Another chance

Chapters

Chapter 1/epiloge
Chapter 2:
Chapter 3:
chapter 4
chapter 5
chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10

Chapter 1/epiloge

If someone said that suits are comfortable, they're lying, but today I have to wear one nonetheless. For others, today is just a regular school day, but for me, I have to rot here in court. Here I sit because my father, even at the age of 16, refuses to accept that I won't dance to his tune.

My father has caused so much pain in the past, but I haven't given in to him. However, somewhere along the line, everyone around me only thought of themselves, while it was close to my heart, and to my vivid imagination, that my life should be good, if not as good as everyone else's.

Finally, at the trial, I could say that I don't want to see my father's ugly face unless it's in a forced labor camp, considering all the things he's done, which would take more hours than anyone's life can afford to recount.

"Rise! Before the honorable Judge János Kenevics," murmured a police officer, embarrassing the sheriff of the town. I didn't understand why the judges need to stand up when he enters, of course, it's tradition, but it's as meaningful as splashing water during Easter.
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The room fell silent, and I am sure my son will finally be free from the torment his father has inflicted on him for years. When we entered, I could already see that my son didn't look at him with hatred as he always did, just with indifference, a poker face.

The judge began the trial, which started off smoothly. Then the prosecutor spoke. "The court calls the defendant, Ferenc Németh, to the witness stand." Though many didn't notice, I did see my son tremble a bit. As he sat down, he took a deep breath before they placed a Bible in front of him. He placed his right hand on the book and raised his left hand. He complied with the instructions.

"I swear by the one true God that I will tell the truth and only the truth, and if I break this oath, may I burn eternally in hell," he said, to which the judge raised an eyebrow slightly, but it didn't bother him significantly.

"Well, Mr. Ferenc, you and your mother initiated this lawsuit so that you never have to see your father again," began his father's lawyer.

"Yes, why? I'm curious what legal trick you're going to pull now to start by accusing my mother of raising me against him?" The lawyer raised his eyebrow, but quickly continued.

"Seems like you watch too many courtroom dramas. What argument do you have to terminate my client's right to contact? After all, it's quite obvious that his father doesn't pose a threat to himself." To this, Ferenc quickly formulated a few sentences, and I didn't know what to expect.

"Unfortunately, my only argument won't please you. My life doesn't consist of enough hours to recount even a fraction of the immeasurable pain, torment, and suffering caused by your," he raised his hand with emphasis, "client," though by doing so, he violates the rights of all his other clients, but that's not my concern, "to us." There was a quiet murmur in the room.

"Order in the court," the judge pounded his gavel. "Please continue."

"Thank you, Your Honor. Well, Ferenc claims that life doesn't consist of enough hours, but I ask him to give just a little, as even a fraction is better than nothing." My son was a little startled by this and swallowed hard before finally speaking.
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"I truly apologize, Counselor, but at the moment, I don't intend to, nor will I give you a trump card. If I start to speak, you will use ambiguities and half-truths to prove that I was raised against my father. So, I choose to exercise my right to remain silent."

The trial proceeded smoothly; I felt like I could outmaneuver their little games. Then, after the rest of the witnesses, the judge retired for deliberation, followed by a 15-minute break. Outside the courtroom, there was a small square, the main square of the city, and across from it, a neat little pastry shop. I wasn't exactly calm, but I thought a slice of Black Forest cake would do me good. As I was eating inside, enjoying the delicious slice filled with cream, chocolate chunks, and cherry sauce, someone unexpected walked in. It was my father, not exactly happily.

"Hello, my son!" he began with the usual sweetness. I quickly finished the remaining cake and forced it down my throat, which hurt like hell, but at that moment, I didn't care, and I hurriedly left, shutting out most of his voice, except for one sentence. "You'll regret this. Your lies won't continue to ruin your life. I'll free you from this tyrant." Then I heard a loud bang, followed by screaming, and then... To be continued.

Author's Note

Here is the link to the Wikipedia page of the settlement, namely kőszeg.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/K%C5%91szeg

I tried with these:_ to separate the one where the view changes characters, I don't know if I succeeded, I'll just say it again, I'm not an excellent English speaker, if it didn't work, pls write down the exact location!

Chapter 2:

Chapter 2:
Darkness and silence surrounded me. I didn't understand where I was. However, I found solace in the silence. In my mind, I began to play a song. Strangely, the music didn't play within me but outside. I didn't understand why, nor did I care. Light broke through the darkness, turning it into a tunnel. It approached slowly, and then I understood. I realized that I was dead, and this was the gateway to the "afterlife." I didn't know what to do, but suddenly...

I opened my eyes, and everything disappeared. Instead, I found myself in an intriguing forest. I attempted to stand up, but suddenly fell back on all fours. As I looked around, I noticed something odd. Wait a minute, is everyone here a different species? No, this can't be the afterlife since I didn't reach the light. Then what is this? I began to examine myself. It was evident that I was a pony or a horse. On my back, in the middle of my spine on both sides, protruded two stubby things. On my head, there was a broken horn, probably not a horn, but rather an antler, and strangely, it sparkled a bit. My fur was a slightly dark red, like the Soviet flag. However, my mane was a blondish-brown, similar to my hair. Based on my size, I was a foal or very tiny. This wasn't important at the moment, but I was still curious about why.

I began to explore my surroundings. Surprisingly, it reminded me of my beautiful hometown, the forest where we lived among the trees in little treehouses. As I crawled under a bush, I noticed a treehouse built on a tree. Following that, I saw numerous apple trees. Now, these ponies sure know about planned food cultivation, I thought to myself. However, a loud noise from the treehouse interrupted my thoughts. Suddenly, a large brick flew out of the door, smashing it, heading straight towards me.
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In the small treehouse, which belonged to the Cutie Mark Crusaders, they were planning their next stunt to earn their cutie marks. Sweetie Belle with music, Apple Bloom with gadgets, and Scootaloo with construction. However, they quickly started arguing.

"Sweetie Belle, understand this, we're not going to play music because we can't. Let's try my..." I lifted the brick from under Scootaloo and threw it, accidentally smashing the door. But it wasn't my fault.

"Scootaloo, I told you this won't..." Suddenly, a loud thunderous explosion and a crack of a beam interrupted me. We thought it was over and someone was just messing with us, but then another batch hit, shaking us. We looked out with Scootaloo at the door, or rather the crater where it used to be, and saw a young colt whose horn seemed to function like some kind of strange lightning emitter.

"What's going on here?" He asked, frightened, trying to hide behind his own horn, flapping his weird featherless wings. Then suddenly, his horn was filled with energy, forming a ball of lightning which he shot, creating a nearly 10-meter crater where an apple tree stood.

"What just happened?" Apple Bloom famously had a bad time with electricity. We found out when we tried to be lightning tamers and a stronger bolt knocked her out for a whole week. She seemed a bit dazed now, only fully coming back to her senses after the explosion.

"Is everyone alright?" Apple Jack asked. Twilight landed directly next to her, just two steps away from Apple Bloom.

"What in tarnation happened here? is anypony hurt?" She asked, her attention drawn to the crater.
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The young colt groaned as he regained consciousness, causing panic. As we turned towards him, we saw that he hadn't left the land of the living, he had just knocked himself out.

When I first saw the little colt, I couldn't decide what I was looking at. Based on his horn, he was an injured unicorn, but he had two "wings" on his back without feathers.

However, it was clear that a hospital was the place for him. I couldn't understand how he could release so much magic. As I approached, I saw his horn start sparkling again.

"Apple Jack, do you still have that rubber horn cap they use for swimming?" (To this day, I don't know why she had such a thing.) While I pondered this, Apple Jack ran off to get it. As I picked up the little guy, I felt a ticklish sensation from his wings, which was the most sensitive part of my body, but I had to hold myself back.

Once I got the rubber piece, I put it on his horn, finally stopping that terrible tickling feeling. Then I hurried him to the hospital as quickly as possible.

The doctor was equally astonished as when we found him. Despite having examined me already, he said he had never seen such a pony. He said it resembled more a half-Pegasus, half-unicorn pony than an alicorn. However, it was determined that aside from rest, he didn't need anything else. So, although they attached a life-sign monitor just to be safe, I went home peacefully.

The next morning started with an unwelcome visit from the doctor, who was quite upset. He said the colt woke up, but there was something wrong with him, he was behaving strangely.
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"pip, pip what is this sound?" I wondered. Then I remembered the hospital monitors and my heartbeat. Although it was higher than normal, it seemed calm. Eventually, I got bored and opened my eyes. My prosthetic eyes remained, as my nose was still covered, which didn't bother me much. As I looked around, I didn't turn back into a human because that weird horn, or whatever it was, was still vibrating on my head.

As I glanced around, a pony entered. It definitely couldn't be called a horse since it hadn't even reached foal size. I didn't turn my head to face it immediately, which was strange, since it didn't have an eye on the left side. Usually, I slightly tilt my head to the left to see better.

"Well, how's the little patient?" she asked so sweetly it almost made me climb the walls. As I looked at her, I felt better. "You seem to be feeling better," she continued. I thought, 'nice honeyed words, but that's no reason for me to be disrespectful.'

"Thank you, but I feel perfectly fine. Could you tell me how I ended up here?" I asked. She raised her eyebrow as if I had a third eye on my horn. "Excuse me!" I waved, placing my hoof on my forehead, and she finally reacted, as if waking from a trance or from being stunned. "Would you kindly tell me who brought me here and why? I only remember a brick being thrown at me and then my horn or whatever this rusty gutter bottom is going mad. Look," I pointed to the growth on top of my head. Again, she froze for half a minute, then spoke again.

"Do you always talk a bit strangely? And where are your parents? If you tell me their names, we can call them here. In fact, we'd be glad to. We need some signatures from them." This time, I raised my eyebrow. "Excuse me, now?... Just to clarify! Are you making me out to be stupid or is your behavior always like this?" She looked at me strangely again and soon stormed out. "Courtesy is appreciated, you uncouth boor!" I didn't say the last part out loud, or at least I hope I didn't.

As the room emptied, I began to feel bored, and then I noticed a few old-looking books on my desk. They weren't scientific books, but I thought it was worth getting to know the culture. The first book had an interesting title, it was in English, but it didn't bother me, as I mostly understood what was written in English. Its title was "Mare on the Moon," or it could have been "The Moon Mare." The story was very interesting, a battle between sisters, but it immediately struck me that this was not just a fairy tale, as the end of the book said, "not long ago, this thousand years passed, and then the sister came back, whose name is now known: Luna." I thought, great, so these local tales are real stories, I thought to myself.

The next two were the ponyfied versions of "Vuk" and "Cipollino," but I really liked their titles. "Vuk," which is a shortening of the phrase "vadászom utamból kotródj" was replaced here with a clever fox name, or rather with Red Ravass. In "Cipollino," instead of vegetables and fruits, flowers and leaves played, and its title became "Apricot Petal." Which made sense, as ponies surely consume such things as well.

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As I arrived at the hospital to my room, Fluttershy was with us, as her good friend Paper Cat broke his leg a few days ago and had to be put in a lying cast for a few weeks. However, there was nothing extraordinary in the ward, just a Little Colt reading, just "The Big Guastit," which used to be a personal favorite of mine.

"Doctor, let's clarify please! What's so extraordinary about someone reading a book?" The doctor glanced into the ward and then scratched his head.

"I don't understand, when I was here, he just stared out the window, I started talking to him, and it was very strange, come on, let me show you." With that, he dragged us along. "Hi there, what are you reading?" "Oh, is that you? Thank you for your question, it's a very exciting story, although it's quite mediocre to me," said the colt, putting the book aside and looking at us, but not the way he should, not turning both eyes, just one. "Good day!" He looked at me. "Hi! Do you mind if we ask you a few questions?" I asked, a little nervously. The colt looked at us questioningly, then nodded.

"Of course, I don't mind, but only if you answer a few questions for me too." With that, I got the green light, although I couldn't really maintain eye contact with him.

"So first of all, what's your name?"

I had heard a few things that sounded like strange names before, but I didn't dare to say the real one, so I thought to myself, let them tell their names, and based on that, I'll come up with my own, but how should I do this? Then it hit me! "Excuse me, but here it's customary for the one who asks first to introduce themselves, would you mind respecting this?" He was taken aback for a moment, then sighed eventually.

"My name is Twilight Sparkle, and yours?" This already gave me an idea, apparently everyone here is some kind of pun or English expression. Well then, what characteristic could I have been named after? "My name is Thunder Bender." I thought, surely there's something like this in the avatar, but it sounded even cooler than medium cool, and it really meant something too.

"Bender! This sentence brought me out of my thoughts. Tell me exactly what are you? Our doctors say you don't resemble any pony species."

"That's a very good question and the answer is, I have no idea. Anyway, I would like to know why I'm here. I mean, how did I end up in the hospital?" I got a short answer to this, when the alicorn told me that she brought me in. Well, if that's how it turned out, when can I leave? The doctor then recovered a bit from his daze.

"Well, there's nothing stopping you from leaving right now, provided your parents sign a few papers." At this point, the realization struck me, my parents can't be here! Now what if I tell them my real age, they might laugh at me. Now what should I do? It seemed the best option, but then I saw that Yellow Pegasus, she seemed so helpless yet lively. I returned to the story and told them that where I came from, a terrorist organization ruled, it was interesting that they didn't fully understand what that was, but they believed me.

"Well, if that's true, then I think you're free to go. The doctor said, then it was a bit difficult to stand up, uh hoof, but eventually I made it out finally. The hospital was relatively modern, but it reminded me more of a World War I setting than ours. As I stepped out, I saw that it evoked more of the 19th century in terms of development rather than the 21st, but I always liked this era.
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As I walked out, I stumbled a bit, but soon I walked steadily, admiring my surroundings, and Ponyville, if I'm not mistaken. However, even if she seems as lively as she is, many times this city doesn't provide 100% protection, especially since the Everfree Forest has become more active than usual.

"Um... sorry, but where are you going to sleep tonight?" I asked with great difficulty. She turned to me, then thought for a moment, and finally shrugged.

"I have no idea, I've just spent too much time in the hospital, I didn't want to stay there, but your question is justified. Hm, forgive me, but the name memory, what is it..."

"My name is Fluttershy, if you're curious about that." She nodded approvingly, but I didn't notice, in the corner of her eye, a tiny tear, and I finally understood. I judged her very strangely, just like the doctor, but she's not strange, she just doesn't know, or maybe doesn't want to express her feelings. Perhaps, if I'm kind enough to her, I can help change that in her, as so far she has spoken in a kind of hypnotized manner, with perfect emphasis, but insensitively. Well, if you have nowhere to go, you can sleep at my place tonight! With that, she raised her eyebrows, or maybe it's better if she didn't... I don't know... "You're not only charming, but where I come from, no one would offer such a thing, but thank you, I accept the invitation." As she said this, her mane sparkled a bit more, I guess this meant she was excited.

Author's Note

Hello everyone, unfortunately, the two stories are only available in Hungarian and Russian, I'm sorry. Also, for those who don't understand "Vuk," it abbreviates the phrase "Get out of my way from my hunting path!" I just wanted to mention this because I left it in Hungarian in this chapter, as it makes sense that way. Oh, and I will link the two stories as well.

chpolino: https://youtu.be/kBsWKc8lAZo?si=odglvruXks3qaBOr

vuk: Vuk.mp4, animáció - Videa

Chapter 3:

A week had passed since Flutershy's offer of a night's stay, and I realized that my presence was still welcomed as a permanent resident. I've been going out shopping—you wouldn't believe how much animal feed is needed for a farm-like place—and starting next week, I'll have to go back to school as well. Not that I mind coming here; working with the animals brings me great joy, and I've discovered that almost every technique I need is available here. Currently, I'm working on a small-scale food dispensing system designed for cages, to make it easier to feed the animals during longer enclosed periods. I quickly realized that not everything is as magical as the youthful, unbreakable sparkle—Diamond Tiara, to give her proper name, is a perfect example of how to be not only disrespectful but also unworthy of pity.

