wake as a small rain of leaves fell around me.

My attention went back to the assembling thestrals behind me, ready to respond yet unsure of how to do so since they’d never faced a threat such as me. The fact that I’d just trashed their leader wasn’t helping the now unorganized group. It was painfully evident how these bats had never seen actual conflict if their jerky reactions and lack of coordination were of any clue.

Fine by me. I was more than happy to deliver a crash course in hand-to-hoof combat.

“Just taking it one day at a time, rutting my Sunny’s brains out during estrus, and having the time of my life just hanging out with my friends. You know? Like I wasn't able to do the last few months before coming here!!”

Puffs of mist rushed out my nostrils, sending shivers down a thestral’s furry back or two. Angry stomps closed the distance between my would-be-attackers with an almost deadly purpose. The bat ponies scattered, whether scared out of their wits or wishing to engage me on several fronts, drawing strength from numbers. I couldn't care less. I was seeing red by that point.

“But nooooo. I just had to get a message on the phone of all places from that murderous BITCH!! She was supposed to be DEAD like the rest of them!!”

With a soft click, I separated both blades at their handles and smashed them together on a cross in front of me, sending another pulse of energy that caught several thestrals before they could scatter away. In their unsteady dizziness, I was over the nearest one in a lightning bolt. I rejoined the swords and built momentum with a spin behind my back, sending yet another pony flying with an upwards hit. Another targeted my legs, using his bat-like wings to propel himself low on the ground like a homing missile. I took advantage and accelerated his approach with my levitation magic. He thought he had me there, almost tasting sweet victory and the irresistible chance to brag in front of his teammates about how he was the one to fell the strange beast.

My knee is what he ended up tasting, straight into his open muzzle and bared fangs. The poor guy resembled a C when all the energy from his attack came back to bite him, sending his fuzzy-eared head up to meet his tail when the lunar blade struck on its downward path. A month’s worth of dirt and moss caked his muzzle and the better part of his face. Good luck getting rid of the taste, after waking up, that is.

I sent Binary into a deadly spin in front of me, fending off three thestrals going for the direct approach. They were forced into a last-second change of course, soaring right by my sides with their wing blades just barely avoiding painting red strikes on my unprotected arms. Two went through the left and another over the right. I targeted the lonely one, breaking my blades back in two and sending solar straight at her. I caught the bat pony in her right wing as she was about to seek cover behind a thick tree. With a wet *crack* and a blood-curdling scream, I knew she was down for the time being.

“And now?!! Here I am!!” I raged against the remaining bat ponies, who were now seriously rethinking their approach to me while more than one wore a look that screamed nothing but immediate retreat to the safety of their woods. Not on my watch they weren’t. These bloodsuckers were gonna stay and take it while I vented my pent-up frustrations on them. Call it therapeutic if you wish, I didn’t give a shit at that point. “Fighting a bunch of scrawny, overgrown ticks over a fucking misunderstanding ‘cause they only take a second to think things through before jumping at your fucking throat, huh?!!”

I was reining myself in, if only barely, from using my gauntlet’s magic beyond what helped me manipulate Binary. I’d keep my party tricks hidden for the time being in case I needed an edge as well as well as to preserve my stamina. That was the theory at least, but the battle was dragging on for quite a while while I hunted these buckers one by one, their superior speed and agility keeping them just out of my reach and limiting my widows of opportunity to strike.

A kinetic wave canceled the flying path of an approaching bat pony, staggering him mid-flight, deliciously open for a home-run-kick straight onto his noggin. Another thestral down. I’d lost count of how many remained, but I had to finish them quickly before they grew desperate enough to turn tail and call for reinforcements. I had no hope of tracking them if they decided to re-enter the thick of the forest. They’d lose me before I had even taken ten steps in pursuit.

I wasn't thinking straight, too many things crowding on top of me in the thick of the fight.

“Alone in the middle of this accursed forest!! Going mad from worry and the fucking silence of what should be a country filled with ponies!! Away from my family with the nerve of leaving the in the lurch without a proper reason beyond that of my being a fucking hypocrite and not wanting them to see me like this!!”

A side swing to upset his balance, an upwards hit on his underside, followed by a downward stroke on the middle of his back, and another thestral was on the floor without even knowing what had hit him. The longer the fight dragged on, the more tired I felt, even without casting any major spells. Keeping up with Binary took a lot out of me, my overwhelming defensive-oriented technique worked best to, well, overwhelm my foes and wrap things up quickly. Even with my human-patented stamina and training backing me up, I caught myself starting to gasp and pant mid-encounter.

I still had quite a bit to say, though.

“Ah… Ah… And the best thing? It’s that I can’t muster the balls to look at my mate, the mare I’d give my life for over and over if needed, and tell her that I fucking love her!! I leave her behind to chase ghosts back into the grave and I can’t even tell her how much I love her and how sorry I am for doing this to them!! Because my fucked-up head thinks it’s justified for the greater good! To keep them safe!! Is that it?!! Is that why I’m here?!!”

“Enough!!”

A sharp command, followed by a short shower of loose branches and leaves took my attention away from the cowering thestral stallion I’d corralled against the roots of a tree, the poor sap trembling while stretching a hoof in front of him in a vain defense, his wings bent in a weird angle at his sides and leaving him without a quick escape from my fury. This day was his lucky day, for the commander had woken up from her nap in the trees and had crashed down with the intent of finishing this fight.

She was foaming at the mouth, the sight of her angled and broken troops catapulting her into new heights of anger. Her narrowed slits spoke the challenge. It was between her and me now.

“Nightingale.” She addressed one of her troops, a somewhat younger bat pony compared to his comrades.

“C-Captain?” The poor sap squeaked out, having kept his distance while I trashed his mates all over the place.

‘So, a captain then?’ I mulled to myself, already dreading what she was going to ask of him.

“Go back to Hollow Shades and warn the Matriarch. Tell her we need reinforcements ASAP!”

‘How about no?’ I lowered my stance and readied my blades.

“A-At once, captain. I’ll fly as fast as I caAAGK!!”

No, he wasn't. My speeding blades striking him dead in the chest made sure of it. He was down like a sack of potatoes, clutching his breast and taking big gulps of air while his wings twitched awkwardly at his sides.

With a sharp snarl, the Captain’s attention was back on me just as Binary returned to my grasp.

“Curse you!!” She spat, unshading her wingblades and pawing the ground before her. “I’m gonna slice you open like the traitor you are!!”

“Traitor?” I countered, tired of whatever bullshit she was selling me. I hated pulling rank, but it never seemed to fail when it came to ponies. A little test to see if that was the case for thestrals was in order. “Do you know who I am?” I jabbed with no little amount of despotism, in more of a demand than a question.

The thestral did a condescending double take. “A Sunspawn and a Moon Worshiper for all I can see. I’d call you the full package!” The captain didn't waste another second and lunged at me, aiming her wing blades at my exposed sides. I had little margin to avoid her, sidestepping and bringing the blades to bear to counter her wake with partial success. A thin, red line began dripping life-giving blood down my right side and staining my shirt.

The captain wasn’t done. “You carry their sigils proudly on your weapon of death! You mock us and spurt nothing but lies! You harm my brothers and sisters and have the fangs to demand recognition!!”

Another pass by the angered bat pony, this time aiming for my legs. Metal clashed against metal when Binary cut her approach, sending her in a twirling spin as my body followed behind. My feet found ground again yet they failed to keep me steady, the spin sending me in a bit of a dizzy spell while the captain propelled herself against a tree, bared fangs coming straight at me to tear me a pair of new ones. I fell on one knee, gasping for air as I felt my exhaustion becoming too much for any further excitement.

“You will kneel before your Prince.” I was apoplectic in anger, feeling a familiar tug in my mind. I had to be careful.

“Wha-?”

I rolled over my body just shy of her approach landing, avoiding the silver death that marred the edges of her wings. I dug the blades into the humid ground and helped myself up again, glaring poisonous daggers at the thestral who was already circling around to try again.

“Prince? Have you gone maAAGH!!” My twinblades homed into her before she’d completed the lap, knocking her down with a hit to her muzzle and shutting up any further commentary from her.

With a magnetic hum, I recalled my blades into my grasp. Dragging my feet, I loomed over the downed thestral, struggling to shake herself awake after the nasty fall. My right gauntlet began powering up around the grip on Binary, my left hand covering my right side which by now had begun bleeding profusely.

I felt detached.

“Kneel.” I snarled, tired of their bullshit and knocking heads around. These leeches need to know their place.

‘I need to be careful. I can’t let it get inside…’

The captain was stupefied by the command, a bloodied muzzle with a chipped fang fumbling her words incoherently. The rest of her troops fared no better, lost as to what was unfolding before them, yet they were smart enough to not get in the middle of our duel.

“W-Wha-?”

“KNEEEEEEEELL!!!!!”

I’ve always said it’s psychological, a thing from their prey heritage perhaps. Whatever it was, the Canterlot Royal Voice never failed to straighten things out. A fair trick to possess if you ever needed to get your point across.

Whichever thestral that wasn't already knocked down promptly fell to the ground, covering their sensitive ears and quaking in their non-existent horseshoes as my booming command rustled trees and bushes alike, most likely heard all the way to their hidden home. The captain was on her knees before her mind could register her body's involuntary movements, her wings now sagging at her sides while her snout almost brushed the moss and lichen.

A show of strength and authority for the history books, if it hadn't been followed by me puking my lungs out, having surpassed my limits and I was now suffering from the aftereffects of magic overuse. Blobs of blood and bile painted the distance between us red, my wet coughing lurching my body forward to the point where I almost impaled myself with my blades, which fell limp from my grasp as I took a page from my own book and fell to my knees as my body suffered from the consequences of overdoing things out of rage and spite. The tug drilled my mind, seeking a weak point to breach though, yet I wouldn't allow it purchase, for the fight was over.

As I retched and struggled, an eerie silence fell over the small clearing in which they’d surrounded me. The remaining troops, losing a figment of their fear for their lives, dared take a look over their hunched positions to assess the state of their captain, alive and well, but remaining completely paralyzed before me.

“Nnnnngg, fuuuucking heeell…” I groaned after spitting out the last taste of iron in my mouth, grasping the undergrowth hard to steady my harsh breathing, ears ringing and eyes burning with the afterburn. It wouldn't knock me out, but there would be no more dancing for me that day. There were still a few thestrals remaining on the sidelines, as well as the captain, who would no doubt take the chance to tear my throat open.

I could only hope the Voice would at least make them think twice about that and cause them to lose that nerve that got them jumping at the first being to enter their forest unannounced. Something very bad must have happened to them to push their lack of trust that far. Yes, skittish and closed-up to the rest of ponykind they most certainly were, and ponies were more than happy for it.

This was irrational. I had to learn what drove them to this point and hopefully find a temporary fix, but I couldn't linger for too long. Chrysalis was waiting for me. That changeling was known for a lot of things. Her patience was not one of them.

But fixing the bonds between ponies, all kinds of ponies, was also on my to-do list. Might as well start here and clear the bad blood to prevent further issues from happening.

All that was fine, but I needed to regain my bearings first. The captain had spoken of a matriarch, hinting that their social structure had remained unchanged from the time I first knew of them. I needed to speak to that matriarch, seek the help I needed, and perhaps smack her once or twice for the little ‘misunderstanding’ I’d just been subjected to.

And learn why in the actual Tartarus they cursed Luna’s name now!! Of all the things I could come up with that might have changed in all these centuries, that one was far from crossing my mind.

Digging Binary into the ground and using it for support, I put on my grampa costume and dragged my aching bones into a somewhat standing position, falling closer to a drunken tumble as I dragged my feet toward the submissive captain. The mare noticed my approach and unstuck her muzzle from the ground to a less-hunched position, eyes wide in fear and wings pressed tightly against her sides, her deadly blades returning to their holsters with a *zing*.

I dragged the lunar blade through the ground, bringing it under her chin and forcing her sight to meet mine, the tip teasing her throat, making sure any unannounced or rushed movements would be her last, for the spell covering them had shattered alongside my concentration.

Now it truly was a weapon of death.

Swallowing a lump and wincing when the cold metal brushed against my Adam’s apple, the captain followed my lead, stiffly and fidgetedly, blinking hard as fear catapulted her out of the imposed trance the Canterlot Royal Voice had cast over her.

“P-Please…” She pleaded, sparing a quick glance towards the remaining thestrals who awaited at the sidelines, not needing an explanation about what would happen to their captain if they dared to move a single muscle. “Do not harm them. L-Let them go and you can do anything you want with me.”

I was deaf to her pleadings, feeling as if I was slowly losing myself. I was slipping. I needed to back off. Alarms went off when the haunting glow began enveloping my gauntlets, black sparks of magic flying off my gems as they slowly turned darker.

‘I need to breathe! Breathe for fucks sake!!!’

The captain could feel it too. She closed her eyes and clenched her teeth, thinking that her demise was at hand. Instead of winning a one-way ticket to the afterlife, the pressure in her throat miraculously disappeared as I pulled back. A different fight had begun inside me.

‘Kill them!!’

My grasp on the handles became harder, painting my knuckles white, the same white as my teeth clenching hard against each other, grinding as I pushed back against that which sought an entrance.

I took precautions, angling the solar blade to my neck.

Harmony’s voice was painful, a paralyzing fear that rendered me as helpless as a newborn. This new voice was different. Sticky, raspy, convincing… I needed to resist it. I needed Luna.

Another step back. The captain saw her chance and scurried away from me, rejoining her comrades and assembling a sorry defense against me at the opposite side of the clearing.

‘END THEM!!!’

‘I need to breathe… I need to breathe…’

I breathed. In and out. My pulse stabilized, my mind emptied itself, and the eerie glow from my gauntlets gave way to their natural, colorful shine. I felt myself slowly regaining control, the tip of the solar blade leaving my tender flesh and burying itself in the ground, parting moss and leaves alike until it was secured.

It clawed, it tore, it pulled… and it wanted in.

‘In and out… In and out…’

‘DESTROY THE-!!!’

“Shut up.”

Silence, blissful silence. That dreaded voice that had been driving me mad during my short journey through an empty Equestria I now welcomed with open arms. I sent my sight up, losing myself in the gentle sway of the canopy against the gentle breeze blowing from the mountains’ slope. Small, shifting glimmers of light breached the dense foliage as the leaves danced back and forth, almost like the stars in Luna’s night sky.

“C-Captain?” Nightingale, who had regained his hoofing and rejoined the meager defense, squeaked with a hint of pain in his heaving lungs. I had struck him hard.

The captain shushed him, giving me her full attention. She was both puzzled and fully alert, not knowing what to think of me anymore.

Tired puffs left my lips in rhythmic bouts, the adrenaline beginning to crash down for the second time in a short amount of time, leaving me beyond exhausted. I welcomed the gentle breath that ruffled my hair and reinvigorated the canopy’s hypnotic dance. From the chain of puffs and wheezes, a chuckle escaped unannounced.

Funny. I’d almost forgotten the feeling of the Nightmare digging at the back of my mind.

Chapter 38- Hidden, best forgotten.

“Hmmmm… How aboooout… here?”

Scratching my chin, I mulled over the perfect place to place the next packing peanut along the rim of the muzzle. I was hard at work at a commission from a graceful patron who’d become awestruck by my breathtaking, one-in-a-kind, one-hundred-percent unicycled Sculpture to Friendship I’d whipped out recently to honor the blooming relationships between the three tribes! And, who also offered to pay for the fine I got from displaying it on the Main Square without a permit.

The System limits my boundless creativity!! I have found my black hoof!!!

Whatever had been the case, I got a commission from her. She wanted a one-to-one scale sculpture of her beautiful wife made entirely out of packing peanuts… for some reason.

Heh, it was fun to work with. It helped pass the time and a couple more bits on my crafty sash never hurts a mare of many needs and talents such as moi.

I trotted around my absolute work of art, running my eyes in an analytical search for imperfections, searching for the single peanut out of place that could trump this beautiful product of my mind.

“Hmm, perhaps I should run a request to MOPA to get this exhibited. Ohohoho, that’d be a first for me!”

Taking one last glance at the reference photo my commissioner had lent me, I let my mind wander, conjuring the sight of some of my art exhibited at Maretime Bay’s very own Museum of Pony Art. Beats Alphabittle’s Crystal Tea Room, where most of my creations ended up being shown during my younger years in Bridlewood.

“Sorry, Alphy. It was sweet of you to buy my art for your place, even if it was out of pity, but this is the major leagues we’re talking about!” I pumped a hoof triumphantly.

Whatever it took to keep me busy, I would welcome it. Things had gone pretty quiet around our home base these last few days. The other ponies and I were engrossed with our daily stuff like any pony worth their salt, but the absence of our most distinguished teammate got us all a bit on edge.

And by a bit, I mean totally on edge.

The last message we got from Alex was yesterday, informing us he’d soon pass beyond the range of service available and would go silent ‘till his return. Although he warned us to keep an eye out to the west and look for the light shown from the ridiculously-proportioned flank-kicking he’d deliver to those meanie butts if they were not in a talkative mood.

It wasn’t funny, and the messages from our friends told him so. Sick with worry and angry at his rashness and stubbornness. We were all mad at him, but in truth, we harbored nothing but concern and wished nothing more than to be with him and have his back. One pony in particular more than any other…

“Mmmph, I better check on her. Again.”

While all of us were a jumble of nerves on edge, poor Sunny was simply in shambles. Something was seriously eating away at her, not only the fact his sweetheart was half a world away fighting some of Equestria's most dangerous villains while she sat on her rump and continued bringing cheer and unity to our fellow ponies, which was far from being nothing, all needs being said.

That mare was a mess. She’d barely left the room they now shared, much less the brighthouse. Her pal Freshy had to cover her on the stand, or else her cut from all the produce from our shared community garden would go to waste. All the pep and sparkle had gone through the door with the human, leaving her taciturn and simply too out of it to do anything productive beyond sulking and munching on some fruit every once in a while.

We were giving her space, although her slate piled up in our growing list of concerns. She had reassured us, weakly, that she'd be fine. She just needed to think and come to terms with it all. Sunny had confessed to me during one of the few moments I’d managed to get her to open up a bit that she hadn't felt so worried for a loved one since the day her father disappeared. She was on edge while Alex went exploring Ponyville’s old ruins in search of something useful, and in search of some closure too, perhaps. But we all knew where he was going then, and a pegasus carriage could take us there before the end of the day should anything bad happen.

Now…

‘Now he’s too far from us. All alone out there…’

Had it not been for my peppy disposition and general high spirits, I have no doubt I would’ve crushed like Sunny, if not worse. But I needed to be strong and trust in our human. For Sunny, for our friends. And for me.

Mulling over my thoughts, I detached myself from my latest creation and sought the sunny-side mare, taking a break from the hard work while feeling like having a talk with her. Perhaps take a chance to empty my head a bit, too. If there was a pony in Faust’s green Equestria who I would trust to share my deepest and most sacred thoughts with, it was her.

It didn't take me long to find my target. She’d been holed up in the same place for the last few days: her dad’s old room, now refurbished as their little love nest. Too close to our shared room to mask all the noises and bumps from their ‘fun’, despite Alex casting his bubble of silence.

I may or may not have put an ear to the wall, and I may or may not have… uh, how to say it… ‘wet’ my hooves listening in.

Don’t judge me. I was head over hooves for that human and counted the seconds until Sunny and I could tell him of our decision to share him, should his heart be big enough for two little mares to call him theirs.

If not, well, I could always unicycle a one-to-one full-body toy of him out of some easily washable, malleable material, if you follow. I had his measurements, after all.

All but one. Sunny was too good a girl to share that little quip with the Double X Council. Yeah, we’d adopted the name, even if we were still unsure of what it meant.

Halting my stride in front of the closed door, I pressed an ear to see if she was taking a nap or simply beating herself up in worry.

Sunny has the most adorable snoring, which I wasn't hearing over the door. I reasoned she was awake then, and if she wasn't, the moon already was peeking over beyond the blue horizon. Too late for a nap. Gets you staring at the roof all night without catching some proper shut-eye.

I grabbed the knocker and slowly pushed it open, hunching my pose, and slipping my head inside for a quick look. I’d forgotten I was still wearing my working glasses, which almost slipped from my muzzle and made a ruckus. Nearly indestructible or not, those things were expensive. And very fashionable, word of a unicorn.

I found my bestie resting on her side, facing away from the door. The blankets half covered her rear legs, stretched out lazily over their recently acquired king-sized bed since, apparently, Sunny had a tendency for space while deep asleep and had more than once kicked her cuddle-bear off the bed.

I allowed myself one quick look at her rump, which was facing me. Very quick, I swear!

The air was heavy and gloomy, far from fitting for those kinds of thoughts. The growing absence of sunlight was barely enough to draw her outline over the mess of sheets and pillows. Her side rose and fell slowly, her breaths almost imperceptible over the far-off rocking of the waves against the cliff our home stood over. She’d lost her tell-tale braid for the day, her now-loose mane slowly sneaking its way into the curly mess she would always wake up with.

Tip-hoofing the whole way inside, I waited for any reaction from the mare. Whether she hadn't noticed my coming, or she simply didn't have the strength to address me, I couldn't know. I took her continued silence as an invitation and trotted my way around the bed.

From my new vantage point, I got a better look at her. She was hunched over on her side, a mess of sheets and blankets doing nothing to cover her. She was silent as a tomb, muzzle hidden inside one of Alex’s shirts, one the few he hadn't taken with him. Even in its bundled-up state under the mare's droopy head, its simplistic design told me it was one of the ones I’d whipped up for him during his first clothing crisis. A more-than-fair accomplishment, if you ask me, considering clothing was far from my already rich repertoire of… things to come up with, I guess?

Sunny’s eyes were closed, her breathing deep and even, taking in long sips of Alex’s rich scent still clinging to the cloth, an aroma my sensitive snout began to pick up from the heavily charged atmosphere of a pony spending too much time in a room without airing it up. It shared the usual tangy, spice notes of a male’s natural odor, yet Alex’s was as unique as his human constitution. Different, but not in a bad way. Sunny was more than addicted to it, and I was the first to notice how he smelled kinda good during our first trip to Canterlot. One point for Izzy!

Her forelegs clung to the shirt, bringing it close to her, allowing her to lose herself in the fantasy that he was still with us. It may seem a bit melodramatic considering it’d been only a couple of days since he’d gone on his journey. Let me tell you, Sunny being all lovey-dovey over the human had nothing to do with it.

Okay, maybe a little, but we all were reeling from his absence. Having shared almost every day together for the past months made his absence a painful, very noticeable reminder of how he was sticking his neck out for us out there. It’s like waking up one day to see you’ve lost your mane! It doesn't take long for you to start missing it, and you simply can't get it out of your now-maneless head.

That hadn't been a funny prank at all.

My heart arched once again for my bestie, aching to see her aching. Even if I couldn't take her pain and worry away, I’d be a horned mud-frog if I was gonna let my beastie suffer through it alone!

With my mind set, I cast any lingering hesitation away and plopped myself onto the bed, the shaking of the fluffy couch bringing the disgruntled mare out of her dreamy stupor.

“Whah?...” She mumbled in a half-asleep slur. It seemed I‘d caught her on the brink of taking a way-too-late nap. “Oh. Hi, Izzy,” She greeted me while rubbing the sleep out of her eyes, a muzzle-splitting yawn following right after.

“Hi there, sleepy head,” I greeted back in my best cheery self, hoping to rekindle a bit of sparkle in her. “Just taking a break from all that unicycling to check on my bestie, ‘s all. Being the most talented unicorn in all of Equestria can be veeeeery tiring,” I explained while melting over the mattress in an exaggerated manner.

I called it a victory when the tiniest of smiles adorned her muzzle with my silly humor.

“I’d take your word for it,” She joked back, running a fetlock over her crusty eyes one last time and blowing upward through her lips to nudge a rebellious strand of hair from her rainbow-patterned mane out of her eyes. Her sight remained on my plopped self for a little while before being dragged back to the dark red shirt tightly secured in her grasp. What little sparkle I’d summoned back was blown away in the blink of an eye, melancholy and longing dragging her down both physically and metaphorically back into her haunched state, her muzzle once again burying itself in the article of clothing.

I was losing my edge. I had to think fast!

Seeing as how my usual springy self was not gonna work with her this time, I felt the need to just be there for her and empty her mind from the heavy baggage she’d been collecting on her lonesome. I wiggled my body closer to hers and plopped my head over the free space of the shirt not claimed by the mare. Taking a not-so-little disguised whiff of the human’s scent, I couldn't help but tease.

“I told you he smelled nice.” I purred coyly.

Sucking in a deep breath of her own, Sunny hummed on the crumbled piece of wardrobe. “That you did, Izzy.” A few silent moments passed before she finally opened up a bit. “... I miss him so much.”

A hundred times she’d said that these last few days, and it hurt no less every time she repeated it, for we all shared the sentiment. “I know you do, Sunny girl,” I placed a reassuring hoof on her shoulder, eliciting the tiniest of peeks from under her left eyelid. “I miss him too.”

Sunny remained impassive to my comforting rubs. I wished I had the touch of Alex’s fingers. Those things were out of this world… literally. But I couldn’t wring the tiniest reaction from Sunny. She just continued mulling silently for a minute while I tried my best to ease her mind. Heavy bags weighed under her eyes, meaning any sleep she’d managed to muster hadn't been a fulfilling one. No sense staying up late to wait for another message from him since he’d warned us recently that he’d be crossing over the limit of service and would go silent for a while. Zipp and Pipp had put on a word with the twins, to see if they could bolster up the available range from the peaks, but there was nothing they could do in such a short amount of time. Even if we could send, Pipp’s old phone didn't have enough power to send anything back from such a distance.

As I strained my mind to come up with an appropriate cheer to lift Sunny’s spirits, she beat me to it by breaking the silence with a completely out-of-nowhere note.

“Do you think he still loves me?”

Open-muzzled and cotton-mouthed, her sudden inquiry rolled me over like a speeding train, leaving me sputtering half-chewed nonsense in a manner that’d make little Sparky proud.

Sunny must’ve found some semblance of an answer in my incoherent babbling and proceeded to rephrase her question.

“Do you think he loves me more than he loved Twilight?” Just as she fired the second load, she reached under her and extracted the pendant Alex had gifted her, resembling Twilight Sparkle’s own cutie mark. The pendant had never left her chest, save for only short occasions where Alex had taken it from her so she could practice her shield magic without the power boost the charm provided.

That mare wasn't thinking straight, not if she was sputtering such a load of horseapples having spent literally the most romantic month a stallion and a mare could share together, even if the stallion was two-legged and formed a far-away galaxy or something. I was beginning to get genuinely concerned.

“Um… okay. I’m starting to think you really, really need to get out of here and get some fresh air. Some water too, perhaps.”

I nudged the mare hard, urging her to get off her rear and leave her cave of sorrow, and clear her mind of muddled thoughts. But no force on Equus would pry Sunny from her bed and the clothing she was grasping as if her life depended on it.

“Stop!” She cried in anger after my incessant pushing managed to unstick her side from the sheets… literally. She’d been there that long.

The reason for her anger wasn’t my pestering, though, for a tint of shame quickly took over her words. “I’m sure he hates me now…” She mumbled from behind the protection of the garment, which she’d begun grasping tighter than ever against her muzzle, almost as if it would muffle her shame as it did her voice.

“Why?!” I demanded, my voice breaking a bit from exasperation. We’d been going back and forth like this since he’d left, with me reassuring her that everything was going to be fine and that Alex would return to us safe and sound, and her throwing blame and hooves at anything her aching mind would come up wasn’t helping.

Faust, she could be one stubborn mare. And I loved her for it, but come on!!

No, I was being insensitive. Had I been in her horseshoes, I would've lost it way sooner than her. I mean, we were all close to losing it, to just casting his warnings to Tartarus and tailing behind him as fast as our legs and wings could carry us. Heck, I’d even bring my unicycling cart (not a scooter) along if it’d bring us faster to him.

Sunny not only was our friend, but she was our pillar of strength, the spirit that pushed us along the ride, the inspiration that brought out the best in us. If the mare who, according to Alex, embodied Hope itself as her ‘element’ lost that very same hope for his safe return, then…

“I didn't tell him that I love him,” Sunny answered my demand, her brow furrowed as she mentally slapped herself. “He goes out there to risk his life for us, and all I do is give up and tell him to do whatever…”

That wasn't true. At least, not all of it, but her mind wasn't in the right state to give her a break.

“Sunny!” I cried, fumbling with my fetlocks as I searched for a counter, feeling myself walking on eggshells as I dealt with the mare’s delicate state of mind. “I-I mean… Look,” I grasped her shoulder more tightly this time, demanding her full attention. “It was a… complicated moment, alright? For ALL of us. You didn't tell him that you love him, just as he didn’t tell you the same, okay? All of us were speechless at the end. Want to hear my thoughts as to why I think he didn't tell you how much he loves you?”

Sunny didn't answer verbally, but her sad eyes pleaded for me to finish my train of thought.

“I think he didn't say it because the moment those three words came out that flat muzzle of his, what little resolve left he was still clinging onto would have shattered, and he’d have sent it all out the window and stayed with us. And you want to know more?!” I kept pushing, wiggling closer to the mare, getting her to reel back a bit from the suddenness of my approach.

“Um…”

“I think that applies to you as well!” My hoof came to jab her fluffy chest.

Now it was Sunny’s turn to be at a loss for words, blinking owlish like a foal being told Santa Hooves ain't an actual thing. No problem on my front, though. I was more than happy to get my point across that thick skull of hers.

I decided to lay it plain and simple. “Sunny… Are you angry at him for leaving us so out of the blue like that?”

“Wh… I-I mean… I, uh…”

“Of course you are!” An angry stomp tangled the sheets further around us. “I’M angry at him! I’m so pissed at him I could just…” I began choking the air in front of me, letting my acts speak for the train wreck that was my emotions. “A-And I just, ugh! And… aaagh! And that!! And…”

My karate-chopping the empty space before us sparked a little reaction from my target. Sunny scooted up a bit further, or else her snout would end up getting whooped, but offered nothing but a thin-lined muzzle as she waited for me to finish venting.

Faust, how refreshing it felt.

“Ahh… Ahh… Pheeeew! I’m a new mare now!” I announced to nobody, reinvigorated and considerably lighter on the ol’ thinker. Guessed Sunny wasn't the only one who needed some ‘aggressive therapy’.

I gotta patent that. Should give Doctor Izzy’s clinic for ‘Things of the Head’ a boost. Sure’d pay better than selling my art and trinkets.

“Um…” Sunny’s vocabulary seemed to have been reduced to little more than mumbles and hums. The perfect chance to finish delivering my message uninterrupted.

“Honey,” Now calmer, I lowered myself back into a… what did Alex call it… a ‘loaf’. Yes, whatever that was, I was comfortable like that. “You have every right to be mad at him. What he pulled wasn’t a nice thing to do, especially to his cupcake.” I brushed another strand of mane from her pearly eyes, firing a cheeky wink that worked a rosy tint into her tear-matted cheeks. “But you have such a pure heart of gold that you’re twisting it all around and branding yourself guilty!”

Sunny’s stubborn reluctance worked a feeble defense against my reasoning, clarity slowly crawling over her once again. With another big sneeze, she ran her fetlock over her snout and considered my point of view.

“... I don’t know,” She sent her attention sideways to the mess of crumpled sheets half-covering her lower frame. “I still feel like a bad pony.”

Biting my lower lip and shaking my head, I changed my approach a tint. “You understand why he left to confront Chrysalis,” I reached and nudged her head back to meet me once again. “Deep down, we all understand. We’d do the same for each other should our horseshoes be reversed. Right?”

“... I guess.” Sunny fumbled with the blankets.

“But that doesn’t mean we gotta like it.” I started loud and clear. It wasn’t that long ago that we had to go through a similar situation. “We didn't like it that he’d hurt himself keeping that… dark-abyss-of-magic-whatever-it-was open so you could rescue Posey and Windy.”

A grimace crooked Sunny muzzle, the memory still fresh even if it had been a while already since that fiasco.

“No. We didn’t.”

Kinda seemed a bit of an understatement to me, considering she and I had cried our eyeballs out in worry during the week he’d remained in a coma. Not liking it was like saying that Pipp doesn't overdo it with her streams.

“But what was he gonna do? Let you get trapped forever in that creepy abyss?”

Sunny didn't need to answer that rhetorical question. It was plainly obvious what had been the driving force between his dangerous choice, even if he’d reassured us over and over that it’d been a calculated risk.

“Well,” I continued with a shrug, running out of ways to make her see. “This is just more of the same. Only this time, the baddies are far away and he needs to deal with them by himself, for our sake.”

With a deep sigh, Sunny flopped over the mattress once again, almost coming out the same way I had found her. This time, however, a glimmer of that very same hope I had been striving for shined in her gorgeous eyes. Yes, they were gorgeous. Who am I going to lie to?

“Aaaand, I can one hundred and… uh, eighty-six percent assure you he loves you as much as the first day and is counting the minutes to get back to us!” I announced with utmost confidence, joining the earth pony in the nesting over the sheets, allowing myself some peace of mind with her and Alex’s combined scents traveling up my nostrils and sending ripples down my spine. “We gotta stay strong and trust him. That way, he won’t need to worry about us.”

I dragged a foreleg over the silky covers to grab Sunny’s left one, her half-smushed face against the wrinkled pillow speaking her appreciation for my care. We were a team of two when it came to that human. We’d made a promise of it, and would carry it to the end!

Now that the doom and gloom had dispersed a scooch (I love that word!), I saw the chance to entertain a worried and drained Sunny for a bit and lift up her spirits in the only way a mare can do for another.

Narrowing my eyelids and letting my muzzle stretch with a coy grin, I let the funny demon out.

“We also gotta stay strong for some much-deserved flank-whooping when he returns.”

Sunny's jerky recoil denoted her surprise, almost looking offended at such a proposition. “I'm not gonna hurt my coltfriend! That's the last thing he’d need.”

“Not that kind of flank-whooping…”

A naughty wink was fired, hitting dead on its mark, deep wounds painting my bestie's cheeks and ears the most adorable of rosy tints. Sputtering like a drunken pony, Sunny's mood did a complete one-eighty going from moody, to depressed, to lovestruck, and then to embarrassed. Behind all that tripping over her own words, I saw a glimmer of desire in her pretty eyes.

I could definitely work with that. Trust a mare of experience such as moi.

“I-I-I… u-um…”

“Soooo, what are you gonna do when he returns, hmmm?” I slurred on, slowly sliding my body over the mattress like a stalking snake, cornering the blushing mare against the rim of the bed. I loved teasing her and seeing her getting so riled up over her mate. So adorable. “You're gonna be a bad mare and punish him for keeping you unattended for such a long while?”

I inched my way closer, rejoicing in the fillyish squeaks coming from her quivering muzzle as her mind betrayed her and began conjuring heated scene after heated scene.

It was up to me to fan the flames. “You gonna get him to eat you up? Perhaps riding him on top ‘till his hips shatter? Oh!! You gonna ask him to do the hoof thing?!”

“WE DON’T DO THE HOOF THING!!”

Sunny’s sudden outburst and the way her hooves sailed to cover her big mouth sent me over the brink, summoning a belly laugh from the deepest pits and sending me on my back as the poor mare’s blush reached new heights.

“Wait!!” It took her a bit, but the inevitable double take arrived. “How do you know about the hoof thing?!!” Sunny embarrassingly demanded as I gasped for much-needed air.

“A mare doesn’t reveal her sourceeees~.” I quipped between cackles. I had overheard them talking about it one night in truth, but it was funnier to keep her guessing.

“Izzy!!” Sunny now went for the attack, looking to defend what little mare’s honor she still harbored by means of retaliating with nipping and half-hearted hoof strikes. I put on a brave defense where my incessant laughing let me. We toiled and bumped around like two fillies, her whines, and words of protest, soon giving way to innocent laughter as I attacked her ticklish sides, her beaming smile returning once again after long days of hiding under the pressure and fear for her soulmate’s wellbeing.

Sunny rose victorious in our short scuffle, claiming her point and dominance by half-draping herself over me, her head coming to rest right over my chest fluff. Her cocky leer met my playful one, her worries gone for the time being as we fooled around. However, her beautiful pearls soon warmed me with a thankful tint as she nuzzled her snout over my fur.

“Thank you,” She whispered in appreciation, giving me a taste of my own medicine as I felt my face quickly heat up. “I really needed that.”

This rambling unicorn might’ve been head-over-hooves for that human, but the mare currently sharing a cuddle with me could get my blood pumping just as easily.

Sadly, our tender moment was rendered short the moment a furious tapping on the bedroom’s window brought us out of the tranquil atmosphere which I’d hoped would heal my bestie’s state of mind, at least for a while. Enough to get her mood up and bring up some spring in her stride again. We’d even received a couple of angry ponies demanding Sunny’s return to her smoothie stand. Freshy had been covering for her, but apparently, Sunny’s talents were irreplaceable.

Sharing a befuddled look, Sunny was first to react, extracting herself from my fur to my utmost reluctance, and hopping down the left side of the bed, trotting over the small window, the closed drapes covering it contributing to the gloomy ambiance by keeping the worst of the sun away.

Now, the darkening, star-filled night sky welcomed us from the unobstructed space at the end of the cliff where the brighthouse stood, as well as a very familiar alabaster pegasus going for another round of knocking the moment Sunny pulled the drapes away.

Furrowing our brows in unison, Sunny pressed her forehooves against the glass and gently slid the window open, with me following her hoofsteps and cocking my head aside at the sight of our now visible distressed winged friend.

“Zipp?” Sunny began with as much puzzlement as I was harboring. “Is everything alright?”

“Girls!” The pegasus flapped her wings harder to remain level to the window, urgency clear in her voice. “You need to come outside. Now!!”

“Wha-?” I followed Sunny’s lead but was interrupted by Zipp pumping her feathers and hovering away from the window to point at an unseen place in the night sky.

“The moon!” She wailed while frantically waving her foreleg. “It’s moving weirdly in the sky!”

Of all things that could’ve brought her to frantically bump on our window. I was beyond puzzled.

‘Uh? What does she mean by ‘moving weirdly in the sky?’

“Alex…” Sunny’s mind raced faster, beating me to it. Understanding followed closely behind her brief claim. Our human pal indeed could mess with the celestial bodies as he had demonstrated for us not that long ago.

Before I had the chance to muster any form of reply, Sunny’s alicorn assets had manifested, the powerful, vibrating magic of an alicorn pushing me back on unsteady hooves. She was out of the window in the blink of an eye, almost running… flying? Flying over Zipp, whose trained reflexes were the only thing that saved her from a nasty bump with the accelerating mare who’d already corrected her course and headed in the opposite side of the brighthouse where the endless horizon kissed the sea in search of the moon and the message it seemed to be carrying for us.

“Izzy!” Zipp demanded as I shook the dizziness away. “Hurry!”

Well excuuuuuuse me, princess, but it wasn't my fault I was lacking the necessary limbs to propel myself out of the window like a cheating stallion caught with his hooves in the flank jar!

The long way out of the dorm and down the ramp to headbutt the main doors open seemed way too long all of a sudden. In a knee-jerk reaction, I opted for the shortcut my flying friend was so graciously providing.

With a decisive snort, I followed the shimmering alicorn’s example and threw myself off the window, draping my limbs around the hovering pegasus and using her as a ready-made parachute

“Izzy!!” Caught by surprise, Zipp struggled with my added weight and brought us down for an unsteady, yet harmless landing. Tumbling a bit over the grass, we both landed safely. It wasn't that much of an impressive fall, but the last thing I needed was a twisted fetlock or a crooked horn.

Can a unicorn even get a crooked horn?

“Sorry.” I offered with an apologetic smile at the fuming pegasus, but time was of the essence. Shaking ourselves free of grass and debris, we galloped together around the perimeter of the brighthouse. Sunny’s hovering form welcomed us alongside Pipp’s, phone in hoof and recording the heavens.

“Have you made any sense of it?!” Sunny nervously pried the smaller of the sisters.

“I noticed it just a moment ago while I was taking some shots for my upcoming video clip!” Pipp replied, not diverting her attention from the screen for a second. “I thought the camera was playing a trick on me, but there’s no way that’s how the moon’s supposed to move!”

Pipp’s short retelling dragged my sights skywards to the aforementioned satellite. It was only when the bobbing of my head ceased once I’d caught up with the girls that I noticed the strange behavior of our old, round friend. It was subtle, almost imperceptible at first. But it became easier if you used nearby stars as reference points. The moon wasn't following her normal routine of a lazy arch over our sleeping heads to hide behind the mountains as the morning approached. It kinda jerked in place, following a slow, unsteady line on the firmament.

‘Is it moving straight?... No, no, that’s almost a semicircular path… Wait! Now it’s veering steeper and coming up again!’

“Ugh!” Pipp loudly lamented, drawing our attention from the celestial dome to her recording phone. “The color balance is way off. I can't get a clear picture!”

Zipp’s mind raced a mile a minute. Her detective side made quick work of our problem.“Sunny!” She launched herself into the air to meet with the still-hovering alicorn. “Your telescope! We can draw a path with a long-exposure picture!”

Sunny’s eyes widened in understanding. “Right!” She was off like an exhalation, climbing up to the brighthouse’s balcony to grab her trusty telescope which had found a permanent perch up there for the occasional nights we would share a nice, pre-bed moment stargazing together.

Zipp wasn't one to lose a second either. Reaching for her wing-holster, she extracted her phone and dialed the missing piece of our five-pony-and-one-human puzzle. Keeping her wings pumping and impatiently tapping her rear hooves together, she waited for her hubby to pick up the phone. Hitch was having a rough day at the office and still wasn't sure if he would be able to join us for dinner with little Sparky.

Convenient for him or not, some very big change of plans was heading towards him, carried by the speedy words of an even speedier pegasus.

“Hitch! Baby!” Zipp almost yelled at the speaker once the earth pony answered through the other side of the line. “Yes, yes! I’m doing fine, we’re all doing fine! I need you t- No, nonono, I know you’re up to your mane up in paperwork, it's not about that! Baby, I need you to head outside and look up at the sky!... Yes, yes. Look at the moon. It’s moving weirdly! We think Alex is shoving it around on purpose for some reason!”

I wouldn't have said ‘shoving it around’. More like wobbling it all over the starry canvas like a drunken duck finding its way through Bridlewood Spog. That one was fun to watch, and boy did it have some lustrous feathers when it came out afterward!

“Ugh, now it's going up again!” Pipp commented in frustration, having changed hooves holding her phone since the right one had surely fallen asleep. I confirmed her observation. The moon, continuing its unsteady path, seemingly had found whatever she’d lost down there and was now on an ascending path with a tilt to the side. Almost as if it was drawing an opposite semicircle of sorts.

‘... Is he drawing a butt in the sky? Heh, that’ll be fun to explain.’

Just as Sunny returned with her telescope’s case tightly clutched in her forelegs, Zipp continued to explain the situation to her stallion as best as a phone call allowed.

“Nonono, use the stars as a reference, it's now going over The Dragon constellation. Look at the tip of the tail… You see! It just ran past it! It’s not supposed to do that!”

“Mmng! He made it look so easy.” Sunny grunted as she fumbled with her newest acquisition, a matter of nerves throwing her hooves anywhere else but where they needed to be headed. So agitated was she that she’d forgotten she was sporting a shining horn with some very shining magic attached to it.

Not feeling like being rebranded as ‘Izzy, the Statue’, I dragged myself from my stupor and headed to lend a hoof… or a horn, to my bestie.

“You’re gonna lose it, Sunny!” Pipp ushered us to hurry and get the thing assembled and recording.

“Not helping, Pipp!!” Pressing my ears against my scalp, I reeled back from Sunny’s outburst, the poor mare on the brink of a panic attack. We’d finished with the telescope. While I pointed the lens at the night sky at the correct angle, Sunny fumbled with Alex's laptop to get the program running. “It could be a distress signal for all we know!”

“Sunny,” Having finished with my part, I returned to the hyperventilating mare who was trembling so hard she couldn't even get the correct keys for the password. “Sunny, please. You have to breathe.”

“I-I can’t, Izzy! I-I…” She was on the brink of tears, what progress we’d made during our little romp at her bedroom had all been but forgotten by now.

“It’s going to be fine, sweetie.” I softly reassured her, gently grabbing the laptop from her hooves and leaving it aside for a moment as I surrounded her in a full-body hug. Sunny reciprocated with visible need, pressing her running snout against my mane as I softly brushed her braided mane. “I’m sure he’s just saying ‘hi’.”

‘In the most unconventional way. The lengths a pony will go without signal…’

It’d taken him a while, but as I rocked the poor mare while using my telekinesis to finish loading the program and begin recording, my creative brain finally clicked and made the connection. It was bad and uneven, criminally so, but I finally pictured what he was trying to draw in the night sky.

“Actually,” I added while nudging Sunny back to meet her dripping eyes. “I think he’s dealing with some unfinished business.”

Lost in my playful hinting, Sunny dipped her head aside while sniffing hard and cleaning her running snout with a forehoof.

“H-Huh?”

“Ahhh… Ahhh… Su… Aaahhhh… Puta… Madre… Aaaghh.”

Equestria hadn't seen a human panting and wheezing in such a manner since I attempted the Running of the Leaves in the first year since my flashy arrival within its borders. At that time, it was easier to jump me than to go around me, if you catch my drift. Kinda a sad spectacle. But, an Equestrian diet and total absence of any motorized form of transport, aside from the train, and, you know, not breathing shit and eating crap every single day of your life had improved my physique considerably to the point I could barely recognize myself in front of a mirror.

Moving Celestial bodies in the sky cared little about your physical well-being, however. Nothing short of a seasoned alicorn could pull it off without barely skipping a breath. A lousy human lost in the middle of a bat pony-infested forest didn't put on that much of an impressive show. Seeing as the phone I carried was of little use without signal, although I made sure to keep it charged with some practiced magic and the charger which I’d forgotten to bring with me the last time we ventured into the wild, I had to resort to… less orthodox methods.

I’d apologized for any scare and ruckus I might’ve brought to the ponies after I’d returned. But I just needed to let them know I was doing fine and to say in a less than satisfying way what I hadn't had the guts to say before my departure.

However, since the canopy of trees remained unbreached even at the thestrals’ home of Hollow Shades, I couldn't be one hundred percent confident of the quality of the heart I’d tried to draw with the moon.

‘I hope they got the message, at least… aaagh… and you’d think having had TWO needy marefriends would’ve gotten you to build up some endurance…’

I dropped Binary against the wall and slid down the opposite side of the infirmary's window to a half-hunched pose, using my knees as leverage as I regained my breath.

After our little ‘misunderstanding’ had passed, and I was confident I’d dragged back the Nightmare into the proverbial closet I’d believed it would never escape from again, things with the ragged platoon of thestrals were smoothed over quickly, neither side wanting to rekindle our scuffle and risk more than hoofs and fists, so to say. I’d surrendered myself and asked to be escorted to their ancestral dwelling, submitting myself to their judgment for I was indeed a trespasser, but not before I’d the chance to meet with their Matriarch. If anythestral would know who I was, it would be her since, in their culture, Matriarchs were leaders as well as keepers in a sense, with them having actual Keepers as their ‘underlings’ of sorts. The highest educated of the female half of their population, either from sheer age, education, or hooves-on experience, albeit normally a mix of the three. You know, your typical ‘elder leader of the tribe’ kinda vibe. I cared little for whoever led this enclave of thestrals as long as they showed a bit more common sense than the soldiers they’d sent to protect their borders.

But that would have to wait until tomorrow. Unbeknownst to me, I’d actually managed to get VERY close to Hollow Shades, which might partially explain why they were so jumpy in the first place. Even if it had been my self-inflicted bleeding wound that had lured them to my position, it wouldn’t have been long ´till they found me anyway, and the outcome wouldn't have been that different.

The good news, however, was that it took us a little time to reach their forest town. My scrambled circadian clock hinted how, at sometime past midday, the first signs of their civilization welcomed me and the rugged platoon of aching bat ponies. I caught more than one poisonous leer and curse under their breaths as the poor bat-ponies limped and carried their still unconscious comrades towards the safety of their secluded home. I couldn’t blame them. In my frenzied state, I’d gone too far with them. We both agreed that we were at fault, their captain losing her aggressive, unreasonable front while I dropped the moronic attitude that had landed me here in the first place. When I mentioned to her the effects the forest was having on me, and all the utter shit I’d been through ‘till I’d reached them, her stance mellowed to a more compassionate one, albeit one that didn't still mean she wasn't gonna give me Tartarus for having trashed her and her mates all over the place. I smelled a case of hurt pride. I didn't give two shits about it.

During our brief walk, I’d learned her name was Crimson Rose, kinda unoriginal considering which race of ponies I was dealing with, but it was in my best interests to not piss her off further. The squad that had intercepted me happened to be the only form of military or security presence the thestral enclave harbored, their purpose centered around keeping potential targets away since things within their forest town remained mostly peaceful and rutinary.

The tour around the place had been short and strangely familiar, full of wide-eyed ponies lining the streets in what surely had been the weirdest, most exciting thing to happen to them in the last century or so. Curiosity, fear, and even disgust were the predominant emotions. Moma bats hid their heart-wrenchingly-adorable bat-pony foals under the protective care of their forelegs.

The fact that there were a bunch of trashed soldiers tailing me quickly let the already untrusting population know that my presence wasn't what you’d call a friendly one. Summing up with the fact I’d put their only means of immediate protection against the big and nasties of the forest dwellers to shame, the first impression was everything but working in my favor.

It still didn't give a breezie's ass about it.

What I did care about, though, were the noticeable changes I could glimpse from the old thestral home. I’d only visited twice, a long, loooong time ago, but there were indeed some significant absences since the last time, starting with the utter and complete lack of any natural light. Yeah, that was true for the entirety of the forest that shielded us, but not in Hollow Shades. Looking up, the only thing you could now discern was complete darkness with hints of green where the lower branches hung from the impenetrable canopy. Back in the day, open skies welcomed visitors who found their way into their village, since the thick canopy was constantly trimmed back to allow natural light and much-needed fresh air to rain over them. At least during the night. The threstral’s eyes were sensitive to direct sunlight. The solution? A masterfully crafted veil of silk and silver now covered the open space during the day, with tiny dots to let in the smallest amount of sunlight possible to pass in a way so that it resembled a starry sky while protecting their sensitive corneas.

During the night, the suitably named Moon Veil would be removed so the bat ponies could rejoice in the magnificent that was Luna’s moon, which they adored and revered as much as the Night Mistress herself.

Now, it was a permanent gloom twenty-six-seven, the darkness only breached by the gentle illumination of their tree-carved homes and the glowing lichens and mushrooms growing all over the place in their blueish and whitish hues. You could at least know where you were heading without tripping over every single root or stone on the way, so I wasn't going to complain. From a fresh human being’s point of view, it would be a breathtaking view. Surely, images from ‘The Lord of the Rings’ or your favorite fantasy elven landscape would be the first ones to come to mind.

The settlement had grown considerably since my last visit, at least double in size by my estimate. Old tree stumps could be discerned where trees had been cut down to clear more space, now repurposed for numerous purposes as well as the wood which came from them. Houses carved inside the trunks themselves or built hanging from their thick bark, countless bridges connecting the numerous levels of the town, yet flying remained the easiest way to carry oneself around.

I asked the captain about the absence of lumigrapes, their yellowish glow having contributed to the place’s illumination where they were cultivated, last time I’d checked. She explained how the forest predators, smart little bitches, had learned long ago that where the glow of lumigrapes was found, a tasty thestral or two wouldn't be too far off. They grew them now in more secluded areas, heavy with vegetation coverage to keep any unwelcome eyes away instead of growing them all over the place and in the surrounding areas. I felt a bit of the place’s charm being lost, but was more than happy to learn they still grew and ate them. Their condition would remain ‘tamed’ as long as they did so.

Not wishing to deal with the citizens' prying questions and wants, the captain motioned us all into the infirmary, one the the few buildings not built in or around one of the thick, imposing trees, but on the very ground itself. Too small to be called a proper hospital (or a horsepital. Get it? Horsepital!), but big enough to house all their winded troops as well as myself.

Crimson, not needing any form of serious treatment, spent her recovery time keeping a constant eye on me, sharing the same big room I’d been assigned alongside the other patients. The gesture however was secondary in nature. Crimson would’ve spent time at the infirmary with or without my arrival since there was a very important pony to her currently hospitalized at the moment.

“You… ahhhh… believe me now?” I wheezed to the bat pony mare resting on her belly on a nearby bed, a young thestral colt tucked in her forelegs and resting against her chest. I quickly learned that foal happened to be her own, and had been checked in for observation for a well-known issue all thestral younglings were doomed to pass through.

Crimson’s eyebrows shot up in bewilderment, but not for the reason I’d hoped. “Uh, yeah, I believe you know how to wiggle that monster of a sword you got around while muttering some weird words. Is it, like, a healing ritual dance kinda thing? It got you winded good.”

Yeah, I was gonna need the Matriarch to convince them that I happened to be a long-lost prince of a bygone era very capable of moving the Sun and Moon around the place. But with the trees acting like an iron dome over us, it's not like she could nudge her head out the window and have a look.

“Fuck you,” I grumbled at her reluctance to believe my word. Her previously bemused eyes quickly hardened at my colorful choice vocabulary, the mare dipping her head downwards to point at the colt with her chin.

“Huh, that’s a funny word.” The colt, whose name was Darkfall Crest, chuckled in his childish innocence. His attention went from the opened book in front of him to the frowning mare cuddling him. “What does it mean, Mom?”

Even if Crimson was unaware of the human version of the world, its striking resemblance with the pony version provided all the explanation needed.

“Nothing you should concern yourself with, sweetie,” Crimson deflected the question and nudged her foal towards the now-forgotten book still resting on his forelegs. “Why don’t we finish this chapter before lunchtime? We can both get a nice nap afterward. I for one could use one.” She sighed tiredly, wiggling her still-hurting wings at her sides while hugging the mini thestral a tad harder.

Lunchtime in the middle of the night? Duh, they were nocturnal. The day was snooze time for them and vice versa. Except for these soldiers and their captain who had to be ready and awake at any moment.

“Are you kidding? Neigh way!” The little colt was way too excited to care about the book with such an oddity as me to satisfy his boundless curiosity, to her mom’s visible dismay. “This weird… uh…”

“Human.” I finished for him, having left the wall to lay on my own bed, sending a bored look at the wooden-planked roof. Glowing lichen was the main source of lighting in the room, other than the resin lamps resting on each of the bedside tables. The remains of my dinner (breakfast) had yet to be collected by the nurse who’d attended us, a pretty young mare with too much pep in her stride for such a gloomy place and even gloomier people. A couple of painkillers and treated bandages to ease the worst of my injuries, some much-needed, proper food, and a couple of hours of rest had improved both my soreness as well as my mood. But now, I had a bat pony colt to entertain until either he passed out from boredom or I passed out from sheer fatigue.

“Huuuuman,” He rolled the word on his tongue for a moment before resuming his verbal inquisition. “Huh, weird. What were you doing with those swords? Were those glowing circles around them magical? Is that how magic’s supposed to look?!”

The little dude couldn't have been older than ten, yet he was already asking the big questions. How could the thestral know what magic looked like? It’s not like they could cast it in the same way a unicorn could. Yet, for what little I’d learned from the thestrals during my other brief stay at their home, it was pleasantly evident they weren’t that detached from the world outside their borders. They still knew about the important stuff, both what used to be and what currently was, which would no doubt help my cause enormously.

“Right on the nail, little dude,” I congratulated his intuition with a wink, earning a victory ‘yes!’ and a hoof pump from the young thestral. “Magic can be manifested in many ways, but those were indeed mana-based. I was just trying to send a message back home to my family.”

Alarms began to ring in the captain's head, her already slitted eyes narrowing even further. The little guy remained oblivious, with his curiosity only rising with each sentence that came out of my big mouth.

“A simple message telling them I’m fine and that I miss them and I love them very much.” I clarified for the panicking captain, already guessing what was twisting her tail in a knot. “Without any kind of clue, hint, or trace as to the location of this place.”

With her wings ceasing to twitch nervously at her sides and her mind once again at ease, the captain was reassured that their little hidden corner of Equestria would remain as such, although I could smell her intention of how a lucky guard or two was gonna be given double patrol around the outer perimeter for the time being, just in case I was full of shit.

Sorry, not sorry.

Darkfall was a bottomless pit of curiosity, a striking but welcome contrast with most of his peers since he was the only one to show the barest of interest regarding the outside world. Not only as far as how things were in general and if any threat or potential threat was inbound. He wanted to know about everything out there. I was more than happy to humor him, which kept me distracted while the medicine worked its magic and my gauntlets recharged for another dose of healing spells. The final one, I hoped.

When I tried to explain to him how I was trying to move the moon to paint a heart in the sky, he just laughed it up as if I was a madman and brushed it aside, claiming only the princesses of old could achieve such a feat. I didn’t miss the cocky smirk of his mother when the young colt called my bullshit right off the bat. I flipped her the bird which, needless to say, completely flew over her head. It made me feel better nonetheless.

Next, he wanted to know everything there was to know about my family. ‘Are they weird monkey-things like you?’ I had no choice but to burst his bubble a bit. While keeping the location of Maretime Bay and the two other settlements vague and inconclusive (two could play at that game of guesses), I retold some of the more… domestic adventures and shenanigans our pony friends are well known for getting into once or twice a week. He drank my storytelling with great interest, yet his young, cat-like eyes couldn't mask a hint of hesitation, especially around the part where I mentioned my family is a pony family.

Almost as if the fact they were ponies was something I shouldn't be talking about. I could already tell where the shots were coming from, but I needed to be one hundred percent sure. Future relationships could very well depend on the nuggets of info I squeezed from the reclusive thestrals in the short time I would spend with them. There was a changeling Queen no doubt growing more impatient with every day it took me to reach her.

“Hmm…” I rubbed my chin with the back of my hand, making myself look overly suspicious so his young brain could keep up. “I couldn't help but notice the face you made when I mentioned my family is of the equine kind.” Darkfall, ears up in surprise, sought counsel from his mom who’d also shown a similar reaction to the nature of my close ones.

“... Aside from the obvious, is there a problem with them being ponies?”

“Um…” His tiny fangs gently bit over his lower lip, lost for words to land him a smooth exit from the quickly souring topic.

“Don't take it the wrong way.” Mama bat to the rescue. “Our story with our… cousins is, well, let's just say that ‘convoluted’ falls way too far from the tree to even call it that.”

“Oh, I’m well aware of the scrapes and bumps between the lot of you,” I lost my reclined position and sat on the rim of the bed, hands coming to rest on my lap as I cleared any lingering mental cobwebs away. “A thestral such as you would be entitled to harbor some nasty words for the occasional shithead that would call her a monster or freak.”

Crimson didn't approve of my use of language, quickly covering her foal’s fuzzy ears while sending yet another disapproving leer at me.

“Hey!” Darkfall protested, shaking his head to free himself from her mom's protectiveness.

“My apologies,” I dipped my head in apology and made a mental note to check my dirty tongue around the young one. “What I don’t get though, is why a young thestral such as you son,” I nudged my chin in his direction, sending Crimson’s attention down to the little guy. “Should act so hesitantly around the topic of a pony when it's been more than seven centuries since you guys mingled in any form or manner.” I narrowed my stare suspiciously. “Or, is there something I’m missing?”

A tense silence fell over the infirmary room. I seemed to have touched a nerve, nothing out of the ordinary back in the day, but I felt there was something different this time, and not for the better.

“Mom?” Darkfall looked up to meet with his mom’s concern, the thestral mare debating whether to spill her guts or not. Her little foal’s concerned orbs did the trick. With a heavy sigh and a loving nuzzle of the young one's head, Crimson finally revealed to me the truth behind their jumpiness during our initial encounter, weird looks and asshat attitude aside.

“...Okay” She wetted her lips and, with a healthy dose of hesitation, began to explain. “Sooooo, congrats, I guess. You’re right on the seven centuries of dry spell between us and, well, mostly everycreature else. How did you know it’s been that long?” Now it was her turn to act all suspicious and edgy… again.

“Crimson, please.” I gently urged her to continue and leave the interrogation for a later time.

“Okay, okay, fine.” She raised her forelegs in defense, lowering them back down around her foal, pressing the little guy against her chest while resting her head over his short, spiky mane. “It’s all now written in the books and scrolls the Matriarch and her Keepers safekeep at the House. When Equestria fell and the dream of friendship and unity shattered, everypony turned on everypony. A unicorn couldn’t bear to look at an earth pony without spitting on the ground. An earth pony foal would lose sleep over nightmares of pegasi snatching them away and dropping them off a cliff, or worse. And a pegasus wouldn't hesitate to threaten a unicorn with sending a tornado or two on their way should they try any of their nasty magic.”

‘Just like the stories Sunny told me of her days before the gang’s adventure. Just like the crap I would hear everyday on the streets.’ I lamented under my breath. It was all bark and no bite back then…

Until it ceased to be. These guys were caught right in the middle of what ended up as a massive blood feud.

“We were caught in the crossfire,” Miss Mind Reader continued with her storytelling. “Just like everycreature else,” With another sad whiny, Crimson cuddled her son tighter, to the point the poor sap was beginning to look a bit uncomfortable. “If a pony couldn't look at another pony without wanting to bite their ears off, how do you think things turned out for us?! They chased us back into our forest! They wanted to burn it down! They wanted us gone!! GONE!!”

Her angry stomping echoed through the wooden walls of the infirmary. Darkfall reeled back at her mom’s animated gestures, the poor guy not liking seeing the thestral mare so riled up. He offered reassurance in the way a foal always excels: nuzzling her chest fluff with all the love and warmth a foal can muster up for its mom.

Crimson answered in kind, her heartbeat leveling off with the tender caress of her little foal. However, a flame still burned in her core.

“Call me paranoid or whatever you want,” She continued, her tone lowering to an aggressive, protective note. “Even if it’s been centuries of silence, if there is the slightest chance there’s still somepony out there looking to burn this place, and my son with it, you can bet your fangs I’m gonna slice up any trespasser snooping around with bad intentions.”

“... I understand.”

“Like Tartarus you do!” Crimson fired back furiously. “How could you possibly know how…?”

“I. Understand. Crimson.” I raised my hand in peace, trying to make it clear that all she was telling me, all that rage dripping from every word and I were old friends.

A dismissive snort spoke of her reluctance. “Humph. Our Night Mistress left us, went chasing the accursed Sun Goddess Faust knows where, and left us to die. The ‘Princess of Friendship’ sent it all to Tartarus with her ‘oh so fantastic vision of a unified Equus’, where everycreature was friends with everycreature and lalala.” Crimson bared her fangs and flagged her wings halfway. “And if you really are who you claim to be, you have a lot to answer for yourself.”

I’m sure she was expecting some words of apology or an abashed look far from her scowling features as I swallowed my remorse. The amused chuckle that left my lips was the last thing she was expecting.

“You’re gonna tell me about it, sister.” I got up from my sitting posture and reclined back into the mattress, closing my eyes and crossing my arms behind my head as if I were simply enjoying a nice afternoon at the beach. “Answering for myself is the first and utmost reason why I’m here currently talking to you. Yep, I got to sleep through all the music and woke up to find all my problems had been fixed for me.”

The flummoxed thestrals regarded me as if I’d lost it, the younger one showing it with the universal ‘Has he gone mad?’ twirl of his forehooves on his temples to his mom. The poor mare, having lost her burning front with my seemingly careless front, couldn’t do little more than shrug.

“Now, ponies are friends once again and everything's looking up. Just gotta find an old friend out here and have some nice words with them and hopefully clear out our differences and I’ll be back to celebrate autumn with my family.” I opened a single eye to peek at the pair. “But first, some R&R and words with your Matriarch. Hmm, perhaps she can knock some sense into you.”

“YOU-”

“Captain Crimson.”

Before the mare could take a chunk out of my neck, another thestral mare, wearing some kind of ceremonial dress, called to her from the room’s entrance. If I had to take a guess, she was one of the Keepers. An easy, milky silk dress hugged her frame, barren of any flashy features of any kind. Her mane and tail had been carefully trimmed to match her ceremonial wardrobe. She stood tall and proud and spoke in the same manner.

“The Mother has awakened and wishes to hear your report.” Her expressionless look went past the captain to search mine. “She will reconvene with the creature afterward. She awaits at the Moon Garden.”

Without the need to explain herself further, the Keeper left with as much coldness and pride as she’d addressed us with. The captain was visibly conflicted, torn between following orders or leaving her precious colt with a freak of nature such as me.

“You can take the swords with you if it’ll ease your mind.” I pointed a thumb towards the resting blades, still where I left them just below the window. “But ain't no way I'm putting a finger on this young fella. He’s too charming.”

Following my playful banter, the little dude allowed himself some well-deserved chest puffing and cocky smirking. His mom, a big eye-rolling for good measure, decided to play it safe and grabbed Binary in her forehooves, resting it awkwardly against her back.

“Uff.” She grunted at the effort needed once the weight of the payload had landed home. “This thing is heavy! How did you get to twirl around like that before? Geeze;”

“Magic.” I answered in short, earning a huff from the captain for my lack of cooperation. “Show it to your Matriarch once you meet her. If there's anypony here who'll recognize it, it'll be her.”

“... Whatever.” With one final grunt, the captain left the room to follow the Keeper towards where the Matriarch awaited, but not before delivering the mandatory ‘be good, don't cause a ruckus’ motherly warning to her foal.

“Yes, mom, I'll be good.” Darkfall answered with as much exasperation and boredom as a foal can show after number ten thousand of the same deal.

Once the clip-clop of hooves ceased to bounce beyond the corridor, a calm silence filled the room. I reckoned I'd get some more rest for my bones before facing the all-loving Mother of this thestral enclave who, no doubt, would have some ‘colorful’ words to share with me once she learned about recent events.

I could feel the little bat’s curious eyes analyzing my resting form even with my eyes closed.

“What?”

“You're so weird.”

Leave it to a foal’s brutal honesty to clear any shadow of doubt. I didn't fight the amused smirk that grew on my lips.

“I guess I am, aren't I?”

“Is the outside world as dangerous as mom always says?” His youthful innocence hungered for more knowledge about the world beyond their forest. “You painted it pretty nice, ponies or no ponies living there.”

I was the Prince of that very same thing, so I was obliged to answer.

“Eh, there's still a lot I need to check for myself. Your mom is right when she says things have gotten pretty bad out there for a while, and you guys are smart keeping yourself hidden for the time being.” Rubbing the stitched cut in the palm of my hand, I too pondered about the state of Equestria as a whole. “I won't lie to you, kid. There's something bad out there, something storming that my pals and I will have to eventually face. But that's our problem to deal with. I'll buy some peace and quiet out there while we rebuild. It's gonna take a long while, and things are too delicate for too much music.”

“Well,” The little thestral fumbled on his bed, laying sideways over the mattress in search of a comfier position, his developing wings hanging lazily at his sides. “Things are kinda boring around here. Mom always says any boring is a good kind of thing with all those monsters out there creeping over the forest. In a sense, as long as we leave them alone and keep our distance, they keep us safe from any creature who would find us. Well,” Darkfall sent a lidded look at me. “Everycreature except you.”

With a chuckle rumbling in my chest, I conceded his point. “I used to do shhhhh- uf, stuff like this more often. I had another family… a long time ago.” Longing pangs and icy daggers threatened to pierce my chest. “We… uh, we used to get in a lot of trouble, saving Equestria from this monster or the other, and all in all teaching ponies the ‘magic of friendship’.” I put on my best Twilight voice. I needed to hear her voice again. That video Pipp recorded of her message would never be enough. “Yeah… crazy times. Faaaaar from boring.”

I turned my head to take a peek at the litter dude, but found he wasn't paying attention anymore, for another bad case of the cramps was assaulting his tummy, making him coil around himself as his hooves went to hug his aching midsection.

I felt a pang of sympathy for the poor bat since I happened to be responsible for the crap he was going through.

Tisking, I rose from my mattress and took a seat at the hurting thestral’s side, sneaking a hand under his protective hug and running my fingers through the leach fuzz of his belly, both for some healing tummy rubs as well as look for any hard spots that might indicate a complication.

“Nnnngg.” Darkfall moaned as another crump got him to curl even tighter around himself. “This sucks soooo much…”

“I know it does, little fella,” Finding nothing out of the ordinary, I climbed up to his left side and leathery wing, brushing over the bony rim of his growing appendage. There was no easy way around it, he'd had to soldier through it until his intestinal flora had reassembled itself and the body accepted the new symbiosis. “I'm sorry it has to be like this, but it'll help you grow big and strong without needing to drink blood. Just like your mom.”

“She said it sucked for her too,” The young bat squeezed out after another groan. “All my friends have already gone through it and they’re all now fine. But noooooo, I just gotta get the cramps late and be stuck here all wee-auch!”

“It’s different for everybat, bud,” I squeezed his left foreleg in sympathy, a small, albeit bothersome price to pay for that complete integration his kind had been striving for since their condition had manifested in the first place so many centuries ago. Something told me they couldn't care less about integration and seeing eye to eye with the ponies now, but it was too late to step back otherwise. “It takes longer for some… although.”

A passing thought sent my attention to my crumpled bed, resting at the foot of the bed. I remembered how, amongst all the leftovers and non-perishable foods I’d managed to squeeze in, I’d grabbed a half-eaten pack of Izzy’s favorite cookies. I’d have to buy her two or three packs as both a thank you and compensation. However, remembering the days when the team at Canterlot and I presented the very same solution that was ruining this poor little bat’s week, I remembered a temporary solution for his cramps.

Reaching it with my levitation, to Darkfall’s utter fascination, I rummaged around the mess of crumpled-up clothes and half-eaten meals until I found my target.

“Aha!” Extracting the aforementioned cookies, I took one from the cylindrical package and offered it to the mesmerized thestral.

“Uuuuh…” The irony wasn’t lost on the little dude. “Are you giving me sweets to treat a tummy ache?”

“Ironic, right?” I grinned at the foal’s bemused grimace. “There’s a looong scientific explanation behind it but I’m gonna be good and not bore you to tears with it. Just know that it works. In small doses, that is.” I quirked my eyebrow, already expecting what his little mind would be plotting. “Else you’ll end up with another kind of tummy ache.”

Rolling his eyes and huffing, I had revealed Darkfall’s evil plot. Still, he accepted the treat and wolfed it down in a foalish fashion. Smacking his lips against his fanged gums and enjoying the taste, he returned his fuzzy head down, this time resting it over my leg.

With my heart warmed at the adorable sight, I allowed the young fella some rest while petting over his fuzzy ears and messy mane, using the time to come up with a reasonable and believable argument to convince the thestrals’ leader that I wasn't a threat and that I could use a little help. Or at least convince them to not attack me on sight on my way back or at any other time I happened to come ‘round.

And the hardest of all, to convince her that, while it was still a work in progress, the three tribes had made amends and rejoined together in harmony, at least along the three previously hidden settlements. I couldn't and wouldn’t speak for other pony settlements outside Equestria, but if there was one place for new relationships between their kind and ponykind, it was with my pony family and the ponies of Maretime Bay.

Plans for a very far-off future. But any help was welcome. There was an entire kingdom out there to be recolonized, tons of relationships, treaties, borders, and amends to fix and reset. Foal steps would see it done.

“Human.”

A voice called once again from the door. I’d lost myself in my mental debating, so I wasn't sure how much time had passed. It had been enough for Darkfall to fall asleep on my leg, though, but the call from the very same Keeper that had beckoned Crimson before was enough to rouse him from his short nap.

“Welp,” I commented to the young bat in a low voice. “It’s better than ‘weird creature’, eh?” I quipped with a playful wink, earning a tiny giggle from him.

Sensing how she had my attention, the Keeper proceeded with her summons. “The Mother has convened with the Captain, and has declared that you are not a threat, and are to be treated as an honored guest…”

‘Finally, some progress.’

“However, she wishes to speak with you at this time. She believes there is a lot to be discussed with you, your Highness.”

With a respectful bow, the Keeper retreated back and patiently waited outside the door. Happy to see some progress, I left the young bat’s side, giving my legs a nice stretch and leaving the bag in its previous place.

Needless to say, Darkfall was beyond himself in surprise.

“You ARE a Prince?!!”

“Me?” I pointed a finger at my chest with as much surprise as he was exuding. “Nah, they must've mistaken me for somebody else.”

With a parting wink and a good ruffle of his mane, I left the room to meet up with the Keeper, nodding to the pair of guards, two of the few who’d left our previous scuffle mostly unscathed. I didn't miss the last words of the little guy before leaving the building.

“A Prince just gave me a cookie…. Ohohoho, just wait ‘till Misty Gale hears this!”

Chapter 39- The Sinner. Part 1.

I remembered my frequent visits to the Moon Garden. The thestrals of this enclave had built a garden of their own with a striking resemblance to Luna’s own personal sanctuary back at Canterlot Palace, making sure it was identical in every respect, right down to the name. River Lilies, Moonshine Dewdrops, Dusk Mushcaps, Blood Roses, and an endless plethora of various night-attuned flora blanketed it and its surroundings, bathing the area with the gentle shine of a full moon, the only moon shine these thestrals would get now, since the looming trees that held their homes now blocked virtually all light, whether it be day or night, from raining down from the heavens.

From the ever-increasing list, that was one of my most pressing questions. Why such a huge, sudden aversion to the Moon now? The aversion to the Sun I got, obviously, but the Moon?

I hoped my meeting with the Matriarch would shine some light on that one, and many other questions that had been plaguing me since I’d first been admitted to the infirmary. She’d acknowledged my royal heritage through her envoy, which was a little step in the right direction. At least I hoped so, since my heritage carried the weight of a broken country and the blame behind a thousand broken promises on its back. The mother of all stains over what once was a promising career in the field of ruling over a nation.

Some days, it truly felt more like a job than anything else.

Where most other bat ponies had taken this new information with a grain of salt, one thestral wasn't happy with this discovery. Crimson, having finished her short debriefing with the Matriarch, was asked to escort me to the Moon Garden alongside the now-silent Keeper, who hadn't bothered to utter a word to us during the brief trek to the gardens. And I knew them well enough to know she wasn't gonna during the rest of the trip, either.

That meant it was only the Captain and me to fill the awkward silence from dozens of thestrals, who stopped what they were doing to blink owlishly at us, or more precisely at me, as we crossed the town straight through the middle before reaching the outskirts.

“I can't believe it...” Crimson seethed with a bothered frown, the news from her leader hitting her like a speeding cart.

“Told ya I was royalty.” I jabbed without much emotion, not bothering to mask a tinge of pride.

“I can’t believe that a buffoon like you is the long-lost Prince of Knowledge!” She flashed her fangs at me.

“Am I that ugly?” I asked with a healthy amount of theatrics which, obviously, completely blew over Crimson’s fuzzy head.

“It’s not about your looks, you dimwit!!” The mare snapped at me, rearing her wings to clutch her throbbing temples. “It’s just… Argh! I don’t know what to think anymore! It's you! I…” She reached for her saddlebag and grabbed a lumigrape, a post-breakfast snack perhaps, and shoved it in my face. “This! This is you! You made this for us! You rid us of our need to drink blood!”

“Mhm, that I did,” I replied nonchalantly, interpreting her gesture as an invitation and, grabbing the fruit from her demanding hoof, plopped the tangy-yet-sweet treat in my mouth. Not my piece of cake, but I didn't create them for their flavor. “Some witty bioengineering and a couple of magic tricks. Not that anypony had thought about it before.”

“Yes!” Crimson wailed, driving her point further. “But in most of our texts, it’s stated how everything went to Tartarus by the time you disappeared.” Her unmasked suspicions were starting to wear on me. “Half of Equestria revered you while the other half wanted your head for being a traitor. I…” Her ears sagged alongside her drive. “I don’t know what to make of you. And that pisses me off because it’s supposed to be my job if I want to keep everythestral safe!”

“...”

“Say something!” She demanded with a stomp.

Oh, I had a couple of things to say.

“I don’t care what you think of me,” I answered coldly, not lessening my stride as we left behind the last house-bearing trees to reach the end of the village. “I don’t care whether you see me as a friend or a foe. That’s your Matriarch’s call, not yours.” I cast a side-look downwards to the stunned thestral, hurt sparkling in her slitted eyes. Unfeeling of her shock, I pursed my lips and returned my attention forward. “Most likely, we won’t see each other again after I leave, so any image you build around me is pointless. I cannot change what I’ve done, good or bad. You won’t find me losing sleep about it, either.” A humongous lie, my first month’s sleep record as proof. “Once I come clean with your ‘Mother,’ I’ll leave you bats be and continue fixing my mess-up as far as my abilities can carry me. If that isn’t enough for you, then you can go and chip a fang for all I care.”

The fact that I’d used one of their slang terms only sunk the Captain further. Ears drooping alongside her spirits, Crimson uttered no further commentary and simply fell back to her silent role as escort.

I don’t care how cold and insensitive I’d come across to her, I was truly mad at her, and way past getting the blame and having all hooves pointed at me. Nor did I have time to feel sorry and apologize to a bunch of bat ponies who knew little to nothing about the things they were talking about.

Better for them to forget I ever came around and to mind their own business until the ponies grew a spine and ventured once again beyond the three settlements to tie up those loose knots. Or not, I couldn't tell anymore.

The mystic, yet homey ambience provided by the thestrals’ tree-settlement slowly gave way to the tranquility of the tamed woods surrounding the town, our eyes quickly adjusting to the encompassing dimming as we left the light from the houses and businesses behind us. Soon after, when the atmosphere threatened to darken as much as the deepest parts of the forest, a faint glow welcomed us, as milky and pale as the moon, just peeking over the arrangement of overgrown bushes which came to a swift end where the borders of the garden began.

The Keeper, caring little to nothing about our scuffle, stopped shy of the garden’s entrance, marked by a plant-grown arch sporting the most beautiful Moonflowers I’d ever seen; they were big and healthy, painting my sight with their milky petals and bluish cores. Beyond the entrance, a figure sat placidly on her haunches in the midst of the phantasmagorical light provided by a thousand-and-one flowers and plants of many kinds, holding what I recognized as my twinblades in her lap, running a careful hoof over the body of the lunar blade.

Crimson remained in the rear, gaze still down while stewing in my harsh dismissiveness of any form of future olive branch her conflicted mind had hoped to offer me. The Keeper turned to me and, with as much business and little spirit as was their custom, proceeded to give me a brief I was already familiar with.

I raised a hand to cut her off rudely. “I shall address the ‘Mother’ with utmost respect. I shall speak only when spoken to, and my words shall remain honest and truthful. I shall take her wisdom and call it my own, for her will is the Moon’s light that protects us from the shadows.” I recited from memory, although I wasn't sure anymore about that last part considering their surprising change of heart.

Needless to say, the Keeper was far from amused, a piercing frown breaking her usually blank front to glare daggers at me.

“Your arrogance will only take you so far.” She spat at me, making sure to showcase her fangs in the gleam of the garden awaiting behind us.

“Tell me about it.” I flipped her the finger and proceeded under the arch, leaving both a pissed thestral and a disappointed one behind to meet with the Matriarch. A few luminescent bugs welcomed my entrance into the garden with a startled dance as they fluttered away, becoming pinpricks as the gloom beyond the gardens swallowed their twinkle away.

Unperturbed by my calm approach, the Matriarch continued with her careful admiration of my weapon, brushing her delicate frog over the never-dulling edge with practiced care.

With a parting hum, she ceased her examination to fix her crimson eyes on me. “A masterfully crafted blade.” The Matriarch congratulated me as I was finishing my approach. “The product of an alicorn’s touch and wisdom. Or perhaps two, if my old eyes don’t deceive me.”

In the new phantasmagorical light from the bed of flowers and glowing mushrooms, I could better discern the traits of thestral mare awaiting me. She wasn’t that old… or at least, not as old as her last comment would hint at. Certainly old enough to wear the first few rebellious wrinkles under her slitted eyes and a few loose gray hairs in her mane, but she was far from getting the jitters in her knees or a weak bladder.

Whilst their attire was accustomed to be more refined and exuberant than their Keeper servants, the Matriarch had opted for a lighter choice of wardrobe for our impromptu meeting. It consisted of an easy moon-dress of a milky gray with numerous silver highlights that rivuleted down her frame. Similar jewelry hugged her fuzzy ears and lined her forehead in a gorgeous tiara, reining in her mane with a waterfall braid behind her. Her wings’ rims were adorned by a silver-silked piece that hugged her bony appendages tight, from which small chains jingled with the moon’s tears hanging from their ends.

It was a ceremonial dress, or at least part of one. As ceremonial as her title, for all who are to become Matriarch must leave everything behind, including their names, to become the guiding light of the thestral enclave they were to watch over. A heavily-charged custom for a historically-troubled race, yet it had kept them alive and thriving for as long as equinekind had inhabited this world.

“Mother.” I bent a fist over my chest and offered a respectful bow, following tradition and temporarily parking my arrogance aside, for leaders are supposed to respect each other, especially in difficult times. Enough trouble awaited us both to start bringing it to each other’s doorsteps.

“I recognize this blade.” The Matriarch continued after softly dipping her head in acknowledgment, extending a wing to offer me a seat beside her.

I took her invitation and carefully lowered my rear, taking care not to squash any of the breathtaking Moonshine Dewdrops surrounding us in our exchange, proving a soothing illumination that, any other day, would put any troubled mind at ease, such was the purpose of the garden, amongst other things. The scent of aromatic flora was empowering, easing my nerves and clearing my mind. A much-welcomed reprieve from the heavy toll I’d been carrying since before leaving home.

“It was a well-known blade in my time.” I slipped, tentatively testing the waters. I shouldn’t have been surprised how at least some evidence had endured regarding it, especially considering the thestrals' well-known thirst for recorded knowledge.

“Your time…” She hung the last note in the air, her searching eyes returning once again to the moon-themed guard, a twinge of worn-out conflict shimmering in her blood-red pearls. “A time of friendship and many promises, but only a few of them coming to fruition.”

I steeled my nerves and waited in silence. I had to remain cool and collected. Better to let her take the lead for now and follow carefully, not wishing to anger her or offend her.

A few moments of silence separated us before she continued, brushing the lunar-blade’s fuller once again with equal parts of admiration and pain. “Seven centuries is a long time to remain hidden, although your gift would allow you to do so unchallenged, Prince of Equestria.”

Oh, that mare knew very well who she was talking to, that I quickly realized.

She continued in her gentle, melodic tone. “Up to this day, my children continue to enjoy the gifts you bestowed upon us, just as our forefathers have done in our long hiding. And for that, we have an unpayable debt to you.” Dipping her head in deference, Binary came to balance on her stretched forehooves, being offered back to me in what I hoped was a sign of trust and respect.

Adhering to protocol, I repeated the gesture in kind. “I did what anypony else would've done.”

A gentle laugh, fresh as the breeze that ruffled the leaves above us.

“Oh, but that's just the thing, isn't it?” The Matriarch chirped with a juvenile twinkle over the fetlock politely covering her muzzle. “Almost nopony tried. They barely cared at all. It's always easier to push your problems under the roots of your home and look somewhere else.” With a tint of merriment, the thestral mare nudged my knee with her adorned hoof. “That's what you brought with you, Empyrean. Change. Perspective. A philosophy Equestria had never adhered to before... It was not ready for it.” She lamented with a deflated shake of her head, bringing down the momentary rise in the mood.

“Perhaps…” I processed her words for a moment. “But Equestria’s problems ran deeper than me, hidden under its paradisiac façade, poisoning it way before my arrival. I fear my intervention only accelerated things and brought a worse outcome.”

A calm silence befell us. The Matriarch took a second to scrutinize me. Her years told her that something was eating at me, and waited patiently as I searched for the words.

My thumb came to brush against the moon-themed guard, treating it with as much care as the thestral had. A sigil which should've decorated every armor set, every public building, every house even, of this enclave, such was its importance for thestralkind.

“Why?” I couldn't think of a better way than spitting it out plainly, but the wise thestral needed a little more to catch up with my inquiry.

“Not by my hoof, it wasn't” Her eyes shone with visions of the past. “My ancestors didn't take the Mistress' departure kindly. That, summed up to ponykind's renewed hate and distrust for everycreature that didn't share their ‘harmony’, our separation from Equestria became absolute.”

I had a hard time believing it. “Luna would’ve never abandoned you. You were virtually her children. She cared for you as much as she cared for her ponies.”

With a long sigh, the Matriarch dipped her head, clawing, but coming without a clear answer to give me. “Our texts tell us of raising urgency and a danger to the far west. That's where the Goddesses of the Sun and Moon went, trusting in the judgment of the Princess of Friendship to completely oversee Equestria after your… departure.”

Of all the things that she could’ve told me…

That was some very concerning news, yet ages had blurred its significance as well as its apparent urgency. I mean, we were all there, very much alive and breathing. However, Luna's ‘abandonment’ of thestralkind meant that wherever she and her sister had gone, they hadn’t returned, or at least didn't do so before the fall.

So many unanswered questions plagued me still, piling one atop another until they'd buried me. I remembered then. Their armor sets were missing from the royals-only wing of the Armory, meaning wherever they had gone, they were expecting some noise.

