To Save our Legacy

‘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…”