I'm sitting in my room, "meditating." In reality, I'm sitting there like a fool in silence, replaying fond memories of my life from the other world. I think a lot about fairy tales, for example, and also about what awaits me here. School starts tomorrow, and today I went shopping for pens, notebooks, and a backpack—I didn't buy a saddlebag because I crafted one, turning a small leather tool bag into a unique school backpack.

"Bender! Dinner's ready! And I made it using your fancy recipe!" Flutershy's voice is hard to hear, but in the quiet cottage, her voice is more than sufficient. I get up and head out; it's always strange to me how much time passes during these memory projections. After all, those stories are only 10-20 minutes long. I came in here around mid-afternoon, at about 3 o'clock, to think about how time flies like this?

Anyway, I don't have time to dwell on that now. I finally convinced Flutershy to make one of our home-cooked dishes, which required three eggs. The scent of fried pumpkin and tartar sauce tickled my nose as I rushed downstairs. "Flutershy! This looks divine!" I exclaimed as I saw the still-steaming slices of breaded pumpkin. Fortunately, ponies enjoy patissons, so only the sides were a bit unusual. "Thank you for finally making it, and I know how much you love animals, but not every egg becomes a chick."

As she spoke to me, I knew she was right, but my heart still ached because you never know which one will and which one won't. This mystery of chance was always present; she constantly wore a manufactured emotion on her face, something she knew was expected of her. If she didn't know what emotion was expected of her, she would maintain a poker face. What made it even stranger was how much she meditated—something I found out wasn't such a big deal—but nothing interested her about the other Fillies or Colts. She wasn't interested in beauty contests, Pegasi life, or magic. Though she did help when she could, she seemed even more reserved than me at times. When she asked me what I wanted to eat, she always asked what I wanted, which meant I listed what I craved, and eventually, we ate what we both wanted. When she asked me to prepare the recipe, she acted as if she feared I wouldn't want to, and she was partly right, but she didn't ask; she questioned me to prepare it, just once! She also handled money oddly; I gave her 10 bits to buy school supplies, but she returned 8 bits and said that was enough. I saw that she only bought what she needed, even making her own bag instead of buying one. She said her parents taught her that money isn't free; you have to work hard for it. Meanwhile, the last slice of pumpkin was ready, and I still don't understand what the sauce is for, because its scent is indeed good, but it's not like, say, gravy for dipping fries in.

"Bender, as I put the tray on the table, she took one from the cooler bottom and dipped it in.Into the sauce, then she grabbed one and started crunching on it. "Mm, Flutershy, this is divine! Thank you for making it; it's almost better than home-cooked." Then she took another one.

After gathering some courage, I mimicked her actions, and suddenly something happened—my taste buds felt like they melted. It was so delicious that I can't even find the right word to describe it, maybe heavenly, but multiply that by a hundred, and it's just about there. The pumpkin quickly disappeared, but what's interesting is that after about 5-6 pieces, Bender got up, wished us good night, and left. I could only hear the sound of the shower when I finished.

Though he initially startled us, that little colt, Bender, seemed like a natural genius. When we met for the second time, he was just delivering food to Flutershy after sorting out his school papers. I couldn't even handle such matters alone, let alone know how to deal with them. He said he would be in the same class as us and even mentioned that he thought we looked better without beauty marks. Rarity said his views were radical, whatever that means, but she never said she didn't want a beauty mark. In fact, she's actively involved in our troupe as an idea developer, whatever that means. Since then, I've been waiting for today, his first day at school. Although he expressed that he thought the class might be boring not because of the hour but because of the content, he could hardly wait.

As I pondered on this, Apple Bloom and Scoutalu snuck up beside me, giving me quite a start, but I've gotten better at handling these, so I didn't jump onto a rooftop. Then he came over and joined our gang.

His mane was a bit disheveled, and it stood on end, but it wasn't so surprising due to the constant electrical sparks. My own mane started falling apart from it, and when he noticed, he caught his sparks and just said, "Sorry," before shuffling away with his eyes downcast.

So here we have the now 4-member blank flank gang! Diamond Tiara got in our way and singled out Bender. "Do you even care that you could be a powerful alicorn, but you're so pathetic, just this twisted half-this, half-that?" We were all furious, but he wasn't. "I don't know, should I? Because the only thing bothering me right now is that your mane looks like it got caught in a paint roller." Diamond Tiara was taken aback. "And yours looks like it got struck by lightning," Bender retorted, a small smile appearing on his lips. We were getting angrier, but he just kept smiling. "I bet your beauty mark will be something tacky, like a little lightning bolt, representing how useless you are." At this point, almost everyone would have exploded, but he just kept smiling.

"Excuse me, but as far as I'm concerned, I'll make a big deal out of what tattoo I get, and when I do, I'll have it. Otherwise, unless you want to duel me, please step aside." Diamond Tiara's jaw dropped, as did ours, but she didn't give up. "Still so afraid of me that you can't even use 'you'?" Bender walked away from her and stopped behind her. "What's the matter? You don't dare turn your back?" Bender just smiled even wider. "Well, listen, Tia, if you insist on being annoying, I suggest you pick on something we can do something about, like, I could criticize your upbringing or your manners, but it's not your fault, it's your parents' fault. Because if I understand correctly, you're your mommy's little darling, who always has to be the best at everything everywhere, and nobody can match up to you. I suggest you establish a proper set of values for yourself because right now, not only is your behavior intolerable, but it's also pitiful. Diamond Tiara's eyes widened, and tears began to well up in her eyes, streaming down.

"You have no idea what my fate is!" With that, she stormed off as if she'd seen a ghost.

Well, it looks like I managed to put her in her place. I think we should hurry if we don't want to be late. I saw that the others couldn't believe their eyes that I had just taken down their biggest opponent, but that didn't bother me at all. We trotted off; I heard someone trotting beside me, and suddenly the little unicorn, whose name my memory constantly fails to recall, was there. So I tried to signal who I was talking to with my gaze, although it's not so easy with half an eye.

"That was fantastic; were you able to do that?" The question surprised me, and I had an answer, but not in words or phrases, explaining what autism is and why it's associated with such a big advantage in this situation, especially for a Filly, isn't easy.

"Well, let's just say I keep my emotions under lock and key, so I'm not nervous if I don't want to be, and I'm not afraid if I don't want to be, although I can love even if I don't want to." "Really? And how do you do that, and why doesn't it work with love?" My eyes widened; I almost said I found it very cute. "Oh, I think this counts as pedophilia since she's barely 7, and I'm mentally 16; I don't know, does the body or the mind count here? Setting that aside, I don't feel this is right because, sure, she may be cute, but I hardly know her."

"Well, there's a simple answer to two simple questions. The point is, your face shouldn't be dominated by emotions. If you can maintain a poker face under any stress, then you've won. As for the second question, the answer is that there are no noticeable signs, so there's no need to hide it." She froze; I guess what I said shocked her. She walked away, seemingly stunned. We walked off; Apple Bloom and the other one, whose name is forgotten even if they shoot me in the head because I can't remember it, were with me. I started humming: "Love gives new hope every day, even the coldest heart can change..."

"Will you teach me?" "Teach you what?" This request shocked me; being autistic is terrible, and being asked to act autistic, or at least to have a poker face, didn't appeal to me. I didn't like this idea, and if she insists, I'll do it, but I don't like it even then. "Well, let's meet at Fluttershy's cabin after school, but I warn you, this is a very difficult task." "I don't mind; no matter how difficult, I want to learn to defend myself against this fury." I actually expected this and even imagined how the training would go, but I was afraid I'd regret it. By the time I decided on the methods, we arrived at the school, and I sat next to Sweetie Belle, with Scoutalu (I remembered his name) across from me. The teacher, Ms. Cheerilee, was very nice even during my enrollment

, reminding me of my former German teacher; the bell rang like a church bell. The lesson began.

"Hello, little ponies, today we have a new student joining us. Thunder Bender, please come out and introduce yourself." I wasn't expecting this; it's not our custom, but the teacher's word is law. I walked out slowly, but my trembling gave away that I was nervous because my hair was sparking with every strand attached to a little lightning bolt. I came out, turned around, and opened my mouth.

"Hello, my name you've already heard, but I'd like you to call me Bender. Let's see what else... It might be important to know that I have only one eye, so I can't see to the left, and maybe someone noticed, but that's why I often tilt my head to the left. What's more important is that I have extremely sensitive eyes, so if there's a way, please don't shine light into them." Maybe I shouldn't have told them this, but it's too late now. My hair is constantly sparking, and these sparks are attracted to moist things, so don't go near them because it can easily strike you with a stronger spark. Maybe that's all that was important; I really don't know what else would be important. If you have any questions, I'm happy to answer.

Then there were about 35 questions, half of which were typical like what do you like to do, what do you think your beauty mark will be, etc., but the rest weren't interesting. The lesson was, though; we learned the basic laws of physics, and the teacher was surprised at how well I knew Newton—probably the pony equivalent of Newton—and his laws, and I even got to demonstrate an experiment, which was named after Professor Öveges, called the Sparking Chair Experiment.

It was break time, and Bender was eating alone under a tree; the food was interesting, brown mushroom-shaped things, and I don't even know what they were. The other was a white sauce that looked like mayonnaise, slightly diluted, at least visually. I couldn't wait to go over to him in the afternoon, but I couldn't help noticing that he seemed tense, hoping it had nothing to do with me.

Scoutalu and Apple Bloom wouldn't have been missed today anyway because they were going to the annual apple festival together. As we chatted there, Bender suddenly appeared behind me, and when he directed a spark directly onto my horn, I almost screamed. "Oh, for heaven's sake, don't give me a heart attack, please." He blushed a little but continued to smile; fortunately, this outburst didn't attract attention in the yard, but I already felt uncomfortable.

"Sorry, but this was a test for the afternoon program because I needed to know something. Joking aside, if you can, bring a notebook with you." I raised my eyebrows, about to ask him why, but he had already disappeared; it seemed like he was in a hurry. The bell for the student room rang, and we had to go in.

The division of the student room was completely different since many went to extracurricular activities. That day, only I and the two life-ruiners were there. Apple Bloom went to the farming course, and Scoutalu went to the wing repair course at times like this. It didn't take long, and the teacher came in. "All right, little ones... then she suddenly counted. Where's Bender?"

Pip had a bit more of a country accent than us, but nobody cared. He was usually quiet, but now he immediately spoke up. "He had to leave, and he askede mem specificallyn to tell youre." He said to mei thate he's workingon a super secrete surprise for the class foir next week's bog physics presentation, and somethinge about how his manchinery is very complex and takes a long time to plan. This country accent wasn't unusual for him, but decoding it was difficlt; oh, whoops, it seems contagious.

"Well, I guess until his homework for tomorrow is done, I can let it slide. And that's how the lesson began, which only Diamond Tiara could ruin even more.

Author's Note

"I linked the recipe's from the beginning of the chapter here: Tartármártás egyszerűen | Mindmegette.hu
Egyszerű rántott tök | Mindmegette.hu
Sorry, but this is also only in Hungarian, because, you know, it's a Hungarian dish that's not so widespread in other countries."
In the paragraph just before the last one, there's a little mistake because the book is written in Hungarian where there's no British accent, so in the series, Pip speak a "vilage" dialect of our language, and I tried to convey this afterwards as well, sorry."

chapter 4

As I walked home, I was already pondering what to make shovels out of because wood didn't seem like such a good idea, but metal was too expensive. Then it occurred to me that they could be made from the same material as my hooves or horn, which I still use interchangeably as synonyms. However, Flutershy was kind enough to buy me the strongest available, unfortunately, along with the most fuel-consuming engine by far, which the seller swore could produce at least 4-5 hundred average forces. I retrospectively consider this the local equivalent of horsepower, after all, everyone here is a horse, or actually a pony, but that's just as much difference as between a wolf and a dog. What I'm planning is to demonstrate physical flight, or more precisely, an airplane. When I was still human, I was very interested in airplanes from the 1930s and 1940s. In practice, my model resembled a long-winged, single-engine 1939 Fiat CR 42. The engine I acquired could keep the plane in the air for about 140-145 minutes with a full tank, and then it could glide for another 20 minutes or so.

Then it occurred to me that Sweetie Belle was coming today, and I had no idea how to teach her to be autistic. Is this even possible? When it was diagnosed with me, it was a curse. Everyone looked at me as if I were a fool, and whatever ideas I had, they laughed at, whether it was funny or serious. As I grew more solemn, the "positive side" of this seemed to stand out, namely, that I could fool anyone, play any emotion, except genuine affection. Another big advantage is that I can lie without blinking, although I don't do it so often now. Since I've been here, I've only done it twice—okay, maybe three times—maybe even four times. What's also positive is that what interests me, I'm really good at, but I try to deal with the negative side as well, so that the excitement, whether it's mating or just adrenaline, doesn't show too much. When I was human, I could fly with my hands, which was really weird. Now, it's not difficult to hide this with my wings, but is this really a good idea?
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It was almost three-quarters past three when I reached Flutershy's hut. I was very excited; I could finally defeat Diamond Tiara. I came in response to Bender's request. Next to the hut, there was recently built a lean-to, which was quite large because while the average lean-to is about 2x5 meters, this one was 6x14, and the door in front of it could be completely opened. I also saw Flutershy feeding rabbits.

"Hi! Flutershy! Where's Bender!?" Flutershy noticed and waved, but before she could speak, Bender shouted, "Sweetie Belle, come to the workshop!" I turned towards the little shack; the entire wall with a door opening upwards was wide open, but it looked like there was something inside. In front of the window, there was something resembling a sharp "arrowhead," with three regular oar-like paddles attached to it. As I peeked in, I saw Bender, with a welding mask on his face and a strange cylinder in his hand, which had a regular U-shaped glass frame turned upside down on top of it, and on both sides, there were what looked like the wings Snails made before he realized it wouldn't work.

"Bender!" He stopped welding and turned towards me. He took off the mask and switched off the welding horn. "Is this the super-secret thing you're planning for next week?" His eyes widened for a moment, but then he returned to his aristocratic manner. "Exactly! Sweetie Belle, let me show you. This here is the Vercse." Then he summarized what it was in a few sentences (mostly, I understood that it was some sort of flying machine). I think he saw that I was bored, so he sighed, and after a little pause, he spoke again. "But I can see you're bored. Let's get straight to the point. My art in this age will be difficult to master, but not impossible. The first thing you'll get is this." He took out three rings; they weren't designed for this purpose, but they served the purpose well.

"I don't mean to argue, but what do we need these three iron rings for? How does this fit into the training...?" Bender put his hand over my mouth, then placed the rings on my horn, neck, and just above my tail, so basically, my most sensitive areas except for my intimate parts, and secured them tightly. He then conducted a very weak current to all three rings. Naturally, I yelped in response.

"Great, the system works perfectly," declared Bender, as if it were perfectly normal to conduct electricity into a friend. "The first part of the lesson is the poker face; then you'll learn to simulate, and finally, to control. I wanted to speak up, but he continued before I could. "Thanks to Twilight's great camouflage magic, these rings, now that they're in place, can only be seen by you and me. When we're at school, a longer 2-3 second shake signals it's poker time, meaning you can only have a poker face then; another shake indicates you're free, and if you show emotion when you shouldn't, I'll shake you, of course, not so that it hurts, but you'll feel it. While the method may be morbid, it makes sense."

"Isn't there any other way? I don't know if I can bear this; it seems so barbaric." He thought about it for a while, but then shook his head. "I'm sorry, but I really don't know how else or what else could be done. I've been learning this since birth, almost by myself, but to jump into it at this age, well, it's very difficult, and this is the fastest method. If you want something else, it'll take years, this is about 3-4 months per section. My eyes widened; is this really the only way? I was ready for anything, but suddenly this seemed like too much. Now that this has been discussed, I would like to focus more on you. I need to know your facial expressions and gestures well for the next chapter. After that, he asked me a lot of questions and wrote down what I should do to maintain the poker face and what to do with other things, the signals from my body; of course, this was a kind of consultation. What was strange was that although I would gladly have talked to him about this, he showed no interest in my romantic affairs, and when I brought it up, he said that love and joy cannot be hidden, so they're irrelevant here.

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Today, as Sweetie Belle recounted the madness Bender had come up with that morning, we initially just laughed, until Bender stepped in and supported the statement. Her blonde mane still stood as if struck by lightning. We went to school together, and suddenly Sweetie Belle twitched a bit. Then Bender called her back.