Had they resolved whatever drew them away from Equestria? If not, would it return to bite us in the ass now? During such a delicate time? Was that the threat Harmony had warned me about, the one preserved in Twilight's own broken message?

Was that my task? To face something that had bested the alicorn sisters of Equestria? Was that the actual reason behind Sunny’s alicorn powers?

As if hearing my stormy thoughts, the Matriarch resumed. “We know nothing else beyond the personal thoughts of our previous ‘Mothers’. Betrayal carved a heavy wound on us all, ponykind's rebellion only worsening the breach. We cut all our ties with Equestria. We embraced our way of living and severed all connections with the outer world.” A thankful yet pained gaze brought my full attention away from my flurry of questions and back to the modestly-aged mare. “Thanks to your gift, we were able to embrace our independence. We have waited in silence since then, becoming one with the forest. That's all my children care for now.”

I peered at my own reflection carved in the lunar blade, shining dimly under the glow from the flora surrounding us. This was the thestral’s way of life now. It hurt me, for I had seen potential in their kind as well as the rest of the nightborn. My knowledge would've filled in the ditches that hundreds of years of mistrust and barely-tolerated co-existence had dug in between their respective tribes.

Now, my attempts had won them centuries worth of silence and isolation, limiting their progress and evolution as far as their protective forest allowed them to.

My acts had indeed reached beyond the ponies that once trusted me, and had dragged them all down with them.

“... I understand.”

I barely recognized the face looking back at me from the reflection. My time at Maretime Bay had been some of the best times of my life, yet nothing, nothing could mask the damage I had caused.

“I only wish to fix what I broke,” I swore in a whisper, honesty lining my every word.

“And I trust you, Empyrean of Ponykind.” The Matriarch nodded in acceptance and smiled knowingly at my frowning self. “That is why you're out here, alone, away from your new family, is it not?” The thestral’s eyes lidded playfully, calling my goal in these dangerous lands like a seasoned ruler could only understand.

I saw no reason to hide my intentions from her, especially after being called out so easily. “An old foe who I thought I’d defeated for good,” I explained in short, not bothering to mess with details nor hide my rage for the Changeling Queen and all the pain and trouble she and her kind had brought to our doorsteps, until the changelings' reformation and her ultimate defeat. “It's high time we settled our differences. There is no way I'm letting that monster get anywhere close to my family.” Although, I was ashamed to admit that nothing had prevented her from doing so. She had sent me a text message of all things! Meaning she’d managed to acquire a phone from somewhere, meaning she’d already infiltrated at least one of the three settlements, or all of them for all I knew!

“And your pony family is to be spared of the outcome of this… differences settlement?” The thestral mare wondered with a dip of her head, although I could tell she already knew the answer.

I took a deep breath and tried to go around the nature of my foe, although I had little hope of fooling this seasoned pony, even if it was to avoid unnecessary alarm.

“The… particularities of this foe would've made my family’s presence both a dangerous risk and an exploitable liability to force my hand, so…”

“Ah.” The Matriarch nodded in understanding. “A changeling then, of the old type before their change of heart and allegiance.”

I sighed deeply, feeling an embarrassed grin paint my mouth “Why do I even bother to go in circles around you?” I asked rhetorically with a hearty chuckle.

The Matriarch offered another in kind. “It is my job to know, if I'm to prevent the errors of the past to haunt us and keep my children safe, after all.” She reached again to place a reassuring hoof on my knee. “It is not my intention to hinder your mission in any way. I only ask that you don't bring the darkness you chase back to us. I'll instruct my children to help you with anything you might need as well as provide and replenish anything you might need for yuor journey ahead. But, our relations with Equestria and whoever might inhabit its empty lands now ended long ago, and I intend to keep them that way… at least, for the time being.”

Her wing stretched from under her moon dress, coming to brush against the fluorescent flora around us with a mother's own love and care. “My children and I felt the return of magic, and the news you bring about the return of harmony and friendship amongst our cousins fills my heart with joy…”

“... But?” I quirked an eyebrow.

Another soulful sigh left her nostrils, her tongue coming to lick her fangs before laying it down. “But the wounds run long and deep in our tribe. My children are happy with our hidden coven and shy, if not fear, of any possible interaction with those who in the past denied us, and even hunted us like freaks of nature. They feel coming out into the open would only rekindle the spark of hate and conflict between our tribes.” Her scarlet orbs hardened with determination. “It is my goal to break them out of their shell, or at least lay the first stones for our inevitable reunification with the lands and people of beyond. But it will be a slow and troublesome process.”

I could only smile in sympathy, for her goal and mine were two of a kind. “As slow and troublesome as my end of things, no doubt.” I dipped my head in appreciation. “I thank you for your help, both in this current venue and those the future has in store for us.”

Feeling our exchange coming to an end, the Matriarch offered her blessings in the traditional way. Holstering herself up from her resting pose fully onto her haunches, the mare beckoned me forward. Keeping my head low in respectful deference, I rested Binary at my side and inched my way closer. The Matriarch bit on her lower lip with a sharp fang; age had not dulled them in the slightest, for they're perhaps the best representation of a thestral's sense of pride. A small rivulet of crimson, life-giving fluid dripped down her chin, leaving an imprint on my forehead where the Matriarch pressed her lips in a gesture of trust and goodwill. Blood had always held special significance in their culture, and even now while their thirst had been sated by my hand, they still held onto their deepest traditions… moon worshiping aside, of course.

I returned the gesture, wincing when my own, sadly underdeveloped fang in comparison breached my lower lip. With our tenets of friendship and goodwill exchanged, our meeting was at an end. A satisfactory result on both parts and a promise of future cooperation when crazy times had turned mellower.

“May Luna's light guide your way.” The Matriarch bowed respectfully one last time.

“May the cover of the night shelter you, and lead astray those who'd hurt the nightborn.”

With our farewells exchanged, I stood up on my feet, using Binary as support since my legs had gone to jelly after being seated cross-legged for a while. With a vigorous shake, I followed the Matriarch’s gaze as she also stood up. Looking past me, she addressed the Keeper who, alongside Crimson, remained waiting patiently for this meeting between rulers to end.

“Miantra.” The seasoned mare called for the Keeper, who lost her statuesque demeanor to bow in acknowledgment, taking a few steps into the Moon Garden. “Accompany our esteemed guest back into the village and tend to his every need.” Her eyes fixed on me one last time, a placid smile grazing her fanged lips. “He has a long journey ahead of him.”

“Mother.” With a parting reverence, the Keeper beckoned me to follow her. I stepped in line with the mare who, after acknowledging her leader, was already trotting to the garden’s entrance.

Sending my eyes back one last time, I too bent my torso in a parting bow.

“Matriarch.”

“Empyrean.” She answered back curtly, her attention quickly returning to the flowers surrounding them, her soothing voice cooing at her marvelous garden as she tended to it like a mother hen to her chicks.

The Keeper’s steady gaze denoted her urgency for us to return to the village so they could tend to my needs before I departed back into the wild. There was one clingy issue preventing me from simply stepping in line with her. A mopey-looking thestral, ears drooped and sight cast dejectedly downwards, waiting on her haunches for me to continue so she could take the rear behind us.

I mentally debated myself as to how to approach her, the urgency of my mission tugging at me to ignore her and hurry up. I had told her all I needed to say to her.

…

No, I had been an ass-hat.

‘Ugh, curse these ponies, giving me a bleeding-heart…’

Sticking Binary into her mossy dirt, I knelt in front of the pouting mare, my approach bringing her out of her gloomy stupor to peer quizzically at me.

“W-What?” She stuttered momentarily, hurt present in her voice. “Is his Royal Majesty finally done with his meeting? Huh? Is his Lustrous Magnificence ready to bolt out without batting an eye? Oh, I just know he’d be itching to get away from us freaks of nature. Does he need me to escort his royal flank to the border before double-buckin' it hard?!”

“I’m mad at you.”

My short revelation was a cold punch in her gut, cutting her hurtful ranting short to gaze at me with incredulous eyes.

Her muzzle opened and closed like a fish several times before she could formulate the words. And some words she had to give.

“You?!” She half-asked-half-snapped. “You are mad at me?!!”

“Yes,” I responded in brief, burning the mare’s fuse down to dangerous levels.

Her left eye began twitching dangerously. “I am mad at you!!” She jabbed a hoof in my chest, wings flaring out in anger, fur standing on end like a pissed-off cat.

“You have a son, Crimson.” I ignored her heated demand and proceeded to lay out the reason for my animosity towards the Captain. “And a very charming one too, congrats on that.”

“W-Wha-?”

“What you and your team did at the forest when facing me was foalish, reckless, and unbecoming of an armored force such as the guard.”

As her fish-muzzled puzzlement wouldn’t diminish, erasing all traces of rage towards me, I voiced my thoughts, coming clean with the mare.

“I understand that you guys are used to dealing with mindless beasts running too close to your borders and that I happened to be the first non-thestral being to talk back to you in a long while.” I began, bending my knees to sit cross-legged in front of the stunned bat pony. “And I promise you I’m usually not that big of a flank-mouthed prick when meeting new ponies, weapons pointed at me or otherwise.”

I returned the jab to her fuzzy chest, lidding my eyes as I scolded her like Shining would've scolded one of the guards under his command.

“But, I was having a very rough day, and you should’ve known better than to fall for my bullshit and become so riled up with this accursed blade.” I waved a hand towards Binary, her eyes following it for a brief moment before shakily returning to me. “And, you shouldn’t have allowed those under your command to grow cocky and treat our scuffle as a walk in the park. I may look lanky and defenseless, but by Faust, I swear to you I was moments away from slicing you all to pieces.” My imposing gaze hardened to a glare. “If I hadn't done this long enough to keep myself in check, I promise that you wouldn't have walked out of there alive. And I don’t happen to see a father around, am I wrong?”

“... Motherbucker.” Crimose swore in a whisper under my raised eyebrow.

“Thought as much.” I rose back on my feet and dusted the clingy dust and dirt off my butt.

Her ears drooped and her posture sagged. I had changed one, positively mad Crimson into a mopey one. That wasn't a desirable outcome either.

Sighing loudly, I recalled Binary to my hand. “Look.” I addressed the mare once again, ignoring the Keeper silently eye-rolling at my continued stalling. “I’m just asking for you to act like the Captain you claim to be, and take your son’s well-being into consideration when you go out there. I know you do it for him, but coming back in pieces doesn't do him any favors either.”

I scratched my growing beard, something I’d hoped to take care of quickly back at the infirmary before departing, I mulled whether to tread over the second thing or leave it be. A second of reflection later, I reasoned it was better to let it all out.

“And, regarding the ‘I care little whether we meet again or not’...” I continued, earning the smallest twitch of her fuzzy ears, letting me know she was listening under her crumbling façade. “Look, My pony family aside, I don’t really have that many friends. True friends. I don’t believe myself deserving of them, just as I believe, deep down, that I’m not deserving of your help, much less your friendship.”

The thestral’s head dipped aside slightly, breaking out of her shell momentarily to peer at me with curiosity, a sniff betraying the few tears she had actually shed during my scolding.

“You don’t?”

“No, Crimson. I truly don’t.” It was my time to cast my sight somewhere else, unable to meet her crimson eyes any longer. “Look, let's just head back so I can grab my things so I can say goodbye to the little fella. I gotta survive the first trip. Then we can talk about stretching hooves, okay?” I attempted to get out of our exchange before my tongue got the better of me. There were more urgent things to take care of than a heart-to-heart.

I was gonna survive the trip, though. Wasn't that the point of turning me into what I was?

Perhaps not the outcome she’d wished for, but Crimson would take what she could salvage from our talk, knowing well there was truth behind my words. Wiping her eyes clean from the last traitorous tears, she grunted in affirmation and stepped behind me, professionalism hardening her features once again.

I didn't like coming off as an unfriendly jerk-face like that, but something told me it was better that way. I felt I had an unpayable debt to them, just as they claimed to have with me. A cowardly corner of my mind reasoned it was better to not tighten any knots with them and to keep going forward. Less of a headache now and heartache later. Where were all the lessons I’d learned with the girls back during our adventures? Where was all the friendship and trust-building between ponies the gang had drilled into my mind after years of living among them?

Would Twilight be proud of me?

‘She’s dead, Alexander.” I had to slap myself with a cold dose of reality as I followed the Keeper back toward the village.

‘Her lessons are not mine to teach nor are they mine to follow anymore.’

If I had to use a word to describe the mood around the fortress, it would be tense.

Not because I’d screwed something up, no. Well, at least not in a while. With Opaline’s imposed home arrest after my last failure, there’d been little chance for me to mess things up. Funnily enough, she’d told me to bring her that dragon or not bother coming back. Now, after my hasty retreat from that saloon, I wasn't allowed to head out anymore at all.

Not for a while at least. Best to lay low for a time and let those brainwashed, harmony-loving fools forget about little ol’ me before heading back and snatching that baby drake for her from under the sheriff’s snout.

I was still planning how to do that without getting that accursed pegasus on my tail the moment I stepped a hoof back into Maretime Bay. She’d been this close to sniffing me out; if it hadn't been for Alex’s last-minute intervention, I would’ve been rumbled! I should buy him a smoothie for that the next time I see him, assuming Opaline had forgotten about the rule of not getting close to him.

While I racked my brains trying to come up with a way to ‘acquire’ that dragon for Opaline, and make her proud of me while I was at it, she had me doing menial jobs around the fortress, helping her with her… experiments, I guess? I’m not sure how to label them, only that it entailed a back-crunching number of books to be carried from the library to her study (on the top floor of the HIGHEST tower in ALL the fortress), and some weird-smelling ingredients she liked to mix into that magic pool of hers.

If only I had magic…

Oh, and laughing too. Lots of evil laughing. It was fun to join her every once in a while, but it grew tiresome while trying to nap… not that she’d let me nap.

Autumn had arrived, and our home wasn't exactly as furnished as the brighthouse. Our centuries-old furniture kept itself together, much less for having that wonderful invention ponies called ‘central heating’. Opaline had little magic to spare, and it took her a lot of time to gather it, either naturally or through some… well, unorthodox methods, to waste it in heating this place. She’s a fire alicorn. It's not like she was gonna feel the cold that had begun to creep down our walls and freeze the plants surrounding our fortress in the mornings.

Me, on the other hoof…

“O-O-Opaline?” I called through quivering teeth, my body trembling from the tip of my snout to the end of my tail, trying in vain to summon some semblance of heat which quickly drained down into my hooves, all four of which were making contact with the bone-chilling floor. Bothersome pegasus detective or not, I was itching to return to Maretime Bay, even if only to buy one of those… what had Izzy called them? Flippers? Sloppers? Whatever, they looked warm and fuzzy, something I was in urgent need of.

“Come in.” came her muffled response from beyond the door to her study. She had spent most of her time there, bored from spying on the ponies of the Bay and the human. She had grown impatient with me and, whilst still insisting on using the dragon as a catalyst to jumpstart her alicorn magic, she’d buried herself in the scarcely-preserved books of our library in search of other options, with me as her unpaid assistant of course.

Can you believe it? Ponies get paid for doing stuff in Maretime Bay. I even got a few bits from a nice mare after I helped her move some boxes down the harbor.

Using a quivering hoof, to nudge the door open, I took a peek inside, finding the alicorn right where I’d left her. Lying comfortably over an overly-fluffy carpet right beside the arch-like window that faced the steep cliff upon where the fortress was located, Opaline scanned over yet another tome, a growing pile of discarded choices resting nearby. She was using her hoof to pass the pages, not chancing it by wasting but a sliver of magic since she had so much trouble regaining it. Her eyes were drunk in the contents hidden within the pages, not even acknowledging my presence as I trotted to her side.

“I-I found t-the book you r-r-requested, Opaline.”

My trembling message earned a flick of her ears, followed by an uninterested hum as she flicked to the next page, taking a moment to jot something down on a long piece of parchment. She must’ve found something interesting and added it to a boring list of… well, words and strange symbols, I guess. I couldn't make heads nor tails of its contents, only that it had taken a back-wrenching amount of research to fill around half of it.

Seeing how I wasn't gonna make any sense of it by my brief peeking, I grabbed the tome from my back and dropped it by her side, nosing it closer for her to notice.

Still, no reaction from Opaline, leaving me to wait still like the statues of the lower corridors, although statutes usually don’t tremble like a limp noodle from the freezing temperatures that befell our home. They grew ice-stalactites under their snouts sometimes during the dead of winter. I wondered if I was gonna get any too.

The tapping of my quivering hooves against the stony floor combined with the chattering of my teeth poorly concealed behind my lips drained Opaline’s patience quickly, ripping her from her silent self-lecture with a pursed lip which ten out of ten times meant she was being annoyed by something, most of the time me, and would get rid of the thing bothering her with some well-placed yelling, or simply punting me out of the room if she wasn't in the mood for words.

Her deep-ocean eyes fixed on me, earning a tiny whimper as I averted my sight. I awaited the second before she yelled at me to fetch something else for her or get lost for a few hours. Instead, my ears caught a deep sigh, bringing me out of the ball I’d shrunk into to find her gaze fixed back onto the tome, but with her right wing, the one facing me, stretched open in what I could only guess was an invitation.

The gears in my head shattered and my train of thought derailed, for such an alien gesture was missing from my extensive catalog of verbal abuses and degrading comments.

“Uh…”

“Do you need it on parchment?” Opaline sneered lightly, a side look telling me she wasn’t gonna hold the invitation if I remained rooted in place.

Scrambling over my hooves, I crossed the distance between us and loafed myself at her side, feeling her huge wing drape itself around me like a feathery blanket which… was exactly what it was. I guess. It was a new one for me.

A new one, but far from unwelcome. The striking difference was like day and night. Her coat was warm against mine, the feathers acting as an insulating barrier over me while the fluffy texture of the carpet kept the worst of the chilling floor away. I understood then why this was her favorite spot, alongside her throne and her private jacuzzi…

Yeah, she had one in her room. She let me try it once for my birthday a couple of years ago. The best day of my life!

Not knowing for the life of me what to do under her warm embrace, whether to thank her or remain as still as stone, I opted for the latter and snuggled deeper into her, careful not to overstep myself and make her become uncomfortable.

Opaline showed no signs of displeasure. Her calm breathing and the warmth that only a fire alicorn such as herself could boast about quickly chipped at my barriers, seeking to lull me into sleep. I assumed by her invitation she had no further tasks for me, at least for the time being. The fluffiness of the carpet was calling to me with its sweet melody. I fell into its trap, letting my chin bury itself into the silky fabric.

‘Mmmmm… I gotta convince Opaline to get me one for my room…’

“I understand that it’s hard, Misty.”

Just as I was balancing on the edge of slumber, the sound of Opaline’s voice kickstarted my slurry brain into gear, giving the alicorn my full attention.

Her sight had drifted to the side, where a group of darkened vines grew over and into the walls of her study, born from the tree that took up half the space of the throne room, one which had also won her attention lately, although the exact reason for it she’d kept to herself, just like she had with the origins of said tree.

“Trying your hardest, feeling that your plans are foalproof, tasting victory on the tip of your tongue.” Her gaze hardened, making me flinch. “Yet feel as if you had the goddess’ stinky eye looming over you every, single, time.”

Oh, if she only knew…

“Yours is the plight of every single creature that sought to antagonize her.” Her wing twitched over me, drawing me closer to her side. “I tried to cheat the odds and beat Her at her own game.” Her sight returned to me, burning with animosity. “But I failed.”

Although I felt it wasn't directed towards me for once, my body automatically curled itself into a ball, trying to hide as much of myself as I could under her wing.

“And now, we’re on the wrong side of the chessboard.” Her anger dissipated as quickly as it had landed, her tranquil demeanor, an oddity for Opaline as far as my experience went, saw her return to her books, this time picking the one I’d brought her, while the last of her strange musings ran their course.

“Um…” I fumbled with my hooves, the meaning of her cryptic words eluding me. She had mentioned a ‘she’. I could only draw out a name belonging to a mare who Opaline hated more than a wet mane. “Are you referring to what happened with Twilight Sparkle?”

I was walking over shattered glass with that inquiry, for nothing angered her more than a reminder of her defeat against the Princess of Equestria. This time, however, her fury manifested itself with a simple flick of her hoof to turn the page. This newfound calm demeanor was unnerving me. It felt wrong coming from her.

“No.” She answered in short, her sight coming with another figment of information she dimmed interesting, a twinkle in her eyes revealing it was a juicy one. “Twilight Sparkle is but a puppet, a mere consequence. Her game was short but infuriatingly effective.”

I was under the spotlight again, gulping loudly when Opaline finished her scribbling to fully address me, unfurling her wing so she could completely peer at me. “We play a longer game. We are smarter, we are patient.” An evil smile stitched her lips. “But, we can only wait so long, my dear.”

“I-I g-guess?” I stuttered pathetically.

I swallowed down a sigh of relief once her attention was drawn somewhere else.

“That we do. And that’s why, once we’re done here, you’ll be resuming your incursions into Maretime Bay.”

“I-I am?” I squeaked out, torn between relief for finally being able to leave the fortress and see more of the outside world of the ponies, and dread for said outside world rushing to meet me in the shape of that pain in the flank that was Miss Princess Deadeye Zipp, who no doubt would assault me with a barrage of question before and after convincing the Sheriff to put me behind bars.

“Mhm.” Opaline hummed in affirmation. “Keep the drake on your mind, but his capture won't be your first priority for the time being.”

“It won’t?” I dipped my head to the side in puzzlement. I had already debriefed her on everything I’d learned about the ponies and the town they lived in, and there was no way I was gonna snatch the Unity Crystals away without their guardians noticing.

Opaline answered me with a question of her own.

“Remember how I told you to stay well away from the human?”

“Uh-huh…” I nodded jerkily, yet no further words were offered. The silence dragged on into a single outcome. “You want me to do the opposite?”

“It’s a risky move,” Opaline confirmed my assumption. “But, Alexander seems to trust you, from what you’ve told me.” She explained with a side smirk. “He has a weak spot for ponies like you, and more than once that has worked against him. This time won’t be any different.”

I was unsure whether to take it as a compliment or not, so I decided to park it for later.

“O-Okay.”

“Good…” She closed the book I’d brought her, something else requiring her attention for the moment. As she stood up and stretched her numb legs, I read again the title of the now discarded tome: Seven Theories on Bending Time. A peculiar title.

“... But not yet. I need you to do some research work for me while I continue with the preparations.”

“Of course!” I chirped as I too stood up, happy to be of help. “Anything you need!”

“Head back to the library and search for Star Blazer’s Almanac for All Artifacts Magic.” She instructed over her shoulder, already trotting on her way towards a packed desk full of trinkets and objects whose purpose eluded me as much as the words written on the piece of parchment floating beside her.

“What should I look for?” I asked, eager to start, making a mental note to stop by my room first to grab a blanket. It sure beat carrying things around like a pack mule.

“See if you can find any references to an artifact called the Dragonstone...”

Chapter 40- The Sinner. Part 2.

~Zees von’s a good Fang, I tell ‘ya!~

At the bulky, battle-scarred griffon’s claim, his wing comrades replied with a deafening cacophony of cheers and whistles of their own, celebrating as any griff worth their talons would be, by guzzling down a tankard or two of root beer in celebration of their newest catch; in other words, me, being the source of their merriment.

I, of course, didn't share in their enthusiasm, rubbing the ropes around my wrists that chafed uncomfortably against my skin.

They had caught me completely by surprise, to my eternal shame. Part of that surprise was the fact that finding griffons, a species which I wasn't expecting to find, much less be on the lookout for them, so far to the west where my journey was taking me day after excruciating day. They spoke Aërish, or as I have come to know it, your daily, throaty German, meaning they hailed from somewhere within North Essia, their proud birthplace and home to most of their kind. That much I could easily tell, both from the language and their medieval customs. My Aërish was a bit rusty, but I was able to catch most of it, more than enough to learn who I was dealing with.

No surprises here when I learned they were procurers of rare goods. You know, of the living, kicking kind of goods. You see, my personal story with griffons was far from a happy one, a dark contrast to my dealings with ponykind, for example. Had it not been for exemplary griffs like Gallus or Gabby, who strived to overcome the flaws of their kind’s way of thinking, you would've found me laughing and cheering in mad glee at the sight of Griffonstone burning down to its core, the petrified tree it was built upon crumbling under it and bringing it all down to Tartarus, such was the sheer volume of spite I held for them.

Too many chances had been given to their race by creatures far and wide over the centuries, ponykind included. But without an Empyrean to properly take the reins and drag them out of the gutter they’d dug themselves into, their race as a whole did nothing but disappoint time after time after time until degenerating into what I stumbled upon during my first visit, to the point where I was on the brink of excluding them from the Heptarchy after they had requested membership; well, more like pleaded for it, drawn by the juicy promises I offered. No different than the rest, yet their case was one of desperation, a race seemingly condemned to see only the financial value of such an alliance rather than the peace initiative it truly was; a parallel to a political situation on Earth that had been endlessly raging by the time I’d been snatched away from it.

This feisty band, however, who laughed and clinked mugs together, proved to me that little had changed for them after all these centuries, each and every one of them a slave to their own whims and desires. They’d gotten the jump on me just as I’d made the halfway point on my journey to the border of the Smokey Range, ten whole days into my journey, just shy of starting my crossing of the Continental Bridge heading for Mithyana, at which westernmost’s end laid the Changeling Hive. The second one, for that matter.

What had drawn a bunch of creature traffickers so far from home, and so deep into the mainland, eluded me. The closest settlement from where they’d made camp for the night was what was once known as Las Pegasus, for what my poor sense of direction could more or less hint at. I believed I’d caught a word or two about something big happening there a long time ago. I also thought I might’ve overheard something about a tomb near there or something? None of those two things struck any matches in my memory, but from what I’d learned and could see in their saggy, almost empty saddlebags, their efforts had bore no fruit. The flock was on their way southwest towards the coast to catch a ride across the South Luna Ocean, heading towards Farisia in order to ‘do business’, if you catch my drift. They’d see if what little trade they could make out of their ‘goods’ would pay for a trip back home to continue with their enterprise of trafficking, both the living and the not.

A small reprieve was that no word had been mentioned about Maretime Bay or any of the other two settlements while they’d dragged me off for the better part of a day before they’d made camp. That also came with a painful reminder of how, with Twilight’s alleged ‘cloaking spell’ no longer hiding the ponies, it wouldn't be long until somecreature noticed that they were back, and began nurturing a bursting intent to disturb them, before deciding to act upon it. Needless to say, I’d keep any harm from ever reaching the coast or treading in from the mainland. That, I could promise you on my life, but I had to be there in the first place to hold that promise.

My ‘capture’, with emphasis on the quotes, had been a product of my lack of proper attention to my surroundings. The thestrals had been generous in their help, restocking my meager inventory with something more palatable and durable overall, as well as offering some helpful directions. One I dutifully acted upon was avoiding the, once famously known, Spring Dew riverlands, which now had become nothing but an endless bog of half-sunken land and thick, sticky fog. Great for clearing the sinuses, but not so much for crossing over.

The culprit? The mother of all storm fronts guarding access to the north of Equestria in all its rainy, thunderous glory. I did say it: you can only stack so many clouds together before calling in some nasty weather. A shame, Cloudsdale had been a marvel of a city to witness in its time.

That had driven me to tread around the Smokey Mountains through the south instead of taking the road north, and eventually coming to meet my new friends, who had me surrounded and bound tight like a sack of potatoes before I’d broken from my daydreaming. I’d been doing that a lot lately. A byproduct of my loneliness, I guessed.

It was depressing to see Equestria in such a state. Time had erased almost all traces of ponies ever inhabiting this place, with little remaining beyond more prominent, sturdy structures located in major population centers, from whose half-buried-half-crumbled skeletons and a myriad of wildlife had made a home. Every desolate landscape, every hour spent in silence with nothing but my thoughts to keep me grounded in reality was like a cold punch to the heart. Discord's words thundered in my ears. Ponies had indeed fled Equestria. And those who perhaps hadn’t weren’t around anymore to prove it. The silence of nothing but untamed wilderness around me, which in any other time would've soothed a troubled soul, now haunted mine every single waking moment.

These ragamuffins had been the first intelligent contact I’d made since leaving the Wandering Woods behind. No race had stepped in to reclaim the now empty land, or if they had done so, it had ended in failure to establish anything big or permanent. Its own brand of magic aside, Equestria had nothing that couldn't be found on its sister continents. Perhaps the political troubles between races were too much of a risk. Perhaps there hadn't been a real need for it. Perhaps they believed these lands to be cursed. I simply didn't know the reason.

The griffons, however, had little trouble scrapping the land in search of anything of worth to trade with. If it breathed and glared at you, even better. No disrespect towards the Farisians, whom the griffons were hoping to trade with, but… let’s say some of the zebra tribes and hellsteed herds wouldn't say no to some ‘unpaid’ labor force if it knocked on their door.

And by unpaid labor, I mean slaves, my next stop if I wasn't careful enough. I wasn't too worried, though. These featherbrains had been smart enough to disarm me of my twinblade, but not my gauntlets. They thought they looked stupid on me and saw little value in the gems attached to them. I swallowed down the urge to make a verbal rebuttal and gave silent thanks to Faust. In truth, I was biding my time, taking the chance to milk some more information from them. I reasoned they ought to know a thing or two since they happened to travel so much.

~An easy von, too!~ Another griffon, this one younger with a dusty, dirty-copper coat and rusty golden feathers, added after swallowing a beakful of beer. ~Didn’t up put zhat much ov a kämpfen.~

After some more nods of agreement, that same griffon took another swing to drain the rest of his tankard before feeling peckish and addressing me directly.

“Oy, meat!” He called to me in broken Equish, earning a few guffaws from his mates as they tuned in into another session of ‘humiliate the prisoner’, an old favorite for these birds. “I hav eine Frage vor you.”

I barely made the effort to work with his heavily accented Equish, instead keeping my sights on the dancing shapes of the cackling flames from the bonfire around which the band had congregated for warmth and dinner.

Unhappy with my lack of cooperation, the griffon chirped at the nearest griffon from my seated position, who promptly struck me on the back of my head with the butt of a spear he’d been keeping close to my neck, just in case I was the feisty kind of prisoner.

They’d find out soon enough.

Hissing in pain, and unable to properly nurse the throbbing ache with my hands bound, I shot my deadliest scowl towards the smirking griffon. He took my prolonged silence as an invitation to taunt me further.

“Ja, you hat eyes of Tagträumer vhen vee covghten you. Not making gut job ov payink attention. Easy prey,” He cackled some more, proud of the day’s catch, even if I hadn't really put up that much of a fight in my in-between-worlds state.

“Vhat hat gotten you so vlost in Tagtraum, meat? Eyes ov hope, ja? Mate, perhaps?” The griffon made a blind guess, hitting the proverbial jackpot when a glimmer of longing crossed my eyes, prompting him to lick his beak in the dirtiest, most disgusting show of perverseness I had ever had the disgrace of witnessing. “Yeeees, could üsen eine Frau ov your kind, vfreak. Vun to break.”

‘Oh, my Frau wouldn't even leave your bones behind after she was done chewing you,’ I thought to myself, hiding a smirk of pride under my constant scowl.

~Vhat type ov crveature ist he, eigentlich? I haven't seenen anythink like hëim~ Another griffon, with a dark-green coat and muddy brown feathers, missing his left eye with a nasty scar running across it, asked the group.

~Me neither. Verhaps ve can sell him as Merkwürdigkeit.~ The griffon sitting across the previous one, with a dirty white coat and a sickly little amount of red feathers clinging to his sorry hide, proposed after tearing another chunk of meat from the unfortunate critter who’d become his dinner. ~Verhaps ze zebras payen higher. Zhey like new things to try zheir potions on.~

‘Yeah, how about no?’ I shuddered.

The first griffon, who I could only guess was the leader of this entourage, turned in his seat to face the smallest member of the group. And by ‘member’, I mean another fellow griffon, with the tiny difference between them being that this one had tightly bound claws and wings, in the same predicament as I was. The only spoil these traffickers had managed to acquire was something that could eventually bite them back, and from what I could make out, they’d been accompanying them for a while. The rest of their booty was little more than rusty gimmicks and a loose piece of treasure or two, no doubt scavenged hazardously from the ruins of old.

~Vhat do you sayen, Exkremente? Schould ve sell ze two ov you together? I don’t think our Kunden vould bat ein eye at your scrawny hide.~

While the lead griffon scratched his navy-blue neck feathers in a pensive manner, the younger griff cowered under his predatory gaze; a stone-hard piece of moldy bread, his only meal, lay forgotten at his foreclaws.

He couldn't have been older than Gallus when I first met him, and that scared, hopeless gleam in his blue eyes caused many memories of our first meeting to resurface. A phantom passed before my eyes when the bound griffon gulped loudly, yet offered no retort to the older bird's mocking, only shrinking further into himself. The trapped griffon was seated at the opposite end of the campfire, but the roaring flames painted enough shapes upon his frame to let me get a good picture of him. And I say him, for the length of his neck feathers and head crest, as well as the bulkier shape of his overall frame, not to mention the noticeable sheath half-exposed by his forced sitting arrangements.

His fur resembled that of a snow leopard, dots and all, with a matching tail closely tucked around his feline rear legs, which was being systematically and nervously squeezed between his bird-like foreclaws. His plumage was of a milky white around his chest fluff and head where it mixed with another layer of lighter gray feathers alongside his scalp and crest, topped with a few loose dots here and there inherited from his feline rear. His wings followed a similar pattern with easy grays and white hues under a noticeable layer of grime and filth marrying them and his beautiful coat in a sorry display of squalor.

A rare breed of griffon, I couldn't help but wonder. Around ninety percent of all griffons followed the dominating pattern of a lion’s rear with bird of prey upfront, most of them revolving around brownish, greenish, rusty, or similar tones for fur while their feathers always would present a wider range of colors. Traces of other feline species amongst griffonkind were rare, usually reserved for more isolated populations alongside the Outer Reaches of the once glorious Griffonian Empire, where the harsher conditions molded the path of evolution in search of alternatives.

This poor griff, who was moments away from getting a face full of claw if he didn't follow suit, had to be from somewhere up near the frozen reaches of North Essia, if what knowledge about their kind I had amassed was to be trusted. It made sense for him to have fallen victim to these traffickers. It’s not every day you’d see a griffon of his breed. No doubt he would make for a fine sum to some sick collector who was short of a fur-and-feathers rag for his bathroom or something. Although, listening to the griffons rant about their catches, I was unsure if they actually knew about the rarity of their prisoner, since they were treating him as little more than common crap.

~Hey!!~ The griffon honcho was one loose screw away from losing his patience. ~I’m talkink to you, you Federverschwendung!!~

“Lass ihn in Ruhe.”

Just as the lead griff was about to pounce into the trembling ball of feathers the poor cub had been reduced to, my neutral-sounding warning rooted his paws in place, making his feathery head jerkily turn toward me in a grimace of deep surprise. The rest of the crew followed closely behind, the griff holding the spear faltering in his grasp from the surprise.

I cast a bored look around. “Yes. I speak Aërish, don’t sweat it.”

As I nonchalantly cleaned the filth from my overgrown nails, I had to remember to file them down after I was done with these birdbrains; a cacophony of alarmed chirps and rattles filled the campsite.

~Zhis vreak can understand üs!! He’s been listenink all zhis time!~

~He knovs vhere Heimatbasis ist!! The Federlied clan vill learn ov us iv he escapen!!~

“SCHWEIGEN!!”

In the end, it hadn't been the griffon prisoner who had driven the lead bird past his limit, but the panicked squawking of his crew. Standing tall and flaring his wings in dominance, the lead griff demanded silence and respect. That guy had a short fuse. The twitching of his right eye was all too similar to another grumpy griffon I’d had the displeasure of making acquaintances with.

All to my advantage. It would make him easy to rile up if needed.

With heavy stomps of paws and claws, the lead griff strode around the campfire, careful to avoid the burning logs while glaring cold daggers at my nonchalant self, his crew whimpering and shrinking down as he passed beside them. You can see what the griffonian concept of leadership more or less consisted of.

He came to a stop in front of me, chest fluffed and feathers ruffled, his neck plumage close enough to tickle my nose had I bothered to raise my gaze from the dancing flames, now blocked by his looming frame, to meet the death glare his golden-yellow eyes were raining down upon me.

Passively meeting his bloodshot orbs, using my bound hands to scratch my beard lazily, I continued with my disinterested attitude.

“What?”

His predatory eyes narrowed further.

“You speak our language. How?” He demanded, in surprisingly perfect Equish.

I saw no reason to deny him. “We have an identical language back where I come from. I knew some of it already; the rest. I learned here.”

My brief explanation wasn't enough for the ragged-looking griffon, his every pore dripping with suspicion as he forced his way closer to me, enough for my poor nose to catch the stench of dead meat and many weeks' worth of poor hygiene on his beak.

“Faust above, you fucking stink,” I spoke without a filter, motioning my hands to cover my violated nostrils as I shied away from him.

My loud mouth earned me a collective gasp from the griffon entourage, quickly followed by a low, threatening growl from the head honcho. His claws dug into the moist ground below us in a poor demonstration of restraint. His beak parted to deliver me a first-row seat for peering at his needle-sharp teeth hidden under the bony structure.

The griffons were afraid. Not for my well-being, of course, Tartarus would freeze over before a griffon gave two shits about another creature who wasn't themselves. They were worried their boss was gonna tear me into sizable bits for him to munch on later. Damaged goods weren't gonna buy them their ticket back to the shattered peninsula of Ng’gamia, at the easternmost end of South Essia, where their Heimatbasis was located. A hot spot for criminals of their kind, and all kinds for that matter. It seemed that an age or two hadn't changed a thing about those sun-scorched lands.

His left claw trapped my neck in a sudden lunge, his sharp talons digging deep enough to paint red pin pricks on my tender flesh.

“M-Mein Fhürer?”

The boss griff snapped towards the sole female of their group, sending a death glace at her quivering form, and giving me precious seconds to finish loosening the straps binding my wrists, although I kept my hands in place so that the griffon about to tear my neck open wouldn't suspect a thing. I just needed to be patient.

~You avready hav your toy to play vith.~ He spat, losing interest in his underling immediately after and returning his attention back to me. ~I’m personally vreaking zhis Frischfleisch before headink vor Zebrabwe.~

‘Toy? What does he mean by t-’

Behind the looming predator, virtually salivating at the idea of breaking me into his plaything, I noticed the poor, shackled griffon curl against himself even further, taking special care to protect a particular area of his anatomy in his retreat.

‘... Oh.’

Yeah, these wastes of good stuffing weren't gonna fly away from this one.

The claws around my neck squeezed harder, now fully cutting through my skin and drawing blood. My full attention was again on the griffon currently choking me.

“Listen to me, meat,” He snarled, his tail trashing behind him with a dangerous lack of patience and self-control. “I have half a mind to cut off your tongue just to be sure.” His glare hardened, his tongue coming to lick his beak for a second before curling down back into a snarl. “But, our buyers don't like it when ve have too much fun with our cargo.”

“That's too bad.” I squeezed out, gagging from the pressure of his claws on my neck. A minute more and I'd surely pass out from a lack of oxygen upstairs.

“However,” The imposing griffon growled, his predatory beak coming too close to my delicate complexion for my liking. “This place isn't short of freaks to trade with, so don't doubt for a second I won't eat you alive if you ever mock me again!!”

“Duly noted,” I swallowed hard, giving in to his forceful demands.

Seemingly satisfied by having tamed his newest acquisition, the leader of the flock loosened his grasp on me, allowing life-giving air to flow once again into my lungs. Chest out and proud, his cocky saunter saw him back towards his previous place to finish his meal.

Not two steps away from me in his victory parade, though, I had one last thing to say.

“Just a teensy, tiny thing…” I croaked. My throat was sore, my now-unshackled palm climbing to rub against the bleeding skin. A flash from my gauntlet and the prickled wounds had closed up, leaving dry rivulets of blood sliding down beyond the rim of my soiled shirt.

With his tail twitching in annoyance, the lead griffon turned on his paws to make good on his promise to tear me a new one if I didn't shut my trap.

His eyes narrowed for a fraction of a second, fixed at the sight of my free hands, the glowing gems in their gauntlets alive with magical energy.

“Wie-”

With a telekinetic shove, I sent the predator straight off his paws and into the moribund fire, the flames roaring to life once again when they found fuel in the greasy fur and feathers of the unfortunate griffon.

His cries of agony were swallowed by the cacophony of feline and avian cries of surprise and horror, the whole flock rising up in a roar as their commander burned alive, flailing his limbs in a desperate attempt to find a hold on the charred logs which crumbled to ashes under the weight of his back.

Too stunned to react properly, I dispatched my self-appointed ‘guardian’ with a quick shove of Binary, once it had reached my hand after summoning it from the discarded equipment that was my stuff. Hitting him with the flat end of the blades, one over the stomach and the other at the top of his feathery head, the griffon fell on his beak like a sack of apples, his spear quickly clattering down at his side.

I quickly kicked it away for good measure and took in my surroundings, adrenaline flowing free and sharpening my senses. The remaining seven griffons scrambled in their places, reaching for their choice of weapon resting tucked behind the logs they’d cut and arranged as seating accommodations, only to find that my telekinesis had already launched them too far for them to immediately reach them.

Rising sharply to my feet, I made a point by walking into the middle of the campfire and planting a boot into the still-struggling head griff, sinking him further into the flames and preventing any other griffon from aiding him. With a flash, I summed my translucent armor to protect myself from the flames and glared a day's worth of mockery and inhumane treatment back into the flock of traffickers, whose feathers ruffled and muscles paralyzed in the presence of a demon.

I felt the lead griffin claw feebly at my legs, yet I completely ignored him. It wouldn't long until the fire fully claimed him. That motherfucker deserved it, and this band of assholes were gonna get it soon, too.

My eyes came to rest first on the shackled griff, his gorgeous, deep-blue eyes full of dread, as were his feathered peers’. I had no intention of harming him. He’d drawn the short straw in all of this, just like me, and his resemblance to an old friend tugged at my heartstrings. His bounds made it impossible for him to make a swift escape, and neither would they allow him to dodge the carnage that would ensue, or make a retaliatory attack to force my hand.

I took care of all that with a simple spell.

“Protego.”

I summoned a protective dome over his hunched form, trapping him inside where he'd be safe until I was done. His avian instincts screamed at him, rejecting the confinement I’d placed him in. He clawed at the shield as much as his bound limbs allowed him, but my magic was too strong for his feeble, malnourished attempts.

Now that I knew the young griff would be safe, I focused on the dead meat in front of me.

“So, here's the deal,” I called out to the mass of struck-eyed predators, pressing harder on the griffon under my feet, rejoicing in the snapping of bones and cracking of flames as they cooked him alive. One of the griffons gagged, his stomach unable to take any more of it. The rest stared at me, unblinking, as if death itself had come to greet them.

I cracked my neck and offered them their choices. “You can either try and fly away like a band of starved chickens so that I can hunt you down like the motherfucking animals you are...” I pointed the solar blade at them in a dare. I wasn't gonna let a single one get away and risk them finding the pony settlements to the east. It was their choice on how I’d make that happen.

Before me was the lowest scum the already-disappointing griffon kind had to offer. In another time, they'd be apprehended by the proper authorities and delivered the appropriate sentence for their crimes.

That night, I'd make my own justice.

“... Or you can fight me and die with a sliver of honor.”

The fastest way you'll get through a griffon was tugging at their honor; bits, or your preferred choice of currency, coming in at a close second. But since we all were short in that department, my taunt was enough to rile up some feathers, especially from the one who had in turn taunted me with the mention of my mare.

Puffing up like an angry parrot, the offended griffon rose to his paws, flaring his wings in preparation. The rest quickly followed suit, yet left space for the first griff to tackle what they surely still believed was easy prey.

They should have learned a thing or two from the thestrals.

With a mighty roar, the copper-furred griffon lunged at me, pumping his wings to soar over the charred remains of their boss, talons at the ready to make an origami figure with my remains. His lunge was telegraphed. In a heartbeat, he was upon me, but I was ready to counter. The lunar blade parried his foreclaws with a nasty hit, primal instincts recoiling them in pain against his chest, bringing him out of his gliding pounce for me to step aside over the charred remains of their boss. In his wobbly path, his belly became deliciously exposed. The solar blade didn't waste a second to claim the first blood of that night. Sinking the ivory blade deep into his guts, the griffon, so sure and mighty over his easy victory, barely squeezed out a final gurgle before becoming limp in the air.

Straining my muscles, I lifted the still-impaled bird above my shoulder for everygriff to see. These fuckers weren’t gonna play cat and mouse with me. If anything, I was the cat in this little romp, and I had little desire to play around with them.

Making sure to meet each and every one of their stares, I dropped the dead weight clinging to my blade once I felt I had presented my case. The dead griffon joined his comrades in a flurry of sparks and embers. Two down, six to go.

The sole female of the group made a knee-jerk choice. From the struggle of fight or flight, the latter ruled over and quickly put her wings into overdrive, the hen struggling to get as far from the fight as her feathery appendages and adrenaline-induced panic could carry her. I wasn't gonna pull back on my promise to put them all six feet under, though. Severing the link between the blades, I launched the solar blade in a straight path, and it homed in on the fleeing griffon.

It struck home, severing her left wing at the shoulder joint. The previously airworthy griffon cried out in mind-numbing pain, falling back into the ground right on the border of the reach of the campfire’s light. A sickening crack accentuated her fall. I hoped it was her neck so I could move on to the next one, but either way, she wasn't gonna make it far if I needed to finish her off with the sound of so many bones snapping like toothpicks.

My ranged attack left me with precious seconds without both blades to wield. I summoned the solar one back, but it’d take a few moments to reverse the inertia and come back to my hand. One-Eye and Sickly-Feathers saw their chance, a single blade unable to fend them both off.

With one going high, and the other one going low, the pair scurried alongside the border of the campfire which had served as momentary respite to enact the ol’ pincer movement on me. With a roar and a screech, the griffons flared their talons at me. Having to deal with both at the same time, it was time to be creative. Instead of parrying one or shoving the other with telekinesis, I sent a power wave straight at my feet, catapulting me up way higher than what my legs could ever carry me. As the two griffons collided in a mess of claws and feathers, I twirled my body in the air as I felt gravity at work, using the accumulated inertia to send the lunar blade into a straight path downward.

That night, I killed two birds with one stone, the shimmering blade cutting its way through One-Eye’s thick neck like butter and burying itself into Sickly-Feathers’ scalp with a sickening crunch.

As the lunar blade flew out of my left hand, I reached out with my right one to catch the solar blade in mid-air, dripping bloody tears down onto the ground as I plopped down into the twitching pair. As I reached the ground, I rejoined the two blades as my feet made contact with the soul, pushing down on my latest victims for good measure with my weight. Another sickening crack twisted my stomach as the lunar blade cut its way fully into the griffon’s head and dug itself into the ground. A few more death throes, and the two griffons went limp, a pool of blood growing under them, popping and sizzling as it evaporated against the infernal heat of the roaring campfire.

Three to go.

Taking a second to reclaim my blades from their tight grip on the unfortunate birds, and swallowing down the bile that threatened to climb up my throat, I went to search for the next griffon to meet the pointy end of my weapon.

It didn't take me long, since before I could fully reclaim my bearings I was body-slammed by one of the remaining members of the flock, flying us both into the muddy ground, sliding over it until I bumped hard against something. A loud chime revealed it to be the shield I had trapped the young griff inside, a startled squawk muffled by the translucent dome followed. The griffon that tackled me had the advantage and wasted no time in beginning to claw at me from atop, searching for a weak spot on my armor as his beak sought to tear my face off.

Without my weapon, I had to compromise. Crossing my arms over his neck and snapping beak, I kept the rabid griffon at bay, leaving my tender side exposed. His frantic attempts succeeded when a lapse in my concentration allowed one of his claws to pierce my armor, sinking right into the scar from my confrontation with the thestrals. Just my fucking luck.

“FUCK!!” I wailed in pain and rage, fuming when a victorious smirk momentarily ceased his attempts to sink his beak into me. His cockiness spared me a momentary oasis to muster the necessary concentration to cast a telekinetic shove straight into his chest, separating us both explosively and earning him a few broken ribs for good measure.

As the copper-furred griffon panted and wheezed, fighting to suck in air into what might even be a punctured lung, I cast a quick healing spell to at least stop the bleeding. If that fucker had punctured a kidney or something, I was beyond screwed, for such a grave wound couldn’t be treated in the middle of the wilderness with mere healing spells.

That was something to fret about later; for now, I had a job to finish first. In a heartbeat, I crossed the distance between us, not even bothering to resummon my shimmering armor. I grabbed the struggling griffon by the scruff of his feathers, forcing him on his back and planting a boot on his chest to secure him. With the entirety of Tartarus’ own rage fueling me, I shoved my fist into his open beak, securing his head straight with the other one. The gems in my gauntlet shimmered blue past the rim of the yellowish bone. Static electricity began to build up, fluffing his feathers and making my arm’s hairs stand at attention.

His eyes narrowed to pinpricks once he realized what was about to happen. His claws left his aching chest to try to free himself from my grasp, but it was too late to stop the lightning bolt I summoned, the electricity surging straight into his guts. Equus’ avian-like population might’ve been partially resistant to lightning bolts on the outside. On the inside, however…

As the smell of yet another charred griffon filled my nostrils, I dropped the dead bird unceremoniously, rubbing my hand due to the aftershock of the spell.

Fear had taken hold of the remaining two featherbrains, who hadn't added anything substantial to that night’s ‘mock the cargo’ comedy session, too absorbed with devouring the rabbits they’d snatched from their burrows before reaching the edge of the forest where they’d made camp. Clinging tightly to one another as they quaked in their fur, the reek of urine mixed with the stench of death and blood permeated the air.

Feeling like warming up my other gauntlet, I created a negative temperature and pressure zone above my stretched palm, aiming it at the roaring flames and sucking them up into a concentrated ball of death, slowly gyrating above my gloved hand. It was always easier borrowing from what already existed than creating it from scratch, and I was already reaching my safety limit before damage began spreading through my soft, inner tissues.

In the newfound darkness that befell the campsite, the glow from a single orb of fire became eery, shining in the teary eyes of the griffon pair as the moon painted their silhouette against the dark outline of the trees behind us. Just as I was about to deliver the last strike and proceed to hate myself for the rest of my journey, a new sound was allowed to reach us in the reaffirmed silence of a dead bonfire. Originating from beyond the rim of the woods hugging our resting place, it halted my frightening march towards the sole remaining griffons, their features relaxing momentarily into a grimace of puzzlement.

Fearing we were being stalked by a bigger, or more numerous threat, I closed my fist and extinguished the orb of flames, this new, potential threat taking over my attention for the time being. As the pair sniffled and used each other as a lifeline, I strained my ears to discern the nature of the sound amidst the symphony of a tranquil forest.

A more energetic bout of activity struck a chord in my head, revealing the nature of our, indeed, stalkers. It was from their nature that I also drew the conclusion that we all hadn’t been turned into a meal yet thanks to the fire keeping us warm, an instinctive fear keeping them away.

And I had just extinguished the only thing keeping them away…

“Fuck… again”

My mind went into overdrive, coming up with a single viable solution that would spare me the need to fight until my lungs gave out. The pair of shivering chickens either hadn't heard what awaited us behind the trees or were too afraid to care for it. What I needed to do was to kill two birds with one stone… fuck, that’s the worst time to use that expression. It would, however. finish the work for me and grant me a head start.

Holstering Binary, I reached with my telekinesis for my bag, caring not for the few supplies the griffons had scavenged from it to enhance their dinner, and began walking backward towards what I hoped was the place where the young griffon was still trapped under my spell.

“You have five seconds to flee before I torch you alive,” I announced darkly, using my heels to feel the way towards my destination without taking my eye from what little the moonlight descended over the griffons.

The griffons needed no further incentive as, in a heap of limbs and feathers, the scrawny pair began pawing it away from me and straight into the woods, using the short run to gain momentum and immediately taking to the air once they felt enough air under their wings to lift them up.

The silhouettes took to the skies and began winging it above the tree coverage, my sight still fixed on them, counting the seconds. Just as I could discern the edge of the campsite in my peripheral vision, another, more vivid bout of activity shook the forest, composed of a cacophony of chittering and screeching, of the nature and intensity only one species of creature in Equestria could produce.

Without any warning for the unfortunate souls that thought wholeheartedly they’d escaped certain death from me, an amorph, sticky projectile was shot into the skies with a wet *splurt*, followed quickly by an identical one, shooting the pair out of the air with immobilized limbs and forcing them down like stones until they became lost amidst the cover of leaves.

I forced myself to listen to the mixture of blood-curdling screams and viscera being ripped out as a nest of giant bola spiders sucked them dry to the bone in a feeding frenzy.

I was, without a doubt, the worst bastard this world had ever seen.

A magical chime, this time more measured, filled the air as my heel bumped with the shield trapping the young griffon. He’d stopped struggling a while ago and simply watched the carnage I’d inflicted upon his abductors. Needless to say, he wasn't that thrilled when I dispersed the shield around him. With nothing separating us both, his fear-struck eyes narrowed to pinpricks, believing he was about to meet a similar end.

“Incendio.”

Drawing from the last reserves remaining in my gauntlets before needing a quick recharge, I cast the several chopped logs around the campfire aflame, the previous sitting arrangements now acting as a poor, temporary barrier between the giant arachnids and us while the flames took care of the bloody remains of the griffon flock. I had neither the time nor desire for a proper burial, much less any passing words I felt they deserved.

With that temporary relief shielding us, I could finally focus on my young friend. The poor cub was paralyzed from head to tail in fear. Had he not, I'm positive he would've already winged it far from here, in the opposite direction of those two unfortunate souls, of course.

With considerably more light available as the fire slowly consumed the thick logs, I was finally able to take in all his features. My previous description had to be sadly complemented with a sickly amount of bumps, bruises, cuts, and all manner of different signs of abuse, some older while others looked to have been done only a day ago, tops. Most of them had healed or were in the process of healing. He was a young griffon, a battle-scarred example of his species. Most of those scars he'd eventually brush off, and perhaps come up with some fake war stories around them to impress the chicks.

A few lacerations, however, weren't healing as they should, the first signs of infection already manifesting in his thick, snow-ready fur and plumage.

“Mph, this isn't looking good…” I mulled to myself, focusing on a particularly nasty cut right over his right side, the griffon favoring the other one as he remained trembling on the ground, his blue eyes never losing mine as a part of him surrendered to the inevitable.

“B-Bitte…” The young griff croaked out with a parched throat, although water was far down on the list of his priorities. A feeble claw rose to shield as much of him as he could from me.

With a flash of my gauntlets, his bindings came loose around him. Yet, the poor cub made no attempt to flee or even stretch his wings. He remained rooted in place, almost wishing that the earth would swallow him.

“I mean you no harm.” I dropped Binary at my side and raised my hands to prove that I meant it. The smallest amount of reassurance lessened his trembling to something more manageable, yet fear still clung to his heart in a vice grip.

As I took the moment to properly readjust my bag and the twinblade’s holster at my back, I tried a different approach.

“Sprechen sie Equish?”

A glimmer of understanding shone in his teary orbs. Wetting his lips, the young griffon shuffled nervously under his ruffled wings, his leopard tail curling around himself.

“... Little…” He changed his chirp and strained his vocal cords, tasting the foreign word in his tongue.

“Good.” That was more than enough for me. I could work with the balance between my broken Aërish and his basic Equish. “I will help you with your wounds, okay? Verletzungen heilen.”

The griffon was still reluctant to accept my offering and shied away from me as I tried to offer a helping hand.

“Look,” I rubbed my forehead tiredly, feeling the drain from the previous fight slowly crawling up my limbs and demanding rest and recovery. We had to hurry before the bola spiders had finished with their meal and perhaps felt peckish about trying foreign meat. “I can’t begin to imagine what you must have gone through with those fuckers. And I know gutting an entire flock of seasoned griffons in a single go is far from the best way to introduce myself.” I took a knee in front of him, once again offering a gloved hand as I pointed with my head to the roaring flames behind us. “But that fire won’t fool the bola spiders forever, and they sounded more numerous than to be satisfied with just those two bags of skin and bones. Wir müssen gehen. Jetzt.”

The urgency of the situation proved more than enough to overcome the language barrier. Running his sight back and forth between my open palm and my reassuring eyes, the griffon swallowed loudly and finally gave in, reasoning that, had I wanted to harm him or tear him apart like the rest, I wouldn't have wasted time making my acquaintance with him. Reaching with a trembling claw, its digits cracked and caked with dirt and filth, the cub took hold of my hand.

Taking his gesture as an invitation, I gently balanced on my heels and slowly guided him to his paws. Uncurling himself from the tight ball of protection he had curled himself in, the griffon rose on shaky legs. However, while abused joints cracked and popped into place, the griff was unable to keep himself up for more than a moment before a searing flash of pain contracted all the muscles of his right hind leg. A quick analysis revealed yet another gash running horizontally for the better part of his flank.

“Hurts…” He squeezed out behind clenched teeth, resettling his weight around his three remaining limbs.

“Of course it does,” I cursed inwardly, my heart aching for the poor chick. He was considerably more battered than me. If we wanted to make for a quick escape, I’d have to think of something. “What of your wings? Können Sie fliegen?”

The griffon gave his wigs a tentative ruffle before following my request. What should’ve been two gorgeous wings full of spotted gray and white feathers, now held an unhealthy amount of plumage in a striking form of disarray. There was no way those limbs were gonna catch any air under them in that state. The impossibility of that solution was accentuated when, as he tried to stretch his right wing, another stab of pain quickly brought it back to, the griffon folding it against his side.

“S-Sorry…” He apologized in his most defeated chur, his head hanging low as his limbs began to tremble once again, this time from exhaustion as they fought to keep him upright. “J-Jüst, leavn me here. Rette dich selbst.”

“Like shit I will.” I stubbornly rebutted, catching him by surprise with a slight jolt. It seemed my exhausted limbs would have to suck it up for a little longer. There was always time for a terrible night’s rest after we’d put a reasonable amount of distance between the quickly carbonized remains of the campfire and us.

Summoning Binary to my hands, I rotated the handles to sever the link between the two blades. I didn't miss the tiniest twinkle of cub-like curiosity breaching through weeks, or perhaps months of fear and abuse in the young griffon’s eyes, bringing the first smile that had graced my lips since perhaps leaving the thestral enclave behind.

While not my preferred method of carrying them, I holstered them loosely against the rim of my pants, the blades resting against the length of my legs. Their length was enough to almost pinch the ground with each step, and their loose weight usually brought me off balance while traversing rough terrain. But it did free my back, and I had no time to think about crafting a rough splint. After we had acquired some distance I'd look into treating him to the best of my abilities, but I needed every bit of my remaining strength to leg it out if there at a brisk pace.

“Come on.” I motioned to him once the only thing obstructing my back was my bag, shifting my stance sideways and waving a hand in invitation.

The griffon remained as still as a stone, either not understanding my invitation or still too untrusting of me to consider it.

“Um…” He clicked his beak nervously.

“Dude,” I tried once again, this time more sternly. I could almost feel a thousand spindly legs daring the flames until a particularly braver one thought about going around it and ambushing us from the sides. “This is far from my preferred choice of introductions, but we really, really need to get out of here, or would you rather be turned into spider food? Believe me, it's not a pretty way to go.”

A mental battle was being waged in the young griffon's mind. Time was ticking dangerously low by the time a clear winner stood out.

Swallowing loudly, the griffon cub limped on his three, relatively healthy limbs and, hesitantly, clung to the straps of my bag with his claws while his rear legs came to balance themselves against the small of my back. He was careful not to dig his feline nails into my delicate skin. Once he’d wriggled himself into a comfortable position, I felt him visibly relax once the weight had been lifted from his underfed frame.

“O-Okay.” I felt him shuffle nervously one last time before gently nudging the back of my head with his beak. “I vready.”

“Great job.” I congratulated him in a friendly manner, claiming a small victory when I caught a tiny, shy smile from the corner of my eye. His added weight was no bother to me, his avian heritage and magic lightening his body in a similar manner to that of a pegasus or a hippogriff. Also, the fact that, if it wasn't for his generous coat, I could bet my arm I'd see his ribs under his hide.

“Just make sure not to wriggle too much back there. Also, don't open your wings, or you'll drag me off balance and we both will be having dirt for dessert tonight, okay?”

Feeling him nod behind me meant I didn't have to repeat the message in my poor Aërish. I made a mental note to catch up with it if the cub was to be hanging around us for the time being, not that I had that much reference material to freshen up my memory.

Whatever, I'd deal with that later. For now, our task was to not get eaten by a nest of overgrown spiders. Fucking things; I might've lost much of my phobia around them while in Equestria, but those abominations were nightmare-inducing on any day of the year.

Grunting in effort, I hoisted the both of us up and dusted off my pants, making sure to pay attention to the edges of the hanging blades. With the weight-lessening runes deactivated, they felt like carrying two oxygen tanks from my days of scuba diving, meaning I was familiarized with the load and painfully aware of how annoying it was.

The heat from the fire I‘d started hit our backs furiously, almost taunting us to step into it and join the carbonized remains of the griffon scum. The riverlands were humid and frequently sprinkled with rain. I wasn't worried about possibly starting a massive forest fire.

“What’s your name, by the way?” I asked as I took in our surroundings, choosing the best path to follow to resume my journey while heading directly away from that place.

“... Gaius.” He answered after a second of hesitation.

“Hmm, that's a nice name,” I commented amicably as I began the trek, quickly falling into a steady rhythm. With the moon and the stars as my sole guide, I angled us back north-northwest into the Continental Bridge.

“You can call me Alex.”

Chapter 41- The Sinner. Part 3.

“Very well, let's get a good look at that wing, ja?”

Just as the thunderstorm clouds were beginning to pile up in the night sky, we’d found shelter within the privacy of a musty hole, no taller than me, and carved haphazardously within the stone of a particularly rocky hill, the cavern too small to be called a proper cave. It looked, and most importantly, smelt more like the den of some predator or another. I couldn't quite picture which dangerous creatures inhabited these parts of Equestria anymore with nature in such a state of disarray. I only hoped whoever inhabited it had abandoned it in favor of a comfier place, although chances were it was simply out hunting under the cover of twilight.

There weren't any discarded bones or leftovers as far as I could see. Some good news for me, at least.

However, we'd be in for a rough awakening if we weren’t careful. My newest friend and I had opted to seek shelter from the incoming rain and spend the rest of the night while we were at it, having completed a long, tiring run with what little strength we could scrape from our tired muscles, tearing through grassy hills and muddy flats, our bodies painted faintly silver under the fading moonlight.

Well, I did most of the running since Gaius was still reeling from his injuries, but you get the idea.

With enough distance put between the late griffon slavers’ campsite (and the nightmarish abominations that now stalked it) and us, we could breathe a collective sigh of relief and hunker down for a little while, and use the chance for some R&R. My legs screamed for rest after carrying a load of two, and Gaius needed to have his wounds checked over by someone who actually gave two shits about his pitiful condition.

The journey across the empty stretches of Equestria's borders had been shared in a mostly awkward silence. My ragged breathing as I burned kilometer after kilometer worked in tandem with the young griffon's shyness and lack of trust to fill our shared trek with little more than the sounds of nature to guide us.

Gaius had been the one to spot the den just as I was about to finish bordering a nearby sparse of woods to resume my beeline towards the Continental Bridge and the lands beyond. His Boreal Eagle upper half, a majestic, endemic species of the Frozen North, had granted him the ability of nightvision, allowing him to spot the hill clear as day when all I could see was darkness over black, mixed with a void of color cascading down the outline of the hill.

Congratulating his quick spotting, we’d silently agreed to spend the night in the relative safety it provided, as long as its owner wouldn't come knocking in the dead of night. Lighting up a feeble fire close to the exit so as to not flood the cave with foul-smelling smoke, we settled down in its humid guts, with the luck of having found shelter just ten minutes shy of a heavy downpour that begun to nourish these lushful lands, encouraged by the quick coming of Autumn.

Good timing; it'd erase our scent and mud trail in case some nocturnal predator wanted to add us to their late-night dining menu.

With the settling tranquility of our new accommodations, I reasoned the top priority was to first check on the young griffon’s condition, and assess if his state was good enough to accompany me to the Hive and back to Maretime Bay where he'd get proper medical attention. If it wasn't… well, I guess he'd have to rough it up or wait here for my return. I was unsure which of either choice would be the best one.

Sad as it may be, not even a lost griffon cub in distress could derail me from my mission. It sounded cruel and insensitive, I know, but the stakes were simply too high and the risk too real over my family for me to push it back any longer than absolutely necessary.

Gaius, as skittish and jittery as the moment I’d met him, hesitantly complied with my request for a checkover after a bit of careful bribing. Having settled near the very back of the den, he shuffled his fluffy body closer to me as he stretched his wounded wing as far as the pain would let him. Hissing through his beak, his limb unfurled halfway before the metaphorical needles stabbing his flight muscles became too much to bear.

A quick analysis revealed a myriad of problems. Just as I’d hinted previously, his unhealthy amount of remaining feathers were in serious disarray after what I could only approximate were several weeks lacking proper care and preening. New ones were starting to grow to replace his missing primaries and secondaries, but he'd have serious trouble bringing himself aloft with what little was left clinging to his bony appendages, even with his griffon magic kicking in overdrive. His undernourished muscles would not help his cause, either.

No severe wounds marred the outside of the wing that would entail such a harsh reaction when bending the limb outwards, meaning the culprit had to be inside his feathery appendage.

Not bothering with decorum, I reached out with my hand to grasp the troublesome limb, using my uncovered fingers to feel under his soft plumage, just as I’d done with Zipp after ceasing the blood loss from the wound the timberwolf had inflicted upon her.

Faust, that felt like eons away…

A smirk found its way to my lips when, unsurprisingly, the telltale reaction from one of Equus’ denizens experiencing my ‘magic fingers’ for the first time didn't skip Gaius. With a light startle and an amusing, crooked beak, the griffon settled down on his haunches and gave me free rein to examine him at my leisure. I could hear the gears turning as he allowed his mind to indulge the new, strange sensation.

Something told me that, besides fierce clawing and abusive hitting, the amount of friendly contact he’d enjoyed in recent times gravitated around the null digits.

His bones seemed in good condition alongside the rim of the wing, as well as the joint mid-way that would allow the wing to extend its span to the fullest. Nothing out of the way. What little muscle he still carried seemed strained, as was expected, but nothing torn or sprained too badly.

I ended up finding the root of the problem at the shoulder joint, where the wing met the body. The bone was out of the socket and painfully forced down from its proper place. It was a miracle the ligaments hadn't snapped alongside it, which would have rendered the cub permanently flightless. A young one's flexibility allowed him to avoid that, perhaps, but it was an issue that needed urgently correcting.

Luckily for him, it was a relatively easy fix, even out here in the wilds, but it would be an unavoidably painful one for him. In his feeble state, I wasn't gonna risk forcefully putting him to sleep to spare him from the harrying experience. I also needed his immediate output to see if I’d done a good job with the wing. I was a doctor, but not that kind of doctor.

… Did I say that already?... Perhaps…

“Okay,” I announced once I was positive of the nature of his problem. “I’ve found the issue, and I can patch you up right now…”

“... But,” Gaius said with a leading inflection, the cub smart enough to smell me out.

“But, it will hurt like Tartarus and you'll want to rip my face off after I do it.”

Dread began oozing out of him as he retreated the wing in a heartbeat, raking his claws against the stony ground to put some distance between us. His sudden efforts won him yet another jab of scorching knives along his injured wing.

“Scheiße!!” He wailed as he clutched his injured limb.

Something told me he was too young to use that kind of language, but griffon cubs were not foals, and their average upbringing was utter horseshit compared to your day-to-day Equestrian foal, with loving parents and supportive friends and a healthy environment and yada yada yada.

Heck, calling him a cub was already a stretch. That griffon had seen more and had endured more than any creature his age, or any other age should ever have to suffer through. I could see it in his eyes, a worrisome lack of warmth and life behind the fear and pain that shone behind the dim light of the fire.

I needed to be more tactful. “Look,” I tried again, my heart reaching out to him, but his condition wasn't safe enough for a later fix when he was feeling more up to it. “The alternative is you straining that joint to the point it snaps and sends you into a literal world of pain, rendering you unable to fly for a few months, if not for the rest of your life if the damage spreads too far.” Flooring my hands palm-up over my knees, I laid the choice plain and simple for him. “It's your call.”

Keeping his weary gaze fixed on me, he searched for any hint of deceit in the alternatives I’d offered him. Sniffing the stale air tentatively and squeezing his fluffy tail hard between his foreclaws, Gaius debated whether to continue trusting me or to finally call out my non-existent bluff in the open. We’d held onto the mutual trust of a pair of scruffy wastes running for their lives, but given what he must have lived through, I couldn't blame his young mind for making him act like the king of the scaredy cats. I could only try my best to have patience and offer him my help and sympathy, even if there was little time I could spare.

Another mental struggle storming in his head concluded with a firm result. Gaius’ nervous gulping told me he'd take his chances with me, and claw my face off the moment I tried something funny, as I had pointed out.

Smart choice; I'd have done the same.

Gaius shuffled back to engage with me on the terms of our previous arrangement, claws extended and at the ready under his skinny frame. With little trust behind his actions, Gaius extended his injured wing once again, swallowing hard and mustering the guts to soldier through the pain.

“Do eet.”

Happy with his choice, I dragged my knees closer to his side and felt once again around the joint to pinpoint the best place to unleash my course of action.

“Okay then. A big pull, a stab of pain, and it'll be over, okay? I promise.” I gave him my best reassuring look.

Swallowing the limo in his throat, Gaius nodded and clenched his eyes, hunkering down in preparation.

“On three.” I squeezed harder around the joint and lit my gauntlet to help me apply the necessary force. “One, two-*Crack!!*”

“Seine verdammte Mutter!!!”

His survival instincts kicked in hard right after his cursing, a claw flying true to rip off the source of the pain from him, only to meet the blunt end of the lunar blade, mere centimeters away from my face. Hopefully, the deafening drumming of the heavy rain had muffled his wail, should some creature out there be listening.

The cold, unforgiving metal of the blade’s sharp edge brushed dangerously over the scaly tissue of his avian wrist, quickly landing him back in the real world. My stony face was enough to let him know he better watch where he sent those deadly weapons of his, or else I'd be having chicken for dinner, and quite possibly breakfast too.

Not that I’d ever do that, but it got the point across.

With the message well and clearly imprinted in his narrowing pupils, Gaius jerkily returned his claws close to his body and skidded back until his rump collided with the end of the den.

“S-Sorry…” He stammered with a droopy head.

Keeping the blade in the air a second longer for good measure, I returned it back to its resting place against the wall of the cave. The poor griff couldn't physically shirk himself further into a ball of embarrassment.

“Right…” I said as my weapon clinked against the wall while I changed my pose to a cross-legged one. “Wing?”

Gaius, slowly uncurling himself to a proper resting position, gave his wing a tentative roll in its socket. The feathery tufts over his ears perked up when he found himself able to fully extend the limb, the cub giving it a test flap or two with little of the expected soreness around the lower part of the limb.

“Good, just stay off that wing, and no flying for the time being. I'll check on it periodically and assess when it's safe for you to do so, okay?” Gaius quickly nodded, his bristling happiness breaching through to light up the gloomy den.

“Very well. Anything else bothering you that I need to check over?”

Gaius gave his malnourished body a run-over both with his sight as well as with his senses. Most of his attention revolved around his injured flank, the culprit of that nasty limp on his right rear leg.

“Hmm, vack leg veel bëtter,” He summarized with his broken Equish. “Griffon volk make me valken very distance, hurt müch.” He clenched his hindquarters, coming out with a half-meant grimace from his beak. “Bëtter nov, only… uh… pum pum, pum pum.”

“Throbbing.” I got the message from his clenching and relaxing claws. “That's good. We’ll have to check that frequently too, in case it gets infected. Here,” I said, reaching for my bag and extracting a glass jar, barely bigger than my fist, full of a foul-smelling, greenish paste; a healing salve, courtesy of the thestrals. Opening the lid, I dipped a finger into the concoction and snuck it under my shirt to smear a healthy amount over my wound, caused by a claw from that previous scuffle, allowing me to save my energy for healing spells until tomorrow came. I nudged the jar in his direction, feeling his apprehension rising once again. “It's disgusting, I know, but it'll keep the germs away from that gash.”

A quick whiff was enough to scrunch his feathery features into an adorable pout, as if he’d just given a nice, long lick to an oozing lemon. Still, he chose to continue trusting me and grabbed the offered jar. Peering inside with a curious eye, his features furrowed into a grimace of disgust, his free claw coming over to cover his violated nostrils.

“I zinking zees hav more germs ëinside...” He nasally spoke from behind his protected beak. With another word of reassurance, he caved in and dipped a claw inside, sticking his tongue out with a childish ‘blegh!’. Wiggling his rump into reach, Gaius gently spread the salve over the gash running across his flank, his tail rising up and well away from the smelly paste.

Feeling a chuckle rumbling in my chest, I took notice of the dried blood cacking the fur around the gash, as well as marring his coat in several other places, obscuring what should've been a gorgeous set of fur and plumage, thick and fluffy to face the worst of winters.

Now, his malnourished state had left him with dry patches of fur in several places, no doubt reminders of the ‘fun’ times that the griffon hen had surely inflected on the poor guy. The spots over his feline half were dulled and muted over his light gray coat, filthy with specs of dirt, mud, some stubborn leaves and twigs, and what I feared were an assortment of dried-up fluids taking up the better part of the fur covering his underbelly.

This griffon was in serious need of some urgent rest, as well as a healthy dose of pony-patented hospitality. I prayed there was still some figment of youth to be recovered from this broken cub. Few members of his kind had ever fallen into my good side, much less having carved a spot in my heart. Something all of them shared, one blue-furred-and-feathered griff taking the medal, was little more than the broken remains of a childhood full of abuse and difficulties.

Gaius was no different. The good news was that I knew well what was eating him on the inside and how to approach it. The bad news was the actual need for a steady approach in the first place.

Once he was content with his work, Gaius returned the jar to me, falling back into his usual silence. I sealed the jar tight and returned it to my bag. Thankfully, those wastes of feathers had focused on pillaging the tastier bits of my restocked supplies and had left the rest more or less intact. I wasn't too worried about my, once again, diminished supply, though. I now had two predators rolled into one at my side. His keener senses would find our dinner on the road, should he wish to accompany me. I only wished I could head back straight to the Bay with him.

“Z-Zhank you…”

The sound of his shaky voice dragged me out of my short daydream. A quick peek found him nervously drawing circles with a foreclaw on the loose rock in front of him, his eyes not rising to meet mine.

“Hmm?” I urged him with a sideways dip of my head.

“Saving me,” He answered, barely over a whisper, his tail coming to coil itself around his rear legs once again. “Dankeschön.”

“I wasn't gonna let myself get dragged into slavery by those Hurensöhne. And, neither was I going to let them drag you into it, too.” I brushed off his gratitude with a bored shrug of my shoulders, yet my heart filled with warmth from his appreciation.

A shame that it wasn't meant to last.

“Um,” Gaius set to carefully test the waters. “Vas eet really nëcessary? Zee, um…” Unable to find the words, he squared his shoulders and motioned his elbows up, syncing his foreclaws to horizontally grasp the empty air in front of him, as if he was grabbing something. The exaggerated movements of his arms told me he was mimicking my bladework.

‘... No, Gaius. By Faust, it was not necessary.’

“The sentence, most likely,” I replied with a pensive scratch of my beard, keeping my front as my mental walls struggled and creaked as they held up the weight of my mindless actions back into the deepest corners of my mind. “The means, however…”

With the sentence left to hang in the air, Gaius nervously fumbled with his claws before adding his two bits.

“I-I ünderstant…”

“No, cub, you don't.” I was quick to counter despondently, brushing his stammered sympathy off. “Someone as young as you wouldn’t kno-”

“You knov nothink!!!”

It seemed that I’d struck a nerve. His sharp rebuttal fired the alarms in my head. As he got up on all fours in a display of firm stubbornness, ignoring his injured limb, I reached behind to coil my fingers around the reassuring chill of my blades’ handle, just in case.

“Enlighten me, then.” I offered without passion.

Narrowing his predatory eyes, Gaius sought to prove my bluff wrong.

“I mëight veing young, ja! Vut I seen müch!” His left claw balled into a fist, which he slammed into the ground in a heap of frustration. “I come vrom mine-villach. Reichhaltiges, vlenty mineral ünder snow.” The bubblier he boiled, the more he slipped into Aërish, making it hard to understand him the more heated he turned. “Clans vight Minotauren vrom moüntains, vant mineral too. Zey ambüsch villach, griffon vight bravery! Zey…”

Just as he seemed to reach the summit of his anger, the words got caught up in his throat, his heated rebuttal coming to a swift demise as a shadow fell over his blurring eyes.

I needed no further explanation, for his story was that of around ninety percent of young griffons you'd find wandering lost and alone on the streets of Griffonstone.

“... But they overran your village and killed everygriff, including your parents. A sibling too, perhaps.”

Cold and tasteless, but it hit the nail on the head. His resolve crumbled like a pile of cards under the strength of a hurricane. And just as quickly too. Where a glimmer of strength and determination had hardened his message, now the first true tears I’d seen him shed began to pool around his blue orbs.

Without the constant fear for his life keeping the soft tenderness of emotions under wraps, and under the newfound calmness of our precarious arrangements, the past finally had the chance to catch up with the poor griffon.

His breath hitched in his fluffy chest, and the sound of his hiccups that preceded the downpour filled the abandoned den. Just as I caught his claws racking hard against the stone as he struggled to keep up his composure, I dragged my rear closer to him with a stretched arm, seeking to comfort him.

“Nein!!!”

His sudden wail made me recoil in surprise. His features became stony, and the tears raining down his cheeks were now loaded with rage. “Papa say I need to ve schtrongën!! I schtrong, I survive!!” Gaius smacked his tail hard against the floor. “I survive alovn in vild!! I survive the snow, I survive cavture, I survive du!!”

Oh, something inside me didn't like that last accusation.

“Don’t be mistaken, cub.” I caught myself by surprise with his tantrum quickly growing old in my already throbbing temples. The searing rage cruising from his veins was blinding him from the actual truth of his fate. “You are alive because I willed it so.”

“Vhat are you talkën about? I vould hav eshcapen myselv eventually. It vas a matter ov ti-”

“You were cowering like a stranded kitten!!” I snapped, rising on my knees since the ceiling was too low to use my towering height to my advantage.

Gaius’ claws scraped the loose stone as he reined himself from taking a retreating leap back and proving my point, feathers ruffled in a pathetic show of intimidation.

“You were being starved and abused by them. I wouldn’t have bet an arm on you making it to Zebrabwe alive with those monsters, much less making it through the night on your own, here of all places!!”

Gaius' rear collided once again with the back of the cave, sending a pang of fear up his spine when he found himself without an escape route.

I wasn’t finished. “Up there, the worst that you had to soldier through was the cold, but here,” I pointed with my thumb at the den’s entrance, softly illuminated by the light of the full moon now that the feeble fire I’d lit had been bested by the wind and humidity of the storm. “You’ve seen what kind of monsters lurk around here without ponykind’s control and supervision, and I’m not talking about the griffon scum!”

“I-Ich…”

“‘Ich’ nothing!” I cut off the fastly crumbling griffon, his bravado melting away under the strength of my stare. I wasn't meaning to be a jerk to him, much less after all the crap he’d been through with that flock of slaver motherfuckers. But I needed to cut the horseshit short and quick with him.

The only thing his griffon pride was gonna earn him was a warm and cozy spot in the belly of some beast, if he didn't end up trapped by another flock of wandering birds before that, or worse. “The world out there doesn’t give a shit about how much you can ruffle your feathers and make yourself look big. It doesn’t care how brave you make yourself believe you are now that your wings and claws aren’t bound by rope!”

Seeing as how he wasn't gonna lunge at me, if his trembling legs and beak were enough of a dead giveaway, I lost the grip on Binary I hadn't even realized I’d searched for once again, and took a deep breath. I was feeling too tired and mad at myself and everything else to drag this conversation on any longer.

I was starting to feel detached.

Returning my back to the mossy walls of the den, I let out a sigh and rubbed the bridge of my nose tiredly. “Fucking hell… According to that sick code you griffons share with the dragons, saving your scrawny flank makes your life mine. Congratulations!!” I cheered darkly with a clap. “You’ve traded one form of slavery for another, only this is one you cannot escape from without breaking the code and being shamed by everygriff you encounter until the end of your days. Is that it? Is that what you want to make of this?” I pointed back and forth several times at me and the griffon to get the message across.

Gaius jerkily shook his head in a brief ‘no’, my harshness having catapulted him back to his shy, defeated self as he whimpered at the idea of falling back into the abusive grip of another creature.

Peering into his scared, leaky eyes dragged me down from the self-anger-fueled cloud I’d summed above myself. With another sigh, this time of shame, I changed my approach and addressed him with kinder eyes.

“Look,” I started once again, offering my hand in a peaceful gesture. I’d let my temper get the better of me. I was better than that. “I am deeply sorry for your loss, and all the crap I’m sure you've been through. But your sob story is only one amongst dozens I’ve heard by now. But the only thing I can always offer back are words, and the promise of keeping you safe should you trust in me. I too have lost my family. Twice now.”

A glimmer of sympathy shone on Gaius' deep-blue orbs for a second before being swallowed down by his apprehension.

“And I fear that I’ll lose my new family again if I’m not careful enough. Getting captured by a flock of slavers was a tremendous slip for me. And their fate, terrible and cruel as it might’ve been, I felt was more than deserved...” I retreated my offered hand and squeezed the knuckles against my left palm, swallowing down a lump of bile as the fresh memories of that battle flashed before me.

“... But I needn't have delivered it in such a way. I was angry, and sad, and afraid, and frustrated and, and... This journey is taking its toll on me, and the longer I drag on, the… t-the…”

My daily dip into the self-pity pool was interrupted when, over the skin-peeled knuckles and leathery gauntlets firmly clutched within my fingers, dark tendrils had begun to emanate from its power gems, swirling and quivering around the central one. From the LIMstone, being fed magic by its smaller sisters, purple, dancing ones had begun to mix with the others. A haunting omen. A captivating sight that chilled my blood to its very core.

I was slipping, and I’d been doing so for a while. The more I pushed on, the worse it got. I had to be careful. I would not let it take over me.

“... I happen to know, Gaius.” I managed to squeeze out once the ghastly sight had vanished when I regained some semblance of control over my oozing, poisonous emotions. “I wished I didn't, but I do know. And I’m so, so sorry…”

The griffon had remained as still as stone while I poured out my heart and choked on it. Shifting his sight from my gauntlets, my hands having failed obscuring their haunting shine from his keen eyesight, and my own eyes, squeezed shut to keep the tears in and failing miserably at it.

Once again, I’d made it about me. I couldn't keep the images away, visions of what might be if I failed, on this task and my original task. All the tasks, one after another, piling up and crushing me down until I crumbled, only to sculpt me back into what I needed to be to get things done. I was no less of a monster than the griffons who sought to enslave us. In the loneliness of what used to be my home, there was no place to hide from myself.

My family, my marefriend; figures I’d relied upon in the past, preventing a lost human from giving in to the side of him that screamed survival. Figures who had knocked him down a peg or two when his thirst and ambition would see him breaking the promises he once held and cherished.

Little remained of that human, leaving only what could be spared to fulfill his fate according to her vision. I was already a slave before those griffons captured me. I had been for a long time by then. I wouldn't allow Gaius to become one, too. He deserved a fresh start, just like Gallus had got. Just like many students who had flocked into the School of Friendship had got.

Faust, why do you need to have given them such similar names? She’d never run out of ways to mock me.

The softness and warmth of a griffon's feathers, few and frazzled as they might’ve been, enveloped me as I lay prone against the heat-sapping wall, hugging my knees tight like the stranded kitten I’d accused Gaius of being.

“I… I-I’m sorry, Gaius.” I sniffled hard and I shrunk further into my own ball when I felt his hold on me become tighter, unable to even meet his warm gaze. “This is unbecoming of me.”

The young griffon, moved by my bleeding heart which, at that moment, felt as dead and empty as I was feeling myself; had snuck his way closer to me as I chased fate after fate, possibility after possibility in my thoughts.

Whether out of pity, empathy, or a mixture of both, two lost, crushed souls hurt together in the silence of the night. One was still young, full of life and potential, buried deep after weeks, or perhaps months of suffering under the claws of your own kind, who would treat you like little more than an animal.

The other one…

“Doës it get easier?” Gaius mewled from under the tears we were sharing in silence, his frame tightly pressed against my left side, his tail coming to coil around my clenched legs. A side-look told me that, in a twisted, unfair sense, his pain was a mirror of my own, only he was at the beginning while I had crossed the end and I didn’t dare look back. “Zee pain.” He asked, almost begged while a foreclaw clutched at his fluffy chest.

What I could only describe as a brotherly side of me couldn’t stand to watch the defeated griffon clutching me tightly any longer and I managed to overcome my muddy pity, bringing my efforts back into aiding him. The physical wounds were always easier to remedy, but the scars we wore within would take months, if not years to heal, if they ever did in the first place.