"Well, what do you want?" I was a bit nervous because I saw that Bender probably shook Sweetie Belle, albeit not painfully. "You know, your method isn't exactly ethical; poor Sweetie Belle is very fragile, and you're not having a good influence on her for sure. But spit it out, what do you want?"

"Would you honor me by presenting it next week..." He suddenly fell silent, then pondered for a moment, and spoke again. "So, would you be interested in trying out my new game, specifically designed for ponies like us?" This caught me off guard; it wasn't like Bender at all. He always spoke to us as if we were nobles. This was casual and childish.

"Sorry, could you repeat that?" He smacked his forehead before starting to stroke his accidentally hit horn and bite his lip. After an awkward half-minute, he spoke again. "I have a cool new toy; do you want to try it out?" Again, this wasn't like him. "Did you decide to drop the formalities? You're not speaking so aristocratically now?" I shrugged in response. "If it doesn't matter, I'll try to speak more like the average ponies in the future. Except when I'm burning Diamond Tiara. Then I said, and he winked, making it hard for me not to laugh. Then, to my surprise, he joined in, and although I hardly noticed it, he shook Sweetie Belle again and hurried back to them.
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This was one of the most embarrassing conversations of my life, but it also started a thought process in me. If speaking in an average tone is really odd for me, then I won't force it. Luna seemed very convincing, saying that I shouldn't speak like this always, but it's really hard for me to change that. Not that I care much about a noble's opinion, having been raised according to socialist principles, but she's like a dear granny to me here. Did I phrase that too personally? I don't really care; what I think, I'll say.

However, at school, they immediately started asking what this secret program was that allowed me to leave yesterday. They didn't get anything out of me. I signaled Sweetie Belle's practice again, and she stumbled twice on the way back when I withdrew it. I don't blame her; the first time was a joke that almost made me laugh myself, and the second was a surprise when someone gave her a bouquet of flowers. At first, I thought she was going to eat it, but then I realized it wasn't a real flower, but a fake one. I don't understand why, but maybe it's because sweets exist here. Still, I can see that she tries to keep a poker face even when it's not necessary, but I knew it would take her a long time to master this, in the meantime, not only I her, but she also develops me. I have fewer and fewer red spots on my face and forced good mood when I'm with them. I've never been able to do this before, but now that I'm with them a lot, it's getting better.

"Listen up! I have a great idea for getting our beauty marks." This is new to me too, of course; it's understandable that finding destiny is important, but I think forcing it isn't. I only joined in because thanks to common savings, I have enough money to finish the tail part of my machine with aluminum. Of course, as a gesture of thanks, Scoutalu will do the test flight since everyone likes the fruit they can't eat often, and Scoutalu can fly very rarely, even with help. Anyway, I turned around and watched. What if we were the beauty mark-crossed dragonfly riders? Everyone laughed at this because it's completely hopeless, even riding a dragonfly, let alone flying on it, is absurd. However, then the teacher came in.

"Hello, little ponies!"

"Good morning, Miss Cheerilee!" I greeted her, which earned me a few stares, but then they took it as a Bender-style saying and turned away.

"Imagine Ponyville! Princess Cadence and Princess Luna are visiting for the zap apple harvest. Can anyone tell me what this means?" I raised my hand and felt bitterness, hatred, and disgust fill my body.

"I suppose it's appropriate for the princesses to give gifts. " Cheerilee's eyes widened, and only then did I realize why. I said it with such disgust that it almost offended everyone.

"What tone should I take this as, Bender? I thought my heart would stop and my blood would freeze, but then the Snow White came to mind, where the old witch says, 'Her heart will harden, her blood will freeze, and I will be the fairest in the land again!' That made me feel so good that I giggled a bit, and suddenly I had an idea of what to say to get myself out of this situation.

"Ex-cuse me, ma'am, I just... where I come from, the leaders call themselves kings and take everything they can from us. This... this will surely do the trick." The class stared for a while, first in surprise, then sympathetically, and finally in pity.
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The arrival of Luna and Cadence means a lot of work but also great joy, although Luna's letter requested Discord's presence, which isn't easy to arrange. Despite his change, he still can't behave normally. It's also sad that Princess Celestia isn't coming, but someone has to hold the fort in Canterlot. This afternoon is also the traditional Help the Little Ones Day, when 10-15 foals from the nursery come over, and they'll be here soon. So now I don't have the time or energy to look for that chaos creature. Fluttershy told me that Bender is building something super-secret and super-expensive, and he has no idea where he got the money. He claims he won't tell us anything about it because it would provoke a lot of resentment from the pegasi and unicorns alike. Of course, when the princesses visit, there will also be a physics demonstration for the foals, but it's certainly not as big a secret as what he's building, and I'll try to find out from him.

As this thought flashed through my mind, the door suddenly opened, and they flooded in. Bender came in last in line and immediately knew what he was looking for; he grabbed a book on glider planes. Then he picked one up about the new internal combustion ship engines. Then I saw Sweetie Belle trembling, but after this, she behaved a bit strangely; she didn't show much emotion, even the sparkle disappeared from her eyes. This was odd, but it was time to inquire about what Bender was doing.

"Hey, Bender, what's up?" He turned to me, and although it didn't show on his face, you could see on his horn that he was either irritated or nervous. Sparks flew out of it pretty strong, then he spoke. "Well, I'd like to start a little course, but Cheerilee refuses to go along with it." This surprised me; ponies of his age rarely have plans, and they seldom take on any obligations, so I knew he wasn't an ordinary pony, and since this had nothing to do with machines, my path seemed longer.

"What kind of course would that be?" I meant it as a rhetorical question, not expecting an actual answer, but he started explaining what it would be, that it would be some kind of training where ponies could learn to keep a poker face or show false emotions so that in case of trouble, they could look safe and not be afraid. Despite my lack of interest, this course was a terribly great idea. Moreover, they announced that there has been an increase in foal kidnappings in Las Pegasus. The course would have been specifically designed for such cases. This course is brilliant! I'll help if you want. He smiled, touched, and blushed a bit, then took a pen, ink, and paper, and started writing. The ink was red, and he quickly painted the text with it, with which he wanted to advertise:

Attention!
Attention!

A self-defense and panic control course will soon start specifically for foals!
Here, foals can learn to overcome panic and defend themselves!
In case of foal abduction, how to leave a trace, how to disguise fear!
Those interested can apply at Fluttershy's House or the Golden Oak Library!
Courses every Wednesday and Saturday!
The course is always a full day and is the responsibility of the parent!

Then he turned to me and looked at me questioningly. I nodded and grabbed the poster, making about 30 of them in total. Then he disappeared like camphor, taking the posters and books with him. To be continued.

Author's Note

Hello everyone, sorry you had to wait so long at the beginning of the chapter about the CR 42, here's a picture: https://www.flickr.com/photos/27862259@N02/5942650211
Imagine something like this, but without the lower shaft.
Another thing, Bender mentions Luna for a reason, as will be revealed in the next chapter.

chapter 5

An empty grassy slope, dense pine forest on one side, on the other side, a checkered steel wire fence, with a chestnut tree growing halfway into it, a small straight section at the bottom of the slope, then a thin little stream flows, and some more grass, and finally, a paved road, on the other side of which the wild world of the forest, with its flowers and bushes, awaits. Behind the stream, there was a small red car parked, with its rear facing the stream, its license plate also a familiar one, DCG-200. From the top of the slope, I can see it with my eyes, next to it a cute Hungarian flag under a printed large H. Such a familiar place, it's almost unbelievable. Home sweet home! The forest of pine and oak, with quite a few yellow leaves, autumn is here. I take a step forward, and suddenly I slip and tumble down, but nothing hurts afterward.

I had forgotten how wonderful lucid dreaming is, here I can stand in such a dear place from my childhood and explore it. Here on top of the small hill stands that ugly roof rack, its lamps staring at me like small parallelograms, as I walk around, I notice the beautiful yellow umbrella on the hat stand, then the small regular fan controls.

I continue walking, from the top of the hill it wasn't visible, but on the other side of the road, if you turn left, you only need to take about 5 meters to stumble upon a tall dense hedge, which provides better protection against intruders than any fence. It has a small cutout for a car, then it continues. The parking area is divided into two parts, one side has a long staircase, the other has a wood storage and a nice old Kedilek. Each step of the staircase is made of concrete, but it alternates between short and long steps; once I counted 128 steps, which had to be climbed every time, beside it on both sides there were ropes, swaying like electrical wires. On the left side, there are many trees, but on the right side, there is a disgustingly looking house, red, but very flashy. In it lives Aunt Csöpike, whose voice is like when…

What's this? What's this sound? A soft chuckle comes with the breeze, and I can't even determine where it's coming from. Show yourself! I didn't even understand why I said that, but suddenly I saw him, because I wanted to. A new pony, blue-maned and tailed like me, but without a fractured horn, and without featherless stubby wings, appeared before me, not on the ground, but in the air, in a little bubble. Good day! Please don't be mad, but how did you get here?
Oh, this is surprising, can you control your dreams? I'm sorry! My name is Luna, and I am the princess of dreams and the night. I didn't really expect this, I knew that in the world where I could live as a child again, two princesses raise the sun and the moon.

Ah, so I suppose you've come to warn me or give advice then, Sweetie Belle told me that you talked her out of ruining her sister's life.
The situation wasn't that drastic, but it's true that I came to help, keeping secrets is not good for a friendship, and selfishness doesn't serve you well either, I know how much you want to develop your mind.

You seem to be a very good interpreter, indeed, I'm not very forthcoming, but why is this so important to you?
You should let go of this as well. Speaking to everyone like this just makes it weird and doesn't serve your good. This sentence sounded so beautiful, and meanwhile, as he put his hoof under my chin and lifted my head towards his, the last time someone did this to me was Grandma, and I was only 6 years old then, but in the end, it's normal now since physically, even if I was a human now, I still looked like a 7-8 year old.

L-Luna, tell me what to do to finally have a normal foalhood. Believe me, I'll take your advice. His eyes twitched for a moment, then he hugged me tightly.

No matter how much you've grown up here, deep down you're still a little kid. We're so similar in this, I'm also 10+10 thousand years old on paper, but in spirit, I'm still a little pony who only wishes for her sister to be there by her side. I couldn't and didn't want to stop smiling and diving deeper into his soft deep sea blue mane. My only advice is to let go of this aristocratic speech and share everything you can. I have to go now, somewhere, a little white-orange pegasus dreams that he'll never be able to fly. We drifted apart, and with a flash, a door appeared, if I hadn't controlled it, my dream would have surely disappeared, but now it stayed here, I counted down from 12, and at 0 I opened the door, it led to the same place Luna went, I couldn't see her, but the place I could best describe as a room filled with lilac-green mist, where it seemed like some invisible substance formed a small floor, well, this isn't so easy to describe, but it resembled this the most, but then, a dream scene glowed. As these dream images lined up in an endless corridor, like plasma TVs in a mall, playing previews of movies. From the glow, a blue horn appeared, I quickly closed the door, and I was back at the dream version of my former home, I put the door back into place, where the gate of the wire fence blocking the woodpile was, well, I'll surely find some use for this someday, I thought to myself.

Now that I've replayed the dream in my head again, I was afraid the door wouldn't be there when I go back into that dream, but as soon as I woke up, I noticed that one of the last posters I put up had already caught the attention of a stallion, I guess many will come tomorrow. Luna's advice to share everything I can was good, although I always shared just to be left alone, I thought it was easier than explaining why not.

As I pasted the posters one by one, my stomach suddenly growled. It's been quite a while since lunch, and my pocket money went to stomach saving to buy the vortex funnel. I quickly put up the last poster on a random cart and headed home, on the way, I grabbed the book: "GLIDER WING ARRANGEMENT advanced" with one of my wings, and started studying how to design a good wing shape for gliding and soaring. As I delved into the world of glider wings, I was suddenly home, or at least what could be called home. In the kitchen, Fluttershy was making some daisy sandwiches and preparing dinner for the animals.

Fluttershy! Can I have a sandwich?

Oh, of course, help yourself. Encouraged by this, I took one, then went up to my room. Or I would have gone if there hadn't been a knock on the door. I'm coming! I went to the door, which I don't know why, opened in two parts, and I regularly either stumbled over it or bumped my head on it. I opened the top part, and as if my front hooves were my hands, I reared up on two legs. At the door stood Scoutalu, holding the poster.

As I stood there, I felt anger and curiosity, and joy, and I think I went overboard again. Bender, how could you leave us out of this plan? We could be the Beauty Mark Cross Fight coaches! Why are you so selfish?! I couldn't even look at him until after I yelled, then I saw his ears droop, and he almost cried, I may have exaggerated a bit. However, the door opened, and Bender grabbed my hoof with his wing before I could react.
He led me to the back shed, and before I could speak, he opened it. What I saw, I don't even know, a large closed cylinder at the front something resembling a windmill, roughly similar to what new motorized hot air balloons use. As we moved further back, there were thin glass windows, then a second one, which was cabin-shaped, at this point, on both sides, there were two long glider wing-like structures at the bottom of the cylinder, then further back, an arrow-shaped arrangement finally. Here is your and my key to flying! You know how expensive this is, so I started that program to have money to build the equipment to control it, but alright, I'm selfish because I wanted to give it to you, so take it and finish it yourself, and forget about it. I couldn't speak, his horn was sparkling in an amazing way before he ran off into the forest. I wanted to follow him, but I couldn't, ever since we found the cockatrice, I couldn't bring myself to go in there.

Fluttershy!...

I heard knocking, but when Bender said he'd open, I didn't go there eventually, thinking someone must be waiting. I continued cooking the special stew by Bender, called just fine soup, thinking I'd surprise him for all his help. I was busy stirring the stew when Scoutalu cried out in despair, and not long after, he "flew" in through the window. His eyes reflected an extremely strange emotion, at once shame, anger, and... and... this can't be properly described, as if someone beloved was in danger.

Fluttershy! Bender! Forest! Come! I didn't understand what happened, but from this I understood what he wanted. I rushed out, and I just saw Bender rushing towards the castle of the two sisters. Bender! Of course, he didn't hear me, I could never shout so loudly, but I immediately dashed into town. Many looked at me in surprise, usually Rainbow is the one who flies so fast, but there was no time to lose, by the time I reached the library, I felt like all the feathers had burned off my wings, I didn't even knock, I just burst in. The first thing I saw was Spike almost completely buried under a pile of books. Twilight! Come quickly, we need to help Bender, he broke into the forest.

What wait, slow down a bit, Bender broke into the forest, this isn't so big... His voice faltered, the surprise on his face turned into sudden horror, even dread. Bender is in the forest! We have to go after him immediately. We rushed out of the library so fast that only at the edge of the forest Apple Jack, who was coming after us from the market, caught up with us.

(After rushing out of the library) Twilight! Twilight! Could you take the books off me? I'm running out of air!

I didn't even think about where I was going or what I was doing, I just ran, if I can't be a proper friend and need this level of drama to face my issues, then this place isn't for me. I just ran and ran, not looking back. When Scoutalu labeled me as selfish and treacherous, a dam that had been closed for a long time in my emotions burst, revealing a world few besides my family had seen.

When I finally got tired and somewhat calmed down, I looked around in the forbidden eternal freedom forest, but this place was unlike any other. There was a large ruined castle and a staircase leading into a crevice. Now, besides the rustling of the branches and my crying, I could hear something else.

I wasn't so scared, but it seemed like a good idea to seek shelter, so I weighed my options. If I go into the cave, which looks stable, I might get trapped, but I could defend myself with my horn (maybe). On the other hand, if I go into the castle, one wrong move and it could collapse on me, at least if it's as ruined as it seems. So logically, I went into the cave. Once inside the cave, I realized I was safe here. The cave had a strong smell, almost like a... Oh, this is the typical wolf scent, wolf scent, but it also smelled like damp wood...

I turned around, and behind me, there was a... what is this? Okay, then I'll tell you, it's a piece of wood behaving like a wolf. I aimed my horn at it, and suddenly it shot out a strong spark, and the wolf ran away on fire. Then I started running in the other direction, and soon as I tried to aim back, I bumped into a crystal piece and hit my head.