Sneaking a hand through the free space his partially stretched wing allowed from my shoulder, I surrounded the cub in an embrace of my own, pulling him closer and rejoicing in the superior warmth he provided, one I’d been craving for and only made possible by his winter-tested coat and plumage. As his head came to rest over my shoulder, I laid mine over his fluffy scalp, gently running the tip of my nose over one of his feathery ear tufts in a reassuring gesture.

“It does,” I whispered through the spotted feathers of his head crest, squeezing him tighter to my side. “But not by yourself, it doesn’t.”

A blue, sleepy eye peaked from over my jacket which he’d nuzzled his beak into, asking the wordless question. Stitching my best attempt at a smile, I winked a teary eye at him.

“The first and only ingredient required is a bunch of friends.”

I got no answer from Gaius. Exhaustion from the day’s events and the security our shared company provided had finally claimed him. A day of many emotions and a renewed promise of freedom.

With his gentle breathing settling in, and his grasp on me not lessening, he made it clear what our sleeping arrangements for that night would be. I didn't mind, we both could use each other's company. We’d both been alone for some time, and I believe I’d previously mentioned how therapeutic cuddling with some of this world’s inhabitants was.

Some of them, anyway.

Wiggling a bit to find a comfier position against the curved wall of the den, I whispered a protection spell over its entrance, hoping it would hold against the owner’s wishes of coming back in should they return from their hunt.

I was starting to like Gaius. It seemed we both had some stuff to get off of our chests before a true working partnership could bloom between us. Half of me wanted to ask him to simply wait here for me until my return. Again, should he wish to accompany me back to the Bay. I feared whatever horrors we might find on our way to the Hive, and the monster that was sure to await us inside its labyrinthic guts would prove too much for him, especially in his still-wounded state.

The other half, however, was the one who was tired of being alone, the one who understood the power of friends working together, the one who craved company when all my loved ones were far away, the one who wanted to give this poor griffon a chance of being a young cub with all his life ahead of him...

My selfish side won over. I would take Gaius to the Hive and back. I’d introduce him to the ponies and give him a task to keep him occupied.

As my eyelids slowly became heavy over my weary eyes, I’d already mulled over a thing or two for him. The only thing left was to hope that the ponies back at Maretime Bay would be as welcoming and encouraging of him as they had been for me and Sparky.

“Trust me, little cub.” I brushed his side tenderly as I settled in for the night, jumpstarting the telltale purring that would dig the final nail in the coffin of my exhaustion and lull me to sleep. “You’re gonna love it at the Bay… I wonder if you've ever seen the sea…”

“And… vas she pretty?”

I did a double take at my young companion’s inquiry, almost tripping over a nasty-placed rock jutting out of the ground, camouflaged under the foliage of the first brownish leaves dying and returning to the earth. Skipping on one leg until I’d regained my balance, I peered into Gaius’ eyes, his sudden shyness masking any mirth he might’ve felt at my clumsiness.

“Uuuh…” I droned as I shook my smelly clothes loose after the startle. They, and by extension I were in urgent need of a rinse and bath in the closest stream I could find. But we were so close already to my destination.

“Vhat?” Gaius exclaimed, the underlying squeak from his beak denoting his embarrassment under my crooked gaze. I couldn't blame the little guy for being curious, but…

“Dude. What I’m telling you happened more than seven hundred years ago. She included.”

“I-I know zat!!” Gaius boomed with a blush exploding on his avian features, rubbing his foreleg nervously as he averted his gaze to omit my teasing smirk. “Yüst vondering, only…”

The red on his feathery cheeks only increased tenfold as my booming laugh echoed with the rolling breeze that danced around the browning leaves of the trees above our heads.

Gaius had been an excellent companion through the last leg of our journey. When I confronted him with the urgency of it, he’d initially become hesitant. Gaius had had enough of wilderness and roughing it up, and he simply wanted a safe place to lay low for some time. With the death of his family and the destruction of his village, deep within the Boreal Peaks, according to him, Gaius had little left in life to win or lose. His lack of mourning during the few times the topic had come up was worrisome. Whether it’d been long enough that he had no more tears to cry, or the slaver scum that had snatched him away as he faced the frozen reaches alone had beat it out of him until little was left to spare.

Even still, it hadn’t taken much to definitively win him to my side. Our prompt escape from the slavers had left him without an immediate purpose. Again, little to win or lose; all that was left for him was to wander aimlessly until something big and mean claimed him. He hadn't sounded that horrified by that outcome, just… resigned to it. Even more alarms rang in my head and the choice was completely made there and then.

Everything productive I’d done since my arrival had been harm, curses, and rage against fate and the chances delivered to me. I was becoming toxic; I wasn't blind to that fact. Even if deep inside I knew nothing I could ever do would repay the harm I’d done, I’d nurture this life in exchange for those I’d extinguished. I can’t pinpoint the burst of brotherly responsibility that gripped my heart every time I peered into his sad, sparkle-less eyes, but I wouldn't shy away from it, just as I hadn't done so in centuries past.

He deserved better, and I’d give him better with the help of my pony family.

The prospect of being alone once again overcame the lingering doubts chipping at his trust and, with a promise sealed, Gaius would accompany me to wherever I needed to go and back home where I’d give him a proper place to live and the best friends he could ever ask for. I didn't miss the tiniest, briefest of smiles when I laid out my end of the bargain to him. It warmed my heart to see how, deep inside, there was still a young griffon trapped inside the shell he’d built around himself.

Not revealing the actual nature of our destination, for under no circumstance would I involve Gaius with the changeling queen awaiting me; we’d set out as a team of two. Once the night and the rain had passed, we bolted out of the den, only to find ourselves face to muzzle with the biggest, fiercest chimera I’d ever heard of or had the disgrace of encountering.

For a brief moment, my adrenaline-bathed brain short-circuited thinking how in the seven layers of Tartarus that thing could fit into the den that had housed us for the night. Then, behind the foul-smelling breath of dead and decaying flesh coming from the creatures’ lion jaws, I noticed the still-fresh blood from, most surely, the den’s previous occupant dripping from its fur. Chances where that it’d followed the scent of its latest prey back to its den to see if it could catch a few scrapes and, would you look at that, it hit the jackpot!!

We were that jackpot. The way its three heads began salivating at the sight of us was comprehensive enough.

Have you ever faced a three-headed monster? Not fun. It took me more than an hour until I could bring it down, going after one head at a time, while Gaius clung to the tallest branches of the tallest tree his keen sight could find within reach. Poor guy was mortified when he found me panting and ragged on the ground with the downed monster at my side, a few more bite and claw scars to add to the collection, while he’d turned tail and cowered for his life. Some team-mate he made, as he sulked.

I didn't blame him, of course. He’d made the smart choice, after all.

No more significant scares bothered us during the last days of my journey. While my wounds grew in number, Gaius’ scars slowly but surely disappeared under his plumage and coat. Whilst our choice of menu was relegated to my diminished supplies and whatever we could hunt or gather on our way, some luster was returning to his fur and feather, and a healthier amount of bone peeked from under his skin. His recovery was exemplary, no doubt fueled by his youth. According to him, he was eighteen winters old, putting him at the tail end of a griffon’s puberty period according to their development rate and lifespan. I understood then why he didn't like being called a cub, not that I’d stop teasing him with that. He’d looked so ragged and malnourished that any guesses regarding his age I made would've been completely off.

Not only was his condition improving, but his general mood was, too. Curiosity and wonder painted his features more often than the taciturn demeanor that would cast a shadow over him every time his thoughts drifted back to the past. Now that nature wasn’t out to get him, he could properly enjoy it, seasoned with the countless stories he’d wring out of me. Having lived in a tiny griffon village up in the Frozen North, where thick blankets of snow and nasty blizzards were the norm; such lushful landscapes and thrilling stories from yours truly captured his attention with a rapt eagerness.

And it was during one storytelling session, while we trekked under what my poor sense of direction identified as the Whispering Woods, that I’d managed to tease my newest companion a bit more, to my merriment.

Once my belly laugh had run its course and Gaius had got the venomous glare out of his system, I reached down and ruffled his crest feathers in a friendly manner.

“Well, if it’ll please your hormonal rush,” I playfully teased to an adorable pout of his rosy cheeks. “Yes, Gabby was a very pretty griffon. She was a pure ray of sunshine, that one, always going out of her way to make everycreature feel and be their best. She did something with her feathers that I've never seen on another griffon.” I sent a hand to the back of my head, motioning as if I were tying my hair in a ponytail. “She wore them in a ponytail, like… you know?” I wasn't sure if I was making myself sense to the listening griffon. “Very charming.”

With squinting eyes, Gaius tried his best to picture the image of my old friends while hopping dexterously over a fallen log blocking our path. My heavier ass was too lazy to follow him, so I simply levitated it out of the way once Gaius’ paws were back on the ground.

“I zzzzz… thinking I know vhat you mean.” The griffon hummed in though, correcting himself as best as he could. Since we'd be joining the Equish-speaking ponies on our return, he wanted to improve his domain over the ponies’ language. I was more than happy to offer as many pointers as he needed while he slowly got the hang of the correct pronunciation and tenses. “Sche sounds like eine nice griffon.”

“She most certainly was.” I offered with fondness in my heart. “A true rarity amongst griffonkind.”

Apparently, Gaius knew exactly what I was referring to. “Yeah. Griffons not very nïce most time…” His words hung in the air as an omen.

An omen that caught me off-guard. “Is that also true so far up north?” I asked with a dip of my head.

“Mhm,” Gaius answered in a short, clipped response, likely not feeling too proud of it either.

“Wow,” I replied with genuine surprise, using my telekinesis to push apart a bunch of stubborn branches grown for the specific purpose of bumping an average-height human in the head. “I would’ve thought you guys had it rough enough up in the northern wastes to spare being a dick to each other.”

“Vamëly vas alright.” A steady twitch of his still-healing wings rooted the griffon in the present. He’d gone through too many trips to the past to want kill the mood with another one. “Vee shared nest, make z-ugh, things together and care little vor other vlocks. Papa make most of hünting. Uh…” Gaius clicked his beak in search of the needed word but failed. “Verkaufen, part ov hunt, rest vor us.”

“Mhm.” I nodded in acknowledgment, making sure he knew I was listening.

A happy shake of Gaius' tail told me he was happy with me lending my ears. I couldn't imagine how much time he’d spent with only himself for company, to only be able to listen to the storm we all have in our noggins.

“Yes. Mama be müch time at nest. I vas… um.” With a bit of unrehearsed theatrics, Gaius made himself look as if he was having the worst tummy ache in the history of griffonkind, rolling around the ground like a dying soldier and getting twigs and leaves all over his coat and wings.

I couldn't hide an amused smirk. “You were sick. You were a sick hatchling.”

Gaius nodded with a little pride once again, this time directed at himself. “I hatched during bad vinter. Not müch vood…” He rubbed his foreleg and averted his gaze, a very ponylike gesture I’d learned that clearly meant shame or nervousness in him too. “Hard time.”

“I can guess it was.” I offered in sympathy, earning a thankful smile from the griff for my efforts. “The few times I… ups.” I caught a small indentation of the path through the corner of my eye, forcing me on a small skip over it, or else I’d have tripped and made a fool of myself to my young companion. “The few times I visited the Empire showed me that under no circumstances should I ever underestimate the North.”

“Empire?” Gaius’ head cocked to the side cutely. “Vhat empire?”

“The Crystal Empire. Never heard of it?” I asked. A single shake of Gaius' head told me he didn’t. “Huh. I mean, I know it’s been a while, but the Empire was a big shot up north, before and after its disappearance.”

“Not much zings vrom outside reached mein village.” Gaius reflected, scratching the feathers on the back of his head. “Closest I cän zzzzzthink about is Minotauren clans in mountains.” A few seconds passed before it struck him like an arrow “Vait, vhat do you mean ‘disappearance’?”

The smile touching my lips grew wider as I peeked down at the puzzled griffon. “You want another cool story?”

With a vigorous shake of his tail, Gaius was more than ready for another of my stories, reminding me a lot of my pony family when these same words had touched their ears and made them dream of times long past. With a feline hop, Gaius reached my side and matched my pace, his big, awestruck eyes demanding me to start. I couldn’t resist playfully shuffling his neck feathers, eliciting a short, but meaningful purr from the adorable griffon.

“Very well. It all happened during t-”

As the words turned into ash in my mouth, and the wonderful feeling of my scritches left his fluffy neck, Gaius was quick to smell something was out of place. Landing back from his happy place, Gaius gently headbutted my side when he saw me standing limp in the middle of the road, sight fixed at some unknown spot in front of us.

“Älex? Vhat is wrong?”

“...”

He couldn't have known. How could he? But I knew full well where we were. Centuries and the autumn landscape had made their work known, but nothing would ever tear the memory of this place from my mind.

Without uttering a word, I resumed my gaze towards the end of the row of trees, flickers of open skies peeking from behind the dense vegetation. Gaius fumbled for a second with his limbs before falling in tow with a half-flap from his wings to catch up, puzzled and visibly worried with my sudden change of demeanor.

Before he could repeat his question, I’d reached the limit of the upper half of the forest, standing in a very familiar spot with the immensity of the Mithyanian landscape unrolling before me.

My sight was fixed on a clear landmark, jutting out from the sea of trees. Gaius, having reached my side, followed my line of sight to find the prominent landmark too hard to miss.

“Oh, ist zat vhere wwwe are going?”

His shot in the dark struck true. With a silent nod from me, Gaius’ attention was once more upon the slender, crooked spears of the Hive’s stony crow. Where in the past a barren, desolate waste surrounded it, all work from its unreformed occupants, life now bathed the valley and clung to its wavy sides all the way to its uppermost reaches.

“Looks like a mountain.” Gaius offered, barely over a whisper as he drank in the privileged sight from our vantage point at the peak of the cliff, the exact same point Discord had teleported us during our impromptu rescue mission.

The day I…

“A hive.” I shook the storm clouds away, hardening my focus into what, or better yet, who awaited me. “That’s a changeling hive.”

Gaius was too transfixed to notice my gauntlets charging up.

“Changeling? Ist zhat some sort of cre-YIKES!!”

Two magic-charged shots were fired into the horizon with me studying their trajectory closely. As the hum of power died in the gems of my gauntlets, I saw the projectiles remaining on their course until they’d disappeared beyond my sight. The magic had remained strong and was not affected by the Onyx throne’s influence like had happened the last time. Whilst it was destroyed during the changeling revolt against their old Queen, I wanted to make sure she hadn't gone hunting for the pieces and reassembled it. Without magic, I might as well just lie down in front of her and let her suck me dry, like she’d tried to do more than once in the past.

This time, things would be different.

Once I was confident I would be allowed to face my old enemy at my fullest capacity, I went to find my companion. Gaius was pressed hard against the ground, foreclaws gripping the feathers of his head as he whimpered and shook like a leaf, perhaps thinking we were under attack.

‘Tsk, way to go, you fuck face.’

While I scolded myself, I lowered myself down to my knees and brushed a hand over his scalp.

“Hey, hey, Gaius, it’s alright.”

My gentle touch took a bit to register in his mind. One eye at a time, he peeked around at our surroundings, landing on me once he was sure we were indeed out of immediate harm.

“Forgive me,” I apologized with a parting pat on his fluffy head, bringing myself up to my feet. “I needed to be sure that magic worked correctly around here.”

Raising himself up onto all fours and shaking the dirt of his coat, Gaius glared at me a little before wondering. “Vhy wwwould your magiks not vork here?”

“That is another story for another time.” I brushed his curiosity off this time, feeling the dread of the incoming fight already tightening its icy grasp around me.

“... And could not you hav jüst vloat a leaf around to check?”

Chuckling at his snarky retort, I peered over my shoulder to see him giving me a weird look, catching my own reflection within the smooth surface of the solar blade, jutting out from my back where it was affixed.

“Levitating stuff around isn’t what’ll help me down there.”

‘For the most part, at least.’ I finished off mentally, gripping my gauntlets and tightening them against my palms.

With a huff and a ruffle of his wings, Gaius shelved the issue for the time being and began to prepare himself for the definitive leg of our journey.

“Vhatever, should we get going? Ve better find way to go down. I should not fly yet…”

“You’re not coming.”

Gaius stiffened up and slowly retracted the two steps he’d taken alongside the rim of the cliff. With feathers ruffled and ear tufts dropped in defiance, he stood his ground.

“Vhat do you mean I am not comink?!”

“You’re not,” I replied, short and simple, with a sweet smile that only managed to grow the vein in Gaius’ temple. Loosening the straps from my bag, I unceremoniously looped it around Binary and threw it straight into his puffed-up chest, where he fumbled with it for a moment, trying to keep the precious supplies inside.

Pointing with my thumb, careful not to cut myself with the twinblades attached to my back, I directed his attention behind me. “I remember there was a bigger clearing not far in that direction. If it's still there, go and wait for me. Light a fire tonight so that I can find you. It shouldn't take me longer than that to come back. If I'm not back by dawn, take my stuff and head back east until you reach the coast. It's around two weeks travel with a light ste-”

“Woah woah woah!” Carelessly dropping my bag in front of him, Gaius stood on his hind paws to meet my height, a stubborn gleam in his narrowed eyes. “I am not going anyvhere! I hëlp you, you hëlp me. That vas zee deal!”

“It's still the deal, Gaius.” I tried to reassure him while I ran a careful eye over my gauntlets, checking for any dents or damage on the LIMstones and their smaller sisters. They were worn out and a few stitches were becoming loose, a sign of repeated use. Perhaps Izzy could mend them for me, for I was positive they had some more action left to see before I was back home. “You've held on your end of it.”

“Not iv I not coming!!” He flared his wings to stabilize himself in his bipedal stance. I was rejoiced to see he’d done so without a hint of pain. They were healing as quickly as the wounds on his body.

“It's dangerous down there, Gaius. I don't want you to…”

“All journey is veeing dangerous!!” He cut me off.

“... Point taken, but still…”

“Still vhat?!!”

I saw I wasn't making any progress with him. The way he was acting told me it wasn't simply a matter of childish stubbornness or a griffon trying too hard to adhere to the code with him. I could read him like a book, knowing well what had truly coiled its tendrils around his heart.

With a long sigh, I finished my quick inspection and went down once again, this time in a squatting manner as I offered a hand in front of me.

Gaius brought himself down, his stubborn frown still present to defy my choice. But my reassuring smile and warm eyes collapsed his defenses quickly, leaving his true fear out in the open.

“... Bitte. P-Please, don't leave me älone…”

I said nothing, simply laying my hand and waiting. Gaius made a brave attempt with his best try at puppy eyes and pouting beak, but I was too trained in the arts of cuteness to be affected by it. In the end, he saw that he wasn't making any progress with me. With defeat painted on his every feather, Gaius reached with his own foreclaws to grip my offered hand.

It was almost alien to me by then. So many years living amongst hooves had made the action of a hand gripping another hand, and the motion of interlocking fingers with another seem almost otherworldly. There was something to the act, something more powerful and definitive than holding a hoof. That's what I wanted to transmit. I knew the last thing he wanted was to be left alone again, especially with the both of us hitting it off so well these past couple of days traveling together.

But my reasoning was the same as with my pony family. Fighting an old and seasoned changeling such as Chrysalis meant every ounce of love you held was a liability, be it toward friends, family, or loved ones alike. This dance was between her and me. One of us wasn't gonna walk out of it, and Harmony's curse on me or not, I'd give my dammest to make sure Chrysalis met the destiny she deserved.

Squeezing hard on his scaly appendage, I sealed the silent promise. I'd come back for him. Tomorrow, the day after, the week after… I knew not what awaited me inside the Hive, but I had a family waiting for me back home and, if fate would have it, a new, feathery member to add to it once we’d returned. I simply didn't want to leave him exposed in the wilderness waiting for too long.

Letting go of his claw, I felt my heart break at the sight of his sagged wings and droopy head. But the choice had been made.

“Sit tight, Gaius. I'll be back soon.”

“... Okay.” He acknowledged with little life behind his words. Without anything else to say that'd conceive me otherwise, Gaius began making his way toward where I had pointed, casting one last, sad look behind him before scampering off within the tall bushes until the ruffling died down to an eerie silence.

I waited for a bit to make sure his stubborn flank wasn’t following me. Once a few minutes had passed without a sign of a scurrying griffon trying his best to remain undetected, I started my own way toward my destination.

Bordering the cliff until reaching the slope would take the better part of the morning, and I didn't wish to waste that much time. I had magic this time however, meaning I could be somewhat more… creative.

“Aaand, it’s another gold for Spain…”

Cracking my neck and loosening my knees, I stood at the border of the cliff, balancing on the balls of my feet with the tips hanging in the air. Rolling back and forth twice as an Olympian jumper would, I let gravity take hold of me for a brief moment before firing my gauntlets.

Starlight was the one that showed me this trick. While her mastery in levitation was still leagues above my own, the art of applying telekinesis to oneself was a tricky spell to master. I didn’t need to master it completely, though; just enough to use it to slow down nasty falls such as the current one I was embarking on. It was a devilishly tricky, but undoubtedly helpful spell.

By the time the row of branches had begun to fill my peripheral vision, I’d enveloped myself in the levitation bubble and started, as I had described to the gifted unicorn once, ‘pulling myself up by the laces of my shoes.’ Defying the laws of physics was always so fun and dangerous… and fun.

With a reverse somersault, and because I had a non-existent audience to impress, I landed on my feet with a cushioned *thump*, the magic working to absorb and dispel all energy from the fall. I struck a pose and everything, but the magic cushioning my fall didn't work correctly on the twin sword strapped to my back, making it feel all the weight from the fall and promptly dropping clumsily to the grassy ground when the magnetic attachment proved to be not strong enough.

“Tsk. Full tens if not for you, you worthless piece of overpriced junk.”

Firing my gems, I summoned Binary to my hand and lifted it back to its proper place. Before me stretched the lower half of the Whispering Woods. A new half, grown thanks to the tender care of the reformed changelings in their efforts to transform a barren wasteland that would surround each and every changeling hive that ever settled, into a lush paradise they could be proud of.

Where dangerous, sharp protrusions of bone-dry rock and empty stretches of volcanic dirt welcomed us when our impromptu party had first embarked on the rescue operation, a healthy forest, packed full of endemic flora, now complicated my efforts in keeping myself oriented, even if the tallest peaks of the Hive could be discerned in irregular intervals from beyond the leafy cover.

I needed around two hours until I could leave behind the trees and stand before the full might of the Second Changeling Hive. Realistically, it should’ve taken me much less, but something was slowing my steps to a casual walk which was anything but relaxing or pleasant. As countless memories flashed before my eyes, every step became heavier, and every meter I advanced made me want to retract back ten. I was confident in my abilities. I was smarter, more powerful, and more prepared than the last time I met her. Heck, this time I had magic to defend myself with.

And yet, her message still bugged me. The simplicity of it, I guessed, just chafed at me. Chrysalis was not one to act like that. For being the Queen of Equus’ quintessential infiltrator race, she was far from being plain and subtle. Her usual way of doing things would’ve entailed kidnapping one, or all ofmy friends while she was at it, and replacing them until she could stay my hand. Even if she was alone now, I’d expected something more… something that was less…

“Talk. She wants to talk.”

There was nothing to talk about. Starlight had given her a chance. Twilight had given her a chance. All of Equestria, during the Second Battle of Canterlot, was willing to give her and her ‘companions’ a chance. After having blown up half of Canterlot, to boot!

“They took my life…”

The entrance to the Hive awaited me. Well, a multitude ofentrances. Centuries hadn’t been enough to get rid of its labyrinthic guts, it seemed. Just great. At least it hadn't collapsed in on itself like Canterhorn Peak had. A small glimmer of hope filled me when we thought that some changelings might still be around and taking care of the place, until I remembered who was waiting for me inside. That flicker then promptly died off into nothingness. I could only pray that the changelings, in the face of what was transpiring in Equestria, had found another place far, far away from here to live and grow with the new opportunity of freedom they had carved out for themselves.

According to Ikko, no creature had seen a changeling in as far as their memories reached. That didn't surprise me much, for it was their specialty after all. Permanent hiding was better than extinction, after all, for Chrysalis’ Hive was the last changeling hive to survive on the face of Equus. The fate of the others… well, I’m sure you can guess, considering how changelings were back then.

Steeling my nerves, I saw no reason to dawdle anymore. I had come there for a single reason. I would not falter, I would not show pity. If Chrysalis wanted to talk, we’d talk, but not before I had torn her vocal cords off so it would be me doing the talking.

Choosing the widest opening, I forced my feet to begin the march into the dark catacombs of the Hive. At least, I’d expected for it to be dark and gloomy, but I was pleasantly surprised to see that the bioluminescent lichen that, being the only organisms in Equus who could establish an actual symbiotic relationship with changelings, and therefore always painted the interior of the Hives with its greenish, feeble glow, had found a way to survive without them, providing the same gentle illumination it had done the first time I and my companions had ventured inside.

While its shape-shifting properties had disappeared alongside its inhabitants, kilometers of tunnels and galleries still stretched before me. I could already feel a headache building in my temples. There was no way I could remember the way we’d taken to reach the throne room last time, nor did I have a changeling with me to guide me through its morphing corridors. Considering half of our time had been spent tricking the changelings, and the other half running from them, it left precious little time remembering details like how we entered the lair of one of Equestria’s most dangerous enemies..

The long way it’d have to be. Knowing Chrysalis, she’d be waiting for me in the place her brethren betrayed her, surely ready and eager to deliver her ‘oh I’m so wicked and evil please bow to me’ speech. I wasn't gonna give her the chance to. I was more than fed up by now with her and all the single-minded, villainous scum whose asses we had kicked over and over again.

“What is she even trying to do?” I asked myself while debating whether to take the left or right tunnel to follow. “Is she seriously trying to lure me in and trap me… for what? Is she planning to conquer the Bay? She has no drones to aid her, and the gang already knows about her and her ways.” I had made sure to give them a quick crash course on how to spot and nullify a changeling before I’d finished packing the supplies. “Is this a personal matter? That’d be too much like her; she always did take things very personally.”

As I traversed tunnel after tunnel, gallery after gallery, I racked my brains trying to find the actual reason for her summons, creating all sorts of scenarios and anticipating them in my head. Crafty was a changeling’s middle name. I had to be prepared for anything.

“How did she even escape in the first pla-OUCH!!”

My mental ramblings had made me misjudge the height of the current tunnel’s height, making me bump my head against it as I exited into a wide, ample gallery. Tendrils of bioluminescent moss and lichen gripped and fell from the ceiling’s jutted spires, raining down like crooked stalactites, providing generous illumination.

I recognized that place.

“The nursery…”

The birthplace for all changelings under Chrysalis’ command, where she’d come and, well, do her thing. As a swarm-like species, they relied on the Queen to produce and maintain the brood. A special trait of changelings was that, theoretically, they could take the seed of any species they could transform into and produce offspring from it. The born changelings would inherit a natural shapeshifting affinity from their parental progenitor.

Chrysalis liked to… experiment, as I had the disgrace to learn firsthand when she’d first trapped me, before her attempt to overthrow Equestria’s leading figures.

My rage boiled tenfold as the tainted memories of her ‘fun times’ with me flashed before the empty chamber. As if I needed any more reason to despise her…

The scenery before me, however, was simply depressing. Where countless generations of enslaved changelings had been hatched here to terrorize Equestria, and a precious few were hatched in the freedom of Thorax’s new kingdom; now nature had reclaimed what it was due. The bottom of the chamber, gently curved in a concave manner to better host hundreds of eggs at the same time, was now completely sunk under a lake of murky water, creating some kind of pond where algae and a myriad of other bugs had taken residence. A few cracks in the ceiling allowed some tendrils of light to peek through and help nourish this new ecosystem. And yet, nature’s work or not, it was painfully evident that nothing had made use of this place in centuries.

A few other familiar landmarks welcomed me as I shambled blindly through yet more kilometers of tunnels, frequently making marks to avoid going in circles, yet never finding a single one no matter how far I delved into the core of the Hive. I remembered the throne room being somewhere around the highest point of the structure. That’d made it relatively easier to leave once I was done with Chrysalis. I just needed to find the twenty-meter-wide gap in the wall where the Onyx throne once stood, repurposed as a nice flower garden by the reformed changelings and their borderline hippy tendencies.

It was so weird and fun at the same time, seeing them carry themselves around, learning to be something else besides a mindless slave in an endless pursuit of feeding on love.

Sleeping chambers, feeding chambers, healing chambers, podding chambers… it was chambers all the way down for the changelings, and every single one of them that I passed through or beside bore the same marks of countless years of abandonment.

The dripping of infiltrating water through the numerous crevices was my only companion, frequently joined by the tumbling of loose pebbles hitting stone as the Hive suffered from the passage of the centuries.

My cavernous journey must’ve lasted at least three hours before I reached my destination. Every now and then, a hole in the wall, perhaps frozen in time from when the Hive superstructure had stopped shifting and morphing its guts, would reveal to me how much I had climbed. Progress was slow and painful.

I was moments away from snapping and literally blowing up the structure to make my own passages with magic before my eyes fell on a very familiar structure. Three archways, a central one with two smaller ones, one on each side, signaled the entrance to the throne room. That vision was seared into my memory. I knew where I was, and that the time had come. As the sun had reached its zenith, I fired my blades, overcoming the natural glow from the bioluminescent flora, and took heavy, rage-filled steps into the room.

The echo of my steps was deafening against the nerve-chilling silence. I sent my eyes everywhere, fighting to pierce the darkness in every corner. The prominent hole in the back of the room, which should’ve allowed me to see inside the cavern as clear as day, had collapsed alongside half of the room itself, swallowing the place where the garden, and the Onyx throne prior to it, had once proudly stood.

Two test fires of my gauntlets told me that they too were working correctly. I’d need every edge, every advantage…

‘Just what the fuck is she playing at?!!’

My blades’ glow revealed a generous area around me, yet the gloom of the cavern seemed to swallow everything else beyond it. Adrenaline dripped from my every pore, making my body steer and lunge at shadows, twisting and turning every time I thought I’d heard something scurrying behind my back.

I won’t lie, I was more terrified than I was angry. If she wanted to talk, why the game of shadows? Was she trying to play with me? Is that how she wanted to do things this time? Last time she hadn't bothered with such preliminaries.

“CHRYSALIS!!!” I boomed to the emptiness surrounding me. “COME OUT SO THAT I CAN END YOU!!!”

One minute. Two minutes. Nothing. I tried to bolster the shine of my blades to widen the light bubble around me, but the drain was beginning to become annoying and I needed to be on my A-game.

This time, there were no breaches in the ceiling for the midday light to peek through, meaning that the darkness had nothing to counter it. It was from that same ceiling that my friends had hung, podded and dreaming whatever dreams Chrysalis had bewitched them with as she fed on them to her heart's content.

We’d arrived quickly, meaning that the damage hadn't been severe, yet the act remained as monstrous as the day she tried to attack Canterlot with those other two abominations.

This was the place where it happened. My feet had carried me to the exact same spot where I did it. The day my pony friends learned how far I would go when I was beyond pissed, when some creature like her dared to bring such disharmony to my life and risk the lives of my loved ones.

It was here, in this exact spot, where I…

“Ah, finally…”

Binary was out of my hand before I could assemble a thought, flying straight and true toward the origin of the voice, coming straight from the same archways I had crossed but a moment ago.

There'd be no talking this day. I’d played her little games one too many times. This day would be under my rules. This day, I'd claim my vengea-

Listen.

Rainbow swirled before my eyes, taking hold of me. In a flash, my muscles weren't mine to command, nor were my thoughts my own. As my body spasmed and froze, a presence took over me, uttering a silent command my power gems were allowed to understand.

Binary froze in the air, its tip lodged in the changeling Queen’s broad neck, enough to pierce her chitin yet not deep enough to draw her greenish blood from beyond it. She just stood there, a fangy smirk denoting her momentary victory.

She hadn’t changed since the last time I’d seen her. Her empowered state, achieved thanks to the bewitching bell’s magic-stealing properties, was gone as per their defeat, leaving her still in all her mightiest. No more, nor fewer holes marred her slender body from what I could remember, meaning she’d kept herself at least well-fed to appear to me in such a state, a concept that terrified me beyond words. Had she already infiltrated the populated territories? Or was it something else? Chrysalis was as cunning as she was wicked. I didn't believe for a second she’d present to me as weak and feeble.

“Heed your master, Empyrean.” She purred, not even acknowledging the lunar blade impaled in her exposed neck.

“SHUT UP!!!” I wailed in rage, to her and the presence taking over my actions. I kicked and struggled, trying to regain control of my body, yet her presence was as overwhelming as it was commanding. As the rainbow swirl intensified, I felt myself falling to my knees, my hold on Binary faltering no matter how hard I pushed to lodge a few precious centimeters more into her throat.

Why? Why in the seven layers of Tartarus did Harmony have to choose THIS. EXACT. MOMENT. TO. INTERFERE?!! Why was she even interfering in the first place? I was about to rid this world of one of its oldest, AND most dangerous curses. Countless lives had been lost at their hooves. All changeling hives except hers had been eradicated during the times before Equestria was even formed. Why was she holding me back now?!! She wants me to…

“She wants you to listen, Empyrean,” Chrysalis spoke once again, almost reading my thoughts. Hell, as far as I knew, she might have been doing exactly that. “That is why I summoned you here, after all.”

“DIE!!!” I raged, giving one hundred percent effort to break free as all my efforts went to enact a push in Binary.

Chrysalis, however, saw no reason to fear me. Her unnerving, screeching laugh filled the ample room, making me grind my teeth to the point that I feared that I might crack them from the effort.

“Yeees, my little morsel. We’ll get to that in due time.” Effortlessly, mockingly so, Chrysalis sent a hole-filled hoof against the flat surface of the lunar blade, sending it scattering into the air as if it had been nothing but a pesky fly. At that moment, I felt harmony’s hold on me lessen, bringing me back control of my magic. I used it to resummon Binary to my side while I dragged myself up to my feet, feeling my limbs ache and protest from the magic-induced shock.

It was when I’d shaken the support out of me and pushed back the throbbing ache of my temples that I felt Binary within reach of my hand. I wasted not a moment to prepare a second lunge, but when my aching eyes, sparkles of light still flashing before my retinas, sought out my target, they found her already mere centimeters away from my face.

Tsking with her tongue, Chrysalis shook her head as if she were scolding one of her larvae.

“Now now, I wouldn't try that again if I were you.” That taunting undertone of her voice, smooth, almost seductive, as if two creatures were speaking at the same time, fueled my nightmares for many weeks after our first encounter. “We know better than to antagonize our ‘guardian angel’, don’t we?”

Her sudden proximity startled me, making me trip over my own feet. falling flat on my rear with Binary clattering at my side, a shield already up and around me before she had the chance to take another step.

Another wicked laugh. From all I’d heard from Equestria’s worst villains, hers was the most unnerving one. Evil and genuine, no restraint and all emotion. Ironic, considering the trademark of her race.

“Cute, Alexander,” She rolled my name over her tongue, savoring it like a piece of candy. “But it didn't save you last time.” From her crooked horn, a haunting, greenish glow began to emanate. At the same instant, I felt a force pushing against the translucent dome, slowly but surely rising in potency, seeking to strangle me. “What makes you think this time will be any different?”

The walls of my shield began to crack and tremble against her might. The green glow in her horn intensified, filling her eyes now as a hungry grin stitched itself across her fanged lips. She was making me work up a sweat but, with fear tightly gripping my heart, I wasn’t gonna let her get me so easily. I was a fool to have believed she wanted to talk and not simply end me there and then.

A counterattack was already forming in my mind when I felt my grip on the shield beginning to slip. As my panicking eyes fell on Binary, resting on the ground outside the dome, I began to web a spell that would…

“Then again,” Quick as lighting, her push against the shield disappeared as I was pouring even more magic towards it, almost causing a feedback loop in my gauntlets if I hadn’t cut the spell immediately after. “I did promise that I simply wanted to talk. So,” Taking calm steps around me, not even bothering to check for any attacks I might be mustering against her, Chrysalis had lost all her murderous intent in the blink of an eye. “Let us talk.” She called from over her shoulder, not lessening on her easy gait towards the eastern end of the throne room, cast in shadows like the rest of its outer perimeter.

I was beyond puzzled. She had me where she wanted me. I knew she had the magic necessary to end me, and she had just thrown away her best chance to do it. What was her plan? Was she still trying to lure me into a trap?

Did she genuinely just simply want us to… talk?

“What is the meaning of all this!!!” I demanded in rage, Binary back into my grip, burning as hot as the sun and as cold as the moon on each respective blade, ready for seconds.

With a bored look on her slender features, Chrysalis cast her sight over her shoulder, half of her face obscured by her billowing mane. “Do I need to explain the meaning of ‘talking’ to you, Prince of Knowledge?” She taunted, making my grip on Binary tighten. “And here I thought you were the smartest creature on Equus… Ups.” A hoof came to her muzzle to hide a polite giggle. “Apologies. Second smartest. That cute little alicorn of yours beat you to it, didn't she? Isn't that why you’re here, at this time, in this place?”

I wasn't gonna take more of her horseshit. Enough times she had played with me and came out unscathed.

“Faust help me, parasite, I swear I’ll…”

“Although,” She interrupted me rudely, caring little for my, in her eyes, childish threats as she plopped her rump onto the ground, seemingly satisfied with the place she had reached inside the cavern. “You have a new alicorn plaything now. Isn’t she the cutest little ray of sunshine? Oh, I simply could just… gobble her up.”

“I WILL END YOU!!!”

“Ugh, again with that…” Chrysalis rolled her eyes, releasing a tired puff through her nostrils, unbothered by my heavy stomps as I tracked her, blades at the ready, trails of steam and condensation forming around each respective blade. “There’ll be time for that later. But first…”

“There is nothing to talk about between us!!” Only a few more steps and I’d be within reach. Nothing would stop me this time. I’d strangle her with my own hands if that’s what it’d take.

“True.” She acknowledged calmly, slowly motioning her head upwards to peer at the darkness above us. “But there is to them…”

Her horn went off again. I summoned another shield in front of me, preparing for another attack, yet nothing came for me. In my rage-fuelled state, I hadn't even noticed the striking lack of natural illumination, provided by the bioluminescent denizens of the hive. At the command of their Queen, equal parts lichen and moss fired up in greenish glory, filling the cavern with the light I so desperately sought.

It was the moment my eyes followed the glowing trail, drawn involuntarily upwards as they filled the cave with light, that I wished I hadn't.

Dozens, hundreds, countless pods hugged all available spots on the walls, climbing all the way up the roof and beyond my sight. Lifeless, without their telltale glow when somepony occupied them, yet a shadow could be discerned from the inside, meaning they weren't without an occupant.

A fear like no other sunk its icy claws in me. Was I too late? Had she already… somehow. Had she?

“Talk to them, Empyrean.” Chrysalis continued from her place, as calm and caring as before. “Tell them what you told me. Tell my children how you’d fix Equestria.”

‘... Her… children?’

“They held on. They held on for as long as they could.” Chrysalis, seemingly satisfied with her work, ceased her casting and stood up once again, describing a lazy arc around me as she too sent her attention to the podded changelings. “That old fool made sure of it.”

With a dip of her head, she motioned towards another corner of the room. Feeling as stiff as the stone that once had trapped her, I followed her line of sight. There, tucked against a free space on the wall, were the remains of an opened pod, the fluids long since having dried up, giving it an almost stony, fossilized appearance.

And, right beside it, what I could only describe as an altar of sorts stood precariously over a stony base, made up of loose rocks and pebbles from around the room. The pair of huge, moose-like horns that rested atop it, however, was all I needed to know regarding who Chrysalis was referring to.

“... No…”

“You promised them, Empyrean.” Chrysalis continued as I felt my grip on the blades falter, my murderous intent slowly trickling away, being replaced by dread. “You promised them when you and that… accursed Starlight Glimmer,” The amount of venom in her voice when her name came up was staggering. “Turned them against me. Tell them about their great future amidst your vision.”

“T-Thorax…”

Tears began to blur my vision, but Chrysalis cared not for them, continuing her path past the altar.

“Tell her, Prince of Equestria.”

A brief flash of her horn tore my sight from the altar, questions of by whom or why had it been erected forgotten in the sea of pain and shame swallowing me. Following the queen’s casting, a gash appeared in one of the pods, not too high up the wall opposite from us.

A tear was opened on the lifeless pod, and a body was dropped unceremoniously from it, hitting the ground with a wet, sickening *splotch*

The stench of death and decomposition almost threw me off my feet, twisting knots in my stomach until I could taste the bile in the back of my mouth.

“Tell her of the future you were going to build for them. For all of us.”

Fighting down the urge to puke a week’s worth of meager meals, I slowly approached the pale figure, draped on its side with a few tendrils of viscous, smelly fluid trickling over its smooth surface.

The pod had done its work as best it could, having preserved the body to a state of mid-decomposition while an exposed corpse would’ve turned to little but bones by now.

And yet, with spindly limbs and a hollowed body, thin and frail after centuries trapped in the pod without a meal, the corpse of my old friend, and one of my best students, brought me down on my knees once again, Binary discarded and forgotten at my side.

“Tell her, Empyrean.” I felt Chrysalis’ breath on my ear, yet I couldn't bring myself to care anymore.

“... O-O-Oce… O-c-c-cellus?”

Even in this state, I could see she had grown up to be a proper changeling in the years after my absence.

There she laid, however. Dead, and half-rotten at my feet.

“They are dead, Alexander. All of them.”

My vision blurred completely as countless tears streamed down my cheeks. A knot sought to choke my throat, forcing pained, ragged breath in and out as I struggled to comprehend what was in front of me.

This was no changeling hive anymore. Chrysalis had summoned me to a tomb.

“Dead, Empyrean.” I felt her snarl at my side, yet her words seemed so far away…

“Dead, because of you.”

Chapter 42- The Sinner. Part 4.

“My my… what a scrumptious parade of treats keeps trickling into my home…”

Queen Chrysalis, foulest of Equestria’s banes throughout its ample history, laughed a victorious, borderline maniacal cackle from her comfortable place on her throne. Her seat of power was carved from an amorphous mass of rock, as dark as a starless night, taking a shape which, to most creative minds, could somewhat resemble a place where one could park their royal buttocks.

As she wheezed out the last ebbs of laughter and licked her lips with the hunger of a predator, her deep-green eyes took their sweet time to drink in the battered sight of the three sole remainders of our hastily-assembled rescue party, said members shuffling nervously at my sides as unease took hold of their spirit under Chrysalis’ intense gaze.

All our instincts screamed at us to put as much ground between her and us as possible, but the lives of our closest friends and family were at stake here.

I, on the contrary to the unicorn mare and the changeling male accompanying me, remained stone-faced and unbothered by her usual show of taunting. Previous, unfortunate meetings with the changeling race and their Queen had won me the lucky chance to experience a full-on course of ALL the wonders a changeling can muster and excel at using their natural gifts.

It didn't work then, and it wouldn't work now. In her arrogance, Chrysalis was committing the same mistake that she’d done with me in the not-so-distant past. I could already tell, just as had happened previously, that it would be her downfall. This time, I wouldn't be pushed around like a broken toy.

The ponies would thank me later.

Flicking out the grime from under my nails, I allowed her crazed tirade of humiliation and victory-drunken boasting number (her usual handbook) to enter one ear and escape via the other like the annoying buzz of a pesky fly at lunchtime.

She was too high on her own arrogance to even notice. With a mighty buzz of her insectoid wings, Chrysalis holstered herself from her Onyx Throne to hover triumphantly above us and, more importantly, between her newest acquisitions.

Those acquisitions were the main source of my concern and the sole focus of my attention; not the crowned pest reminding us yet again of how petty and insignificant we were under her might and how masterfully and dexterously her plan had worked to ensnare and replace Equestria’s best and most powerful leaders. A move that she assured to us, without a shadow of a doubt, would entail her inescapable ascension.

I sent my sight upwards. There, shining with an eerie glow, a myriad of cocoons hung from the high-reaching ceiling, inside each of them a crucial individual for Equestria’s present and future sleeping peacefully through the storm. Friends, and what I had slowly begun to call a family of my own, each remained motionless within the viscous fluid of their sac, hanging helplessly as their bodies writhed every now and then with the contents of their forcefully induced dreams.

Chrysalis finally took a respite from her victory speech to notice how I was, in fact, not bothering to counter a single word that came out of her fang-filled muzzle. Her eyes followed my own as I scrutinized each pod in search of a glimmer of damage any of my friends might have endured under her treatment, an arduous task since the translucent shell of the pods only barely allowed me to single out the outline and bellowing wisps of manes and tails as they floated inside.

Chrysalis needed nothing else to connect the dots and come up with her usual whipping commentary. “Ah… yes.” She purred, a tender caress of her underhoof over the pod containing Luna accompanying her words. “The bonds of love. Such a sweet, delicate thing...”

Her predatory pearls zeroed back onto mine, calling for my undivided attention as she buzzed between the pods, coming to hover near one in particular.

“They were deeply worried about you, Alexander. Some more so than others, but…” She sheathed her wings under the elytra, grasping with her spindly, holed legs on the pod like a spider to a web, wiggling it back and forth for a moment while bringing her face close to it as her serpentine tongue came out to lick its slick surface. “This one. This one had loooots of love to give. Would you know anything about that, human?”

“M-My Queen, please…” The ever-shy and skittish Thorax, ‘reformed’ changeling card under his belt, as he’d come to claim when seeking us, and our main guide through the labyrinthian guts of the Hive, stuttered meekly a step or two behind me, trying miserably while knowing well that his Queen was beyond reason, especially whilst dealing with a traitor like him.

Chrysalis acted as if he didn't exist, and I followed her lead. What little love I held for the changeling and their kind as a whole prevented me from giving a rat’s ass about his state.

The Queen held on tightly to the pod containing the mare who I most cherished in this land of ponies that I‘d been stranded in. A pony who, at one point, had hidden a terrible truth and driven me to being mere moments away from strangling her with my bare hands, but whom thoughts of now had become a rollercoaster of emotions as I rethought much of what made me human, and of my upbringing on Earth.

Twilight’s alicorn outline swayed slowly inside the pod, her wings partially unfolded in her relaxed state, eyes closed and emotionless, unaware of the monster salivating at the mere thought of another bite from her.

As if I needed any more reason to enact what I was planning to unleash on Chrysalis. My hand twitched with eagerness, but I had to bide my time. I had promised Starlight, after all.

Chrysalis knew what my heart still battled over. She could smell it on her, and most importantly, she could smell it on me.

And she wasted no breath to use it against me.

“Hmm, it seems that this young princess is in luck!” She mockingly celebrated with a buzz of her wings. “A valiant knight in… plain clothes, has… disappointingly, come to her rescue!” She unglued herself from the pod and landed on her four hooves, a miracle at work preventing them from snapping from the number of holes marring their figure.

With an extended hoof, she continued. “Pray tell, what does this brave knight and his pitiful party have planned to stop me?” She half asked, half demanded, making sure to glance back at our two trapped companions, who had sacrificed themselves to the changelings tailing us through the caverns so that we could make it this far. Starlight’s fearful eyes were fixed on Trixie while I cast a passing glance at the languid form of the Lord of Chaos. If it weren’t for the Onyx Throne and its magic-stealing properties, Discord alone could have handled this rescue with a snap of his fingers. Chrysalis had played her cards well bringing us to her terrain, upon which she believed she now enjoyed a home-field advantage.

“Release them at once, Chrysalis!” Starlight demanded, heart-wrenching worry for her newest friend of misadventures fueling her resolve and erasing any trace of the quaking in her legs. “Thorax has learned the truth of friendship, and he will share it with all of the other changelings!! And, once they see it for themselves, you’ll be done fo-mmmph!!”

A greenish aura sealed Starlight’s lips shut, followed by a startled buzz from Thorax and a sickly groan from the changeling Queen.

“Ugh, utter another word and I’ll regret having gorged myself on all that love...” A hoof flew to Chrysalis' muzzle as she somehow managed to turn even more green. “You ponies and your ‘friendship’, blegh.” A flash of her crooked horn turned the hold on Starlight’s muzzle into a temporary seal, rendering the mare speechless for the sake of the Queen’s delicate stomach.

I knew she was putting on an act. She must feel so proud of herself before going to bed.

I felt a hoof frantically tugging at my jacket’s sleeve. I peered down at Starlight’s borderline-panicking orbs as she pleaded with them the words she couldn’t blurt out of her sealed muzzle.

That seal could’ve been around her neck for all I cared. That mare deserved everything that befell her. Why couldn't she have been one of the ones to be kidnapped from the beginning instead of one of my friends? At least it’d make me care the slightest amount.

… Nah, I’d allowed her to play her little number to her heart’s content, and I was now growing weary of her shameless boasting and comically villainous cackling. Thorax had his own task of trying to convince his brothers and sisters of the light he’d discovered while we dealt with Chrysalis. Good luck with that. And Starlight wasn't looking too fresh herself to tackle an ancient and powerful creature like the Queen of the last remaining Hive on Equus was. It was up to me to buy the time necessary for the wake-up call and subsequent rebellion Thorax had envisioned.

A shame I didn't care nor need his side of the plan to work for mine to come to fruition.

I felt it was time to step in. “Three warnings, Chrysalis,” I reached behind my back, a mask of tranquility on my features as my fingers coiled around the butt of the crossbow attached to the holster running over my shoulder, a mirror one draped above the other holding the gun. “Let them go.”

The bug Queen lost her theatrics to address me, almost excited that I’d finally broken my silence.

“Hive Mother, he speaks!!” She guffawed, her changelings following in tow, filling the throne room with an unnerving chitter that gave me a nasty case of goosebumps. “And here I thought the ponies had got your tongue!” She buzzed into the air to land closer to us, still keeping a generous margin but close enough for me to follow her serpentine tongue as she licked her long fangs. “Ah… I missed that voice. Oh, the sweet things you’d sing to me when we played together. I can’t tell if I’m more thrilled by my conquest or that you’ve returned to be by my side!” Her eyelids narrowed with a devilish smirk. “I told you that it was only a matter of time.” She purred.

“Let them go.”

Two warnings had now been sounded, yet Chrysalis wasn't deterred in the slightest. On the contrary; the moment she noticed the crossbow was in my hands, she cracked up into another bout of guffaws, her children following the silent command to join her in a deafening cacophony.

I didn't need it to be big or menacing, only reliable. I only had one shot.

Tensing the string until a *click* saw it fixed into position over the trigger, I reached behind me again and fished for the dart in my pants’ rear pocket. Removing the protective casing over the needle tip with my teeth, I patiently placed it into position over the wooden frame while Chrysalis continued laughing her wings off.

“Mmmmph!!” A vigorous shake of Starlight's head, pleading with me to stop, while Thorax tried to reason with the closest changelings to us, failing miserably under the roar of their mocking. Up in the ceiling, our friends twitched in their pods, ears darting back and forth, almost as if the sound of insectoid-like laughing could breach through their deep slumber.

I ignored the unicorn’s pleas and forcefully nudged her away on her rump, my knuckles cracking as I gave a hard squeeze to the frame and holstered the crossbow up, my right eye fixed in the carved sight, aiming straight for her chest.

“Let. Them. Go.”

Three.

Noticing the darkening of my tone, Chrysalis brought herself down from her high. Squeezing in a few last laughs in that creepy, overlapping drone of her voice, the changeling Queen quickly took notice of the weapon pointed dead at her. Her eyebrows knitted themselves into a glare as the mirth evaporated from the throne room, leaving an eerie silence only breached by the occasional buzzing of restless changelings.

“FOOL!!!” Chrysalis was done with her little game, bringing herself aloft to hover just in front of the agglomeration of glowing pods, gently disturbing them with the rapid flap of her insectoid wings. “I’m starting to think I squeezed too much out of you. You must be impaired if you think you have the slightest chance of defeating me!!”

She opened her forelegs wide to encompass the totality of her triumph. “ALL of Equestria’s greatest figures, leaders, or ANYCREATURE that might pose a threat to my ultimate claim!! I am now the sole ruler of Equestria!! You, ponies, are mine to feed upon and obey me for the rest of time!! My children will run free and URRGK!!”

‘Hmm, a bit too high, but it’ll do.’

In her bragging, Chrysalis had failed to catch the dart flying straight towards her. I’d aimed for her chest but I’d instead ended up striking her in the left side of her long neck, the sharp sting making a tangle of her words on her tongue and forcing her into a rough landing on her side as her hooves unsteadily tried to claw at her own throat.

An ear-piercing hiss echoed through the ample cavern. As if a switch had been flicked, the mass of changelings surrounding us from all fronts lost their collective glee for their Queen’s mockery and replaced it with threatening snarls, their pointy fangs flared, dripping foul droplets of paralyzing venom in readiness.

Chrysalis needed a few attempts to find and dislodge the dart from her tender chitin. Sparing it a venomous glare, she tossed it onto the floor of the cavern before swooping down to stomp it to smithereens, sending that very same glare towards me.

“You hairless freak!! Do you think that’s all it will take to defeat me?!!”

“... I guess not,” I replied nonchalantly, discarding the now-useless crossbow somewhere behind me, allowing myself a brief smirk when I heard it bonk against an unsuspecting changeling's head. “Although I almost believed I did. You were all ‘arrgh! urrgk!’ and all that. One can only guess what happens the day you get stung by a bee.” I mimicked her choking gestures with my hands, sticking my tongue out and giving her back a bit of her own medicine, adding even more logs to the Queen’s roaring inferno.

Virtually foaming at the mouth, Chrysalis looked ready to lunge and tear me a new one, yet I could glimpse how, at the last second before going for the pounce, a strange taste filled her muzzle, her hissing tongue coming to hide behind her lips to better discern the sudden invader.

‘Fucking A, it’s working.’

“W-What was that?” The pathetic squeaks from Thorax fell on deaf ears as I waited for the tense seconds to pass until Chrysalis had concluded her self-exam. She had nothing to worry about though where her life was concerned, yet her flames were not appeased by that fact.

“... Did you seriously just try to poison me?” Chrysalis seethed, letting go of the weird taste assaulting her taste buds to grant me her full attention once again.

“Beta-enriched endosulfan. Banned in two-thirds of Earth’s countries, last time I checked.” I put on my ‘professor glasses’ and explained in short. “So, you tell me.”

“You mindless moron!!!” Chrysalis exploded once again, wings flared and held up in defiance. “I am a changeling Queen! The blood of ALL Equus’ creatures runs through my veins! No poison in the world can kill me, for there is none that I can't counter!!”

“Kill you? That’s what you think I’m trying to do?” I fired back, almost sounding offended.

Chrysalis reeled back slightly, surprised by my bluntness while the Hive watched attentively.

“What kind of monster do you take me for?! I’m not trying to kill you!!” I brushed her accusation to the musty air while pointing up to our trapped friends. “I’d never hear the end of it from them if I killed you! Jesus fucking Christ!”

Chrysalis could only blink owlishly, a gesture mirrored by Thorax and Starlight at my sides, the latter still trying and failing to remove the seal around her muzzle through non-magical means. It was in moments like these that you became painfully aware of how actually useful magic can be, and this was coming from someone who in theory wasn't supposed to be able to use it at all. That had led me to make use of… creative approaches to deal with the Changeling Queen. The hate and resentment I felt for that spawn of Tartarus was beyond measure, but the lives of our closest friends and family were at risk. Cool heads must prevail above anything else.

That didn't mean, though, that I couldn’t return the favor.

“No no… god, it won’t kill you… It will just render you sterile. Forever.”

If the previous silence was deafening, now it felt as if the air had been sucked from the room, leading us to ponder in a vacuum. Her eyes narrowed to pinpricks, her breath hitching at her throat. Once again, she knew that I knew, that I knew that particular fact about changeling physio-anatomy I’d become introduced to after a thorough research session on their kind. The bane of all colony-based species. In their game of chess, if you strike the Queen, all roads after lead to checkmate.

And none of her shape-shifting capabilities would save her from the curse of her own biochemistry. The fun things you learn at college!

“Sooo, yeah, no more egg laying for mama bug. Your egg factories are now officially as dry as the wastes around us.” The joke was on her now, and you can bet your ass I was gonna milk it for all it was worth, not giving a damn about the color slowly draining from her face.

“It's beta-enriched too! So good luck trying to find a species to shape-shift into that’s capable of fixing that mess. You wanna know something else cool about it? It targets the limbic system, producing endocrine and hormonal imbalances, which means…”

I made a number of hard sniffs several times while running my sight across the countless minions waiting for a command from their queen. Funny thing… they wouldn't be getting one, at least not through their special way of communication.

“T-The smell…” Thorax was the first to voice what the Hive was slowly coming to realize, countless changelings shifting in their places while a new clarity of mind slowly settled within them. “It’s gone!”

“Y-You…” The broken sound of Chrysalis' voice dragged me back to her, a hoof coming to rest on her underbelly while her horn flashed a few times, confirming what I had been taunting her with.

The only difference between her threat and mine was that my threats weren’t empty ones.

“Me?” I pointed at myself with an innocent pout.

“What have you done?!!” She demanded with a snarl, yet the smallest twinkle of an unsheathed tear in her eye filled my heart with more resolution than a thousand miraculous rescues ever could.

“Uhh, have you been listening to a word I’ve just said?” I was drunk on the desperation that slowly consumed her.

With a cry of utmost fury, she boomed commands at her children.

“KILL HIM AND TAKE THE ANTIDOTE!!!”

“...”

“WHAT ARE YOU WAITING FOR?!!! TEAR HIM APART!!! YOUR QUEEN COMMANDS YOU!!!”

“You see,” I answered for her changelings, who looked at their siblings left and right with puzzlement, not obeying her orders of murder while unsure of why they actually weren’t dancing at her beck and call. “Everypony thinks your children obey you out of sheer fright. Some even go as far as to claim mind magic is the reason. But I know how you bugs work, and all those special things you guys can do that fly over us poor vertebrates.”

With my most devilish smirk, I took half a step back to pat Thorax’s head, the poor ‘ling as confused as his siblings.

“So now, you’ll have to do as the rest of us do and boss your way around the old-fashioned way. Do you feel like tearing me apart, Thorax?”

Thorax fixed his compound eyes at me, muzzle opening and closing like a fish out of the water, for that was exactly how he was currently feeling. For the first time in their collective story, the drones weren’t being subjected to a Queen’s influence. It was never about magic, at least not without obliterating a drone’s mind in the process. The actual reason why all the magic-based attempts to disrupt their hierarchy had failed. Until now.

Thorax had already experienced a taste of true independence when he’d spent so much time away from the Hive. He’d discovered that his nature wasn’t one of pure, mindless evil and that the permanent thirst for love that befell his kind since their dawn didn't make him a monster by default. A trait of his species that was no different than the hunger any creature feels regardless of their place in the food chain, and that as a rational, sentient being, he could find a compromise to sate it.

But that day, at that precise moment, he became something more. The changelings surprised themselves when the compulsion to obey, the rage that filled each and every bone they didn't actually possess banished in a flicker, leaving only the empty screams of an enraged creature they had never had the chance to call anything else but their ‘Queen’.

Their Queen was issuing an order, and they were having doubts.

A glimmer of hope shone in Starlight’s eyes, her sharp mind clicking with my intentions.

“Mmmmph!!” She nudged Thorax, breaking the spell that kept him mumbling like an idiot, ushering him to get a move on with his side of the plan.

“I-I… I don’t…” But the poor ‘ling couldn’t utter a word that could sum up what he was experiencing.

Chrysalis ran her sights around the room frantically, searching for a glimmer of obedience, yet all her children remained in place, now peering at their ruler with puzzlement, and even a hateful look or two amongst the crowd, instead of their standard blank expressions.

The changelings were waking up, and she was losing control.

“CURSED HUMAN!!” She sent her wrath at me. “WHAT HAVE YOU DONE?!!!”

“What?” I chuckled, shrugging my shoulders. “Your special throne sucks up all magic, remember? A man’s gotta get creative with those odds.”

“I WILL KILL YOUR FRIENDS!!! I WILL LEAVE THEM WITHERED HUSKS AND USE ALL THAT LOVE TO DESTROY YOU AND YOUR PRECIOUS PONIES IF YOU DON’T GIVE ME THE ANTIDOTE!!!”

Her threats were sound and clear, enough to make your average pony piss themselves and flee with their tail between their legs. Alas, to ashes they turned when my turn came to fill the throne room with loud, obnoxious laughter.

“Oh my god, Chrysalis! I thought I’d been clear about this already!” I wheezed out between cackles, patting my knee while the Queen shed the green for a delicious shade of red.

“DON’T YOU DARE MOCK ME, YOU WORTHLESS PIECE OF…!!!”

“There’s no antidote, Chrysalis,” I replied in short, freezing the Queen in place as if lightning had struck her. “I never bothered creating one.”

Reaching back, I took hold of the gun’s butt and slid the holster so it could hang in front of me at arms reach, feeling that my little ‘joke’ had fanned the flames beyond the brink of reason.

With a measured step forward, I took in the image of the room before once more glaring fixedly at the bug whose world I’d just shattered, whose future I’d just condemned to the darkest pits of Tartarus. It was a waiting game now, only a matter of time. For me.

“An antidote is what a pony would do, Chrysalis. That's what she proposed, in fact.” I pointed back at Starlight, whose deep shock was a product of her ignorance of a lack of said antidote, for I had reassured her I was carrying one with me.

Oops.

“And still, knowing that I would come to their rescue, you’ve made the same mistake as you did the last time we met.”

It was that day, under the watchful eye of a thousand and one changelings, that I brought to heel one of Equestria’s oldest enemies.

“I am NOT a pony.”

“Dead, because of you.”

“...”

I was in a cloud. But… not in a cloud, like a pegasus would be, all snuggled up in silky, refreshing comfort, letting the cool, vaporized moisture sap the bothersome heat of a hard day’s worth of weather patrolling. I was in that cloud where evercreature runs to hide after the worst of news is delivered to them. That place where we all find shelter from reality, when the feeling of our limbs fades away, leaving the drum of our breathing and the blur of the tears masking the horror in front of us.

A thunderous battle erupted in my mind, jumpstarting the old cogs into an emergency recollection of what I’d just learned, and just saw with my own two eyes. In my detached state, I could only find one logical conclusion that would explain what my eyes were feeding me.

‘... This is a trick… She’s trying to trick me. She’ll…’

Masters of illusions changelings were... but only to a point. I’d experienced first hand their mind tricks and learned the painful way how to tell apart dreams from reality. This was no trick. The bony-thin, rotting corpse resting within my arms, with its foul smell and empty eyes, was no trick. The countless bodies of the last remains of changeling kind, granted a new hope in the light of our rescue, a second chance to rise up as the proud race they deserved to be; were not a product of my imagination.

‘... It’s a trick. I-I have to wake up. I h-have to…’

Ocellus' eyes, lacking eyelids as it was for her kind, peered behind me into the nothingness for the rest of eternity. Her body, slick with the gooey substance that would preserve them inside the pods, threatened to slip in my feeble grip as my body rocked and crumbled with every sob that betrayed my delusions of a trick being played on me.

Dead. They were all dead. Chrysalis wouldn’t need smoke and mirrors this time to destroy me. She just needed to show me the fruits of my labor. My work. My sins.

My legacy.

“Look at her, Alexander.” Chrysalis remained close, silently drinking in my pain with gusto, yet any semblance of satisfaction remained closely hidden behind her mask of pure hatred. “Look at them!”

I felt her telekinetic grip around my head. She could’ve snapped my neck with a flick of her horn if she‘d wished to. Instead, she dragged my attention from my old friend to the hundreds of remaining pods, still disturbed as were their hosts. Unmoving, silent, gone.

… They were looking at me.

‘W-W-Wha…?’

I couldn't see anything beyond the blur of my tears. I couldn’t hear anything beyond the beating of my pulse in my ears, but their screams…

‘... murderer!!’

‘so hungry…’

‘YOUR FAULT!!!’

‘... our friends…’

‘... freedom…’

‘... he promised…’

‘why…?’

With a startle that froze my blood solid, I dropped Ocellus' remains with a wet plop and scurried away from it like injured vermin, heart beating a mile a minute, a gloved hand rising to grasp it and keep it in place once I’d achieved sufficient distance. Her painful wail hammered my ears, filling me with a sensation I cannot describe.

She was dead, her body draped over the cold stones like a rag doll, compound eyes fixed at me, lacking the spark of life, yet tearing at my soul.

‘N-No… it w-was not… It's not…!!’

“Do you hear them, Empyrean?” Chrysalis’ question bounced around the silent cavern, sending her eyes up as I clenched mine shut, covering my ears like a child afraid of the barking of a dog, clenching my teeth hard as I struggled to keep the ghosts at bay. “Their pain echoes through the Over Hive to this day. It drew me here after I was free from that cursed stone prison.” Her green, haunting orbs fixed themselves over me, speaking with the hatred of countless lost souls. “They curse the freedom you granted them. The freedom to starve to death when the world cast them aside, when your promises took root and your vision became a reality.”

“S-S-Stop. P-Please…” I begged with a whisper, down on my knees while the wails of the dead drowned me, summing a pressure on my chest that threatened to cave it in. They were looking at me, from their hanging tombs they peered down at me with ire. I could feel it, even with my eyes closed, I felt their gazes burning a hole in the back of my neck. Goosebumps crawled all over me, my senses screaming and short-circuiting, unable to cope with this new reality.

They cursed my name, then called for my head. My life's goal, my gift, for everycreature.

‘I’m s-so sorry! Please, PLEASE NO MORE!!!’

A sharp pain sent me unceremoniously back into the waking world when my hands were forcefully torn from my ears. My teary vision was then filled with a changeling Queen glaring centuries worth of resentment straight into my soul.

“Demands? From you?!!” She boomed, fangs coming close enough to my face that I could almost feel them piercing my skin.

I couldn’t have cared less about the survival instincts making a ruckus out of my troubled mind. Something inside me broke, making me shake like a leaf.

I answered the only way I could. The only way I knew.

“It… It’s n-not my f-fault...”

A rivulet of filtering water leaking from somewhere in the ceiling, counting one, two, three heartbeats before the thunder…

“... You DARE!!!”

A telekinetic wave launched from my crumbled, defeated position on the ground, sending me on my back a few meters into the throne room. A sharp sting numbed my injured shoulder, quickly followed by screaming alarms from the rest of my wounds, some halfway through their healing process opening wide again and staining my already filthy clothes with blood.

“Fuck!!!” I clutched my throbbing shoulder, feeling as if a thousand needles were being jabbed in unison over it while my fingers became stained crimson with blood. But my true concerns lay on Chrysalis, foaming at the mouth and two pinpricks as eyes as she quickly caught up with me, murder intent oozing from her every pore. My survival instincts kicked into gear once again, this time screaming at me loud enough that I’d better get some footing under me, or she’d rip me to pieces and feed them to a tatzlwurm.

Doing so clumsily like an infant during their first steps, I summoned Binary to my hand, having forsaken it beside Ocellus’ corpse in my startle. Chrysalis had another idea in mind. Just as I could feel its leathery grip on the joined handles at my wetted fingertips, she cast a quick telekinetic shove, sending them off course to bounce against the stony ground. I was rendered without a chance to resummon them as the very same magic took hold of the neck of my shirt, pulling me against my will towards her open jaws.

“You will NOT run away this time, human!!” She screamed at my face as her dominating presence and stronger magic brought me down to my knees. “I brought you here so that you could face the consequences of your acts!! So you could experience ALL the pain your actions brought to my children!!”

Powering my gauntlets, I sent an energy wave between us, buying me some much-needed distance between her dripping fangs and my exposed neck.

“I brought them nothing!!” I fired back in ire, frustration, shame, and soul-wrenching pain; all building up in a feedback loop inside of me and breaching through, making my temper grow in the blink of an eye. She wasn't gonna bully me around! Not again!!

I spoke with hurt since my mind still reeled from the ghostly wails that haunted me from beyond the grave. “Nothing but the chance to decide for themselves!! A future away from you!!” I used the precious moments she needed to shake the stupor from her to re-summon my weapon to my side, angling it towards her in preparation for the showdown. That’s the reason I’d traveled there, after all.

“A future?! What future?! This?!” Chrysalis’ focus returned to the lifeless pods once again, pointing a hoof up in emphasis. “Is this the future you wanted for them?! Was it not enough when you robbed me of the chance to have more children?! Was it all part of your plan?!!” Her horn crackled with greenish energy, forcing me to change my stance to a defensive one. “First you rob us of our continuity!! And then spit out false promises while you watch with your forelegs crossed as your precious ponies starved my children to death!!”

Chrysalis let go of her magic, taking flight as emerald lighting flew straight against my shield. I was beginning to regret having given Sunny my pendant. I sure felt that one, and the accumulated exhaustion from my long journey wasn’t helping me make a proud standing.

The lighting crashed against the shield, my defenses holding if only barely, bouncing them around the curvy outline of the shield to rain upon the walls of the cavernous room. Some found home in the numerous pods tightly clinging to the walls, the strength from their caster enough to make the gooey prisons burst out like water balloons in a haunting show. Viscous slime, pod tissue, and bodies rained down from the heavens around us, painting the place in a disgusting show of gore. My stomach churned, the pungent smell empowered me a hundred times over now. But I couldn't let it distract me if I wanted to spare myself from a world of pain.

“It’s not my fault!!” I reaffirmed my stance, having to yell it so that I could cling to some semblance of belief for my own claim. I was no fool, I knew deep inside; but I was blinded by soul-crushing shame. I simply couldn't see it then, nor I would I give her the satisfaction. “I stood true to my promises! But I cannot change the hearts of ponies!! We tried, for MONTHS!! We couldn't understand what was going on, why Opaline words found rooting so strong, so fast!! We tried, Chrysalis!!”

“Oh, I know you tried...” She rebutted with unnerving calmness, not batting an eye to the rain of gore coming to an end around us. “I could hear you and your precious Twilight butting heads over it while going to the Garden of Statues for some privacy. I could smell the desperation taking hold of you slowly, day after day, dead end after dead end. You tried, and you failed, Empyrean. Nothing but a selfish, misguided creature who should’ve never been brought into this world, too blind in his ambition to see how his touch poisoned the ponies he had come to love until it was too late.”

I felt something snap inside me. Balling my hands into fists to the point my gauntlets threatened to snap, I countered her accusations the best way I could…

Agreeing with her, for she was right.

“Selfish?… SELFISH?!!! Of course I’m selfish!!! I’M THE MOST SELFISH BEING ON THS FUCKING PLANET!!!” I sent a hand up into the air, LIMstone facing forward for her to see. “This!! Is me being selfish!!” I fished my smartphone from my pant pocket and showed it to her. “This!! Is me being FUCKING SELFISH!!” In a fit of rage, I smashed the phone against the stony ground, the force enough to tear it apart into a pile of useless junk.

Not a single blink betrayed any trace of a thought that Chrysalis might’ve been mulling while I felt I was about to turn into a volcano, simply watching me lose my bearings with the tiniest of smirks denoting her satisfaction.

“I made friends with ponies because I was selfish! I learned their culture, their ways, and customs. I learned to wield their magic, because I was selfish! I fell in love with a mare, a MARE, and fucked her every single day afterward because I was selfish!! I took a crown on my head and a blast through my heart because I was selfish!!”

In another fit, I dug Binary into the ground, the sharpness of the lunar blade enough to cut stone until almost half of it had disappeared into the blackened rock littered with moss-filled cracks.

“But I’ll tell you the same thing I told that mismatched freak of nature!” I pointed a very accusing finger at her smirking form. “You do NOT give me morality lessons. Equestria’s most disgraced bane does NOT speak to me about being selfish!! I know very well what I am!!! And I tried nonetheless, every single day for TWO YEARS, I tried!!! We all tried!! But they would not LISTEN!!”

A few silent seconds passed while I regained my composure. With a flick of her tail and a loud snort, Chrysalis turned tail and brushed my fit off like a foal’s tantrum, trotting towards the west side of the room, continuing with her speech while not even bothering to address my demand. “This is not about your pathetic attempts to rein Equestria back into the herd. This is not about that demented alicorn spitting a venom deadlier than mine could ever hope to be.”

She came to a halt in front of where her throne once stood, all traces of it and the dangerous meteoric stone it was built upon erased from this world after the changeling insurrection. “Own it or not, this is about you, Prince of Knowledge.” She fixed her rage-filled orbs on me from over her shoulder. “Knowledge. That's what you brought, what you gave away like free candy. Information, ideas, and ways of thinking. Everypony wanted a piece of the cake! Then everycreature!! It gave you friends, power, recognition, a THRONE!!”

Magical power spilled out of her like a waterfall. In the blink of an eye, the pile of rubble that had collapsed over the gap in the wall, which previously had hosted a beautiful garden to help the changelings forget about the dark throne and the Queen who presided over it, was blown to smithereens outwards, cascading down the side the cliff to squash trees and some unfortunate critters foraging around it.

Pure, clean air rushed greedily inside the cavern, chasing away the gloom and humidity, the stench of death and decay, and lit up the room in the gorgeous colors of a mid-day sun. My lungs filled up with the gift of delicious mountain air, the need to gag and barf my last week's meals in a single go disappearing alongside the stream of whispers, as if the light could chase the ghosts back into their graves.

Peace of mind settled within me, not erasing the turmoil of negative emotions targeted towards myself that clawed at my resolution, but at least dulling them for a few precious seconds.

Chrysalis took a breather, her head dipped upwards the slightest amount while her mane and tail bellowed against the cool breeze rushing in. She extended her wings and let them sway in the air as her elytra relaxed at her sides. She bought a few, silent minutes to contemplate the scenery that once saw her hasty departure after rejecting Starlight's peace offering.

Making my best effort to ignore the countless dead changelings still surrounding us and forcing the hurricane of vile into a deep corner of my mind, I took a few tentative steps towards her, Binary at the ready for the slightest twitch that might come from her.

Yet the refreshing breeze blowing from the west seemed to have cooled down her ire. Still admiring the scenery from our vantage point, she remained true to her word and resumed our ‘talk’. She had a few more loving things to tell me.

“... You should have stayed dead.” The wind carried her words.

“... I know.”

“You had no right to be granted a second chance. Not for this, not for all the suffering that came with it.”

Her words stung fiercely, yet rung true as day. I would take the blows I deserved, I was practically numb to them already.

“... I know.”

“You don’t belong in the Game.” Her emerald eyes sought mine from behind her mane. “You’re undeserving of being called an Empyrean.”

“You’re part of the Game too.” I felt the need to remind her. “You’re an Empyrean, just like I am.”

Chrysalis snorted hard, returning her sight forward as her tail flicked with the remainder of a sour memory.

“Was. You can thank ‘long horns’ there for that.” She nudged her head towards the general direction of Thorax’s grave, a new Empyrean to guide the changelings through a new era of change. “Now, I’m free to be whatever I want. No cutie mark to twist my soul. No Element to chain me down. Whatever I want...” The sweet aroma of the surrounding nature filled her nostrils, inviting her for a long, deep breath by the time I had caught up with her.

Keeping my blades close but losing my defensive stance, for I felt that a short truce had been silently agreed upon. I had caught up with her, coming to stand over some loose rocks by her side, graced by a sea of green as far as the eye could see. I was amazed then at how fast the changelings worked to restore nature around the desolate wastelands that kissed their Hive from all four cardinal points. A small smile graced my lips knowing their efforts had not been in vain. A small, minuscule reprieve to sugarcoat the fact that they were all dead now, their kind gone from Equus sans the changeling standing by my side.

“... What are you now, Chrysalis?”

“...” With a sharp intake, her wings twitched with uncertainty alongside her tail, yet her sight remained fixed on the horizon, and no word was uttered as Chrysalis mulled an answer over.

“... I’m done.”

Unsure if I had quite heard her right, I twirled on the balls on my feet to fully face her.

“You’re what?”

A coy smile stitched her narrow muzzle.

“Oh, don’t play dumb with me.” She spoke in a low tone filled with resignation. “My children are all dead, and I can’t bear it anymore, thanks to you…”

I shivered with the amount of spite her words carried, yet soldered through it as I felt I deserved.

“... So, what’s left for me besides living whatever years I have left free of Harmony’s yoke amongst the dead bodies of my children? I’m not even in the mood to conquer that sorry excuse of a town you call home now.”

Leaving me behind with the word on the tip of my tongue, Chrysalis buzzed her wings and hovered back into the gloomy interior of the throne room, seemingly satisfied with watching the few brave enough birds that had built nests on the top of the Hive returning with food for their chicks.

I babbled like an idiot into the air until I heard the clatter of his hooves on the ground behind me. Chrysalis NOT in the mood to conquer a bunch of defenseless ponies and feast on them?

Tartarus would freeze over first.

Not liking her tone one bit, I left the vantage views behind and chased after her, finding her lying on her belly like a concerned mother would do for a sick or upset child. Only her child was now a pile of rotten flesh and bones, being out of the preserving pod fluid accelerating the process to a vomit-inducing demise.

But Chrysalis was unbothered by it. She wore her motherly side on her sleeves, a trait I strongly believe only I had had the privilege of witnessing during the first time she captured me. With a hoof, she brushed Ocellus’ dorsal membrane, a gesture of love and reassurance whose receiver would not be able to enjoy.

The clatter of my boots bounced over the walls one last time before coming to a halt beside the two changelings. The voices were gone, but the sight was no less harrying. I felt tears sting in the corner of my eyes as soon as they settled over the poor ´ling. Such a precious creature, a true gem amongst her kind even before their change of ‘rehatching’. A top-grade student with a brilliant future. I remember when we spoke about her future plans after graduating from the School of Friendship. She had claimed her sole purpose was to learn as much about friendship as she could and bring all that knowledge back to the Hive to help everything in turn. I couldn’t have sympathized with her more at the time, and when the time came for her and the rest of her friends to wield Harmony where the Elements couldn't, saving me and Starlight from that demented filly, my heart couldn't bear more pride for them.

“You don’t need to worry about Tirek or that derailed filly anymore.” Chrysalis' sudden comment shook me out of my melancholic daydreaming. “We became free at the same time. We were very weak, and I was very hungry. Not that they had much to give…”

“For Faust’s sake...” I rubbed my temples. I was genuinely surprised by her recollection, yet couldn't bring myself to feel any semblance of pity for them, not after what they’d done to me.

“Don’t act like you’re not thanking me on the inside.” Chrysalis sent me a knowing side glance, yet a shadow fell over her features. “... I never wanted things to go so far…”

A sharp exhalation was all I returned, torn on the inside about how I should feel about this new revelation, although the predominant feeling of lightness after closing prematurely another potential future issue to deal with overpowered them all.

“Lucky you, then.” She resumed after a few more delicate strokes. “You get to close that chapter, and I get to close mine.” Her emerald orbs sought mine, wordlessly speaking of an intention I had dreaded was plaguing her thoughts.

“...”

In the silence that befell us, she snorted as if a bad joke had landed in her ears.

“Please, we both know what you really came all this way here to do.” Her gentle petting returned, a striking contrast to the offer she had planted on my feet. “One of us isn’t trotting out of here, and it just so happens that it can't be you, can it? No, Harmony still has a use for her little toy. After all the destruction you have brought to her precious ponies, one can only wonder what it is...”

“Dammit, Chrysalis!!” I cut her off, a hurricane of conflicting emotions tearing at me from all directions. Did I want this? I had dreamt about it, the moment I could pay them back for taking my life. But this… like this… now… here of all places.

My hands twitched, my mind running faster than my thoughts, itching to claim revenge, powergems humming and depowering in rapid succession as the summoning spell for Binary bit and clawed to be cast.

‘I… I… I c-can’t. Not like this, I… They took my life!! She took my life!! She captured me, tortured me, raped me for days on end!! I should’ve torn her throat open a while ago!!... B-But…’

“Oh, Hive Mother above…”

“Chrysal-offf!!”

The changeling Queen’s intentions were clear, and she was going as far as easing it for me, using her telekinesis to rip Binary from its holster on my back and forcing it into my chest.

“Just get on with it, human. I’m not part of the Game anymore.” She demanded with lidded eyes, not a trace of fear or second thoughts in her. “My place is with my children. Wherever they are, I’m going to teach them what happens when they backstab a Queen!!” She spit out behind clenched jaws, catching herself by surprise a moment later. “My, I am a spiteful bitch. Isn't that what you kept calling me?”

“SHUT IT!! FUCK!!” I screamed to the heaves in a fit of rage, but Chrysalis was not the target of it. “How can you play it so easy, huh?!! You didn't call me here so that I could murder you!!”

“I didn't.” She replied in short, her attention back on Ocellus’ gaunt remains. “I called you here to talk, and we’re now done talking. Now, you do what you came here to do.”

“I won’t!” I stubbornly refused again all my better instinct, firmly digging Binary into the stone to loom over the changeling Queen. “Both our hands are soaked in enough blood as it is! I won’t have you too on my conscience! I won’t give you that satisfaction!” I pointed a hand toward the wide opening at the end of the cavern. “If you want out so badly, you can do it yourself!!”

Chrysalis followed my pointing hand and back to me, a little, unnerving smirk gracing her lips, almost making me jump the gun and act on her proposal.

“Why, you were so eager to do so before! You can do it now, human. Or you can do it after I strike your loved ones down.” Her smirk grew into a toothy smile. “They won’t see me coming, will they?”

With a battle cry leaving my lungs, the sun-scorching tip of the solar blade was at her throat before I could blink, a wisp of smoke rising from where it brushed and singed her chitin. Only a little nudge, and I’d slice her head clean off like warm butter.

She didn't make a move, not a single twitch of a muscle, just a neutral face and peace of mind, her neck head slightly angled upwards so as to ease the blade’s path.

I understood then. This had been her wish all along. Had Harmony not foiled my initial attempt to end her once and for all, she would’ve been dead meat by now. Chrysalis hadn't made an attempt to defend herself or avoid the blade. Just taunt me so that I could get on with it faster.

‘Do it! Do it, you motherfucker!! Why are you hesitating now?!!’

My chest raised and fell with my heavy breaths, my arms receiving conflicting orders, keeping Binary rooted in place. All it would take was a little nudge, a tiny push and the solar blade would slice some important artery or another, and a long-lost thirst for revenge would be finally satisfied.

Our staring contests dragged on during the tense minute where a tremendous internal struggle took place inside me. Do it. Don’t do it. Revenge. Murderer. Deserving. Monster…

In my peripheral vision, Ocellus’ empty eyes landed on mine once again, her head carefully cradled in Chrysalis’ forelegs. Angry tears now rained freely down my cheeks, my teeth clenched hard to the point I felt I’d chip a tooth. Animalistic growls thundered in my chest as I fought and struggled to drive the sword the few centimeters I’d need into her neck.

‘FUCKING HELL!!! DO IT!!!’

…

I couldn’t do it. Not like this.

My arms twitched, and for a second Chrysalis thought I’d made up my mind, closing her eyes and accepting the end. Ten seconds passed until she realized the stinging burn in her neck hadn't become a sweet release. Cracking an eye open, she found me having taken a step back, twinblades harmlessly pointed down while a cacophony of sobs shook my body from head to toe.

She sighed deeply, almost in a bored manner.

“Do I need to beg you? Is that what’ll take?”

“Come with me.” I returned on a completely different note, not believing the words coming out of my mouth but unable to stop them. “Come with me to the Bay. I can help you there. I’ll find a way to fix you. You can start again somewhere, be a proper mother this time.”

Chrysalis’ slitted pupils widened in surprise, also not believing the proposition I was laying at her hooves. It was me doing the begging this time, begging for my most despised enemy to park her delusions of a quick getaway from the world of the living and come with me to a place where I could cure her. I knew I could do it, with enough time and resources I’d fix that terrible curse I had inflicted on her so long ago. I would pay the changelings back in kind for what I did to them, an insignificant part, true, but one that would ease the weight on my heart.

Why in the seven layers of Tartarus would I offer this chance to Chrysalis, the one whose more revenge-driven dreams have starred in my sleep?...

“Please…” I stretched a hand in a peace offer.

... Because it was what my friends would do, old and new. What Twilight would do, what they all would expect me to do.

I could no longer trust myself to make the right decisions. I couldn’t trust my own reasoning, born from either logic or pointless revenge, cold logic or burning emotion. I could no longer tell the difference.

I kept on slipping.

‘You are not a pony, Alexander.’

No. I am not a pony.

Chrysalis' sight was fixed on my offering hand, mouth partially opened in surprise in light of such an alien proposition, undeserving of a being like her. I could see the gears churning in her mind, and for the briefest of moments, I thought I caught her hoof leaving Ocellus to seek mine.

A trick of my own mind, for her head fell down to poor Ocellus’ once more, tears of her own dripping over the rotting flesh of the young changeling.

“... It’s too late for me.”

“Changelingkind DIES with you, Chrysalis!!!” I boomed between the moments my sobbing would grant me. “If not for you, for them!!”

Chrysalis didn't follow me as I pointed upwards to the countless pods, her focus remaining on Ocellus’ vacant eyes.

“We don’t deserve to be remembered. In the nightmares of colts and fillies…” She mused loudly, her mind made. She lost her half-holstered position to fully lie down, cradling Ocellus’ body against her own. She closed her eyes and waited patiently.