I still can't believe that sweet colt would venture into such a dangerous place. I told him we wouldn't dare to come here without Twilight, she's the only one who can protect us here, well mostly, of course, you can survive here even if she's not here, but it's safer to be here this way.

He didn't venture much, I don't think he even saw where he was going. Fluttershy finished the sentence with a twitch, because some animal swooshed by not far from here. This is still an absurd situation despite the fact that Colt is weird from the ground up. As I smelled what happened, I immediately set off to help the others, but this is not normal behavior.
Didn't Scoutalu tell you what happened? I suspect he may have said something hurtful that affected him too sensitively. Twilight's suggestion was quite valid, but somehow I can't see him harming anyone. By now, we're almost at the castle of the two sisters. This Bender will be a champion, even if he's not a flyer, but a runner, given how far he ran in this time. I hope he can justify this outburst later.

Our shouts went unanswered until then, a

My head was pounding so much that I didn't even know what had happened suddenly. Then I looked around and saw a large white crystal tree, or whatever I saw, had 5 branches, and on those, when I looked up, there was a larger "fruit" missing its seed. I didn't know then that this was the Tree of Harmony, but since no monsters came here, I stayed close. At the entrance to the cave, I found a more comfortable tree root, and except for a few small prickles, it was really comfortable.

I dozed off, and I remembered myself in the state where I left the door. Fortunately, the door was still there. I stepped in, there weren't many dreams yet, but then I heard something that didn't belong in the dream, wolf growls, and I couldn't dream that I didn't hear it. It could only mean that the root was outside the monster-free zone. Then I saw Scoutalu's dream.

The dream was quite surreal. The poor little one flew, and he was chased by some dark demon on a machine similar to my plane. He begged the creature to forgive him and said he regretted accusing it before thinking. It was horrible to see this, even though it was a perfectly justified nightmare. However, I decided to help him. Oh, how naive I was. I stepped into the dream and imagined that the demon disappeared and my plane appeared next to him. This happened. The propeller of the plane stopped, and it started talking. I told him to hurry after them with the plane and tell them that I'm near some ruined castle, by a cave, surrounded by wolves, and they should hurry.

I woke up, and somehow I felt that this wasn't just a simple dream. I rushed out immediately, and I headed towards Fluttershy's house, I don't think I've ever been faster on the scooter. The ponies were quite stunned.
When I arrived at the house, I quickly pushed the plane out of the shed, he didn't tell me how it works, but I figured that if I press the buttons long enough, it'll eventually start.

The machine was equipped with a lot of buttons, levers, and other things. I found 2 levers with something scratched on them, one was next to the seat, and it said power, the other was in front of the seat, and it was interesting because it had a crank on it, this was a bit more familiar, the golden apple mobile was also crank-operated. Besides that, there was only one button labeled, it said the ignition, whatever that may be. I tried to crank it up, but it was very difficult to fill up, and then the starter turned out to be not the pedal I thought it was. As I stepped on this pedal. I stumbled upon a piece of iron, and I hit the buttons, I don't know why, but suddenly I heard a vibrating buzzing, and the propeller started spinning.
But it didn't take off. I sat in the chair and waited for something to happen. It went on like this for about half a minute. How did the Apple Mobile start after this? Oh, it needed to be put into gear, but where could this gearshift be? The power lever was right next to me, where the gearshift should have been, let's see what happens if I push this up. Surprisingly, it moved with difficulty, but it did what it thought, I pushed it up halfway between the two ends, and the plane rolled out and as soon as it reached the edge of the barn, it started accelerating. I assumed that the lever that looked like a stick in front of me would be the steering wheel. As I pulled it to the left, we indeed turned left slowly but surely, then I pulled it back, interested in what it would do.

I didn't feel the vibrations of the wheels rolling, but I didn't understand why, I didn't lift off significantly from the ground, then I realized that I was actually slowly rising. The problem was that when I looked out, I saw that I was heading straight for a tree. I pulled the lever all the way back, but even though it started to rise, it slowed down more and more. I pushed the power lever all the way forward, and the engine roared even louder, and we took off. One wheel still caught the tree, but the main thing didn't change, it flew, it really flew, and so did I. I started testing what I could do with it, the turns were sluggish, but other than that, its abilities were better than any pegasi's. I lost all sense of time, and I didn't know how much time had passed. When a loud cry woke me from my reverie, I realized I didn't have time to search for the others, and I couldn't because of the trees, so I had to go there myself.

I woke up and felt like I was in serious trouble. The sounds were coming from the direction of the tree, which could have provided safety, in the absence of that, I shook one of the wolves with my horn and ran through them, then with a leap away from the shocked wolves, I reached a high ground, which led to a smaller cave passage, if I saw it correctly, but there was something in it that wasn't everyday. Or in a sense, it was, but not in this world, and not even in mine for quite some time.

I used to watch British films a lot, The Sound of Music and Mary Poppins were my two personal favorites, and I knew what I saw was a police booth. I would have approached it closer, but then, a wolf jumped at me and took me down. I managed to keep my horn under control long enough to shake it off, but by the time I looked back, the booth had disappeared, and there was only a piece of paper tucked under a stone right next to the shocked wolf. I took it, the writing looked strange, it reminded me of my own writing in appearance, but what was even stranger was what I read, moreover, in Hungarian, even though everything here was in English, even I spoke in this language as if it were my mother tongue.

It will be a Sliders and electric day, but don't forget the answers are ready, you just need to ask the right questions and be satisfied with the silver medal to become an arrow, then what is in your eyes. I always come back, and I count on you.

I didn't have time to ponder what all this meant, as two more wolves climbed up, I managed to shake one off, but my horn decided it had enough of me here and sent a strong spark that shocked me and paralyzed me. The wolf came closer, and more came up.

As I lay there, I closed my eyes and waited for the inevitable. However, I heard a strange sound, then a sound reminiscent of my own magical lightning. I looked up, then turned my head back to where my visible eye was, so I just managed to see another pony like me, but it disappeared before I could assess it, leaving only one thing in the light of my eye, the mark of beauty, which was a 6-pointed red star with a horn and feather inside. But then I heard my plane, and I looked over in the other direction and then back, but by then, it had disappeared for good. My body reacted positively to the plane, and I could move again, but only my wings. I heard the sound again, but then only the movement of the wolves.

I was about to give up, and the engine was getting more and more coughing. I'm beginning to think I just dreamed and what I dreamed wasn't true. Then lightning struck towards me, and there, where it came from, I noticed a crevice. There were countless, no this is not an expression, there were countless wooden wolves. Another lightning bolt came from one of the protrusions, but it didn't come close to me, it was like those signal rockets in movies. I saw who it came from, it was Bender, but something was wrong with him, as if his legs weren't working. I reduced the speed and turned, I saw another wolf climbing up to him, but directing the lightning at it burned it and threw it off. As I aimed, I lowered my nose and approached him, I saw him extending his wing, so I flew down as much as I could, approached, and approached, and suddenly he pushed himself off the ground with his wing, then with his left wing, and caught one of the protrusions with his mouth.
Pull up! He shouted, then quickly bit into the side of the plane, I did what he told me, I gave more gas, and he pulled up the nose, we almost climbed at a 70-degree angle. The engine coughed even more, Bender pulled himself up to the side of the plane, then clung to both ends of the protrusion with his wings.

Are you paralyzed? The engine started to get quieter against my will, no matter how much I pushed the lever all the way forward, it didn't want to make a louder noise. What's wrong with this junk, Bender?
Nothing, it's just shutting down, straighten it out before it does, or we'll fall back into the wolves. Then I noticed a piece of paper rolled up on its wing. As our trajectory straightened out, the propeller started to slow down.

Hang on! He yelled at me, and jumped off onto the ground, I also jumped out, but the plane suddenly collided with a tree, spun out, and slammed into another, the last thing I saw was a Yellow Mare flying towards me before the world went dark

Author's Note

Yes, that blue booth is what you're thinking of. I won't attach a recipe for the "finom főzelék" ( fine soup) because it's like broccoli, only a few people like it.

One more thing, whoever deciphers all the references hidden in the letter to movies and series and tells me which movie they refer to will get a chance from me to say when to find a blue booth again to make a call from it (meaning, return Doctor Who).

Unfortunately, this chapter is even more confusing than usual because I had to split it into two parts.

At the beginning of the chapter, there's a little wordplay because in our language, when you want to pronounce "d c g," it sounds like you're saying döcögő which means stuttering.

Oh, and if I didn't structure it well, don't blame me, because ChatGPT really messed up the text even more than usual, sorry about that.

chapter 6

A few days have passed since then. Bender's machine was impressive, but it was a shame that Scoutalu lost his last chance to fly independently. When he flew out, a branch tore off the middle growth of the bone in his left wing. Although Bender repaired his machine, which he named Falcon, he didn't start the program he had announced. He says he won't put anyone in such danger again.

Today, Luna and Cadence are arriving, and Celestia wants to prepare a special test for me. The zap apple has already appeared and will ripen tomorrow. Applejack and Apple Bloom are extremely busy, but despite this, they help Scoutalu a lot, who, due to his leg injury, can only walk with crutches. However, this doesn't stop him from learning to fly with the Falcon.

Bender has started on his new machine, which… what does he call it? I can't remember, it's such a nonsensical name. The essence of this machine is to store unicorn magic, or more precisely, to harness his own horn, which has been even less controllable since the accident. It seals the magic and then shoots out like small light points, like a slingshot with pebbles.

"Twilight! Bender is asking if you know anything about a blue booth with a sign that says 'Free Call Police Box.' This is the other thing—ever since we found them, he's been mentioning a blue booth and showed me a strange letter written in a language I've never seen before."

"Tell him that if he keeps nagging, I won't pay for the instruments." Spike stormed out, but this thing keeps bothering me. Maybe I should tell him what I heard from Derpy about how Dinky was born because when she told me, it was unbelievable.

"Scoutalu!!!" I knew something was missing, but I didn't know what it was. Of course, I didn't refuel! How could I be such a numbskull? Lucky that Fluttershy and Twilight caught me, my goodness!

"Bender, calm down!" Twilight's eyes now had a motherly sternness. "Start from the beginning."

"Twilight!" I only heard this gentle, soft voice because of my attention disorder, but I didn't pay attention to it. I wish I had in hindsight.

"Well, it's hard to explain, but it's not that important right now." I looked around and saw the Falcon. It was turned by its wing, but except for the left wing, everything seemed to be operational, except for the bent propeller. "You know what, make yourself useful and lift it by the fuselage."

"Twilight! Please!" The voice became increasingly worried, but I didn't understand why at the time.

She snorted, and I didn't understand why. "Fine, but what are you doing? Anyway, what is this? It looks like a seagull with its wings stretched out, and a three-pronged mill wheel attached to its beak." That made my blood boil. A mill wheel, really? This was too much. This is a groundbreaking invention, and she insults it.

This here is the Falcon, a…

"Twi-light!" This voice was still soft but as firm as a soldier's. "We need to take him to the hospital!" At these words, I recoiled. Then I looked at Fluttershy and the one lying on her back. I thought my heart would stop. Scoutalu's wings hung limply, and the middle of one was missing a bunch of feathers. The middle of his left wing was completely torn out.

"My goodness! I'm sorry, Fluttershy, you're right." Twilight lifted his left wing, and now I had a complete picture. Our wing consists of one main and three auxiliary bones, usually completely hidden by feathers with a bit of flesh. On Scoutalu's left wing, the middle auxiliary bone was out of place, which I knew meant…

Looking back, this day was partly my fault. I shouldn't have been fooling around but should have looked for him as soon as I could. But as he said, he didn't refuel. My wing is no longer suitable for flying, not that I could before.

Bender has been behaving terribly lately; he almost cut off his own wing so that a regeneration spell might give me another chance to fly. But Fluttershy and I managed to talk him out of it with great difficulty. He is still consumed by guilt, and it's like pulling teeth to get him to come up with new cutie mark ideas.

Meanwhile, thanks to him, Smash Engine has received his cutie mark. One of the Falcon's wings had fallen off, and the propeller was bent from all the tree branches. When the two of them replaced one of the damaged rear control panels, he got his cutie mark, which was a hammer about to strike a metal plate. Meanwhile, Bender gave me the repaired Falcon and asked me to perform a demonstration with him at tomorrow's physics parade. He also built another one, but it doesn't have an engine, so he'll sit behind me during the demonstration to help if needed.

With one hour left until the demonstration, I decided to have a smoothie with Sweetie Belle, and I wanted to invite Bender too, but he insisted on doing a full check before the demonstration. I'm really sorry about this because I've seen him hesitating, torn between me and him, but afraid to approach either of us.

"Scoutalu!" I jerked my head up and saw Sweetie Belle looking at me strangely, almost puzzled. I shook my head to clear it.

"Oh—sorry, I zoned out. Where were we?" She sipped her strawberry smoothie and cleared her throat.

"You said you're not sure if you want to do this demonstration anymore. By the way, Bender mentioned something about a moving fortress he plans to design if he gets permission from the army to supplement the magic legions. Do you know anything about this?"
"No, unfortunately, since the accident, he only lets me near his workshop if the Falcon needs repairs. He is deathly afraid for me, almost paranoid, which is quite unusual for him. When..." My voice faltered because I realized that everything I said was just the consequence of my own mistake, as if I hadn't broken down then...

"Twilight lent me a horn ornament filled with a thought-interpretation spell for today, so I know what you're thinking, and no, it wasn't his fault or yours. It was an accident, a series of completely random coincidences. The same thing would have happened in reverse. This didn't fully reassure me, but I managed to hold back the tears that were about to spill.

"Thanks, Sweetie Belle, I couldn't ask for a better friend on all seven lands than you, but..." I glanced at the clock. "I'm going to be late!" I downed my chocolate smoothie in one gulp, which felt like swallowing one of Spike's larger rubies—cold and painful—but I didn't dwell on it. Instead, I burst out with a speed that would make Rainbow Dash proud to get to school on time.

I made it just in time. Bender was checking the controls, and as soon as he saw me, he moved to the second seat where he had installed a strange device. The machine could rotate, and it flashed lights. He called it Morse and had given a device to Miss Cheerilee that converted the received signals into sound. I walked slowly, and as I did, I put on the equipment one by one from my saddlebag: the helmet with the goggles, then the crank, which had since been made removable because it turned out that pushing the joystick forward and to the left was obstructed by it. I also had a special hoof protector called a "Glove," which theoretically wasn't needed yet, but it was better to get used to it.

I got in. A pegasus could easily operate the machine. My two front hooves controlled the joystick, while my two back hooves operated the pedals that moved the rudder. My right wing also handled the throttle. My left wing was still healing, so I couldn't use it. Despite this, I had a good view from the plane. Bender peeked forward and assumed a position as if lying on a massage table.

"Ready?" he asked, almost in a fatherly manner. His eyes sparkled with a maturity that I didn't fully understand at the time.

"I was born ready!" He just rolled his eyes and slid back into the rear seat. While I cranked up the machine, he simply tested the lamp, rotated it, then flashed a "CQD SOSW" signal with it.

The engine roared to life, and the hangar doors opened as if by magic. Scoutalu pushed the throttle forward, and the Falcon slowly rolled out. When we got outside, there wasn't a large crowd, just three people—Twilight and the two Crusaders, Sweetie Belle and Apple Bloom. Twilight approached the side of the Falcon, unable to hide the slight tears in her eyes.

"I’m proud of you, Bender, and I truly believe this experiment will be crowned with success."

"Thanks, Twilight. I couldn't have rebuilt it without your help." Meanwhile, the Crusaders hugged Scoutalu, wishing her good luck as I overheard. The Falcon's engine roared louder and louder. The wheels spun again, and after a short acceleration, the small plane no longer shook.

We were airborne again, soon only seeing the rooftops of houses below, and the only sound was the hum of the Falcon's engine. Scoutalu pulled her goggles over her eyes and made a sudden sharp turn to the right, so sharp that the right wing was pointing up and to the left, and the left wing down and to the right. The Falcon flew even faster, and we zoomed over the spectator area. Scoutalu quickly leveled the Falcon again, and I spotted the podium where the control panel was set up.