“Just make it quick… Or don’t, I don’t care anymore.”

Once again, she had played me into a corner. Once again, she’d go out with her victory over me. Once again, she would torment me in my sleep.

I had come to finish the job.

Dropping Binary like dead weight, I fell on my knees and cursed the goddess herself, bumping my fists hard until my legs had become numb. Tranquil breathing rocked Chrysalis’ body, as if she had already fallen asleep to never wake up.

Blurred by countless tears, I dragged myself close to the pair. With gentle care, I took Chrysalis’ head and cradled it into my lap. Tendrils of dark and purple danced around the gems of my gauntlet when I powered up, but I ignored them, charging a spell at the tip of my fingers which I placed on her temple.

“For all it’s worth now, I’m sorry. For everything.”

Her apology drove the definite hit to break me. Biting hard on my fist, I closed my eyes and cried, cried for the injustice, for the pain, the regret. Two monsters, regretful, entangled in an old dance coming to an end.

Another life taken by my hands, a payback claimed. Satisfaction was the last of the prizes.

“... I’m sorry too… So sorry…”

Cradling her head against my stomach, I took a deep breath and fought to steady my concentration. Her breathing remained calm and even in face of the approaching end. She wasn't afraid; she welcomed it.

She'd be with her children again.

“Goodbye, Chrysalis. Be free.”

With a low hum, the gems of my right gauntlet filled up with the necessary magical enemy. A blue of light glowed faintly at the tip of my fingers, pressed lightly against her temple. Feeling my soul being torn to pieces, I whispered the word, and let go.

“Letta.”

The spell fired. Her neurons shone inside her head for an instant with the same light. And then…

One last breath and the last remaining changeling was gone.

“...”

My cries of pain and anguish filled the Hive one last time.

Chapter 44- Trust in me.

“Okay, okay, Zipp. Let’s go over it once more.”

Ruffling my wings, I planted my hooves once more in front of my investigation board, a straight-out-the-asylum, amorphous mess of clues and connections and leads, all connected by string and lined with thumbtacks and bubblegum when I’d run out of thumbtacks.

Don’t judge me, it works!

I straightened my thoughts and fixed my attention to the top-left corner of the board where the trail of ideas started with a picture of the three Unity Crystals engulfed in their magical glow.

“So, we know what the Unity Crystals are and what they’re for. According to Alex, they have become a new ‘nexus’ for the magic, bending the leylines that spread throughout Equus to force the flow of magic through them, and that only happens if we ponies remain buddy-buddy with one another.”

I paced to the left in thought, descending down on the board to a picture of my friends, a tiny smile peeking on my lips at the sight of all our smiling faces on a day of fun at the beach.

“As long as ponies remain friends and harmony flows through the land, so will our magic. The moment ponies begin seriously butting heads with one another, the magic stops due to the influence of the crystals.”

Now going to the right, I scratched my chin with my primaires while I kept mulling over the trail of information. A picture of the earth pony and unicorn crystals scattered on the floor was next under the red thread.

“We’ve seen that not only does friendship need to flow through ponykind for them to work, but the crystals need to remain together for them to work properly. When Discord stole the pegasus crystal, their function became impaired, although not completely. The absence of friendship had more serious consequences than them not being joined together, but both are equally dangerous if pony magic becomes wild before disappearing forever.”

We would never allow that to happen again. We had to give our best to strengthen the bond between the three tribes and keep them that way, as well as make sure that the Unity Crystals remained guarded and safe in our brighthouse. That led me to the next slice of the metaphorical cake that was my ongoing investigation and the crowning centerpiece of my concerns. A picture of an equine shadow with a big question mark topping it.

“Harmony warned Alex of an impending darkness… Luna’s crown, ain't that foreshadowing?” I scoffed, snorting a tired puff carrying the exhaustion of endless days of pulling on threads and working on loose ends. A big part of me wanted to believe that the darkness was Discord’s attempt to rid us of our magic forever. I mean, I’d say it was grave enough to draw the attention of the being which, in theory, had our unified continuity in its best interests, keeping it that way from the shadows or… whatever Harmony did, other than enslave creatures and put a crown on their heads.

“But who… or what could this darkness threatening us be?” The million-bit question. No matter how many times I heard myself ask it, I kept hitting a wall. One thing was clear. “Whomever or whatever it is would need to get their hooves on the Unity Crystals first. By protecting magic from ourselves, it also keeps it secure from other threats. A happy coincidence, or a conscious choice?... Hmm…”

Another trip to the left. Multiple threads connected to this mysterious entity that would harm us, none of them offering anything of significance besides a common denominator.

“The crystals are not without defenses. They summon a shield around themselves if there’s an immediate threat, and Alex thought Sunny’s alicorn powers might also be some indirect way of safeguarding the crystals.” This did not explain why Discord was able to snatch one of them like nothing. Perhaps they didn't sense him as a threat, then? Perhaps the Unity Crystals saw the goodness buried deep within his heart? His motives, derailed as they were, were not born from outward wickedness. Discord was looking out for us in his own way, a way twisted and torn from the same experiences that fueled Alex’s own resolve.

“Whomever or whatever would want to get past these defenses must be at least as strong as the one who planted them in the first place.” In other words, Twilight Sparkle, who was possibly the most gifted, powerful pony to ever live, being the Element of Magic and an alicorn princess. From where I stood, almost any notion of surpassing her might sound doomed from the get-go. Who or what held sufficient power to threaten their existence? Not to outright destroy them, taking magic down with them, but twisting them to their own whims, ascending as the nexus point of all magic instead of the glowing gems.

“... Faust, I feel so sorry for Alex. I can see that whatever his ideas were for freeing magic from the crystals was most likely never gonna work.”

He had another goal now; he had said so himself. Still, he was the only one I felt had enough knowledge to have at least the minimum chance with them, and he failed surreptitiously. Twice. The picture of the mysterious figure remained a thorn in my flank. I needed to find out what we were dealing with, and how much danger we were actually in without realizing it. The few trips we took outside our borders showed all of us how big and dangerous the world out there truly was. The encounter with the kelpie taught us that we were indeed not alone in these lands. Alex’s summons from an old enemy made us painfully aware how, even after so many centuries of silence, the chance that old foes, who might be thirsting revenge, remained very real to this day.

“And there's little we can do about it,” I concluded my train of thought, having reached the same impasse as the previous hundred times I’d run it over.

Don’t get me wrong, I was aware of Alex’s might and Sunny's developing abilities. Just as I knew how, by working together, we’d faced and conquered each and every problem that had arisen since the day we rejoined the Unity Crystals for the first time. I wasn’t blind to our prowess, but at the same time, I wasn’t deaf to the whispers that haunted my dreams, showing me images of our cities burning and ponykind enslaved at best, and wiped out at worst.

… That’s what I get for drinking a full thermos of coffee before passing out on my desk.

It was driving me crazy, even if I’d promised the gang to take it easy after my buck-up with poor Misty. None of us had seen hair nor hoof from her since that day.

With drooping ears, I scolded myself yet again for having come across as so strong and insensitive as I did. Yes, I still believed there were too many things not ticking quite right with her, but I couldn’t see how dwelling on that any longer would help us in any way. She was her own mare and had every right to keep her private things to herself. I only wished I hadn't cost Izzy a friend with my efforts.

“Mngg, no time to dwell on that now, Zipp. keep your mind in the game.” I hoofed my cheek lightly to bring me back to the present.

At least, I would’ve achieved that, if an annoying, thumping echo hadn’t broken my concentration. The way the brighthouse’s interior was constructed, as an ample, cylindrical structure, made sounds bounce around inside fairly easily. It wasn’t fun when somepony was making a ruckus setting the dishes in the kitchen, or when Izzy used heavy machinery for her sculpting, or whatever it was that she did in her corner of the house. My sister's music helped a lot, but I’d spent so many hours working that I’d gone through her entire playlist and Alex’s three times over, and I was just simply tired of it. And, also, my ears ached a bit from the headphones.

More sharp and loud sounds ricocheted around the house until I realized that I was, in fact, hearing somepony knocking at the front doors, which came off as weird since we have a very musical doorbell, courtesy of my sister. Whatever the case was, somepony else downstairs could answer whomever was knocking; I had more important things to deal with.

‘Let’s try this again.’

I needed a different angle. Change the flow, perhaps? Reverse the order? Clues were limited and outward knowledge was nearly non-existent. I was burning bridges faster than I could build them. I needed something big, and fast. A glowing ray of divine inspiration from Faust herself, if that's what it took. My gut told me that we were running out time, but for wha-?

*KNOCK KNOCK KNOCK!!”

“Uuuugh…”

Yep, there went my inspiration, right out the window, and I wasn't feeling like chasing after it. I thought one of the other girls was still in the brighthouse, but maybe they were too busy. It couldn't be my sis, since her small, bed-side studio was lacking her melodic voice. Was Izzy working on another commission for the museum?

No matter the case, I needed to open the door before whoever was waiting started growing impatient.

Mulling over a convicting ruse to get rid of the pony at the door swiftly so that I could resume my work… after my fourth coffee break that day, I pushed myself into the air and glided out of the room and down the spacious hall, calling out to the impatient pony that I was on my way.

The faintest whisps of music coming from Izzy's workshop made my ears twitch. The crafty unicorn was indeed in the house, but wearing her new headphones, an anticipated birthday gift from Pipp right on time for the release of the second half of her new album. I was happy that my sister could still immerse herself in her music, knowing that it helped get her mind off things better than anything else. I was used to being the one worrying for the both of us. Perks of being the big sis, as you can see.

Planting my hooves on the marble floor, with a loud *clop*, I breached the distance to the front doors, their semi-translucent, crystalline build only providing an irregular, formless shadow of whoever was waiting outside.

Just as I reached for the doorknob, I couldn’t help but be weirded out by the pony not using the doorbell. My sis had given a tremendous effort of fifteen whole seconds of recording for it. I didn't miss every smile that grew on her muzzle every time someone used it.

“Sheesh, you’d think a pony would’ve learned to use a doorbe-”

Not a pony. Definitely not a pony, whoever it was that was standing on the welcome mat.

My wings flared at my sides as I felt my heart skip a beat over the sight of what my primal instincts screamed, from a deep forgotten corner of my mind, was a predator and that I needed to put as much distance between us as possible.

An eagle-like beak, and bird-like foreclaws, all wrapped in the upper half of an avian creature. White and great feathers dominated the creature's upper body, highlighting his predatory blue eyes and ending in a peculiar crest-like tuft on the creature’s head, before smoothly transitioning to a feline rear half, this one taking the image of a snow panther, tail and all. Dark spots of panther heritage were the only common feature present in both halves.

Whilst not the most common stereotype as far as my limited knowledge went, I didn’t need my spyglass and drone to know there was a griffon standing at my door.

The avian took in my paralyzed state with a small huff. While I feared he'd pounce and get a chunk out of me, an instinctual notion whose origin I couldn't pinpoint told me that he wouldn’t. The griffon, a male from what my snout could tell, simply flickered his tail impatiently behind him and raised a sharp talon in a waving gesture.

“Um… Hallo.” He greeted me in a foreign accent. While it was a different language, the similarity was enough for me to understand. He sounded young, as well as hesitant, but I was running blind here, so I couldn't make any assumptions.

What I could do, however, was close the door slowly and awkwardly, leaving the griffon with a cocked head as I disappeared into the foyer.

With the door's triple-lock clicking into position, I was left standing like a stone as the outline of the griffon behind the colorful glass didn't even hint at going away.

“... Yeah, gonna need backup for this one.”

The closest reinforcements were my unicorn pal, and I made a mad beeline towards her workshop. A griffon of all creatures was at our doorstep! Weren't they supposed to hail from the other side of the ocean? I couldn't believe a single griffon had made such a journey over hundreds of kilometers of water just to say ‘Hello’.

Flying around the corner of the room, I entered Izzy's ‘Private Temple of Imagination and Creativity’, an actual name she’d given it. She’d even made a plaque of it and hung it at the entrance.

Izzy was deep in work, although anypony stumbling upon her workshop would’ve thought she was instead throwing a one-pony party. Bouncing her rump with shameless energy, Izzy swayed back and forth at the rhythm of the music, one of Alex's ‘metal’ tracks on full blast. Standing in front of a canvas, numerous paint buckets were being levitated around her with her magic. Every few seconds, a glob of paint would emerge from a container and be smashed into the canvas with a resounding *splat!*, creating a mess that somepony would have to take care of later.

Each throw was accompanied by a ninja-like cry from Izzy, while the drums and guitar boomed in her ears.

I think she referred to this as ‘rage painting’ once.

‘... I gotta try this sometime.’

More urgent problems beckoned us. Landing behind her, I raised my voice to try and reach her from a sage distance for the paint storm that her immediate area had become.

“Izzy!!... IZZY MOONBOW!!!”

*Master of puppets, I'm pulling your striiiiings!!~ Twisting your mind and smashing your dreams!!~*

“IZZY!!!” Nothing, she was having too much fun, or the music was too loud, possibly both. The unicorn remained oblivious to my cries. “Ugh…”

Already seeing myself coming out of her workshop cosplaying as Rainbow Dash, I dared to enter the splash zone with a quick glide, whooshing down to grab Izzy's headphones before she could blink. I was getting very good with my flying, having become already second nature to me, as if I’d been tasting the skies since I was a foal… which, I hadn't, but those times were long gone now.

“Hey!” Izzy, her creative bubble popped, glanced up to find my retreating tail and followed it as I landed behind her. “Oh, heya, Zipp. Didn't hear you there.” She apologized with her tongue peeking from her muzzle.

“Yeah, I could tell. You looked like you were having a blast.” I replied in a flat tone, placing the still-booming headphones on a nearby desk. “Izzy, there's a…”

“I was!!” The overenthusiastic unicorn cut me off, taking hold of my shoulder and physically grabbing me in front of the used canvas, where a… composition, let's call it, of random shapes and colors filled the majority of the white surface. In my second-long analysis, I couldn’t make heads or tails of it before Izzy dived into her presentation. “It came to me in my sleep! I'll name it….uh…” Izzy's hoof scratched her messy mane as the words died on her tongue. “Wow, I haven't come up with a name yet. No matter! If you pay close attention here…” She took a headstart on beginning to point toward random areas of the amalgam of colors, citing stuff that I couldn’t bring myself to care about at the present.

Taking the reins of the moment, I took Izzy's head between my wings and gave her a very pointed look. “Later, Izzy. I need your help at the front door. Right. Now!” I knew that I was coming off a bit too strong, even for my liking, but I felt that the urgency of a griffon stalking our house demanded it.

“Wow.” Izzy's crooked grin morphed into a chuckle. “Something’s spooked you alright.” Taking no offense in my harsh tone, Izzy dropped the paint canisters messily onto the plastic-covered floor and headed out with a merry trot. “Don’t get your wings in a knot, Zipp. I'll shoo the scary mailpony away.” She winked at me over her shoulder and headed towards the door with her hoof-crafted tiara clinking all the way.

“N-No, that's not… ugh.” I fumbled with my wing before speeding up behind her. She was already at the door when I caught up with her. “Izzy, wait!!”

“*GASP* A birdy!!!”

Her tail slipped from my hooves, and she was out of the brighthouse in pure exhalation, catching the startled griffon by surprise and glomping him in one of her ‘human hugs’.

With my heart leaping out of my chest, I followed the wacky mare, ready to fend off the griffons’ sharp talons from Izzy should he try something stupid.

However, to my relief and bafflement, far from delivering a blow to Izzy, the griffon slumped with the blankest look I've ever seen on anycreature while Izzy enthusiastically nuzzled his fluffy plumage as if he were an overgrown plushie.

“Eeeee!! He's so fluffy I could die!!” The more than happy mare cried in foolish glee.

With an eye roll that transcended the species barrier, the griffon let the mare coddle him like a filly.

“You müst ve Izzy, ja?” He droned in a bored tone, underlined by an accent I couldn't pinpoint.

“I am!” Izzy replied loudly. “Zipp, he knows my name!” Izzy celebrated with a bit too much energy until she placed the missing piece of the puzzle and pulled back from her cuddle to gaze at the griffon with a dipped head. “You… know who I am?”

‘He knows who we are?’ I inwardly echoed, not liking it one bit that the unknown creature knew about us, without us knowing anything about him!

“I do.” He flatly replied, taking advantage of the crested space to nudge Izzy away with a wing, a huge wing compared to mine, I was jealous to admit. A small wince crooked his brow for a fraction of a second before returning to its bored façade. “I am lüking vor… ‘Sunny Sterndeuterin’?... I zeenk I götten it vright…” He sounded unsure, rolling the words on his beak as if they weren't coming out as smoothly as they should be.

“You're looking for Sunny?” I butted in, holstering my wings for the moment since I wasn't perceiving any ill intent from the griffon, although I wasn’t about to let my guard down since I knew that situation could change any second. His predatory eyes, followed by his sharp beak and even sharper talons… things could get very messy in the blink of an eye should he wish it. And that was without speaking about his frame, almost as big as your average pony, if not a little larger. I had to stay sharp. “For what? How do you know about us?” I demanded, closing the door behind me with a rear leg.

“Älex ashk me to sëarch vor sie here, zee… uh, ‘hüsche ass rainboü lighthöse’.” The griffon sent his sight upwards for a brief spell. “Looks like gut description.”

I had to do a double-take at that, my jaw hanging loose.

‘D-Did he just say Ale-?’

“ALEX?!!” Izzy screamed my thoughts in her usual energy. “Did you just say Alex?!!” She was about to jump the griffon again and shake the answers out of him, but a very pointed leer and flared wings rooted her to the ground with a sheepish mumble. “Sorry…”

Holding his dominating pose for a second longer, the griffon huffed through his small nostrils and addressed me directly.

“Älex aschken më to finden his mate und his vamily. He ist at zee höspital.” A cold chill began crawling down my spine before the griffon waved his talons to diffuse my rising panic. “He is vine… vell, as far as ich know. No vig majör hurt, only…” The griffon wetted his beak, a shadow of something masking his eagle eyes for a moment before returning to their icy blue. “I zeenk it best you go see him.”

Alex was back already? More than a week ahead of schedule? And at the hospital, of all places?! With a griffon playing his personal errand pony?

Something had gone bad. Really, really bad. I could tell, my entire body flexing with an unshakable feeling that something horrible had happened.

“What are we waiting for?!! Lead the way, birdy!!” Izzy, already hoofing it halfway through the initial tram of the long slope, urged us from behind her billowing mane, concern, and urgency equal partners in her calling. Of course she was worried. I was on the brink of shedding my feathers from worry. But I could feel that, with the obvious strangeness of this meeting, something remained off.

‘Ugh, no time to deconstruct this, Zipp. Hang the detective hat up for a bucking second and focus!’

“Gaius. Mein Name ist Gaius.” The griffon announced with another eye-roll, his huge (by pony standards) wings shuffling at his sides, the right one being especially twitchy until finding a more comfortable position. “I need stïll vind Älex’s mate and music pony, und guard pony.” Gaius recited and started behind a speedy Izzy, at his own easy, leisurely pace, bringing the unicorn to stop on her hoof and pout at us for not hoofing it down to town already.

‘Guard pony?... Oh, Hitch! Eh, wait ‘till I tell him about this. That fat head of his is already big enough.’ I chuckled inwardly.

“Come ooon!! Hurryhurryhurryyyy!!” She demanded, hopping in place.

“Wir hav time.” Gaius put on a deaf… uh, earhole, I guess?; to Izzy’s demands, taking his sweet time as I fell in line beside him, a suspicious eye analyzing his every move. The two of them if I could spare them.

“No, we don’t!!” Izzy fired back, hopping backward in a surprising show of agility as she brought it down in front of the calm-looking griffon. “Alex is at the hospital!! He could be seriously injured!! O-Or fatally injured!!! O-O-Or he could be blowing up this sec-”

“Izzy! Ponies don’t just blow up for no reason!” I snapped at her, the same nonsense coming up again from that time we tried to work around Sunny’s alicorn powers and any ill consequences they might bring with them.

“You don’t know that!” In a stubborn streak, she stuck her tongue at me in a fillish way.

“I told you he ist vine.” Gaius replied, not really trying to reassure Izzy. Every now and then, a foreign word slipped through. It made sense, since from what I could recall from Alex’s short teachings, griffons possessed a different mother language than ours. He also had… less than pleasing things to say about griffonkind, hence my jumpy disposition towards Gaius. “Zhat… uh, ‘Discord’ creature, vhatever he vas, take care ov vorse injuries. He needs recover most.”

“D-Discord? You met with Discord?!” I pred. If they had stumbled with the draconequus… Well, in all honesty, I wasn’t sure whether that meant good or bad news. It might explain how they had returned so fast, since we too had taken the fast way back with that nauseating teleportation spell.

Gaius turned his fluffy head towards me, trusting that the prancing unicorn would keep her pace in front of us, or grow tired and step in line.

“Wir did, ja. Schtrange creature. I disliked.”

‘Can’t blame you for that.’ I sympathized inwardly, recalling the humongous scare he gave us by stealing the pegasus crustal and the back-wrenching weeks it took us to get it back from his stubborn flank. Still, whilst I was not that surprised Discord had read his ugly face around again, why now of all times, and only to them? Where was he even now? The last thing we needed was for him to take himself up on his promise and start seeding chaos around.

We reached the decorative arch marking the north entrance to the town, Izzy’s bubbling impatience stamped on the quickening of her hopping until her legs couldn't take it anymore, making her flop down with a wheeze before falling in step beside me.

I knew we could find my Hitchy at his office, most likely trying to tire a rambunctious Sparky down for an early dinner and night-night time, since we’d arranged a movie marathon for tonight at the brighthouse. My sis was most likely still at Mane Melody, either attending to the last of the day’s customers or bored to tears by the lack of them and fooling around with the karaoke. Sunny had the afternoon shift at her smoothie stand, her coworker having fallen with a nasty bug and taken a few days of leave.

“Sie can reläx aroünd me, Zeepp.” Gaius' sudden comment brought me out of my mental planning. Winning both mine and Izzy’s attention, we gazed at him, the griffon not returning the gesture and instead feigning he was paying attention to the odd and frightened looks the townsponies were bombarding him with mercilessly. “I mean no harm to ponies. I have more zhan enögh violence to last me vorever…”

Mine and Izzy’s eyes crossed gazes halfway, a sense of uneasiness flowing freely between us. Good news to anypony’s ears, but the reason came across to us as far from the most preferable one. It was hard to make a guess, but he didn't seem that old, at least not to be saying those kinds of gray-mane things. But yet again, this was a griffon we were talking about, not the most peaceful of Equus’ races as far as we’d learned.

It took in his implied request and eased down a bit, but not completely. Instead, I took to the ledge to get a better picture of him as we trekked through the still-somewhat busy streets of Maretime Bay. Familiar traits merged with foreign features. Just as their shared frame was known for it, his upper, bird half transitioned smoothly to his feline rear somewhere below his chest. Signs of an arduous journey were present in his plumage and fur, although he wasn’t terribly disgruntled either. His feathers were nicely preened, and his fur was considerably thicker than your average pony’s.

That led me to ponder his most particular trait. From the pictures in Alex’s ample gallery, the few griffons that appeared in them only differed in the colors of their plumage and fur, but all revolved around eagle-like and lion-like body themes. While Giaus’s avian half was somewhat more recognizable, his rear half, and that panther-like, waving tail of his was a first for me. My nose told me this was not your average griffon, another peculiarity besides the fact that he was the first one I’d ever seen for real. Behind all of this, I couldn't help but admire his frame; the predatory muscles under his fur, his sharp beak, and his keen eyes taking in all of his surroundings dexterously. Also, I was more than a bit jealous of his wingspan, which I placed around twice as long as mine, but I didn't let that jealousy show.

As we sauntered into the main square, Sunny’s stand could already be discerned amidst the several food stands and other street businesses of another busy Friday. Regardless of what Gaius had told us, I still felt the need for some urgency, if not to get rid of the pressure in my chest once I could see with my two eyes that my friend was safe and sound.

“Izzy,” I called for the fidgety unicorn, a frown having conquered her features since the news had been delivered to us. “You take Gaius and find Sunny. I’ll head for Mane Melody to get my sister and then we’ll go look for Hitch. We’ll meet at the hospital, ‘kay?”

Not waiting for confirmation, I flared my wings and was aloft before the others could blink. Mane Melody was only a couple of wingbeats away, and my stallion’s office wasn’t far from there.

‘Hang in there, Alex. We’re on our way…’

“...”

“... Do I have notifications turned on?”

I knew I had them. I’d checked them three times only that afternoon. It was looking for simply anything by that point, anything at all that might explain why Alex hadn’t called or texted back yet. By this point, he was already way beyond the reach of our phone service. Having warned us he’d have to go dark for most of his journey, I had little else to do but wait and worry… and wait… and worry some more.

And yet, I couldn't pry myself away from the screen of my phone, empty apart from messages besides a pop-up message which I quickly discarded with a huff, booting the messenger app and checking our shared group chat for good measure, hoping, praying for him to have met some complication on the way that would prompt him to return early. Or simply that he’d gotten to his senses that this trip was a reckless, moric endeavor and was halfway to the town’s entrance to apologize profusely.

‘He better apologize when he’s back. I’ll beat the apologies out of him if I need to… after squeezing him to death and never leaving his side again.’

We should have all gone with him. I didn't care if this was another of his ‘personal affairs’ like the solo trip he took to Ponyville’s ruins. We were a family, and he was my mate. Our destinies were forever intertwined. His hopes and pains were mine, and mine were his…

Celestia, it sounded like we were married or something… aaaand, there went my cheeks.

‘NO! We are mad at him, Sunny!’ I popped the dreamy bubble and resumed glaring at the empty chat, and by empty I mean lacking anything except messages from Pipp every three minutes or so. With so much of me fussing over the phone, I might as well be crowned the next in the succession line of the pegasi royal family.

‘If Alex and I get married, I’ll be a Princess of Equestri-NO!! Mad!! We are very mad with the stupid human!!!’

My stupid human, for whom my heart had ached for every second he was away. These past two weeks had been torture on my soul. I hadn't realized how lonely I could feel when he wasn't sharing the days with me, even with the rest of my pony family there for me every minute of every day. It brought me to darker times, when a lonely filly dreamed of a better world, laughed and ridiculed by everypony except one or two, her only friends.

I hated this feeling. I hated all the feelings that coalesced and brought the stormiest of clouds to my head. I knew what my human was capable of, I knew he could take care of himself, but that wouldn't stop me from conjuring a thousand different outcomes, all of them concluding in him getting hurt or worse, and never coming back home.

I’d lost my dad that way, and my mom before him. If I were to go through that again… I wasn’t sure I’d be able to cope with it.

The lack of clients that afternoon was painfully counterproductive, and I didn't mean it in the monetary sense. I couldn't have cared less about sales at the time. Busy days with busy clientele meant lots of work and little time to think and spiral down again. Work and my friends had been my two sole lifelines, allowing me to defy the wait with as much patience and dignity as a mare fearing for her stallion to the point I felt I’d shed half my winter coat already.

I’d suffocate Alex on that coat the moment I laid eyes on him again. I’d squeeze the stuffing out of him. Then, I’d kiss him until his lips fell off. Then, I’d scream at him, a lot. Then, I’d kiss him again, and scream some more. Then, I’d bump his head once or twice for good measure, and physically glue myself to his side. And, if he had something to say about it, he could shove it up his tail-less tailhole. This was the last time I was going to let him play hero. I couldn't care less how he’d done things in the past or not, although I had a hard time believing the Element Bearers would’ve acted any differently than I was acting, especially Twilight, considering they were together back then.

“If only I was as brilliant as she was… Perhaps he wouldn't think of me as a burden and he’d trust me enough to accompany hi-”

“Sunny!!!”

“AAAH!!”

I lost the other half of my winter coat from the sheer jump my best friend Izzy just gave me. I lost my grip on my phone as I catapulted myself as far up as the stand would allow, coming down with an unceremonious flop that shook the entire thing on its wheels. With my muzzle now pressed against the glass doors of the store cabinet under the counter, I realized I was running low on strawberries and would have to order some more.

“Sunny?” Izzy’s voice called from above, her messy mane cascading down as she peeked inside over the counter, levitating away the stuff I had on it. “Are you taking a nap?”

Ah, Izzy. I loved that mare to bits. But sometimes, I swear…

“Izzy!!” Two weeks’ worth of nagging and uncertainty summed up to more bark than I’d have preferred. “You can't go around scaring ponies like that! What iffffff…”

Any semblance of anger promptly evaporated when, once I’d brought my throbbing head over the counter to scold my bestie, I found her in the presence of a most particular companion.

A griffon.

“N’abend.” The creature gave a little wave and greeted with a masculine voice, a crooked grin denoting that he found amusement in the jumpscare.

“Sorry, sorry!” Izzy, seemingly unaware of who was on his haunches right beside her, apologized hastily as I was left with my muzzle wide, no doubt looking like a fool. “Quick introductions! Sunny, Gaius. Gaius, Sunny.” Izzy introduced us, dipping back and forth between us with her mane flying everywhere in haste.

“Ja. Älex speäk much ov you.” The griffon named Gaius offered with a knowing smirk, a fact that failed to register in me when my coltfriend's name came around. “All gut, promise.” He spoke with a flick of his thick tail.

“Sunny!!” Izzy was on my face again, this time rearing on her hind legs to balance herself over the counter. “Alex is back!! The nice griffon…”

“Gaius.” He tried from the sidelines, getting completely ignored by Izzy.

“... said Alex is at the hospital right now. They came together and he says he’s fine now but was injured but not so much now stillwegottaheadthererightnowZipp’salreadygoingfortherestwegottagonow!!!” She wheezed out in one breath, eyes wide and a bit twitchy in an unsettling way.

“...”

“... A-Alex is ba-?”

“YES!!”

Using her magic, she levitated me out of the stand and landed me on my tail, closing the thing right behind, the force of her magic shaking it enough that my ears caught a mess of stuff spilling inside which I’d have to take care of at a later time. As the stand finished bouncing on its wheels, Izzy was helping me up on my hoofs and jumping behind me to push my rump with all her might in the general direction of the hospital.

I was an earth pony, mind you. Meaning, that the best she managed to do was to lift my rump in the air like a foal stumbling over their first steps, her rear hooves scraping over the stonework uselessly. A merry chuckle came from Gaius, who was already steadily taking the lead, looking over his shoulder at our silly disposition.

“Älex could üse Ihr help, Sunny Sterndeuterin. He ist…not vell. Here, mostly.” He tapped the white and gray feathers of his head in a gesture that chilled my blood.

Ignoring his strange use of Equish, I needed no further prompting and overtook the griffon in my gallop, Izzy quick on my heels and Gaius taking the rear, not able to keep up with our equine speed on hoof.

‘Why isn't he flying?’

I couldn't waste time on pointless musings. Ponies left and right fumbled on their hooves as they made way for us, wide-eyed at my unusual, pushy demands to make room for our small entourage. I’ll apologize at the next town meeting for it. Alex was back, and my heart soared at the news. Something very bad had happened, I could sense it in the way Gaius voiced it, and a thousand ice-cold buckets dropped on my back couldn't beat the icy numbness I experienced for him.

We couldn't have reached the hospital any faster. Storming through the gates, I skidded to a halt in front of the reception, the loud screech of my hooves against the slippery marble enough to win the mare behind the counter, her ears pressing down on her scalp with the thunderous noise that startled more than one pony, patients and staff alike.

Slamming my hooves on the counter, I bore down on the shaking mare. “Where?!!” I demanded, puffing like a rabid dog.

I didn't know the mare’s name, but she seemed to know who I was and, more importantly, who I was looking for. Pointing a trembling hoof towards the doors leading to the east wing of the building, she gave me direction. “T-Two B, second floor, room thirty-two.”

I was away like an exhalation, leaving Izzy behind to deliver a rushed ‘thanks and sorry’ before bolting behind me.

I searched frantically around me as I conquered row after row of patient rooms, hallway after hallway. In my frenzied state, I became lost in the labyrinthic guts of the east wing.

“DAMMIT!! WHERE ARE THE STAIRS IN THIS PLACE?!!”

“Star seeker.” I heard Gaius call to me in a peculiar version of my last name. He was peeking through a corner behind me with a panting Izzy beside him, pointing with a talon up towards the painfully obvious sign of a staircase.

Thanking him on the fly, I darted up the stairs three at a time and bolted into the heart of the L-shaped east wing. Two B was easy to find, it being only a hoof’s throw from the staircase.

“Thirty-five, thirty-four, thirty-three…”

The silver plaque bearing the number thirty-two flashed before me like a vision from the goddess herself. I skidded to a halt in front of it, Izzy not able to stop in time and smashing against me. Again, earth pony. The poor mare bounced back, only losing my hoofing for a moment.

My ears flickered when the muffle of voices reached me from beyond the door. A female, somewhat bossy voice in tandem with the grave, funny-sounding accent only one creature in this ample world possessed.

All resolve that had carried me there promptly faded away when my chest tightened and a lump formed in my throat. What would I find inside the room? How would I find him? My imagination betrayed me. Flashes of bloodied limbs, torn clothes, scars… horrible things shook me in a full-body tremble.

No, Gaius had said he was alright for the most part, and he was talking in there, so it couldn't be that bad, could it?

The day of the Maretime Bay Day festival took root in my inner eye. Alex, bleeding profusely, slumped on the ground like a forgotten doll… his overloaded gauntlets burning his furless skin…

A white and gray blur passed beside me, opening the door when my newfound hesitation would not allow me, startling me out of my day nightmare. Izzy, tailing behind Gaius with deep, struggling breaths as she fought to refill her exhausted lungs with merciful air, remained at my side as the griffon strode into the room.

There he was. With his mud-caked boots hanging from the end of the pony-sized hospital bed, laid the love of my life. A heart monitor rested beside him, the pulse strong and steady, music to my ears. Another machine of sorts filled the space under it, with blood-filled tubes coming back and forth from Alex and the machine. A nurse was reading over a few papers over a script, her muzzle scrunched in deep thought.

All of it became fog in my peripheral vision, my human being the only thing I could focus on. He rested comfortably on the white mattress. His right arm lay limp at his side, the place where the tubes originated; the other brushing his beard, far too grown for his liking, as I’d come to learn; before falling back down to his chest.

“... Two passes will be fine, Tender. We can always boost the heparin effect by… oh. Hey, Gaius. Du bist zurück.” Alex greeted the griffon in a friendly manner, a tiny smile making its way to his face, shining like a million suns in my eyes.

“Das bin ich.” Gaius greeted back, the both of them switching to a language I could only guess was the griffon’s very own. “Wie gewünscht…”

Pointing with his wing, Gaius brought Alex’s attention to the door. The moment his chocolate eyes landed on mine, I saw them widen in surprise at the same time the heart monitor registered a spike in his heartbeat.

That got the nurse’s attention who, seemingly uncaring about the griffon’s presence, followed Alex’s line of sight to find us both standing by the door.

“... Hmm, I’ll leave you alone.” Nurse Tenderhoof quickly understood and granted us some space, not before pointedly reminding Alex not to scratch at the intravenous lines fixed on his forearms.

Waving her off with a ‘yes, mom’ gesture, the nurse headed for the door. I took it as my cue to bolt inside and latch onto my human, just as I knew Izzy was itching for, judging from the trembling of her body. However, before we could rush in behind Gaius, Nurse Tenderhoof stopped us with a stretched foreleg barring the entrance to us.

“Take it easy, you two.” She warned us with a noted tone, concern visible in her features. “Alexander… He has a lot of recovery time ahead of him.”

Once she was sure we’d understood with our joint nodding, she dragged her pointed leer for a second longer before stepping aside and brushing beside us and down the hallway. Gaius stepped aside right beside the window in respect but made no gesture of leaving the room, perhaps out of concern for Alex too.

No matter, he could stay if he wanted. There was only one thing in the room that I truly cared about.

With my haunches twitching in anticipation, I was ready to jump into my human’s embrace and give him the biggest hug and the biggest kiss in the history of Eque-

“ALEEEEEX!!!”

Izzy beat me to it, practically flying into the room and sailing into the human’s waiting arm, the other one still in place with the tubes, giving a hearty, tearful cackle when Izzy trapped him with her four limbs and began nuzzling the living daylight out of him.

I lost my inertia and simply trotted into the room with a calm pace, not fishing to break the tender moment between the two, especially now that I’d been made aware of Izzy’s shared feelings for him. I’d get my turn soon enough.

As Alex’s laugh filled the room under Izzy’s tickling ministrations, I made my way around the bed towards the side opposite from the machinery, catching Gaius observing us with a warm smile on his beak, and a shadow of longing in his blue eyes. I had many questions for him, but I could always ask him later. My human was back, he was laughing with lively gusto, and everything seemed to be in place as far as I could see.

Izzy needed a minute to get everything out of her system before she relented, finishing with a vigorous squeeze as Alex filled her mane and ears with loving pecks, hugging her frame as best as one arm could while Izzy’s tail wagged lively behind her. That unicorn had always been a cuddlebug. I waited patiently until she was finished, stress pouring out of me as warmth rushed in to fill the vacuum.

‘He’s alright. He’s fine… he’s back…’

It almost sounded alien, even if only two weeks had passed. For me, it felt like ages without hearing his beautiful laugh, without seeing his beaming smile.

Tears of happiness streamed down both their cheeks once Izzy was finished, the former taking notice of me waiting and untangling herself from the human’s embrace to lean against the bed’s frame, happy with lowering her head down his covered tummy and resting it there, nuzzling it endlessly as she too poured out words of relief for his return.

My turn came, and our eyes crossed again. None said a word, seconds passing as we simply gazed at each other, almost as if assessing if the other was real. Tears had begun streaming down my cheeks when I felt him reach with his free, ungloved hand clasp my cheek, his thumb quick at work to clear the waterfalls. I leaned into his touch, his warmth the definitive proof that my human had returned to me.

“Hey there, baby…”

I couldn't hold it in anymore. The dam burst open and my feelings poured out like a flood. With a heavily-charged sob, I reared up on my hindlegs and sunk my head into my man's embrace, letting his warmth, his scent, his touch, everything about him erase the last bits of the past two weeks. His arm enveloped me, his hand coming to rest behind my withers and nudging me in. I offered no resistance, burying my muzzle into the crook of his neck and nuzzling it with wanton desperation.

“Sniff. I-I was s-so worried… s-so, hic… af-f-fraid something…”

His hold on me tightened, his lips coming up to kiss and nuzzle my scalp and ears as I pressed as much as I physically could against him.

“I’m so sorry baby. I’m so, so sorry…”

Time became irrelevant. There was only us in that hospital room. I cried countless tears, choked on countless sobs as his hold on me didn't waver for a single moment, his own tears running free and down my mane. I took in as much as I could of him. His scent, rich and distinctive, filled my nostrils, bringing froth with a sense of calmness I’d thirsted for for what felt like a century. His strong arm holding me, never letting me go, as I would never again let go of him.

It was painful, exhilarating, draining, and haunting for the soul. But above all, it was peace.

My tears ran dry eventually, and after a time I did not bother to count nor care about it. I was all the way up on the hospital bed and pressing against his side since I felt my legs no longer able to hold me up. I nuzzled every available inch of him, Alex reciprocating with gentle pets and rubs of my fur. As I felt the exhaustion from such a crying party about to get a hold of me and knock me out into blissful sleep, Alex left the fur behind my dock to gently bring my head towards his. Our sights crossed again, filled with tears of relief and regret.

No words were needed. It was time to make up for my previous cowardness when I allowed my feelings to cloud my better judgment, and let him go all by himself. Or, at the least, without a proper kiss goodbye. I dipped forward and so did he. Our lips met and wasted no time on preliminaries, giving way to our tongues so that they could dance with one another. I climbed atop him for good measure, unintentionally knocking Izzy off of her spot atop Alex’s belly, mushing my lips as hard as I could against his as I made out with my human with reckless abandon. Love was poured back and forth, a flurry of emotions clouding my senses, bringing me to nirvana and back down a hundred times over. I had missed him so much…

“Wow…” I thought I heard Gaius mumble from within the fog my human and eye were lost in. I paid it no mind.

I pulled back when I felt my lungs beginning to hurt from the lack of air, almost tearing the human’s lips with me in a resounding *smack*

“... Faust in heaven, I missed this so muchmmmmph!”

Taking a big muzzleful of air, I dived back down at his face, kissing, nipping, tongue dancing, anything my body screamed for until my cheeks hurt.

I pulled back once I felt satisfied enough, looming above Alex as I reduced him to a starry-eyed, drunken-smile goof. My heart, filled to the brim with love for him, managed to find a little more room, stitching an impossibly wide smile on my lips.

I’d gotten the kissy-kiss out of the way. It was time to bear Tartarus down on him for having left me on edge for almost two weeks with his moronic recklessness. I tried to be angry at him, but I simply lacked the spirit for it now.

Alex gazed up at me, boundless love shining in his eyes, his free hand climbing to caress my chin lovingly.

“Sorry about the taste, baby. I… haven’t had the chance to wash my teeth in a while.” He apologized with a guilty grin, running his thumb over my left cheek.

The taste. That was what he was concerned about? Only my silly human could come up with such an out-of-place comment at a moment like this. Far from getting angry, I couldn’t help but crack up loudly; for the first time since he left, laughter ran freely from me. Izzy too chuckled on her side of the bed, bringing her forelegs up to the side of the bed again and cuddling up close to the both of us, not wishing to miss her spot beside Alex, taking great care not to disturb the lines running from his arm.

He could have tasted like rotten cabbage, plucked and stomped on for all I cared.

“You silly human,” I answered back with a chuckle, capturing his lips one last time before melting into his embrace again, bringing my muzzle under his chin and lovingly bathing him in small licks and nibbles. I, too, was drunk on him.

At that moment, the rest of our pony family stampeded into the room. Crying for Alex until they found him buried under Izzy and yours truly. Knowing that they’d too want a chance to welcome him back, I extracted myself out of his tight hold and resumed my place beside the bed, a hoof unconsciously sneaking under his clothes to seek out the scar under his heart, as I had grown used to doing every time we were close.

Pipp was the first to target Alex; bringing herself aloft, she hovered above the resting human before planting her four hooves around him, pinning him down as she bore down at him with the fury of the sun.

“YOU!!” She snarled as the mattress bounced once or twice under the strength of her landing, making Alex wince and rub something beyond the jacket’s rim over his shoulder.

“Nice to see you too, Princess.” He replied through clenched teeth, although he didn't lose the twinkle in his eyes.

“Oh no no no no no, don’t you start that ‘Princess’ business with me.” Pipp, unamused by Alex’s witty retort, brought herself down until her snout was pressing against his tiny nose. “Do you know how worried we’ve been for you?!! Huh?!! I gave you a phone, a pho-nah, yes? This stupid little thing?” She grabbed hers from under her wing holster and smacked Alex’s forehead with it. “So we could remain in contact with you while you were gone!!”

“Sorry, Pipp,” Alex mumbled as he rubbed his forehead with the back of his hand. “I lost it while I was out there. Couldn't communicate even if I wanted to.” He then dipped his head to me with a crooked grin. “Did you see what I did with the moon?”

“We did.” I tenderly answered, remembering the breathtaking show in the night sky. “It got the message across, sweetie.”

“I’m glad it did.” He breathed out in relief, returning to the steaming pegasus, who was running on fumes faster than she could pump herself up with them. “So, yeah… sorry.”

“YOU LOST THE PHONE?!!!” Pipp yelled, right into the human’s face. Let it be known that Pipp Petals is one to fuss over a lost phone more than her friend’s well-being. “Do you know how much those things cost?!! I… I could just…” She made choking notions with her hooves, but her fuse burned out before it came to that. Her legs folded under her, bringing Pipp to rest atop Alex as her forehead came to meet with him in a tender gesture. “... I was so worried…”

Taking hold of her withers, Alex embraced Pipp fully and planted an apologetic peck behind her ear. “I’m so sorry Pipp… I’m so sorry for causing you to be on edge for so long.”

With a big sniffle, Pipp was content with cuddling the human for a little bit while her sister replaced Izzy on the bed’s right side, numerous tears also matting the fur on her cheeks, but with her reaction being more measured, to Alex’s luck. There were only so many ponies that a bed could hold.

“Hey there, detective.” Alex greeted with a playful pitch. “Got any new leads while I was away?”

“Oh, just shut up.” Zipp rolled her eyes and shook her head, bemused by Alex’s inquiry with a crooked grin on her muzzle. Finding a free spot, she brought her upper body onto the bed, her detective side taking a second to analyze the arrangement of tubes and machinery hooked up to Alex before closing in for a loving nuzzle, Alex replied as best he could from his pinned position. “You got us sick with worry, big guy. You owe us good.”

“I do, Zipp.” Alex scratched Zipp’s chin with the limited mobility of his right arm. “I sure do.”

As Pipp brought herself up to sit at the foot of the bed, giving Alex some breathing space, I felt Hitch brush up against my side as he went to greet the human too.

“Good to see you back, Alex.” Hitch spoke with a brotherly hoof bump which Alex was more than happy to reciprocate. “Kicked some bug butt while you were away?”

‘Stallions…’ I couldn’t help but roll my eyes.

Far from answering with bravado, Alex’s features sobered in a concerning way, a gesture that didn't fly past us silently.

“... Not exactly.”

“Okay okay. This was all so good and heartwarming,” Nurse Tenderhoof, having returned, this time carrying a trolley with numerous medical supplies, driving another spike of worry in my chest. “But, I have a patient to patch up. So, please, park the tearful reunions for later and give me some room to operate.”

“Operate?!!” Izzy cried in alarm. “He needs surgery?!!”

“She means that you need to give her some space to work.” Alex clarified for the alarmed unicorn, pushing himself away with his elbows to climb a bit over the plush pillow into a half-reclining position, wincing all the way. A sympathetic frown crossed Gaius’ face. Perhaps he knew more about what my human had gone through out there in the wilderness.

The ponies complied, shuffling backward to give the nurse ample room to take a quick look at the machines, seemingly satisfied with a hum before she went back to the trolley and began arranging the necessary materials.

“What’s that for?” Zipp couldn't keep herself from asking.

Nurse Tenderhoof beat Alex to the explanation, delivering it in a practiced, professional speech, carrying an undertone of boredom. “Blood detoxification. This dumbhead of a human got stung by a manticore and bitten by a chimera’s snake head. He had more venom than erythrocytes in his bloodstream when he came.”

“W-What?!!!” I cried in alarm, already fearing the worst. Alex ran his fingers through my mane and popped my growing panic.

“Relax, guys. I’m immune to both. I just needed extra help flushing it out since my body can’t naturally filter it… she’s helping me to piss it away.”

“Ew…” Pipp scrunched her muzzle at his… colorful description.

“Are you sure you’re going to be alright?” I pried further, not fully satisfied with his calm approach to the matter.

“I will, Tangerine.” The use of his favorite pet name for me made me grow a bit weak at the knees, but did wonders to dismantle my unease nonetheless. With another thorough rub of my left ear, his confident smile was enough deterrent for my concerns, at least on that matter. “Perks of being an alien, heh?”

“Alien?” Nurse Tenderhoof’s ears perked up, but nopony answered, instead sharing looks with one another with knowing smirks. Seeing as nopony was commenting further, Nurse Tenderhoof just shrugged it off and continued with her work. “Well, whatever the case, you needn't worry about that. This human’s a tough cookie. His stubbornness alone could burn away the toxins” She added, taking a hold of some medicinal alcohol and a staggering amount of sterilized patches and bandages. “I’m more concerned about his injuries.”

Before any of us had the chance to question the nurse further, she was already at Alex’s side, waiting patiently for him to do something. Conflict oozed from Alex, running his sight to each of us with deep uncertainty until he saw that there was no chance of escape. Sighing loudly, he complied and inched a bit further from the pillow, using his free arm to tug at his jacket rim to remove it. Nurse Tenderhoof aided him, extracting it and his shirt all the way except where the tubes met his right arm, not finding it necessary to cut the shirt. She wordlessly proceeded with her tasks as the rest of us were rendered wide-eyed with our muzzles loose and wide open.

When we’d first seen him shirtless, only the scar under his left pectoral marred his otherwise alien physique. Now, his torso, abdomen, shoulders, and some parts of his arms were a collection of small cuts, gashes, and bruises. Most of them looked like they were already, if only recently. Especially those of a lesser magnitude, leaving behind almost no trace of scarring, only visible to a trained eye.

However, it was the worst injuries, the ones that hadn't healed completely, that made my heart almost leap out of my throat. A deep, horizontal gash on his right side. An ugly, already yellowing bruise invaded almost the majority of his chest. Numerous cuts and… claw marks, I believed those were, painting a grotesque image on a good chunk of his delicate, furless skin.

And the worst of all was the one Nurse Tenderhoof was currently treating; a spider-like mess of burnt skin, radiating from a deep puncture wound right above his left shoulder blade.

I felt tears rushing to my eyes once more, the rest of the ponies gasping loudly, hooves flying towards open mouths, with a few gagging sounds betraying Pipp’s feelings on the matter.

“Yeah…” Alex droned, his shame bringing his sight down to the blankets. “I’m a bit of a mess right now.” He mumbled, fumbling with his thumbs as he soldiered through Nurse Tenderhoof’s treatment of his ugly wound.

“That’s one way to voice it, sure.” The nurse spoke under her breath, applying some sort of white ooze all over the place before covering it with a healthy amount of bandages, making it tight around his shoulder, which brought a grunt out of Alex. Satisfied with her work, she moved to another wound on his back which we couldn’t see from where we stood. “A bit more and I’d have to use the quilts to patch ‘im up.”

“Thank you, Tender,” Alex grumbled, leaving the nurse to her work while he fumed for a bit. I was on his face before he cooked himself too much, now words needed to get my message across.

With his most regretful smile, Alex petted my mane once more. Little did he know that his old trick wouldn’t work this time.

Now I was mad.

“If I told you I had it under control, would you believe me?” He squeaked out like a filly caught with a hoof in the cookie jar. Needless to say, my frown told him everything he needed to know, making my human gulp loudly and ready himself for another trip to Tartarus.

“Iv I may…” Gaius butted in before all Tartarus was let loose, taking a few steps to approach a free spot near the bed. It was at that moment that Pipp and Hitch realized he was even there, jumping back in surprise but quickly brought up to speed by Zipp. Placing a talon over Alex’s covered leg, sympathy shone in his blue eyes when he took in the sight of the scarred human. “... Älex vöund me and rescue me vhen he captured by zee schlavers that häv captured me bevore.” Another very pointed glare made the human shy away from me, to the complaints of the nurse working on his back. “He vought bravely all vay to zee hive. He helped me many times.” He then fixed his predatory eyes on me, making me unconsciously shudder a bit. “You always on his mïnd virst. Always.”

His words floored me, bringing my attention back to Alex who, filled with reproach, peered down to his hands in shame as a wince crossed his lips every now and then when the nurse would prod a delicate spot. I remembered then the reason he’d left in the first place. It hadn't been an egotistical act. Alex was the one looking forward the least to the journey, and he’d claimed he’d tackle it alone for his, but most importantly, our safety.

‘... I understand.’

‘No, baby, you don't… and I’ll give my last breath to keep it that way.’

I was torn on how to feel about everything. On the one hoof, he’d hurt me a lot; I’d endured many sleepless nights filled with uncertainty, and long hours peeling my eyes off looking at an empty screen. He hurt me by leaving us all behind to gallop into the unknown in search of an ancient foe, knowing well we too can pull our weight, as we’d demonstrated during Discord’s crisis. We may not possess the might and magic of the Element Bearers, but in only these past four months, we’d achieved what was believed impossible for hundreds of years. By working together.

On the other hoof, however; the lingering notion nagging me in the back of my mind was a constant reminder of how out of his league we still were. Far from being selfish, the way Alex had asked, almost demanded us to stay behind and safeguard the crystals… the way the color had drained from his face… the subtle tremble of his hands I wasn’t sure anypony else noticed. He was scared. Genuinely, utterly scared… not for him, but for us.

Alex had journeyed beyond the reach of the three settlements alone, faced monstrous abominations that painted his body full of scars, faced against one, or perhaps three of Equestria’s mightiest foes, alone.

And he’d done it for us… for me.

I dragged the human out of the shame pit he was on the way to digging himself into, grabbing his free hand firmly. Once more, my attempts to be angry at my human went down the drain when his broken eyes, filled with regret, met mine in resignation. He was aware of his recklessness and the heartache he’d put us through. He knew the consequences and he decided to do it anyway, knowing he’d endure them all the same.

“I might not understand…” I began, his eyes widening when he realized where I was starting from. “But I want to.” I squeezed his hand hard under my hoof, trying to transmit everything my words couldn't. “Please,” I pleaded, tears continuing cascading down my cheeks. “I know it won’t be pretty. I know it’ll be dangerous, but… please.”

Sheltered as we’d been, it was time to wake up and join the adults’ game. Alex wouldn't be the only one willing to make the sacrifices. Even if his… particular condition made him the ideal candidate.

Faust above, I can't believe that thought crossed my mind at some point.

“I don’t want you to,” Alex replied, squeezing my hoof back. “None of you.” He went to address all present. “This is not your Game. I won’t make you a part of it.”

“Uh,” Pipp interceded. “I believe we’ve been part of this ‘game’ of yours for a while now, don’t you think?”

Alex sighed loudly and broke contact to mash both hands into his face, brushing it tiredly, the grime of a long journey matting his skin as it was spread over further.

“... You are, Pipp.” He said after a moment of silent reflection. “In here,” He tapped the mattress with his finger. “In the Bay, in Zephyr Heights, in Bridlewood.” He then pointed at the window, the purple sky slowly darkening with each star that twinkled in the oncoming night. “Out there… Gaius, tell them what’s out there.”

The griffon, finding himself in the spotlight, hesitated a bit before taking a loud gulp, unsure of how to tackle Alex’s complicated query.

“Uh… It’s… um,” Gaius fumbled in place, meeting our expectant gazes which only drove him more fidgety. “Es ist… not place vor pony.”

“Ugh, please!” Zipp, a scoff knitting her brow, raised her voice and flapped to the human’s side. “We don’t need you to be foal-sitting all the time! Her tail bumped against the bed’s metal rim in frustration, making us all reel back a bit in shock. “I almost got my wing torn off by a timberwolf! I was almost thrown into a pool of lava while fighting Discord! I almost became buried under a ton of rocks if weren’t for my sister!! Here, at the Bay!!” Her icy leer clashed with Alex’s stony one, and the human’s teeth grated behind his clenched jaw. The beeping of the heart monitor spiked, the tension in the room peaking with it. “So, yes! I’m painfully aware of the fact that out there is not a place for a pony! But I won’t sit on my flank doing nothing but making sure everypony’s chums with one another while something nefarious is cooking out the-!!”

“I WILL NOT LOSE ANOTHER FAMILY!!” Alex’s outburst made us jump three hooves in the air, his fists slamming on his knees. Nurse Tenderhoof had to pull back from her wound treatment with a startle.

“Okay, that’s enough!” The nurse hopped down from the bed and planted her hooves in the middle of the agglomeration of ponies. “My patient here needs his rest, and I need to finish treating his wounds before one of them becomes seriously infected, so I’m gonna need to ask you to file this discussion for a later time and leave.”

“B-But…” Izzy tried to protest, but the nurse’s hard leer was enough to deter any further complaints. Still, nopony moved, much less me. Heated head-butting or not, nopony wanted to leave Alex’s side.

“It’s alright, guys.” The very same human was in agreement with the nurse, guilt once again dominating his features. “I’m sorry for the outburst. It’s… It’s been a rough couple of weeks, we can talk about this after I’m checked out here.” He faced Zipp specifically, the pegasus also ashamed for her rise of tone, drooping under our scrutiny. “Don’t sell yourself short, Zipp. Making sure everypony stays ‘chums’ with one another might as well be our most powerful advantage.”

“... I hope you’re right,” Zipp mumbled, wings limp at her sides and ears pressed down her scalp, a hoof rubbing her fetlock.

“Always am.” Alex fired back, this time with a playful tint, trying to bring up the mood. It worked with limited success, eliciting the smallest chuckle and an eye roll from Zipp who, after patting his leg and wishing him a speedy recovery, was the first to vacate the room. Hitch, peering back and forth between her and Alex, followed her after extending the same wishes to Alex, the human nodding appreciatively in return.

“Pipp,” My human called to the youngest of the pegasi sisters as she was about to approach him, wilting under Nurse Tenderhoof’s harsh demand.

“Hmm?”

“Mind escorting Gaius back to the Brighthouse and showing him the ropes?” The griffon perked up at this, his feathers ruffling. “I told him he could stay with us for the time being. He can nest up in the crystals' room, to keep an eye on them for us.” I felt his fingers running a loving trail down the rainbow streak of my mane. “With the landmare’s permission, of course.”

“S-Sure,” I gave my permission, still a bit stunned by Zipp’s and Alex’s short, but heated argument. “He can stay as long as he needs. Just,” I pictured a huge bird’s nest full of twigs, leaves, and feathers making a mess of the place. “Not too big, please.” I requested meekly.

Poor Gaius was rendered voiceless, something in the way his eyes widened and his posture stiffened telling me he wasn’t used to this level of kindness. He looked at Alex in search of an answer, the human only returning an encouraging grin and a nod.

It was settled. The griffon, finding nothing but encouraging smiles from all present, dipped his head in appreciation. “Vielen Dank…” He mumbled in his strange language, but I didn't need a translator to understand.

Before Gaius could leave, Alex reached out and grabbed one of his talons, interlocking his fingers between his claws.

‘Oh, this is new.’ I wondered inwardly, unfamiliar with the gesture, for obvious reasons.

“Nein, dank Ihnen,” Alex replied with a squeeze of the griffon’s claws, unfamiliar words being shared, yet the message was as plain as a sunny day.

Just as Pipp, having accepted to show Gaius around, was about to leave with the griffon in tow, Alex called one last time to the retraining pair.

“By the way, Pipp.” The pegasus peered at him over her shoulder. “He’s half boreal eagle. He’s now the best singing voice in the populated territories.” She informed Pipp with a playful grin.

With a predatory leer and putting the griffon’s own to the level of a kitten, Pipp was on Gaius’ beak before the poor thing had a chance to retreat. “Is that so?” She purred maliciously, making the poor griffon sweat bullets all over his fluffy plumage.

“S-Scheiße…” I heard him stammer, sending one parting, annoyed glare at a chuckling Alex before the pair had disappeared beyond the door’s rim.

Izzy, quick as a slight, took the chance of the ponies vacating to latch back onto Alex, her stubborn side refusing to leave Alex’s. Nurse Tenderhoof was losing her patience in steady bouts, her hoof tapping on the marble floor with a frown, pointedly looking down at a nonexistent fetlock watch.

It took some serious bribing from Alex to win Izzy over, the unicorn latching into his torso like a suckerfish. A promise of an entire day of goofing around together and an extra dose of unicorn cuddles to put the seal on his recovery brought Izzy over. She pulled back with extreme reluctance and wished Alex a good night, but not before cashing out a vigorous ear rub from him. The drying tears in her sad eyes told a different story, however. Coming across the bed to my side, she captured me in a big embrace and planted a disguised peck behind my ear, making me light up in embarrassment, praying Alex wouldn't notice behind her billowing mane. Pulling back, her beautiful pearls spoke of longing and impatience. She wanted him as much as I did. We’d agreed on the date when we, together, would propose to him the chance of forming a herd, even while now my heart still hammered in my chest under the possibility he might say no. I trusted my human. If our hearts were big enough to love each other as we would love him, I knew his would too.

Once Izzy saw herself out, it was only us and Nurse Tenderhoof in the room.

“Miss…” Nurse Tenderhoof ushered me out, but I didn't want to leave Alex’s side, not even for one more night.

“Tender.” Alex, of a similar thought, pleaded to the nurse. “We can leave this running for the night and finish patching me up tomorrow. I need some time with my mare.”

Nurse Tenderhoof ran a quick analysis on the machine where she stood and another one on Alex’s chest and abdomen wounds, the ones still yet to be treated. She held her ground as Alex's pleading hung in the air, sighing loudly and shaking her head a minute later.

“Fine.” She conceded, making my tail wag unconsciously behind me. “I’ll bring you both some supper and leave you be. But!!” She bossed with a heavy stomp. “First light tomorrow, I’m patching you up and dragging your flank down to x-rays and physiotherapy for that shoulder blade; Have I made myself clear?” Her tone left no room for protest.

“As crystal,” Alex answered with a thankful smile, with me mirroring the gesture.

Nurse Tenderhoof took hold of the trolley and made for the exit, but not before peeping behind her at us with narrowed eyes. “And no funny business. He’s still recovering.”

I burned up in a full-body blush while Alex laughed loudly at the nurse’s implication.

“Darn, and me here wanting to live out a porno.”

“ALEX!!” I cried, deeply abashed, bumping his knee in protest, only invigorating his laughter as the nurse simply rolled her eyes and left us to ourselves.

As his laughter died, a placid silence fell over the place. Almost awkward, which I would not allow to settle if it was my stallion who I was dealing with.

Not seeking nor needing permission, I was up onto the bed and down across his frame, wiggling my rear into the blankets and covering us both with them since the nip of the night could be felt even from beyond the closed window. Alex offered no retort as I nested into him, his free hand running across the fur of my back and rump as deep exhalation left his lungs.

I peeked up at him, having sunk my head on his chest, taking in his scent and the beating of his heart, as I enjoyed doing every time we went to bed. His brown eyes gazed down, filled with love, making my tail wiggle happily under the blankets as I sunk deeper and deeper into his warm chest.

“I’m mad at you.” He suddenly spoke. I had to do a double take at his words, forcing my head up his chest in surprise.

“You? Are mad… at me?” I echoed with no little amount of bewilderment, a frown tugging down at my eyebrows.

“Mhm,” He replied cheekily, booping my snout with a finger. “Because you are not mad at me.”

“And what makes you think I’m not mad enough to bite you all over until you start looking like a strawberry.” I retorted, sending my snout high in the air with a bit too much theatrics.

Alex pursed his brow as he painted a mental image, shuddering afterward but not losing his cheeky edge. “Because you’re my mare and I can read you like a book.” He offered with utmost confidence, summoning a twitch of my eye.

I tried my best to stay in character, but he was right all along. I couldn't be mad at him, much less stay mad at him, not after processing the reasons behind his act of selflessness masked by a selfish pretense.

“You’re right,” I admitted defeat and dropped back into his waiting embrace, drinking in the sweet sound of his snickering as he smushed me against his exposed skin.

“Well, I think you should.” He chirped with a scratch behind my left ear. “I for one would’ve dumped my sorry ass were I in your place.” His features softened and took over a guilty light. “What I did was not right. Leaving you all in the dust with nothing but half-cooked, rushed excuses. I just…” The words died on his tongue. A soft nuzzle stirred him to continue, letting him know I was more than willing to listen. “When I found out who was calling for me I… I froze up. Having dealt with Chrysalis and the rest before, I knew to what lengths those deranged motherfuckers would go to see their revenge and thirst for power fulfilled. Last time, they almost laid waste to all of Canterlot; Equestria would’ve followed closely behind if we hadn't… if the girls hadn't stopped them.” Another painful reminder of that battle, prompting me to seek out the scar of that moment and plant a tender kiss atop it, leaving behind a hoof for good measure. “Thank you.” He nuzzled his nose against my mane sweetly. “I… I simply couldn't fathom what they would do to you if they learned I was part of your family. Killing you right in front of me would be too short and boring for those three. They wanted me and the girls to suffer back then. And now, at this time, you guys are my greatest strength… and my greatest weakness.”

A small whimper betrayed me, his words hurting while ringing true. Alex noticed and quickly scooped me up further up his frame, planting his lips on mine to silence me in the best possible way. My tongue warred with his for a few tender, precious seconds before I felt him pull back, gently grabbing my head to make sure I was giving him one-hundred-and-ten percent attention. “And I can’t thank you enough for making me feel this way. For making me feel like I belong, like I’m cared for and loved. And I love you guys so much. So, so much, I’d die a hundred times in a hundred different ways to keep you safe.” His two-handed hold became a tender caress of my cheek when his right arm started bothering him again. “Don’t mistake my feelings for weakness. You’re not weak. None of you are, but especially you, Sunny Starscout. Here,” He pressed a finger over my chest. “Here, I know lies the strength to change the world. The resolve of one pony in countless generations to see Equestria a better place, against all odds, even if it cost her everything. I am weak. You, are not weak.”

His words took root in me, a big, tearful sniff making my entire body rock with emotion. I was not weak. I was an alicorn, I was a promoter of change, and a pillar of the community. But above all, I was Sunny Starscout.

And that’s all my family needed me to be.

“I need to ask you a favor, baby.” Alex requested out of a sudden in a grave, almost foreshadowing voice, making the remaining sniffles run their course as I regained my bearings, squeezing him with all my earth pony might, but not too hard else I accidentally worsened his state in any way.

“Anything…” I whispered back, lost in the feeling of his warm skin brushing against the tip of my snout.

“This journey…” He began, yey hesitation took hold of him as something prevented him from collecting his thoughts. “This journey has been eye-opening in many ways. Made me understand one thing about myself I hadn't had the courage to admit until today.”

His muscles tensed under me, prompting me to meet his gaze once more. With a dip of my head, I wondered what he was referring to. “I’ve realized I can no longer trust myself to do the right thing.”

My ears perked up in alarm, my body following soot as I incorporated atop him to pry further. “W-What do you mean?” My hoof rubbed nervously over his scar.

“Just that.” He answered in short. “Since the moment I first arrived in Equestria, I always felt everything I did was the correct thing to do, that no matter where the paths took me, the end would always justify the means. When I gifted my technology to the ponies, I felt I was doing right. When I deepened their knowledge and filled the holes magic could not fill, I felt I was helping build a bright future for all. When I faced the nations of Equus and embraced my role as Prince of Knowledge, when I took the vanguard with my friends in the battle of Canterlot, to the last second I stayed awake before entering stasis… I always, always felt I was doing the right thing, no matter the pain or the cost. Always forward, always for the better.”

The ceiling with its embedded, cold lights tuning down their intensity in response to the late hour and the patients’ need for good rest, gained my stallion’s attention, rearing him from my prying eyes. A puff of air flickered my bangs as he breathed out in a tired fashion, casting over him that aged atmosphere I’d gotten glimpses of during Discord’s crisis when he was at his lowest, an uncomfortable knot building in my tummy in response.

“... I don’t believe so anymore… In that light, I want you to take charge.”

“T-Take charge?” I didn't like what he was slowly unwrapping, not one bit.

“Taking the reins is a bad habit of mine.” He clarified further, coming down from the roof to chase away the foreboding tension filling my every pore. “Making myself the protagonist and the victim of everything happening around me. I’m not the protagonist, no matter what Harmony seeks to turn me into.”

‘Harmony? What does she have to do with this?’

“I have seen the potential inside you Sunny. I trust you without any reservations.” Alex ran his fingers through my mane once more, not enough to stop the trembling of my limbs. “From henceforth, you will call the shots. I’ll do what you tell me to do, I’ll go wherever you need me to go. And when the time comes to face Harmony’s threat, whatever it might be, we will face it together, under your leadership.”

The pressure was almost suffocating. “N-N-NO!!” I protested, rearing up to the point our snouts almost touched. “I-I-I can’t assume that degree of responsibility!! I wouldn't know the first thing!!”

“And what have you been doing all this time, my dear Sunny, if not lead our friends to victory time after time, crisis after crisis.” Alex cited with a knowing grin, pride for me emanating from him but crashing against my wall of panic.

“It’s not the same!!” I rebutted loudly, shrinking down as fear sunk its claws into my heart.

“I hate to lay it down on you…”

“Then don’t!!” I yelled, leaving him with the words hanging from his mouth.

“... I hate to lay it down on you like this.” My plea fell on deaf ears as he resumed his speech. “Especially after how it affected Twilight when the crown was passed to her on a whim. How it shook her core to the point she balanced herself precariously at the tip of a nervous meltdown.” I wasn’t sure what point he was trying to make because, as it stood, he was far from selling me his proposition. “But, unlike them, I will NOT throw you to the wolves and sit on my ass waiting to see how well you manage from the sidelines.” His tone hardened as much as his features did. “I will be with you every step of the way, help in every way I can, and take every brunt heading your way because that’s what I’m here for. Not what Harmony wants me to do. What I want to do. She can go fuck herself and rise another Empyrean to do her bidding, I don’t give a fuck anymore.”

He took hold of my head again, bringing our foreheads together as our breaths mingled. “I’m here for you. For my family. When the past betrayed me, I thought I could try with the future, fix my fuck-ups and try again. I will not bet your future on my selfish desires. I deserve each and every one of the consequences my acts brought forth, and I will carry them as my sigil.”

His fist clenched the white rose made up of intertwined circles on the front pocket of his jacket. “Discord was right in that cave. I did run away because I couldn't process what all my good intentions had turned into, what all the work and goodness I poured into Equestria and its betterment had led to. I might not hold all the blame for its downfall, but I share a major slice of it. And I couldn't stand to meet my family’s eyes and tell them everything was going according to plan when their own neighbors spat and insulted them for being born different!!”

Feelings poured out of Alex like a merciless cascade, his heart naked and weeping bitter tears that sparkled under the light of the waxing moon.

“This place, this time, is my legacy, Sunny! You are my legacy! And I need to protect you! All of you!! From whatever might lurk out there, from whatever might occur here, under our feet. I don't care! Because what I'm most afraid of, what keeps me awake at night and brings living nightmares while I'm awake, is to think I need to protect you from me! And it's driving me crazy!!!”

With each word, I felt him crumble a little until my human was reduced to a sniffling puddle of tears and regret, with me not far behind, yet keeping myself together long enough to listen to his every word, my brain struggling to follow with my heart weeping nonetheless. Whatever had happened out there, whomever it was that he’d met, whatever it was that he saw, the human that embarked on a dangerous mission to protect his family was not the human who’d returned victorious.

Something had broken inside my human, and I didn't have the faintest clue as to how to fix it.

Gritting his teeth hard, Alex shrank before my very eyes. In the privacy we shared, he wouldn't hide anything more from me. He lacked the strength, and conviction, to hide anything from me. I didn't possess Izzy's innate ability, but had I… I bet I could've seen his sparkle flicker off and die before my very eyes.

Sobs racked his body, the same ones he’d introduced himself with that afternoon in the lantern room of my old lighthouse, when Harmony put a preventive stop to his only trump card before he could even put it into action.

While my human sobbed and hurt, I felt an eerie emptiness fill me. Not only was I at a loss for words, I… I simply wasn’t able to process it all. Alex, who’d been a pillar of strength, an inspiration, to me and to all of us, would they wish to admit it, or not. Now, he revealed himself as a selfish coward, a mistake, a bane on Equestria’s existence the likes which its most formidable foes could only dream of reaching.

We’d been through this before. Numerous times we’d been there right beside him to reassure him that all the good he did, all the progress he inspired, and all the lives he’d saved, could and would topple any harm he might think his actions could've brought with them. At least in our eyes, the only ones he should care about.

For the first time since I’d met him, I found myself without a hold to grab onto, so overcome by his grief that my own emotions were rendered bottled inside.

“I… I-I… sniff. I can't be p-part of it anymore. I-I need to be b-better.” Alex wheezed out with the last remaining wisps off strength left in his body. “I… I need to… t-to…”

Falling limp on the pillow, Alex was out like a light, his excruciating journey finally catching up with him. The heart monitor, its frenetic beeping from a spike in activity having become white noise in the background, stabilized back as the first, deep breaths of slumber brought my stallion's pulse to tolerable levels. I noticed it too under my hoof, firmly placed over his scar, right atop his beating heart. A heart that kept beating, but no longer with a clear purpose.

What was I to make of it? How was I going to pick up the pieces, to take charge of our efforts in rebuilding Equestria to its proper glory? To face a darkness whose identity still eluded our best detective?

We were blind, deaf, and alone against everything that awaited us out there.

If my human, a creature of legend, battle-tested, and a well of boundless knowledge, had been reduced to this… what hope was there for the rest of us?

No more tears trickled down my cheeks, the infinite becoming my utmost source of interest as my mind went blank. All joy I felt for our reunion died under the light of this new uncertainty, the weight of this new responsibility.

I was a brave mare. My father had told me that so many times. My friends repeated it on countless occasions. I believed it for myself the moment I gained true control over my alicorn powers. Alex… Alex was the source of my strength, a strength that burned with the power of a million Suns every time I brought out a proud smile from him. I wanted to be brave for him but… did I truly have the strength, to match the confidence he had in me?

The day’s exhaustion called for me, too. I felt bad for Nurse Tenderhoof, but neither of us was particularly in the mood for supper that night. I'd need my friends to properly ponder over this. As much as I wished I didn't need to, I absolutely needed to rely on them for this.

I would NOT give up on my human as it felt like he’d given up on himself…

“... Faust above, tell me what I need to do…”

Chapter 45- Live with it.

Act V: Unworthy

“You might wanna put these on before we go in.”

Hoofing Gaius Zipp’s aviator sunglasses, knowing (or rather, hoping) she wouldn’t mind me borrowing them from her desk, I waited while the griffon ran a curious analysis over them before taking them with a delicate touch in one of his sharp talons.

“Um… may I ask vhy?” Gaius wondered as he wiggled the glasses in the air, testing the elasticity of the hinges and even sniffing them a bit, winning a disguised giggle from me.

“Just don’t want you to go blind in light of such brilliance!” I offered merrily.

We stood just about the corner that led to my workshop. After having left Alex’s room at the hospital, I’d found Pipp giving our newest friend an abbreviated tour around the brighthouse. The poor griffon, while doing his best to pay attention, was about to drop from exhaustion, as we could all see. We decided it was best to let him bunk in Alex’s room that night after a quick dinner consisting of a sandwich and a salad, which he politely declined.

‘Too much grün’, he’d claimed. Heh, curious guy.

Now, under the light of a new day, and since we didn't know when, or even if Alex was gonna be checked out from the hospital anytime soon, I decided to give the lost griffon a proper tour around our home base. Starting, needless to say, with my very own workshop! Refuge of creativity! Temple of the wildest imagination! House of freedom of expression!!

He was gonna need sunglasses. I was already used to the awesomeness of my art by this time.

“... Alrïght.” Gaius, sounding unsure, gave the sunglasses a go, placing them gently over his beak and fixing the temples as best he could between the fluffy plumage of his eagle head. Blinking twice and casting an exploratory look around, Gaius seemed content with the experience. “Cool…”

‘It’s just a pair of sunglasses.’ I held in a lopsided grin, seeing the griffon make such a number about wearing them. ‘Although he did tell us yesterday he hailed from a faaaar away place… perhaps they don’t wear sunglasses there?’

I gave it no further thought. I was almost vibrating in place, looking forward to his opinion on some of my latest creations! The insight of another race from the lands beyond the ocean could prove invaluable to me!

‘Those numbnuts in the museum will be stewing in envy sooo sweetly when they hear I have a griffon-approved piece…’ I couldn't help but maliciously celebrate.

As it happened, Gaius wasn’t an expert in all things crafty, keeping a polite, somewhat reserved opinion on the stuff I showed him, finished and still ongoing. Could’ve been better, honestly, but it also could’ve been WAY worse, knowing how rude and dry griffons could be. Or used to be. I couldn't be sure about today. Gaius seemed nice enough, if a bit not taciturn and reserved. I couldn’t blame him for that, either. I could understand how this was a big change for him and… Well, even if nopony had reacted too strongly at his presence, the few looks we got while we heard back from the hospital were not what you’d call ‘welcoming’.

He’d kept all cool and collected, noting he was expecting it. I knew it was a bluff; I could see those adorable ears-tufts of his drooping and his previously curious gaze lose most of its luster by the time we’d made it home. No matter! If we’d been able to bring the three tribes of ponies together again, I was sure that a single griffon would be a piece of cake, especially with him being on the friendly side.

“And… dies ist…?” Gaius winced in effort, furrowing his feathery brow quizzically. He was holding one of my latest works, a one-to-ten scale gummy bear made up of gummy bears.

“I call this… ahem.” I readied my best salesmare voice. “Allegory to Deconstruction,” I announced all professional-like.

Blinking owlishly behind his sunglasses, Gaius cast another slow glance at the oversized gummy bear and carefully placed it back on the small trophy cabinet I kept on the wall to store my work before selling it on the plaza… or not, if I grew too attached to it.

I was running out of space.

The sound of the front door opening and closing, followed by two very familiar voices, interrupted my next presentation, the thrill of my two closest friends having returned from the hospital so soon filling me with joy, almost getting me to drop the sculpture of Sparky I’d made out of littered bottle caps, some wire I found somewhere in an alley and a pair of huge googly eyes because that sweet little dragon had the most adorable eyes that ever broke this unicorn’s heart.

“They’re back!!”

I was flying out of my workshop before Giaus could utter another comment. I galloped for the foyer and skidded to a halt in front of the lovey-dovey pair of a big, bandage-covered human and the sweetest mare to ever live.

“Alex!!” I celebrated in glee, my tail mirroring my feelings and wagging behind me.

“Come here you silly filly.” Alex, smiling widely in return. Extracting that humongous sword (swords?) of his from the holster on his back and rested them beside his bag. He got down on one knee with a small wince and welcomed me with open arms.

I was more than happy to comply. Now that he was up and about, I could squeeze him in a proper hug. Oh, how much I’d missed the big lug. Not to mention he got us all prancing in a field of hoof-rot mushrooms in worry. Things had been so slow and booooring without him around. I guess nopony was feeling like doing much while we waited. The air in the brighthouse had grown stale in our silence as each of us cooked in our own concern for him.

Actually, why was I acting all cuddly? I should be mad at him for making us worry so much!!

I did just that, breaking our embrace to plant my haunches in front of him, sending my most disapproving frown at the now puzzled human.

“... What?” Alex quizzed, barely holding back a chuckle as I furrowed my brow even more. “Does that mean no goofing around today?”

“...”

“... Sigh.” Yeah, there was no way I was gonna skip on that, no matter how justifiably mad I believed I should be with him. “Sorry, Sunny girl. I tried my best.”

“That’s fine Izzy.” With a faint smile, Sunny brushed against my side and, with a welcoming nuzzle, she made her way inside. “Neither could I.”

You see, I prided myself on being a ponies’ mare, having a knack for knowing how a pony feels at any given moment. I could always check their sparkle and how bright it shone. Alex told me that was an unusual ability for a unicorn to possess. I guess I can’t help being special!

However, this time was not one to celebrate. Where I would’ve expected to see a blazing sun of lavender that was my bestie’s sparkle bathing me in her wake as she headed for the kitchen, barely a flickering wisp clinging to life was what my senses registered.

‘This is not right…’

If there was a pony amidst us that should be jumping on the walls from happiness, it should be Sunny. Her hubby was back and… mostly unharmed. But fine overall! That was good news if I ever heard some! So… why was she putting on a mask while, inside, she was feeling as cold as a winter night in Bridlewood?

Doctor Izzy’s on the case! No way in Tartarus I was gonna let a friend be all mopey ‘n slumpy on such a wonderful day!

I started with the closest suspect available. “Well, that was unusual” I mulled out loud for Alex to hear. “Is everything alright? Has something happened between you two overnight?” I prodded him.

Catching him halfway into resettling the bag on his back, a prominent wince made him freeze in place, freezing him halfway into reincorporating.

“Um… y-you see…” Alex tried to start in a shaky voice.

“And don't even think about saying that everything is fine between you two!” I felt I had to make it clear in case the crafty human might get it through his head that he could cheat me. “He can see into your very soul, mister!” I exclaimed, closing one eye and putting the other to work intently on his sparkle... until I remembered that he didn't have one of his own.

“Uh… first of all, that’s not how aura sensing works. Second, you know I don’t have a natural one about me.”

“Don't care” I stood my ground, continuing my scrutiny with perhaps a little too much enthusiasm. My left eye was beginning to hurt a bit. “I can smell it on you, otherwise!”

I held my intense gaze until I could no longer, blinking and winking furiously to rehydrate my poor eye, breaking the spell and my concentration with a snort; Alex sighed tiredly and finished relocating his backpack and sword(s?) before dropping to one knee in front of me, his sad, brown eyes hiding that which had bothered my best friend so much during the course of the night.

“Okay...” He sighed softly, stroking my cheek with a gloved hand. If he thought he was going to be able to soften me up with that old trick... he was succeeding. “Yes, Izzy. Yesterday, after you all left, I had a conversation with Sunny about some... concerns I've brought back from the trip. And... well...”

Alex couldn't seem to find the words, but the little he revealed made it sound worse and worse. Frowning and cuffing the floor, I dipped my head to kick his dancing fingers out of my fur.

“Pray you didn't hurt her in any way, Alexander,” I warned him good with my best timberwolf growl. “You know I love you dearly, but I remember promising that I would play origami with your furless hide if you ever...”

His hand returned to silence my snout, leaving me with the warning on the tip of my tongue.

“I know, Izzy. I know.” He replied confidently. “Nothing of the sort, okay? I… I just said some things that I needed to get out, and I put her into a complicated position. I wasn't in the best state of mind and spooked her a bit, that’s all.”

It sounded to me that he was downplaying it somehow, but the steeliness of his voice told me I wasn't gonna get much more out of him no matter how much I prodded. Letting my muzzle go, he reared up back to his full length and rubbed his aching shoulder, the one carrying that ugly, burnt scar with a wince.

“I want to talk about it with all of you later when we’re all back. It concerns you, too.”

“Hmph.” I sent my snout high, dissatisfied with his lack of cooperation, but agreed to wait until the full gang had returned to our home base.

Satisfied with my pose, or perhaps not, I couldn't tell, Alex trudged beside me to address Gaius, having politely waited somewhere behind us so as to not imply that he could be eavesdropping, although the way his ear tufts had perked up was enough indication he’d heard every last word.

“Morning, bird breath. How did you find the place?”

Gaius took Alex’s playful tease in stride, firing back with a comment about his lanky form and sending a balled talon to hoof-bump the human.

“You veren't läyink back zere on zee roat. It ist quite impressïv.” He chirped, quickly taking notice of Alex’s exposed forearm since he wasn't wearing his jacket at the moment. Taking hold of it delicately, Gaius’ avian eyes widened considerably in surprise. “Oh, und I thinkink I heal vast…”

The griffon was not off the mark. Losing my undignified pose, I trotted to the pair’s side to take a peek at whatever had surprised Gaius. Where some small, albeit nasty cuts had crisscrossed his forearm all the way to his shoulder, now faint traces and a few loose scars now adorned his smooth skin. An impressive recovery, regardless of the fact that the wounds in the area fell on the smaller side compared to the ones on his torso. Still, I rejoiced to see my best human friend was making such a speedy recovery.

“Yep, perks of being in the service of the Rainbow Light.” Alex chirped cryptically, making the griffon and I shared a puzzled look before Alex the birdy’s feathers, ushering him to follow him deeper into the hall. “Come with me for a sec, Gaius. I want to show you some stuff, see if you can lend me a talon.”

With a brief purr that melted my heart under the happy smile that stretched his… surprisingly flexible beak, Gaius fell in step with Alex as he led them up the ramp to the second floor.

“Are those Zipp’s sunglasses…?”

As his voice trailed beyond my reach, I was left with no choice but to tread directly to the source.

A ruckus of clattering dishes and shelf doors opening and closing revealed my bestie’s whereabouts to be those of the kitchen area, where I found her fixing some late breakfast, or early lunch judging from the current time of the morning. A simple Sprouts-and-Gouda-Cheese salad and a pair of slices of Alex's infamous ‘pan tumaca’... I think I got it right.

I made my presence known by levitating the slice of tomato toast from Sunny's hoof as she was about to take a nice bite, making her teeth chomp on empty air.

“What…? Izzy!” She cried as her eyes looked into my best detective frown, taking a page from Zipp so as to better crack this case open like a watermelon… that I started to crave a slice of after seeing my buddy’s delicious meal.

Seeing me standing in the foyer all bossy and professional, scrutinizing her very soul as the toast floated in the air between us, painted a blank look on her features.

“Can I have my toast back, Izzy?”

“Hmm, depends…” I scratched my chin pensively. “Can you answer some questions for me?”

Seeing her breakfast postponed, Sunny grumbled something under her breath along the lines of ‘two of them now’ and offered me a seat on a chair beside her. I took her offer with a merry trot and planted my flank on the low chair, resting my forelegs over the pristine aisle and returning the delicious-looking toast to its rightful owner…

Or at least I would've done so if my tummy hadn’t chosen that moment to grumble in protest, as loud as a freight train, to my chagrin.

“Um…”

“Sigh, go ahead,” Sunny replied to my silent question, reaching to grab the remaining toast and taking a silent bite from it.

“Thanks, bestie!” Not being one to be left behind, I took a nice muzzle-full, half the toast disappearing down my trap in a single go. Bless that human and his cousin. The best in the world, according to him. He hadn't given us a reason to the contrary yet.

Feeling like the good food shouldn't be accompanied by a foul mood, I dropped the act and instead spoke sincerely, feeling genuine concern for the mare who, regardless of how good the meal tasted, was eating at her with the same gusto and energy as if she was munching on a piece of cardboard.