I quickly aimed the Morse gun and started typing. "Welcome everyone to today's physics demonstration, and apologies if we startled anyone." Scoutalu made another daring turn, causing the Morse gun to slip, so I had to wait. Scoutalu performed a beautiful loop-de-loop... I still don't understand why they call it a loop when it's a vertical circle. Scoutalu didn't even finish it; about ¾ of the way through, she flipped the plane and leveled it out. I seized the opportunity and aimed the gun again. "My name is Bender, and this is the Falcon, the future! Sit back and enjoy the show." Then I turned to Scoutalu. "Let's show them what we can do!"

She didn't respond but started weaving between a few clouds.

Luna wasn't particularly interested in the small school kids' makeshift machines demonstrating various physical phenomena, preferring to converse with Mayor Mare and Filthy Rich instead.

I was personally looking for Twilight, but she had disappeared from view since the parade started. Shining mentioned that Twilight had recently borrowed an unusually large number of technical books from Canterlot and had been researching in the Crystal Empire archives, but I didn't think much of it. Fluttershy said that Twilight had headed towards the school. I was about to follow her direction when a buzzing, crackling sound reached my ears. I looked around, noticing a strange speaker on a podium, which seemed suspiciously set up for the judges, but it wasn't making the sound. The noise suddenly grew louder, and something flew overhead. I don't know what it was, but it looked very interesting.

"Welcome everyone to today's physics demonstration, and apologies if anyone got scared," came the voice from the machine at the judges' podium. I then noticed something blinking on the plane. The plane flew upward, almost vertically, and then did an almost complete loop. The plane spoke again. "My name is Bender, and this is the Falcon, the future! Sit back and enjoy the show." This time, I took a closer look and realized that there were two ponies in the Falcon. The one in the back was flashing some kind of strange light at the plane, which was speaking, while the other was piloting.

They weaved around a few clouds, then took a sharp left turn, heading towards us. As they made a graceful arc, the pony in the back fiddled with something, and the plane started emitting smoke. It then straightened out, and the smoke took on a faint orange-yellow hue, beginning to form shapes.

Soon, a face appeared—an orange mare with a thick, purple mane almost falling into her eyes. But the plane wasn't done yet. It started trailing a red streak, and shortly after, another face emerged. "Isn't it artistic?" This voice made me jump nearly as high as the plane.

"Twilight! You scared the life out of me!" She briefly looked like a foal caught in mischief, then we both laughed.

"Oh, Cadence! You know you're the funniest?" I just shrugged and looked back. The machine was out of sight, and the two faces were fully formed.

"Thank you very much. If you're interested in the Falcon, you can find us in front of the school garage," the plane announced again, and the crowd erupted in cheers, even catching Luna's visible attention.

As the parade ended, the Falcon started running low on fuel. Though we hadn't fully refueled, its consumption was astonishingly high. The engine couldn't be run at full power for long. As soon as we landed, a few ponies approached.

"Excuse me! Please clear the way!" The voice was simultaneously authoritative and somewhat childish. Suddenly, everyone present bowed, but I stood tall and proud. Soon, Princess Luna and Princess Cadence stepped forward, accompanied by Twilight and another pegasus pony I couldn't recognize. The pegasus wore a blue suit that covered their cutie mark, had an orange mane similar to Scoutalu's coat, but with a beautifully bright lemon-yellow coat, and wore glasses.

When Scoutalu saw who was approaching, she bowed like everyone else, but I remained standing tall, like a soldier, only my horn betraying how much I was trembling inside. I had seen Princess Luna in my dreams, and heard about Cadence from Twilight, but the pegasus mare concerned me.

"Princess Luna, what an honor! My name is Bender…"

"I know who you are, and I'm glad my advice was well understood." This was somewhat reassuring, but not for me. In the meantime, everyone stood up and looked at me in amazement. "Tell me, young one, what is the purpose of this highly advanced invention?"

"Indeed, I am an experienced pilot, and I see tremendous potential in it," spoke the pegasus. Her voice was harsh and stern, like a female drill sergeant, which further hinted to me that she was some kind of air force commander. I had heard of the Wondercolts, a famous winged elite unit, but I never thought anyone from there would come to see this contraption. The name was amusing to me, as it roughly translated to "delight strike" in my language. Of course, I knew it meant something like "fantastic flyer" here, but it was still comical.

"Well, it's a... a... a prosthesis (of sorts)!" At this, the symbolic weight lifted from my heart, though my brain was still stressed. The princesses raised their eyebrows in a questioning manner, as if asking if I was serious, and my horn began to spark even more, reaching out not only to my mane but to other nearby objects. "Ahem, excuse me, just a moment!" I quickly and stealthily jumped into the back of the plane and came out with a rubber swim cap that fit over my horn. "A thousand apologies, but I don't want to shock anyone."

"Oh, it's alright, no one will hold it against you for being special," replied Cadence. "Returning to the matter at hand, do you really intend this invention to be a prosthesis? Because I see great potential in it." I rolled my eyes as if I already knew what she was going to say or ask.

"This model, yes, I focused on ease of piloting. The first 'test subject' figured out almost everything on their own. However, I do see potential in the invention, although..." This pause was meant to be dramatic, as I needed to secure funding to make a proper fighter similar to the foundational CR42, though I wasn't sure if there was a demand for it here. I also pondered on the other aspect. Prosthesis, huh, that was a good call on my part, what an opportunity. When I was still human, I often dreamed of helping others, back then I saw potential in leadership, but here, this is also a form of help.

"Although?" Luna inquired.

"Surely you don't have problems after creating such an invention?" Cadence pressed.

"Obviously, something is limiting you. May we know what it is?" asked the Pegasus.

"Well, the prototype consumed all my capital, and it no longer belongs to me. Currently, my dear friend and test pilot, Scoutalu, owns this unit, and she doesn't have enough money for another one. Scoutalu has endured numerous humiliations due to the condition of her wings, which is why I gave it to her." This elicited sympathetic looks from all three princesses, while Scoutalu glanced at me with slightly sharp eyes.

"Is that all? That's easy to solve." The voice was incredibly familiar, and I quickly realized who it was. Filthy Rich, the local moneybag, Diamond Tiara's father, who, despite his unappealing demeanor, had better business acumen than even James Onedin. He stepped forward and placed a sack of bits on the stand. "Exactly how much do you need?" His expression was typically that of Mr. Burns from The Simpsons. "I can provide almost any amount of capital you need." This statement made it clear to me that he wasn't entirely foolish and could see the potential in aviation.

"Where's the catch? No pony gives money without expecting a profit in return. Spit it out, what do you want in exchange?" This raised not only his eyebrows but also the princesses'. My late mother taught me that no one helps selflessly.

"Well, it's true, there's a lot of money in this invention." His mouth showed that he hadn't expected this, and he was sweating under his fur. I had won! I thought to myself. "I was thinking you could work for me for a monthly salary of 500 bits and continue developing your invention."

"Well, I think I could design a transport variant that could carry 10-15 tons of cargo. However, I'm interested if Princess Luna has any claim to further development of the plane."

"Well, I don't think we need a transport plane, but it's true that we've often come up short in battles recently. I believe Equestria will have a need for this invention."

"In fact, the Crystal Empire could use weapons capable of fighting in our conditions," Cadence interjected. "The Crystal Heart protects us, but we don't know its limits. The cold is a significant enemy of the pegasi."

"So it's settled. Mr. Rich, I am willing to work for you, but the patents for new developments must strictly belong to the state. If that's not acceptable, I'll travel to the Crystal Empire to develop there." They looked at each other and argued for a bit. I was wondering if Luna would even raise the moon today or declare a lunar eclipse when they finally turned to me.

"We accept your terms, but the details will take a few weeks to discuss. Until then, neither party will fund you for further developments." I knew what this meant; my development got the green light, and they just needed to sort out the financial details, but my main concern was designing good planes. Their petty financial disputes didn't concern me.

"Then we have a deal. However, I stipulate that I need funding for an additional ten of this type immediately to ensure my own interests. This did not become a major issue; I received ten times the price of the plane plus another 120 bits, and after a handshake, everyone went about their business."

"Dad! How could you make such a deal with that freak?! It's humiliating." I could almost feel my blood boiling. Just yesterday, I had trampled the self-esteem of those four blank flanks into the ground, and now my father made a deal with not one, but two of them.

"Sweetie, do you really think I don't have a plan? You'll be practicing in the new section on how to maximize profit, which means your famous rival will be working for you." My eyes sparkled like my tiara. If this is true, I'll make sure all the glory is mine and only mine... (evil laugh).

Author's Note

Hi everyone, I don't think this chapter is very good. The business aspect is hard to portray in this world, but I hope you still enjoyed it.

Unfortunately, I still can't phrase things in a way that truly conveys the pain, and ChatGPT isn't very good at translating all the wordplay into English either, so I apologize if there are a lot of nonsensical phrases.

Chapter 7

Today was exceptionally strange and surprising. At least now I understand why the Beauty Crusaders are so obsessed with the Beauty Mark. My bed was soft, and it called me into a dream. I closed my eyes and found myself back in the forest, at the wonder door. Since then, I even gave it a new look. It used to be a simple door, reminiscent of old British stable doors, but now it’s a blue booth, an old British police booth. I don't know why I chose this, but I liked it. So, what dream will we visit today? I wondered as I entered. The dreams appeared one after another. Twilight is dreaming of a gigantic library filled with princess guides—no, that’s not it. As I see, Dinky is dreaming of some salt-shaker-like creature chasing her again—not this either.

Then I saw an interesting dream. It looked like Diamond Tiara's, but in reality, Silver Spoon was dreaming it. Diamond Tiara was sitting in a comfortable armchair, like a 19th-century industrialist. Silver Spoon was pouring her tea, not as a friend, but as a maid. A chill ran down my spine, both pleasant and unpleasant. Pleasant because, in a strange way, the scene excited me in a manner too mature for this body, but there was also some hatred and anger that this was still possible.

I entered the dream, which was a rather strange feeling, as if I was passing through a Star Wars shield—or at least that’s how I imagined it would feel. I started to change the dream, projecting an outward scene of a happy meadow to avoid Princess Luna's notice, while turning the time to evening when Silver was heading home. She walked the streets of Canterlot, and I hid in an alley ahead of her. When she arrived, I stepped out. I wore a little disguise, looking like an adult pegasus, but without a cutie mark.

"Good evening, miss!" I greeted her, tipping my hat. I had tried to dress elegantly for the dream, but it didn’t quite work out. Silver stopped and looked at me, sizing me up. I put my hat back on and slightly changed my facial expression.

"Good evening! Is my mistress expecting you?" My eyes widened, not at what she said, but how she referred to Tiara. Mistress? This didn’t fit at all since they were friends. Silver seemed to tire of waiting and started to walk on.

"The mistress is everything. I still owe her so much, and it feels so good to repay this…"

What? That sentence caught my ear. So, this is some kind of... Oh no, that’s impossible, she’s barely nine... But maybe it is, and if so, something is very wrong. I quickly stepped through the nearby door, entering the memories.

Let’s see, something happened in the past, but where?... or rather, when? Let’s narrow it down. First, filter out the time before she knew her, then the time when I was present, and finally the time when Tiara wasn’t there... Beep beep. What’s this? Oh no, please not now! I felt myself being shaken, oh Fluttershy. The dream realm darkened, and my eyes opened.

"Good morning! Bender, breakfast is ready! I don't know, he probably had a bad dream, he was twitching and squeezing his eyes shut, his horn sparking like never before while sleeping. This scared me, why doesn’t he wake up from such a nightmare? 'No, not now, please just 5 more minutes! I’m not done yet.' His eyes began to open suddenly, but I could see he was trying hard to keep them shut. 'Bender, Bender! You have to wake up!' I shook him so hard I thought I might shake him off or he might shake me off.

"Nooo, Fluttershy! Why? I still had things to do! You ruined everything!" He jumped off the bed and ran out. Oh no, what have I done? I think this is not a normal reaction. I walked to the window because there was a terrible smell, like sweat but a bit more pungent. A door slammed, and soon I saw Bender running towards the town.

"Bender, you didn't even have break…" "No thanks, I’ll drop by Sugarcube Corner." He stormed out of hearing range. I don't quite understand why this is happening. I tidied up Bender’s bed, and as I was about to leave the room, Twilight suddenly appeared right next to the bed.

"Fluttershy! Tell me Bender isn’t in the town?! Her face was tear-streaked, but I couldn’t tell her emotions—upset, angry, sad, something that was a mix of these. But her question sounded desperate.

"Yes, he just left." At this, she wore the extreme expression she had when the parasprites devoured the whole town and Princess Celestia was visiting that very day.

"No! No! No!" She must have said this a hundred times, panicking as if the world was ending.

"Twilight, what’s wrong?" Her expression turned even stranger than before, her new wings flaring and flapping excitedly.

"What’s wrong? What’s wrong? WHAT’S WRONG? Is that even a question? Today, the dignitaries of Equestria are coming to meet the new princess, and Bender, well, he has a unique manner towards nobility, as we all know. I don’t want him in sight, plus many pegasi view his flying invention as an insult to the art of flying. I’m not sure how the nobles feel about it, but they certainly don’t support it."

"Oh no! That’s terrible!" The way she explained it didn’t sound good at all. Bender only wanted to produce it like prosthetic hooves or glasses, as an aid for pegasi who can’t fly. A loud crash and a sudden hole in the wall could only mean one thing.

"Rainbow Dash?! How did you get here?" Twilight's voice was as sharp as a knife, so finely honed it could slice through an ancient book.

"Sorry, guys, just looking for Bender. I want to race against the falcon! That way I can prove that half-ton of junk metal will never be as good as a real flyer." Twilight stepped forward with a questioning hoof gesture.

"You’re not doing this to prove something to the Wonderbolts, are you? Again!?" Her pupils narrowed, and she recoiled strongly.

"No, of course not, pfft."

As I headed towards Ponyville, a growing sense of negativity settled over me. Not that there was anything visibly wrong, just that typical feeling of... like when... it’s hard to describe, like going into a new class for the first time and feeling out of place. I couldn’t pinpoint why, but a bitter taste began to build up inside me, or maybe that's not a good way to describe it… I just realized I missed my usual mint leaf before leaving, and that’s probably why I have this taste in my mouth. Am I trivializing a serious feeling just because of my autism? Wow, I definitely need some kind of special education teacher here like I had at home, because this is going to be anything but good.

Welcome to Ponyville, Equestria’s number one agricultural town. This sign is new, seems like Princess Twilight attracts these privileges. It’s reassuring, like putting your head in a bear trap. Today the bourgeois aren’t supposed to arrive yet.

"Bender!" A familiar voice, familiar feelings. As my eyes focused, I saw Scootaloo speeding towards me, already spreading my right wing, and I started running away from her. She slowly matched my pace, and I hopped onto her. "Good morning! You know your boss is already on pins and needles?"

"Tiara? Of course, she is, that’s just like her. By the way, if we’re talking about her, did you know she has a personal slave?" Scootaloo turned to me and suddenly braked to a stop. "Ouch!" I cried as I flew forward and suddenly hit her back. This position wasn’t awkward or anything, but a smell hit me. I didn’t give it much thought and climbed down to the ground.

"Who is it, and how do you know?" Her face was incredibly excited, which wasn’t surprising; you don’t learn such things about your arch-nemesis every day. I looked around and bent down to make sure no one would hear.

"The only pony she can call her friend." Her eyes widened, and I realized where we were—yes, my attention always spans many things, and important details slip away. Sugarcube Corner. This will be good, I thought, quickly running inside, and what I saw surprised me a bit. A group of ponies were looking at me like... well, like that. I will never understand this. "Pinkie! Is there any of my special pastry left?" A few days ago, I showed her how to make isler and linzer cookies, although I wasn’t good at it myself. Pinkie knew how to make them once I made a batch.

"Of course, there is, but not for you." That wasn’t surprising, there’s probably a party today, and she’s saving them. Usually, she bakes extra for such times, but I didn’t dwell on it, probably holding an extra big party for Twilight today.

"Then may I have a strawberry milkshake with banana?" I know, my taste is weird, but after all, I used to eat beaten eggs fried and canned fish at home, so this isn’t that bad.

"No, sorry, the strawberries are out…" "Miss! Please remove this harmful pony from here." I looked to the side and saw a young pegasus with glasses and some snobby clothes. I believe she’s Lady Pencil, the CEO of Equestria’s largest quill manufacturer. It doesn’t reflect well on the place to have such radicals around.

"Excuse me, are you referring to me?" She raised her eyebrows and shouted even louder, "Of course, I'm referring to you, who else… Oh, this idea is brilliant!"

"Fly, fly, beautiful Hungarian pilot! The Hungarian plane reaches the stars! The Lord can be proud that his Hungarian plane has no match! The mechanical bird flies up to the starry sky! The Lord can rejoice that his Hungarian plane has no match!" I don’t know why, but it felt good to sing this as I walked out of Sugarcube Corner. It felt so good to finally sing in Hungarian.As I stepped out, I bumped into a young unicorn. When I finally saw who I had collided with, I was thrilled, and my horn sparked more than ever. If I bump into a unicorn, it's easy to tell because the sparks reflect back and shock me a little.

"Hi, Bender!" "Sweetie Belle! What are you doing here? I thought that... Oh, how silly of me, you were supposed to get home today. I haven’t done that thing with her since I thought it up a few weeks ago, but she's still improved a lot regardless. Last week, she went to the premiere of the Horsebrain movie in Hoof Angeles, which she returned from today. The movie is basically about little horses (not ponies, but regular horses) controlling things in your head. It’s a humorous idea, but it seemed a bit too childish to me. How was the film?"

"It was worth seeing, although I’m sorry you didn’t come. The thing is, it wasn’t just the movie—Sweetie Belle’s sister was frantically trying to protect her from everything. If I had gone, I probably would have touched her once and been erased from existence (again)." "Sure, it would have been nice, but you know how much work I have. If you accidentally come up with something groundbreaking, you have to focus on it." "Of course, I know what a responsibility that is. When you’re the sister of Equestria’s best fashion pony!? You know I didn’t mean it as an excuse, just saying. Today, however, I've been haunted by this smell. I don't know what it is, but it’s really pleasant—no, not pleasant, but exciting?! I don’t know what it is, but I’ll figure it out."

"Hey! Little filly, run away before he attacks you!" A young stallion in similar snobbish clothes to the mare inside yelled. He was a unicorn. His cutie mark was... I don't know, a crumpled napkin? Some strange symbol. His mane was light, almost gray-blue, and his skin was dark blue. Who is this? I wondered.

"Can’t you hear what I’m saying? That foal is dangerous, get away from him!" He shouted again. "Excuse me, but…" "Commoners like you don’t speak to a stallion of high rank like me, Prince Blueblood." There are three things I particularly hate, and he combined all three. I hate being looked down upon because someone was born into power, I hate when someone speaks about themselves in the third person, and I hate being cut off mid-sentence. Now you’ll get what you deserve.

"Oh, forgive me, your bourgeois highness. I didn’t know you were such a self-appointed dictator. Forgive me for daring to open my mouth. You conceited idiot! Abusing your undeserved power! Trampling and tormenting ponies for a few pieces of gold! Forgive me for daring to exist next to you, you loafer!"

You should have seen his face; I can’t even describe the expression. He was simultaneously angry, surprised, offended... and so much more. But the triumph didn’t last long because he wasn’t so shocked that he couldn’t speak. "Guards!" Immediately, three palace guards appeared. I once mistakenly went to Canterlot and saw such guards. "Take these two insolent mongrels away." Running was rational, but I knew I wouldn’t get far.

"Bender, what have you gotten us into?" Sweetie Belle asked, a bit worried next to me. "I’m scared." "Don’t worry, nothing will happen. Get behind me, I’ll protect you!" I winked and stood in front of her.

"Twilight! What if we don’t get there fast enough?" Flying with tear-streaked eyes wasn’t easy, but somehow I managed because of Bender. "Don’t worry, Fluttershy! I’ll go ahead and find him. Where did you say he went?" "Sugarcube Corner," I whispered. Before I could react, Rainbow Dash had vanished, leaving only a rainbow streak behind. Oh, Twilight, why are they doing this? I liked the idea; what happened to everyone else?

"Bender recently outlined a version compatible with unicorns and earth ponies, and the pegasi began to fear for their hegemonic role," Twilight explained in her usual knowledgeable tone. "I see, but if that’s true, we should… Hurry…"

Upon reaching Ponyville, the first thing we saw was Rainbow Dash fighting two guards. "What’s going on here?" Twilight asked. A unicorn turned towards us, sending shivers down everyone's spine. We had clashed with Blueblood a few times before. The world’s most wicked stallion, worse even than Professor Umbridge in that series... What was its name again? Ah, not important now.

"Princess Twilight! How kind of you to grace us with your presence," he sneered. Twilight narrowed her eyes and spread her wings. Blueblood's blood must have frozen in his veins, but he was too cunning to show it. "Would you be so kind as to explain your friend's unacceptable behavior? Look at what she’s doing!" "Rainbow Dash never does anything without reason. What is happening here?" Groans came from behind him, and suddenly Bender appeared, bound and chained, with a bridle in his mouth. "Na ee me on om mi! E a iióta le a ar min et chu at i me nem eik eki a silusum." It was hard to understand, but it was clear this wasn’t legal. "Blueblood, release them immediately!" At that moment, Sweetie Belle, similarly bound, sprang forward. "Them!" Twilight was momentarily confused but quickly realized what had happened. "Blueblood, release them immediately. What are you thinking? This is how violent criminals are bound, not foals." Her voice— I can’t even describe it. She shouted without shouting, yet it was so loud as if she was screaming at the top of her lungs.

"My ear! Wilight, eed e!" Bender likely said, "My ear," but I only knew because I was thinking the same thing. "Princess! I’m just trying to protect the realm…" Blueblood was visibly nervous. Everyone’s hair stood on end from the sound, but he still tried. "Extreme ideologies can’t spread here." "I will only say this once. Release them!" The volume made everyone flinch and cover their ears. Now we know what it’s like when she truly shouts.

"Please, Princess! Just give assurance for the realm’s safety from them!" Everyone was stunned. No matter how brilliant Bender was, he was still a foal, going to school, and not a threat to the realm. Sweetie Belle even less so. The request was simply ridiculous.

"Fine. Bender will be beside me as a bodyguard at next week’s royal meeting after my coronation and will prove he’s not a threat. Sweetie Belle will remain under house arrest until further notice." Blueblood was furious but ultimately gave up the fight, knowing he couldn’t oppose Twilight now.

We removed the bridles from their mouths and the ropes from their legs. "Ah, thanks, Twilight! I can’t believe some nobles are such fools. Poor Sweetie Belle was in shock. Then he shut up for a moment, thought it over, and then... "Wait, can I really go with you to the Crystal Empire?" He was about to jump out of his skin, but I didn’t understand why.

Rarity arrived at that moment. "Where’s my sister?" There was incredible panic in her eyes. Not surprising, since her sister had just been freed from a binding even violent criminals don’t always get. "Rarity!" That family scene, as she ran to hug her, was touching, but even more so when she spoke. "I’m so glad you’re here, I was so scared." Those tears—they were indescribable, a mix of joy and panic.

Bender, however, approached. "Rarity, I’m truly sorry I didn’t protect her..." He fell silent, then looked at Sweetie Belle. "As I didn’t protect you today, I won’t cause trouble in the future. It was good to know I had such a friend by my side, even if the acquaintance was short." He turned his back and walked away. Everyone stared at him, Sweetie Belle’s jaw dropped. "Bender, wait!" Twilight called after him.

Author's Note

Hi everyone! This chapter is just a conflict catalyst, which is why it's so short. Oh, and I might have delved a bit too much into Japanese culture, but the part with Sweetie Belle will become important later on at the end. Also, I want your input!

"Sorry, I wrote this quite poorly, so who should be the romantic motivator for the main character? Sweetie Belle, Scootaloo, or someone else?" Looking forward to your answers.

Chapter 8

Wow! This is so beautiful! Some time has passed since the little incident, and tomorrow at the conference, I will be attending as Twilight's personal guard here in the Crystal Empire. Twilight often complains about the problems her new wings cause, which I can definitely attest to, given the issues we had when we arrived here.

I've spent a lot of time at the drawing board over the past three days. I designed a new hunting bird for Twilight, which is actually a falcon with a magic focus. Just now, I entered my room and collapsed onto the bed. That day, the reason I need to be here now, I don't know why, but it's like a good movie—I can't watch it enough times. I close my eyes, and almost instantly, a CD player, a TV, and that particular memory CD appear.

Bender, wait! It was Twilight. As if I didn't have enough problems at that moment. What was that? What do you mean you didn't protect her? I’ve thought a lot about this from an external perspective, but it was very hard to stop myself from crying right then and there. It felt like an eternity for me at that moment.

You know, Twilight, there is an ancient tradition in my homeland. If a stallion cannot protect a mare, he is no longer worthy of that mare's attention. Looking back, it’s a good blend of Hungarian noble mentality and Japanese samurai culture.

Bender, I don't really understand this; I've never heard of anything like that, but I know it’s not your fault. I turned my head away at that, but I remember that feeling so well it still haunts me to this day, which is saying something considering I’m autistic. I never remember such small details, but this—this was somehow important… THIEF! SHE STOLE MY CROWN! My eyes open. That voice was Twilight's. What could have happened? I jump up and run out.

A sharp pain cuts into my side, just below my wing, as a unicorn bumps into me. Shortly after, the source of the pain disappears, meaning the unicorn teleported. Oops, I think I just paralyzed myself again, and…

Bender! All I see is Bender vanishing into a mirror along with the crown. Where did they go? I asked the mare lying beneath me.

Sorry, Princess. She suddenly teleported from under me and stood by the mirror. Goodbye! With that, she also went into the mirror.

What in the spirit of Equestria happened here?

My head is pounding, and suddenly, I feel strange. Where am I? I wonder. I open my eyes to see a large U-shaped building with stairs and red paint—a typical American school. Then I look at myself. I’m human now. Unlike before, my pony colors have remained. My clothes are mostly right: a loose red shirt and jeans with a six-pointed star button. Wow, why does this feel familiar? However, I still feel a bit of tingling. My hair is still standing up and tingling, which is pretty weird. Let’s get up! As I stand up, I see that my height is not what it used to be—I’m about as tall as a seven-year-old. Okay, this is definitely weird. The tingling stops as soon as I take a step, clearly just residual.

As I’m examining myself, I notice something that catches my eye the most. More precisely, it catches my eye—the prosthesis! I took it out last night, and… Great, what do I do now? Anyway, I’m not staying here.

I start walking, trying to figure out which city I might be in. I covered my eye with a blindfold for lack of a better option and kept it closed. As I walk, I see a sign.

Today, the greatest air show in history is being held with original WWII planes. The parade will also feature the two strongest tanks from each nation. I have to see this. I thought to myself, and using the "You Are Here" marker and the festival location on the map, I tried to navigate.

I turned a corner and… Well, I expected to run into a familiar face because as I walked, I saw a girl resembling Sweetie Belle. But this girl had a red shirt, red skin, the same pants, and one of her eyes was visibly not moving. I bumped into her.

"Hey, Fercsi!" She raised an eyebrow, circled me, and then her jaw dropped.

"Who are you?"

"I’m you, just from another world."

"Uh-huh, okay, what’s my favorite combat vehicle?"

"Japanese Type 2 Ka-Mi light tank, Hungarian 38M Toldi light tank, Hungarian Zrínyi assault gun."

"Okay, that’s wild, but how did you get here?" I thought about it but couldn’t really remember anything.

"I have no clue. Wait, were you born here?" She scratched her head a bit and then spoke.

"No, I was born in Ponyville, but everyone had different names there, like…"

"Ferenc, Cintia, Marta, and Masha? By the way, how did you get here?"

"Well, wait, why did you just list the Cutie Mark Crusaders?" My eyes widened, and I nearly fainted. "Anyway, a unicorn shot me."

"Alright, you know what, I’m going to the parade, and before the world ends, let's forget we met." I said and hurried off, just hearing her say.

"Okay."

Well, that was weird. I thought and didn’t slow down.

As I got back to the school with my double, I felt something was off. The human versions of the Element Bearers were running around for the crown.

Alright, this is weirder than when I stole a Toldi and wasn’t chased by half the army. It’s also strange to drive a tank with my own self, but this is over the top.

At that moment, we turned in front of the statue when a yellow, red-haired, and also yellow-skinned girl put the crown on her head. Suddenly, a magical beam shot up from the ground, and soon, a strange demon stood before us. This was not something worldly. No, no, no, this was clearly Equestrian magic.

"Twilight?!" The now-human princess turned around, and when she saw me, she was both thrilled and astonished when I peeked out from the turret. "What the heck is going on? Woah!"

I climbed back in as best as I could because that demon almost hit me with something. Alright, Bender, Bender, think, what do you do in this situation? Oh right! I quickly loaded the cannon and aimed at the demon through the periscope, which wasn’t easy considering it was above us and not in front. Take that! I pulled the trigger, and the cannon fired. The shot didn’t hit directly, but it did catch it.

"What are you doing?!" My double trembled a bit. I was about to answer, but as soon as I opened my mouth, a beam pushed the light tank backward despite the brakes, almost hitting one of the glass bases. "Okay, I’m not even asking what this is."

"Good idea, move forward before it reloads!" The tank moved, and I started shooting with a smaller gun. I get they wanted to have a firing demonstration too, but why did they need a full ammo load? That remains a mystery.

"Fire! Shoot it!" I was about to start firing again when I saw the whole school under some hypnotic spell. The cannon was loaded, so I fired again, and this time, a beam shattered the shell too close to the tank’s gun, damaging it as well. The next thing I knew, the beam pierced through the turret, and I blacked out.

The magic ultimately burst out from us and the crown. "You know, Sunset, you may have power, but the greatest strength isn’t in your possession. This is the magic of friendship." Now, where the rainbow laser stood, there was only a crater. In it was Sunset Shimmer. Then I turned towards the strange vehicle. "Bender! Are you alright?"

"Yes!?" "Yes!?"

That surprised me—two voices, both answering to Bender? What’s going on in there? Then two Benders climbed out from different points of the vehicle. Okay, again. WHAT IS GOING ON?!!!

"Don’t shout, I just bumped into my counterpart from this world, that’s all." With an oh of realization, I continued, "Well, what should we do with her then?" pointing to Sunset Shimmer. "If you want, we can finish her off."

"No, of course not! Everyone deserves a second chance." I slowly approached and managed to free her from the crater. Regret, remorse, and brokenness danced in her eyes as she cried, and almost everything she wore was torn...

That scene was too girly for me to bear watching. As they discussed what everyone should do to be a good friend, pony… uh, person, and more. Celestia placed the crown on Twilight’s head a second time, rewarding her with true justice.

Afterward, the high school students returned to the school, presumably continuing the school dance. My double and I remained with the Toldi.

"Well, looks like that’s it, right?" My other self stood and stared for a while. Then…

"Looks like you’re going back, and I’ll figure out something reasonable for the 38M."

"Yeah. Do you think we’ll see each other again?" As I sat there, I thought about it for a while, but no answer came to his lips. We sat there for a long time, and in the meantime, the moon got closer to the point where the portal would close.

"Well, I guess… the portal opens again in 30 moons. I’ll try to visit you then."

"So be it, my friend." As we agreed on this, Spike returned, looking strange as a dog, but honestly, everything here was strange.

"Bender, already back from Equestria! Tell me, how did you manage to bring this here?" The 38M is indeed not a common vehicle.

"Well, you see, it went like this...

After parting ways with my other self, I reached the parade. There were many T-34s, followed by some German tanks, Panzer III and II, a few StuG IIIs, and finally, I saw the 38M and 40M.

After that, I started looking for foods I couldn't eat in Equestria, since ponies don't eat meat. As I walked through the city, I spotted a bakery. It was getting late, and I needed a place to stay. Anything was better than the street. While I was walking, I thought to myself that I'd kill for some garlic cream soup, and I'd fight my way through Mordor for croutons. I turned into a side street with many houses with gardens, naturally without fences, and made of wood. When I was truly human, I didn't like these houses, finding them cold.