“Did something happen last night?” I fired straight to the point. “Cause I felt your sparkle as you went past and, girl, it felt as cold as a dip in Bridlewood’s mud baths in the heart of winter.”

Perhaps not the best comparison judging by the quizzical dip of Sunny’s head, but the message got across. With another sigh, Sunny demonstrated that she’d lost her appetite and nudged the half-eaten salad away to drop her head into her crossed forelegs, ears droopy in a mirror of her mood.

“Mhm,” Sunny replied, muffled under the fur of her fetlocks.

I waited for her to start spilling the beans, but was left with nothing but an awkward silence as her sight got lost in the infinity before us as her mind traveled far from the present.

Whatever it was that had transpired between the two of them, had upgraded from smelling badly to outright stinking of rotten crystal roots left too long under the sun.

“... Sooo, may I ask what it was?” I pinched further, taking a bit of a passive-aggressive pose to let her know I wasn't going anywhere until I‘d learned something.

Casting a side glance from within the confines of her forelegs, Sunny bit her cheek, conflicted about whether to share what was eating at her. I couldn’t refrain from a pang of disappointment from pricking my heart. Besties were supposed to be able to confide in anything and everything to one another without fear of being criticized or laughed at. If you couldn't share your deepest and darkest secrets with the pony you feel closest to, then who?

What was keeping Sunny from doing just that?

Faust must’ve heard my implied prayers since, a moment of debate having passed, Sunny extracted her fuzzy head from her fuzzier refuge and sat forwards a bit on her seat, her hooves brushing against the trimmed fur of her fetlocks nervously.

“... After you guys left, Alex wanted to speak with me before dinner.” Sunny opened the line with a raspy, almost decayed tone.

“Yeeees…” I gently poked her to keep going, happy to finally make some progress with the troubled mare.

“He said he needed to get something off his chest. That his journey to the Hive had proven… enlightening.”

“Ooooh, that sounds like something good, doesn’t it?” I perked my ears to give Sunny my one hundred percent attention, wiggling my seat a bit closer.

Sunny’s sour features didn’t subscribe to my assumption, with another tiny slump, she drew circles with her hoof over the table.

“He said…” She squeezed out, failing the first time as she became even more somber. “He said he doesn't trust in himself anymore. To do the right thing, I mean… He said he won’t be part of it unless it’s to follow me as I take the lead.”

A heavy stillness permeated the room after that. For a moment, I didn't quite follow what Sunny was trying to suggest. Hadn't she always been our unofficial leader? I mean, it’s true we all trusted Alex’s judgment in tight spots since he was leagues more knowledgeable than us in… well, almost everything. To me, it sounded like more of our every day. What did she mean by Alex not trusting himself anymore?

“Um… Sorry, Sunny. I think I’m not quite following.” I apologized.

A long puff left her nostrils as she slumped on her forelegs again, her eyes focused somewhere far from here, perhaps recalling yesterday's events.

“He said that I need to be the one to call the shots. That he’d be with me every step of the way and take all the punches meant for us if it means he can keep us safe.” A sniff now shook her body as small tears began trickling down those gorgeous seafoam-green pearls of hers. “H-He said we’re his legacy. T-That this was his own choice, and n-nopony else’s” Slowly but surely, my bestie was breaking down, prompting me to forget my impromptu breakfast over the table and rush to glomp her into the warmest thug I could muster. “H-He fears that… sniff, if he continues down this road, he will have to protect us from himself! He’s so afraid, Izzy. I-I-I don’t know what happened out there, b-but he… h-he’s…”

Sunny couldn't hold it back anymore. Breaking down in a pile of sobs, she clutched me tight in our embrace, muffled sobbing staining my fur with tears as I already began conjuring a picture of what had spooked my friend so badly.

With comforting pats and soothing words, I was there for Sunny until her sobbing went away, nopony having interrupted us into the kitchen to find us in a mess, thank Luna. Sunny needed a few minutes to breathe everything out. It was good that she did, and I was sure that she’d feel leagues better afterward. It’d been a lot of pressure being in the dark about Alex’s whereabouts and well-being. This hadn’t been the first time poor Sunny had broken down with me being there to lift her up. That confounded human couldn't have chosen a worse time to drop this load onto her. I’d have a word or two with him, afterward…

But, Sunny came first. Through sniffles and heavy tears, she confessed that she didn't know what to do. Regardless of the unilateral trust she knew Alex and the rest of us had placed in her, she felt unfit to lead us. even now and after all we’d accomplished thanks to her initiative! I, too, felt that we were in good hooves with her in the lead, but I felt Alex’s implications ran deeper than what we’d discussed with Sunny. She was the one who’d been chosen to carry those alicorn powers. We were all there to witness it, any of us could've been chosen all the same, but it was Sunny who was deemed worthy by… Harmony, I guess. Having learned about the old spirit’s… predilections, I was conflicted as to how to feel about it, but it didn't dilute the meaning behind the act one bit.

I tried to reassure her to the best of my abilities, softly sharing Alex’s point in her being born for this job, even before she’d gained her wings and horn. This impostor syndrome had been one of the first things she’d experienced as she took the reins of her powers, and more than once we’d all agreed as a group she was more than deserving of them. Even if the image of an alicorn could prove a bit too much for the average pony, resulting in that annoying, insensitive behavior they’d bathed her in that time she’d tried to warn the town about their unhealthy eating habits…

A ‘nope’ sign over a picture of a Prench fry... Dear Sunny wasn't gonna make it alive out of that meeting if her alicorn form hadn’t manifested on a whim.

And yet, Sunny braving the carrying of that metaphorical torch wasn't what choked her the most from the flurry of emotions she was soldiering through. Something had happened to Alex out there. Only once had we seen him pushed to the brink of something unrecognizable, and that was during Discord’s crisis as the both of them faced off. What we’d old understood as malicious taunting from the draconequus, Alex now admitted was true. That he was a coward who ran away, that he was weak, untrustworthy, and unworthy of our love and sympathy. That he couldn't trust in his own judgment anymore, for everything he thought was for the better of Equestria had resulted in its destruction. There was a lot of blame to be spread around, and he firmly believed he should be the recipient of most, if not all of that blame.

“I don’t know how to help him anymore, Izzy.” Sunny sobbed one last time, squeezing me hard as her tears began to dry up. “It… I-It feels as if, sniff, as if every step we take, we lose him a bit more, no matter what we try. I thought he was getting better. I thought we’d finally got through that thick head of his and convinced him that he shouldn’t spend the rest of his days punishing himself.” A gurgled chuckle was shared between us. Alex did have a thick head when he put it to use sometimes. “It… It sounded like he was… like he was giving up, like… I-I don’t know. It scared me so much, the way he said it. I… I’m not sure if I’m even making any sense…”

“Shhh, it’s alright, besite.” I hushed the poor mare before she could break down into tears again, hugging her head against my chest fluff and nuzzling her multicolored mane lovingly, rocking us both gently against the chair. “It’s alright. I’m… I’m sure there’s more to it than what he said. We were all tired and heated feelings were fluttering all over the room. I’m sure that with cooler heads, he can explain better to us later when we can all talk. Because we will all bring this to him later, as a family. He can complain all he wants, but I for one won’t have him going back again to dodging questions and bottling things up like when we were chasing Discord!” I sealed it with a stomp of my rear hoof.

Sunny, drying her tears against my fur, which I didn't mind, nodded feebly against my chest before sniffling the last of the waterworks again, harrumphing with a dry throat as she broke the hug. A glass of water, grabbed and filled with my levitation, was already waiting for her before she could dry the last of the tears from her matted cheeks.

“Thank you, Izzy.” Sunny quivered with the tiniest of smiles chasing the gloom away from the warm sun rays filtering from between the kitchen’s curtains. Even teary-eyed and ruffled, the pan in my heart reminded me of how stunning she was. “I don’t deserve you.”

Returning the grin, I playfully headbutted her, resting my head under her chin as I gazed up at her. “Mmm, perhaps. But I’ll be here for you either way.” I chirped cheekily, nuzzling her chin to Sunny’s giggling glee. I needed to make her smile and park the doom and gloom for later, preferably for it to never be seen again. We were all back together and stronger than ever! I wanted to believe that, and I’d do whatever was in my hoof to make it so!

Sunny reciprocated with a nuzzle on my ear. Ooooh, only a few days until my B-day, and we’d pop the question to Alex and, if Celestia willed it, we’d make it official between the three of us. Where doubts and apprehension reigned in my heart were still present from before, but now I was more sure than ever that the three of us could share our love for one another, unorthodox as it was at this stage, but I was beyond giving a pegamouse’s butt about what other ponies might chitter behind our backs.

That brought me to a closing inquiry, blurting it out of impulse. “But you still love him, don’t you?”

Blunt and poor choice as it was, Sunny giggled in my mane and pulled back to peer down at me. “Of course I still love him. Do you think I’ll be breaking down for him if I wasn't?”

Yeah, in retrospect, it was kinda a silly assumption, but I still felt compelled to ask.

We basked in each other's company for a little longer, enjoying the tranquility of our heart-to-heart and the peacefulness of another sunny morning. That is, until I felt Sunny, still nuzzling my mane, take an undisguised whiff at my hair.

“Uh, Izzy. Is that my mane conditioner?”

I suddenly remembered I’d left the gummy bear sculpture under the window…

“... So, does it ring any bells?”

Up in the lantern room where the Unity Crystals hovered in their rainbow aura, pouring Prisbeam energy unchallenged into the heavens, Gaius and I were having a quick conversation regarding the fate of those that dwelled on the twin landmasses of North and South Essia. Seeing as the girls had already given him the abbreviated tour, and had donated a spare mattress and a healthy ball of blankets as a temporary measure until he could whip up something more griffon-like; I’d hoped to use the chance and milk some more info out of him, whatever he could spare regarding the fate of the griffons and other creatures that populated the lands beyond the Celestial Sea.

Not my utmost priority on a long list of pending concerns, but an important one to consider, for I was sure that contact with other races beyond the three tribes was more than assured to happen sooner rather than later as the ponies' influence over Equestria was sure to exponentially increase over time.

Sheltered as his village had been deep in the Boreal Range, I wanted to ask him to share any small nuggets of information he might hold, no matter how small or insignificant he deemed them to be. Argyle’s notes had only taken me so far, and the picture they painted was not a reassuring one.

Gaius pondered the quick catch-up I’d given him around the state of affairs on the neighboring countries as far as Argyle's elucidations had reached. I still harbored the painful reminder of the young griffon’s own recollection of his village’s destruction at minotaur hands, prompting his escape and subsequent years touring the wilderness by himself. Minotaurs were amongst the most warry and problematic of Equusian races, so it had come as no surprise when Gaius revealed them to be the ones responsible for the attack on their sheltered population. Long-lived feuds among the peoples of Essia had blemished its twin landmasses as far as their collective history went. It would be no shock to learn they still were at arms with one another to this day.

“... Sorry, I not knov avvvvbout any ov zees… Thees.” Gaius, his Equish pronunciation slowly but surely improving by the day, apologized with a crestfallen dip of his head, handing me Argyle’s journey, still opened at his last entry regarding the findings of an old cargo ship wreck near the Fillydelphian Dent, a series of sharp, rocky protrusions born from the falling fragments of the towering cliffs that gave its name to that region around fifty-or-so kilometers north of Maretime Bay. According to his notes, the shipwreck was at least a few months old by the state of the rotting remains of the brigantine. He didn't find any bodies, but he did find an old sailor’s log having been spared the worst of the sea saltiness amidst a pile of marooned, obliterated crates piled up on the rockiest part of the small beach that kissed the tall cliffs. What little he could make out of the log, as well as the oxidized, metallic skeletons of the crate’s cargo told him the ship was carrying a healthy supply of weapons to aid the clinging remains of the New Griffonian Empire, whatever that was, against minotaur incursions at the mouth of Guto’s River.

Of course, he’d rushed back to Maretime Bay to warn the ponies about a potential threat beyond the sea. And, needless to say, he’s been subsequently ignored.

If Gaius had no knowledge about this New Griffonian Empire or any word of minotaur incursions beyond the one his village suffered, that meant his village must have been truly sheltered in the frozen reaches of the north.

“Hmm,” I pondered the implications, finding the matters beyond the Celestial Sea concerning, but not on the top of my priority list as of yet. Equestria had little to offer to them as I’d been painfully aware of during my journey to the Hive. Aside from empty space and unchecked, life-threatening fauna, little could any invasion force find where ponies once ruled. “We’ll have to keep our eyes open then. Schönen Dank, Gaius.”

I took a seat at the foot of the small, improvised nest he had whipped up with our friends’ numerous donations, tapping the closed diary against my knee as I lost myself in thought a pang of pain here and there to break my focus as one of my healing wounds came up to say ‘Hi’.

Gaius, still a bit bummed for not having proved of help, planted his haunches beside me and offered me silent company, his tail coming to coil around my bent legs in a sign I’d learned to be of reassurance and trust. Whether it was more for him than me, I couldn't be so sure. I was brought out completely from my attempts to piece out some extra parts of the puzzle by the funny way he was peering at the floating gems, using a talon to dip down the sunglasses resting balanced on his feathery crest to gaze at them under the polarized lenses, and up from his eyes again to note the difference.

I found it endearingly amusing, taking a second to wonder why he was so captivated by the difference until it clicked for me, a slice of information regarding his species traits that I hadn't considered.

“Heh, looks funny through the sunglasses, doesn’t it?”

Lifting them up to gaze at me, he agreed with a dip of his beak, taking the pair of glasses with extreme care to run an analytical exploration over them.

“Zzzzthey do. Die Farben… are very möre… uh…”

Poor Gaius couldn't find the words he needed, in Equish or otherwise. There was no need for them since I could piece out more or less what he was experiencing. With a friendly ruffle of his head feathers, I explained it to him in layman’s terms.

“They’re meant to polarize light. Like… blocking out part of the incoming light so it’s not so harmful to the eyes. For us, we see things darker somehow, like they’re dulled. But you guys can see further into the ultraviolet spectrum, adding an extra layer that we cannot perceive, but which overcomes most other wavelengths’, uh… colors. So if you block it out with the glasses, you unmask those colors a bit, and they look funny.”

With an owlish blink, Gaius peeked down at the glasses and back up at me, his beak half open in bewilderment.

“... You knov lot ov zhings.” It wasn’t a question, but I answered nonetheless with a laugh and a pat on his shoulders.

“Yeah, it’s mostly what I did back home.”

“Hmm?” Gaius hummed, repositioning himself a bit to give me his full attention.

I couldn't deny those curious eyes of his, having filled with life again the more we traveled together, hopefully, our company patching over what his isolation and the treatment those slavers gave him had chipped away at his youth and liveness.

“Back from the land of the humans, I mean.” I wasn’t gonna break his fuzzy head with the ‘I’m an alien from another universe’ speech that I’d already delivered a hundred times by now. “I was a scientist. My job was to know lots of stuff and use that to learn more new things to wrack my brain over. That’s the gist of it.”

“Oh,” I’d gotten his attention, the theme of our past lives having remained a bit of a sore topic for the both of us, with him more interested in the stories I could tell of my journeys and those of my friends back in the day than anything more personal and touchy. “Are zhere more ‘hoomans’ vhere you comink vvvvfrom?”

“Ah, too many, if you ask me.” I chuckled, memories of my long-lost Earth resurfacing. “But yeah, we were not a colorful, nosy bunch in our little blue ba-I mean, in our land. What about you? Want to talk a bit about your village? Might help in my experience.”

Gaius shied back, his tail tightening around my ankle as a somber aura befell the griffon. I felt bad unearthing past traumas, but I felt he needed to open up completely if he was to heal the scars in his soul as the one of his body had almost finished doing so. The work of a nice, long shower, a hearty meal, and a good night’s rest had spruced up Gaius to the point where he was almost a completely different griffon from the scruffy pile of bones and feathers I’d rescued, bringing me hope of his full recovery both in body and mind.

I wanted him to recover. I needed him to. I had to be better, for him. To give him the chance I’d long since renounced.

“Um…” He fumbled with his talons.

“Come on.” I booped his beak, making him go cross-eyed for a moment before gazing back quizzically at me. “The girls are gonna strip it out of ‘ya the moment they see you all mopey about it. Better get your thoughts in order with me first. And, in return, I can tell you anything you want to know about us lanky humans and where we come from.”

His curiosity warred with his hesitation. The former won over after a minute of internal debate, the griffon resuming his previous position beside me as I sent an arm behind his back to let him know I was there for him.

“... Fine.” Gaius shuffled his wings a bit, debating whether to return the gesture or not. He ended up doing so, stretching a wing behind my own back, unsure if it held the same meaning as my own gesture did. A smile told him I appreciated the gesture, and he then found the courage to begin, but not before asking. “But… ming iv I tell you in Aërish. I… zhere are some vords I not knov in pony Sprache.”

“Sure thing.” I offered no quarry, dusting off the old mantel shelf where I kept my knowledge of their native language. “I’ll try to follow.”

~Okay.~ He commenced, wetting his beak as he searched for the appropriate beginning. ~ Well. Our village was one of the few on the western slope of the Boreal Mountains. There weren’t that many of us, and the conditions were harsh, but we made do. The Boreal range is very rich in minerals, so that’s what we mostly focused on. What we mined, part we refined and sold, the rest we kept to ourselves. We made commerce with whoever traveled up and down the Old King’s Road heading for Griffonstone. Other griffons, some… tolerable minotaurs, a yak or two here and there…”

“You got yaks trading with you.” I was sorry to interrupt, but the news that yaks still dared the freezing north was good news indeed.

“Mhm, ve did. Vhy?” Gaius cocked his head curiously.

“Nothing. I guess that, with them being so hard-headed and set on their ways, the fact you get some yaks even considering trade is surprising enough. Just happy to know they’re still out there somewhere. Yaks are the last you would expect to depend on the help of other creatures. Sum that to the fact they live in the harshest conditions up in the north, well…”

“Oh… I zeenk I see vhat you mean.” Gaius scratched his neck feathers. “Yes, zey mostlï vant… uh, Eisen und Silber, vor hëlmet and zhings… I not sure.” He cleared his throat and resumed his narrative. ~So, yeah, we did a lot of mining, and some hunting too since we barely could grow anything in the snow. My dad was a hunter. There was little game, ‘specially in winter, so there would be times we’d have to cook the same bones for soup several times.~

‘Ouch.’ I winced inwardly, my heart going for the poor guy. Those did sound like rough conditions to raise a griffon cub, much less a whole mining village.

Gaius lost the thread for a second, memories surely swirling in his fuzzy head before finding himself again.

~Um, Dad was a hunter, and Mom mostly took care of me, since I was more often than not sick. I’m not sure what was my problem since now I feel fine, but I can see now it was hard for her. For both of them.~ A shade of guilt sombered his feathers, bringing me to stroke the gray and white feathers of his scalp in support. ~Thanks. So, um, the closest griffon village to ours was a day and a half south. Ours was one of the northernmost ones. But we had very close neighbors. The was a colony of… I’m not sure how they referred to themselves. Uh, they were winged snow leopards.~

Now that made me jolt in placein bewilderment, peering down to the griff with incredulity, a sense of childish wonder building inside me.

“Aq Barsi?! Full snow leopards with a pair of wings? Not hybrids like griffons?” Gaius nodded meekly, a bit spooked by my side spike in curiosity. “Are you being serious? Those guys are so rare to find, some ponies even believed they were made up by some old explorer having lost their mind exploring the north.”

“Uh…” Poor Gaius was a bit lost, not finding the reason for my outburst. “Ja. I am prëtty sure zhey vere… uh, vhatever you just call zhem.”

“Wow.” I didn't fight the bout of amazement that overcame me, my long-lost interest in Equus’ craziest, most fantastical creatures resurfacing once more. You can guess that, at the very beginning, any and all creatures were ripped straight out from human fantasy literature. But even in this world of unicorns, dragons, griffons, and the rest, you could still find some rare, hidden gems amidst its already diverse pool of sapient creatures.

“Sorry about that.” I apologized sheepishly. “Just… I read about them a long time ago but never had a chance to meet one. I think I remember hearing Shiny saying something about a colony living near the Crystal Empire, but I think they were spooked when it reappeared suddenly and moved somewhere else. You’re a lucky griff, Gaius. Those guys are a true rarity.”

“Um, iv you saying so…” Still not getting a full grasp on it, he ruffled his wings and sunk a bit more into the sea of blankets that circled the mattress. An improvised nest as it was, but leagues more comfortable than the ones made of straw and twigs and stuff some of the griffons of Griffontoste would actually sleep on the last time I visited.

Like, seriously, was it so hard to get a proper bed?

~So, yeah, they were our neighbors across the small river that separated our villages. We would share whatever fish we could get when the river wasn't frozen solid. They were nice, I guess, and didn't give us trouble, and neither did we. I actually was good friends with one.~

“You had an Aq Barsi pal? How was that?”

A fond memory painted a shy smile on his beak. ~Yes. We were good friends when we were just cubs.~ Quick as lighting, he sent me the stinky eye in case I was about to tease him about him still being a cub. Making a zipping notion over my lips, I allowed him to continue. ~His name was Alterro. We used to play a lot in the snow and skate on the frozen river… when I wasn't sick, of course. He’d also visit me a lot when I was ill and… read me books he’d sneak out from his sister’s room. He had a twin sister. Allura.~

I smiled fondly at Gaius, happy to see some actually good memories coming from the scarred griffon. “Sounds like you two were a colorful bunch.”

The tiny smile on his beak widened for a moment before shrinking down to a saddened frown. “Yes… ve vere…”

“But…” I could tell this particular memory wouldn't have a happy ending.

Gaius knitted his talons together, the feathery tufts on the sides of his head drooping like a pony's ears would. ~But they all disappeared one day, Alterro’s family included. Nogriff could tell how or why. It happened overnight. Some thought they had learned about the Shattered Horn Clan’s plans of raiding our village and fled without looking back… The minotaurs came two weeks after…~

With every word that left his beak, Gaius began crumbling one piece at a time. It was clear how difficult it was for him, even after having revealed to me this had happened years ago before he was captured by the slavers. I didn't blame him then any more than I did back when I found him. I couldn't fathom having to go through something similar. Despite the hefty collection of traumas and horrible experiences I harbored, his pain was not one I could be fully familiar with. But what I could sympathize with more than any creature alive at this time, is the feeling of losing one’s family, and the soul-wrenching emptiness it brings with it, prompting me to squeeze Gaius into my side as I felt the first tears slip through his feathery cheeks.

“I’m so sorry, Gaius.” I ran a hand through his scalp, although I knew little reassurance could par with the agony of living through such an experience, to see your village, your family, your very life being torn apart in front of your eyes. And for what? What reason called for such a senseless massacre?

I asked him just that. Gaius needed a moment to collect himself before he could utter another word. I left him as much time as he needed, knowing well how, after the pain he was experiencing reliving the memories, he’d feel much better getting it out of his chest, a lesson I needed to apply myself more often, but did not in my own stubbornness.

~I-I don’t know. They came out of n-nowhere and just went straight to k-k-killing everygriff. The minotaur clans have their own mines, and c-could grow food better than we could. We were just a tiny village with barely anything to go by! I… I just don’t know what drove them to do it…~

In my experience… personal experience, I’d come to learn that minotaurs, more often than not, needed little reason to throw themselves at arms beyond the thrill of the battle and the spoils of the conquest. They, and the zebras, were known to be two of the most bellicose of Equus’ races. Both warred with neighboring populations regardless of species as much as they warred amongst themselves. But minotaurs were a particular case. I’d yearned to see it during the brief occasions I’d shared space or a word with one during my early years in Equestria. Just as the legends of my homeworld portrayed, there was something significantly human, even if no trait of their outer appearance revealed it so.

Something in their way of thinking, in their ambition, the way they did things, the way they brought themselves. I found similarities I believed no other creature of Equus, much less ponies, would recognize. And none of those similarities were good. My assumptions were later proven right during one short-lived, but utterly critical crisis with one of their clans, one who had shown perhaps a bit too much interest in the knowledge I was bringing from my world and, as human nature usually beckons, wanted to use it for their own interests. Interest that, had they succeeded in their goal, would’ve changed the balance of power in Essia, the rest of Equus soon following in a mirror of the ruins of that alternative Equestria I was stranded in during Starlight’s time-travel rampage.

“They needed no reason, Gaius,” I answered the implied question with a grave voice, a knot in my stomach tightening with my own set of encounters with minotaur kind, one of them in particular, making me feel no less pride of what I had to do than the chain of choices that had landed me in this time. “That’s what most minotaurs are about. It’s… It’s their way of doing things, I guess.”

Years had dulled the size of his outburst. Having cried countless times over this, fewer tears followed every time he had to relive that day. A slow healing process, but one that I betted would culminate with the help of my pony family.

We talked a bit more about happier topics, like sharing childhood funny anecdotes and talking more about our respective parents. Gaius was a lucky griff, for what he had to share about his folks painted them as well-enough parents considering the circumstances of his upbringing which, considering it was griffons we were talking about, was sadly way above average. You should ask Gaius about it if you won’t take my word for it. He wasn't that lucky in that department.

I also wanted to pick his brain on his first impressions of the ponies and the town they inhabited. This hadn't been the first time he’d seen ponies, which most likely had helped ease the initial shock, at least from his side. Apparently, he’d communicated with ponies once or twice as the slavers jumped from place to place trying to make a profit off him. Most of his interactions with equines were all with him serving the role of property and they as interested buyers. He couldn't thank the Blue Moon enough for the slavers to have been always a bunch of avaricious pricks every time they hit a market, always asking so much of him that they lost the interest of anycreature seeking to acquire him.

I couldn't even begin to imagine what a pony, or any other creature for that matter, would accomplish by buying Gaius, beyond turning him into a prestigious rug or a nice coat. Load of motherfuckers, they could count their lucky stars that I was not heading for them as of yet.

Nonetheless, he’d found his first encounter with the denizens of Maretime Bay to be… as expected. With them freaking out and him not giving two bits about it for the most part. They’d warm up to him as they’d done for me, I was sure of it. When it came to my pony family, he admitted he was pleasantly surprised, if not a bit thrown by some of their ‘eccentricities’. I assured him between chuckles that there were truckloads more of it from where that came from. The sour canvas that was his face made me laugh harder until my wounds began protesting too much.

“Okay, okay…” I wheezed the few remaining chuckles as Gaius kept with his dry pose, rolling his eyes tiredly, but with a lopsided grin betraying his own amusement. Rubbing my aching abdomen, I ruffled his feathery head before raising up on my feet with a grunt of effort. I had to make sure I stayed limber these days so that I’d finish recovering, or else the muscles would cramp and repair themselves the wrong way.

Beyond that, the worst of my injuries were more or less dealt with, and Nurse Tenderhoof had the blood detoxification running the whole night, so I had little fear of suddenly suffering from a huge anaphylactic shock like that time that blood-junky vampy bit me before Vinyl bashed his fangs off.

Fucking prick; I almost didn’t make it out of that one…

Prompting Gaius on his paws too, I had a proposition for him. “So, hear me out. The girls will want to know about our journey, and they’re most likely gonna chew me out for even daring to do it in the first place. And… I also have to talk to them about something I tried to work over with my mare yesterday. I kinda spooked her badly, and I feel like shit. Better to explain myself again now that I’m in a better state of mind...” that state was relative, but it made me feel like fucking garbage nonetheless. I couldn't afford to continue slipping more than I had, especially not in front of my family. But I needed to let them know about what was happening to me, and to let them know what to do in case I slipped too far and lost myself. Luna, prime example as she was, had drilled all warnings and foretellings of the Nightmare gaining ground over one’s soul.

I needed to be cautious, but moreso, I needed them to be on the lookout for me, for lying to oneself becomes a foal's game past a certain point. I could fool myself, but I couldn't hope to fool them.

Once again, they’d be my lifeline. I truly didn't deserve them.

“I want us to have a barbeque this afternoon, all of us, using the nice weather for some outside time, get to know you better before settling down definitely. You’ve got the landmare’s permission, by the way. We just gotta make it official.”

Gaius didn't need to make the thrill this bout of good news brought him, his wings twitching excitedly as did his tail, with it wagging behind him.

“Good news indeed, huh?” With his energy being contagious, I patted Gaius on the back, feeling happy for him, with a roof under his head and a bunch of new friends to share, the beginning of his new life here with us started now. Something told me that a griffon was meant for great things like Gaius had been. Call me crazy if you want, just a feeling I had. “Well, then. Since we’re having a barbecue, how about you catch some fish for the both of us? There’s tons here at the feet of the cliffs.”

“But, I zought ponies are… um, Grasfresser.”

“Ha! Don’t let a pony catch you calling them ‘grass munchers’” I playfully poked Gaius, not that the ponies were gonna understand Aërish either way. “But, yeah, they are strictly vegetarian. But they understand I need some protein every now and then. I’m sure it’ll be the same with you. Heck, North sometimes lends me her boat so that I can go fishing, and she only really minds the smell.”

“Who?” Gaius wondered with a twitch of his tail.

“A friend of mine. She’s got a personal thing with all groupers since I’d got a chunk of her tail a while ago and she won't turn her snout up at me, riding the sea as she does every now and then. You’ll like her, she’s a riot. Coming back to before, if you feel like testing that wing of yours and catching us some fish, I can whip up some romesco and we’ll have grilled fish and veggies, heh? Beats the crap we had out there for days on end.”

The idea was sold on Gaius. With an eager test flap of his right wing, he was confident he could dare a test flight using the updraft air current the cliffs generated for a quick escape in case he got a cramp or something.

Leaving the young griffon to finish settling the lump of clothes that was his provisional nest, I arranged to meet with him downstairs in a few minutes since I suspected the gang would all be coming to the brighthouse for lunch and to give me the Tartarus I rightfully deserved.

“But first,” I spoke to myself as I rode the elevator down to the girls’ bedroom. “I’m in need of a serious shower. A sterilized one if I could have. I fucking stink.” I scrunched my nose in distaste after a quick whiff under my armpit. “Celestia hear me, I fucking hate fieldwork…”

Chapter 47- Slipping away.

I felt Alex tense under me. No, better yet… I felt him freeze under my coat, as cold and lifeless as an empty hearth out of nowhere. His arms, previously hugging me gently against his larger frame, tightened around me like a python, making my breath hitch in my throat from the suddenness of the gesture and forcing out the butterflies fluttering in my tummy at his closeness.

I’d listened mindfully at him retelling his journey, as he’d promised us he’d do. I felt that I knew him well enough to tell that he was sadly downplaying or omitting some of the stuff that happened out there. Knowing the mental strife it’d meant for him, however, I reasoned I shouldn’t pressure him into becoming dismissive or outright defensive. After that previous night’s breakdown in my hooves, a sense of constantly walking on eggshells underscored any exchange I’d later had with him, a feeling that I wanted nothing more than to be rid of.

Still, he’d relived his memories and shared them with us with bravery, highlighting with an abundance of details about how a perilous place the outside world had become in our sheltered existence, and how, to my utmost disappointment, not all creatures embraced the values that we ponies in the three cities had come to rediscover and accept.

I’d have some words with the mayor to make absolutely sure Gaius was welcomed as one of us, and that nopony, under any circumstances, was to try anything nasty with him, or as Faust is my witness I’d… I’d do something unspeakable to that pony.

The time for the climax of the story seemed to be approaching fast. In the moment of truth, however, my human’s mood had done a complete one-eighty in the shake of a pony’s tail. I could feel his heartbeat going wild against my back in time with small tremors traveling down the length of his arms and legs, the fuzzy little hairs covering them standing on end. You would’ve thought he’d just sat over a live electrical wire!

He suddenly felt cold. So, so cold…

Something was wrong.

“Honey…?” I nudged my colt… boyfriend with my snout, twisting my neck to get a better look at his fastly blanching visage. Something was going on with him, severing the thread of the story as it seemed to eat away at him on the inside; once again, I didn't know how to help him, not without knowing what it was!

“Alex?” Seeing my attempts yielding no response from him, Izzy was the next to try, filing her playful banter with Gaius away for later to switch her attention to the quivering human. She was met with the same void expression. Alex was lost somewhere, far, far away from us, taking his warmth and spirit with him. His shaking did nothing but worsen the longer the silence dragged on. Meanwhile, a knot was tightening in my stomach, a flashback from the previous night spiking another bout of anxiety in me.

Was was happening right now? Was he suffering another nervous crisis? Or was it something else? What was wrong with my human?!

“Alex! Baby, answer me!” I twirled in his lap, breaking his hold on me and shaking my human hard, but my efforts changed nothing, only ghostly eyes remaining that seemed to peer into the infinite. I felt a jolt in my flanks where his hands had loosely ended up. As his eyes narrowed to pinpricks and his breathing became raspy, I paid only half a mind to it and found my cutie marks glowing steadily, just as I’d seen happen to my friends every now and again, a phenomena none of us fully understood, but we’d tagged it as non-concerning since nothing bad came has resulted from it.

My cutie marks glowing were not what sold my attention, however; His gloved hands’ uncovered fingers twitched erratically against my coat, the gems in his gauntlets firing up. But instead of a warm and caring glow, his gems spewed dark, short-lived tendrils of magic, followed closely by dark-purple sparks of unchecked energy. Not enough to harm me in any way, but clearly lacking conscious control.

I sensed a memory trying to barge into my mind. I’d seen it happen to his gauntlets before, but where…?

“S-S-Sunny?”

The quivering whimper came from Izzy, who I’d found on her way to losing her wits over something. Her horn was glowing with a soft aura, her frightened eyes wavering like a leaf with an image only her special ability could paint for the unicorn.

Whatever it was that my bestie could see, it was thoroughly spooking her. “Izzy, what’s happening to him?!” I demanded a bit forcefully for my liking, but the escalating situation was dire. I pressed myself against my mate, trying to bring back some measure of warmth to him against the ice that now coursed through his veins.

“S-S-Sparkle…” Was the only thing Izzy returned in a stuttering mess, keeping her analysis as she too froze all on her pillow.

“What?” Pipp interceded, jumping on her hooves to reach us, her sister following in tow while Hitch remained behind us to hold a still-distracted Sparky in his lap. “What do you mean ‘S-S-Sparkle’?” She tried to pry Izzy, taking a spot on the free space over the couch’s rim right beside Alex. Rearing up on her hindlegs, she nuzzled Alex’s face, trying to rouse him.

Not even a flicker of life from him.

‘What do I do what do I do what do HOW CAN I HELP HIM, FAUST?!’

“I’m sensing a l-l-luminescence inside him…” Izzy clarified with visible hesitation, powering up her horn a notch to pry further into Alex, only to recoil back with a startle, as if having burned herself baking some cupcakes. “S-S-So cold…” She hugged herself with a full-body tremor.

Things were looking worse by the second, for I too had felt the cold taking over him.

“Sparkle? Wasn’t he supposed to lack one?” Zipp recalled our very first group meeting when we learned he was lacking the natural connection to Equus’ magic that all ponies shared, painting him as a ‘void’ in Izzy’s gifted vision.

It couldn't belong to him then, for I was positive that, if he’d somehow developed his own natural magic while we spoke, it would feel as warm and inviting as the rest of ours. It wouldn't have petrified Izzy so badly!

Something was inside my human. Something was doing him harm! But what?!

“Take it out!” I blurted out the first notion of a plan that came to mind. “Izzy! Take that luminescence out of him!!”

A bold idea, but sadly unachievable. “I-It doesn’t work like that, Sunny!” Izzy barked back, fighting through the chill that’d overtaken her to try again with Alex, this time with more strength. “Alex! You have to wake up!! Please!!” Izzy cried with watery eyes while pulling hard on his arm.

Alex remained a statue. A quickly crumbling statue.

“Gaius!” I searched for the only reliable source of information still present. “What happened to him out there?!! Help us!!” I begged the griffon, taking the assumption that whatever was ailing Alex had something to do with what he’d experienced out there.

The poor griffon, having remained on the sidelines without a hint as to what to do, could only shrug his feathery shoulders, nervously toying with his tail while obviously fearing for Alex, but clueless nonetheless.

“I-I dön’t knowink! He vas vine in Reise!”

I was running out of options. I felt Alex’s muscles tense up under me, and his breathing became more ragged the longer whatever battle was being waged in his mind went on.

I was losing him, right in front of my very eyes. I felt powerless. I was powerless. My alicorn magic was useless in this scenario, for I didn’t possess the necessary knowledge to cast a spell to help him or… or something!

“Honey, please! Please,tell me what’s wrong! I’m right here!”

I couldn't physically hug him harder as I cursed my uselessness. Memories of us in that clearing during our first trip to Canterlot, another of our final confrontation with Discord in that lava cave, when I stood on the sidelines like a rotten log, unable to do anything for my friends.

I couldn't help him. I couldn’t help my coltfriend! I was useless, and I was gonna lose him, this time for good!

“Baby, p-please…” Bitter tears stung my eyes as I buried my face in his chest, praying with all my might for the answer that I needed, for the cure that would help my Alex.

… Nopony answered.

Our friends remained close, but no clue as to how to help him sparked in any of them. Sparky, the conundrum too much for his young mind to ignore, mewled in Hitch’s lap, feeling how something was very wrong with Alex.

“Shhh, it will be alright, Sparky. Alex’ll be… He’ll be alright.”

Hitch’s poor attempt to convince himself didn’t help in raising my hopes. The sisters ran possibility after possibility, with Zipp’s detective wits taking the lead. I felt the world slip away until there was only me and my human, drowning myself in worry and frustration.

I heard his heartbeat as if it were my own, his chest straining to take life-giving air into his lungs, his twitchy limbs trembling with uncontrolled spasms.

“Pleasepleasepleaseplease answer me! Honey, answer me, please! Tell me what I need to do…”

…

‘-EAD BECAUSE OF YOU!!’

An all-compassing force dragged me back into the present, taking the air from my lungs in the process.

My friends also suffered from the recoil, its origin uncertain, but its purpose unmistakable. It was wrong. It felt so wrong during the millisecond it lasted.

“G-Guys?! Guys! What was tha-”

Another force enveloped me. This one, however, was far from cold and unforgiving, filling me with an unparalleled sense of warmth and… purpose.

No, not a purpose. A command.

‘W-What’s happening?!’

My cutie marks burned on my flanks, shining with the strength of the midday sun, winning the attention of everypony, and griffon, present.

A change in the air, a levity in the room, a static current making my fur stand on end. I could taste it. It was… part of me.

I heard her in my mind.

By my will, Hope.

I obeyed.

Something took control of my body. My vision flashed in a swirling rainbow, my poor human’s chocolate eyes lighting up the same. An instinct overtook me, and I heeded it. I was up in his lap in the blink of an eye and I smashed my lips against him with enough force to almost push the both of us to the floor through the back of the couch. My wings and horn had appeared at their usual places, but I was so absorbed in… whatever was taking over me that I paid them no mind. I wouldn't need them for this.

The force, the instinct, burned in my heart with unparalleled vigor. A wisp of magic was born in me, turning into a waterfall that flooded into Alex, whatever spell that’d taken hold of him breaking the moment our lips met, returning some semblance of life into his eyes.

Gravity dragged us down while the air around us became charged with magic, almost enough that I could feel it dance on the edges of my coat.

I didn't understand what was going on. It didn't care. It happened so fast. But I needed to help him. I wouldn't stand still while I lost the love of my life.

The ponies, having jumped back with the suddenness of my action, could only watch in awe at us. The rainbow light encompassed us, fueling the magic I was pouring into Alex. It was a hypnotic occurrence that bewitched all creatures present before the entire lighthouse was shaken all around us, right down to its foundations. Just like the day I met him, a nova of harmonious magic erupted from the Unity Crystals, swallowing the bay in its wavy aurora.

I felt stronger than ever before, filled with resolve. I would help my human. He was important, his well-being was imperative, the continuity must be ensur-

‘Wait…’

As suddenly as it’d come, this foreign-yet-familiar presence pulled back, taking with it the rainbow glow swirling in my vision, as well as those thoughts that weren't mine but sought to leave my muzzle.

I broke the kiss and pulled back with a gasp, my chest tightening under the deep absence of… something. The juice coursing through my veins drained away with the same celerity as my startle, leaving me as dog-tired as if I was just finishing the annual Kenbucky Roller Derby.

Blinking hard to erase the spots in my vision, I found the other ponies pressed hard against the floor, forelegs over their heads, fearing that the place would come crashing down on us. Gaius had taken flight out of the nearest window out of instinctual fear, while Izzy had been knocked down from her spot on the couch to crash on her back in a very compromising position.

The sole focus of my attention remained on Alex, who suffered from the same aftereffects I was experiencing. Finding his breathing again, he took greedy gulps of air while squeezing his eyes shut. His hands flew to his temples, pressing hard on them like the day he’d ended up with a massive headache after practicing for too long with his magic.

“Alex? A-Alex!! Baby, are you alri-GAH!”

In an unexpected gesture, my human sent his gloved hands down to clenched fists, gems humming in power before a telekinetic wave pushed me out of his lap and down on my rump on the cold floor, crashing against a recovering Izzy whom I dragged back down in a pile of fur and limbs.

Zipp was back in the game enough to rush to our aid, her sister hiding behind the rim of the couch in a fit of hyperventilation. Hitch was securing his baby dragon on the other sofa, shielding him with his frame while the poor drake mewled loudly in stress.

Shaking my head hard, my frazzled rainbow streak peeked down over my dancing vision. I was hoofed up to a seated arrangement thanks to Zipp, fighting and failing to recover my bearings.

“Sunny! Are you alright?” The alabaster pegasus asked in a hurry while helping Izzy in turn.

“Oooow, too many moonshine shots…” Izzy gurgled to nopony, seemingly still not all the way back with us.

I answered Zipp with a shaky nod, feeling my dancing thoughts reeling from the shock of that telekinetic wave.

Alex barged into my thoughts again the moment I could formulate them properly. I tried to rear myself up on my hooves, but the drain from that experience proved too much too soon to overcome, making me flop down on my muzzle the moment I tried to take a step.

Alex entered my field of vision down in my unceremonious spot, but it seemed I wasn't in his. With limbs still jelly-like and narrowed pupils darting everywhere, I saw him come back to the waking world by quickly patting himself all over his pants before fishing something out of one of the pockets under his butt, taking a firm hold of it, or at least as firm as his trembling grasp could muster.

The object was unfamiliar to me. It seemed cylindrical in shape, not much bigger than the hand holding it. The tips had a flat end, with tiny orifices carved on each. One of them was loosely painted in red, while the other, the one facing up, was in light blue. Something was also scribbled along its surface, but the letters were too small and cluttered for me to make anything out of them.

The hand holding the strange object was shaking twice as hard as the rest of him. Alex fixed on it with a glimmer I couldn't quite put my tongue on it, but it struck me as a blissfully terrified one.

‘What is tha-?’

Before I could finish formulating my question, Alex craned his neck sideways, exposing a good chunk of it against which he pressed the blue end of the device. As my eyes widened and dread tore at my chest, he pressed down on some unseen mechanism, and the unmistakable sound of something sharp flying out and burying into his soft skin made my ears go flat on my head.

Alex bit down a cry and soldiered through the apparent sting, which only lasted a moment until he pulled back, the device leaving a red spot on his neck which thankfully didn’t seem to be bleeding. His arm lost all semblance of strength, dropping down on the cushions as the device rolled out of his hand to clatter against the floor and roll away beyond my sight.

Letting out one long, pained wheeze, Alex crashed back against the couch’s back pillows, slipping a bit forward on his butt before becoming very still.

My wings and horn had abandoned me. I stood up on jellied legs and returned to his side. Climbing up the free space on the couch, I searched for any indications of harm on the wilting human. I was on the brink of a nervous crisis of my own as I ran a full-body scan on him with my eyes. Since I didn't have my bestie's gifted vision, I could only use my plain, earth pony senses to find any traces of harm. I didn't smell any blood, nor did I find any signs of damage beyond the few scars that peeked out from under his sweaty clothes.

Those I could smell; the sweat had seemingly poured in bucketloads out of him, drenching his clothes with a potent musk. I couldn’t imagine what kind of stress he was under to have suffered from such a strain in such a short amount of time, almost as if he were suffering from the Queen of All Fevers. But, his body wasn’t shaking anything like a strong fever would provoke, thank Faust.

On a similar note, that weird, haunting glow in his gauntlets had disappeared, leaving them somewhat smokey and singed, but everything otherwise in place. The hands wearing them hadn’t suffered any damage as far as I could see.

I took one and nuzzled it with all my might, not reining back my protective instincts as I shed the stress with a long sigh. I had to hold his hand against my cheek, his fingers not reacting to my touch.

A pony passing by would’ve thought he was simply taking a nap, and for a moment I’d have believed it too if he hadn't scared the fur out of me when he suddenly and explosively returned to the world of the living with a startle, opening his eyes and bending upward from his awkward, slumped position with a gasp, almost sending me flying out of his lap yet again. His arms won the race against gravity, taking a hold around my back and securing me in place.

The rest of the ponies sans Hitch assembled around us, with Izzy powering up her horn as she searched for any trace of the presence that’d thrown my human for the loop of the century.

“I-It’s alright, Izzy,” Alex suddenly addressed the unicorn, as if reading her intentions, squeezing his eyes shut and cracking his jaw, rubbing his face vigorously and nursing a lingering throb in his temples. “It’s gone…”

‘Gone? What’s gone?!’

Izzy, thrilled with the return of his voice, kept the spell going for a bit longer until she was positive that was indeed the case. Once she was sure of her screening results, she flashed me a nod of confirmation before climbing up to her previous spot at his side, pressing hard against his frame and sharing her warmth with the recovering human.

“Thanks, fluffybutt,” Alex appreciated her concern, rubbing the unicorn's side before another wave of pain struck his temples. “Fuck! That was a strong one...”

“Alexander,” Zipp butted in, taking to the air and hovering above us. She brushed the nursing hand away from his brow and grabbed Alex’s head to make deadly sure he was looking into her eyes, upside down as they were. “By my crown, if you don’t tell me right now what the BUCK that was all about…!!”

“Zipp!” I cried out before I could catch myself, her harshness far from welcome.

“It’s alright, Tangerine,” Alex waved a hand dismissively. “I just… I just need a-Gah!” Another sharp sting made him escape Zipp’s forceful hold, the pegasus recoiling back before landing back on her hooves.

Pipp wanted to add something for herself, but as she was about to rise on her hooves, her left rear leg stomped over a slippery thing that almost made her lose her balance. Peering down, she’d found that cylindrical device Alex had dropped. With a wing, she held it in front of her and clenched an eye shut in concentration, reading down the small inscription across its length. Taking her phone from its wing holster, she launched into a search with a frenetic tapping of her forehooves.

I was over Alex the moment a new pang of pain made him fold like a napkin.

“Alex! W-What's wrong?! Where does it hurt?!” I asked him with a shaky voice, fussing over him with countless nuzzles, showering him with love while I waited for him to recover.

“I… I just…” He panted under my caressing, not shying away but lacking the energy to reciprocate. “I just need a minute, Tangerine. I’ll… ugh.”

I felt him slump down on me, forcing me to secure my forelegs against his shoulders and push us back up with a grunt. Zipp was quick to aid me, moving the cushions up to better support his neck before she waited while perched over the couch’s rim, running her snout exploratorily on a quick search, coming back with the same results as I had.

“He looks fine to me, Sunny,” Zipp informed us briefly, a feather coming to scratch under her chin in thought. “But, what in Tartarus was that?! Did you all feel that?! I-It felt like… like so…” Zipp lacked the words to describe the experience.

“It felt cold…” Izzy finished for Zipp, peering up upside down to the pegasus before returning to Alex, a shadow of dread still clinging to her saddened orbs. “I-I almost thought it’d come after me when I touched it with my magic! I-It was… It was wrong!”

“That was… reckless of you, Izz,” Alex droned in a raspy voice, making the unicorn flinch.

Wrong was an apt way of putting it. Alien and unwelcome too. I prayed I’d never have to stumble upon it ever again. And, more importantly, that it wouldn't target my mate as long as I stood watch.

But if I was to protect Alex, I first needed to know.

Using his shoulders as leverage, I closed the distance and planted a soft kiss on his lips, careful not to upset his labored breathing while he finished resurfacing. A few seconds passed until I felt him push back with newfound vigor, his arms once more enveloping me, raking over my coat and kneading my sore muscles.

I lost myself in the bliss for as long as I could make it last, tasting his lips against mine and sneaking my tongue in when I noticed his invitation. Uncaring of the public advertising their gazes with a flush, I’d heal my human out of sheer kisses if that’s what it took.

Three minutes passed, perhaps an eternity, lost in our mutual dance, before I felt him push back gently. Burning crimson, this time for good, Alex cracked his eyes open slowly, like every morning I’d wake up beside him. A familiar tickling sent a shiver down my spine when his fingers found that sweet spot behind my ear, turning me into putty in his arms.

“I’m alright, sweetie. I’m fine,” He whispered. “I’m fine, thanks to you.”

I needed to hear it from him, and the moment I did, I felt like I could finally let go of my apprehension. Releasing a thrilled sigh of my own, I hummed under his ministrations, parking my questions for later and making sure everypony else would follow suit until I’d had my fill.

“Hitch,” Alex spoke to the stallion over my scalp. “Take Sparky upstairs to my room, okay? This is definitely not for him.”

Hitch, having uncocooned himself from around Sparky once the worst had passed, heeded Alex’s request without complaint and took the still-bothered drake for a ride on his back up the ramps.

With the youngest of us out of the fray, Alex felt he had enough strength to at least formulate a somewhat solid explanation around what had taken possession of him and turned him into a ghost of himself to the brink of giving us a heart attack. Or so we thought.

“Sorry about the tumble, baby. Was in a bit of a hurry,” Pushing down with his hands on the pillows, he straightened up in his seat with a wince before returning them over the small of my back, right over my tail. “I’ll explain, but first, I… I need to finish my story before… uh,” Alex searched around for a moment before returning a quizzical look. “Where’s Gaius?”

“I think he took off,” Zipp answered Alex, pointing with a wing towards the opened window, barely big enough for the griffon to have slipped through, but leaving a few loose feathers on its frame.

Straining his neck to look behind him, a mask of sympathy fell over his features. “Shit… Poor guy. Seems I’m only good for scaring creatures out of their minds nowadays, huh?”

That bout of self-deprecation was far from welcome at this time, but before I could chew my human out for it, he sighed deeply and promised he’d patch things up with Gaius later.

“Mmmph,” Exhaling out his nostrils, Alex wetted his lips, ready to thread the last ebbs of the tale. “Okay. This is gonna sound absolutely insensitive and stone-hearted as fuck of me, but I need to get it out fast before I slip up again.”

“Slip up again?” I couldn't help but ask. Waving his hand in a ‘for later’ gesture, Alex addressed all ponies present, since Hitch had only just returned from tucking in Sparky for an impromptu nap.

“That morning, when we reached the Hive, I told Gaius to wait for me at the edge of the cliff before I went in solo. I found no ‘ling standing guard, so I thought it was simply deserted,” A shadow darkened his eyes but Alex pushed on. “I went inside and up to the throne room. Chrysalis got the jump on me. I… I tried to fight her, but she indeed wanted to talk. She…” I felt his pulse quicken against my chest, mine answering in turn as I tightened my hold on him.

My human pressed on. “She showed me where the changelings were. She… T-They…” Swallowing down a sob, a lone tear rolled down his cheek. He needed to press on. He wouldn't stop, out of fear that he’d break down again. “They h-held on as long as they could… Fuck. Thorax made sure of it, but… Fucking Hell! With everypony hating everycreature they… there wasn't any love to go around and… and, the changelings had vowed to never fall all back into the old ways. They… They’re all dead.”

The air became still, thick as molasses, as we processed what Alex had just revealed. Sharing looks of astonishment, we couldn’t believe the words that’d come from his mouth.

“Dead?” Izzy echoed in a whimper.

Almost as if she’d been a ghost, Izzy’s question flew over my human’s head as his eyes glazed over with a flood of memories; painful, soul-wrenching memories.

And still, my human pressed on with clenched teeth.

“I could… I could still hear them in the Over Hive. They were in pain, so hungry, they… They blamed me, asking me why I’d abandoned them. I… I didn’t-mngg!” Another jab him shut his eyes tight and balled his hands into fists, the free one climbing up to bump against his brow repeatedly, almost as if he were physically trying to pound the visions out of his head.

“Stop!” I cried in alarm, reaching for his fist and bringing it to my chest to avoid any further self-harming. “That’s enough, Alex. You don’t have to…”

“You deserve to know!” He cut me off, bloodshot eyes glaring at me for a second before softening back in desolation. “Fuck, I… Chrysalis wanted to show me; she wanted me to know that it was my fault before she… S-She wanted to be back with her children. I granted her wish and burned the place behind me. I… I couldn’t l-leave them, I… Oh, Occellus, I’m so sorry… Faust, I-I’m so sorry…”

Alex broke down completely, plummeting his brow over my scalp as bitter sobs rocked his body. His tears stained my mane and dribbled down my fetlocks.

Occellus. I knew that name from his stories, of his days in Ancient Equestria. She was a changeling student of the School of Friendship, an egghead of her own, according to his memories. Alex had found a kindred spirit in her eagerness to learn about the world and involve herself in as many fields of study as her young mind could fit, all for the betterment of her brothers and sisters back in the hive, under the leadership of the reformed Thorax, who’d chosen her personally to represent the changelings in the school. A promising creature.

It made sense in retrospect. Changelings needed love as sustenance, and that didn’t change after they severed ties with their former Queen, and ‘rehatched’ as a product of it. What changed in them was how they approached their need to feed on love, embracing the act of sharing rather than stealing. Becoming involved with the other creatures of Equus and earning said love instead of abducting unsuspicious ponies and draining them until they had nothing left to give.

Ponykind had their weapons against each of the respective tribes. If hate was so deeply ingrained in their hearts that they saw their relative ponies as a threat, I couldn’t imagine how they must’ve regarded the other creatures of Equus. Especially ones that, reformed or not, had shaped and starred in ponies’ scary bedtime stories as far as memory went.

From my human’s incoherent, quivering mumbles, ponies had turned their backs on the changelings as they had with the rest of the world. With the remaining creatures hunkering down in their respective territories until the storm passed, they found themselves alone, cast aside and forgotten, growing hungrier and more desperate by the day, week after week, until Thorax had nothing else to spare and sent them into hibernation in their pods, hoping that, one day, some creature would find them and share the love that had been denied to them by the ponies. So had Alex been shown in the ‘Over Hive’... whatever that was.

Nocreature came to their aid. Nocreature ever remembered. Nocreature, except one. Their mother, who’d joined her children in the next life. At her own request.

… As far as reasons to return home like a jumbled, paranoid, broke-down mess went, now that was a good one.

And he had called this journey ‘eye-opening’...

“Oh my Faust…” Pipp, having kept an ear tuned in our conversation, let her phone clatter down carelessly, ceasing her frantic search on the Canternet to cover her muzzle with both hooves and wings, teary eyes wide in surprise and sympathy for Alex.

Zipp fared no better, gaze growing distant as the weight of his retelling struck her like a sack full of bricks. Hitch looped to the back of the couch to hold his mare, the sheriff fairing no better in his own shock, but managing to support Zipp as she was about to drop dead from the couch’s rim.

“Why? Just… why?” Zipp asked nopony, since nopony could give her an answer.

A tremendous sense of shame for my own kind filled me. I was unable to come to terms with the cruelty of such an act, to abandon a species that needed you to survive and, far from preying on you like their ancestors had done for eons, had chosen to sever the ties to their old way of life and change for the better, fitting into a brighter future with the rest of the sentient creatures of Equus. The changelings changed, and ponies couldn't have cared less.

‘And now… now they’re gone…’

“NO!” Alex kicked me out of my musings, pushing himself back with bloodshot eyes, tears being replaced for self-ager as he admonished himself. “No no no, you stupid motherfucker!! Cut the shit and focus!! You cannot let it in!!”

I’d run out of tears to shed after such a pair of stressful days, but his sudden reaction would have ceased the flow nonetheless, so out of place it was. Izzy, having been clutching onto Alex and shedding shameful tears of her own, saw her supporting grip denied after my human sought to dry the tears off his cheeks in a manner that reminded me of a tantrum, gritting his teeth hard and pulling on his hair as he repeated to himself over and over, like a mantra.

“I cannot let it in. I won’t let it in. I fucked up good, so what?! Man up and fix it, you dumb ass motherfucker!! Stop crying and be better!!”

I was utterly lost, starting to believe that my coltfriend had completely lost it. But could I blame him? After what he’d just told us, what he had to go through and learn?

I said I wouldn't give up on him, and I’d keep my word. He was hurting so much, and he was entitled to as much… but, not like this… not by destroying himself in the process.

“Stop. Alex, STOP!!” I commanded him, prying his arms from his hair and securing them hard at his sides, drawing from my earth pony strength to overpower his rage and locking my gaze to his with authority.

I wouldn’t stand this pity party any longer. I understood the guilt that made him a prisoner and his need to mourn, but this was beyond reasonable. Whatever the reason he felt he needed to stay focused and not let whatever he claimed he needed to fend off wasn't an excuse for his self-destructive behavior.

It was Alex’s turn to be surprised, caught off guard by my show of dominance. Gulping loudly, he dared not break eye contact with me if he knew what was best for him. A throaty growl made sure of it; a trick I’d learned from our shared time together, also worked to blow off some steam. Everypony has their own buttons to be pressed

“B-Baby… I-I…”

“No!” I cut him off. “I’m having none of it!” I declared with a hard stomp on his calf, stitching a wince on his lips.

“Ouch! B-But...”

“Shut it!” I ordered, and Alex answered in kind, shutting his trap, bloodshot eyes wide in surprise, and a hint of trepidation that tightened the knot in my tummy, making me need a conscious effort to ignore it. In his flummoxed stance, all traces of sorrow were swept away with a swift maneuver.

I needed a breath or two to regain my bearings, not wanting to come down too hard on him, but I was also on the brink of losing my wits. Alex had taught me an exercise which he, in turn, had learned from Twilight. It had proven wonders during the most frustrating stages of my training with my alicorn powers.

Bringing a hoof up my chest, I took a deep breath in, and a loooong breath out, accompanying the movement with a sweep of my forelegs. Alex recognized the exercise, and the tiniest of smirks made their way up his visage under the mask of surprise and apprehension.

“Wow,” Izzy muttered under her breath, my sudden rudeness having surprised her too, in a good way.

“Okay… Oookay.” I was refreshed and ready to deal with a stubborn human. “Baby,” I relaxed my approach on him, tracing the outline of his jaw as I spoke sweetly at my disturbed coltfriend. “I understand how you might think all of this is on you, and… and I guess I can understand what you meant by eye-opening, and your reluctance to trust in yourself anymore.”

The gang listened with rapt attention, unfamiliar with this side of the issue since this part of our previous conversation had remained between the two of us since the previous night at the hospital.

“And I understand that you need to mourn in your own way but… but not like this!” I ceased my caressing to grab his head firmly, just in case. “You’re hurting yourself! You’ve been hurting since the first day I met you. And we all have done everything we can to help you. I-I’ve loved you with all my heart, praying it would help you heal and move on with us as your new family, but… But now, I feel like anything I might try won’t be enough! T-That… after this?! How am I supposed to help you?! What am I supposed to say?! I never thought I’d ever say this, but… I don’t… I don’t know how to help you!” A hard sniff betrayed me. I cleared my running snout, taking back my previous claim about not having tears left to shed. “I need you to be alright, but I don’t know what else to do or say except that I love you, and I care about you, and I’ll NEVER believe for a single second that all these bad things happening all over the world are your fault! A-And, I don’t care how much you blame yourself and try to paint yourself as the bad guy. Because I. Trust. You! You mule-headed human!!” I accentuated with a nudge on his chest with every word, hoping to get the message across his thick skull once and for all.

I’d carved the energy for this chewing-out out of nowhere, and I spent it all with my speech. Feeling myself going weak at the knees, I let myself flump over my human, resting my forehead against his and breathing in his scent to try and ease my nerves.

“Please, please, baby. I don't need you to be ‘better’. You are perfect, and I love you so much. Just, just be alright… for me.”

Silence reigned over the room, nopony daring to even blink. I counted the seconds while drinking as much of my human as I could, feeling his breath, even and contemplative, tickling my mane.

Just as I was about to backtrack and apologize for my selfish request, Alex‘s hands came to rest on my cheeks, gently ushering me away to gaze at me with a sparkle of life in his eyes, something I’d longed to see again after his return. With impossible amounts of warmth and love pouring out of him, Alex brushed a thumb over my fur to erase all traces of my shameful crying.

“This. This is how you help me, baby.” Alex cooed, swallowing down one last sob before a grateful smile made its way to his lips. That smile grew into a chuckle when a funny thought happened to penetrate his mind. “Faust heed me, we’re so getting married, you and I.”

I believe I must’ve skipped a beat or two when my ears registered the word ‘marriage’. However, before I could dwell, or better said, panic over it, his lips were upon mine, forceful and demanding, taking an initiative I was more than happy to reciprocate.

The kiss, blissfully deep and meaningful, was far too short for my liking before Alex pulled away, yet the love and appreciation in his eyes would not abandon them.

“Come here,” He called all ponies present. “All of you.” His right arm opened up in invitation.

Izzy, rosy-cheeked after our little number, was the first to jump at the invitation, smashing herself against his side and nuzzling him with renewed vigor while Pipp wasted no breath to join the group hug from my side, surrounding us in her soft plumage. Hitch and Zipp did their part too, joining from behind the couch and wrapping as much of themselves as they could around us from their vantage points.

A minute of silent company passed, where we poured as much love and support into the broken human as we could before Alex spoke up from within the cocoon of limbs and feathers

“I’ve said it before, and I’ll say it a thousand times more. I’m not worthy of you guys,” Alex confided in the privacy of our embrace, tightening his hold on us. We all answered in kind, aching for our friend in many ways. I couldn't even tell how many blows we’d seen him take since becoming a part of our family. It would be almost comical if we weren’t taking front-row seats watching it chip away at him one piece at a time. I genuinely thought he’d finally reached his breaking point after this, but my heart soared and the butterflies returned to my tummy when I learned that my cuddly, wondrous, loving human was still there, somewhere amidst the pile of pity and self-loathing shipped back to us from beyond the reaches of Equestria. “I love you so much…”

A soul-filling warmth spread through all of us, all of it meant for our human friend. The time of drama was over. At least, I hoped so with all my heart, for I couldn't tell if I’d be able to stand any more of it in such a short time.

We broke the group hug when we felt poor Alex was running out of air under our combined fluffiness. With a collective chuckle that felt divine in my ears and an apologetic grin, the ponies pulled back except me… and a clingy Izzy, who stubbornly refused to relinquish his arm, going as far as biting down the cloth of his jacket to prove her point when Alex tried to wiggle it away.

“Fucking hell, they ought to make a book out of this…” Alex tittered to himself, running a hand over his face tiredly before beaming down at me with so much love I felt like I was melting away. “Thank you, Tangerine. I can always trust you to drag me out of the gutter, huh?” He flashed me a wink and a chin rub which I most eagerly welcomed. What's a mare’s job but taking care of her stallion?

“But,” Alex continued while keeping with the petting of my fur. “I do need to be better.” He clarified.

Just as I was about to rebuke, he tricked me into submission with my second favorite sweet spot right under my left jaw. “I mean that I need to keep my emotions in check and be better. Better in many things, things that can help me. Like trusting you to make the big decisions from now on.”

Noticing the reluctance from Izzy to let go of her side of the cuddle, Alex gazed down at her with a lopsided grin. “Um, can I have my arm back? I wanna show you guys something that will help explain what I mean.”

“No!” Izzy fired back and pressed his arm even tighter against her belly. “I’m not letting go of you until you feel better!” She declared with a stubborn snort before chomping down on the fabric again.

Rolling his eyes, Alex let my bestie be. He returned to address us, peering upside down to the ponies behind the couch. “Get a grab on my shoulders, I need you all to be touching me for this to work.”

His strange request had spiked our curiosity. Hitch and Zipp complied and each placed a hoof on one of his shoulders. Pipp, no bribery needed, rested her own over his exposed arm. I needed no change of arrangements since I didn't believe I could physically be more in contact with him.

“I think this will explain better than any pathetic blubbering I might piece together. You’ll see what I meant yesterday, Tangerine.” He sent another warm look at me, before closing his eyes in concentration. “This spell is a bit tricky. I’ll try to keep within the memory, but fragments might spill in, so don’t freak out.”

All ponies present shared one last puzzled glance. We trusted Alex with whatever he’d planned to do, but my gut told me we were in for a wild ride.

My fur stood on end with the buildup of magic in his gauntlets. Once the crest of his spell had built up, he opened his eyes, now completely white as they radiated magical power, before reciting the words.

“Vivorum memoria.”

A flash of light, and we were gone.

It was late afternoon in Canterlot Palace. Most of the palace’s staff were wrapping up and preparing to head home for the day, while the night shift began to trickle in through the ample doors of the royal home for the recently instituted Sovereign of Equestria, Princess Twilight Sparkle, and his partner in love and crime, Prince Alexander.

The former was lost somewhere within the ample bowels of the palace’s library, devouring tome after tome, scroll after scroll, whatever she could get her hooves on that covered any and all topics she deemed indispensable for the correct fulfilling of her new tremendous obligations. The latter, however, was preoccupied with another head-wrecker of his own.

The pair, plus one quickly-growing dragon teenager, had undergone many changes in the past few months, with the crest of it being the desperate last defense against the Legion of Doom in their attempts to overthrow Equestria’s seat of power, and their official ascension as Equestria’s sole rulers after the long-reining alicorn sisters had stepped down to pursue other goals.

Stress, sleepless nights, nothing that the three of them couldn't handle as a family. Believe it herself or not, Twilight had been groomed since her early years to fit the role, and the human had proven numerous times his worth to rule by her side, even if he’d chosen not to mingle in the rulings of the Kingdom, except for his obligations as Prince of Knowledge, which were far and numerous by themselves, meaning there was no shortage of work to be done.

Nevertheless, those obligations would have to wait, for this particular head-wrecker demanded his immediate attention. With the defeat of the Legion of Doom, another major event preceded the sealing of Equestria’s mightiest foes in a prison of stone until the end of time.

*BOOM!!!*

“Pace thyself, my friend!”

Alexander had been… blessed. Anypony, and creatures for that matter, would’ve thought of it as such. Anypony except a scarce few who, in their own flesh and the passage of the centuries, knew better of the impossible gift the human had been granted.

One of those beings, the youngest of the royal sisters, touched first by the Rainbow Light over a millenia ago, was aiding the young prince in his process of learning these new blessings as they’d come. For his ascension as Empyrean of all ponyind had not been the only thing to follow him from the grave.

*CRACK!!!*

The thunder of a powerful incantation reverberated throughout the training courtyard belonging to the detachment of the Royal Palace Guard, its power enough to make the ears of passerby citizens flick in the direction of the palace all the way from the commercial district, two levels below in the great capital of Equestria, built in the form of concentric rings.

A true show was developing in the training courtyard, running the length of the barracks where dozens of recruits and seasoned guards alike had parked their late-day duties to bear witness to another of the increasingly frequent ‘therapy sessions’ for Prince Alexander.

The human panted and gasped in stain, the magical, shimmering armor he wore weighing him down as if made out of lead, yet the magical construct possessed no actual mass whatsoever. In his hands, he wore one of his greatest inventions, one which had accompanied him since his early days in this strange world, the gems strategically placed on the gauntlets humming and shrilling with magical power, almost burning to the touch if he wasn’t careful enough.

Commanding his bleary eyes into focus after a nasty hit, Alexander zeroed in on the ‘method’ for his special therapy session, a Gigas-level summon in the shape of himself, albeit featureless since being formed out of sheer magic. The perfect training buddy to chase down your own ghosts. They say it’s healthy to punch yourself once every now and then to get your stuff in order.

The technicalities of the summon were lost to the human, never having particularly been inclined toward that field of offensive magic, sticking to his guns in the shape of two, humongous (by pony standards) blades joined at the handle to form a twinblade of unparalleled power and dexterity. A weapon worthy of an Empyrean.

Princess Luna, the puppeteer in this play, granted no quarrel to the exhausted prince and commanded his summoned doppelgänger to attack once more.

“Ah… Mnng… No fucking… pah… break.” Alex grumbled in a foul mood as he dragged himself up from his knees. His joints popped, clothes dirty with the loose soil and dust he’d been dragged through numerous times that afternoon, only fueling the frustration and spite that made up the recipients the therapy sessions aimed to treat.

Reaching with his hand, the gems lit up under this silent command, recalling his weapon, Binary, from wherever it had ended up after his last throw. The mirror-image Gigas did not wait for Alex to recover his weapon, lunging in for another offensive before the young prince was prepared.

“Fuck!” Alex was forced into a sidestep as the mimetic copy swept down with a vertical slice, using a copy of the human’s own weapon over the place he’d been standing half a second ago. It followed with a horizontal slash, clashing against Alex’s summoned arm shield in a flurry of sparkles, sending a painful aftershock over the length of Alex’s arms to aggravate his already aching limbs.

The magical clone followed with a series of slashes and stabs, all parried by Alex’s shield and telekinetic shoves as he found himself slowly cornered against the northern edge of the yard, where a certain blue-feathered-and-furred griffon stood watch with the rest of the trainees.

“Come on, Alex! Whoop his flank!” Gallus cheered to the top of his lungs, his comrades roaring up after him, their recruit uniforms flapping under the strength emanating from each of the parried blows.

“Easier said than done, bird-for-brains!” Alex barked back without skipping a beat on his defense. The fact that those were his own movements didn't mean they were any less deadly. From the other edge of the yard, No-Longer-Princess Luna kept a watchful eye on the battlefield, her horn flashing sporadically with each change she imprinted into the mimetic’s strategy.

Up, left, left, stab, down, shove, the mimetic was merciless in its assault. Blow after blow, Alex was able to telegraph the mimetic’s moves and, by extension, Luna’s intentions until he couldn't keep up with the rhythm anymore. He invoked a telekinetic shove to create some distance between the two contestants, draining a chunk of his reserves but granting him the window of opportunity he needed.

A glimmer of light against the afternoon sun brought his attention to the corner of his eyes. Smiling wickedly, it was Alex’s turn now to push the offensive.

“Fulgur!”

A bout of lighting spewed from his open palm just as the mimetic was about to pounce over the human once more, its high-skies lunge leaving it exposed for a tremendous bare-chested hit that sent it flying into the middle of the arena. No chance for recovery was granted to the summoned creature on the ropes, a wave of Alex’s hand evoking the dirt under the mimetic’s landing site to bend outward explosively as the prince rushed in a mad run towards it, gems crackling in power as they upset the contract's balance further.

Pushing the forward momentum built on his run downwards, Alex jumped higher than any regular human should be able to, just in time to catch the twinsword homing on his beacon, falling down with the fury of the goddess into the mimetic, the power of the sun and moon bewitched into each of the respective blades making them shine in their respective auras.

“DIE!” Alex cried, drunk with overwhelming power as he prepared to deliver the definitive blow that’d seal his victory for the day. Luna saw this and tsked, disappointed in his lack of self-control, but such was the purpose of these training exercises. She hadn’t enjoyed said privileges when the Nightmare had haunted her psyche and twisted her thoughts into submission, transforming her into the reason fillies and colts alike wouldn't dare to venture past their bedtime hour if they didn't wish to be gobbled up. She’d help the Nightmare’s new host in the way neither she nor her sister could help her in the days of the Everfree. And what better way than to push the host to the limit to test his self-control and reliance?

Alas, progress was disappointingly slow, the weight of the crown on the young human making it no smaller a pill to swallow.

Binary came down to clash against the copycats’ own weapon, sparks flying everywhere and a tremor lifting up dust to the brink of masking the entire arena. The pegasi amidst the ranks flapped their wings hard to lift the dust cloud up so as to not miss a single second of the fight. They managed to do so right on time to see Alex pushing down hard against the mimetic’s steely resistance, only for the construct to sidestep him and, in a sweeping movement only achieved by bipedal legs, throw the human off balance in his blindness, gifting the prince a reminder of his mess-up with a shattering blow right on his protected ribs.

Alex was sent flying once more towards the edge of the arena as Luna rolled her eyes and snorted, bothered by his reluctance to pace himself and retain a steady mind. She knew the Nightmare was a relentless being, forever haunting its host until it either gained control over it, or the host died. She needed him to learn not only to resist it but to use it to his own advantage. With the Nightmare came power, juicy, promising power for a weak mind to resist. But Luna knew better of Alexander. She had bore witness to his unchallenged resolve and perseverance, so was his Element in the Bearer’s own eyes. Through combat and strife, where the body grew weakest and the mind more desperate, he’d learn to master his own emotions and prevent the darkness from taking over. That, and another few tricks of the human’s own volition.

Alex was still young and inexperienced, and yet the weight of the world had been bestowed upon his shoulders. His thoughts, his emotions, his will and resolve, everything about him must remain his, and fully his. If the influence of the Nightmare was to overcome his usually calm and thoughtful approach to things, Luna feared the consequences that his decisions might entail if left unchecked.

On a side note, Luna also enjoyed dragging his flank through the dirt every once in a while. The human might beat her in all the video games they played together, but real life is tough life.

During his unceremonious landing, Alex swallowed a week’s worth of dirt as he skidded to a halt face-first, his nose touching the white-painted edge of the rectangular arena, right in front of a pair of pink-scaled fore-claws, a wincing hippogriff standing over them.

“Yikes, that was a nasty one!” Silverstream sang with a bit too much enthusiasm for the ragged human’s liking. Her mate-to-be, Gallus, also sported a lopsided wince on his beak as he held a comfortable wing over Silverstreams back.

“Nice to see you too, Silver,” Alex spoke from under a pile of dirt in his mouth. Spitting it out loudly, he stumbled like a drunkard back into his feet, dusting himself before calling Binary into his right arm. “Is this your idea for a date, Gallus?” He sent a short leer to the smirking griffon.

Silverstream answered for him with her usual cheer. “Are you kidding?! This is so much fun!” She screeched with an excited tapping of her foretalons. Gallus could only shrug his feathery shoulders and smile at his significant other.

“I’m gonna have Steel Wing serve your flank for dinner, Private. You know better than inviting civilians to the training grounds.” Alex fired toward Gallus, earning nothing but a small chuckle from the trainee.

“Hah! You survive this first, then we’ll talk about whose flank is getting served.”

“Aaaand, I’m not a regular civilian, mister!” Silverstream teamed up with the griffon against the human. “Uh, two-times heroes of Equestria here?” She pointed alternatively at both of them with a wink and no short amount of snark.

It was meant as a playful rebuke, but far from amusing Alexander, it only chipped away at his dwindling patience, making him grow even more pissed at the world. He recognized the symptoms, slowly but surely feeling himself slip away while the notion of detachment overcame every conscious movement. Taking a deep breath and a silent thanks for the short respite Luna had granted him, he left the pair behind to focus back on the game.

Twirling Binary from hand to hand around his body, Alex knew better than to let himself lose control. He commanded the parasite that chipped at his mental resolve and not the other way around. If he wanted to tap into his power, he'd’ have to do so while retaining all his mental faculties, or else he’d end up taking a long vacation on the Moon, or something worse. Since his ascension as Empyrean, many things had changed for him, becoming the target of the Nightmare after his newfound position only a fraction of the new reality he had to face.

The Legion of Doom had been sealed away, the United Heptarchy thrived under the treaties between races he had helped to seal, and the ISIT taking a strong foothold in creature’s lives far and wide. His dream of a better world was in full bloom, with him as a centerpiece of change. And still, after all the things he’d accomplished, and the lives he’d improved, Alex couldn't help but feel that all this was a distraction, a painful one at that, anchoring him to the ground and preventing him from reaching his full potential as Prince of Knowledge.

Any other creature might’ve thought it more than enough of a list of accomplishments for an entire life, but not Alexander. He wanted more. He’d have more.

‘These thoughts aren’t yours.’ Alex caught himself on time, readying himself for the next round as he pushed down the coalescing storm in his mind. ‘Everything is going as planned. I need to pace myself and control my expectations.’

Any weak spot, any small crack, the Nightmare could exploit. It was a heavy existence, but the human had to admit it became easier with each day. He no longer heard the Nightmare’s whispers in his sleep. He no longer chased its shadows on every corner in plain daylight. But like a broken record playing in the back of his mind, the ever-constant pressure still affected him to a degree, making him prone to mood swings at its worst, and an unhealthy dose of second-guessing himself at best. These ‘therapy sessions’ were free spaces where he could let go and come to terms with the darkness inside him, learning to tame it as he tamed his body.

Although he’d rather spend his time vomiting all his emotional baggage to a therapist who pretends to listen, only for later to kill him with a monstrous bill as it was a costume on the world he left behind, he couldn't deny he enjoyed getting his ass whipped over the training yard. He’d best Luna one of these days. He had the literal eternity now to do so.

Binary inscribed circular paths in the air as Alex twirled it around himself, almost as if doing so were second nature to him, drawing from his dexterity in levitation to achieve a fluidity that no wrist could ever dream of. Fed up of seeing his own, featureless image patiently waiting for him in the middle of the arena, Alex took advantage of the gap in the fight to find a weak spot to exploit. Luna’s proficiency in battle surpassed that of her sister, making her the mightiest warrior in Equestria, possibly in the entirety of Equus, meaning she was the toughest of bones to chew. His hopes of besting her face-to-face were slim to none, but winning or losing was not the main goal of the exercise. In fact, it was more about standing up and fighting for as long as his bones could carry him before calling it a day; a lesson learned perhaps, and a few more days bought for the health of his psyche. It’d become rutinary, another thing to add to his already overflowing schedule.

Alex felt like wrapping this up here and now. After this, he’d gorge himself on some early dinner with his friends who were witnessing him get his ass beaten by a Gigas. Then, he’d find his Twilight and drag her to their bedroom from whatever corner she’d hidden from her advisors to study in peace and ride her into next week. Perhaps he’d let her ride him; he was feeling positively sore right now.

‘You had to choose the Doppelfiend, eh, Luna? Couldn’t have summoned that huge-ass alligator from last week? Now that was a cool tumble.’

With a plan hatching in his mind, Alex opted for brute-fighting his way into a window of opportunity. He was basically fighting himself, and he wanted to believe that he knew his own weaknesses and strengths. Not only that, but he needed to fool Luna at her vantage point outside the battlefield.

‘... Yeah. I’d best just lay down and play dead.’

Detaching the solar and lunar blades, Alex called forth gravikinesis to build momentum into the latter of the swords. Dust and pebbles tumbled and jumped around the human's feet under the influence of his building magic. He was close to the safety limit where his body would start being badly affected by the power coursing through his body into his gauntlets, but he felt he had enough juice for one final stance.

The impromptu public cheered with wild excitement, hooves, claws, and paws stomping and clapping in a deafening roar, pumping Alex’s spirits. They called for a show, and their caring Prince would give them one.

“Go give’em hell, hot stuff!!”

‘Oh, I didn't know Rainbow was also here.’

A quick search of the nearby skies proved his hunch right, the raspy cheer coming from the rainbow-maned pegasus hovering high above the surrounding public to get the best view. Alex remembered then that the Wonderbolts were throwing a tremendous show in Canterlot for their… how many years anniversary? He couldn't remember at the time, but they sure were a big bunch of numbers. Rainbow must’ve arrived sometime during the foray. Alex might be looking to get some cold cider with the mare after this. It’d been a while since he’d visited Ponyville.

Throwing the pegasus a lightning-fast wave so as to not lose his flow, the lunar blade was sent flying towards the human’s mimic right at the moment the puppet was about to resume its offensive. It took the shake of a deer’s tail for the blade to impact with an ear-shattering *Boom!*, the mimic successfully parrying it with Binary’s featureless equivalent, but became staggered for the two seconds Alex needed to catch up, making Luna tsk on the sidelines as a close-quarters combat strategy would be needed, and she knew how dangerous Alex’s particular choice of fighting style made him in close quarters.

The retired princess lit her honor and prepared to keep up with Alex’s ‘dance’, as the human had the peculiarity of naming his movements, familiar enough to expect what strategy was hatching in the young prince’s mind and order the Dopplefiend accordingly.

Luna could almost feel Alex’s pumped-up energy oozing out of him. How much of that belonged purely to him, and what was being drawn from the shapeless parasite currently searching for a way in, Luna could not be entirely sure. She could not deny the results, but if there was one creature on this green planet who knew the cost of tasting the honey the Nightmare placed in front of your snout without seeing the axe swinging down.

With the lunar blade returning from high in the air where it had been deflected, Alex holstered the solar blade, white and steaming with power, into a stabbing stance as he lunged for the Gigas. Luna prepared the puppet to react accordingly, but something in his wide, undisguised approach tickled her wrong, somehow.

Too late, for Alex was already over the Doopllefiend. However, instead of following the steps predicted by Luna, Alex countered the mimic’s downward slash with an ascending one of his own, sparks flying from the contact point. His wrist strained and ached under the pressure, forcing him to apply an extra dose of gravikinesis into the gash for his evil scheme to work.

The blow was exchanged, the public roaring up in ecstasy. However, none were as flabbergasted as Luna when she bore witness to what Alex had planned in this short respite she had granted him. Cyan eyes grew wide in surprise when, instead of pressing on with another stab, the upward force Alex pumped into the solar blade was enough to both break the mimic's stance and pry it from his hands. All actions entail an equal and opposite reaction; in this case, downwards, which Alex took advantage of to slide under the mimic’s defenses, sidestepping and throwing it off balance with a nasty sweep in ventetta for the same move it’d landed on him.

Ozone could be tasted in the air and gravity seemed to bend the space of the arena as Alex drew on his last reserves of magic before the safety limit for the promised last number, one trick he’d come to pull during a previous, private training session with Prince Shining Armor, one which, like many others, had been born from inspiration of the rich human culture he had brought with him on his world-jumping journey.

His gauntlets hummed with power, gems firing up as they interpreted his command. The logic breaker was uttered as Alex came to a skidding halt. In the palms of his hands and on the handle of both swords, a blob of light manifested, which quickly stretched and solidified as a pair of ethereal chains, flying from their respective origins to join mid-air.

Luna recognized the nature of his next offensive, a vein popping on her forehead as she found herself completely sidestepped by the cunning human.

Sending one shit-eating grin over his shoulder, headed for a certain princess, Alex was ready for a showdown.

Meanwhile, Luna could only curse the pain in the flank that Alex turned out to be every now and then. “That confounded human!!!” She boomed in her royal voice. Needless to say, Luna was a sore loser.

What happened then, which left the spectators, close friends and acquaintances alike, dead in their seats, could only be described as an absolute carnage. The training arena became a sea of flying swords as the human commanded them in impossible directions of angles, using the inertia built by the physical anchor that the chains posed to make every blow overwhelmingly staggering as he closed the distance to the Doppelfiend in a deadly wave.

Alex twisted and gyrated with each blow he sent his twin swords flying for, both solar and lunar blades becoming almost impossible to track, even for Luna’s expert senses. Blow after blow turned the mimic into something akin to a human-shaped piñata, the ceasing of commands from Luna rendering it unable to keep up, much less defend itself from the flurry of gashes that slowly chipped away at its arcane integrity.

The unanimous cheer from ponies and other creatures alike gathered around only pumped the human further, the limit rapidly approaching as he felt the beginnings of serious fatigue and harm filling his chest and limbs. Twilight would have his head if he pushed himself too far again, especially in silly training exercises, as she frequently referred to them. Still, he pushed on, sensing the Dooplefiend being torn apart until its integrity would fail after a few more hits.

He couldn't deny it anymore. For as much as Alex despised violence and the need for it in the first place, the thrill of the power coursing through his veins, the control he exerted over himself and his weapon, was intoxicating. As his focus hardened, he was completely sure this intoxication was entirely his own product and not a blindfold placed by the Nightmare to justify his drive.

The power, and the possibilities that came with it, beyond anything any human back on Earth could ever dream to achieve, made him truly feel like the Empyrean he’d unwillingly become, a vessel of change beyond what he could provide as a scientist and as a leading figure of Equestria.

Alex was powerful. Alex was capable, a shadow of a memory from the pudgy, scared-shitless-utterly-lost human that landed unceremoniously in Twilight's Thrones Room all those years ago.

This fight was practice as well as therapy of sorts, but that didn't mean he wasn't gonna enjoy it to its fullest, especially now that the fear of the Nightmare taking over wasn’t that prominent thanks to his progress.

Alex was back in reach for a close-quarters attack, but that would be just plain boring now. Better yet, he recalled his chained blades to his hands and pushed hard with his telekinesis to surround himself with the blades, launching himself into a horizontal spin while keeping Binary’s separated halves close to draw from the angular momentum building to unhinged levels. Once Alex felt he was close to crashing down back to the floor, he let go of the accumulated inertia in a double-bladed, wide-sweep downwards blow. With a victory cry, the human pushed himself to the limit as the blades came crashing down on the staggered mimic.

*BOOOOOM!!!*

As one, they crushed the construct into the dirt, making the entire courtyard shake under the spectators, the ones on their wings being pushed back, to the brink of losing their flight, some even needing to land back down. A tremendous cloud of dust masked the outcome of the fight. The air became still, no creature daring to even breathe as they balanced on the tips of their respective appendages in maddening expectation.