The next morning, I woke up in an alley. I had found a reasonably comfortable mattress. As I walked, I suddenly found myself back where I started—the high school. However, I saw a girl who was so out of place she looked like she came from the Middle Ages. She wore a purple dress, talked to a dog, and her clothes were disheveled. I didn't really know what to make of it, nor did I care. I decided it would be a good idea to sit down. It was nearing noon, and I felt a familiar pain I hadn't felt in a long time—my stomach ached with emptiness. I sat down at the base of the statue in front of the school, with the shadow stretching towards the building, so I sat facing the school.

As I sat there, it felt like my back wasn't touching anything, which was strange. I put my hand back but didn't feel anything. How was this possible? I thought maybe I hadn't reached back far enough, so I reached back further, and suddenly something grabbed me. I tried to pull my hand back, but whatever it was pulled harder, and I fell backward. I thought my neck would break as I bent back like a doll.

I realized I had to act quickly, so I tucked my head and rolled backward like I was doing a somersault. The next moment, I was back in Equestria. The one who "grabbed" me was Applejack, so it was no wonder I had no chance against her.

"Applejack!?" In the room were the princesses, Twilight's friends, and some guards, but Twilight and Spike were not there.

"Wait! Wait! Wait! Why didn't you stay home?" This was completely incomprehensible to me.

When they told me what had happened, I snuck back here that night...

As I reached the mirror, I heard a strange sound—well, it wasn't really strange; I just knew I wouldn't be hearing it soon. It was my horn sizzling, which would be disadvantageous here but invaluable there, I thought as I stepped through. I had walked about ten meters before I ran straight into a girl. Her hair—well, what can I say, she had been lying in a crater just a few moments ago, like one left by Yamato shells. When I saw her, I wasn't afraid, but that quickly changed when I realized I was defenseless here.

"Hey, watch where you're going!" I remembered an idea that had saved me many times abroad in the past.

Bocsi nem láttalak.! Nem láttalak, azt hittem ilyen későn már senki nincs itt. " She gave me a strange look. I knew she didn't understand what I was saying because they hardly teach Hungarian here. "oh megint bocsi! beszélsz magyarul?" She groaned and left me there. Well, this girl was exactly how they described Sunset Shimmer. I started following her from a safe distance.

I learned about her plan with the crown, and I knew I had to act.

Since I'm a learning fanatic, I knew I would find her at the school, specifically an elementary school. However, I had no idea where to find it. Sometimes problems solve themselves, as I spotted the 38M from yesterday's parade, where they were showcasing a simulated battle with it.

I stole it and almost ran over my doppelganger, then we came here, but from this point, you know the story," finished my other self.

"Wow! Wait, how did you... never mind." Then the other world's Twilight and her friends returned, and they looked worried.

"Will we see each other again?" asked the cowgirl. My other self had already half-crossed the portal, but finally looked back and saluted before disappearing. Shortly after, Twilight also walked through, and with a bright flash, the portal closed. Pinkie tried to follow her, but it was too late.

"Is this really our last adventure?"

As I lay down again as a pony, I could hardly believe the adventure I had been through. However, I hadn't told them the whole truth; in reality, it was my other self who stole the tank and found me with it after eavesdropping on Sunset’s plans. I didn’t dare tell Twilight this because if she found out, she would never see me as who I want to be.

Sleep overtook me, and I was once again sitting in front of the TV, but now a different DVD was playing, showing me what Silver Spoon had been dreaming about. I stood up and walked through a door, finding myself in the space between dreams. I still don’t understand how this works, but I love using it. I found Silver Spoon's dream and entered. I started looking at the memories and found one particularly interesting one. Diamond Tiara, Sweetie Belle, and Silver Spoon were walking together. All three had glittering eyes, the sun was setting, just hiding behind the town hall, when suddenly two stallions appeared out of nowhere. It was hard to believe how they looked: two fat, dirty, obviously smelly stallions who hadn’t seen a mare since birth.

Diamond cowardly took the rabbit’s path. Sweetie Belle and Silver Spoon, however, were caught. I turned away, not wanting to see what I dreaded, but it didn't happen. The memory began to blur. Tiara returned with a police officer and her father. I turned it off because I felt I knew what I had to do.

I entered the dream and started shaping it. The magic of dreams allows me to see everyone's memories clearly—what actually happened and how they experienced it. Silver Spoon sees Diamond Tiara as... oh, I hate the word—her mistress or lady—because she likely embellished the story. The memory was blurry towards the end, which meant only the subconscious preserved it for the "future."

I transformed the dream space into a movie theater. Silver Spoon thought it was part of the dream, sitting down with a large tub of popcorn in her hooves. I sat behind her and next to her, trying not to be suspicious, pondering how to show her the events. I decided on a good old reality vs. imagination movie and started the screening.

When Silver Spoon recognized the scene, she burst into tears and ran out. I followed her and saw her standing in front of the theater, crying. I’m not sure why, but what doesn’t work in real life works in dreams—I felt that bitter taste on my tongue that always accompanied my melancholy.

“Silver Spoon?!” As I approached her, she tried to wipe the tears from her eyes. She turned her head away from me, and although I couldn’t see, I knew she was still crying. “Do you want to talk about it?”

“Leave me alone, Bender!” she sniffled twice and then started speaking. “Why was I such an idiot to choose this gut-wrenching creep over Sweetie Belle, who kept lying about saving me alone and that I owed her one?..."

As I stood there, I felt terrible, but deep down, I knew what I did was right, though I didn’t understand why it had no practical use. I felt awful and...

I woke up abruptly, realizing the reason was Fluttershy. My face was wet. Was I crying? Fluttershy hugged me tightly, clearly worried. “What happened, sweetie? Did you have a bad dream?” I thought about it and realized what I had just done.

“Y-Yes, a very bad one,” I said, and for once in my life, I took advantage of them not knowing my real age and started crying out loud. Even though today was the last day when I was supposed to present the Falcon (the hunter), I didn’t care, just cried and cried until I couldn’t cry anymore and felt drier than the Sahara.

“Fluttershy, do you know what I dreamed?” I finally asked. She looked at me with those big eyes, just like when my mother comforted me as a child.

“Bender, no matter what you dreamed, you must remember that it was just a dream.” Her voice was so soothing that I didn’t want to tell her what happened, so we stayed like that for a while before I got down.

“Thank you, Fluttershy! I think I’m feeling better now,” I said, still sniffling.

I went to have breakfast, and then Twilight "Princess" came for me. I thought about what to say; many opposed my plan because its production requires precise, expensive work. The current military force is more for show, and many refuse to admit it.

The conference room had a large U-shaped seating arrangement and a podium made of crystal, with a smaller projection at the opposite end of the U. Princesses Luna, Celestia, and Cadance sat on the larger projection, while representatives from all significant Equestrian settlements, except Canterlot and Ponyville, and the leaders of Amethyst City, the capital of the Crystal Empire, were present, as they were the princesses. I was sitting alone in the row before the U-shaped seating, with a "Guest" sign in front of me, hung on the crystal wall separating the central area. Let’s see what happens, I thought.

“The assembly calls Apple Cake, representing Appleloosa!” echoed through the room. I was next. It’s a good thing that less important matters are handled at the beginning of the meeting, and my hunter program for the military is secondary because despite the possibilities, the engine imposes significant limitations; for example, the machine can’t perform a loop. Fortunately, a recent little adventure of mine gave me a good idea.

“The assembly calls Twilight Sparkle's protégé, Bender, to present the military program.” The room fell silent, but I clearly heard the whispers as an eight-year-old foal stood up.

“Deep breath, Bender! Deep breath!” I kept telling myself, and when I felt I wouldn’t burst into ball lightning, I started my monologue. “Distinguished leaders, I am Thunder Bender, but unlike you, I wasn’t born within Equestria’s secure borders. No, not at all; I’m a child from a poor colony many hundreds or even thousands of miles away. However, what keeps you in power now is what drove me from my home and took my parents from me. Since my arrival, I’ve had the opportunity to experience the pillars of life and security here—the Elements of Harmony. Despite my age, I see clearly that this is insufficient. We cannot rely on six magical jewels that only six ponies can use!...

“Excuse me!” I stopped my speech and saw that the representatives from Manehattan and Las Pegasus had interrupted. “What is a little foal doing at this meeting? Princess, this must be some sort of cruel joke; surely you don’t expect us to listen to a foal who can’t even control his magic?”

“Ahem! Excuse me, but we did not grant you the floor,” Princess Celestia snapped at him. “Bender, please continue!”

“Thank you, Princess. Where was I? Oh yes! Our military is not adequately equipped. The Falcon and its companion, the Silver Arrow, even if only existing as plans, are feasible and, unlike the Elements of Harmony, can be produced in significant numbers! I don’t deny that there are enemies here against whom this will be insufficient, but against forces like the one deployed during the changeling invasion, they could be effective and dangerous weapons! Moreover, it doesn’t require exceptional strength; even a flightless pegasus can operate them, and the hunter’s focus works with the magic of a weaker unicorn, while the bomber’s bombs can be released by even an earth pony.” I fell silent and sat down...

Author's Note

Hello, everyone! The truth is, I've never seen the first EQG, so I only included the beginning and the end.

The Hungarian text roughly means: "Sorry! I didn't see you, I thought no one was here this late." and "Oh, sorry again! Do you speak Hungarian?"

I hope you enjoyed the chapter. See you soon! (Mickey Mouse sound effect)

Chapter 9

What the? Well, this is definitely strange—both the sun and the moon are up. The sky is torn in half. I suppose this must be what the Summer Sun Celebration looks like. Fluttershy came back yesterday to help with the local festivities. It’s a pity they didn’t approve the planes. Yet! Actually, it’s still under review, but I’ll have to go to the Crystal Empire again. Mayor Mare supported the idea of setting up a small airport near Sweet Apple Acres for testing purposes. Fortunately, my assistants built five prototypes of my model while I was away.

I already had a club at school where I taught a few weak-flying pegasi the basics, but now even adult ponies might join. However, that’s not important right now. The sky is the priority.

Fluttershy! No sound or response. Flu-ter-Shy! Where are you?! Usually, if she doesn’t answer, she’s sleeping, but if I’m not mistaken, it’s a bit late for that. Her room is in the attic, directly above mine. I open the door, but aside from needing some ventilation, there’s nothing unusual. Fluttershy? I walk over to her bed, and if she didn’t like sleeping with her wings as a second blanket, you wouldn’t even know she was there. Fluttershy? I give her a little nudge, but she seems really tired.

“Alright, alright, honey, I’m getting up,” she mumbles. Honey? I never thought I’d hear that again—my mother used to call me that, but that was years ago. She must be dreaming about it, and while I’m glad, it’s not necessarily a good thing. I never wanted a new mother, although…

“Scoutalu!”

“Butterscotch?! Do you know what happened to the sky? When I woke up in the clubhouse, I expected to see the sunrise, but instead, the sky is split, and black roots are emerging from the Everfree.”

“I have no idea, but I know who might.” As soon as she said that, I perked up. Bender probably knows. Well, that excitement didn’t last long.

“Okay, let’s assume he does know, but even if he does, we can’t ask him. The Everfree has gone wild. We should tell the guards or someone—they might be able to do something.”

“I’m guessing you don’t know any spells that could deal with this?” If I hadn’t seen Applejack myself, I wouldn’t believe she could look so desperate.

“The thing is, this crazy forest is affecting my horn too,” Rarity said seriously, and I could tell she meant it. I had seen what Sweetie Belle’s horn had done.

“I have a feeling if this continues, we won’t be able to stop it. We have to act!” I wasn’t sure what I was saying, but anything was better than nothing. Until Twilight gets here, I’ll prove that planes are indeed useful. To the hangar!

“Bender, I don’t want to offend you, dear, but what exactly are you planning? I don’t think your little machines are going to stop this,” Rarity added, perhaps stalling for time, though in this situation, I couldn’t blame her. Maybe she was just scared.

“You’re right, they won’t stop it, but they can slow it down. Twilight will know what to do. But until she’s here, we have to step up and do everything we can.” That got them motivated, and they agreed to the plan. It’s amazing that it takes a little filly to get anything done.

As we headed to the hangar, I used my horn to try and tear through the roots, and it worked pretty well. Around one corner, I saw Scoutalu and all of our classmates, except for Tiara and Silver. They noticed me too, and for some reason, they seemed really happy to see me.

“Bender!” Scoutalu rushed toward me so fast that if I didn’t know better, I’d think she was flying. “We thought the Everfree had swallowed you up.”

“Well, it didn’t, but we’re going to need help. Send everyone to the Golden Oak Library. We’ll meet at Diamond’s in five minutes.”

I heard her start to say something, but the roots made it hard to move. I think it’s best to just bring the bombers and take down the clouds with the Falcon. Diamond’s makeshift hangar was nearly overgrown, but most of the planes were intact. Unfortunately, the Falcon was so overgrown that it might be damaged.

By the time we reached the library, Bender had four new planes ready. He was towing a large teardrop-shaped metal object. The area around the library had fewer roots, but it wouldn’t stay that way for long. “What’s the plan?” I asked.

“These are bombers, my newest planes. We’ll take off and destroy the roots at the edge of the Everfree Forest.” As he explained, it sounded like a good plan. Sure, why not—what could go wrong?

“Alright, tell us what to do.” He paused, thinking about the next steps. Then finally, he looked up from his hooves.

“Scoutalu, Rumble, you two will pilot one each. I’ll stay on the ground to load up a pair while you’re bombing, and we’ll search the library for anything useful against the plants. So those who aren’t loading bombs will search for solutions inside.”

I was always impressed with how quickly he figured things out. If it weren’t for how strange he was, well… “Scoutalu! Into the bomber! Let’s go, I’ll show you how to bomb.”

“Oh, sorry, Bender! On my way.” I jumped into the last empty plane and took off.

We were flying just below the black clouds. From up here, I could see how much of the area was covered by roots—it was incredible. As far as the eye could see, everything was black. We were flying over a completely overgrown field, and if I’m not mistaken, this used to be Sweet Apple Acres. Bender signaled with his light, “Follow me,” and suddenly flipped his plane upside down, diving nearly 90 degrees. The plane made a strange noise, like a rumble, but different somehow. There wasn’t much to do but follow his lead.

Flying like this felt strange, and that’s when it hit me—we didn’t know how to release the bombs! I hoped the planes themselves weren’t the bombs. Then I looked around and saw a lever on my left wing with a “B” scratched onto it. With no better option, I pulled it when Bender dropped his bombs, and I heard the same whistling sound from his plane.

The planes were almost at the ground, so I quickly turned mine around and pulled up, but the tail caught the bomb slightly. A moment later, Rumble pulled up his plane too.

When we landed, Bender parked his plane to the side and got out, the propeller slowly spinning to a stop, and we followed suit. As soon as the engine cut off, he walked over to us. “Alright, quickly switch to the fully loaded planes, and take mine too.”

“Hey, Apple Bloom! Could you help?” I saw her peeking out from behind a book. The library was packed; I’d never seen so many ponies here. Our entire class, the sisters of my friends, and their friends were all there, except Twilight and Rainbow Dash.

Bloom put down the book and quickly trotted out of the library. "Bender, how can I help?" she asked, while Bender was attaching a bomb. It looked like some sort of magnetic system, because as I watched, these things barely moved.

"You're good to go!" he said, turning to Bloom.

I heard the engines start, and the planes began to take off. "Apple Bloom, could you please help with the bombs? By the time they return, we need to have the planes ready to go again." The planes had already taken off, and I knew they'd be back soon.

"Alright, but I don't think this will work." Apple Bloom had a point. It was true that after we dropped the bombs, the roots almost immediately started growing back. But maybe, if we make them grow again in the same spot, it won't be as fast as before. "Though, you know what, I trust you. If you say this will help, then I believe you."

"Great, then let's get moving," I thought to myself.

"Push it here, and I'll attach it." I enjoy this kind of work. It's no wonder I help them out so much—if needed, they always return the favor. Though, perhaps, there might be more to it.