The sun was kissing the horizon when the victor of the fight revealed himself, pushing a telekinetic wave around him to lift the cloud of dust and debris. Standing alone in the middle of the courtyard, hunched and panting hard with aching muscles and a steady nosebleed, Alex proclaimed himself the winner, for no trace of the Dopplefiend could be discerned beyond the prominent dent carved in the ground that somecreature would have to fix before the next day’s morning drills.

His sorry state was not the most alarming feature discernible on Alex’s body. From his half-lidded, glazed eyes, purple mist could be seen trickling down like a river of tears, a poisonous omen Luna was quick to catch and bring her to the human’s side with a teleport. The gathered creatures were too immersed in their roaring approval to notice the signs of slipping that Alex was sporting.

Perhaps he’d overestimated his progress in mastering self-control. Still, Alex felt like his completely-drained self, the amorphous cacophony of venomous whispers that normally accompanied a close touch with the Nightmare only a mere pest in his swimming consciousness.

Alex sucked in a steady gulp of air, the blades in his hands being rejoined in the middle as the ethereal chains binding them to their bearer shattered back into the Aëther. With his magical stamina drained, their true weight was reminded to the human who, with a grunt through clenched teeth, holstered them once more onto his back as he depowered his gauntlets.

Alex let the shower of cheers wash down over him, clenching his eyes shut and regaining his bearings.

‘Fuck, I thought I’d have that under wraps by now.’

“My friend,” A feminine voice called from beyond the darkness.

Alex opened his eyes and found Luna already at his side, wings covering them both in what to the spectator's eyes would seem like a hug, but in truth was a way of granting them some privacy. An injector materialized in front of Alex, its contents a familiar recipe for him by then.

Without ceremony, Alex grabbed the injector and treated himself with a loaded dose of beta-blockers and GABA-ergic substances of numerous kinds; an unhealthy, but undeniably effective shortcut designed by himself to shut the Nightmare off, and a good chunk of him in the process. The nasty cocktail came with a proportional dose of noradrenaline to at least allow him not to collapse on the spot. Shrugging off the sting of the needle on his neck, Alex felt the results almost immediately, a tremendous sense of sleep overcoming him for a second before simply feeling like a train had run him over.

“Thanks, Luna,” Alex handed back the injector to the alicorn, Luna teleporting it back to his room high in Upsilon tower. “I apologize, I thought I’d be good enough to push it this time.”

With the routinary process out of the way, Luna brought herself to give a proper hug, her heart going out to her old friend, now allied by the same curse that had bought her enmity with her sister and a thousand years of banishment.

“Fear not, my friend. Thou committed thyself to thy fullest today and bested me. I am proud of thine progress. The Nightmare harbors no hopes of conquering you now. ” Luna whispered into the human’s ear, her rich voice soothing Alex’s shame to a simple sense of emptiness, any joy from his crushing victory drained by the reminder of the unwelcome companion that even now tried its mightiest to take over him.

“Begs the question, why can’t the girls just zap me with the Elements and be done with it like they did to you?” Alex huffed with a tired heave.

“What Elements?” Luna replied with a chuckle, pulling back from the embrace as she heard the human’s loved ones approaching them. “And, even if that was a possibility, I doubt the Bearers, much less Twilight will be too akin to using them on thineself, my friend.” A thoughtful look crossed the former Princess' features. “Although, I do believe thou would make for a fine statue in my gardens.” She mused with a feather to her chin.

“Your gardens?” Alex felt in high enough spirits to chuckle back at Luna’s sass. “Only retired from the boring parts, I see.”

“I would have it no other way.” Luna poked Alex’s ribs playfully before stepping back, holstering her wings while letting the speediest of the human’s close ones catch up with him.

“Dude!” Rainbow cried with vigor as she landed in front of Alex in a cloud of dust. “That was awesome! When did you learn to do that?! Can you teach me?!”

During his years living in Equestria and the lands beyond, Alex had met and bonded with numerous creatures, shapes, colors, and stories beyond the wildest of a human’s imagination. And yet, from within all the ties he’d grown in this world, there were only a scarce few to whom the young prince could truly feel himself at home with. Five mares in question, who became his family away from Earth and welcomed him with open hooves when he was alone and scared out of his wits. A baby dragon Alex called ‘the little brother he never had’.

And a young alicorn princess that, against all the human’s preconceptions and upbringings, had stolen his heart a long time ago and made him feel like he truly belonged amongst the colorful equines. One that would have his hide once she caught wind of his little stunt.

Warmed by the presence of the speediest, rowdiest of his closed circle, Alex cracked down in a hearty chuckle before bringing the prismatic mare into a big hug, which Rainbow reciprocated without protest.

“Good to see you again, Skittles,” Alex cackled harder when catching the muffled grumble from the mare against his choice of nickname. Letting Rainbow back down on her hooves, he reached behind his back and summoned Binary with a magnetic hum. “Sure I can. You can start by holding this for me.”

Dropping the twinblades unceremoniously over the pegasus’ back, Rainbow folded down and plopped on her belly when the actual weight of the humongous weapon was revealed to her without the influence of Alex’s magic.

“Ooof!” Rainbow saw the air squeezed out of her lungs as kissed the loose dirt under her hooves. “D-Dude! What the hay?! This is so heavy!” She protested in bewilderment while trying and failing to climb back up with the blades balanced on her back.

“It’s meant for an Empyrean, RD,” Alex felt the need to clarify, joining in the gathered crowd’s round of snickers to the prismatic mare’s chagrin. Powering his left gauntlet, he freed Rainbow from his weapon’s imprisonment, returning it to his back, Rainbow’s petition now answered for her. A shame for her, those movements had been absolutely rad.

“Thank you all for coming!” Alex then turned to address the few guards and military personnel that had entered the arena to approach him while the rest slowly trickled away from the premises. “I hope you enjoyed the show, but you all better vamoose soon, lest Shining catches you slacking off.”

“T-The Captain’s here?!” One guardsmare asked with a shaky voice, quickly being corrected by another guard regarding Shining's position as former Captain since his obligations at the Crystal Empire made him an unwise choice to occupy both positions at the same time. Still, his drills would forever remain in the records, as would his punishments for lazy ponies not getting their rounds done, the perfect way to scare the new recruits into shape, even if the stallion in question was hundreds of kilometers away.

Alex made a mental note to visit them soon. He missed his adopted family and the little bundle of joy Flurry Heart was quickly growing into.

And to think it’d been almost eight years…

Coming up with a schedule for a quick visit that would make his Twilight proud to tears, Alex felt like passing out for a quick nap before the mare in question could chew him out. He felt like having the royal cooks whip up some pizzas for them. Spike was meant to return anytime now from his visit to the Dragonlands. If he was lucky, Alex could have his closest family with him for a movie night or something. And they could all attend the Wonderbolts show the next day.

A semblance of spirit flickered to life in Alex’s chest, breaking through his prominent exhaustion. With Luna addressing some high-ups in the military chain, and Rainbow adoringly pouting with a rosy tint on her cheeks, Alex felt more at home than ever.

With friends and family like this, he had nothing to fea-

*CRASH!!!*

‘W-What’s going on?!’

The world around them cracked and shattered like a mirror, the memories fragmenting into a flurry of fast-playing incoherent images before settling down into a steady stream.

Greenery spread through the slopes and ridges of the Canterhorn Peak, lining a smoking city, partially in ruins. Furious winds roaring under a blanket of gray bottling the skies, pale, slender figures slithering at the edge of vision, their ghostly chants icing the blood of the present creatures like the bad omen they embodied.

Thunder and lighting warred in the heavens, while on the ground, a different battle ensued.

Six Element Bearers and a baby dragon panted and heaved tiredly while their three nemeses stood no worse for wear, wicked grins preceding their victory.

One lone human stood between them and his family, ragged and injured, but his spirit burning up like Tartarus.

One last stand, they needed more time.

Sword in hand, a spell forming in the other.

He wasn’t fast enough.

A blinding light, coming from the smallest member of the Legion. An agonizing fire spread through his chest, a cascade of blood followed by a sense of limbo that quickly overcame his consciousness.

He’d failed.

“T-Twilight…”

Another crack, another broken mirror. A town up in celebration, ponies leaving their cozy houses with thatched roofs to take part in the festivities in the streets. Alexander and his pony friends celebrated too, an anniversary of his coming to Equestria that the whole town wished to celebrate. He knew nothing but happiness, the warmth of his loved ones warming his heart. It had been a few rough months, but the progress had been worth it. His dream was coming true. With a purple unicorn snuggled at his side as they both sipped from some cold cider, the mare went in for a kiss…

Another crack, another vision. A minotaur settlement, a roaring fire consuming a storage building. Minotaurs ran back and forth, and no warriors were left to prevent the disaster. A bloodied blade, dripping life-giving crimson into the matted dirt. They had gone too far. He should've destroyed the weapon sooner…

Another crack, another road. Ruins of a civilization, skeletons of a rich city. Poisonous air, radioactive water, dirt, and moss were the only things that passed for food. A sigil follows him everywhere, remnants of what were once proud equines hunted him. This is his legacy.

Another crack, another life. Windows opened, the curtains dancing gently against the midnight breeze that slipped inside the cozy room. Alex had missed her at his side, coming out of his dreams under the dissonance of her warmth. He found Twilight over the railing of the balcony, peering back at him with teary eyes when she heard his muffled steps again the breeze caressing her ears. Tears trickled down her violet pearls. “I'm s-so sorry, my love. So, so sorry…”

Another crack, followed by another, and another more, memories slipping in faster and faster as the dreamer lost control.

A dark cave, with countless podded ponies lining the walls. Vengeance.

A convocation of creatures, every single race joined together. One chance only, a cry for the future.

A pony of shadows, friends turned foes. Pitiful.

An underwater city, sea dwellers escaping the steady lava that would consume it.

A classroom full of eager creatures, crippling nerves taking hold of him. The student had become the teacher.

‘It's too much! M-Make it stop!!’

An entire life before their eyes, compressed in a millisecond, or perhaps a century. The spell was shattering, the dreamer had lost control.

The stillness followed the storm to its conclusion. A void, one last figment. A rainbow light calling for a new purpose. A new Empyrean was born, and the price would be the end of his dream.

Something crept under their hooves, hiding at the edge of the darkness. It swallowed the rainbow light and the kneeling human in front of it, the words lost in the immensity of the nothingness.

Fur stood on end, ears twitching like crazy in their heads. They tried to find it but failed. For it had found them first.

Soon, Guardians of Harmony. He will be mine, and I'll see our dream fulfilled!!

The Nightmare lunged. It was our turn. I understood.

“NO!!”

A new light was born from me, chasing away the shadows, screeching as if they were burned. They had been, for I was powerful, my wings and horn my sword and shield.

I understood then, I understood many things about my human. Things I couldn't put my hoof on since the very start, things I’d swept under the rug and decided not to care about. My commitment remained the same, though. I'd protect my human to my last breath, from spirits of chaos and nightmares and whatever the world would throw us!

I had only one thing to say to the monster that lived in Alex’s closet. Fat chance for it, because I had learned.

“HE! IS! MINE!!!”

I exploded, taking the dream with me.

I knew how to help him.

By my will, Hope.

Chapter 48- The monster in your closet.

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

Chapter 1- A successful plan.

Act I: Forward

…… “Twilight, this isn't what we planned.” ……… “They have to learn, one way or another.” ………. “Please, listen to me. We must…”………… “…will tear your kingdom apart, she wouldn’t…”………… “chosen for a reason, I’ll do what I must!”……….. “Twilight, please! You need to listen to me!” ……….. “Twilight…. TWILIGHT!!!!” ............

“WAIT!!!”

I woke up with a start, panting heavily. My clothes clung to my sweat-drenched body, my arms and legs trembling uncontrollably, and my eyes sore from being tightly shut for far too long. My muscles, having languished in prolonged rest, ached and strained as I fought to rouse myself. Disoriented and unsure of my surroundings, I blinked rapidly, trying to adjust to the faint light that barely illuminated the space.

The dim, ghostly glow revealed little about my location. A chilling dampness pervaded the air, and an unsettling silence pressed down on me. Shivering, I struggled to sit up, desperate to get a clearer view of where I was. My mind, still clouded with remnants of sleep, gradually began to focus on my immediate environment.

I found myself in a vast, rectangular chamber, flanked by worn stone columns that bordered wide, stony walls. The walls bore strange engravings, their intricate designs blurred almost beyond recognition by the relentless passage of time. I squinted at the faded symbols, a throbbing pain coursing through my head, eliciting a groan as I raised a trembling hand to my brow in a futile attempt to ease the discomfort.

"Mmmmgg… My head…" I muttered, the sound echoing faintly in the cold, empty space. Drawing on previous experiences, I took a deep, calming breath and focused on remembering why I was here. My memories were a chaotic swirl of indistinct images and fragmented thoughts, but one clear recollection stood out amid the confusion.

"It worked." The realization was simple yet profound. The fact that I was breathing, that I could see and feel, meant that I had survived. My aching body craved movement, and after several clumsy attempts, I managed to stand on my slightly worn-out boots. I dusted off my clothes as best as I could and approached one of the walls adorned with strange engravings.

I leaned closer, trying to decipher the worn symbols. Though time had rendered much of it indecipherable, I could still recognize the patterns. They were of my design. Relief washed over me as I understood where I was.

‘I'm still in the chamber. Just as we planned.’

It was a remarkable accomplishment, given the sheer madness of our plan. The fact that I remained intact after a thousand years of programmed sleep was an unprecedented feat in the magical land where I resided. Our unconventional methods had achieved what many deemed impossible.

With my thoughts now clearer, I examined my surroundings more closely. The chamber was a functional, rather than aesthetic, structure. It bore a resemblance to the long-lost catacombs Daring Do might uncover on one of her daring expeditions. Its sole purpose was to house my resting body safely through the centuries. I scoured my memory for the layout of the chamber, recalling the details as I approached what I believed to be the exit.

The chamber had been built underground when I first entered stasis, and there was a significant possibility that the exit had since become buried. This could pose a serious problem. Steeling myself, I muttered, "Well, there's only one way to find out."

Determined to escape the gloomy environment, I crossed the chamber towards the carved stairs that led to the exit. Time had been merciless, eroding the walls, ceiling, and columns that supported the structure. The floor, too, showed signs of wear, and the complex rune-carved engraving that occupied most of the central area was now barely legible. In the past, that engraving had contained an intricate spell array designed to propel me forward through time—or at least, as close as we could come to actual time travel.

The idea had been straightforward, yet my unique nature, lacking any inherent connection to the world’s magic, had driven me to employ less orthodox methods. As I ascended the worn steps, my mind wandered back to the elaborate preparations and the sacrifices made to achieve this feat.

Reaching the top of the stairs, I paused, taking in the sight before me. The exit was partially obstructed, as I had feared, but not entirely blocked. With renewed determination, I began to clear the debris, each movement bringing me closer to the surface, and to whatever awaited me in the world beyond.

In the dim light of the chamber, I couldn't help but feel a surge of hope mingled with trepidation. The world I had known was long gone, but a new one awaited, and with it, the chance to make things right. I took a deep breath, steadied myself, and continued my ascent, ready to face the unknown.

‘Hmm, I guess Starswirl was right, or at least it would seem so. I'd hate to come out and realize I've gone back 10,000 years or worse.’

Temporal magic was an exceedingly intricate branch of arcane study, rarely explored and even more rarely mastered. Few dared to venture into its enigmatic depths, and fewer still managed to weave even the simplest of spells from its convoluted threads. As far as I knew, only the legendary Starswirl the Bearded and the cunning Starlight Glimmer had successfully executed significant temporal spells, with Twilight Sparkle achieving similar feats during her relentless pursuit of the demented unicorn.

“Twilight…” Her name escaped my lips like a lament, and with it, the weight of my decision crashed down on me. Not even three steps up the ancient stairs, the full brunt of my actions struck me with the force of a thousand regrets. My friends, my family—I had known the consequences of my plan, but the emotional toll was far greater than I had anticipated.

Hours had been spent preparing myself, mentally bracing for the inevitable, but nothing could have readied me for the heart-wrenching agony of departure. Every achievement, every hard-won victory, all seemed to crumble in the face of this moment.

“Everything we did, everything we achieved, only to end like this…”

The desperation of our situation had necessitated drastic measures. This plan, as painful as it was, had to be carried out. It was imperative for those who would follow, those who would suffer for our mistakes—for my mistakes. Shaking my head violently, I banished the agonizing thoughts before they could consume me. Now was not the time for reflection; I had to keep moving.

As I ascended the worn stairs, I glanced at the wall to my right, noting the blurred engravings that complemented the main array on the chamber floor. It had taken me months, aided discreetly by several ponies, to conceptualize and construct this intricate design. Starlight Glimmer had been among my secret collaborators, her reluctance palpable as we worked behind the backs of our friends. Yet, as I had told her then and reminded myself now: it was necessary, for the future of us all.

Climbing the long, worn-out stairs, the rhythmic movement of my legs brought my attention to a slight bulge in my left pants pocket. To my surprise, despite the passage of decades, my clothes had not degraded as much as I had feared; they held together remarkably well, a testament to our careful preparations.

‘Another achievement for you, Rarity. Time-proof clothes. I imagine the princesses would have put them to good use.’

As soon as the thought landed, a wave of depression washed over me once again. The slim chance of ever seeing my friends and family again was a bitter pill I had swallowed long before embarking on this enterprise. I removed the bundle from my pocket and found a small, smooth, sky-blue gem. Its natural luster and glow were now barely noticeable.

‘When I get out, I have to charge it again to full capacity; otherwise, it won’t work. And the information it contains is invaluable for the mission,’ I reminded myself, making a mental note.

This gem was one of my earliest discoveries during my collaborative efforts with the ponies to better Equus. The ability of certain special types of gems to store information, much like a USB drive from my home world, had astonished me. Although they lacked the complexity of electronics, meaning they couldn't store family photos or extensive data, they had proven immensely useful. The most promising application was the ability to cast spells using the magic contained within these gems, along with certain language integration spells to help me overcome my natural deficiencies. While I could levitate toast from the toaster, it would never rival the skill of a well-trained unicorn. Nevertheless, these gems had served me well in the past.

"And you'll be very useful to me now," I muttered to myself as I continued up the last flight of stairs. The chamber was built deep underground at the foot of the mountain chain that bordered the coastal cities of Baltimare and Fillydelphia. During our initial scouting of the site, we had discovered several vast deposits of Dimeritium buried deep within the mountains. As a magic-canceling metal, constructing the chamber close to these deposits rendered it undetectable to magical scanners.

‘Hmm, by the looks of the place and the absence of any prints, it seems it wasn't discovered by anycreature during my stasis,’ I thought, feeling a mix of relief and apprehension.

As I approached the exit, I encountered two Dimeritium-reinforced gates. Pulling hard, I managed to open them inward, teeth grinding as the thunderous creaking of their rusty hinges assaulted my eardrums. Instead of open skies and a soothing breeze, I was met with a layer of humid dirt completely blocking my way out. It wasn’t very thick, as I could make out the roots of plants from ground level.

“Well then, it’ll have to be the hard way,” I muttered with a determined gleam in my eye. I reached for the gem in my pocket, closed my eyes, and concentrated. Simple spells like levitation or light constructs were easy after much practice, but those requiring greater amounts of magic and focus always left me exhausted and dizzy if cast for too long or too many times in quick succession.

“Bombarda!” I opened my eyes and shouted, pointing my free hand toward the layer of dirt. The gem emitted a whitish glow, and from it emanated a wave of energy that impacted with a thunderous roar, sending chunks of earth and plants flying outwards, clearing the exit.

I took a moment to catch my breath. My long sleep had erased much of the stamina I had built during my late years in Equestria. I used to cast far more powerful spells without batting an eye. Even though the magic came from the gem, my body still suffered from the effects of the energy release. It wasn’t built to withstand such sudden energy output, and overdoing it could strain my physique to the point of damage. The fact that I could use Latin words to cast spells, like a Hogwarts student or a cheap anime character, amused me to no end. Yet, it was necessary to ease my spellcasting. Twilight could never fully understand it, and neither could I. Still, it worked better than screaming the words in Equish or merely visualizing the desired effect in my mind. It had been an outstanding discovery back in the day, especially for those not attuned to magic like a unicorn.

With the exit now cleared, I gazed up at the sky to see a blue expanse, with barely any clouds in sight, and the sun shining brightly in the middle, warming my freezing body with its gentle rays.

‘Well, at least the sun remains in its place,’ I mussed, reassured by the familiar sight.

From where I stood, it appeared to be midday. With the sun at its zenith, I couldn’t use it to orient myself. Nothing had been allowed to accompany me into the future besides my clothes and the gem, meaning no compass or any other helpful gear. However, I wasn't worried. I knew the location of the chamber by heart, and thus, I was facing east, toward Horseshoe Bay and the Celestial Sea.

I allowed myself a deep, satisfying breath, savoring the taste of clean air and the scent of nature all around me. With one final stretch to shake off the stiffness from my long sleep, I stepped out of the chamber into a clearing surrounded by tall trees—a subspecies that blanketed the mountain chain and extended to the coast, forming one of the largest forests in the country. This lush forest, named after the nearby city of Baltimare, had provided perfect concealment for my resting place.

Not wanting to waste any more time, and without any idea of how pony civilization might have evolved—if it still existed at all—I began my journey toward the closest settlement I could remember: Woodlock Town, a small village about an hour from Baltimare by train. It had been a quaint, almost exclusively earth pony village whose main economic activity was logging from the surrounding woods. Few inhabitants, almost no unicorns, and minimal risk of discovery. I needed to check if it was still standing and find somepony willing to bring me up to speed. I had slept through hundreds of years’ worth of events, after all.

‘Mff, I hope things didn’t end up reaching the breaking point. I fear what might have happened if the mistrust and anger turned into something worse.’

A thousand years could hold a multitude of changes, as the history of Equestria and Equus had shown. As I made my way toward the village, my mind cleared, allowing me to recall happier times: moments with my friends, the day-to-day life in Ponyville, and the bi-annual cataclysmic events that endangered all of Equestria, only to be resolved by the girls with the power of friendship. I still couldn’t comprehend how a concept like friendship could wield so much power. On Earth, conflicts were resolved very differently.

It also bothered me how quickly things could deteriorate in Equestria, a nation that preached love and harmony. The hate, the unfiltered rage, the mistrust, and the fear of one another…

‘It almost resembled the day of the pony tribes. Without a princess to guide them, the ponies almost seemed not to be so different from humans at our lowest.’

Drastic measures had been necessary to prevent irreparable damage to ponykind. And yet, for the first time the girls and I tried to set things right, it hadn’t worked out as it should have. Our greatest failure, my greatest sin.

“If only you had listened to me, Twilight…”

I walked through the forest for several hours, the dense canopy complicating my sense of direction and causing me to go in circles multiple times. During my trek, no dangerous creatures appeared. None inhabited these woods, unlike the Everfree Forest, which was filled with creatures lurking in the shadows for the chance to make a meal out of you.

So lost was I in my memories that I only realized after a while that I should have arrived at the town by now.

‘It wasn’t more than an hour from the chamber in a straight line. I can’t hear anything, nor can I see any smoke rising above the trees…’

Deeply confused, I looked around for any sign of civilization. All I saw were the tall, maroon-hued trees and several crystals scattered among the vegetation.

‘Wait a minute. Crystals?!’

I didn’t remember there being crystal formations when we built the chamber, at least not as prominent as these. They rose well above the vegetation in varying shapes and sizes, emitting barely any light. Seeing them reminded me of the gem in my pocket. I checked to see if it had begun recharging with ambient magic as designed.

“Hardly anything,” I realized worriedly. Where a pulsing hue of bluish magic and a soft hum should have been, only the barest movement could be seen inside the gem. The near-total absence of ambient magic could only mean one thing.

“She had to do it… dammit. DAMMIT!!”

I had hoped with all my heart that it wouldn’t have been necessary, but it seemed that wasn’t the case. Scorching anger burned within me as I continued searching for the village or its remains. Despite my efforts, I found nothing.

“Dammit, must have been abandoned a long time ago, enough for its remains to completely disappear too.”

Seeing nothing but vegetation around me, I abandoned the search and, worn out from the fruitless effort, found a small clearing under a huge tree where I could rest. Nightfall had arrived, and the surrounding crystals provided a gentle, cold light, barely enough to illuminate my immediate surroundings. I sat against the rough trunk and rested my feet. Not wanting to lose my way by wandering around during the twilight hours, I chose to spend the night there. The only things I could carry with me after the spell transported me were my clothes and the gem that held the key to my mission’s success.

‘Time to rough it up,’ I lamented to myself.

It was only a couple of minutes later, just as I was about to fall asleep that I felt it. A tremor, but not from the ground. A reverberation, but not in the physical sense. Puzzled, I got up and looked around trying to discern the origin of such phenomena, muscles tensing in preparation for incoming threats..

But it was no threat, but something truly wonderful. Before, I felt it. A moment later, I saw it.

“What in the world…” I could only mutter as the crystals around me lit up in a dazzling array of colors, painting the night sky. A wondrous aurora spread out from the east, covering the entire firmament. My skin tingled, and the air tasted different, charged with magic to the point of saturation. Even without a natural connection to this world’s magic, I could definitely feel the effect of what was transpiring.

Both confused and amazed, I turned my gaze to the direction the aurora had originated from. “The Crystal Empire is NOT that way, and the Elements of Harmony stopped working when Harmony was compromised. What in Tartarus is going on?!”

I checked my pocket and saw my gem slowly regaining its glow, humming softly with the flow of magic that had previously been dampened but was now set free.

‘Well, at least that’s solved, saves me from using the nasty trick. Gonna need the magic if I’m to complete the mission. Also, it wouldn’t hurt to get a couple more. This gem can only hold so much magic at once.’

Looking around, I managed to find some small crystal fragments scattered from the larger ones. They didn’t hold much charge combined, but they’d have to do until I found a more permanent solution.

With the renewed glow from the crystals, the newly illuminated surroundings put me at risk, so I moved under a nearby bush to better hide myself. I didn’t want to risk being spotted while I slept.

Sleep came short and rough. I barely got any rest, trapped between my memories and confusion about that sudden magic outburst.

Morning came far too quickly. Restless and covered in leaves, I shook myself awake and proceeded on my way east, deciding it was best to find out who or what caused that outburst first, although I could almost imagine what it was. A small shimmer of hope warmed my heart, yet the implications wouldn’t exactly work in my favor.

‘It might complicate things more. Faust dammit, as if being in another time wasn’t enough already.’

I saw no sign of anypony nor any other creatures on my way out of the forest, which gave way to an endless stretch of grassy fields covered in a thousand kinds of flowers. The silence that had accompanied me since my awakening was unnerving. Only a couple more hours until I’d reach the coast. Continuing my journey east, I used the time to think about how I would approach the matter at hand.

I had hoped the conflict wouldn’t escalate, that the races would see reason and join again in peace. Celestia and Luna had done a wonderful job during their rule, and Twilight gave her best to continue their work.

‘We should have been more careful. We should have seen it coming. The Unity Crystals were too much, even if they would ensure the safety of the ponies at the cost of their magic.’

Safety… from what? Conflicts and disagreements were not unknown among the different races, with racial slurs and historical claims being the main weapons. Since the return of Luna and the rise of the Elements of Harmony, ponies and other creatures were more united than ever. The School of Friendship admitted pupils from all over the world… It all fell apart so quickly, so abruptly, that the other creatures started feeling threatened and decided it was best to flee from the growing breach and isolate themselves once again.

‘I hope the young six managed to stay together. They shouldn’t have had to pay for our mistakes.’

One thing was clear: I had to approach this carefully. No flow of magic meant that Twilight hadn’t managed to fix the breach between the three tribes, and thus had no choice but to activate the Unity Crystals, our magnum opus, the product of desperate minds finding no better way to fix a crumbling nation. According to their design, without harmony between the ponies, the magic all ponies enjoyed freely would be locked away from them. This was to avoid further conflict and harm, since magic wielded the wrong way could become catastrophic, as happened during the many times Equestria’s existence had been threatened.

One of our earliest debates regarding the matter suddenly came to mind. ‘Taking away their magic won’t take away their fear and hate, Twilight. We must help them see again. Magic is too important, too necessary for the daily lives of ponies. I can’t even imagine what might happen if one day it disappeared. We must think of alternative solutions.’

We were lost, desperate, and willing to risk more than we should have. Now, something big had happened, and magic once again permeated the land as it always should have. I could only wish it was because, somehow, the pony races had managed to join together again, for it was then that the Unity Crystals would relinquish their hold on magic.

‘Even if it is so, I can’t take the risk. I need to complete the mission. I can’t allow this to happen ever again.’

The mission. The existence of the crystals was too dangerous. If they were destroyed or manipulated by the wrong hooves, the fate of magic would be at stake. I had to reach them. I had to reverse what she did. I had to find out why it truly happened in the first place!

In my gem, I had all the necessary information. How could a magicless creature hope to reverse such a spell? How could it free what was imprisoned by the most powerful pony who ever existed? The method I knew, the rest I had to improvise.

‘Even if it takes my own life...’

On my way down the slopes of the valley, I passed near a cliff and found the remains of a campfire. It did not seem to be very old, perhaps a couple of days at most. In addition, I found hoofprints leading in the opposite direction to my own path.

‘At least I know that ponies still populate this place, but how come I haven't seen any?’

Ponies were not as numerous as humans on Earth, not by a long stretch, but they were still a ubiquitous presence throughout the entire country.

Seeing that night would soon fall, I decided to rest for the remainder of the afternoon at the site. I gathered some wood nearby to rekindle the campfire and found a small bush with pink berries that I recognized as non-poisonous.

‘It will have to do...’

As I ate my meager dinner and warmed myself by the campfire, memories of the events that led to the separation of the three tribes flooded my mind. What started as minor disagreements and power abuses among the more ‘advantaged races’ had escalated into something far more severe. Petty fights that the royal guard once handled swiftly grew into widespread unrest. Many ponies began questioning their place in society, their worth, and the painful differences between those more and less attuned with magic.

It disturbed us to see ponies changing their minds so abruptly and drastically. Our investigations revealed that somepony was actively inciting these fights, spreading fear and distrust among the ponies, accusing others of mistakes they hadn’t committed, and reinforcing each tribe's perceived superiority over the others.

‘Equestria is not an abusive totalitarian state. Everypony is entitled to their opinion, but this wasn’t normal. Never in hundreds of years had such rifts arisen among the ponies.’

We dug deep into the issues arising across Equestria, attempting to solve them peacefully by preaching the tenets of Harmony and seeking reconciliation. Then, after many failed attempts to restore peace, the Map called to us all.

It was a huge surprise to be summoned by the Map along with the girls and Spike. Seeing my hands flashing suddenly was not a pleasant experience—I thought I had touched something dangerous in the lab without realizing it.

I remembered taking the first train to Ponyville and running across the town like a madman toward the Friendship Castle once the scare wore off. The passing ponies looked at me worriedly, some of them shouting to ask what the issue was that had me so rushed.

The Map pointed us toward Dodge City. It had been a while since any of us had visited that town, and we hadn’t recently received any concerning news from the place. Somewhat puzzled, we set off immediately.

The journey had been pleasant. It had been some time since the girls, Spike, and I had traveled together like we used to before Twilight’s ascension to the throne. We didn’t know what to expect. The Map had been silent for the better part of a year. Twilight’s short reign had been prosperous and peaceful, with no cataclysmic events requiring our intervention, focused on building bridges with the rest of Equus’ races and improving the lives of her little ponies. Even the brewing problems hadn’t been enough to draw Harmony's personal attention, or at least she wouldn’t show it.

After getting off the train, we decided to look around town, trying to find the friendship problem that had brought us there. After some wandering and questioning the townsponies, we heard a commotion from the central square and decided to investigate. It was there, surrounded by locals, that we saw her for the first time after her departure from Twilight’s School for Gifted Unicorns.

Of all the villains we faced, none managed to cause as much damage as she did. No pretensions of grandeur or desire for conquest—she only had to convince the population and make them see lies. Her speech was terrifying, but even more so was watching the ponies nod their heads in agreement.

With a hundred memories swirling around in my mind, I barely got any sleep that night either. Early in the morning, I resumed my journey, with only a few hours to go to reach the coast. I could almost taste the salinity in the air, a few seagulls breaching through the higher clouds. I hoped to find a settlement and, with it, the origin of the phenomenon I had witnessed yesterday.

After half a day on the road, I set my eyes upon it. From the top of a hill, I could discern a coastal town, with a modest lighthouse at the far end of the bay. It didn't look like anything too special, except for a huge quadrangular building that reminded me of a production facility, or something similar, towering over the seaside-themed houses.

However, the image of the coastal town wasn't what truly captured my attention. Before my eyes, I finally glimpsed the source of that mysterious explosion that painted the sky with beautiful auroras. Climbing toward the endless firmament, a straight rainbow emanated from the top of the lighthouse. The rainbow ascended high until it blurred in the darkening blue of the afternoon sky. Although I was too far away to see it clearly, it gave the sensation of moving slowly, gently towards the heavens as if projected by the light of the lighthouse.

‘That's no ordinary rainbow. I've seen enough of them over the years to distinguish those arising from magical phenomena of great power. It seems to be a recurring theme.’ I chuckled to myself. My masculinity did suffer a blow when I first arrived all those years ago, to my dismay.

I had to get closer to be able to distinguish the inhabitants, my sight poorly lacking in comparison to that of a pegasus. I was sure of one thing; this town was NOT Baltimare. Both for its location and its size, the coastal city seemed to have been replaced by this humble village. I wasn't going to affirm I knew for sure how many years I had traveled into the future, regardless of our flawless calculations, but it must surely have been several centuries if something like this had taken place. Luckily, that rainbow showed me the exact location of the Unity Crystals, or so I hoped, saving me from exposing myself to the ponies for the time being. I couldn’t allow any more distractions to interfere with my plan.

The path leading downhill diverged in two: the right path continued up the hill to the lighthouse, and the left path descended to the lower entrance of the town. A worn-out sign stood nearby, the name ‘Maretime Bay’ written in white letters over a blue background, chunks of paint and wood missing around the edges. Not wanting to cause a fuss, I decided to visit the lighthouse first and confirm that the Unity Crystals were indeed there. As I neared it, I could discern how part of the upper structure had collapsed, and some signs of repair could be seen at the bottom of the tower.

‘Hmm, perhaps the activation of the crystals was too much for the lighthouse?’

Evening was fast approaching, and I couldn’t see anypony nearby. With any luck, no one would notice my arrival. The bustle and incessant questions that arose with my arrival in Ponyville the first time were not experiences I wished to repeat. No unwanted questions meant going straight to business.

“If these ponies truly comprehended the significance of crystals, they wouldn't leave themselves so vulnerable,” I mused to myself as I finally reached the lighthouse. A faint buzzing filled the air, undoubtedly a byproduct of the powerful magic surging skyward.

The lighthouse's design was reminiscent of traditional human standards, with alternating horizontal red and white stripes marred by numerous cracks. At the top, remnants of what once was the lantern room stood in silent ruin. Below the tower, a more house-like structure protruded, suggesting that somepony lived here.

To confirm my suspicions, I cautiously tiptoed toward the exterior of the house and peered into one of the windows, doing my best to avoid tripping over the scattered building materials intended for later use. The curtain was half-closed, but I could make out a living room bordered by an open kitchen, and a work desk surrounded by numerous boxes and various papers.

The decor was simple and rustic, with an absence of walls dividing the rooms, creating a pleasant feeling of space. Ponies generally disliked enclosed spaces, especially pegasi. This type of layout was very typical in their homes.

Upon closer inspection, I noticed a purple tail protruding from one end of the sofa that occupied the center of the living room. At the other end, a mane of the same color and part of an orange-furred leg hung over the edge.

“Looks like somepony is taking a nap… just great,” I muttered, pinching the bridge of my nose in exasperation. “Okay, let's see if the lessons I received from the Abyssinians have paid off.”

I had never mastered the cloaking spell, so I had to be extra careful. Climbing up the exterior was not an option. I didn’t trust the damaged structure to hold my weight, and I wasn’t much of a climber either.

‘Shame on you, space monkey. Now you have to sneak in.’

Resigning myself to a direct approach, I headed for the door, preparing my gem to use the Alohomora spell when I remembered that ponies rarely locked their homes. Just as I thought, a simple click and a slight push opened the door.

‘Ponies are way too trusting…’

With practiced stealth, I crossed the threshold and tiptoed past the foyer toward the center of the room. I searched for any stairs leading to the top of the lighthouse but only found an elevator in the room's center. Fixed on the wall nearby was a small lever-shaped mechanism that seemed to control it.

‘Ugh, that's going to make a lot of noise… think, think!’

Unable to climb on the outside, the elevator was my only way up, but it would surely wake the pony sleeping on the couch. Speaking of the pony, I could now discern that it was a mare. Considering nearly seventy percent of the pony population consisted of mares, that wasn’t too surprising. Lying on her right side, she slept peacefully with a tiny smile on her muzzle. Her coat was a rich orange color, lightening around the fetlocks. Her mane was a deep purple with a single rainbow streak in the middle. In her sleeping position, I couldn’t make out her cutie mark. I didn’t seem to have disturbed her sleep if her gentle breathing was any indication.

‘She looks adorable, but so do all ponies.’

Before reaching the elevator, I couldn’t resist glancing towards the small study in the corner of the hall, and what I saw took my breath away. Hanging on the wall were several objects familiar to me. A map of Equestria, with locations corresponding to the time period I had arrived from Earth. To its left, a tribal mask identical to the ones Zecora had in her house in the Everfree. Numerous drawings and diagrams were scattered around the edges of the map and all over the desk. On the other side of the room, a banner bearing Twilight's cutie mark decorated the wall.

I couldn’t believe it. Whoever lived here seemed to be researching what I believed would now be called Ancient Equestria. My eyes returned to the slumbering pony, a hundred new questions filling my mind.

‘... No time right now, focus!’

A few more cautious steps brought me within reach of the elevator.

“I was hoping not to rely too much on magic, but I have no choice now. Let's see if my practice has paid off… Furtim zona!” I whispered, casting a spell to reduce the sound around me. If I had done it correctly, the noise from everything surrounding me, including the elevator mechanism, should be dampened.

Carefully, I stepped onto the platform, my weight activating the spring mechanism to make the elevator rise. The buzzing intensified as I neared the top, becoming almost tangible.

It only took a moment to reach the lantern room. There, pieces of stone interconnected with wooden planks formed an improvised floor over the damaged structure. In the center of the room stood a stone pedestal, missing chunks in some places.

On that pedestal, levitating about a meter above it, the three joined Unity Crystals emitted their rainbow magic into the heavens. I had never seen the crystals at work before embarking on my ‘trip’. With conflicts escalating so quickly, I had little hope that they would ever come together after being activated for the first time under Twilight's supervision. Only the three tribes united as one could make them work and bring magic back to Equestria. I had thought that if the conflicts grew so severe that the tribes ended up permanently separated, the crystals would also remain apart, forgotten as the years passed.

And against all odds, here they were. Together and active, allowing magic to flow through the land once more.

“No doubt this makes things much easier for me. Even though they are working now, I can't allow them to continue to exist.” Ponies' magic should not depend on something as fragile as these crystals. We can't deny them their magic at the risk of its misuse. All of Equestria revolves around it. Without it, ponies would lose their purpose, their spark, and become completely helpless.

To deny them something so essential was unforgivable, no matter what conflicts might arise. They were capable of change, of learning, of choosing a better way.

‘We would have found a better solution. We went too far...’

Seeing them in front of me filled me with guilt. We had no right to do what we did.

‘And yet, they have managed to survive and thrive. If my plan goes well, things can go back to the way they were, and maybe they can learn from our mistakes.’

I had to be extremely careful. It wasn't as simple as just shattering them to pieces. No, that would entail catastrophic circumstances. These crystals were now the main, and possibly only, conduit for magic across Equestria, the master switch through which every ounce of magic flowed. If they ended up broken, the magic would remain inaccessible forever, or worse. I had to reverse what we had done, restore the connection to the land, and free the leylines that were now imprisoned by these gems. The ponies' connection to magic is something truly profound, something a human like me could never fully comprehend. Learning of Tirek's invasion, I became acutely aware of the devastation that the absence of magic could cause.

“But they were not created to have their effect reversed…”

Starlight and I spent countless hours trying to figure out how we could reverse their effect without permanently damaging the connection. She also believed we had gone too far, one of the very few that shared my point of view. But Twilight wouldn't listen to either of us.

Determined to rectify this once and for all, I approached the pedestal, wielding my gem in my right hand, my left stretched out before me, reaching for the crystals. Encoded in the gem was the spell array we had created to try to reverse their effect. It was exceedingly complex, too complex to be encapsulated in a single word as was common in my spell casting. With a few key words, the spell array would activate and make use of the gem's energy to undo the terrible mistake we made.

There hadn’t been any previous testing; we only relied on our knowledge and that of those who came before us to build it.

Only a few centimeters separated me from my target, my hands trembling and my pulse racing.

“Now or never,” I muttered to myself and, taking a deep breath, began to recite the words. “Reparare damnum, Harmonia restitue, Fac nos…” I spoke quickly, seeking to finish as fast as possible.

But the Unity Crystals were faster.

Before I knew it, a strange sensation ran up my arm. I felt numb, my breath coming in raspy gasps, momentarily losing touch with reality. In less than a second, the crystals charged and released a wave of energy, powerful enough to shake the unfinished lantern room. A shockwave spread from the top of the lighthouse, followed by a circular rainbow that covered the entire bay.

My legs failed me, and I collapsed like a rag doll, my whole body trembling, my left arm completely unresponsive.

Shocked by the crystals’ retaliation, I tried to make sense of what had happened.

“They weren't designed to include a defense mechanism. This shouldn't have happened!!”

In my disoriented state, I could hear a female voice shouting from below. “Hey! Who's up there?! What just happened?!” This was followed immediately by the sound of the elevator descending to the lower floor. My stealth spell had not been enough to conceal the explosion.

“Shit!! Why didn't it work?!”

I tried to stand up, but my body felt like a limp noodle, trembling uncontrollably, barely responding to my commands. Before I could even sit properly, the elevator activated again, carrying the orange mare who started wildly looking around the room with an anxious expression. The moment her eyes fell on me, that expression changed to one of disbelief.

I looked towards her and back to the crystals. She followed my gaze and suddenly realized what was happening. The moment she noticed me trying to approach the crystals, she jumped in front of me, blocking my way.

“Whoa there!!” She cried once her hooves connected back with the wooden floor. “Look, um, I don’t know what’s going on, or who you are, but I can’t allow you to touch those crystals… again.” She warned me with a defiant tone, her posture low and ready in case she needed to intervene.

I had learned not to underestimate the might of earth ponies. She wasn’t very intimidating, not that ponies could ever be very intimidating if I’m being honest, but still, I didn’t wish to be struck by an orange earth pony mare, again.

‘One time was enough AJ, time for the peaceful approach.’

“I mean no harm,” I spoke, her eyes widening slightly the moment she caught my words. “But it’s imperative that I reach those crystals. Countless lives are at stake here.” I explained a bit dramatically. I had to try again.

“Look, it took my friends and me a lot of effort to reunite the Unity Crystals and bring magic back, and I’m not going to risk losing it again to some… um, whatever you are. Sorry, but these crystals are under my protection and are to remain untouched.” A firm stomp on the floor sealed her resolve.

For a moment, I was surprised that she hadn't freaked out when she heard me talking.

‘Well, that’s better than the first time I talked to a pony, but still….’

“Listen to me, pony….”

“Sunny,” she cut me off with a matter-of-fact tone; no doubt disliking being called ‘pony’ as if she were a common animal.

“Okay, Sunny. Look, I can explain myself to you later, but right now I have a very, VERY important thing to do with those crystals. They are a danger to you, and having them here in plain sight only adds to the problem. Allow me to fix it, please! I promise the magic will not disappear and nopony will be harmed.” I reasoned with my most honest tone. It wasn’t like I was lying to her.

“Uh,” the orange mare didn't quite buy my warning. “I can see that whatever you think you need to do is important to you, but I would very much prefer you didn’t try anything until my friends arrive. Then we can talk about it and see how we deal with whatever you think will happen with the crystals, okay?” She remained firm, taking a hesitant step back closer to the pedestal.

“Sunny, please…” I tried again, finally regaining the feeling in my arm and legs. I changed into a crouched position, not wanting to rise to my full height and scare her even more, but still being ready to jump towards the crystals at the first chance.

“Look, I’m sorry, but I really can’t let you. Please if you would only wait for my…” She pleaded with a guilty expression on her muzzle. She glanced back towards the elevator, hoping her friends would have heard the commotion and were on their way to assist her. She only looked away for a second, but that’s all I needed.

Jumping from my crouched position, I pushed her back to the elevator, the spring mechanism taking it down with her. “WAIT!!” She screamed as she descended down the tower. I only had a couple of seconds. With renewed strength, I set myself up to try again, this time using my gem as well as the ones I had collected on my way here. Once again, I stepped towards the pedestal, raised my arm, and screamed the words.

“REPARARE DAMNUM, HARMONIA RESTITUE, FAC NOS LIBERARE…”

This time was different. Before I could finish, the energy from my gems suddenly drained away. A buzzing sound was emanating from the crystals, a sound I could have sworn I’d heard before as if they were charging up. A moment later I could feel said charge running through my body, swirling colors circling in my peripheral vision in a rainbow pattern. This continued for a few seconds. Sunny had already managed to return and watched breathlessly at whatever was happening to me.

Once again, I fell to the ground. I could almost hear a voice in my head, whispering to me in an all-too-familiar tone.“No, my dear. Your path shall be another. Just a bit longer…”

‘W-what?!’ Was all I could think as I laid on the floor. As quick as it came, the buzzing stopped, as did the energy coursing through my body. Confused and defeated, I casted my tired gaze upon the crystals, now unperturbed as they kept pouring their rainbow magic.

“I failed.”

The words I most feared speaking were now drowning my mind. After all that hard work, the lies, and cheap excuses to my friends, leaving them behind to never see them again. After all I had to sacrifice…

“I failed.”

Sunny cautiously approached me, a sad expression adorning her muzzle, mirroring my own. “Hey, um, I think that’s enough messing with the crystals for one day. Please, just come with me.”

I could feel my anger boiling. I didn’t want to lunge at her, so I released it through the second-best option.

“FuuuuuuuUUUUUUUUUUCK!!!!!!!” I screamed at the heavens as I slammed my fist into the hard stone, making Sunny jump back from my outburst, ears pressed to her scalp and ready to bolt from the unfinished room at any moment.

Now, with my rage gone along with my purpose, I did the only thing a man could do after reaching that point. I curled into a ball and cried, cursing my fate.

“Hey… um, can I ask you a question?” Twilight probed while approaching the couch where I was sitting, leisurely spending time checking over a book on the Chemistry of Crystalline Substances. We were alone in my room, both of us starting to gather info for our newest project. Another all-nighter, but I didn’t mind as long as it was with her.

“Sure, what’s on your mind?” I answered, looking away from the pages to meet her concerned visage.

“D-do you think I’ll be a good ruler? As good as Celestia and Luna?”

I could see in her eyes how worried she was about her new position. Since being granted the throne, Twilight had incessantly questioned her capabilities. And once again, I was there to reassure her.

“Yes, Twilight, you’ll do a magnificent job. You’ve been trained your whole life for this, and you can count on the girls and I to help you every step of the way.” I reassured her with a warm smile. “Also, I’m sure your time as headmare at your school helped with the ‘getting used to being in charge’ mentality, right?”

She nodded, a faint blush adorning her cheeks. “Yes it has, even if I don’t particularly enjoy being in charge. I know I’m good at it, but a whole nation it’s way more than a simple friendship school! I fear the citizens won’t accept me or outright refuse my propositions to better Equestria.” Her ears drooped and her posture sagged a bit. “... As much as I would like to, I’m not Celestia.” She admitted while looking down the pristine floor with a frown.

I signaled her to sit beside me. She did so and cuddled against my side, her head coming to rest on my chest and her saddened gaze upon my face. I started petting her between the ears, the infallible trick, and all the way down her neck. She closed her eyes and sighed in bliss, pressing herself further into me.

“You don’t have to be anypony other than you, Twi. We all trust you and will accompany you the whole way, just as we always have.” I whispered, my fast-beating heart full of love and admiration for the mare beside me.

She snuggled deeper into my side and whispered back. “Thank you. Thank you so much… It’s very reassuring to know that I can count on all of you in case I make some mistakes or start overreacting.” She looked just about to fall asleep.

I closed my book and decided to call it a night, gently laying against her and wrapping my arm around her shoulders. “You? Overreacting? Now that would be the day…”

Author's Note

First chapter, first fic. English ain’t my mother tongue so expect some wierd grammar. Hope you like it.

Chapter 9- A ghost from the past.

The once mighty Canterlot Castle, although I always reasoned it looked more like a palace from my inexpert point of view, fared reasonably better within its labyrinthic guts than on its alabaster outside. The sun had been merciless, taking long years to slowly eat away at the marble walls and towers, leaving behind an ugly yellow with dry rivulets of long rained downpours on the worst places, where the elements punished the structure the hardest. The inside still harbored its hundreds paintings, sculptures and other works of art, judging us with their cold, unmoving gazes as we slowly traversed the abandoned corridors of the hold home of the royal family. While dusty and in urgent need of some TLC, most remained largely intact. Even in its aged and decadent state, my eyes painted old memories over the gloomy sight that welcomed us, allowing me to traverse its long corridors and numerous rooms the same as I had my first week there.

Cold daggers prodded my heart with every landmark we passed by, countless memories of better and not-so-good days living here dragging me in and out of the waking world.

‘Such a waste…’

Intimately familiar with its complex layout, I led the astonished ponies all the way to the west upper wing where the guest rooms were once located to host dignitaries and VIPs from all over Equestria and beyond. Although I’d rather have simply made a beeline for my room and avoid the trip down memory lane, we had to make regular stops, as on numerous occasions the ponies, ever curious Sunny on the lead, stopped to contemplate and admire the many wonders this old castle had to offer.

Sunny and Izzy chatted animatedly all the way, the former writing anything and everything that sparkled her curiosity in her seemingly never-ending notebook. Hitch walked behind them with Zipp by his side, admiring the works of art that decorated the hallways in a more reserved manner.

Pipp fluttered above them, her expression somewhat downcast, in deep contrast with the rest of the equine integrant of our troop. Somewhat guessing what was going through her head, I offered her my phone, which still had some battery left, so her endless need for a camera could be satisfied for the time being. With a big hug of gratitude, she pried my phone from my offering hand and opened the camera app, waiting not a second to return to the air and began to fly back and forth over the place, taking pictures, videos, and perhaps one too many selfies with anything that caught her attention.

However, for as much as I tried to, I couldn’t bring myself to join my friend’s merriment, as a lingering thought buzzed behind my sorrow and disappointment at the sight of the castle’s state.

‘Hmm, for having been abandoned for several centuries, it’s looking good… very good, in fact. Too good, in my opinion.’ I peered around me, taking in as many details of my surroundings which, against my intuition, were indeed looking considerably okay if you took, for example, the ruins of the Castle of the Two Sisters. ‘It’s almost as if somecreature has made an active effort to keep it as preserved as possible. The Castle of the Two Sisters didn’t remain as preserved as this one during its abandonment.’

One conclusion stood above the rest.

‘I don’t like this…’

Would you look at that, I was once again on edge, in what used to be my home for a couple years. Instead of nostalgic and welcoming, this place was giving me the creeps, dark corners and shadows hiding an invisible threat that would make a jump for us at any moment's notice.

Not wanting to alarm my fuzzy friends, I continued guiding the ponies up the stairs and into the west upper wing, their excited chatter and excited pointing echoing through the ghostly corridors. After a few minutes of practiced traversing and a couple of twists and turns, I abruptly stopped in front of the door leading to my old room, Izzy and Sunny bumping into me due to my sudden stop.

I paid them no mind, my attention was dead set on another place.

Above the door, a worn gold-plated plaque read 'Dr. Kintobor', with my own sigil engraved on the wood below it.

‘Faust above, it was supposed to be a joke!’ I mentally chuckled at the particular choice for surname I had pranked the ponies with. Not that they'd get it, but it ended up sticking as official over my actual family name. Served me right for being a sarcastic loudmouth.

“Is this your room?” Asked Izzy, straining her eyes to read the rusty, faded plaque.

My response was me grabbing the door handle and twisting it. With a bit of effort, the accumulated rust and debris gave away and the door opened inwards, revealing a medium-sized room.

‘Home sweet home…’ I silently welcomed myself, although welcoming was the last thing I experienced once my eyes fell over the state of my late quarters.

Its overall decoration was similar to the other guests’ rooms, the main difference being the numerous drawings, diagrams, notes, papers and models littered around in my own version ’organized chaos’, the passage of time only worsening it and giving it a taste of a mad inventor who’s sexy assistant had taken a permanent vacation.

Not that far from the actual truth, actually…

My sight veered to the right. A custom-made bed stood near a corner, while a desk with two chairs sat opposite it, facing the only window of the room aside from the entrance to the balcony. The last rays of the setting sun painted shapes and shadows over the rugged walls and chipped furniture, standing in place by a miracle only. A heavy accumulation of immobile dust floating in the air, grating an imaginative mind with a sense of snowing.

A few drawers hugged the opposite wall, filled with many documents from my numerous research projects. The walls still kept some of their pastel-colored paint, adorned with a few paintings that came with the room I never bothered to remove. An Equestrian vessel daring a stormy ocean, a gorgeous landscape of the northern slope of the snowed Foal Range, and a ponyfied version of the Vitruvian Man.

However, none of these curiosities were my primary goal. While the ponies entered after me and scattered around the room in their nosey curiosity, I approached the left side of the bed, crouching down at the gap between the bed and the bedside table. There, very subtly, a small slit could be distinguished on the wall, partially hidden by the half-eaten bed sheets. My little secret safe, custom ordered early into the escalation of the conflicts between the tribes. Not that I didn't trust the ponies in the castle, but as the fights worsened and the tension increased, I decided not to risk somepony snooping around and sneaking out some of my work out for nefarious purposes. It's not like it’d have been a first. Or a second.

The integrative language matrix acting as a locking mechanism had run out of magic. Using my gauntlet to channel some into the gem hidden in the mechanism, I managed to reactivate it. I was happy to verify how these things were indeed made to last, as I had envisioned them at the beginning.

I had drawn a bit of human inspiration for this particular one, making sure only I and a few trusted ones would be able to open it.

A mechanical voice echoed through the room, startling the ponies who jumped back in surprise.

“Password.” It boomed in commanding, yet artificial authority.

“Tetrahydrocannabinol” I replied without even needing to stop and remember. The idea was that no pony would know its meaning, which was not to say that there weren't similar substances indigenous to Equestria...

‘Yeah, that Tree Hugger really knew how to bring it. That was an interesting afternoon.’

“What was that?!” Demanded a painting Hitch from the other side of the room, a hoof clutching the fluff on his chest. Cloudpuff barked twice with similar spirits.

“That’s a funky password if I ever heard one.” Added Izzy with her usual pep while nearing the place where I was crouching.

I didn’t answer them as I was too focused on checking the contents of the safe. With a small *clunk*, the articulated wall piece moved to the side, the time-preserving charm going off with a flash of light and revealing a reinforced Dimeritum safe that slowly opened outwards.

“Lumos” I muttered, which triggered a tiny light spell on the tip of my finger to help me better discern the contents inside. I reached in with my other hand, and what I grabbed out immediately brought a smile to my face.

“The Mk 1.5 Atlas Gauntlet.” I celebrated to myself, gaining the attention of the ponies. “Oh boy, how I’ve missed you.” I checked over my trusty old gauntlet in search of any damage, one of the most advanced versions of its line, way better than the improvised version I was currently wearing.

Now outside the Dimeritum safe, the gems on it began to charge with ambient magic. I put it on my right hand and gave it a few stretches with my fingers and palm. It fit me like a glove, literally.

“Ohhh, another gauntlet. This looks way cooler than the one we made!” Izzy marveled at my newest trinket, although new meaning reared its ugly head on her mind. “Does that mean you aren’t going to wear ours anymore?” Izzy whimpered from my side, her ears dropping in disappointment.

Amused by her puppy eyes, I reached and began scratching behind her droopy ears, her body tensing for a moment before melting at my touch. “No way, Izz. We made this gauntlet together, and you can be sure I won’t change it for anything. Although, I do want to upgrade it together if we get the chance to.”

Izzy wasn’t caring at the moment. She remained lost in her happy place, slowly gyrating her head, wordlessly indicating to me where to scratch.

“Mmmmmmmmm, I s-so love it w-when you do t-that…” I heard her stammer in bliss, eliciting an amused chuckle from me. It was the cursed fingers, you see. They’d follow me to the grave and beyond.

Feeling the curious gazes of my friends prodding at the back of my head, I raised my hand t so they could get a closer look at my new gadget, a snap and a flash from Pipp telling me she had taken a photo. Figures.

However, a closer look towards Sunny revealed what for a second I could’ve sworn was a leer of jealousy. It only lasted for a second, but she was, without a doubt, focusing more on my caressing of Izzy’s head than the new gauntlet.

Choosing not to give it much importance, I returned my attention back to the safe, since there were still some things resting inside that I wanted to check. Foolish of me, I tried to remove my hand from Izzy’s scalp, but her telekinetic grasp and a strategically placed pout told me not to do that.

“Fine, fine, you needy unicorn. Let’s see what else is in here, shall we?” With my free hand, I grasped a bunch of papers, careful not to crumple them too much on the way out. Once I had a good hold of all the remaining documents, I placed them over the bed, scattering them carelessly over the sheets. Checking one last time to make sure nothing else remained inside, I closed the safe, the wall piece returning to its original position.

I rose from my position, a whine of disappointment coming from Izzy when I stopped my caressing. I grabbed the documents and instructed the ponies to move towards the desk so we would have more space for a quick peek. The ponies need no further incentive. Once there, I placed the stack of papers over the old workdesk, blowing hard to remove the worst of the clinging dust. The ink was old and blurry and the paper yellowed and sandy, but most of it could still be read. The preservation charm can only do so much without a steady recharging method.

The ponies took positions around the desk, rising on two legs and using their front hooves to support themselves and get a better view, with Zipp choosing to hover above me, using my shoulder to balance herself.

Without further ceremony, I began reviewing my old documents. “Let’s see… retroactive thought-to-command spell matrix for disabled unicorns… weight-lessening wing prosthesis for disabled pegasi, and the specifications for other winged creatures… hmmm… LIM matrices applicable for industrial machinery… a neurological study of the interaction between magic and nerve impulses… a treatise on the basic principles of magic-based circuitry...”

I went over the numerous documents, all of them holding valuable information, although perhaps a bit obsolete considering ponykind’s new, improved technology as the three settlements were currently sporting.

A chilling dread sent a shiver down my spine. Against what I had intended, the diagram depicting the stasis spell wasn’t among them.

‘You better have taken good care of it, Starlight. Very few were the ponies who knew about it, and only WE knew the full story behind it.’ I mentally cursed with a frustrated hiss leaving my nostrils.

“Something wrong?” Sunny, noticing my apparent displeasure, wondered with genuine care.

“Nothing.” I dodged the question in short. “Sunny, mind keeping these documents safe in your bag until we return to the brighthouse? I’m sure we can find a use for them, even if it’s just serving as an exhibition in a museum.”

With a cheery smile, she was more than glad to take them from my grasp, and carefully placed them in her trusty shoulder bag.

Meanwhile, the sun had already set behind the horizon, the following moonlight now providing a gentle illumination through the ragged curtains.

I was tired and ready for some much-needed sleep, and the few, poorly disguised yawns from some drowsy-eyed ponies spoke volumes too. “Okay, guys. I think that’s enough excitement for one day. Let’s get some rest, shall we?” I suggested to the group while heading towards the closet. I remembered there being a few spare blankets on the upper shelves.

“Should we get a room each? There are plenty on this floor.” Hitch proposed.

One unicorn wasn't too keen on the idea. “Can we… um… stay together this time, please?” Pleaded Izzy with a worried voice. She had really disliked being left behind with me. I didn't know if I should’ve taken it as an offense or not.

Sunny, understanding her friend’s plea, gave her a reassuring nuzzle. “We’ll stay together in Alex’s room. We can risk the thief catching us separated, but not while we’re asleep.”

A relieved smile lit Izzy’s muzzle at hearing this. With that night’s arrangements decided, I opened the closet and reached for the upper shelves. As I hoped, I got a grasp of a bundle of slightly-dusty old blankets. Reaching back, I extracted them from the shelf and dusted them. To my surprise, a big spider, who had undoubtedly made a living in the blankets, started to crawl its way up my arm.

If this had happened to me a few years ago, I would have started running around and screaming like a little girl. However, my years of studying biology, as well as Fluttershy’s instruction on animal empathy, had allowed me to better understand the many creatures of this world, and to respect them.

Feeling a bit impish, I decided to mess a little with my pegasus friend, whom I knew harbored a particular opinion regarding too-many-legged creatures.

“Pipp, look what I found.” I urged her to approach me while taking the spider in my hand, gently closing it around it so I could surprise her.

Her curiosity peaked, Pipp fluttered towards me. “I hope it’s not another old dusty ruAAAAAAAAH! GET AWAY!! GET AWAY!! GET AWAAAAY!!” She screamed her lungs out at the sight of my new friend, launching straight into the sky and clinging desperately to her sister who was analyzing one of the paintings, pinning her wings against her sides, causing both to fall in a flustered mess of limbs and feathers. Even funnier, the spider turned in my hand to give me what I swear was a confused look.

The ponies fell to the ground laughing, with Zipp trying to disentangle from her shivering sister who wouldn’t release her.

Laughing at my little prank, I returned the spider to the closet where I had found it.

“ALEX!!” A positively mad Pipp yelled after releasing her feathery lifeline and dusting herself off, “THAT WASN’T FUNNY!!”

“Our friends seem to disagree, Pipp.” I quipped while pointing to the still-cackling ponies, who grabbed their sides without being able to stop. Pipp, now utterly fuming, glared daggers in my direction and, with her snout in the air, launched herself into my old bed.

“Well, after this little joke of yours, I’ve decided I am going to get some sleep on this bed! If you don’t like it, that’s your problem. Good night!” And with that, she burrowed herself into the blankets with a dignified ‘humph.’ Zipp, rolling her eyes at her sister’s dramatic behavior, wished us good night and joined her sister on the other side of the oversized bed… oversized for them, of course.

Hitch curled up in front of the balcony entrance, Cloudpuff joining him and snuggling against his midsection.

I moved the old rug decorating the empty space on the room’s floor to the side of the room near the door and plopped myself over it, using my bag as an impromptu pillow, since the sisters were hoarding the ones on the bed. A glare from Pipp dared me to try and take them.

“Salvio hexia” I muttered, casting a protection spell that would guard us against incoming spells, and would alert me to any presence that crossed the threshold of the spells’ area of effect.

Izzy wasted no time and laid on her back to my left, using her telekinesis to grab my hand and guide it to her tummy, her puppy eyes asking for some belly rubs.

“Fiiiine.” I groaned in a tired voice as I gave in, gently rubbing my gloved hand up and down her belly and undercarriage. My reward was small coos of pleasure and the occasional wiggle so I ‘accidentally’ bumped against her generous teats.

Yes, I had peeked. They were always butt-naked, for crying out loud!

‘I swear, she is such a tease…’ I bit my lower lip and nudged my head side to side, although you wouldn’t find me resisting the occasional touch.

Sue me.

Sunny wasn't gonna be one to be left behind and plopped herself down at my other side, placing a foreleg over my chest in a possessive manner and wiggled her head under my other hand, asking for her own round of pets with the biggest puppy eyes she could muster.

“…You need something over there, Sunny?” I teased, knowing perfectly well what she was seeking.

With a hard nudge of her muzzle against my side, she continued with her pleading look. Not wanting to deny her any longer, I began to scratch behind her ears relishing in the soothing effect I always got while petting an affordable pony or two. Very therapeutic, one out of one humans in Equestria recommend it. After a few moments, Sunny finally relaxed and snuggled against my chest.

‘These ponies are so cuddly… at least it's great they feel so comfortable around me.’

I couldn’t resist and gave the two mares a kiss on their ears, a cute blush heating up their cheeks with my sudden, yet not unwelcome movement.

With that and peace of mind, I continued my ministrations until falling asleep, the company of my friends keeping at bay the dark thoughts and stalking nightmares that would arise with my return to the castle.

The morning rays from Celestia’s sun filtered through the old curtains that half-covered the balcony’s entrance, shining over my eyes and dragging me out of some surprisingly fulfilling slumber, considering we had slept over a dusty floor with a several-hundred-years-old blanket keeping the worst of the night’s bite away..

Grumbling in discomfort, I tried to raise my hand to block them and catch some more ZZZs, only to find it pinned under Sunny’s frame, feeling her gentle breathing against the crook of my neck, still deep in a peaceful sleep.

On my other side, Izzy was in a similar position, her breath tickling me in the sensitive tissue under my ear. She had taken precautions to place her head so that her horn wasn’t at risk of poking me.

‘Waking up sandwiched between two beautiful mares, and me having to urgently use the bathroom… Faust, it’s always in the best moments…’

With extreme caution… and reluctance, I extracted myself from their combined grasp and quietly rose over the slumbering ponies. Furrowing brows and searching hooves threatened to arouse them in my absence. I could help a silent ‘aww’. Hitch and the sisters were still asleep. Cloudpuff, having more acute senses, woke up to see me approaching the door. I signaled to him with my finger against my lips to stay quiet and, not that surprisingly, he understood me, snuggling back against Hitch immediately after.

“Furtim zona.” I whispered to cast the sound-dampening spell, knowing the rusty hinges would wake up the gang yelling if I didn’t take that precaution.

With silent steps that’d make my old Abassynian pals proud, I grabbed my bag, exited the room and set off for the castle gardens. Assuming there wasn’t any active piping system still functioning within the castle, I believed it would be better to take care of my business over there. Also, the fresh morning air would help me fully wake up and tackle the last leg of our search with a clean mind…. and an empty bladder.

I retraced my previous steps and exited the castle, taking a left from the inner plaza towards the gardens where sometimes I would meet with Gallus after his training. No debate was needed. The first act of the day’s business was to answer the call of nature. I discreetly relieved myself over some overgrown bushes and, enjoying the crisp morning air, was now decidedly looking forward to the little stroll through what was previously one of the crown jewels of Canterlot gardening wise.

Not even five steps after that thought, another more urgent one invaded my mind.

“... Shit! The statue!!” I cried openly to nocreature in particular as I ran deeper into the gardens, looking for the place where the petrified forms of the Legion of Doom had been placed after their defeat.

Every step that got me closer, phantom pains began assaulting my left side, right below my pectoral. Another reminder that would forever accompany me.

My heart caught in my throat at the sight of it. Where the imposing statue of Equestria’s worst enemies used to be, forever cursing curious visitors with a silent promise of revenge; now only a bunch of broken pieces of weathered marble remained, liberally covered in loose vegetation, lichens and moss. The phantom pains screamed over my scar, my hand flying across my chest to cover it in unrestrained fear.

‘F-Fuck it all!!... But, did it break because they got free? Or did somecreature smash it while they were still petrified inside? I don’t know what outcome is worse…’ I couldn't make out anything from the pile of rubble. ‘For Faust’s sake, my list of worries is getting too long to handle!!’

Our battle against the three powerful villains marked the end of the numerous conflicts the Element Bearers had to deal with until the reign of Twilight solidified. The Grand Slam, the Big Show. For the next few years, no other major issues took place in Equestria that could compare with those three ravaging Cantelrot in revenge-fueled madness. We believed that our job was finally over, that peace would finally be guaranteed for future generations…

Only problem was, the conflicts that were about to start weren’t ones we could fight with the power of the Elements.

Any kind of trace or clue that could have helped me find out their ultimate destiny had been erased by the passage of time. Not being able to do anything about this situation for now, I could only keep it in mind and stay vigilant. Very, very vigilant.

‘Mmph, I’d better not worry the ponies with this. I find it very unlikely they’d managed to get free, and since neither of them was very subtle in their machinations, the ponies here would have found out by now if they were on the loose. I hope. I pray.’

With a crippling sense of unease, I returned towards the inner square, where the alarmed cries of my friends reached my ears out of a sudden.

“Over here, guys!” I called them, not feeling like it had been that long. The ponies rushed into the plaza a moment later.

“Oh, Celestia’s mane, you’re okay!! We thought the thief had caught you or something worse!” Shouted a worried-looking Sunny, rushing to give me a tackle-hug, trying to calm her breathing.

Accepting her worrisome cuddle, I apologized to the gang. “Sorry about that, guys. I had to answer nature’s call and I didn’t want to wake you all up.” I explained to the ponies.

“Just… please warn us next time, okay?” Asked a similarly concerned-looking Izzy, the other ponies nodding in agreement.

“I will Izzy.” I promised with an apologetic scratch under her chin. “So, now that we’re all up, how about we get some breakfast and then resume the search?”

I took some of the remaining berries we had collected on the road yesterday and handed them to the ponies. A meager breakfast, but I doubted the castle’s kitchen was in any way operational or that it had anything edible to offer us.

With breakfast behind us, we decided to, first of all, check out the Throne Room, Zipp’s reasoning about the thief having a power complex drawing them to that place. I wasn't too kind on that train of thought, but the gang had voted. The actual reason why I’d have rather preferred to stay clear of that particular room I kept to myself.

It was a straight walk from the main gate, the same empty halls and corridors welcoming us as they had done the previous day. No clues at a first glance, nothing out of place. The thief was meticulous, I’d have to give them that. Zipp was growing frustrated with the lack of evidence, keeping all her senses on the hunt yet coming up empty hoofed every single time.

The doors leading to the throne room had always been an impressive pair. Too bad for us, we’d be rewarded with a nice, lasting look at their faded depictions of the alicorns of the sun and moon, since we found them closed tight upon our arrival.

“I’ve got the door!” Izzy offered at first from the back of the group. She lit her horn and tried to cast her magic, only for it to fizzle and glitch again. “My magic’s gone again…” She sadly muttered while looking up at her sputtering horn.

The old way, it’d have to be. “All of us, on three.” I directed the ponies. At the count of three, we began pushing against the massive doors.

“Come on, ponies! Put your hooves into it!” Sunny encouraged us with a strained voice, her muse straining in effort. Her earth pony strength also seemed to be failing intermittently.

With a mighty screech that scared all the resident bats out of the shadowed ceilings, the doors finally ceded, revealing the immense sight of the throne from which the rulers of Equestria had ruled over the three races for centuries. After its destruction, following the battle against the Legion of Doom, it underwent a thorough renovation to the liking of Twilight and our friends, since it would be her presiding over it afterwards. The stained-glass windows that recounted some of Equestria’s great deeds were luckily still intact, as far as I could see. The tall columns that ran along the sides of the room still held the canvases that lined the walls. Opposite the entrance, Twilight's throne stood atop the pedestal, with Spike's smaller one beside it, just as she would have remembered it.

However, I had been in this room enough times to notice that there had clearly been some changes that seceded my recognition. It looked as if it had been refurbished again after my… trip.

The ponies were busy admiring the numerous stained-glass windows in awe, Sunny in the lead, excitedly telling them about some of the exploits they represented. My cell phone in Pipp's hooves was constantly ringing with that annoying 'click' that signaled another picture taken by the pegasus.

I droned them out into the background. My eyes were now fixed on the throne, some of my most painful memories resurfacing at the sight of it.

‘You’ll leave us defenseless and divided! This is NOT something you can fix by turning off a switch!!’

‘It’s too risky, too cruel! What will the other leaders think!? How do you think they’ll react?!’

‘... is that an order, your Majesty?’

Sunny’s excited screech brought me back to the waking world with a shiver and bad taste in my mouth.

“Princess Celestia, Luna and Twilight Sparkle all stepped hooves EXACTLY where I’m stepping!! EEEEHEHEHE!!!” She cried with a happy dance. She then rushed towards the throne, continuing with her overflowing speech. “History has been made in this throne room a thousand times over… a-and it’s still standing! Even after all the attacks from Queen Chrysalis, and the Storm King, and the Legion! Can you believe it!?” She exclaimed, now officially in full fangirl mode.

“Sunny! Now is NOT the time for fanponying!” Hitch scolded her friend, trying to rein in the overexcited earth pony and keep our position somewhat hidden. “The Crystal’s thief was clearly calling us here, so we can safely assume this is a trap. We need to stay vigilant!”

Sunny couldn't care less at the time and chose to ignore him, rushing over to another stained-glass window, trying to get the attention of the other ponies to listen to her storytelling.

Hitch continued to methodically look all around the place, trying to find any trace of the thief or for any traps, hidden or otherwise. “Look out for any signs of movement. In front of you, behind you, and to your sides.”

Fate has a funny way of playing in Equestria. I had seen it time and time again, yet it never ceased to amaze me and infuriate me in equal parts.

Just as he said that, a series of trap doors opened wide in the throne room’s floor, directly under the mares, making them fall so fast they had no chance to react and scream.

“Holy shit!Hitch, behind you!” I pointed towards the place where the mares had just stood.

“We need to be completely aware of our surroundings. Because if we’re not paying attention…” He continued with his reasoning, completely oblivious to my warning and everything happening around him.

“HITCH, LOOK!!” I shouted as I raised my voice. That got his attention, causing him to look in the direction of my pointing finger.

“… we could end up in big… trouble?” A heartbeat passed. Not a moment later, another trap door opened, swallowing the unexpecting sheriff.

“FUCK!!” I tried to follow him, but the trapdoor closed faster than it took me to reach it. Once over it, I tried using magic and physical might to open it, without success. Tapping the space with my foot, I didn’t hear the characteristic sound of a hollow space. It was as if there was only a regular floor there.

Alarms began ringing loud and clear.

“What in Luna’s flanks is going on!!” I screamed in frustration. The throne room wasn’t even equipped with trap doors… or any other kind of traps as far as I knew.

‘Okay, okayokayokay. Thinkthinkthink. THINK! For security reasons, there is no room or subway storage below the throne room, so they must have ended up in one of the caves that connect to the Vault of Dangerous Artifacts in the south wing. Argh! I think I can access it through the Armory and across the Ephemeris Chamber. I’ll need to find the outdoor entrance since it was deliberately hidden from the public. Shit! Wait for me guys, I’m coming!’

With fire under my feet, I ran out of the throne room, a haunting silence returning once again to the ancient chamber as the echo of my footsteps faded away.

“aaaaaaaaAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!!! OOOFF!!!”

After what seemed like an eternity falling, a beanbag appeared out of nowhere to save my behind with a cushioned fall. I was left completely disoriented, blinking owlishly while barely holding the scarce contents of my stomach in place. Numerous screams from my friends resonated across the cave we had ended up in, their falls also cushioned by other types of squishy seats. The last one to arrive was Hitch, who looked on the brink of passing out.

My friends wore expressions of profound surprise and fear, except Izzy, who was seemingly unfazed by what had just transpired. On second notice, she was more focused on the completely out-of-place sight directly in front of us

“How cute is this!” She exclaimed while pointing at the numerous dishes spread through the long table we had fallen and ended up seated around. They smelled freshly made. There were also small cups containing what I thought was some kind of tea.

‘H-Huh?!’

A rich assortment of treats and drinks meticulously arranged to our enjoyment is the LAST thing you’d expect to find in a dark, musty cave deep within a collapsed mountain. The situation was completely ridiculous. Who would host a tea party in a humid, underground cave?

Thankfully, some kind of illumination spell coming from… somewhere, allowed us to see clearly as if it was the middle of the day.

“Somepony invited us to a tea party! And these donuts look delicious! Maybe not as fine a vintage as the ones earlier, but c’est la vie…” Izzy continued without a care in the world, hungrily looking over the plate full of donuts.

Zipp didn’t share Izzy’s enthusiasm in the slightest. “I-I think this is more a filly-napping than a party invitation, Izzy.” She spoke while nervously looking around the chamber in search of an exit, or our mysterious host.

“Would a filly-napper have made homemade place cards for us?” Izzy tried to reason, taking her card in her hooves and showing it to us. I then noticed there was one for me too, with my name written in cursive, elegant letters.

‘H-How did they know our names?! And how did we end up seated in the exact arrangement as the cards?!! WHAT IN EQUESTRIA IS GOING ON?!!!’

Before I had the chance to reply, a masculine voice spoke from my left, scaring the fur out of me.

“Reginald Fursome is the one who made those place cards. He’s an annoyingly needy kind of creature...”

Jerkily, I turned towards the origin of the voice, and what I saw left me speechless… more speechless. I don’t think I could’ve gone more speechless than that.

The shape slowly creeping out from the twilight of the side entrance was too… particular to not be recognized, even if all the information I harbored of him came in the form of texts from my dad.

‘Lanky build, gray and brown fur, mismatched body parts, yellow eyes… IS THAT WHO I THINK IT IS?!!’

“... And will ‘meep’ at the top of his lungs when he wants to eat berries on the carpet, even though I tell him that the juice is so very hard to scrub out...” The strange figure completely walked out of the cave mouth, his form revealed in full thanks to the magic-induced illumination. Several small critters surrounded him at his mismatched feet, skittering around the place with innocent curiosity.

“... But, unfortunately, he has a very creative eye.” The creature looked down to what I guessed was the opossum in question, the critter standing way too proud for such a small being. “My old friend Fluttershy used to say all opossums do. And what I’ve learned is that if you’re not paying attention to Fluttershy, you’re not paying attention to what really matters.”

I couldn’t hold it in anymore. I rose from my seat and yelled with a pointing hoof. “YOU’RE DISCORD!!” I turned to look at my friends with deep expectation, yet none of them were aware of who I was talking about. “The Discord! The Lord of Chaos, the Spirit of Disharmony who was friends with Fluttershy, who helped Starlight Glimmer, Trixie Lulamoon and King Thorax save everypony from the changelings!!”

He didn’t look surprised at my knowledge. He remained unphased, almost bored as he lowered his head and regarded us with a pensive look. “And you are Sunny Starscout, Hitch Trailblazer, Pipp Petals, Zipp Storm, and Izzy Moonbow. Nopony comes to Canterlot without me knowing about it, and… usually, there’s nopony who comes at all…” His eyes narrowed at us, suspicion dripping from every word.

With a sudden change of mood that caught us off guard, he continued with a livelier tone. “… But today’s an exception! I’m so delighted you could all make it to my little soiree!” He gave a small clap with his claws… and his feet, which had disconnected themselves and were now orbiting near his head, clapping as they did so…

This was definitely Discord.

Izzy noisily scarfed down the food within reach of her hooves. “You see! It WAS an invitation after all!” Pointed the famished unicorn while munching on one-too-many treats.

I grabbed my head with my hooves, for I felt it was ready to explode. A hundred THOUSAND questions ran wild in my mind.

“Mr. Discord, I have so many questions for you… like, so many, but…” I struggled to rein myself and focus on the matter at hoof. “... but first, we really need your help.”

I turned to plead at him, only to find him munching on the teacup instead of drinking the tea inside it.

‘...Whatever.’ I shook my head hard.“One of the Unity Crystals was stolen, and we followed the thief here to Canterlot. You wouldn’t happen to have seen the thief around here, would you?” I inquired to the living legend standing in front of me.

“Smooth, Sunny.” Pipp spoke in a deadpan voice, but I chose to ignore her. We needed all the help we could get!

“The thief is exactly why we’re having this soiree! There is soooo much to talk about, and it all begins with a dramatic story. Ahem.” He cracked his neck and knuckles, and with a snap of his fingers, he teleported in a flash of light, only to reappear over a stage that had suddenly materialzied in front of us, taking a dramatic pose.

“Has that stage been there the whole time?” Asked a deeply confused Hitch.

“That lighting is completely oversaturating him. It’s very unflattering.” Added Pipp in a critical voice.

“Does anypony want popcorn?” Offered Izzy, having found a bucket of it somewhere. Politely refusing, we all focused on Discord, who had begun his storytelling.

“While age has been exceedingly kind to this handsome Lord of Chaos, manymanymany moons ago, when I was but a spry draconequus.” He sent a wink to us, making us reel back uncomfortably. “I was part of a high-flying group. It was Twilight Sparkle, Fluttershy, Rarity, Pinkie Pie, Rainbow Dash, Applejack, and me fighting the good fight. Our fans called us the Mane-ificent Seven….”

I don’t know why, but something told me everything coming out of his muzzle was a load of horseapples.

“Aaahh….Aaahh….I’ll keep saying it as many times as I need, I’m too old for this!” I cursed out loud to myself.

I had been running for the last ten minutes through underground corridors, my gauntlet’s magic providing some much-needed illumination to prevent a nice mouthful of humid rock and lichen. I had run past the armory and was now standing in front of the Ephemeris Chamber, taking only a second to check that it still continued working correctly. Without it, the course of the sun and moon would cease, bringing a bunch of unpleasant problems (the end of the world). It made use of the magical energies of both celestial bodies to function, so the disappearance of pony magic hadn’t affected it, as was intended when it was designed.

I opened the heavy hatch and poked my head inside. The complex mechanism was still running in its eternal 'clink-clank-clonk' motion, the power runes that spread along the chamber walls providing some illumination for a quick rundown.

Satisfied with my brief analysis, I continued my descent into the caves that were once used to hide dangerous artifacts, among other… more unpleasant things. These did not belong to the crystal gallery system that had now collapsed. It would've been a hassle to relocate everything afterwards.

I traversed numerous caves, trying to make sense of the labyrinth they formed. With a sharp stone, I made marks in the walls near entrances and corners so as to not get completely lost on the eventual way back. The last time during the rescue at the changeling hive had taught me the dangers of traversing a cave system without orientation or a plan, even if that cave system changed and morphed before your very eyes just to mess with you. Fucking changelings…

I was about to give up and return to the entrance to try another way when I heard voices echoing faintly through the narrow pathways. Stopping to listen more closely, I could make out the voices of my friends.

But before I could celebrate and rush to them, I heard a new voice, one I could recognize anywhere.

‘... It can’t be…’

Have I mentioned how alarms had gone off in the throne room? Well, they were ready to blow up in my head!!

Quickening my pace, I began to follow the voices through the tunnels, my pulse racing with the consequences of what I thought might be happening to my friends.

‘Please, please don’t let it be him. For once in your life, Faust, please listen to me!’

Left, right, left, right, left, right. I hurried through the caverns. The voices grew louder, and it sounded like they were arguing from the tone of the conversation.

After a sharp turn to the right and descending from a low ledge. I could discern a light in the midst of the dark galleries.

Without a second thought, I ran towards it, my gauntlets ready and charging with energy.

“Wait… YOUSTOLE THE PEGASUS CRYSTAL!?” I pointed an accusing hoof at Discord after making the connection.

The story he told us matched my father's texts and the ones Alex had told us about… at least for the most part. A story of how the three pony races suddenly began to turn against each other, the conflicts only amplified by the action of a mysterious instigator. How Twilight and the Element Bearers gathered all the magic of Equus and locked it in the three crystals. As long as friendship and harmony flowed among the ponies of Equestria, magic would live on in them. But we know how it ended up...

Discord raised a defensive claw. “When you reunited the Crystals and magic was restored, I panicked! I didn’t want ponykind to turn against one another again, so I just… took it.” He finished with a nonchalant shrug.

“Stole it!!” Hitch angrily rectified, a calming pat from Pipp preventing him from jumping at the draconequus’ throat.

“And what exactly are you planning on doing with the crystal now?” Asked Izzy in an accusatory tone, the meal long forgotten now, not trusting for a second his intentions.

Discord flew from his place beside the table and sat back on the stage. “I’m not sure...” He began while looking at all of us in search of an answer. “That’s why you’re all here! It’s too big a decision for one Lord of Chaos to make on his own. Although…” His head cocked sideways towards the very same entrance he had appeared though. “Perhaps we should wait for our last guest, who seems about to arrive."

‘ALEX!!’ I remembered suddenly. With the recent events, I had completely forgotten about him!

Just as Discord mentioned him, the sound of non-hooved steps and rolling pebbles reached my ears, growing closer from the side entrance. A moment later, my human friend came out of the darkness into the chamber where we and the draconequus had met. His gaze was fixed on us, an expression of relief adorning his face as he learned that we were okay. However, as he turned at our host, that look turned to one of deep surprise, and... fear? That was a new expression for Alex.

“Ah, if it isn't my old friend! You look smashing for being over seven hundred, Empyrean.” Discord greeted our friend with a wave of his avian claw and a small bow.

‘Emp-what?’

Alex was simply standing there, speechless as I was, his eyes almost bulging out of their sockets. After a few attempts to get a word out, he managed to voice in a shaky stutter. “D-Discord?”

After a hearty laugh, the draconequus approached the human with his arms open. “Come on, you ol’ chap! I’m not THAT old and wrinkly. I mean, the mane is a gorgeous addon in my opinion.” He said while exaggeratedly flaunting it in the air. “It gives me a… wise look, don’t you think?”

Alex was too stunned to answer the draconequus nonsense. Discord wrapped him in a hug and playfully ruffled his hair.

“H-How? I-I thought…” Alex tried once again to speak but was interrupted by Discord waving a foreclaw.

“Now, now, there’ll be more than enough time for that later.” he brushed the human off and turned back to us. “But first, we have important business to take care of!” He announced while returning to his previous place on the stage. Seeing my friend just standing there like a statue, I slowly approached him and, gently biting on the sleeve of his jacket, I guided him to where the rest of our friends were standing. He couldn’t take his eyes off the draconequus, trusting my leading while still barely believing what he was seeing.

‘It must be a huge shock for him, to see an old friend after so long. I don’t think he was expecting THAT to happen after he traveled to our time period.’

“So! Where were we?... Ah yes, I borrowed the Pegasus Crystal, and now I need your help deciding what to do with it. Ideas?” Discord addressed the group with the previous qualm. Of course, the answer was clear.

Leaving the stupefied human in the care of Izzy, I took a decisive step forward. “The answer is easy. Accepting what makes ponies unique and sparkle is what creates Unity. We need to embrace each tribe’s magic, not strip it away from them!”

“Agreed!” “Same here, Sunny girl!” “You got it, Sunny!” Were the responses from my friends, all of them sharing my view. All of them but one.

Discord also took notice of Izzy’s lack of an answer and smiled evilly. “What about you, my little unicorn? You’ve been quiet, and I would very much like to hear what you think of all of this.” He asked Izzy, who was providing reassuring rubs at my human friend who was currently sitting and silently watching the exchange. His hand was fiercely clutching something right around where his heart would be located from an uneducated guess.

“I-I agree with Sunny. Everypony should get to keep their magic…” Izzy answered, her voice not denoting one hundred percent confidence.

Discord didn't miss the doubt in her claim and stepped down from the stage, approaching Izzy with a pointed gate, his claws joined at the back of his slender body. “You don’t seem so sure about it though. And I can’t help but wonder if it has something to do with your arrival in Canterlot. I noticed you were separated from your friends for part of the journey, am I right? Only Alex bothered to remain at your side, he’s just so caring like that…” He finished while flashing mock fluttery eyes at the struggling human.

Izzy fired a nervous laugh. “Oh, well that’s only because we split up so Sunny, Zipp and Pipp could use their magic to fly above the trees and Hitch could ask some of the critters in the forest.”

At hearing this, Discord gave her a pointed side-look. “And you got left behind…”

Izzy was rapidly losing the battle. She tried to reason. “I-It wasn’t exactly like that…”

“I see so much of Fluttershy in you, Izzy,” He regarded my friend with a sad, condescending stare. “During those years, she also made excuses for others, and for herself over anypony else. But I could see how much it really hurt her. Just like how I can now see how much it hurts you. It’s hard to feel left behind simply because of gifts you don’t possess.”

He rose to his full length, his expression now morphing to a determined one. “But I’m going to fix it for you, Izzy.”

With a flash, the Pegasus Crystal appeared in his claw, lazily levitating as his yellowish, flaming orbs regarded the gem with unparalleled hatred. “To truly be rid of the division magic creates, it now seems there is only one answer!” He began to concentrate, his eyes narrowing. “No more mutants!...” A cricket sang somewhere. “I kid, I kid…. I must destroy the Crystal and get rid of magic once and for all!”

I began to panic. In a flash, my alicorn form manifested without my command. I looked towards my friends, all of us ready and eager to stop him. We began to set in formation. If we attacked at the same time, there was a chance we would be….”

“Stop!” A scream hit us from my back. All those present froze and peered towards its origin. Alex, who had been quiet as a tomb for the last minutes, had risen from his seat.

“Finally, he lives! I thought for a moment age had finally caught up with you.” Discord jested in a playful manner. It was hard to keep up with his mood swings.

My human friend didn’t find it funny in the slightest. “Discord, of all the absolutely stupid shit you’ve committed in your life, this one takes the medal! Getting rid of magic? Forever?! Are you fucking serious?!!”

Discord looked offended at his comment. “Well of course I’m being serious! The fact that I’m the Lord of Chaos doesn’t mean I get to joke around all the time!” He snorted angrily. “You and I both saw how dangerous magic became during the rupture, and how many ponies ended up injured. It’s best if we get rid of it once and for all!”

Alex gave a tired sigh, his gloved fists a tight ball painting his fingers white. “No, Discord. That’s the complete opposite of what we must do. Getting rid of magic didn’t solve anything. It only made it worse. Have you not seen the state of Equestria at the moment?! He sweeped a hand around. “It’s a miracle the ponies have managed to survive without any magic. For centuries they have lived separated, fearing and hating each other.”

“Have you forgotten the ‘Incident’, hmm?” Discord quirked an eyebrow, eliciting a visible twitch on the human. “Have you forgotten how unicorns looked down on the other creatures for not being able to cast spells, how the pegasi mocked other ponies for not being able to fly, how earth ponies started banning the other tribes from entering their shops just for the fear of them having wings or a horn? ALL of Equestria was rebelling against each other, with magic the weapon of choice! You can’t tell me you expect ponies to behave now that they have their magic back, and I am going to make sure it doesn’t happen again!” Discord stubbornly brushed the human’s hard words aside with a heroic pose.

Alex only got angrier at Discord’s aloof take on the matter. “Discord! This is not the time to play the hero! Haven’t you learned anything about your mistakes, and what happens when you try to come up with a solution and take charge on your own?! Use your fucking head for once in your bloody life and THINK!!!”

Discord was having none of it. Sending a dismissive foreclaw in the air, his patience with the human had ended. “Bah, why do I even bother to listen to the Prince who ran away.”

“I DIDN’T RUN AWMMMPHH” Alex’s fury begun to overflow when a snap from Discord’s claws made his mouth disappear in a flash, the poor human then only able to breathe through his nose. He wasn’t scared or anything as any other pony would surely be, just positively pissed now. Perhaps this wasn’t the first time Discord had done this.

The draconequus’ features became darker, pointing an accusing claw at our friend. “Yes. You. Did. Alexander. All of us knew you had run away the moment you disappeared after your fight with Twilight. You weren’t there when the Castle was attacked, you weren’t there to see our friends suffer the consequences of Equestria’s citizens turning against each other, you weren’t there when the Crystals were activated, and you weren’t there when the Exodus took place and the ponies finally segregated themselves into their own little corners in and out of Equestria. You ran away, just as the other creatures fled from the country when things went south.”

He lowered his face inches away from the human’s, his yellow eyes full of resentment. “You don’t get to tell me what’s right or wrong. You got scared and left us behind to deal with it by ourselves. YOU, a traitor and a COWARD, don’t get to decide the future of magic and ponykind! Empyrean.”

That strange word again, this time dripping as much venom as a manticore’s tail.

He raised back to his full length and regarded us with contempt. “I spent many years watching Fluttershy suffer, trying everything she could think of to ease the situation and help the ponies reconcile, only to be insulted and then ignored! Fluttershy! The sweetest pony to ever live!! The Incident was the wake-up call. If ponies were going to use magic for something so nefarious, then they don’t deserve to wield it at all! I made a promise to her, and I intend to keep it.”

“That’s not going to happen on our watch!” I called my friends to retake positions beside me. “Come on, ponies. Let’s make sure this number’s a real showstopper!” I focused on my alicorn powers, ready to fight.

‘This time, I’m NOT gonna remain on the sidelines being useless. This time, I get to show them what I really can do!’

Discord wasn’t intimidated by us. “Oh, Sunny. You love Canterlot history, right? Let me teach you a thing or two about chaos magic!”

A jumped at him, ready to bring him down. To my dismay, however, my assault was rendered naught when, with a snap of his fingers, I found myself entangled in a bunch of puppeteer strings falling from the ceiling, dangling over the stage like a lifeless doll.

‘Nononono. Not again!!’

“Sunny” Cried Hitch, immediately rushing over to help me.

“You let her go, Discord!” Followed Izzy, her magic back for the time being and levitating the numerous pastries on the table to throw them at him.

It wasn't meant to last. At the moment to rain Tartarus, Izzy’s magic glitched out, making her lose her grasp on the pastries. “Uh-Oh!”

No longer held in place by levitation, they began to rain over my friends, covering them in a sticky mess.

“I’m so sticky! Why does this keep happening to me?!!” Wailed a profoundly annoyed Pipp.

Tired of our pathetic attempts, Discord now sought to end our encounter swiftly and decisively. “Enough of this.” With a snap of his fingers, all of us, including my still mouthless friend, found ourselves tangled in ropes, our legs and wings pinned, making all of us fall to the ground like dead weight.

“Argh! Even if you wanted to destroy the Crystal, Twilight’s magic is too powerful. If Alex couldn’t, what makes you think you will!”

He answered with a taunting laugh. “Oh, my little Sunny. It isn’t Twilight’s magic powering the Crystals. At least, not entirely… Still, if there’s anything I’ve learned from her, it’s the power of a little research season. I’m sure I’ll figure something out.” His speech was delivered, his intentions crystal clear. Discord was ready for an exit. “The theater can be an emotional experience for everypony. You’ve been a wonderful, if not rowdy, audience.” He spoke with a wink while returning towards the stage.

Alex futilely tried to scream, only labored huffs coming from his nose. It was a perturbing sight to see him like this.

“I hope we can reconvene for another tea party during more peaceful times. It was a pleasure seeing you again, Alex. I hope you don’t end up betraying this new team like you did the last one. Arrivederci!”

And with that, he was gone. Cloudpuff, who had been hiding and whimpering under the table, quickly came out and started helping us remove the binding ropes, a task made much easier with the absence of Discord’s magic.

A haunting revelation fell over us. “He’s going to figure out how to destroy the Crystal, and if we don’t stop him in time… we’ll lose magic. Forever.”

The prospect of losing magic terrified me, especially now that we had recently won it back. After the reunification of the races, after our journey to reunite the Crystals, to lose it all like this…

Before my thoughts could take a darker turn, an angry scream scared me out of my fur… again.

“That lying, Hox-scrambled, maniac piece of SHIT!!!” I screamed at the top of my lungs in unfiltered rage. Even after hundreds of years and many, MANY mistakes, he still went with the same old-tired bullshit.

‘He hasn’t learned a fucking thing! He always has to be the lonely hero, thinking he can deal with problems in his own deranged way! As if last time wasn’t enough!’

For the hundredth time that morning, the phantom pains returned to bite my scar. My mind was full of rage, I wasn’t thinking clearly.

I felt detached.

“A-Alex?” A hesitant voice called to me, but I was consumed by blind anger.

“I DIDN’T RUN AWAY!! I HAD NO CHOICE!! IT HAD TO BE DONE!! I HAVE TO FIX IT!! WHO THE FUCK DOES HE THINK HE IS TO MAKE THAT CHOICE!!! I… I…”

The tug disappeared without conscious intervention. My rage began to dissipate, leaving only a profound feeling of shame and guilt. It was the truth, unfiltered and undiluted. Just the truth of my acts.

“I… I abandoned them… I left them to die… It had to be done, it had to be done…”

Sour tears began streaming down my eyes. It didn’t matter how many times I tried to convince myself. Deep down, I knew that Discord was right. I made a brash decision, cruel and inhumane, a decision that would cost me everything. But what choice did I have? Twilight was too powerful, and our friends didn’t want to lose their trust in her, even if they knew the madness of what she was proposing.

“IT WAS MY FAULT!! I HAVE TO FIX IT!!” A hard sob almost made me choke with my own tongue. “I had to leave them behind… I’m…. I’m a monster! I-I’m…” I collapsed into furious sobbing, my right fist slamming into the floor beneath me. An impact from my side then stopped my self-destructive ramblings. I fell to the ground from my crouching stance, a familiar warm weight now on top of me, chasing the ghosts away.

“Stop! Please. S-stop…” A soft voice pleaded with me between sobs. Sunny was clinging to me, her eyes full of tears as were mine. “P-Please, no more.”

She didn’t understand.

“It’s my f-fault, Sunny. The Incident was my fault. I ruined it. I pushed them too far! I have to make it right. I can’t allow you to suffer for my mistakes…”

“What are you talking about, Alex? What incident was your fault?” Asked Zipp, finally allowed to stretch her wings.

“I don’t believe for a moment what that crazy Discord said about you!” Izzy spoke with a stomp of emphasis.

“Agh! When I get my hooves on that freak I will end him! Look at the state of my mane!” An unparalleled fuming Pipp screeched beside her sister, trying to get herself clean of the sticky mess using a nearby tablecloth.

“You guys don’t understand…” I whispered, barely managing to get my breath under control.

“Then why don’t you explain it to us, Alex? I think it is high time for some answers, hm?” Inquired Hitch. The rest of the ponies turned to look at me with expecting eyes.

With a long sigh, I gently pushed Sunny away from me and planted myself into a sitting position. Sunny and Izzy were quick to reposition themselves at my sides, comforting hooves over the hands on my lap.

“… It was the last straw. The moment we lost sight of our goal. The moment Equestria’s downfall truly began…”

We heard the screams before we saw them. A leisurely walk around Ponyville with Twilight and my family was suddenly interrupted by the angry shouting contest that could be heard all the way from the main square.

Confused, for such a parade of colorful language should be a rarity in our homely town, we decided to hurry and check it out. These kinds of incidents had become more and more frequent as of late, spreading all over Equestria until reaching us. Minor disagreements, pointless accusations, unfounded discrimination… nothing that didn’t happen once in a very while in the multitude of cities and towns across the country. But I had never seen it happen so frequently, for such pointless reasons, and it was always one tribe blaming the other for what they were and not for what had actually happened.

‘For Faust’s sake, not again! We already have enough to deal with.’

We emerged from the side street near the town hall, where a circle of onlookers surrounded two ponies engaged in a heated argument. We made our way through the crowd, the ponies recognizing us and allowing us access to the front row.

A unicorn and an earth pony were arguing furiously.

“What do you mean I can't shop at your store?!!!”

“That's right buddy, no unicorns or pegasi are allowed in my place. You can take that horn of yours and stick it somewhere else! This store is reserved for earth ponies, as should the rest of Ponyville be!”

My friends and I couldn't believe what we were hearing. Such senseless rage, and for such petty reasons…

“Ha! Do you really think this town can get along without us? I'd like to see you manipulate the weather or perform complex tasks that can't be done without our magic. The only thing you're good for is having your snouts buried in the ground!”

The earth pony became genuinely pissed after hearing that. “You and your tribe are nothing but stray cannonballs! We don't want your kind casting your spells around here endangering us all. In fact! With the new ISIT technology arriving from Canterlot, we won't need your carrot-headed magic around here anymore! YOU’RE OBSOLETE!”

That was the last straw for the flaming unicorn. Rearing his head back, he charged his horn with crackling energy.

“AAARGH!! I’LL GIVE YOU CARROT-HEADED MAGIC!!!”

It happened too fast. And yet, time seemed to slow down to a trickle.

The moment we saw the unicorn rearing to attack, we all began to react at the same time. But the numerous ponies reeling and panicking in the crowd limited our immediate movement.

Seeing we wouldn’t reach them in time, I decided to cast my protection spell on the earth pony.

“Protego!” I screamed with my gloved hand pointing at the earth pony, my trusty gauntlet charged and ready to cast.

It would have been better if I had kept my mouth shut for once.

I was not an expert in shield magic. The few lessons I had received from Shining Armor allowed me to learn how to form one around myself or another pony. But, unlike his expert spellcasting, my shield didn't form from top to bottom in a homogeneous fashion, rather it formed in fragments that appeared around me that eventually merged together.

The incoming laser beam crossed the distance between us long before my shield was fully formed. It hit one of the curved fragments that had begun to form in front of the earth pony, the rounded surface deflecting the laser. What should have been a hard hit against the chest area that would’ve simply thrown the pony backwards with a nasty burn, instead ended up striking against his neck.

In general terms, equine necks are very strong, even more so the case of earth ponies. But an impact at that speed and at that angle was too much to withstand. With a thunderous 'crack', the earth pony shot off to the side, his head turned in a weird angle.

If that didn't kill him, the ensuing impact against the fragments fusing at the rear side of the shield definitely finished him off.

Less than a second later, after the shield had finished assembling, inside laid the body of the earth pony on the ground, unresponsive.

‘No…’

Before I had the chance to become paralyzed, I rudely pushed away the ponies at my sides and rushed toward the fallen pony. With a wave of my hand, I dissipated the shield around him.

‘No…’

The screams of the townsponies reached my ears, muffled by the blood rushing to them. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Rainbow and Applejack pounce on the attacker, who was staring straight ahead with dumbfounded eyes. I knelt in front of the earth pony and carefully turned his body to lay him on his back.

‘No…’

I searched for a pulse without success, his dilated eyes retaining a look of deep surprise. He had barely had enough time to realize what was even happening. His head was tilted at a completely impossible angle for a pony, and small rivulets of blood started splattering on the ground from the back of his head and nostrils.

‘No, no, no, no, NO!!!!’

The anguished cries of Fluttershy and Pinkie, the telltale 'clink clank' of the armor worn by the town guards as they began to clear the area, the flapping wings of the pegasi Trauma Team looking for a place to land amongst the crowd, the screams of Twilight beside me trying to get my attention.

But none of that mattered to me. For the first time in hundreds of years, a racial conflict between the ponies had ended up taking a life.

And it had been my fault.

…

“What have I done…?”

Author's Note

Once again, thank you all for the kind words and continued support. I hope you're enjoying the ride.

Chapter 28- My power, my worth.

“Ponies of Maretime Bay! I have some alarming news…” Sunny, standing proud over the podium in the middle of Mane Square’s gazebo, addressed the mass of ponies to whom she had earnestly called for an emergency town meeting like a bellmare, but on roller skates. From my place amongst the crowd, I saw that she was wearing my old pendant, the one I had gifted to her on her birthday. We noticed then the string was too old and ragged, always threatening to snap under the tiniest effort, so she sent it to the local jewelry store to have the necklace strengthened. From the moment she had it back in her hooves, it hadn’t left her neck.

Our usual group of friends stood amongst the multitude, having returned from our little advertising campaign, passing flyers to the passersby to help our friend, who was dead set on helping improve this town in any way she could fathom. However, knowing beforehand what today’s speech was about, the expectant ponies were in for some bad news.

“We eat too much junk food!” Sunny cried as if calling for the end of times. Instead of surprised gasps and panicked screams, the ponies answered with tired groans and mutters, already familiar with Sunny’s antics in search of a better community.

“You’re just saying that to get us to come to your smoothie cart! Hmph!” Dahlia, who stood near our group of friends in the crowd, indignantly protested.

“What? No!” Sunny bellowed. “But it is something we need to talk about! Why constantly eat junk food full of... well, junk... when we have amazing new earth pony magic that we could be using to create fresh fruits and veggies of our own? Imagine the possibilities!” She motioned towards a few of the remnants from the rampaging vines incidents over the street planters, the few that the townsponies had decided to preserve since something actually useful came out of their chaotic casting. Overgrown fruits and veggies, created from random mix-ups from pre-existing ones. Some worked, while others… not so much. “We could magically combine plants to make them more delicious. Oh! Or, or even invent new flavors of fruits. We can grow as ponies by growing our own food!” She concluded with a thrilled hop.

“Wouldn't forcefully mixing the different species by use of magic end up altering the allelic proportions without a balanced polyallelic order to the point where the offspring may present unbalanced chromosomal dosages and acquire a sterile phenotype?”

Fifty or so ponies slowly gyrated their collective heads towards me, giving me looks akin to the ones I would receive if I had spontaneously grown a second head. Silence reigned in the square as their attention stiffly returned to the earth pony orator, the poor mare completely lost for words.

My raised eyebrow spurred her on. “Um… N-No?” She hesitantly offered with a nervous twitch of her tail to my completely rational and accurate scientific explanation.

“… Oh, nothing to worry about then.” I nonchalantly conceded with a thumbs up, electing a relieved sigh from Sunny and even more bemused looks from the attendants, my friends included.

After recomposing herself, Sunny passionately delved into the wonders of earth pony magic and how, by working together, such efforts could lead to a new and healthier diet in which the earth ponies’ newfound powers would become the main protagonists. She gave it her all, like the true pillar of the community she was, but no amount of passion seemed enough to convince the townsponies who, one by one, began their slow trot away from the plaza to resume their daily activities, unconvinced by another of, citing textually, ‘Sunny’s lost causes.’ Years of trying and failing to change her fellow townsponies’ minds regarding the other tribes had gained her a reputation that proved seemingly impossible to get rid of. To put it bluntly: her reputation preceded her.

Flyers printed for the occasion ended up decorating the floor all over the square. Only our little group of friends remained with a defeated Sunny who, with ears and head low, trotted down from the podium, defeated.

“Nopony in town even took one, did they?” She dejectedly asked when noticing our hooves slash hands full of the fliers we were asked to spread around town.

“To be fair,” Zipp flipped one of the fliers depicting a bunch of appetizing fruits and vegetables to show the opposite side. “These flyers do have a giant ‘NO sign across a picture of Prench fries.”

“I’m all for the movement, Sunny.” I sympathetically added. “But… some things are just sacred.”

‘Prench’ fries were a hundred times better than hayfries. I wasn’t going to renounce one of the few true delicacies that the ponies’ strict vegetarian diet could offer. My intestinal flora may have become conditioned to fit the nutritional requirements in the absence of meat, but my taste buds still disagreed with most of their regular food.

“Ugh! There's so many things that need to be changed!” Sunny heatedly stomped the worn cobblestones. “How can I make the world a better place if nopony is willing to listen?! There’s so much potential wasted!” She raged and paced in front of us.

“Here it comes…” I announced in a low tone, my sixth sense tingling at the magic building around my orange-furred friend.

“I want to help! That’s the only thing I’ve ever wanted to d-” Her rant was drowned by the telltale whoosh that preceded her transformation. A blinding light engulfed the surrounding area, a translucent set of wings and accompanying horn once again attached to her body.

“Flashy as always, Sunny girl.” Pipp congratulated as she blinked the white spots from her eyes.

Sunny’s transformation didn’t go unnoticed among the few ponies still loitering around the plaza, slowly returning to the previous meeting point as their eyes widened at the sight of Sunny’s alicorn form.

“Pay close attention now, Zipp,” I said, giving the pegasus princess a heads-up.

Following my lead, Zipp’s eyes narrowed in concentration, taking in the crowd’s newfound interest in whatever Sunny’s proposition was, and not a minute after referring to said proposition as nonsense.

Sunny, brimming with renewed motivation, led the amassed group towards her smoothie stand where she would explain her goals as well as serve them a few smoothies made from those very same fruits and veggies she sold as the best option to the crowd. The ponies, ears strained to catch her every word, followed her like moths to a light.

Her tilted head and slight frown told me that she was catching on to the unusual behavior the ponies were showing. “It’s instinctual.” I dispelled her confusion.

“Huh?”

“It’s part of your innate herd instincts. Ponies will unconsciously gravitate towards a figure of power, seeking strong leadership.” I explained in more detail. “And, alicorns have always filled that role, way before Equestria became a nation, to the point that their image alone is enough to trigger their… I mean, your base instincts. In this case, it makes them more willing to listen to her since she’s manifesting that image of power, even if none of them have ever seen a true alicorn in their lives.”

Zipp’s look of shock was worth being captured in a picture. “…. Are you being serious?” She demanded with disbelief.

I only had to point towards Sunny’s smoothie stand, which now sported a noticeable line of eager customers, soaking up Sunny’s rant as they waited for their turn to order.

“Wow…” Was the last thing that came from Zipp’s muzzle as we too made our way toward her and the rest of our friends. Pipp stood near the counter, looking somewhat bothered by something. Izzy and Hitch played ball with Sparky near the common-use tables for those who would prefer to enjoy their meals from the food district sitting down.

“Whoo!” Sunny cheered as she waved at us from her place behind the counter. “I am over the Luna moon! The response in town went from zero to a hundred in seconds! What gives, right?!”

“Um…” Zipp only had to point to her forehead and extend her wings. Catching her meaning, Sunny checked her translucent new assets with disdain.

“Ugh! It was an accident! Why does this keep happening…?” She flopped over the counter in an aura of desperation.

“I mean, it’s kinda obvious at this point,” I commented, resting my back against the smoothie stand opposite from Pipp and her sister.

Sunny’s pleading eyes sought to get an answer for me. “Sorry, Tangerine. You gotta figure it out for yourself. It won’t work properly otherwise.” I offered an apologetic smile.

“Why do you call her that?” Asked and intrigued Pipp.

“‘Cause she’s orange and small.”

I stood firm against the weight of their collective flat looks, absentmindedly checking my nails while pretending to ignore them.

“So, what would that make me?”

“A marshmallow, Zipp. I told you already.”

Tiredly rolling her eyes, we all stood aside to allow the growing line of ponies to resume their ordering, bursting with excitement at the prospect of an alicorn being the one preparing their snacks.

“Well look at you, Sunny girl.” Pipp congratulated our earth pony friend. “You’ve got a line full of eager ponies who want to listen to you! Am I jealous about that?” She continued out of nowhere. “No, no, never. Because I'm secure in myself. And I have thousands of followers on multiple platforms validating my every move… Uh, not that that matters, hehe.” No matter of nervous laughing could mask her uneasiness.

“It doesn't.” She finished sharply against her sister’s knowing look, more for herself than for the rest.

As the line of ponies continued to grow, Sunny finally took notice of the particular way everypony was regarding her, completely ignoring Pipp’s antics and the rest of us. “Um, why are they all looking at me like that?”

“Becaaaause…” Having recovered from her little insecurity attack, Pipp flapped up to the counter, lying over it on her side. “Well, look at you! You're an alicorn! Soon, everypony will be watching your every move while breathing down your neck at every move you make while shouting, ‘Su-nny! Su-nny! Su-nny!’ Aaaah! We love youuuuu!’” She imitated the sound of clamoring fans, which only worked to scare Sunny even more.

“That is…” she trailed off with a large gulp. “... a lot. I-I’m not used to all this attention. I, uh… I need some space!”

Dropping on her belly, Sunny sought to escape the inquisitive looks of her newfound fans under the cover of her trusty stand. Panicked breathing could be heard from where I was resting my back.

‘Sigh, well, it’s not like I wasn’t expecting it to happen eventually…’

Signaling Zipp to distract the line of ponies for a moment, I reached for the entrance to the stand, forced to duck my head since the compartment was obviously pony-sized.

I found a hyperventilating Sunny pressed against the floor, covering her head with her forelegs as if a bomb were about to explode nearby. Taking care to not bump against anything, I kneeled in front of her and called out to her with my most soothing voice.

“Sunny, remember what we talked about.”

“I-I don’t want to be an alicorn right now! I can’t take it with a-all those ponies out there!” She panickedly pleaded.

“And to achieve that, you first need to calm down and breeeeath. Focus, just like we practiced.” I tenderly stroked her mane, avoiding her translucent horn so as not to induce a jolt from the mare. Unicorn horns are very sensitive and her’s, I suspected, was no exception. “Just like we practiced Sunny. You command your power, not the other way around, okay?”

I took her a great deal of effort, but the trembling mare soon began to calm down, shakily regaining her breath and extracting her head from under her forelegs. With eyes closed in concentration, she murmured over and over her wish to cease being an alicorn for the time being. A few tries were needed, but when she had completely relaxed, clarity reached her thoughts and her alicorn powers followed her command, disappearing in a less flashy way than they had appeared.

Checking herself using her compact mirror, courtesy of a certain petite pink pegasus, Sunny allowed herself a relieved sigh when she found no trace of her wings and horn illuminating the small compartment.

“Better?”

A thankful smile was my reward. Sunny recomposed herself, shaking her uneasiness away and readying herself to tackle the gigantic line of ponies with renewed confidence.

Seeing my thumbs-up gesture from outside the stand, Zipp nodded and stood aside, allowing the first in line to approach her for their order. With my work done, I left Sunny to do what she did best and went over to Hitch, Jazz, who had only just joined us, and Pipp, who was still where she had previously been playing with Sparky. Izzy had left the group to go wait in line for her own smoothie.

“Well, crisis adv-”

“WHAT DOES THE MONKEY MEAN?!!!”

I recoiled at the pegasus princess socialite suddenly invading my personal space with a jump, leaving me completely flabbergasted at her harsh breathing and widened eyes.

“... Are you trying to make a racist joke?” I uttered the only reasonable explanation my confused mind could come up with.

“What?” Understanding lit her features. “No! NO! That's not… ugh!” She flopped against the table in a similar fashion Sunny had done over the counter only a minute ago.

I sought answers from Hitch, currently sitting at her side with his own smoothie and a smaller one for Sparky. The sheriff only returned a sympathetic shrug.

“She means from the comments on her post.” Jazz thankfully clarified for me, lending me her phone so I could see Pipp’s most recent uploads for myself. Judging from her previous ones, these seemed to have amassed a worryingly low amount of view and ‘hooftaps’. And, of course, there was a single monkey emoji under her most recent singing clip.

“Ah, I see…”

“Then what does it mean?!” Pipp desperately implored once again.

“It possesses many meanings, Pipp. You must search inside yourself to find enlightenment.” I revealed in a secretive manner, which only served to further drive Pipp up a proverbial wall. Grabbing her cheeks and pulling in frustration, she returned to glare daggers at her feed.

“I've been trying everything lately! Singing loudly, singing softly, singing in general...” A look of realization made its way up her features. “Oh, my hoofness! What if I've been…*GASP* Shadowbanished?!”

“….You mean ‘shadowbanned’?”

“I don't know what that means, but it sounds ominous.” Jazz added her two bits.

“Thank you, Jazz!” Pipp appreciated her coworker’s support. “Shadowbanishing is when your content gets blocked to viewers but your account isn’t actually banned. I mean, it has to be that, right? There can't be any other explanation!”

“Is that a thing here?” I asked, surprised at finding out about the existence of such a concept, a mirror of the feature from Earth’s social media.

“It is the ONLY possible explanation.” She repeated again, stronger this time, accompanied by her hoof slamming over the table.

“You’re overreacting… again.” I tiredly laid back and instead focused my sights on the sunny skies above me.

“NEVER!!”

Her defiant mood was utterly trashed by the sound of Hitch laughing, the sheriff having distracted himself from our conversation to check something on his phone, with that something eliciting an amused chuckle from him.

Unknowingly, the sheriff had placed himself on the receiving end of Pipp’s annoyed leer, making Jazz flinch a bit.

“Why are you laughing? This is serious!”

Hitch paused the video to address Jazz's question. “Oh, sorry. It's just this video of Sparky. You gotta see it.”

Flipping the phone on his hooves, we were rewarded with a silly video of the little dragon displaying the amazing transmutation properties his fire breath seemed to possess to transform random objects from Hitch’s office.

Both mares ‘awwed’ at the sight of the baby dragon and his silliness. However, Pipp paid close attention to the sheer amount of views and hooftaps that the video had managed to collect since it had been uploaded that morning.

I could almost hear the gears tuning in her head.

'Oh, boy…’

‘You’re doing great, Misty! Keep this up and nopony will notice a thing! This time, I’ll make her proud!’

After observing the ponies for a few more days after my last failed attempt, and taking careful notice of my reports, Opaline had come up with a new plan. It was simple, yet efficient: infiltrate Maretime Bay once again, get alicorn Sunny in a vulnerable position of insecurity so Opaline could use the enchanted mirror to speak to her and convince her to embrace her alicorn powers and join our cause. Two alicorns working together? We would be unstoppable!

But the question was, how to get Sunny in a vulnerable position? Every time I had seen her on my forays to the coastal town, she always seemed full of energy and confidence, eager to help and provide for her fellow townsponies. Not to mention that she was surrounded by her friends to help her in any way she needed.

I busted my brain in thought on my way from Opaline’s castle, coming up with several strategies that would minimize my exposure, which was still my number one, uh… directive?

It clicked for me as I caught sight of the town over the grassy hills that bordered it. I had noticed the townsponies’ behavior towards her whenever she was in her alicorn form, and I had also talked to some of them, per Opaline’s orders, to gather information. When I brought this up with her, she confirmed my assumptions, claiming that in the presence of a being such as an alicorn, the ponies’ admiration was just 'inevitable’.

“Hmm, perhaps I can use that to my advantage…”

Since it was mid-morning by the time I’d reached the arch of the southern entrance, it would have been difficult to sneak between the narrow alleys unseen, as I did not wish to reveal my presence just yet. However, it seemed like a big congregation was happening over the town’s main square, if the ruckus reaching my ears was any indication. At least the number of ponies I might accidentally bump into would be diminished for the time being.

I searched for my target and, funnily enough, I found her being the reason for such an agglomeration of ponies, and I also saw her transformation happen again. As she was giving her speech, her wings and horn were nowhere to be found, and the ponies didn’t seem too keen on listening to whatever she was proposing. But the moment her alicorn assets manifested in a blinding light, it was as if a switch had been flipped! The way they were looking at her, hanging on to her very words, almost hypnotized…

“Yes… yes, this could work!”

Her alicorn form was key to the citizens paying her the attention she needed. And yet, from the small tidbits we had managed to acquire from the few occasions she’d used the mirror outside of the brighthouse, she wasn’t too keen on staying in that form for long, not that she could hold it that long the first place. Opaline had no knowledge of how her transformation worked, nor how it came to be in the first place. In that regard, we were still blind.

But the effect it had on other ponies was plain as day, and I could use that to my advantage. What was the term Opaline had used… reverse psychology? I’m not sure if that’s a fitting term, but the goal was clear either way. I needed to make her see that, without her alicorn powers, she was nothing. That way, Opaline could convince her of the special societal place that alicorns are meant to be in. Sunny would understand Opaline’s goal, and she would understand why it was so important she that succeeded.

Extracting the phone I had… acquired a few weeks prior, I contacted the group of mares I had been hanging out with for some time now. I had met them by chance on one of my runs around town. They were a very influential group of ponies from Maretime Bay, and surely knew a lot of ponies in return. That was the reasoning that drove me to ask for acceptance into their little club.

It took barely any effort. The girls said something about ‘counterbalancing their image’ and I don't know what about ‘winning the support of the unicorn community’. I didn’t give it much thought either way; I only cared for the things I could learn if I stuck with them, while also helping to build my character beyond that of ‘random tourist’. That charade would only work for so long.

11:46 Girls, something big is happening over at Mane Square!! Come ASAP!!

11:48 On our way, Micky!

I could only roll my eyes at their recurrent inability to properly say my name but decided not to comment on it, lest I end up upsetting them. Not wanting to waste precious time, I took out my trusty binoculars and resumed my espionage work.

I patiently waited for the girls to arrive, taking notice of everything happening around Sunny. With her speech meeting a satisfying result, the mass of ponies along with her usual group of friends accompanied her to her smoothie stand. I recalled at that moment the jicama smoothie I had ordered from her coworker that day. A shame Opaline hadn’t allowed me to finish it, it tasted a solid OK in my opinion. I took a mental reminder to get another one soon if I later had the chance; perhaps I would try one of the new ones with the weird new fruits the earth ponies had been coming up with.

Taking in everything that was happening over the square from my hiding place behind a couple of empty boxes stacked within a nearby alley, I did my best to analyze the behavior of the ponies who, one by one, lengthened the line to the point it almost went all the way around the plaza.

It took them well over an hour to arrive but, fortunately, as I was on the brink of losing my patience, the glowing form of the three other members of the renamed ‘Filly Four’ after my integration appeared around the corner of one of the side streets. The sheer amount of glitter the girls were wearing on their manes, cheeks, hooves, and tails made them easily distinguishable against the backdrop of the crowd, which had eased considerably due to most of them already having left with a grin on their muzzles and a smoothie in their hooves. Their gaudy attention to glitz and glam was a bit too much if you ask me. Although I was heavily encouraged to wear some, I wasn’t forced to if I didn’t want to, thank hoofness.

Sunny’s friends had each left to do their own things after a while, and the mare in question seemingly had run out of fresh produce for her treats, such was the sheer number of customers she’d had to attend to. I caught her on her way to leave the stand, encouraged by a trio of little fillies disguised as alicorns themselves who looked eager to show her something.

Sunny, after having lost her translucent wings and horn while apparently suffering a small nervous crisis and regaining them shortly after, followed the bouncing fillies toward the other end of the plaza.

This was my chance. With her friends gone for the time being and the fillies distracting her, I rushed from my hiding spot to catch up with my teammates, calling them as I approached them from the rear.

“Girls! Over here!”

The flashy trio twisted their necks to address me, making sure to flaunt their sparkling manes for the world to see.

“You called, and here we are, Mercy. Where’s that big thing you mentioned? Seems pretty empty to me.” Sugar Moon, supermodel and influencer extraordinaire ran her foreleg over the now considerably emptier plaza. And got my name wrong. Again.

“The Alicorn was giving a BIG speech! Almost everypony in town was attending! She’s over there now!”

The girls followed the direction of my stretched foreleg to find Sunny admiring the fillies’ work over one of the remaining street planters used by the earth ponies to practice their magic on.

“Hmm.” The gears started to turn under Sugar’s sparkling head. “Thanks, Misky. We’ll take it from here. Girls!” She called to her… our teammates. “Let’s get us some views.”

Falling in formation behind Sugar, the trio began their march in their mandatory exaggerated gate, leaving me behind to ponder my next move. If everything went accordingly, those mares were gonna chew her until nothing was left behind.

“And that’s where Opaline comes in. I just gotta make sure she doesn’t return to the brighthouse. The connection will fail otherwise.”

Falling in tow behind them and trying my best to mirror their particular step, I reached for my saddlebag and extracted my matching sunglasses. They would provide a smidge more of a cover for me anyway.

“This is it, Misty. Don’t mess it up now.”

“Hey girls, what are you growing over there? Are those… um… grapefruits? No, wait. Um, zucchini?”

“It's a grape-chini! A combination of grapefruit and zucchini!” Seashell stood proudly in front of the street planter where the infamous trio had dragged me to show me their newest creation. A considerable amount of progress was on display compared to those weird vine trees they had found themselves hanging from during the ‘flora incident’ that struck the town earlier.

Looming above the four of us, Maretime Bay’s newest wonky combination of fruit and vegetable stood proudly. Its fruits resembled what the fillies had described, yet their raw size was far superior from what a zucchini might achieve on its own, much less a grapefruit!

“Mmm, very interesting, girls. Why don’t you send one of these to my stand later? I’ll see if I can whip something up with it!” I offered my proudest smile to the trio of bouncing fillies.

“We made the Alicorn happy! Eeeeeee!” Peach Fizz could barely contain her enthusiasm, enthusiasm that soon infected her teammates as they all began to excitedly jump in a foalish bout of energy.

I was beyond myself with the ponies’ newfound reception to my ideas for improving our town. Everypony seemed so eager and enthusiastic since my morning speech. Who would have guessed that it only required a couple of wings and a horn to get their attention? Even if the attention ended up being a bit too much for me, I could deal with that. I just needed to remain true to myself!

After years of being laughed at for my stupid ideas and propositions, I could finally hold my head up high and begin changing this town from its roots, helping everypony be their best self, and living their best life!

Ooooh, there was just SO much work to be done! I almost started jumping in excitement with the fillies.

“Neigh way…”

Suddenly, Glory’s attention drastically shifted from their latest creation to something happening behind me. Her two friends followed her line of sight and also gasped in surprise, their little eyes almost popping out of their sockets.

“The Filly Four!!” The three chanted in unison.

Checking behind me to locate what had gotten the fillies in an uproar, I was met with that very same quartet of mares who had been rocking the Canternet recently. They were already popular since the reunification of the three tribes, but since the addition of that fourth unicorn member, they had totally been blowing up on social media.

My friend Pipp was NOT happy with it.

“Sunny,” Sugar Moonlight, who stood in the lead place of the group, addressed me in a friendly tone. “We've been looking for you everywhere. It's so nice to finally meet you.”

I could only tilt my head in bewilderment. “Um, we went to school together, Sugar. I sat next to you in…”

“I’m Sugar.” She cut me off, pointing at herself and her teammates. “This is Rosedust, Lily, and, uh... what's that new unicorn's name?”

“Uh, Minty, I think…?” Rosedust answered without sounding convinced. By the dejected sigh from the unicorn mare, it was likely she hadn’t got it right.

‘Hmm, she has a nice mane.’ I mulled to myself after a closer look at whatever could be discerned of her from her place behind the other three influencers.

“We were just about to go shopping. Wanna join us?” Sugar offered me, looking over her sunglasses.

Her offer took me by surprise. “Oh, I don't need to go shopping right now, but…”

“But if you come with us, everypony is going to see us together, and we're super influential.” Lily, exuberantly flaunting her two-toned purple and silver mane, sought to bribe me further.

“Yeah.” The unicorn integrant finally spoke. “Imagine what you could do with all that power…”

“Exactly, Marcy.”

“Misty.” The unicorn, whose correct name I now knew, corrected her team leader.

“Whatever. All you have to do is hang out with us. And stay an alicorn, of course.”

I swallowed the nervous lump in my throat. “R-right, hehe…” I couldn’t come up with a straight answer. This was just too much, too fast! I needed a professional second opinion. “Uh... one sec. I just, uh… need to freshen up.” I quickly searched my surroundings for an ideal place, a nearby side street being the only fitting place I could find. “Over there!”

“Freshen up? Behind a hardware store?” Sugar gave me a puzzled look. “Weird, but okay.” After which they all returned their attention to their phones.

Taking the chance, I pumped my translucent wings and reached the appropriate distance in a second. Hurriedly extracting my phone from my saddle bag, I dialed the only pony who could help me.

*Yas?* Pipp’s voice asked over the phone.

“Pipp! The Filly Four want me to hang out with them! What should I do?!”

*The Filly Four?! They're the ones eclipsing me on social media! They're, like, super famous right now!*

“I guess…?”

*Yeah! You need to do ALL you can to get them on your side.* I could almost feel her thrill from all the way here. *Ah, your school days are coming full circle, Sunny. You're going from misfit to popular pony!*

This time, I did jump in enthusiasm. “Okay! I'm gonna do it then!”

Hanging up, I mentally prepared myself for what would be a huge boost in popularity, which was just what I needed for my projects to reach new heights.

And yet, a shadow of my previous panic attack darkened my resolve, making me second guess my choice. Almost as if it could feel my hesitation, my alicorn magic fizzled and dispersed, taking the wings and horn with it.

“Oh, no, no, not now!”

Try as I might, I was unable to summon them back. No amount of pacing, pleading, or demanding got the shimmering appendages to return, making me almost fall into another nervous crisis. However, just as it was about to happen, a strange voice echoed through the narrow street.

“Sunnyyy.” Bringing me out of my panic, I twisted my body to check every single corner, but I couldn’t pinpoint its origin. “Suuuunny.” On and on it went calling for me. It sounded close and somewhat familiar…

“Sunny!” Now in a firmer tone, I was finally able to assess its origin. Surprisingly, it was coming from my trusty side bag.

‘Huh? Did I just dial somepony accidentally?’

It wasn’t coming from my phone, as it remained in standby mode. My hoof mirror, the one Pipp had gotten me for my birthday, that’s where the voice was coming from.

Deeply puzzled, I opened it and was only met by my reflection, as I expected.

And yet, my very same reflection started talking to me. “Hey there, Sunny.”

“U-um...” I answered with the only explanation I could come up with. “Is this... me?”

“Yeees.” My reflection replied with a smug grin. “Hello, me. Hello, you.”

“Wow!” I couldn’t believe what was happening in front of my eyes. “I need to share this with Zipp and Alex right away!”

“Wait!” The mirror’s sharp rebuttal halted my steps so abruptly that I ended up tripping over the stony path, dropping the mirror. Thankfully, it fell upright in front of my muzzle, unscathed. “This magic mirror is only for alicorns, Sunny. Haven’t you noticed the decoration?” My reflection referred to the alicorn-themed engraving on its lid.

“Um, yes?” I meekly replied.

“This mirror is enchanted. I’m your inner voice! I’m here to guide you, Sunny. If any other type of pony uses it, it will lose its enchantment. Because alicorns are special. You are special. Haven't you noticed?”

Of course, I had noticed. “Well, it’s true that I feel kinda… different?”

“Not different, Sunny. Special.” My inner voice made sure to accentuate that last statement. “Better, even. Why be a basic, boring earth pony when you can be... an alicorn?” The reflection spread her translucent wings and struck a pose in emphasis.

I carefully reached for the mirror and grabbed it with both hooves, recomposing myself on my haunches. “Then how... how do I stay an alicorn?” I asked, praying for the answer to the question that had plagued me since I had first discovered my new abilities. It had been a couple of months already, and I still was struggling to find the trigger and prevent them from randomly appearing. It was driving me crazy!

My reflection was clear with her answer. “Find the source of your power and harness it. Then all your wildest dreams can come true!” She spoke with confidence.

“Even the community garden?!” That last bit escaped my muzzle unintentionally, but I just couldn’t help it.

“… That's your wildest dream?... We'll work on that, but yes!”

I continued rambling to myself. “I've been drafting my garden dream board at the brighthouse! Oh, I really want it to become a place where I can help other ponies use their magic! A place where everypony can…”

“Yes, that’s it! Look!” My reflection ushered me to look at myself. I hadn’t even noticed it that time, but my wings and horn had returned to their rightful places.

‘YES! Thank hoofness!’ I mentally celebrated.

“Go, Sunny. Go take what is rightfully yours…”

But I was barely listening by that point. “Hah! Thank you so much... me? Mirror me? Sunny squared? Eh, I'll come up with a better name soon.”

Missing the flat look my reflection was sporting, I closed the mirror and returned it to my side bag.

“Okay, Sunny. Deep breaths, focus.”

I mentally prepared myself, diverting all my energy into preserving my alicorn form. Now would have been the worst moment to lose it again. I had to remain in my best self.

A healthy dose of mental preparation later, I scampered out of the side street and was relieved to see the Filly Four remained absorbed in their phones, patiently waiting for me to finish ‘freshening up’ myself. The unicorn one was giving me a somewhat inquisitive look, but I thought none of it, there were more pressing manners at hoof.

“All right! Feeling much better! Let’s do it!” I gave them my most confident grin.

“Perf! Let's get shopping.” Sugar motioned her fellow teammates to follow her back to the plaza.

“Actually!” With a powerful flap, I soared above them and landed in front of the marching group. “I have another idea. I'm going to make another announcement about this huge project I've been working on.” I had only managed to state part of my message that morning. I needed all the ponies involved if I wanted my plan to move forward. “And I want to get everypony involved!... Only if they want to get involved, though…” I sheepishly averted my gaze from the inquisitive mares.

The trio of Pippsqueaks, who had been tailing us in an adorable but not quite successful attempt to remain unseen, jumped at the chance of helping me, assaulting me with pleading eyes and eager smiles.

“Yes! We do! Pleeeeease!” Seashell pleaded for the three of them.

Noticing the fillies’ enthusiasm, Sugar eventually relented after a silent discussion with the other members. “The Filly Four would love to help. We'll rally all the ponies in town to hear the news. We're here for you. But first,” She suddenly pressed herself against my side “Smiiiile!” I did my best to comply on such short notice. Blinking away the spots from the camera's flash, I saw the ponies leave for their tasks.

“That is so going viral.” Sugar nonchalantly celebrated as the Filly Four went to rally the townsponies. While the adult ponies left, the little ones remained close to my side, bouncing energetically as they guided me back to the gazebo where I would deliver my second speech of that day, hay, of that very same morning!

“Come on, girls, there's a lot to do if we wanna please the alicorn!” Glory ushered her friends once we had arrived. Not leaving room for me to protest, the fillies scampered away to get everything ready, rallying the help of anypony who passed nearby. I required nothing more than the pony’s attention to deliver my speech, but also didn’t wish to trump their enthusiasm, so I resigned myself to waiting for them to finish.

And yet, the way they kept calling me ‘the alicorn’ instead of my actual name… I should be happy to finally have caught their undivided attention, but…

‘Come on, Sunny! You ARE an alicorn. Start acting like one!’

It took the ponies only a few minutes to get everything ready. I admired their dedication to my cause, but the changes made to the gazebo… not so much.

But, just as before, I was left with no room to protest as the Pippsqueaks practically shoved me onto the impromptu throne that now adorned the center of the structure.

And then, the three fillies proclaimed themselves as my personal servants. “Would the alicorn like to be fanned with an earth pony-grown branch?” Glory asked for my side, beginning to fan me with a leafy branch she had pulled out from somewhere.

“Uuuh…”

“Or maybe she would like to try one of these fresh earth pony-grown grapes? Made by me!” Seashell offered from the other side, holding a bunch of grapes on her forehead.

“Um… okay? Thanks…”

My hoof was swatted away as I sought to take one. Startled, the unicorn Misty of the Filly Four suddenly got in my face. “No, no! You mustn't lift even one perfect alicorn hoof of yours! You deserve to be treated like the alicorn royalty that you are, all the time, forever!” She demanded with a tiny bow. The rest of the squad were making their way up the gazebo as she spoke, their messages sent and their socials burning with expectation. In a steady trickle, the plaza once again began to fill with ponies.

‘R-R-Royalty?!! What’s she talking about?!’

The more they doted on me, the more uncomfortable I became, to the point where I couldn’t stand it anymore when my eyes caught sight of a group of ponies who had just recently arrived. They were carrying banners. Alicorn-themed banners. And they called for ‘the alicorn’, over and over again.

In all the time I’d spent under their overexcited sight, not once was my name ever mentioned.

“Ah!” I jumped from my seat with an unrestrained yelp, startling my self-proclaimed servants and the Filly Four. I had to find a way out; I needed a way out. “I, uh, suddenly remembered there’s some ali-stuff I need to do. Um, that's, uh, the ‘ali’ part of being an ali-corn. So... yeah.”

I was never good at making excuses, but I decided to crown that one as my worst excuse ever. But, of course, not wanting to make the alicorn unhappy, they let me go without a complaint, staying put and awaiting my return.

“Anything for the alicorn!” The Pippsqueaks’ cries faded in my ears as I sped out of there, making a sharp turn for the same narrow street I had used to freshen myself before.

“What should I do…?” I asked the only person that could help me at the moment. Taking my hoof mirror out of the side bag, I once again implored my reflection for an answer. “I feel so lost...”

The image shuddered for a moment, my reflection coming to life once again afterward. “Continue on your path to glory.” She proudly stated. “You are an alicorn. You should be praised, admired, feared…”

I didn’t care for that smirk she was giving me. “But I don't want that!”

“Do you remember how horrible it was before? Hmm? How nopony would listen to you? Do you not recall how small you felt?”

Her reminder jabbed a cold dagger into my heart, the memories of one too many humiliations rushing into my mind. How horrible I felt that day at Canterlogic’s Annual Presentation, where everypony was booing me, and when Hitch had to drag me away before I could embarrass myself further… as if that was even possible by that point.

“Yes… I do.” I meekly agreed.

Dread made way over my looming sadness when the fizzling sounds once again filled the street. “No! Come back! Come back!!!” Just as before, no amount of pleading persuaded my alicorn assets to continue brightening the shadowy street.

I was left as I had started. Without them, nopony would listen to me.

“I don't need to be an alicorn for ponies to like me, right?” A sob left my muzzle. “R-Right?”

I carefully read over the document in my hands, checking for any mistakes or misleads I might have overlooked. Phyllis stood patiently in front of me, her own signature already in the appropriate place.

I had come to her to secure the land Sunny would require for her community garden. She still had to get the town under her hooves before moving to the next step, but knowing her, that was only a matter of time. I wanted to surprise her.

The portion of land I had secured stood just downhill from the brighthouse, right at the dusty road’s side, easily accessible for anypony wanting to give it a try. In different circumstances, it would have cost me a fortune to acquire this land at such short notice, but Phyllis was more than willing to grant me a considerable discount. She felt she owed it to Sunny for her son’s, and by extension, her destruction of Sunny’s old lighthouse, and for all the trouble she had put her and her dad through every time they sought to change the ponies’ minds.

“Everything seems in order. Thank you again, Phyllis.” I finished checking over the contract and offered her my most thankful smile.

“Think nothing of it, darling. It’s the least I can do. And seeing all that noise that young mare’s been making recently, I ought to say it’s going to be a complete success!”

“I’m sure of it too.” I carefully folded it and secured it in my pocket. “The workponies will pass this afternoon to delimit the area and seal it?” I asked the businessmare.

“Sure thing, sugarcube. I’ll get a word with the construction company. They’ll be able to start as soon as tomorrow if it comes from me.” She answered with a coy, somewhat smug grin.

“Ah, the ever-influential Phyllis.” I chuckled at her unwillingness to mask the nature of her position within the town’s Council. “Very well. If that’s all, I’ll leave you to your work.”

“I’ll see you around, darling. Give my best to your friends!”

Leaving the busy mare to her work, I left the town hall and stepped into the surprisingly empty street, enjoying the fresh mid-day air. It could get a bit stuffy down in the lab, and the perpetual synthetic smell of lab equipment didn’t help either.

A healthy amount of ruckus could be discerned from where I stood, and already familiarized with the town’s layout, I discerned that it seemed to be coming from Mane Square.

Furrowing my brow, I decided to head that way and check it out, perhaps grab something to eat, too. Zipp had spoken wonders of some food truck down by the docks that prepared a ‘mind numbing, amazitastic’ chowder on Tuesdays. Today wasn’t a Tuesday, but I had no problem trying something else. It was on my way past the square either way.

The clamoring of cheering ponies grew louder with every corner I turned until reaching my destination. The undefined mass of voices soon morphed into a veritable cry the moment I set foot in the overcrowded meeting point. Even more ponies had rallied around than that morning’s numbers. And all of them chanted in unison for the orange-furred mare standing within the gazebo.

“A-li-corn! A-li-corn! A-li-corn!”

But no alicorn stood to address the masses. Only my friend Sunny, who panickedly talked with some other ponies who shared the gazebo with her. Her eyes kept drifting back and forth from the chorus of clamoring ponies to her companions.

“Oh, crap…”

I tried my best to maneuver through the crowd, but my progress was rendered null since, with one last dejected look to the crowd, Sunny jumped down from the gazebo and bolted out of the plaza, head low and eyes tightly closed. I didn't need a pegasus’ sight to know she was crying.

“Faust, dammit. It can never be too easy, can it?”

That morning’s events had already lit the torch of concern I held for her and the treatment the ponies would eventually give her. It was just as I had told Zipp: for them, it’s almost instinctual, ponies always seem to rally around the figure of an alicorn, who had been the leading figures of Equestria since time immemorial. They knew no better back then, and even now, after hundreds of years without one, they still held on to their old customs. For somepony like Celestia or Luna, it was a burden they were prepared to bear out of love for their little ponies, and bear it gladly did they.

But Sunny was not ready for such a burden. She should never be. If there was one creature still alive who knew about how heavy such a task can weigh on somepony, it was me.

Confused and somewhat bothered, the ponies began to murmur amongst themselves. “What’s wrong with her…?” “Such a waste of time…” “I only wanted to see the alicorn…”

A conscious effort was required to bite my tongue to keep myself from exploding there and then. None of those idiots could understand the pressure she was being subjected to. In a more aggressive demeanor this time, I left behind the congregation of ponies and followed the crying mare, who had made her way back to our home at the brighthouse.

I could audibly hear the worried pleadings of Pipp and Zipp from the hallway even before I’d entered the building. Climbing up the ramp, I found both of them in front of the closed doors of their shared bedroom.

“Sunny, please.” Zipp implored, receiving a sharp yell in return.

“Go away!”

Pipp’s ears flicked at the sound of my hurried steps. Tapping her sister’s shoulder, both were made aware of my presence, forlorn looks darkening their features.

“She won’t talk to us…” Pipp’s sad voice filled the now silent hallway, only broken by the faint sound of sobbing coming from inside the bedroom.

“I’ll take it from here, girls. Could you please give us both some space for a bit?”

Reluctantly, the pegasi sisters nodded and stepped aside, giving me free passage to their sleeping quarters, flapping away once I’d entered without bothering to knock first.

“I said, GO! AWAY!”

Sunny’s furious demands didn’t deter me in the slightest. Stepping past Pipp and Izzy’s beds, I found a lump of sheets and blankets hiding the wailing mare on hers, trembling with each strained sob that escaped her muzzle. You didn’t need to be an expert to hear the pain behind those sobs, and that pain only served to make me angrier inside.

Reaching for the opposite side of the bed since she was facing away from the door, I kneeled in front of her lying form, taking a deep breath to calm my anger and focus on my friend, who was in desperate need of succor. Only the tip of her orange muzzle could be seen from under the colorful sheets, but her poor attempt to hide wasn’t going to dissuade me from my duty. Without uttering a word, I reached down with both arms and gently grabbed the sobbing pony, pulling her closer toward me and pressing her against my chest. Sunny didn’t complain this time, instead seeking refuge under me as she allowed the tears to flow in her achingly painful distress.

Tenderly petting her over the blankets, I waited until she could get it all out, brushing my hand from the top of her scalp to the tip of her tail and back again. Long minutes passed until I felt her calm down, her sobbing giving way to loud sniffing as she tried to regain her breathing.

Gently tugging the sheets over her head, I was met with two beautiful aqua-green orbs matted with lingering tears, bloodshot from all her crying.

“Sniff, N-Nopony actually cares about m-my causes…. They o-only cared about me b-being an alicorn…” she pined, audibly sniffling in her attempt to regain her composure.

Another bout of tears escaped her leaky eyes, ones that I gently wiped away with my thumb as I lovingly scratched over her cheeks and behind her ears, trying to bring some semblance of comfort to the struggling mare.

“Without them I’m… Sniff… I’m just a useless nopony... I’m nothing…”

“Are you?”

My sharp inquiry surprised Sunny, momentarily bringing her out of her stupor. “W-What?”

“Because I find it hard to believe a useless nopony was the one who brought the three tribes together after hundreds of years of separation, something neither the Elements, nor the Pillars, nor the Students, nor the Princesses, nor even ME could do.”

Her eyes left mine to focus on the matted blankets below us, silently mulling over my words.

“A useless nopony would not have been able to bring friendship and unity to everypony in Equestria, fighting with her friends every single day to prove the wonders of coexistence, pledging her life to the betterment of her fellow ponies.”

Sunny remained pensive. I had managed at least to cease the waterworks, but the conflict was still pinning her down under its clutches.

“But you don’t need to hear it from me. I always give the same speech, after all.”

Now deeply puzzled, Sunny recomposed herself to better discern my meaning, a moment I used to sneak both of my arms under her and lift her up against my chest, securing her with one arm under her rump and another on her back.

“A-Alex!” She called, surprised. “Where are we going?!”

“To consult with the expert, of course.” I answered nonchalantly as I made for the doors.

A few uncertain moments passed until I felt her returning the gesture, surrounding me with both forelegs and pressing her barrel against me. Her wet muzzle gently nuzzled my neck as we went down the ramp and into the hall.

Straining my ears, I could faintly hear sounds of a certain unicorn making a mess of her workshop which, in her line of work, meant she was actually getting some work done.

Just as I had hoped, the rowdy unicorn was hooves-deep in the process of smashing a series of porcelain mugs, using the broken pieces as the foundation for a new sculpture… I think.

I tapped twice on the nearby wall to gain her attention. “Excuse me, I’m looking for one Izzy Moonbow, 15155 Cliffside Road?”

Sunny could only tilt her head in bewilderment at my totally-made-up name of her actual address. Well, it wasn’t entirely invented, but they would never get the reference.

Removing her working glasses, Izzy twirled around with a jump to address the voice behind her. “Ooooh! Is it the new ‘One Hundred Color Glitter Extravaganza Set’ I ordered?! I’ve been waiting for… uuh…”

The energy evaporated as she caught sight of our particular arrangements. “Um, noooo.” I looked down at my stretched forearm as if I was holding a script. “It says here that whenever this pony I’m carrying is feeling down and woozy, I must deliver her to one Doctor Izzy Moonbow, specialist in ‘Things of the Head’ for her treatment. This is her address, is it not?”

If she wasn’t before, Sunny was now completely lost, but her grip on me didn’t lessen one iota. Thankfully, Izzy was quick to catch up.

“Oh! Yes! Yes!” Clearing her throat, she went into a more professional mode. “Please, if you would be so kind as to accompany me to my office.” She motioned us towards the other side of her workshop, where a pair of puffs were hastily arranged via her levitation magic.

Izzy plopped her rump into the one nearest to the window, while I plopped Sunny into the other one; I then sought to go looking for a chair for me, but the snuggling mare would not let go of me. After a few failed tries and her whinnies of protest, I relented and fell into the puff with her still occupying a space on my chest, twisting her body to fully face Izzy.

“Ahem. Doctor Izzy is in the house, and she’ll fix you right up. Tell me, uh…” She pretended to look over some files. “Sunny. Tell Izzy all that's troubling you.”

And so she did, retelling everything that had happened that morning when we all attended her speech, and later when she got caught up with the Filly Four and the tight spot they had put her in.

“A-And then, Rosedust said how none of the ponies really cared for my silly causes. They said that nopony even liked me before. They just wanted to make ‘the alicorn’ happy…”

Finishing her retelling, Sunny buried her head back into my chest. As my hand scratched over her scalp, I could see by Izzy’s hardening visage how she was about to blow up.

“Why those no-good lying… I ought to chew them up like gummy bears!” Any semblance of professionalism promptly evaporated under her scorching rage.

“That is a matter for another time, Izzy.” I raised my hand to ease the raging unicorn. “Right now, she needs to hear it from you.”

Understanding me, Izzy got up from her seat and approached Sunny from the right, sitting back down on her haunches.

“Sunny, being an alicorn doesn’t change a thing. Wings and horn or not, you’ll always be the one who united us, who inspired all of us to be better ponies. That,” She placed a comforting hoof over Sunny’s fluffy chest. “Is your true power. And if those numbskulls don’t wanna see it? Well, buck ‘em.”

A bright smile slowly broke over her muzzle, chasing away the lingering sorrow. “Thank you, Izzy. I guess I…” she trailed off with a heavy sighthat belied her internal torment.”

“It’s okay, Sunny,” I placed a comforting hand over Izzy's hoof. “Nopony said it was going to be easy. I believe everypony will eventually see, but it’ll take time. Don’t shy away from being who you are. Alicorn powers or not, you’ll always be our Sunny. That’s all we can ask of you… like I’ve said before.” I lovingly nuzzled my nose against her snout, a gesture that always brought a grin out of her, and did so again.

With the orange mare now feeling better, I used the moment to deliver my little surprise. “And that brings me to this.”

Gently pushing her backward a bit, I reached for my pocket and extracted the folded contract, handing it to her.

“Hmm? What’s this?” Sunny wondered as she carefully unfolded the sheet of paper.

“Deeds for a plot of land downhill from our home, and permission from the town hall to build the community garden.”

I felt Sunny’s body become rigid, her eyes now two pinpricks as she scanned the document in front of her. Izzy respectfully stood aside with a knowing grin.

“I’ve already covered the payment for it. The workponies should arrive any minute to assess the terrain and start d- MMMPH!!”

Sunny cut me off in a most particular way: by smashing her lips into mine, strong enough to push us back into the puff to the point I almost rolled over it and into the ground. With labored breathing, she held the kiss for a few fleeting moments before energetically pushing back, barely giving me a chance to taste her lips on mine. Not a second later she was bolting out of the room with an overjoyed cry, on her speedy way to meet the workponies down the hill.

Me? I remained still, screeching gears slowly resuming their turning as my brain processed what had just happened.

“Mmm.” Izzy purred, her grin only widening as she lowered herself on the puff at my side. “Cunning…” She playfully teased.

“Oh, gimme a break, Izzy.” I swatted her smug muzzle away. “Not everything’s a convoluted plan.”

“I’m suuuure it wasn’t.” She teased me further with a tail slap on my shins. “So, aaaare you gonna do something about it?” She wiggled her eyebrows in emphasis.

“Of course I am.” I replied with confidence. “You think I’d spend my last month's salary on a brand-new telescope out of the kindness of my heart? I got it all figured out.” I tapped my head twice with my own smug little smile.

“You’re SO evil.” Izzy playfully jabbed my ribs. “If that’s the case, then I’m sure I don’t need to tell you what will happen to you if you ever break her heart. ‘Cause you know I love you very much, but I’ll grind your hairless flank into dust if…”

“Izzy.” I placed a hand on her muzzle to cease her threatening. “My little sister was nineteen by the time I left Earth. And she had gone through a total of four boyfriends to that day. Each of them was the one, and each of them dined with our family at least once. So, just as I told Shining Armor back then, I don’t need you to deliver that speech. I practically invented that speech. I know it better than my doctoral thesis, and that’s saying something.”

“Hmph, you better.” She conceded with a threatening frown.

“You know I’d never harm any of you, Izzy.” I rubbed under her chin, successfully erasing her scowl. “But I want to talk to her first. I think it’s for the best to clear the mist before committing to anything serious.”

For the briefest moment, I saw what I thought was a conflict in her eyes, changing immediately to a harsh and resolute determination. It only lasted a second but it was enough to rekindle another of my concerns.

‘Yeah, that’s another thing I’m gonna have to deal with.’

“Hey, guys!” Zipp's head appeared from around the corner. “What’s going on downhill? There’s a crew of workponies talking to Sunny. Is she feeling better now?” She asked with concern about our friend.

“She’s feeling much better now.” I reassured her. “Better if we join her, we’ll all be a part of it after all.”

“‘Kay.” With that, she bolted out of the room in search of her sister. I got up on my feet and assured Izzy I would join them shortly; I just needed a moment to grab something first.

That something was my twinblade. I intended to use it to show Sunny something that I hoped would help her understand what it truly meant to be an alicorn. But first things first, I joined Izzy and the pegasi sisters on our way down the bay’s edge, where around halfway down the road a group of ponies appropriately dressed in high-vis jackets stood flabbergasted as Sunny made for a cute show of delimiting the area the garden would occupy by pacing around the desired perimeter with long steps, counting them loudly to provide a rough measurement.

On the phone, Hitch assured us he would arrive shortly with Sparky, so we decided to wait for him and amuse ourselves watching Sunny drag the chief pony around and bombarding him with her ideas for designs and the overall shape of the plot. The poor stallion did his best to jot down the mare’s hurried annotations while I stuck my sword into the ground and enjoyed the show.

Once Hitch had joined us, we spent the better part of the afternoon discussing among ourselves how we would manage the garden, devising the best strategy to get the most out of it for everypony to practice and enjoy. Sunny could barely contain herself, being the most participative one, proposing and discarding several ideas in quick succession until the perfect draft could be devised.

Since I had taken care of the land and the permits required, the ponies offered to divide the costs of the construction amongst themselves, not allowing me to put another bit into the effort. Begrudgingly, I complied, albeit taking a note to try and bribe Phyllis further to see if I could get her to lend us some of the abandoned equipment from her old factory.

“Uff!” Once the final draft was completed, a very satisfied Sunny tackled me to the grassy ground, thanking me over and over again in a breathless streak, seemingly unaware of what had transpired between us before.

I placed a tiny kiss behind her ear and snuggled her against my chest. “You’re very welcome, Sunny girl.”

My gesture lit an adorable blush on her cheeks, one I had grown to adore. But, as much as it pained me, I had to cut our tender moment short and address her more seriously.

“Sunny, there’s something I need to ask you.”

Noticing my change in demeanor, Sunny stood up and granted me some space, inquisitive eyes waiting patiently.

“It has to do with today’s… um, ‘little problem’ with you being an alicorn.”

The rest of the gang surrounded us in a semi-circle. “Mhm?” Sunny prompted me to continue.

“I see how you strain yourself to become one, how you push yourself every time we train, and how you grow desperate every time you fail to do so. I admire your dedication, I truly do, but I fear you might be misunderstanding what it means to be an alicorn.”

“What do you mean?”

I wetted my lips. “Alicorns have always held a particular sense of meaning amongst ponykind. Zipp knows what I’m referring to.” Her look told me she recalled our previous conversation. “But the important thing I need you to understand is… how do I say it… becoming an alicorn is something nopony could ever accomplish by themselves. It’s a state of power and influence only a few selected ponies are ever granted, no matter if they ascend, or if they’re trueborn alicorns. Sunny,” I directed my entire attention to her. “Do you feel you need to prove yourself as an alicorn to us?”

She swallowed a nervous lump but feverishly nodded after a few moments.

“Do you feel you need to reach the same standard that the alicorns of old set?”

Again, another tiny nod. “If I am to protect everypony, to make the best out of my powers, then yes, I believe I do need to reach that standard.”

Biting my lower lip, I considered her answer. “If that is the case, allow me to show you your final test.”

Standing up, I cracked my knuckles and neck. The ponies mirrored my movements, unsure as to what I had just mentioned.

“F-Final test? W-What are you talking ab-”

“Accio.”

Obeying my command, my twinblade soared through the air until reaching my outstretched palm. Now addressing the positively puzzled Sunny, I turned on my heels and walked to the cliff's edge, from where I could glimpse the calm sea reflecting the sunset’s colors with a shimmering mixture of oranges and blue hues. The ponies silently followed my steps, allowing a respectful distance between us, with Sunny taking a place a bit ahead of the rest.

“What’s he gonna do?”

“I don’t know, Izzy. It sounded serious.”

More whispers were exchanged between the expectant ponies, but I paid no heed to them. Instead, I focused and readied myself for one of the most, if not the most complex spell my human physiology could muster. A spell I absolutely needed my blades for, since they would take the brunt of the casting, preventing my fragile body from literally bursting into cinders. A particular type of magic was required for this one.

“Dies dat noctem.”

In one swift movement, I switched my stance to stand sideways from the cliff’s side, the twinblade now levitating in front of me.

“Nox dat diem.”

The runes in each of the blades began to hum with power, shining with their respective golden and bluish hues. My hands made a circular motion, which the blades followed without hesitation; two concentric circles began to be drawn until their completion. Runes shimmered inside them, the ones in the innermost circle differing from the outermost’s. An expert eye would have noticed that they resembled the marks of a sextant, for that was their purpose.

“Dux firmamenti.”

Power continued gathering in the tips of my blades, a strong breeze in the bay now becoming quite noticeable as a result. The ponies remained mesmerized before my demonstration of one of the most powerful magic spells this world had ever known.

“Ostende eis viam!”

In another sharp movement, my hand guided the tips further on their path; the solar tip was now pointed toward the setting sun behind the mountains, while the lunar one was now poised toward the horizon beyond the sea.

Now came the hard part. Closing my fists in the air as if I was about to grab something, I began directing the blades on a new path; the blade pointed towards the sea slowly began to rise while the opposite blade started to fall in tandem. The innermost circle spun following their movements, while the outermost did so in the opposite direction.

Five muzzles opened in astonishment as slowly, painfully slowly, the moon began climbing from the horizon, just as the sun completely disappeared behind the tall peaks beyond the bay.

Clenching my teeth in supreme effort, I continued guiding the celestial bodies until they had reached their appropriate places in the firmament. That the swords took the brunt of the magic didn’t mean my body was exempt from damage. Fortunately, that damage only manifested in the form of extreme fatigue as I let go of the spell, falling to my knees and reaching with my hands to prevent myself from eating grass.

The magic circles fizzled out of existence the moment I let go, my twinblade falling to the ground with a muffled THUD, cushioned only by the grass and flowers beneath our feet… or, hooves.

Mist formed in front of me as a consequence of my labored breathing and the now chilling temperatures. Summer would soon be over. Using my knees as leverage, I struggled to get back on my feet, succeeding on the third attempt. Another summoning spell brought the blades back into my reach. The ponies were still too dumbstruck to notice me retracing my steps back towards them.

“If you wish to prove yourself a true alicorn,” I stood before Sunny. “Next time,” I pointed my blade at her. “It’ll be you doing it.”

Sunny’s eyes met mine, but not a word was uttered from her muzzle. Satisfied with her ‘answer’, I proceeded on my way back to the brighthouse, looking forward to the long, hot bath I deserved after pulling that stunt.

“How’s that for a safety mechanism?” I addressed Zipp as I passed by her side with a playful wink.

The ponies remained stunned for a while, eyes bored into the bright full moon painting the bay in its milky colors. One by one, their scrambled brains regained their respective grips on reality, and silently followed my steps back into our home, too shocked to say anything.

It was an impossible task for her. I was well aware of that. I hoped that perhaps it would serve as inspiration for her, something for her to look up to. But, most importantly, I prayed it would help her understand.

I didn't need her to be an alicorn like the Princesses had been. I didn’t want her to become one. I hoped my training would be enough to prepare her to fight the incoming darkness alongside us, to teach her to make responsible use of her unique abilities for the betterment of ponykind.

But, the time of the alicorns had now passed. Their hold over the world had withered and ultimately shattered. It was time for something new, something better.

‘The ponies don’t need them anymore… forgive me, Twilight.’

Chapter 43- The Sinner. Part 5.

“Sit tight, Gaius. I'll be back soon.”

I tried to protest, but Älex would not have any of it. Something in the barely restrained bloody intent shining in his eyes told me to reign in my feathers and listen to him. Though, I’d rather much have preferred to accompany him to do… whatever he needed to do in that weird, ‘spirally’ mountain in the middle of the valley. That's where he said he needed to go, a… hive? A schangale… no, a… uh, chhhhangüeling…

Scheiße, I said it right the first time!

“... Okay.”

With his target in sight and mind made, Älex wasted little time in resuming his journey while I headed towards where he’d pointed me, carrying his heavy bag awkwardly on my back. How could I go around carrying this thing without tumbling every two steps? It felt all wrong and the shoulder pads weren’t where I felt they should be…

‘Whatever, I think there’s still some food left from my last scavenging trip.’

My ear tufts twitched when they caught a muffled bump or something like that, followed by a metallic clatter. Had he seriously just straight out jumped from the cliff's edge? He’d kill himself! He doesn't have any wi…

“Right, magiks.” I deadpanned to myself with a huff and resumed my gait in search of that clearing Alex had mentioned.

As I traversed the light foliage from the cliff’s rim, my thoughts were dragged again around my strange companion. I’d only known him for a week or so, but I believed I’d developed a solid opinion of him.

And you can sum that opinion to a single word: confusing.

When he had been captured by those… I'm not even going to lower myself to call them my brethren. Those Scheißkerle, I felt like the Blue Moon had smiled upon me, for he looked as little pleased to be treated like property to be spoiled as I was, and with the slavers focused on their newest toy, I had a window to plot my escape.

Then… well. I can't say I felt any sympathy for my captors. They deserved what they had coming after abusing me for the months after they’d grabbed me, dragging me from one place to another trying to sell me. It's not my fault I was born like this! I know there aren't many of my kind with this feline and avian heritage, but still!

And that hen… what she’d do to me while the others pretended not to notice. Over and over again…

A shudder shook my body from the tip of my beak to the end of my tail. No, I felt no pity for my captors. But the way Älex killed them… butchered them.

For a moment, I was not there, but three years ago in my village, watching helplessly as the Minotauren tore our village apart. There weren't that many of us; we were poor and underfed, and we had little chance to stop them.

Trapped under that magik dome he’d summoned around me, I saw a younger me watching my father face off against two minotaurs while my mom tried to fly me away from our destroyed nest before a hammer caught one of her wings, dropping us both into the snow.

I wanted to run, as far and fast as I had that day, when I saw my entire life torn to shreds, leaving me to fend for myself in the wilderness for years before I was captured.

A recurring nightmare kept inflicting itself on my dreams from that day onward, and it still does to this day on occasion. Our nests in flames, griffons butchered left and right by hulking, bipedal forms, the cries from my mother, the fate of my friends…

The day I met him, I saw a nightmare happen before my very eyes. But this time, instead of a warhammer coming down on my skull, a helping claw was offered to me, by a creature who somewhat resembled a minotaur, but claimed he was not.

… I didn't know what to make of things then. He claimed an urgency to leave that place before something nastier than those wastes of feathers came prowling around. He’d assured me that I was free to go where I pleased, that I wasn't going to end up trading captors with him; but it was in my ‘best interests’ to stick with him for the time being if I wanted to have even the slimmest of chances of making it through the night.

That creature had just turned a band of derailed slavers into a bloodbath without batting an eye, and now wanted us to turn tail, as if the spawns of Tartarus had just dug a hole to escape in front of our beaks.

I went with him, even when all my instincts told me not to trust him and dust off as fast as my wings could carry me. And I might've just done that if my stupid wing joint hadn't become dislocated, rendering me as flightless as a fletching six weeks out of their egg.

Then, as we took refuge in the den, I saw that he was as dubious to trust me as I was of him. But he offered help disinterestedly, fixed my wing, and treated a few other wounds I’d been dragging with me for a while, courtesy of that hen and our ‘fun times’.

I mean, I didn't miss how close he was keeping those weird swords of his when I became a bit too snappy. I apologized the next day. He told me it was fine.

I asked him about the slavers. He had agreed that the sentence was just, but he lamented how, in a better world, those monsters would've been given a fair trial and proper justice. Out here, one needs to get dirty and make hard choices. He didn't agree with his methods either, which brought me some relief, knowing I hadn't been rescued by a madgriff, or is it madhooman?... Whatever… I saw so much regret in him, and something in my feathers told me it didn't solely come from going feral on those slavers. Instead of a mindless monster, I saw a part of me in him. Lost, scared, regretful, alone…

I gave him a hug. I felt that it was the right thing to do. Mom would do the same for me when I was scared after a nasty thunderstorm. Or when I was very sick. I was always very sick when I was younger. I was too young to see it then, but it put a lot of stress on my parents.

I miss them…

We made a deal. I’d help him, and he’d help me. We’d travel together towards wherever he needed to be to do some urgent business, as he kept claiming, and then he’d take me with him to the pony village on the coast.

I was unsure how to feel about that. Stories of our Golden Age were far and between in my village, but from what little we could trust ourselves to remember, ponies weren't exactly the type of company a griffon might want to share, or any other non-pony for that matter. Father always told me to be wary of other creatures, griffon included, but especially ponies, even if there wasn't a reason we should encounter any so far north.

Älex had reassured me several times when I’d accidentally let that slip. He understood all the bad legends ponykind had won for themselves during all those centuries, and even claimed partial responsibility for it. How? All those things happened hundreds of years ago! Was he even around at the time? He wouldn't even be leftover bones today if that was the case!

I didn't ask, just took his word for it. He’d treated me nicely as it was and helped me out of a rough spot. It was that or returning to the wilderness on my lonesome. I didn't think I could trust my own kind after the treatment I received from those griffons, so risking searching for a griffon settlement to lay low was out of the question. If griffons could be such heartless monsters, I reasoned ponies couldn't be much worse. Little would surprise me at this point.

The density of vegetation around me became scarcer the closer I reached the aforementioned clearing. Just as he’d promised, an empty clearing of dusty dirt and the occasional weed hugged the cliff wall, allowing for a wide berth before being recalled by the forest.

I had enough space to light a small fire without causing a raging inferno, and if something nasty reared its ugly face around here, I reasoned I was well enough to at least slide down the cliff and put some nice distance between us. I'd find Älex halfway and we'd leave this weird place far behind us.

Leaving his awkward bag in the middle of the clearing, I set off to find some dry branches and leaves, and some nice toothpick sticks too to give the fire a nice kick. I had to teach myself a lot of things while I roughed it out in the wilderness, so I could trust my instincts to take over while my thoughts drifted back to my new friend… I guess I could call him a friend. The only thing he called me is ‘cub’ and I am NOT a little cub anymore.

He knew it riled me up, and it always brought a little laugh out of him. I reasoned that there were worse crimes than some playful banter. It's definitely what friends do.

He was so strange, and I didn't mean his looks. It was painfully true that neither of us must've been a joy to look at in our messed-up, battered states. He's just… different, coming from my limited knowledge regarding this world's intelligent creatures. In some ways, he had a lot of griffon in him, but then he did something seemingly completely out of character that left me gawking at him like he’d grown a second head.

He could be as fierce as that chimera he felled while I cowered in a tree, not my proudest moment...; or as sweet as a newborn kitten when you caught him in the mood. Roughing it up in the wilderness aside, he was actually a pretty mellow guy. He'd joke around sometimes, although I missed most of his jokes. He'd answer all the questions I had about the ponies, which was nice of him. Heck, hearing him talking about them almost sold me on the idea of living amongst them after we were done here.

‘I have to be careful. Everything about him screams that I should be fine trusting him. But there's this… thing about him. I just can't put my talons on it.’

Whatever the case was, this past week we’d spent traveling together showed me that I needn't be all jumpy and ruffled feathers around him.

Once I’d gathered a satisfying amount of wood, I returned to my impromptu campsite and dropped it unceremoniously, not bothering to build a ring of stones around it. The dirt was dry and loose enough, I could put it out anytime without an issue.

Without his magik gauntlets, I had to retort to the old trick of brushing two sticks together fast enough to evoke the wonders of friction. I could really use a pair of those things he had around his blunt claws, I mused. Pretty useful for lighting a simple fire or saving our sorry tails from a three-headed-three-breed monster.

‘Grover’s treasure, how can such a thing exist? It even talked! Like… talked! The three of the heads!”

One crazy tail to write home about, had I a home to return to in the first place.

~Dammit. It's been so long already, I barely feel a thing anymore...~

I was not sure whether to feel relieved or terrified.

What I was feeling at the moment was boredom and an unhealthy dose of fearful expectation to top it off. And I was mad, too. I was cranky with Älex having told me to keep to the sidelines while he went and faced something exceedingly dangerous, judging from the grave tone in his voice, and the numerous reminders about us needing to keep a careful eye on our surroundings the closer we got to our destination.

~I am not a little cub! I can pull my weight just fine! Verdammt, if it weren't for those glowy things on his talons, he'd be as defenseless as a newly hatched griff without me!~

Getting worked up over it was pointless, I knew. But still, I felt how in this last week of travel, he’d been pulling most of the weight for the both of us. I wanted to help. I knew that I could, injured wings or not. A griffon is more than just a pair of powerful wings, sharp talons, or an even sharper beak. I’d been hunting and foraging most of our meals, true; Älex’s little nose and ears couldn't hope to find prey even if it was frolicking in front of him. But the rest? That was mostly on him while he remained with me over and over again to rest and take care of my injuries.

I mean, I appreciated the concern, but come on!

Flopping down with a huff, I stewed in my anger while letting the rising flames warm up left my side, cooking some choice of words I'd have for him once he was back.

“Stupid hooman…”

There wasn't much else to do but wait. And wait I did, alone with my thoughts as sole company. Strange and confusing as he might've been, I couldn't deny the effect he was having on me. These last few days traveling together were the best days I could remember having since my days as a fletching with my family and friends. Even the simple fact of being able to talk to somecreature, to share a meal, to listen to his crazy stories… which I believed, for the most part, but it felt like half were made up on the spot… either that, or the hooman had surely been through a lot. Geez.

I felt alive again. I know it sounds strange, but I can't come up with a better way to put it.

Cocky and hesitant as I might have come up against his offers of living with his pony family, I couldn't lie to myself and say that I wasn't looking forward to it.

~Heh, and what will the ponies think of you, Gaius?~ I talked to myself, a poor way of fighting off the boredom that slowly settled. ~I don't think they're going to welcome us with open forelegs, precisely.~

I'd cross that bridge when I got there; we still had at least two weeks more of travel back to the easternmost end of the continent, according to Älex. Most of the time I ‘hitched’ a ride with the slavers; we’d kept north or as close to it as we could, so there was still a lot of land I hadn't seen. I was kinda looking forward to it, enjoying the sights and smells and sounds of nature without constantly fearing for my life.

It was shaping up to be an interesting trip. Plenty of time to listen to more of his completely made-up stories. I mean, an evil pony made entirely out of shadows and a bunch of long-lost heroes trapped in a place called ‘Limbo’...

Please, my mom had better bedtime stories.

Minutes turned to hours while I waited, changing sides to rest upon and walking circles around the clearing, drawing doodles of whatever came to mind in the dirt, scaring a few rabbits out of their dens, although I wasn't hungry at the time, so I let them flee.

A faint sound, coming from somewhere far in the distance, brought my thirteenth lap counterclockwise this time, around the clearing to a halt. I strained my ears to catch any other noises, but could only hear the music of the wind caressing the leaves of the nearby trees.

For what little I managed to discern, it had come up from somewhere in the general direction of the crooked mountain, but my avian eyesight didn't notice any appreciable difference from the past three hours.

With my tail twitching nervously behind me, I settled down near the edge of the cliff, digging my sight into the Hive, as Älex had called it, and waited with concern freezing my heart over.

‘I should've gone with him…’

Minutes passed without a change, but I remained at my post. Boredom and accumulated exhaustion fought a winning battle against my resolve to remain up and vigilant. As I felt my eyelids drop against my will, I could only ask the Blue Moon to ensure that he was okay and on his way back. Since enjoying these few days in his company, being all alone stung worse than ever before.

At some point, I ended up surrendering to the clutches of slumber. I can’t remember the moment I fell asleep, nor the content of my dreams. Just that they were calm ones, drifting to an odd tone towards the end, the reason I was snapped out of my midday nap. Whatever had infiltrated my dreams was also assaulting my nostrils. Sniffing hard as I blinked the cobwebs from my eyes, I identified the smell as something burning.

I quickly dismissed it as the fire I’d lit earlier so that Älex could find me, but something was missing. The comforting heat from the flames was no longer warming up my feathers. Through the corner of my eye, I found the fire had gone out already, only a wisp of smoke rising from the burned pile of logs. That told me two things. One, I needed to relight the fire. Two, what the hay was burning? The smell was too strong to be coming from the dead fire.

Standing on my legs and ruffling my wings lazily, I found my answer peering behind me. Dark columns of foul smoke rose from beyond the border of the cliff. I couldn't see the bottom of the valley due to the inclination of the rim, but I needn't be a genius to guess where it was coming from.

Just to confirm my eyes weren’t playing a trick on me, I stumbled my sleepy way to the border of the cliff, and my worst fears became true.

The ‘hive’ was burning. All of it, the flames swallowing the lush vegetation around it as well as the plant life growing over it. Puffs of smoke filtered out from every nook and crevice that kissed the exterior, telling me that the place was being cooked from the inside out. With my heart beating a mile a minute, I dug my claws into the loose dirt at the edge of the cliff, almost jumping down there and then to Älex’s rescue.

‘Slow down, Gaius, and think. We both know what happens when we rush mindlessly into danger.’

I debated my options. It was a HUGE fire going on, there was no way he could’ve missed it. Or was it his thing to begin with? Or perhaps it was provoked by whatever or whoever had drawn Älex in, to begin with! Was he trapped inside?

Was it too late already?

“Scheiße!!” I cursed loudly, slapping my tail against the dirt in frustration. ~Of course he had to go all alone! I could’ve just flown the both of us out if I had come with him! But nooooo, he needs to be the mysterious lonely hero going all by himself to get his flank whooped over by whatever it is that we came here for!! Aaargh!~

Storm clouds were building over my head, the boom of thunder bouncing all over the valley every now and then, but no rain fell to quench the flames. My feathers were ruffled and my fur stood on end.

Something big had happened, something… transcendental, it felt to me.

Pacing back and forth stirringly, leaving angry mounds of loose dirt with my claws as I stomped around the campsite, I ran over all the possibilities and outcomes I could come up with, slowly but surely discarding them one by one until a prominent thought stood up. It was reckless, impulsive, and most likely would toast my feathers a nice shade of brown, but I simply couldn't leave Älex behind to burn alive or something worse.

~Okay… Okay, deeeep breath Gaius.~

Returning to the cliff’s edge, I flared my wings open, wincing a bit when the still tender muscles of my right one complained about the exercise. The feeling of wind tickling my feathers as it ran under my wings was a welcome feeling. How I longed to get back to the skies. There’s no equal feeling like cutting through the air, tasting freedom with each wingbeat, letting the chilled, condensed water droplets from a wayward cloud sap the heat away after a nice flying session.

The best I could muster up now was a half-flanked glide with no promises of eating a few branches on my way down.

Tasting the wind and assessing its speed and direction, I was ready to save that hooman’s butt from being scorched. Perhaps I’d take a chunk of it if it was well enough cooked by the time I reached him as payment. Crouching down and extending my wings as far as the needles would let me, I clenched my hindquarters and prepared a griffon-patented powerjump.

~On three. One. Two. Thre-squack!!~

Just as I felt my paw pads leaving the ground behind, a shadow jumped from beyond the edge of the cliff, startling my wings to beat backward instead of downwards, bringing me down with them to an unceremonious landing on my rump.

“Ooof!!”

From my awkward position, I registered the muffled *thud* of something landing on the edge of the cliff. Once I’d twisted my way up to my paws, I found the shadowed object to be the target of my rescue operation.

Battered, and especially bloodied, Älex stood in a semi-crouched stance, using his huge sword to steady himself against the grassy ground as deep, exhausted puffs left his lungs.

~Ä-Älex?~

Panting and wheezing, the hooman realized rooted while catching his breath. He seemed, and smelled, like he’d run all the way back. That was one impressive leap, I had to admit, no doubt magiks assisting with it, but the feat was far down on my list of concerns, his sorry state being up-front the most.

No signs of burned flesh or clothes were visible, which was a small relief. I couldn't smell any signs of the touch of fire on his body either. But what I could smell, however, aside from sweat and grime from a long journey, was blood.

He was bleeding profusely from multiple points, most of them old wounds that had become open again. But what threw me most was the rivulets of crimson snaking down from his flat nose and funny-looking ears, as well as the corners of his mouth and his eyes, making him look as if he’d been crying tears of blood.

At my stuttered call, Älex lifted his head the smallest amount, enough to peer at me from the corner of his eye as his muscles struggled to keep him aloft.

“Aaaah…. Aaaah…. Geht es Ihnen gut?”

He had asked me if I was alright, to which, in surprise, I could only reply with a shaky nod, still drinking in the sight of all the damage he’d suffered while out there during whatever he’d been doing. He was looking worse than after facing the chimera, and that abomination surely had given him a run for his money.

What had happened out there?

“Good.” He affirmed and tried to stand up, but his legs failed and gave way under him, making him fall face-first into the dirt with his swords clattering beside him.

Stumbling over my legs, I rushed to help him, parking all opinions about his battered state for when they were relevant. I didn't know if his state was life-threatening. I only knew I needed to act, and fast.

“U-Um…” I tripped over my words like a scaredy chicken, supporting his bipedal frame against me as best as I could, my fur and feathers becoming stained with his blood.

“The salve.” He squeezed out between pants.

I remembered what he was referring to, that foul-smelling gunk those ‘bat ponies’ had given him for his journey. There should still be some left to use, although his wounds were numerous.

“R-Right.”

After making sure he could at least hold himself for a little bit, I scurried back in search of his bag and the precious remedy inside it.

Having left it a safe distance from the fire, I grabbed it between my talons and started rummaging through its contents. Food and smelly clothes made up most of his travel equipment, but no matter how hard I searched, I was seemingly unable to find the accursed jar with the greenish paste.

~Dammit, where did he put that forsaken flask…~

“Looking for this?”

Jumping out of my fur and two meters into the air, I dropped Älex’s bag clumsy and landed back on a crouched stance, ready to claw the face out of whatever had startled me.

My fighting spirit was therefore crushed, however, when my foe revealed itself as… I don't know how to describe him, and I say him by the masculine tone of his voice, might as well have been a ‘she’ or both for all I knew.

Standing tall and thin with the slender body of a… furred snake? With a dragon-like tail on one end and the head of an equine on the other. His limbs were a collection of different creatures, just as the tiny wings behind him. Cascading down his face, a white, scruffy mane almost masked his creepy, yellowish eyes and a prominent fang peeking out from his muzzle.

Finding me utterly baffled, the weird creature scoffed at me with a tired huff.

“Pluh-ease, I’m not that ugly, am I?” He asked rhetorically, bringing his slender snout too close to my liking with a mock sneer, only for a lock of whitish mane to fall over his face, obscuring his features. “Ugh.” Rolling his eyes, he snapped two lion-like digits over the offending lock of mane and, as if his fingers had become scissors, the lock of mane fell down with a swift swoop in front of me.

Wide-eyed and every single feather puffed, I offered no retort to his sarcasm, completely blown away by the creature in front of me. Was he friendly? A threat? Was he here to help us? Eat us perhaps?

The creature must’ve been already used to my flabbergasted reaction since he offered no further commentary. True to his taunting, he held the jar containing the slave on his bird-like claws and, as if I was a simple stump in the way, he brushed me aside and headed towards Älex, whose legs had failed him further, bringing him down on a ball of pain on the ground.

I was left peering at the nothingness for the time it took the gears to kick off again, the moment I realized my new pal was at the mercy of this uncanny creature. Protective instincts kicked in, and I was beside the pair with a flap of my wings, talons at the ready.

“Hey! Stäy avay vrom hi-!!”

But the strange being wasn’t eating my friend alive or anything remotely close. Cradling the sorry hooman on his mismatched arms, he cradled him in a more dignified position, the jar being kept close in his coiled tail.

Noticing the abrupt change of position, Älex’s eyes fluttered open from the brink of having passed out. He needed to blink twice to confirm the identity of the presence keeping him steadily seated while leaning against his lion foreleg. Instead of mirth and joy for finding an old friend coming to his aid, Älex’s already shattered mood turned as stale as a month’s dated expired milk.

“... No me jodas.” He mumbled in that weird language of him I had caught him muttering every once in a while.

“I’m happy to see you too, old friend.” The creature, seemingly able to understand him, smiled with a shit-eating grin, his sole fang peeking out creepily from his long muzzle.

Far from being scared, Älex gave out a sense of boredom behind the visible agony he was in, simply rolling his eyes and averting his gaze to anywhere but the creature’s playful eyes.

“Oh, can’t a valiant knight get some recognition from the princess in distress?” He asked jokingly, to which Älex answered with… uh, I didn't recognize the gesture. He just flipped his middle finger to the creature’s face and scoffed, eliciting a joyful laugh from the bigger being.

“Fuck off, Discord. Of all times, this is NOT the one I’m in the mood.”

‘Discord’, the being’s name, apparently, took notice of Älex’s mauled condition. With a thoughtful hum and a quick scratch of his goatee, Discord snapped the fingers on his bird arm. A flash of light blinded me momentarily, making me fall back on my tail with a pained yelp. Coiling my poor limb in front of me so that I could nurse it, I was blown away for the second time in the past ten minutes when all the blood, superficial lacerations, and grime sticking to the hooman disappeared with the flash, his torn clothes becoming as new and clean as straight out of the wardrobe. The worst injuries remained since I could still see the ugly scar of the manticore's sting peeking out from the uncovered part of his shoulder.

Whilst the change was as astonishing as it was welcome, it seemed Älex’s energy hadn't returned with his refreshment. Panting and heaving like exhausted prey, he remained wobbly in Discord’s gentle grasp.

“Thank you,” Älex spoke with a grumble, on the verge of normal hearing and not an ounce louder, yet Discord heard nonetheless, his grin widening to impossible sizes.

“I’m sorry, I haven't quite heard that, my ears are old and dusty.” He made a number of motions at scratching his right ear, the clawed digit going inside to the point he’d be scratching his own brain, and coming out with a dust bunny of absurd size which he promptly flicked away.

‘... This creature is creepy.’

“I said you can suck my dick, that’d make me feel better.” Älex fired in annoyance, but it flew over Discord’s head like a breeze.

“Always a pleasure, my little wayward buddy.” Unbothered by the hooman’s harsh choice of language, Discord chuckled like two friends going back and forth with each other. Slithering his way around the hooman like the snake most of his frame embodied, he curled his slender body around the hooman’s seated frame.

“I must simply tell you about my adventures these past eight years!!... Wait, how much time has it been here? It’s hard to keep track while having so much fun!! No matter, here,” He nudged the jar from his coiled tail to the hooman’s shaky grasp. “You can get all nice and slippery meanwhile. So, there I was…”

Sighing loudly, Älex opened the lid and dipped his fingers inside, coating them with a nice layer of the disgusting paste and going for the first wound in reach somewhere under his shirt, his jacket hanging open at his sides. I hadn't asked him yet about that strange sigil sewn into it.

Discord meanwhile began a detailed tale about traveling between worlds, enjoying the sights and foods, and wreaking 'healthy’ havoc whenever he was up to it, going so far as to team up with other Discord’s out there.

‘By the Blue Moon, there’s more than one…’ I couldn't help but shudder under my feathers.

“... so then, after finishing all the lobster-flavored ice cream they had, my cousin pointed me towards this crazy dimension…”

“Eris is still around?” Älex butted in, having finished with another deep cut on his left calf and going for another blob of the fastly diminishing salve. “What am I saying, of course she’s still around.” The growl under his breath denoted a lack of joy around the fact.

“Oh, she most certainly is!!” Discord was more than happy to confirm, knitting the hooman’s brow in a scoff. “She asked about you! Quite a lot, indeed…” The slender creature winked a yellow eye at Älex, the message clear as a summer day.

“Sure she has.” Älex put on an indifferent front, now tending a nasty scratch on his right forearm while pretending to be paying attention to Discord's teasing.

“Mhm! She wanted me to bring you around to the casino again! She said you two had a lovely time the last time you visited.” Discord clapped his mismatched claws and put dovey eyes at the hooman.

Älex humored him with a side look, seemingly more than used to Discord’s shenanigans.

“It was an interesting journey…” His voice drifted off, a shadow of a memory or two flashing before his eyes, halting his progress on nursing his wounds.

“Can you imagine it?!” Discord was suddenly at my side, hugging me with his lion limb around my shoulder, pressing his cheek against mine as if we had known each other our entire lives or something. It was creepy and almost made me shed my feathers from the start. “This human here, shoulder to shoulder with the evilest, most wicked beings of the nearby dimension, all bottled up in a temple of debauchery like my cousin's casino!! Oooh ho ho ho, the sweet chaos they could’ve unleashed together.”

A full-body shudder traveled Discord's entire length, his eyes staring dreamily at the sky while I tried my best to free myself from his grasp and put some distance between us. I wiggled my way out successfully as he daydreamed with a deep sigh, and used the breather to check up on Älex, who remained silent while treating the last of the most pressing injuries.

I couldn't help but ask. “Who is this guy?” I worded, more than a bit annoyed.

“You’ll get used to him… eventually.” He responded with a s little joy as my query. We both peered at the slender creature as he kept at his weird act of starry eyes and claws clenched together against his cheek.

“Ah… the old days…” He breathed out nostalgically. However, his daydreaming was squashed the moment he focused on the ugly plumes of smoke, tall enough to be visible from our angle. His eyebrows knit into a frown until a lightbulb literally went on over his head.

“Right, the reason why I’m here!” With a snap of his claws, he was beside us again, hovering on his little, mismatched wings while peering into the burning horizon. “Besides seeing an old friend, of course.” He added with a mischievous grin.

“We are not friends.” Älex felt the need to firmly refresh Discord’s memory.

“Agree to disagree.” Discord once again brushed the hooman’s lack of tact off. “I was actually thinking about checking up on you colorful lot, but I felt that somecreature had left the Game. Somecreature important.” He lost his hovering to stand beside the sitting hooman, a contemplative gleam in his eyes. “Chrissy and you finally scored your differences? A bit too much, if you ask me. I'd have gone for a nice scolding instead.”

“Chrysalis was no longer part of the Game, Discord.” Älex rebutted, sending the now-empty jar back to his bag with his levitation magiks, hugging his knees against his chest as I felt something eating my new friend fiercely, life becoming deem in his brown eyes. “And… yes, I guess we have.”

“Of course she is!” Discord, caring not for Älex’s darkening mood, clarified. “You know you don’t need to be an Empyrean to be part of the show. Take our old friends for example!”

“I’m not in the mood to discuss philosophy, Discord,” Älex growled, his tone telling me he simply wished to be left in peace to cook in whatever he was feeling. “It’s done, and a piece of me died because of it. Now I just want to return home and let my family tear down the remaining pieces for ditching them like I have for this stupid mission.”

“Hmm, if you say so...” Discord stroked his goatee in thought. “Can’t say I’ll miss her. We were never really close or anything. Two very different ideas of conquering Equestria. Oh, well,” He lazily stretched back in the air, his limbs popping like popcorn as they stretched almost twice in length with a big yawn. “At least the changelings can now be at ease that their evil Queen won’t be coming back to enslave them.” Out of nowhere, an actual bag of popcorn appeared in his bird claws, which he began to pop into his muzzle one by one as he took in the flaming scenario beyond the cliff as if he were in a cheap theater movie.

“... There are no more changelings.”

Both Discord and I had to do a double take on Älex’s almost whispered statement, the hooman not meeting our questioning gazes, but instead drinking in the product of his work.

“No schangälei-ugh.” The word still eluded me, such weird pronunciation these Equestrians had.

“Changeling.” Älex corrected me, giving me a reassuring scratch on my scalp which I happily welcomed. Those claw-less digits of his weren't all that useful in a fight, but bird could they give your feathers a nice rub.

“No more changelings?” Discord mirrored my question, landing back in the seriousness of Älex’s message. “I get there aren’t any changelings inside the Hive, since it’s now on fire. But you can’t possibly be telling me they didn't simply ditch that musty place and find a proper home somewhere else!”

Älex remained silent for a few seconds as his fingers brushed the roots of my head feathers, an almost therapeutic gesture for him as I found his breathing evening and muscles relaxing. Weird how that worked.

“Chrysalis’ was the last Hive in Equus. Ponies cared not about whether they were being reformed or not. They hated everycreature, including themselves. A changeling cannot live off of hate.”

Discord pondered the hooman’s word for a moment, his features saddening as the hooman’s remained in cold neutrality, yet I could almost feel his heart shattering over and over again. A lone tear was cascading down his left cheek, yet he forced his sight to remain fixed on the horizon.

I curled my tail around his bent legs and pressed against his side, thinking he could use the close company. It always made me feel better when I was sick or sad, even if other griffons would call me a ‘softy’. Älex welcomed my gesture by looping his arm around my back, the hand petting my scalp continuing to do so on my shoulder.

“She told me I should've stayed dead that day...” Älex broke the heavy silence with words that initially puzzled me.

‘Stayed dead? How could he not have stayed dead? Griffons don’t come back from being dead!’

“... She was right.” He concluded.

With a heavy sigh, Discord planted… whatever accounted for his rear beside us and looped his long tail around us, the three of us sharing the view of the fire consuming the nearby forest that surrounded the mountain, though thankfully it seemed it wasn't stretching much beyond that, the numerous streams slithering under the canopy making sure of it.

“Is that how you feel about it?” Discord, the bag of popcorn having disappeared from his grasp, asked the hooman.

“Yes,” Älex answered without a shadow of doubt.

Discord chewed down his answer for a moment before changing his approach.

“What about your friends waiting for you at the Bay?”

A twitch of Älex’s muscles told me Discord had struck a nerve, yet the hooman remained stone-faced.

“... It is selfish of me to think they’d miss me. They wouldn't have known me in the first place.” I couldn't fight down a disappointed mewl when his hand left my plumage to rent to his lap, where he fiddled with his thumbs in a gesture of conflict. “My mission at this time is pointless. It was always pointless. They never needed my help to protect magic. They could’ve perfectly dragged your ass through the magma without my help.”

Discord scoffed in offense for whatever reason. I was lost on these events Älex was referring to, that story having been part of his usual storytelling while we traveled.

‘Drag his butt through magma? Ouch…’ I winced inwardly.

“That is not the point, Alexander.” Discord followed after the hooman’s silence. I learned then the hooman’s full name, eliciting a surprise gawk from me which Älex didn't address. Discord crossed his arms over his chest and brushed his goatee again with a bird claw. “We don’t get to choose what we feel is deserved for us or not.”

“I still don’t understand, Discord. What is it that ties me to Equus? What does Harmony still need me to do?”

Älex peered down to his blunt claws, the gloves full of gems worn around them as the first time I saw him, not one coming out, not even when he bathed in whatever stream we could find on the way.

“Everything I’ve done here has been trivial. It doesn't feel important enough reason to make me the exception of the century!” His words carried a heated tone that was unusual for him. Where normally remain calm and collected, this particular topic was hauntingly fast to bring the colors out of him.

“I don’t know what to tell you.” Discord sounded apologetic. “Harmony and I have never seen eye to eye, needless to say.” His lion paw came to rest on Älex’s shoulder reassuringly, an empty gesture for the hooman. “But, if something I’ve learned from Fluttershy is that everything we do counts, one way or another, no matter how small or ‘insignificant’.

Älex inhaled sharply as Discord’s paw gripped his shoulder, sending it a heated glare before giving in and letting the slender creature do as it pleased. Even a blind griffon could see the relationship these two shared was more than a one-way thing coming from Discord. Whatever it was that’d happened between the both of them, it made Älex less than cooperative with Discord which, in present circumstances, I wasn't sure worked in our favor or not.

“They never needed me here,” Älex spoke to himself more than us. “Sunny and the rest had figured it all out before I even came here. I just…” Sighing loudly, the hooman rubbed his temples, his shoulders slumping and bringing Discord's paw with them.

“... Just do us a favor and take us home.”

‘H-He can do that?!’

“Oooh, eager to return to the missus, aren't we?” Discord shed his sorrowful mask for a knowing grin, which brought Älex to scoff for the hundredth time that day. “Sure, I can give you a lift.” With a flash, Discord donned a dark blue with white and golden highlight uniform and a matching cap. “AirDiscord will get you across the continent in a jiffy… If you can stomach the ride!”

Having given up trying to understand this nightmarish creature and his randomness, I followed Älex as he stood up with a grunt of effort, using a thumb to wipe some treasonous tears from the corners of his eyes. He levitated his bag and sword and fixed it all in place on his back.

I gave my body a good shake to lose the clinging dirt and debris from my plumage and waited with a cocked head to learn how in Grover’s name was Discord going to take us to Älex’s home, a literal continent away from here.

“Not my first rodeo, Discord.” Älex rasped, tightening the straps of his holster and bag. Peering down at me, he put on a pensive face for a moment before a conclusion took root in his mind. “I’m gonna need a bucket, though.”

“Hmm? What for?” Discord asked, looking over two rectangular pieces of paper with a lot of weird stuff and numbers written on them before ripping the upper part off and tossing them somewhere behind him. “I thought you were too tough a pickle to get replacement sickness.”

“It’s not for me.” Älex corrected the languid creature, patting me on the head. “He’s a griffon. You know they don’t deal well with asymmetrical displacement.”

“Ah, true enough.” Discord agreed with Älex, making me fidget nervously at their side. Was it something bad? Was I gonna be okay? Or…

With another snap of his claws, Discord procured a metal bucket out of the nothingness and handed it to Älex, the words ‘Hang in there’ with a cute picture of a cat painted on its side.

I was starting to get really nervous.

“U-Um… I am not süre avout zees.”

“Don’t worry, bird face.” Älex gave a reassuring smile and took a kneel by my side, seeking to calm me with some pats on my back which didn't really work that well. “First time’s always a pain in the ass for everybody, but your avian inner compass suffers a nasty tumble the more distance you teleport. You’ll be very dizzy, but fine. Trust me.”

“Um…” I wanted to protest, but Discord had another idea in mind.

“Very well! Ahem... Fillies and gentlegriffs,” Älex gave Discord that finger gesture again, which he ignored. “Welcome to AirDiscrod, your best and only intercontinental travel service. We ask that you keep all arms, legs, tails, and other limbs inside the vehicle at all times. Remember that our snack service will be available at all times during the flight. Please fasten your seatbelts and get ready for departure!~”

“V-Vhat is he sayïng?”

Älex simply shook his head side to side tiredly, a groan building in his throat.

“Don’t listen to him, he's just being an ass.”

“Tell Izzy that I’m looking forward to seeing her again,” Discord asked Älex, his lion paw open, a bubble of light slowly building atop it, crackling with energy. “And the rest too, I guess.”

“I don't think they’re that eager to see you again. I told them about my death.” Älex answered, allowing him a victorious grin over Discord's frown.

“Ugh, such a killjoy...” Discord scoffed, crushing the ball of light into his palm and readying his fingers for a snap.

“V-V-Vait, vhat do you mëan dea-”

“Ta-Ta!!~”

*FLASH*

I felt as if my insides had become my outsides and the other way around. For a second, all my senses became overloaded with light and noise and… things I cannot describe. Before I could form a single thought around it, whatever had engulfed us spit us out carelessly into what I recognized as a grassy meadow once I’d gotten my eyes to stop spinning.

Having ended belly up like a kitten asking for rubs, a prominent smell invaded my nostrils. Moist grass and fresh soil, but also a twinge of saltiness I remembered having tasted only once a while ago.

We were somewhere near the coast. We were definitely no longer in that clearing at the edge of the cliff.

“Mmmmggg, que asco de magia.” I heard Älex grumble in that strange language of his, having ended on his butt, rubbing his neck with a hand while the other stretched to recall his scattered equipment with his magiks. “You alright, cub?” He asked me while nudging the metal bucket closer to me with a knee.

Aside from the overall disorientation, the spots dancing on my eyes and the ants crawling over the tip of my limbs, I didn't feel that terrible.

“I’m not a cu-urk!!”

My complaint would’ve proved more effective had that day’s lunch, and the previous weeks’ too, not decided to rush up my gullet explosively and without warning. Reaching for the bucket instinctively, I proceeded to release the contents of my stomach in a pathetic show, like a young griff pulling out of their first barrel roll.

Kneeling beside me, a comforting hand rubbed the feathers on my neck as Älex waited for me to finish painting the insides of the bucket with my lunch.

“That's what you get from jumping the magnetosphere. You’ll be fine, Gaius, don’t force it.”

A minute or so in I found my breath again, his petting acting to soothe my sickness to a barely tolerable state. The fresh breeze coming from the sea did its part and, once I felt like myself again, pushed the foul-smelling bucket and its contents away from me and seated myself back on my haunches, feeling as if I were being rolled over by a freight train.

“... Nie wieder.”

“Heh, yeah, I’ve heard that before.” Älex chuckled as he patted me one last time, taking the bucket and disposing of its contents where it wouldn't bother anycreature.

“Come on.” He urged me to my paws once he was back. “If you think you’re feeling worn out, I’m literally moments away from passing out. But I gotta reach the hospital first.” He sunk a claw into my chest fluff. “And I need you to do something for me.”

“Vhat…?” I asked, half paying attention, half still reeling out from the tumble.

“But first,” Älex pushed on, pointing with a hand toward the direction of the ocean. “We gotta let all the ponies see you with me so they don’t start mass panicking… I hope.”

‘Great…’

Having heard from stories how jumpy and skittish ponies can be, I wasn't what you’d say looking forward to introductions. I could only hope my hooman friend’s presence was enough to reassure them that I wasn't here to eat them or anything.

What does a pony even taste like? I don’t know why, but for some reason, fruit always comes to mind… whatever. I’d kill for some fish.

Shaking the dizziness away, I found a nice, tucked pony town bordering the length of the bay, the blue ocean stretching beyond it until eyesight could reach. The warm colors of late afternoon had replaced the unforgiving midday sun before the storm cloud had masked it out of sight. We must’ve really traveled far if the sun had moved so much in the sky.

From our vantage point on the top of the grassy hill, some life could be discerned amidst the paved streets and two-story homes; a far cry from my village, I was ashamed to admit.

Equine figures sauntered back and forth, minding their own business. All in all, it looked like a nice place so far. Quiet. Normal, I guessed.

The mention of the hospital, while not surprising, only worked to re-spark the wisp of worry in my chest.

“Vill you be alright?” I asked with genuine concern. As we made our way down the hill and into the edge of town, I saw Älex’s gait become more like a stumble, to the point I had to press my side against him so he could remain steady against gravity’s gentle tug.

“Just need a thorough check-up and proper stitches to close my wounds. Also,” He worded, taking a raspy breath where his lungs struggled to supply him with oxygen. “Also… I need blood thinner and filtering. I’ve been stung by a manticore and bitten by a chimera’s snake head. I’m immune to both, perks of being off-worldly and all, but they can react badly and mess up some important things if I don’t make sure my bloodstream is clean. The venom not targeting me means I can't also target it to properly eliminate it through pissing, you follow?”

I didn't follow, only blinking owlishly twice while making sure he didn't trip and fall when grass became chiseled stone.

“... Should’ve listened to your momma and stayed in college, then.”

“College?” I asked with a dip of my beak.

“Fuck’s sake…”

Leaving behind whatever he was trying to explain, Älex directed me through narrow streets and even narrower alleys, seeking to avoid as many potentially panicking ponies as possible. Of course, luck can only carry us so far. The moment we stepped paw into what I could guess was some main street of sorts, what few pony heads still populated the street zeroed in on us with an eerie intensity.

“At ease.” Älex raised a hand before the screaming match could begin. “He’s with me. He won’t eat you as long as you give him something nice to bite instead.”

And with that, what little hopes I had for a smooth introduction shattered like glass in a blizzard.

“Kumpel!!” I yelled at the smirking hooman. How he could play pranks now of all times was beyond me. Still, it seemed the ponies trusted him enough to at least not shout the end of days at our arrival, just leaving us a nice wide berth as I followed the hooman towards the hospital.

Älex’s eyes darted back and forth as we traversed the street, most likely searching for his pony friends. But it was late in the day and most businesses were already closed, including a cart of sorts with a logo of a very appetizing shake of sorts in front of which Älex stopped for a second before continuing on our way.

The only ‘hospital’ I’d ever known was the village’s healing hut, where Miss Gothy would give me herbs to make me feel better on an almost weekly basis. I was always very sick when I was young, not so much now, thank Grover.

The building standing in front of me, however, was a proper hospital, three-story with a big number of windows which must’ve belonged to patient rooms, I could only guess. We crossed the big door, crowned with a big, red cross symbol.

With colorful ponies doing their best to act inconspicuous as they diverted their paths to stay well away from us, Älex headed for the reception where a yellow-furred mare sat in front of a desk with a bored expression, rummaging through some papers and occasionally writing something with a pencil on her maw.

It wasn't my first time seeing ponies. The slaver that captured me had made a few stops in far-off settlements with creatures of all kinds, a few ponies included. They all were crappy places, barely aloft where the worst scum swirled around to conduct business of the slaver’s kind. These ponies seemed nicer, at least. Scared out of their fur, but mellow and not eyeing me up like a piece of meat.

Älex knocked twice on the desk to get the mare’s attention. Not taking her sight up from the papers, the mare asked him for a moment until she finished with her current stack.

“Dew Flower, I kinda need your help, right now.”

Seemingly recognizing Älex’s voice, the mare finally dignified us with a bothered look, only for her pupils to grow when she caught sight of the hooman.

“Alex!” She cried in surprise, only for her brow to knit into a frown. “Alex!! Where in Tartarus have you been?! The lab’s three days behind because your butt’s been missing for two weeks!”

“I know, I know.” Älex didn't have the energy to deal with this right now, resting his weight against the counter. “I’ll punch some extra hours later. But,” he used his free hand to pull his shirt up for a first-row view of his numerous injuries. “I’m kinda fucked up right now.”

The mare’s previously wide eyes narrowed to pinpricks. “Oh my…” She squeezed out through a shaky breath.

“Yeah.” Älex lowered his shirt down and changed his weight to the other paw. “I’m taking a bed in two-b. Find Tenderhoof if she’s on duty and tell her I need wound treatment and blood detoxification asap.”

With a frantic nod, the nurse returned to her desk, this time to grab a… gimmick, I guess? She brought it to her ear and... began talking to it, as if he expected somecreature to answer back through that piece of plastic.

These ponies were weird. Älex was weird. I should start getting used to weird, or it’d be one headache after another.

Leaving the desk behind, Älex motioned me to continue. As we left the counter, the mare, still talking to that device… whatever it was, finally acknowledged my presence with a startled yelp which I brushed aside with a flick of my tail.

Älex ushered us up to the second floor of the massive building, heading towards the east section until finding a big letter B painted on the wall. Motioning towards that corridor, we dodged wide-eyed patients and nurses alike until we reached our destination.

An ample room with several hospital beds, none of them occupied until Älex dropped his stuff at the paw of the bed and planted his butt on the soft mattress with a long sigh of relaxation, his body on the verge of giving up from exhaustion.

“Mmmm, much better…” He groaned in bliss, wiggling deeper into the white sheets while removing his jacket and shirt, tucking them into a ball, and throwing them to the floor near where his bag and swords rested.

Not knowing what was next, I simply waited there, tapping my claws awkwardly against the marble floor, fearing Älex would pass out into sleep there and then without telling me what he needed me to do. Don’t get me wrong, I was digging myself one of those beds if he wasn't telling me anything soon.

Cracking an eye open once he’d shed the worst of the stress from his tired muscles, Älex peered down at me with a tiny smile. Motioning with his head, he pointed towards a nearby window.

“Use the rooftops. Head towards the lighthouse with the huge-ass rainbow growing from it. It's at the edge of the bay, you can’t miss it.”

“Um… okay.”

With a nod, he closed his eyes again and melted further into the soft mattress.

“Find my family. Tell them I sent you and where I am. They’ll treat you well, I promise.”

I could only take his word for it. He had only good things to say about them the few times they’d come up during our in-the-road talks. Conflicted whether I should leave him alone or not, I shuffled on my paws before coming to a decision. His family surely would want nothing but to see him again, just as I knew mine would be if they were still alive somewhere.

My mind made, I approached the left side of the bed and squeezed his hand between my claws as he had done for me before departing to the hive, hoping I could transmit some of the same reassurance he’d given to me earlier.

“I’ll be fine, Gaius.” He thanked me with a sleepy smile. “I’m too stubborn to die.”

“Yeah… I guëss you are.”

That’s something I needed to ask him about, that ‘I’ve told them about my death stuff’ he had let slip while talking to Discord.

First things first. Heading for the window he’d pointed out, I flicked the bolt open with a claw and let the seaside breeze caress my feathers once again. We were at a similar height to the nearest building, a house from what I could see, and the rest were all similar heights, so it’d be a fletchling’s game to skip and glide above them without straining my wing too much.

Peering over my shoulder once last time, I convinced myself that Älex was in good claws now with the pony doctors and, pushing with my rear legs, I hopped onto the rooftop of the nearest building and began a nimble run hopping from one rooftop after another, keeping out of sight of the passerby ponies. Without Älex by my side to reassure them of my friendly intentions, I couldn't trust their reactions.

My destination was hard to miss. It was the second thing I’d noticed after finding the pony village stretching in front of us, but didn't think to ask since Älex didn't look alarmed or surprised by it. Some pony thing, I reasoned. I had to admit, it was an impressive view, if a bit ornery. Ponies were all about sunshine and rainbows from what little I had learned about them, or at least they were a long time ago. This mustn't have been too out of place for them.

True to his indications, a lighthouse stood proud at the top of the cliff that marked the edge of the bay, but it wasn't like the one on that port town… I can't remember the name, where the slavers hitched a ride to Equestria from North Essia with me as their precious cargo. This one was far bigger, and for what little I could make out from this distance, made out of crystal or a similar substance.

Weird.

I cleared the town in a jiffy, raising no alarms among the pony folk, and began my path up the slender road leading toward the top of the cliff. On my way up, I found a nice garden tucked to one side of the road, and the smell of whatever was growing there made my stomach churn in a pang of hunger.

‘... I’m sure nogriff will mind.’

Taking a small, culinary detour, I snuck into the garden, finding no pony inside. With a victorious grin, I searched for the famous ‘tomatoes’, which Älex wouldn't shut up about when we were hungry on the road and had little left to eat. I found them easily growing besides some other vegetables. Not bad, I had to admit. Not bad at all.

With my hunger sated for the time being, I resumed my way toward the lighthouse. The rainbow beam emanating from its top stretched high into the sky until fading at the edge of my eyesight. Below it, the central tower had a strange, transparent frame that allowed me to see the rainbow being born from somewhere inside it before reaching the lantern room, an adamant of chiseled crystal crowning it. The main structure jutted from both sides of the central cylinder, and seemed to have been built with livability in mind.

I saw no reason to sneak into the place and give the ponies inside a scare, only a bad first impression could come out of it.

Instead, I simply brought my paws in front of the front door, knocked twice, and waited.

And waited… and waited some more.

No pony answered. Thinking they mustn't have heard me, this time I pounded the door several times, growing impatient.

“Coming, coming!” A faint voice answered from somewhere inside the residence. The clip-clop of hooves approached the door before stopping at the other side of the doors.

A mare answered, opening the doors with a frown, a rectangular device similar to the one Älex was carrying with him on our journey on one hoof, the other one resting on the rim.

“Sheesh, you’d think a pony would’ve learned to use a doorbe-”

The pegasus mare, white fur, and a curious two-toned mane and tail froze in place, her beautiful wings flared at her sides in surprise, eyes two black pinpricks fixed on me as the words were left hanging from her muzzle.

‘Yeah, expected as much.’

Knowing well this was gonna be awkward, I pushed through for the sake of Älex. I was gonna be living with them from now on, after all.

“Um… Hallo.”

Chapter 46- The things you take for granted.

They were waiting for me...

If it sounds like I was living the intro sequence of a Sunday night, low-budget scary movie, it’s because that’s exactly what it was. At least, that’s how I was experiencing it in my just-recently squeaky-clean flesh.

My hair wasn't even completely dry after a fifteen-minute thorough, extra-bubbly double-double-shower when I, still shirtless and dribbling loose droplets onto the marblework, stumbled against an impatiently waiting Izzy just as I was just exiting the bathroom in a cloud of steam, sending a silent prayer to the heavens for the miracle of hot water and clean clothes.

She was indeed waiting for me specifically, leaning her side against the railing of the footbridge, her rump on the floor and her forehoof tapping slowly and rhythmically against the tiles, like a father about to scold their child for a combination of the late hour and the stink of alcohol, my head proceeding to count down the seconds until my demise. Gone was her peppy, wacky self I’d grown to adore for the day. Gone was her sunny smile that could rival that of the mare with the same name. Her dry features bore down on me, leaving no room for escape or complaint.

She must've talked with Sunny while I was sharing a heart-to-heart with Gaius. I should’ve expected as much.

I knew my wits, and irresistible charms, wouldn't win me a way out of this fastball, so I didn't even bother. Sighing and slumping a bit, I sent the wet towel over my back to flop unceremoniously onto the bathroom floor and fell in line with the sergeant without a word, fumbling with my shirt next as it covered my scar-dressed torso. Funny, before my resurrection at Harmony’s… hooves, I guess?; my body was already a macabre canvas of numerous scars and ‘kind’ reminders from my numerous adventures with the girls. Harmony had purged them all that day except the one over my heart. My very own cutie mark, you see? I always liked to think of it in such a gruesome way. Sometimes, it still ached for some reason, perhaps to make sure I wouldn't ever forget it.

‘Heh, guess I should throw myself off the cliff right behind our home, see if she brings me back a white canvas again…’

I shouldn't be making jokes about it. Not even to myself.

Zipp and Pipp were still AWOL for the morning, as was Hitch, most likely wrapping up this morning's rounds, a short-lived endeavor since normally the streets of the Bay didn't need that much police work. I was hoping he’d bring Sparky with him. I missed the little bugger a lot and wanted nothing but to pinch those chubby cheeks and blow raspberries on each and every of his little belly scales…

Geez, I sounded like my grandma back there. I mean, I had the age requirement…

Who was waiting for Drill Sergeant Izzy and clumsy recruit me in the living room was my loving marefriend, leisurely laying on her belly, slumped over the couch, going with gusto over one of the old books I’d brought from Canterlot’s royal library during our second trip. This was probably the hundredth time she must’ve devoured them all, including the one in her hooves, and another hundred times would follow that, I was dead sure.

A woollen blanket covered her rear half, for the temperatures were reaching new lows with every day that winter neared. A placid smile adorned her muzzle as she ran her sparkling eyes over the endless lines of faded text, still readable by some miracle, for the intensity exuding from the hungry mare should’ve worn them down by now.

The most beautiful of landscapes. My heart swelled with affection, as it did every time I found myself around her. In turn for the love I felt for that mare, it made me feel even more like shit for everything I’d put her through these recent days, last night’s little mental breakdown included and highlighted foremost in the list of stuff I had to mend with her.

Her ears perked up when Izzy’s hooves and the muffled step of my boots alerted her of our presence. That same eager smile shone tenfold when she saw us approaching, closing the book, whose title I could not discern, with the utmost care and resting it on the coffee table, doggy-earing the page she had left it.

She scooched aside so as to lend us some space on the couch, taping on the now free pillow for me to snuggle beside her.

Only I was to take a place beside her at the time, since Izzy kindly offered to whip up something for us to munch on, as well as for the rest when they arrived. I needn’t be a genius to guess we'd be there for a while, for I had a lot of things to share and the ponies a lot of questions to ask; so some snacks would do us good. Her undisguised glare and pursed snout as she trotted away basically hammered in me that I had from now until then to man up and drag my ass in repentance to Sunny for having acted like an asshat to her.

Faust in heaven, what the fuck was wrong with me? It had been so long since I’d broken down like that.

I wasn’t in the best state of mind when that topic was brought to light. Even if I’d made the choice a while ago as I braved the wilderness, it didn't excuse the baggage I’d slumped onto her; but the way I did it was arguably worse, scaring her halfway to death, while at the same time leaving me as the King of Hypocrites after having criticized Celestia and Luna for doing the same thing with Twilight.

However, I remained firm in my words. I truly felt she should step up and embrace the role of leader she had unconsciously filled the horseshoes of since the very beginning. It was simply that the delivery method was far from the most appropriate one. I had a reason for it. A heavy reason. An old friend had reminded me of such.

I’d fix it. This time, a bit differently. I had an idea of how to explain the reason why I could no longer trust myself to think the right way and do the right thing. There was something I needed to show them.

I planted my butt on the plush sofa and leaned back with a grunt, my abdomen protesting at the exertion but giving me no further trouble. While Sunny remained cold once we found ourselves alone, I didn't wait for the air to sour down into an awkward silence; I latched myself onto her with my levitation magic, catching her by surprise with a small squeak as I hugged the mare against me as if my life depended on it. It might as well have.

“A-Alex!” She squealed in shock, squirming a bit in my lap, but making no attempt to pry herself free.

“I’m sorry, baby,” I whispered into her mane, rejoicing in her summery scent as I nuzzled the closest ear within reach, making it twitch adorably. “I was a jerk last night, going down on you like that. I’m so, so sorry…”

Her gaze softened after a moment of debate, relaxing her body and sinking further into my embrace as she reciprocated with her own, her tail coiling around my leg protectively. “I told you this morning. It's fine.” She soothed me softly, letting me nuzzle her mane to my heart’s content as she grabbed one of the hands looping around her to caress in return.

It had been a short and incomplete conversation that morning while we nibbled on some meager, hospital breakfast, none of us tearing into on it with much passion, to the nurses' complaints. As much as she wanted to let me know that she somehow understood that I was not bringing my A-game, and that my outburst didn't convey exactly what I wanted to transmit, I still felt like I needed to make it up to her.

And I’d do just that, starting now and… later that night… in our bedroom… alone.

But, for the time being, I simply wanted nothing more but to cuddle that mare and make sure as hell that she knew, above anything else going on with me or the world, I loved her with the force of the seas and the impetus of the wind and wanted nothing but the best for her.

“Still, baby, I feel like a heartless prick,” I confessed without an ounce of shame, nibbling on her left ear’s rim to her shuddering delight. “I’m gonna make it up to you, I promise.” I then reached for the very same ear to whisper some very adult things that wrapped up nicely what I’d planned to compensate her with later in the day in full, explicit detail, making her explode in a full body flush.

Oh, how I had missed that endearing, rosy tint painting every inch of her every time I whispered something spicy in her ear. Even now, after we’d already had lots of fun together, it felt like being the first time over and over again.

With some peace of mind settling in, short-lived as it would be, I was content with simply enjoying some together time with my mare while we waited, not allowing yesterday's gaucheness to drive a wedge between us, expressing our love freely for one another with a flurry of kisses, nuzzles and a playful bite or two, eliciting giggle after giggle from a squirming Sunny which, to my ears, and after what felt like a lifetime apart, sounded like nothing short of heaven.

You should totally get a pony in your life.

Sunny had completely gyrated in my lap by the time I had run out of places to kiss and nuzzle her fuzzy head, now laying belly to belly, for she had gently pushed us down on the couch, taking our preferred resting arrangements when we slept together… and most of the time awake too.

Her gorgeous smile lit the room with the return of her sparkle, as Izzy would have worded it, casting yesterday’s tangled encounter to the wind to be forever fotgotten, or so my heart wished. We’d missed each other too much to care. A bit over two weeks as it’d ended up being, it felt like a century, for both of us, I was positive; a century I wished anything to not go through again.

In that light, I had another favor to ask of my mare. I could no longer trust myself.

‘Stop!’

“Sweetie...” I softly called out to Sunny, pretending not to listen. I refused to listen.

“Mmm?” She purred back, lost in tracing the edges of the scar over my heart with the tip of her hoof, her dreamy, half-lidded eyes locked into mine.

“I… I have another favor to ask of you.” Before the cold jitters of panic could begin to get a hold over my mare, I gently shushed her with a caress on her muzzle. “And I promise you, you’ll completely agree with this one.”

Not totally sold, Sunny at least trusted me far enough to give me a tiny nod, listening purposefully while tightening her hold on me as some degree of concern couldn't be helped but latch itself onto her heart.

Brushing a thumb down her furry cheek, her beautiful eyes demanded nothing but the warmest of smiles from me, which I was more than happy to provide. “Don’t ever let me do that ‘solo hero’ crap again. Ever.” I requested, clean and simple, her pupils widening in surprise. “Doesn’t matter how much I whine or protest, or try and stubborn my way through. Please, don’t let me go out there without you guys backing me up. I need you. Buck some sense into my gut, tie me down to a chair, rut me breathless if that’s what takes. I… I almost went crazy out there without you guys. If I hadn't found Gaius…”

A melodic giggle highlighted by a cute blush cut through my pleadings like a hot knife through butter, evaporating any further words while my mare giggled into her hoof as if I’d just told her a bad joke or something.

“Uh… baby?” I pried with a lopsided grin.

“Oh, sorry.” She breathed out one last snicker before smiling down at me in an endearing, almost condescending way. “You’re so cute thinking we'd ever let you out of our sight again after this.”

Problem solved. Trust my Sunny to cut the bullshit short and settle the deal. I couldn't be more happy with the result. “Heh, that's my girl.”

Gently guiding her with my hand, I brought our lips together and tenderly kissed her, pouring as much love and meaning as my recovering body could muster. Our breaths mingled as Sunny took a more dominating posture that she knew I liked, sliding further up and falling down on me with the weight of her own kiss. Her hooves searched my hands and pulled them aside, leaving me wide open for her attack. She pried my lips open without need for an invitation and, soon, our tongues were dancing their usual tango, one I could only dream of for the past few weeks, and from which now I drank greedily.

Her taste, her warmth, her silky fur, the feeling of her weight atop mine, the beating of her heart against my own. I needed it all, and more. To heal me. To remind me that I was good, that I was worth it. To remind me that I was better, that I’d become even better for her. I’d make her my sole reason if that’s what I needed, my sole anchor, my guiding light. My pony family would be the strength behind my blades, the resolution of my shield, the why of my spells, and the reason behind my every choice. Them, not me. I’d trust her with all of me and heed what she thought best, for my mare had not led her friends astray, as was my burden. She hadn't hurt them in her selfishness as was my sin, one of many.

Sunny freed my hands and moved her hold on my head, almost needing to keep it in place as she devoured my lips with reckless abandon. I lost myself in her, letting her take the lead as I reached for her supple flanks, groping her cutie marks with a familiar tingling welcoming me, coalescing in my loins.

I need it so bad. I needed her so badly…

To my utmost dismay, Sunny was the one to keep a cooler head and pull back when our lungs couldn't sponsor our making out anymore.

“Ahh… Mmph…” She panted and wheezed as if coming fresh from the Running of the Leaves, falling back on her rump, pressing down with it on all the important places, and becoming well aware of my outright painful erection. She bit her lip and wiggled her rear to tease me. “Mmmmmnot now. Our friends could arrive at any moment.” She panted with no short amount of reluctance herself, but she was right. “Later tonight, okay? You can make it up to me as much as you want.” She purred with a naughty giggle, falling back down to capture my lips fleetingly before pulling back letting us both cool down a notch. Blue-balled as I had just been left, the promise of a full night of fun was enough to keep my disappointed libido with its head held high…

‘That sounded better in my head… Fuck, I’m just gonna park it… Fuck! Stop thinking!’

Sunny slumped down on top of me again, like Fluttershy’s hamster friends melting adorably under the morning sun. Back and forth, she changed from pecking my lips to nibbling my earlobes to nuzzling my collarbone.

“... Wow. I just realized.” I hummed softly, tracing the outline of her cutie marks from memory as I peered into her gorgeous pearls.

“Mmm?” Sunny murmured back, heavy eyes growing sleepier by the second under the warmth we shared with one another.

“You’re so pretty,” I stated like it was the most obvious thing in the world, with my most devilish smile following my words.

All traces of tiredness promptly vacated my mare as she reeled back to fully loom over me with equal parts surprise and offense.

“... Nowyou realize I’m pretty!!” She boomed.

“Mhm,” I replied, sweet and innocent, like a foal.

Her eyes twitched, her previously shimmy tail becoming still. I kept up with my grin as I felt the mare atop me growing hotter by the second, and not precisely from arousal. Bullets began trickling down my brow as I gave it my best to remain steely under her pressure.

“... So, what have you been looking at this whole time?!”

Despite my poor attempts, Sunny did NOT miss the short, brief, infinitesimal peek I shot at the flanks I was currently petting before fixing my gaze back at her smoldering one.

“...”

“... OUCH!! OUCH!! Okay, okay!! I’m so-YIKES!! STAHP!! OW!!”

Bringing a storm on her tail, Sunny fell over me with the might of the goddess, her sharp, herbivore teeth searching for any and all available sensitive spots known to man to nip at with mareish fury, leaving me to squirm and mewl pathetically as I did my best to fend her off.

“AY!! OW OW OW!! OKAY!! I take it back! I take it back!!” My pleas were heeded when my Sunny pulled back from her merciless bombardment, glaring down at me with an adorable pout, which I did my best not to swoon and coo at and get her even more pissed. I tried the ol’ reliable reverse psychology. “I take it back, okay? You’re an ugly, wrinkly mare, and your flanks would give the gayest of stallions nightmares.”

“...”

“... AAAH! Owowowow! OW!! Sunny!! Plea-OUCH!! What do you want me to sa-GAH!!”

My mare and I went down for a short, love-struck scuffle, with bites, ear tugs, and light stomps of our weapons of choice. The couch only gave us so much room to quarrel, meaning Sunny retained her advantage over me through most of the battle. Not that you’d catch me complaining about having a gorgeous mare raining Tartarus over me, rubbing and nipping in all the good places while doing so, even if I would end up looking like Cerberus’ chew toy after she was done with me.

We concluded our glorious feud in a similar way I’d end up my frequent tumbles with an over-playful Izzy when she had some energy to burn: with me chomping on the scruff of her withers, like a mother cat would carry her kittens, and Sunny using one of my forearms as the aforementioned chewing toy.

Synchronized as a pair of drunk toddlers, our riffle came to a sudden halt, both of us blinking owlishly at one another when we realized that we’d ended up tangled together. My eyes searched her bewildered ones and, after a second of befuddled stillness, we broke into laughter like the pair of dummies we were.

Squeezing my mare tight as our cackling ran its course, I felt the happiest I’d been in a long while, the butterflies in my tummy teaming up with the warmth in my chest to bury all the mental and emotional weight that had followed me from the trip to Mithaya, allowing me to feel like myself again. No fear of a changeling incursion, no voices in my head, either from Harmony’s whispers or the Nightmare’s tendrils seeking a way in, playing a tug-of-war with me being the rope.

Nothing but the mare in my arms and me. Everything I needed. Everything I wanted.

‘Pitiful…’

I did not listen.

We laid back into peaceful silence if I could help it, brushing my hand over Sunny’s mane and coiling her rainbow streak with a finger while she gazed lovingly at me with dreamy eyes.

I felt a bit playful. “Heh, we humans are a constant headache for you ponies, aren’t we?” I proffered in jest, gently pinching the bridge of her snot, making her furrow her muzzle cutely before sneezing.

“Meh, you have your uses.” She snarked back with a little nip on my collarbone, absentmindedly pawing my chest as if preparing the dough for Pizza Friday.

“I’m sure we do.” I chuckled, gazing up to the ceiling as I rejoiced in the beating of her heart against mine. A random thought popped to life. “... Hm, I wonder how it was for Megan…”

“Who?” Sunny perked up, almost as if smelling the beginning of a tale with her usual thirst.

“Megan, the first human to ever step foot on Equus.” I cited, knowing well the tale of the human girl from the times before Equestria and the unification of the three tribes, cocking my head sideways in thought. “Haven’t I told you the story of the inception and destruction of Dream Valley?”

The way her gorgeous orbs widened like saucers, and her tail began wagging against my pants, said it all, the happiest of grins eagerly painted on her beaming muzzle.

“Well then,” I cleared my voice, feeling like passing the time with a good tale. “This a story of Equus’ ancient, ancient past, waaaay before the creation of Equestria, to the birthplace of equine ki-”

The slam of the front door opening and closing, followed by the flapping of wings and a chorus of voices chatting amicably in muffled tones, alarmed us of the arrival of our pony pals from a morning well spent in town. Izzy joined the conversation from the kitchen, seemingly having finished the treats just in time. As a group, they made their way towards the living room where Sunny saw my storytelling disappointedly cut short.

“Sorry, Tangerine. A story for another day.”

“Nooooo…” Sunny whined, slumping down on me with her best puppy eyes and trembling lip combo to knock my defenses down like a toothpick.

“Awww, I can't say no to those eyes of yours.” I returned her pouty lips and scratched her behind her ears, breaking her cuteness spell with a disappointed groan into my shirt. “I’ll tell you later, our friends are here.”

With a flurry of excited chatter and hoof stomps, four ponies strode into the living room, sharing that day’s mundane occurrences with a friendly stride. Catching us in a somewhat compromising arrangement, the four rooted themselves to the floor as they fixed their collective gaze on us with lopsided smiles.

“Uh… Are we interrupting something?” Zipp said, voicing the group’s collective question.

I felt like being a bit impish. “Oh, nothing much. Just about to make furious love to this mare here. You’re welcome to watch if that’s your mojo...”

With a loud ‘eep!’, Sunny, burning up in a full body blush, buried as much of herself as she could in me as I burst into laughter, the ponies sharing a collective eye roll at my dry attempt of humor.

Nothing else but a bunch of friends playing around a bit. The things you can take for granted…

A babyish gurgle dominated over the gang’s collective groan. From behind Hitch’s aquamarine mane, a pair of tiny horns peeked over, followed by the beaming face of a baby dragon, eyes wide in happiness as he found me waving at him from the couch after pushing us both into more befitting arrangements.

“Brrlgrah!!” The little drake screeched with the excitement of a hatchling and was off his surrogate dad’s back and speeding into my waiting arms, tiny wings flapping furiously, seeking to speed him up while on the ground since they likely still weren’t strong enough to lift him up in the air.

“Oh my gosh, come here you little bugger!”

I glomped that little drake with all my might and proceeded with the usual ritual of nuzzling his adorable cheeks and blowing raspberries into his scaly belly, sending him into a flurry of giggles and flailing limbs. The ponies ‘awwwed’ in unison as their hearts melted.

“Oooh, I missed you so much, Sparky. You little burpy devil you!”

On cue, Sparky burped out a gout of green, shimmering flame. I think he signed my overgrown fringe a bit, but I couldn't care less with a squirming drake seconds away from bursting out in happiness in my lap.

Hiking my hand under his stubby arms, I sent the little dragon up in the air with a big whoop. While his wings were indeed still too tiny for any proper lift, his hatchling energy and developing instincts were enough at least to bring him back down in a clumsy hover, making for a soft landing on my lap and back in the air again to his squealing delight.

As I played with Sparky, the rest of the gang made themselves at home over the living room, Izzy and Pipp fast on their hooves to bathe Sunny in a healthy barrage of teasing after my jest, making the fire on her cheeks climb all the way to her ears and back again as she tried her best to become a ball of embarrassment, to the mares’ giggling amusement.

I let the girls be girls, playing with Sparky until my arms grew tired of sending him up with the zoomies, bringing the drake close to scratch that sweet spot he had behind his curved horns.

Hitch, keeping a fatherly eye on the drake, was dragged into his own set of cuddles with his marefriend on the other couch opposite of ours across the coffee table where Izzy had rested an assortment of treats and drinks. Zipp’s wing came to rest under the sheriff’s chin as they made dovey eyes for one another, oblivious to the world around them.

A purple snout erupted into the drake’s vision. Having finished teasing her bestie until turning Sunny into a tiny ball of crimson embarrassment, Izzy wanted her own turn with Sparky, the bond the two shared having won her the unofficial title of ‘Aunty Izzy’, and possibly the second most favorite pony to the drake, behind his dragon dad, of course.

Izzy had a sweet spot for the hatchling, not that any of us didn't. But I guessed Izzy, being how she was, made it easier for her to keep up with the young dragon's boundless energy with as much pep and enthusiasm as Sparky exuded. Kinda reminded me of Pinkie Pie and the Cake Twins.

‘Faust, how did hers and Cheese’s little colt fare in the end? I hope he grew happy and safe with his family, far away from all the trouble.’

‘No thanks to you…’

I. Did. Not. Listen!

“Hiiii there, little Sparky.” Izzy baby-talked to the drake, who answered in kind by gripping her snout with his blunt, little claws, gurgling some semblance of her name, but not enough to form a proper word yet. Soon enough, though. “Oooooh, aren't you the most adorable little thing ever?!”

His baby-like attention span demanded the playful unicorn to become his absolute world for the next few minutes. Rejoiced as he was with seeing his big, lanky uncle back, it was time for some much-sought unicorn cuddles, patented and delivered by one mare only in the whole wide world.

Taking the leftmost side of the couch, I let Izzy distract the little guy for the time being as Pipp was next to approach me, taking something from under her wing and presenting it to me.

I was quick to recognize the triangular shape. “Oh. Well, that was fast.” I found the object to be another smartphone, caseless as if it had been taken straight out of its packaging, in her extended hoof. I meant to take it and take a look while thanking the pegasus…

“Thanks a lot, Pipp.”

Only for the mare in question to bump my forehead with the corner of the device. “Ouch!” I reeled back, rubbing my throbbing brow.

Balancing herself on my knees with a hoof, Pipp’s eyes narrowed threateningly, wings flared at her sides. “Last freebie, yes?! The next one is coming out of your own pocket, mister!” She fired.

With her little glare becoming borderline adorable, I listened to my self-preservation instincts and offered no retort. I simply gave a most solemn promise with a nod. Keeping her suspicion up for a few more tense moments for good measure, Pipp dropped the new phone into my lap unceremoniously, sighing tiredly as she reached for her opposite wing to extract her own device. “Now, to get you back in the group chat and kick the old number… Gosh, now I gotta add you again everywhere! This is gonna take for-ahver.” She whined theatrically.

Amused by her usual melodrama, I chuckled and stored the new phone in my pocket to configure later. Still in impish spirits, I grabbed the petite pegasus under her forelegpits and brought her up to my now free lap, having missed the sing-song mare dearly just as I had the rest of our friends, not wanting to derail down into our usual headbutting for a change, as funny as it was to see her feathers ruffled.

“Yipe!” Pipp squealed in surprise, her rump coming to rest over my calves and her back against my chest. “What gives?!” She wanted to know, peering up upside down at me searchingly, making me snicker with the cuteness of the gesture and the way her mane bobbed down her withers.

“Nothing.” I shrugged nonchalantly, poking her snout. “Just missed having the prettiest pegasus in town to enliven my morning with her songs.” A true occurrence. Not having the foresight to download them on my phone, I had to sing-song them to myself to stave off the boredom of the journey.

Huffing proudly and without an ounce and modesty, she combed her mane back with a polished hoof and repositioned her tiara, smiling proudly at her own success. “Of course you did.” She stated in short, and of course, didn't miss the chance to send her sis an ‘I’m the prettiest sister’ kinda leer, the alabaster pegasus sticking her tongue back while making a flashy number of nuzzling her stallion sweetly and methodically for the youngest of the royal family to have a clear view, Hitch not wanting to become food for the flames but too absorbed in his mare to care much.

“Ugh.” Pipp pouted, crossing her forelegs over her chest, defeated by the harsh reality of life. Nothing that a big squeeze from me couldn’t fix.

“It’s not like you have a gazillion fans banging at the proverbial door…” I hinted to the wind, but the petite pegasus only scoffed further and grumbled under her breath something about glory hunters and riding her fame or whatnot.

I scratched behind her twitchy ears to make her feel better. “Sorry about the phone.” I felt like I needed to apologize yet again, feeling genuinely bad, since we all know how much those hellish devices actually cost, no matter the planet you step on. “It was a bad moment for me and I wasn’t thinking clearly. Totally my bad. I’ll make it up to you.”

It seemed there was a lot of making-up that I needed to pass around. It’d be a fun week or two for me. Served me right.

Pipp gazed up again with a puzzled dip of her head. “Uh... And how exactly are you planning on making it up to me?” She asked with no short amount of snark, a hoof flying to her chest proudly. “In case you haven’t heard, I am a princess. I already have everything I could ever wish for.” She gloated as a true royal born knows best. “And what I don’t, I can get with just a flick of my hoof.”

“Hmm.” I scratched my chin in faux contemplation. “True. But, is a flick of your hoof gonna get me as the star guest on your podcast, next Friday afternoon?”

Pipp’s eyes widened in surprise, sparkling with excitement and planification, for she’d already brought all members of our wacky family except me, something she’d been bugging me for since the conception of said podcast. She’d even kept the name I’d suggested for her, and the ‘Pippcast’ has remained number one on Sponify ever since the first episode with Sunny.

True to her words, she flashed me a victory grin and made sure to heed her own advice by weaving her hoof dramatically, as if calling for a maid. She was just missing a tiny, silver belle for the complete package.

Having dug my own grave, I’d simply have to pluck up my courage and attend her backstage studio at Mane Melody. And let the mare of the hour dissect my brain for juicy details for the audience’s entertainment.

… Nah, her talks were actually very sweet, I’d have a fun time.

“It’s a date, then.” I settled, making a tiny blush taint her cheeks when I used the term. I saw a very disapproving Sunny glaring at me through the corner of my eye. I sent a wink to the fuming mare to let her know I was only playing before she thought it appropriate to bite me all over again for my efforts.

“It’s a shame, though.” I engaged after a moment of thought, absentmindedly petting Pipp’s belly as I raised my tone a bit to address the group. “Should’ve taken more pictures, and kept the phone. I saw some crazy stuff out there.” I went over the contents and sights of my journey before choosing one I was positive would spark their curiosity. “Like, you know the Spring Dew Riverlands, just north of Canterlot, between the Silver Run and the Neighagra Streams?”

Of course, they didn't know, but I felt they still retained some semblance of Equestria’s general outline from the short lessons I provided them with before and while embarking beyond the limits of the Bay during Discord’s crisis. “Yeah. So I passed nearby as I headed west, and I saw this huge, and I mean huuuuge stormfront blanketing the entirety of the northern skies, all the way towards the Frozen North and the Crystal Empire.” Sunny lost her pouting as her ears perked up, scooching a bit closer to me. “I didn't stay long but, I swear that, if you looked close enough in between lightning gouts, you could totally see the outline of Cloudsdale somewhere up there in the heart of the storm.”

Ponies back and forth perked up with renewed wonder, one alabaster pegasus in particular. Having ‘Storm’ in your name usually seemed to make one find such things captivating, and Zipp was one of those ponies. Although, in truth, it wasn’t the storm that piqued her interest.

“Cloudsdale?!! The legendary pegasus city?!! Home base of the Wonderbolts?!!” She cried up, leaving behind her sugar-bear to perk herself up on her hooves, wings flaring in excitement with every rapidly-fired question.

“The one and only,” I replied with a knowing smirk, having learned of Zipp’s personal interest in said elite group of ponies from the old posters and trinkets collected and left behind by her on that abandoned station that she used as her personal escape from her mom’s insistent lessons and whatnot. “You still have those old posters?” Zipp nodded vigorously. She should keep them, for they were now a most valuable collector's piece from a forgotten era. “Yeah. The Wonderbolts Academy and AOC were stashed there. Hmm… We’ve totally gotta find a way of visiting. I’m sure you guys would like to know more about pegasi history.”

As if feeling the old roots of a long-lost home calling for them, a renewed thirst for exploration bewitched our two pegasus members, each of them claiming their own reasons for their sudden change of heart. While the oldest sister wanted to learn anything and everything there was to be known about the Wonderbolts, Equestria’s greatest fliers in her self-cultured view; the younger was surprisingly more inclined to learn about the prospects of pegasi society as a whole within the true skies, especially around the topic of living in a city made up entirely of clouds. What food did they grow and eat? What clothes did they wear, and were they made up of clouds? Did they make perfumes out of clouds?

“Waaaait wait wait wait.” A sudden thought struck Pipp, causing her to stop dead on her hooves, breaking her trail of questions. I gazed down at her expectantly, still petting her cushy belly since she hadn’t seen a reason to leave my lap yet. That’s what belly rubs do to a pony. “Was by any chance Songbird Serenade from Cloudsdale?”

Now that’s a pony I hadn't thought about for a while. Shame on me, since she was THE Pop Star of the time in the whole wide world of Equestria. Seriously, the unchallenged number one. No Countess Coloratura or Starlight Primrose or nothing. That pegasus mare had the Equestrian music industry at her hooves. It was no surprise to see Pipp had at least heard something about her.

“As a matter of fact, she was,” I confirmed Pipp’s query, making her day and her week while I was at it. “Yeah, her studio was there with all her stuff. I believe she was a regular in Prance Prance Records for her recordings. If there’s anything left of her work, it will be there.” I made a short play of brushing my overgrown beard in thought, although I couldn’t fight off a smirk since I already knew the answer. “I wonder if vinyl records last longer than books...”

Pipp exploded in ecstasy, catapulting in the air and doing a few somersaults you would’ve expected to come from her sister before mashing her snout against my nose in a sudden dive.

“We HAVE to go there!!!” She asked (demanded), shaking my shirt and me with it with reckless abandon. “I NEED THOSE RECORDS!!!”

Hitch saw me wince under Pipp’s rough treatment, my scars not forgiving in the slightest. “Simmer down, Pipp.” He tempered the pegasus’ excitement from his place beside her sister, who also wholeheartedly agreed on the need to visit, albeit with a more reserved celebration. “Remember us poor wingless ponies.”

Pipp wasn’t gonna let that ‘small’ inconvenience trump her planning. Pulling the hyperactive pegasus back a bit before Sunny could begin to get the wrong idea, Pipp kept herself aloft in front of me, already with a proposition on her muzzle.

“You can build one of those big things? Right?! From that movie!! How did you call them?!”

“Er…” I had more or less an idea of what she was referring to. “You mean an airplane? Helico-?”

“Yes! Airplane, that’s it!! Can you build us one?!” She begged with a pleading gesture on her hooves. “Pleaaahehehese. You’re so smart and all!”

Warmed as I was by her praise, I would have to take the wind from her sails… or wings for that matter. “Sorry, Pipp. I’m not that kind of smart.” I gave her an apologetic shrug. “I mean, there was this guy… Fuck, what was his name?... Ah, yes, Wind Rush. I think he said that was close to getting something like an airframe more or less functional after he inquired with me a few times. But nothing solid as far as I know.”

“Awww…” Right on cue, Pipp lost her energy and slumped down on the floor with a small pout of disappointment.

A tired voice needed to comment. “Leave it to my sis to whine over some old, dusty records.”

Zipp made the mistake of downplaying Pipp’s reasons, earning her a pink-furred missile loaded with complaints and reasons for why recovering the work of the single-most popular singer to ever step hoof in Equestria WAS as important as visiting those stupid, skin-tight-dressed, speedy clowns Zipp called Wonderbolts.

She was right about the skin-tight suits, though. It made for an… interesting picture if you caught a nice angle or two, if you know what I mean…

You pervs.

As the sisters tumbled down on another of their daily sisterly scuffles, with poor Hitch becoming the filling of a pegasi sandwich as the two mares screeched at each other; my mare was also on board with the idea of visiting. All of us. Together. She felt the need to remind me in case I had a short memory span or something.

“Um, you think I’d be able to visit with my alicorn powers?” Sunny wondered, snuggling up back fully to my side since Pipp had vacated the premises.

“You haven’t tried cloud walking yet?” I asked my mare, to which she shook her head no sheepishly. I had to admit I was surprised. “Huh, I thought you’d covered everything with Zipp regarding your flight.”

She rubbed her hoof over my chest nervously. “Yes. I, uh… I learned lots about flying and all, but…”

“But you got the jitters, right?” I finished for her, already picturing what had run through her mind at the moment of truth.

Sunny replied with a shy smile and a nod. I couldn't really blame her. The few times I’d walked on clouds under the effects of the appropriate spell had all left me feeling queasy and trembling afterward, even with the reassurance of Twilight being the one to cast the spell on me. For us land-dwellers, it was an unnatural thing to step on clouds, more so if you found yourself several hundred meters in the air with nothing but pure, clean air to refresh your lungs and stop your fall if you should trip or the spell should wear off. I could see where she was coming from.

“We can try another time if you want. Zipp can bring us a small cloud to ground level and you can… I don’t know, nap in it? Trust me, it’s the best feeling in the world.”

Not fully sold on the idea, Sunny at least was willing to give it a try, as long as we kept things no higher than a hop from the ground.

However, the mare had a different approach to the training session. “Can we… um,” She fumbled with her hooves, the rosy tint returning to her cheeks. “Can we nap on a cloud? Like, together?”

I felt myself melt all over with those gorgeous, pleading eyes of hers. “It’s been a while since I used the cloudwalking spell, but… sure. Why not?” I inched closer to her fuzzy ears to whisper what was truly running through her mind. “But, is it napping what you really wanna do?”

We both knew what would happen should we find ourselves alone in a cloud bed, and the way Sunny exploded in a blush was enough to let me know I should be looking forward to some fun times in the near future.

“That actually reminds me, by the way.” An old proposition came back to mind, filed aside in the urgency of the trip to the Hive. “Hey, Zipp.”

“Mmff?” She replied with a muzzle full of her sister's mane muffling her as she tugged it in reprisal to Pipp chomping on her right wing. “*Pffth!* Yes?” She repeated with a clear mouth.

“You wanna learn how to shoot lightning?” I offered, an ability a pegasus could excel at in the same way a proficient unicorn caster would, with the only difference that a cloud is needed beforehand, but with results no less amazing, and destructive if that was the intended goal. Since I wanted to see another Timberwolf tearing a chunk out of her as little as Zipp would, I thought it might prove useful for the most skilled pegasus of our entourage. I could trust her to make responsible use of it. The prankster's blood did not run through her veins as it did in a certain blue and rainbow pegasus back in the day.

Turquoise eyes going wide with scheming wickedness, the most devilish of smiles grew on Zipp’s muzzle as she bore down on her sister, their scuffle all but forgotten in light of a better, funnier alternative.

Pipp, letting go of her sister’s wing, shied back with no little amount of dread. “Don’t even think about it, Zephyrina!” She half-warned-half-whimpered, to which Zipp turned a deaf ear and began rubbing her forehooves together, hatching an evil plan to give her little sis her due, as befitted an older sibling.

I took it as a yes from the alabaster pegasus, although I was then seriously doubting that some prankster genes were not indeed infecting her. Whatever the case, it gave me something to do and a useful skill for her to know.

“Hey, hey!” A furry presence nudged my shoulder with a hard hoof, seeking my attention. Izzy, having surrendered Sparky so he could go and rescue his dad from suffering more collateral damage from the sister’s scuffle, had something to get off her chest. “Do you think they’ll have cloud cotton candy up there in Cloudsdale?” She asked with an endearing dip of her messy head.

Of course, that’s what got most of her attention about the old homeland of the pegasi. “... Cloud cotton candy?”

“Mhm!” She chirped. “You know? Cotton candy made of actual clouds! That would be, like, absolutely bananas!” She sent her hooves up in exclamation.

“Uh…” Leaving aside the fact that there’d be no actual difference between regular and cloud-made, I had not heard of said thing ever being sold in Cloudsdale. “Er… I can’t remember that being a thing, Izz. Sorry.” Izzy slumped down in disappointment with a sorrowful ‘awww’. “Not that there’d be pegasi there to whip some for us. Buuuut,” I reached and brought her muzzle up to cheer her back up. “We can totally try to make some here!” I sent a thumb toward the still-squabbling siblings. “Now that we have some pegasi to get some clouds for us.” Even if the end result would most likely be no different than munching on a raw cloud which, honestly, is more surprising than what you’d think. Very refreshing.

Izzy’s mood, known for swinging around like a broken metronome, was up to her usual pep in the blink of an eye. With her brightest grin, she went for a tender nuzzle of appreciation. However, my overgrown beard, which I’d totally forgotten to shave after my double-double shower, posed an impediment to her caressings, the hairs tickling her sensitive snout until a snort-like sneeze couldn't be helped.

“Heeey!” Izzy protested with a pout, rubbing her itchy nostrils before diving again for a second try, only to be met with the same results.

“Third’s the charm, fluffybutt.” I playfully egged her on. Sunny giggled at our antics, letting the unicorn have her time with me while resting against my opposite side, a hoof on her usual spot over my scar and rubbing tender circles over it, making the sensitive, damaged skin tickle under my shirt.

Snorting a puff of air, this time out of conviction, Izzy would have her nuzzles one way or another!

“...”

“... Sunnyyyy!” Izzy whined like a foal after another failure and another itchy nose.

“Something wrong, Izzy?” My mare replied with sass, making a point of nuzzling my exposed arm where the pathetic amount of hair wouldn't bother her sensitive snout.

“I can't properly nuzzle our cuddly alien with all this… beard in the middle!” She pouted, poking my cheek with her hoof in emphasis.

“I don't know, Izzy.” Sunny dressed in her bedroom eyes and ran a fetlock lovingly under my chin. “I, for one, find it quite charming.” She commented huskily while nipping said chin.

‘Pants getting a bit tight right now… Again.’

“Ugh.” Izzy’s features soured further. “Stupid stallions and their need for facial hair.” She fumed under her breath.

I felt the need to point out something. “You have facial hair too, Izzy. Quite a bit more than I do.”

“But mine’s not all spiky and itchy and… Bah, forget it. No nuzzles for you!” Izzy wiggled in her seat to face away from us, sticking her tongue out at us and going cross-hooved to fume in peace.

“Woe is me.” I lamented ‘dramatically’, but Sunny was quickly there to lift me up with her own dose of nuzzles, apparently unbothered by my stubborn facial hair as she sent as much love and warmth into her caressing as I did back petting her sides and mane. We did not miss the envious peeks Izzy sent over her shoulder, nor the way her ears would twitch in annoyance every time Sunny would giggle when I brushed over a ticklish spot on her belly, making us fall into hushed snickers at the unicorn’s expense.

“Um… Was geht…?”

A young, masculine voice greeted us from the entrance to the living room. I begrudgingly halted my moment with Sunny to gaze behind us. I found Gaius just around the entrance to the living room, standing awkwardly as if unsure whether to come and join us or not.

“Hey.” I greeted the hesitant griffon back, happy to see him finally down from his nest to join us. I welcomed him. “Come here, birdbrain. Don’t be a stranger.”

Flipping me the feather in good humor, a griffon-exclusive gesture which meant exactly what you’re thinking, he mustered the courage he somehow seemed to have lost from yesterday at the hospital room, and strolled inside the cozy living room, taking a seat on his haunches beside the couch I was occupying, with Sunny and a still pouting Izzy, earning a puzzled glance from the griffon before nervously toiling with the feathers of his chest fluff without finding much to add to the group.

He’d warm up. These ponies would make sure of it, willingly for the griffon or not. I would be sorry for him if I didn't know before it’d be so much fun.

However, the fun would have to wait for a later time. Gaius’ arrival meant everycreature was now present, and we had definitely lost track of time with our friendly bantering, as much as I wished we could stay like this ‘till the end of times.

No such luck for me. Time to address what had got us gathered here in the first place. “Guys.”

Ponies and griffons heeded my call, the sister’s taking a rest from headbutting one another, the older sending an apologetic look at her hubby, who exhaled in relief once finding himself safe from the pegasi’s combined wrath. A bounding Sparky giggled with a hatchling obliviousness, having enjoyed Zipp and Pipp's sisterly scuffle as if it was a game he wanted a part in. Izzy lost her pouting to gaze back at me, as so did Sunny with her loving caressing, yet remained where she was, if not a little tighter against my side, no doubt smelling the apprehension building inside me.

Gaius too tensed up a bit, wings trembling before he wiggled them into a more comfortable position, tail curled around his foreclaws.

Everycreature gave me their full attention, noticing the weight of my call.

Just like during the school year wrap-up play while I was in primary school, I froze a bit under their collective gazes, feeling some familiar, budding nerves rising up, a strange occurrence since I was well aware I was among family. My reluctance to share the journey's most… explicit details with them spoke highly of my hypocrisy, especially since I was the main protagonist of all of them. They were due an explanation, but at the same time, I wanted to spare their feelings from the worst Equestria and the lands beyond had to offer.

‘Is that truly what you want?’

I couldn’t just straight tell them I painted the floor with a bunch of thestral guards out of a whim and murdered a bunch of griffons, the lowest of scum as they were; to later learn how my royal-sized fuck-up had concluded with the extinction of the changeling race, one of the oldest races of this world, with me dealing the definitive blow to their Queen after delivering the killing one the day I tried to bring all creatures together under my vision!!

Fuck!! They deserved to know!!

It seemed her last wish would come true.

‘All theatrics, Empyrean…’

‘SHUT THE FUCK UP!!’

“So…” I focused on the present as I wetted my lips and hunched up in place, hands clenched in fists over my knees and a foot tapping on the floor with the jitters that slowly overcame me. I had no practiced speech to deliver, no tailored tale to offer. I hadn't allowed myself to conceive one. I wanted to share things raw. I had to find a middle point between what to share and what to downplay, or outright avoid…

‘They deserve to know!’

… But I could not do so out of selfishness to spare my own feelings. It would not be fair to them. But I dreaded even more what they’d think of me. I had feared so since the very first day they learned who I was. And they had been impossibly understanding with me. It felt like I was cheating on them somehow, like they loved and cherished an unreal version of me, the friendly and happy-go-lucky human of legend, even if I knew they had seen me at my lowest several times during the short months I’d known them.

‘Not at your lowest.’

… I was starting to feel detached.

‘Shutupshutupshutup or I swear to Faust…’

As the ponies settled down, ears up attentively, I spared one last glance towards Gaius, the only one to have shared my own experiences to a degree, mostly from the sidelines. I wanted him not to hide anything from whatever questions my family would undoubtedly have for him. A part of me wished to simply let him share our story and be done with it, let myself stew into the events we‘d lived through, and let my pony family help me through it, the story a hundred times told.

‘Selfish! Selfish! Fucking selfish! I need to be better!!!’

In the end, just before the atmosphere of expectancy derailed into one of awkward waiting, I launched into the tale of my journey to the west, feeling an icy dagger inch closer to my heart with every stage of the journey I narrated.

I spared them most of the boring parts, like the endless hours of walking through the vast expanses of a void Equestria, borderline growing mad from the silence and emptiness as my sole companion.

‘Sole companion?’

The gang showed a keen interest when I mentioned my encounter with the Thestrals. I portrayed our encounter as a big misunderstanding with a few busted heads as a consequence, but all were friends at the end.

“Woah, you sure kicked their flanks, didn't you?”

Zipp enthusiasm was gravely misplaced. I hadn’t kicked their butts in an epic fight for the annals of history. I’d trashed them through the moss and dirt, and barely let them walk out of that one with their lives.

I did not mention that part.

The ponies listened with rapt attention, mesmerized by the sights, sounds, and smells I painted in their imagination of the Thestral’s ancestral dwellings in Hollow Shades, intrigued by the figure of the Matriarch and our brief, but insightful conversation, and softened with the adorable thestral colt I had met on my stay at the infirmary.

“Wait.” Something clicked in Izzy. “You took my favorite cookies?!!”

Caught red-handed I was. “Oops…” I fired my most sheepish grin but clashed uselessly against Izzy’s bubbling wrath. Sunny, the mare of my heart, was quick to cool the unicorn down, not wanting to see the story interrupted. I promised I’d buy her ten boxes of the accursed cookies next time I was in the market.

Her ire was appeased, for the moment.

Winces and sympathetic grimaces were painted on their muzzles when it came the time to describe my encounters with some of the worst of Equestria’s unchecked wildlife. The manticore, yet another pack of timberwolves sneaking into my impromptu campsite on a cold night, another pack, this time of regular wolves for a change, all of whom got the pounce on me as I checked a trap I’d placed one night to see if I could catch a rabbit for breakfast the next morning. Which I did, but the wolves snatched it from me as I fended them off.

And many more nasty encounters I felt too drained to share deeply about. Needless to say, it hadn't been a walk through the park.

The time of meeting Gaius arrived, and I could feel in the air how the poor griffon froze up the closer I reached in my narrative. When the moment came to share our encounter, I shut my trap and peered at him, silently prompting him to share his own side of the story.

“Er…” Gaius couldn't find the words to jumpstart his side of the tale, nerves getting the best of him and turning him into a squirming statue of fur and feathers.

“Hey.” I softly called him, giving him a reassuring nod, transmitting that this was the safest place in the whole wide world to share his story. All of it.

Biting down his cheek, or the closest thing a griffon can do with a beak, Gaius swallowed the lump in his throat and proceeded. Slowly and timidly, as if fearing to be judged or called out at every word that came from his beak, Gaius shared the same things he’d shared with me that night in the cave, and the ponies' reactions were what you can guess.

As the events of the griff’s misfortune unraveled out of his beak, my family’s expressions turned from shocked, to amazed, to sorrowful, to angry again, to finally devastated when they learned about the destruction of his village, to his capture by the slavers and our fortunate encounter when I became their reluctant prisoner, too.

Somehow reading my thoughts, or perhaps taking note of how much stiffer I got the closer his narration approached the moment I put the slavers to the blade, gore aplenty and without a trace of resentment. He was gracious enough to omit the most bloody details and simply wrapped it up to me giving them a ‘lesson they’d never forget’.

And yet, something told me the ponies knew exactly what the griffon was trying to ease into them, but decided not to comment on it. I didn’t know whether to be happy or concerned about it.

‘They know who you are...’

He was done with his part as concluding with the events of that night, back in the musty, narrow cave we’d a little heart-to-heart with one another. Izzy, who was closest to the unfortunate griffon, snatched him up from the floor in a deadlock, lifting the poor ‘birdy’ up from his rump and crashing them both on the sofa, forcing me and Sunny to scooch aside hurriedly so as to not get trumped by them. With Izzy nuzzling the flummoxed griffon, trying her best to drill into Gaius’ feathery head that he’d be safe with us and that nothing bad like that would ever happened to him for as long as she was around.

While warmed by Izzy’s concern, and unable to fight off an embarrassed blush, Gaius took her attempts in stride and awkwardly sent his wings around her to return the hug.

All the ponies’ hearts went out to him, condemning the slavers’ actions and inequine mistreatment, as well as aching for the traumatizing loss of his family and entire village.

One pony, in particular, was more heated up with Gaius’ tale than the rest, his sense of justice speaking loud for him.

“Those low-life, slithering scum!” Hitch seethed under clenched teeth, making sure to cover little Sparky’s ears in advance, although the little drake was blissfully lost in watching some cartoons on his dad’s phone. A smart move, since the contents of this story were not meant for the little guy’s ears. “How could they be a part of it, much less staying put and letting it happen?!!”

One thing that had bothered him particularly was the fact that ponies were amongst the interested buyers for the unusual griffon when the salvers had dragged Gaius from place to place trying to make a profit off him. Considering how the worst side he’d glimpsed from his fellow ponies was simply a misguided colt thinking himself emperor of the Bay and throwing a giant robot at a lighthouse, your usual Thursday; it was expected that this new light painted over his fellow equines drove him up the wall. Zipp was there to place a calming wing around the puffing sheriff, pressing herself against him but sharing his disappointment in her own kind all the same.

“Not all ponies are cute and friendly, like you guys,” I added, finding our current accommodations a bit uncomfortable over the couch. Feeling the place becoming crammed up, I took hold of Sunny and gently placed her on my lap, leaving some free space for Gaius to properly sit straight between me and a still-clinging Izzy, making his best to ignore the bawling unicorn’s number. Placing an arm around his feathery shoulder, I smiled down at him with brotherly affection. “Just like not all griffons are heartless, avaricious jerks.”

Gaius’ features lit up with a thankful smile of his own. We shared a warm moment until he felt Izzy’s nuzzles go from reassuring and sympathetic to outright intrusive. With a squawk of annoyance, he pushed the clingy unicorn to her end of the couch with a wing, Izzy riling up in protest, claiming he was too fluffy to miss.

Those two were gonna become great friends, I was starting to believe.

Hugging Sunny against my chest, and using her scalp to rest my chin as I felt her forelegs fold cutely over my enveloping arms, I used her as my warm anchor when my turn came to pick up the thread of the story.

‘Tell them, Empyrean.’

I told them of our misfortune learning of the owner of that cave, which in truth happened to be a den, and the epic battle that then ensued with the chimera. The rest of the days after were pretty uneventful, thank Faust, so I skipped over most of the rest of the trip. I simply added a few funny moments that had transpired between Gaius and me, to the griffon’s visible chagrin.

I, myself, could feel in my very own words how relieved I truly was at having gained a traveling companion, unusual as he was, but who was I to talk?

Time of truth. I couldn't continue to delay it any longer.

“... It must have been around the… uh, sixteenth day, I think? Yeah. Yeah, I think so.” I was losing my courage, the thread of the tale slipping through my fingers. They deserve to know. “Hard to tell after a while. We were talking about an old friend of mine, a true sunshine of a griffon, when… when…”

Her empty, lifeless eyes bore down at me with the pain of an entire race behind her, with the strength of a broken promise and a shattered legacy.

They were dead. They were all dead.

‘Because of you.’

Because of me.

Why?

Why?!!

‘Why…?’