Bloom went behind one of the library's branches and started pushing out a large raindrop-shaped bomb. You could tell it wasn't easy, considering it weighed nearly 4.5 tons. But in this world, an average earth pony can move between 10 to 15 tons. Even I could handle it, so she'll get the hang of it, eventually, right? "Bender! What's in this thing?" Her voice strained as she clearly struggled, so I rushed over to help.

"You know, gunpowder has weight, especially when... Uh, it's really heavy. But why? When I pushed the last one here, it was fine... Something's messing with my horn, though it doesn't feel like electricity. What is this?" I looked up, and my jaw dropped. The roots had climbed onto the bomb and were blocking it, completely covering it and dragging it down. "Apple Bloom, step back!"

"Why? What's..." She panted, still straining. I grabbed her head and pointed it upward. As she saw the vines, she gasped, "Oh, I get it now. But how are we going to..."

"Leave it to me." I focused with my horn. It was hard, since I'd used a lot of magic today, but I had to do it. "Fouco!" I cast the spell, and the vine burst into flames, starting to disappear. Then I noticed something. A small part of the root had penetrated the bomb. My eyes widened, and I knew... "Apple Bloom! Run!" But it was too late. The bomb exploded, and... blackout.

The bomb hit the house behind the library, but other than that, I wasn't seriously hurt. Bender, though... he wasn’t so lucky. The bomb had left him with a hundred wounds, some deep, some shallow, but all terrible. It had nearly torn off his wings, and a small piece of his horn had broken off. His magic was running wild, and it was almost impossible to approach him. But another magic, a greenish one, appeared, seeping into his horn before vanishing.

"Bender! Bender! Are you alright?" As he lay there, it was like he had been poisoned. His body trembled uncontrollably, and as I tried to wake him, I felt he was burning up. "Rarity! Scoutalu! Somebody?!" At that moment, I saw something smoking as it fell from the sky. I didn’t know what it was, but it couldn’t be anything good. Then a strange sound echoed—a growling, perhaps the best word for it. The house in front of us had a cellar entrance, but something began to appear in its place, a blue box or something like that. It had "Police" written on it and was flickering in and out of existence.

Then, finally, it stopped. Standing before us, the door suddenly swung open, and out stepped a pony I could swear I’d seen before. He had a brown mane and coat, with an hourglass cutie mark and a look that was like nothing else. Behind him appeared another pony, one that I couldn’t quite place, but seemed familiar. "Inside, now, kids!" the stallion shouted. He didn’t need to say it twice. I hoisted Bender onto my back and rushed inside, not yet aware of what had begun.

Once inside, I was amazed at how much bigger the box was on the inside. I had seen something like this before when Twilight tried to build a small safe that could hold all her books, but was no bigger than a nightstand. This, though, was something entirely different. It was so vast that I couldn’t even see the end of the hallways. "So, what’ll it be? I think I have some soda, or maybe some cider lying around."

"Who are you?" I asked, already suspecting the answer wouldn’t be simple, but still caught off guard by it.

"The Doctor."

"Okay, but Doctor who?"

"Just the Doctor." At this point, I gave up trying to figure it out. "Oh, I see your friend is injured. What happened? Were you attacked by lashvine?" As he listed these absurd possibilities, he was examining Bender with some strange device that made a buzzing sound.

"One of his inventions exploded on us. We need to take him to a hospital."

"No need! I’ll just set this here, and... His wounds began healing instantly, and Bender suddenly looked a lot better. "There you go, he’ll be awake in no time."

"Wow! How did you...?" A grey hoof covered my mouth, and I heard a familiar "shhh" sound.

"You’re better off not thinking too hard about it. The Doctor’s always like this." The voice came from a grey, blonde-maned pegasus mare with eyes that pointed in opposite directions, and her cutie mark was a cluster of bubbles. She held a small unicorn in her arms. I didn’t have much time to ask her anything because...

"Alright, we’re here, Derpy! 992, exactly July 12th, 15:23. Take care of Dinky, and make sure they don’t find her in this timeline." I didn’t think much of that comment at the time, but then something dawned on me.

"Wait, are we in a time machine?" Everyone froze, even the pegasus standing in the doorway stared at me. Bender, who had just woken up, smiled and said...

Apple Bloom collapsed, unconscious, while the Doctor pulled a few levers and switches. After a final wave, Derpy stepped out. The city was dark, illuminated only by the horse-shaped moon. Derpy took a deep breath and headed toward her house. Her life had been decided. She was now a mother, and she had to ensure that Dinky had the best mother possible.

The TARDIS took off with its usual sound, leaving a small sapling in its place.

After we took off, the clouds suspiciously began to gather behind us. Rumble kept his head down. As we were slowly surrounded, the moment came to drop the bombs. We turned the plane around and began to descend—falling. The clouds began striking us with lightning. I panicked and pushed the nose of the plane down hard. As I neared the ground, one of the lightning bolts hit the bomb carriage, causing it to break off and crash to the ground. As I flew through the dust cloud, something got into the engine, and it started smoking. I completely lost sight of Rumble. When I emerged from the dust, I pulled the nose of the plane up and pushed the engine's power much higher. However, as I ascended, I heard a strange noise, and the engine, still smoking, shut down. The plane began to plummet toward the ground again, and I barely managed to jump out in time, landing in a crater.

When I hit the ground, I heard a crack and felt sharp pain in my front right hoof. Though I wasn’t certain, it seemed broken. As I tried to crawl out, I accidentally stepped on it, and I think that's when every animal nearby decided it was time to leave. I screamed so loudly that the wreckage of the plane, which was about ten meters away, shook. That's how I knew for sure—yes, my leg was broken.

I looked up at the sky and saw that Rumble was still fighting. He banked left, then turned right, spinning around his axis. He even tried a spiraling dive, but the clouds pursued him relentlessly. As he climbed, he went through one of the clouds, which then directly hit the plane's engine. Thick black smoke poured from the engine, and I couldn’t see what Rumble was doing. As the smoke began to clear, I saw that Rumble was now trying to escape using his own strength. But the clouds seemed furious with him—they kept striking, and one finally hit its mark.

He plummeted helplessly, unconscious. I acted. Stumbling forward on three legs, I tripped over a root. Rumble fell through another lightning bolt, which set his feathers on fire. He then crashed into the ground, where the roots quickly began to entangle him.

At that moment, I saw and heard an explosion in Ponyville.

Stepping out of the phone booth, I felt strangely disoriented, but I decided not to dwell on what had just happened, as the vines were already attacking. Apple Bloom and I barely made it to the library before Applejack threw herself onto Bloom, hugging her tightly.

"Where were you, sis? When I heard the explosion, I was so worried about you!"

"Actually, I was the one in danger, thanks for asking. I'm fine too, by the way," I muttered under my breath, but I couldn't really blame her. Suddenly, the world went yellow, which could only mean one thing—I was caught in one of Fluttershy's incredibly strong hugs.

There wasn’t time to process everything, though, as the vines broke in and immediately grabbed Applejack and the others. They were quickly engulfed, but these vines were different. As I came to my senses, I shook one off, but it was like trying to stop a flood with a sponge—all five ponies were gone.

At that moment, a root targeted me as well. Panic set in, but suddenly something happened. My horn flared for a moment, releasing a massive glowing orb, white-hot, and then the world went completely dark.

“Feri! Feri!” I couldn’t see anything but darkness. “Feri?” Yes, that was my name, though it had been so long since I heard it, I could barely remember it—even though I had been to the other world not long ago.

“Feri! Wake up, sweetie!” That voice—it was so familiar, yet I couldn’t place it.

“Who… who are you?” As soon as I asked, a memory surfaced of a similar voice—my mother’s voice. But it couldn’t be her, not after what happened in the other world.

“Don’t you remember me, sweetie? It’s me, your mother.” When I heard that, I couldn’t hold it in anymore. I blinked and squinted, trying to see, but no matter what I did, I couldn’t make anything out.

“Mom! I can’t see you! Where are you?” There was no answer, but I felt something I hadn’t felt in a long time—my mother touched my forehead, kissed it, and hugged me.

“My son, it’s been so many years since you left, but don’t forget, no matter where you are, this isn’t who you are. You don’t have to be a genius, just make up for what you’ve missed.” Her words were soothing, I won’t deny it—tears welled up in my eyes. Then she slowly let me go.

“I must go now, but don’t forget, I’ll always be with you. In your soul, in your heart.”

“Mom! Please, stay—just once more, let me—” I couldn’t finish my sentence as she hugged me tightly once more, and this time I hugged her back. A movie I had seen long ago came to mind, and somehow, it was the perfect thought in that moment. I started singing softly:

"Oh, if I were a star,
I would drip down from the sky,
My yellow light upon the earth,
But from there, I’d never return,
For I’d never see my mother again."

It was her favorite song, one I had heard as many times as I wanted, and now, I was happy to sing it for her. She let go, but she said one last thing before she disappeared.

“Never forget who your role model is—Leni…” Her voice faded away at the end, but I knew what she meant. Yes, I am Thunder Bender, the one who preserves the teachings of Lenin… But what do I preserve? I pondered and reflected, and then it hit me: empathy, helpfulness, and the sacred ideals of equality. Never again will—

“Bender! Bender, wake up!” I opened my eyes, and what I saw were… my friends. Scootaloo, Sweetie Belle, Apple Bloom, and… who’s this? His coat was jet black, but his mane was a mix of orange, red, and everything in between. He wore strange glasses and braces? I didn’t even know they had that here. And from his jawline, he was a colt, just like me. What was even weirder were his wings—they were just like mine, featherless. But his horn didn’t spark like mine. He wasn’t like me, but someone had tried very hard to make them believe he was.

“Uh, girls? What happened? And who is he?” I pointed at the colt. To my surprise, he was the one who answered.

“Well, Princess Twilight banished the vines and saved us. By the time we found you, you were already lying here, and there was this weird booth with a stallion inside. He left this behind.” He held up a small note with a few words written on it: Nightmare Moon and Daybreaker. It made no sense, that’s for sure, but I didn’t have time to think about it, because the colt spoke again.

“My name is Cycle—Daynight Cycle…”

To be continued...

Chapter 10

The new boy seemed completely ordinary, but I didn’t like him. What’s more, thanks to him, my flying plans were torpedoed. He said he didn’t know how he ended up at the Harmony Tree. Honestly, I still don’t understand exactly what he is. Fluttershy said some weird vines kidnapped Princess Celestia and Princess Luna and concentrated some energy that resulted in him. Since they returned from the forest, the Elements have disappeared without a trace. Cycle, or as we call him for some reason, Water Flame, has been living with Twilight in the library, where his room is now located in place of the lab in the basement. Last night’s adventure simply drained me...

The sun was setting, and we were about to undertake the dumbest task in the world. Walking beside me were Fluttershy, Rarity, and Sweetie Belle. Rarity had the idea to bring tapestries from the castle under which the tree was, where the Elements had been returned. I didn’t understand why we were needed, but for once, I’d let the adults handle it. As I looked around, I couldn’t help but admire the forest’s many beauties. Then, suddenly, an idea popped into my head.

I sneaked up quietly to Sweetie Belle. “Psst! Sweetie Belle! How about instead of this nonsense, I show you something?” She thought for a moment but eventually nodded. While Rarity explained why this was important, we slipped away quickly. My destination was Zecora’s hut. I thought I could brew a few potions, but then...

Everyone in Ponyville recognized that sound. It was Scoutalu’s plane. I had modified the kestrel so it could land in the forest, or rather, I increased the engine’s power to reduce the wingspan. It wasn’t a perfect success, but it served its purpose. Scoutalu soon landed next to us, as there was a small clearing free of trees near Zecora’s hut.

“Bender! There you are!” She jumped out of the plane and suddenly attacked me like I’d just returned from a war.

“Alright, Scoutalu, calm down. What happened?” Then, I got the third response of my life. Apple Bloom climbed out of the plane too, but much more discreetly.

“Nothing special, I just thought we could go do something cool—and dangerous.” I nearly fell apart. She had found a book recently that said there was no place scarier than the castle of the two sisters. Then I remembered what Apple Bloom had told Cycle, that the castle was indeed dangerous and scary.

“Alright, Scoutalu, we’ll go there, but if we want to have fun, I suggest we don’t use the plane.” Scoutalu sulked for a moment, but eventually agreed.

I have no idea what suddenly changed, but the idea of wandering alone in the castle felt exciting. Bender led a small bolt of lightning into a strange device that glowed from it, saying it was one of the few things he’d brought from the other world, but I never really understood how it worked.

The sun had nearly set completely, but the castle was already on the horizon. On the rickety wooden bridge leading there, I saw Rainbow Dash and Applejack crossing.

“Perfect, this will be even more fun,” Bender said. I didn’t understand what he meant, but I assumed he just didn’t want to go in alone. “Follow me!” I didn’t like that we weren’t heading for the bridge, but I was curious about what he had in mind.

Bender led us down some steps into the chasm and then up again through a cave. In the pitch blackness, I couldn’t see even my nose; Scoutalu was tiptoeing behind me, biting my tail, but Bender walked forward as if it were the most natural thing in the world to be in such darkness.

“I discovered this path when I first saw the Doctor, but I wasn’t sure where it led. If I’m right, though, we’ll have a lot of fun at the castle.”

“Bender! Wait! I can’t see anything.” I would have slapped my forehead if I hadn’t remembered that I could only see so well because of my one eye, though even here, my vision was poor. Yet he was moving forward like he could see.

“Yes, yes, I’m sorry. I’ve been this way so many times I don’t need to see.” As if I’d ever been here before, but at least they wouldn’t be jealous of me. I hoped.

The tunnel was narrow and increasingly wet, but still passable. As we continued, I started to see a faint light. “We’re almost there, girls!” I could see they were glad to hear it, as the dark, cold tunnel was making us all feel a bit claustrophobic. My hypothesis was correct; we were indeed in the castle.

Hundreds of bookshelves surrounded us, with hundreds of thousands of books. I suspected there might still be a lot left in this place, but I hadn’t expected this. One book, for instance, was titled Demi-Unicorn Magic...

“Bender!” My thoughts were interrupted by Scoutalu, who still hadn’t managed to climb out, her wings visibly stuck. “Help me out.”

“Oh, sorry, Scoutalu!” I grabbed her and pulled. She didn’t budge. I tried again, this time with the help of my wings, but she wouldn’t move. “Why don’t you ever say anything... when you’re stuck somewhere?” I gave a hard yank, and when her wings finally came free, we both flew backward. The next moment, my head hit a bookshelf, causing a cascade of books...

When I woke up under the books, I felt strange. As I crawled out, I noticed my hooves didn’t click, and I couldn’t feel my wings. I climbed onto the top of the book pile and looked at my hoof... no, it wasn’t a hoof. My leg was covered in red fur, resembling a dog’s leg.

“Bender! Bender, where are you!?” As I turned around, I slipped and tumbled down the books. Then I saw a fox reading a book, a surprising sight since I thought only dragons and ponies could learn to read. Looking down at myself, my lovely orange fur had disappeared, replaced by red fur, my wings were gone, my belly was snow-white, and I had a long, bushy tail. “Bender!” I shouted frantically.

“Stop yelling, or you’ll attract a timberwolf or two.” I had no idea what kind of creature that was, nor did I want to find out.

“Bender? What happened to you... to us?” I asked, sensing that he knew, as he was oddly calm.

“Actually, it’s just a book spell that activates upon touch. Here it is!” I rushed over, tripping as I went, and looked into the book, but the text was completely incomprehensible. Transforma Managi. It said the spell would turn whoever it touched into what they were thinking of, casting a permanent curse, though it could be reversed... someday, presumably. As he explained, I shivered. He, however, was not as worried, which annoyed me.

“How can you be so calm when we’re stuck as foxes for who knows how long!?” At that, he transformed before my eyes, first into some kind of metal vehicle, with two small tubes beside a slit, surrounded by a little armored cabin, then metal body parts with some weird circular mechanism underneath that resembled elevator cables and their components. Then he took his familiar pony form, then back to a fox, saying, “See? We can indirectly return to our usual form—at least I can.”

I felt somewhat relieved, but my eyes widened quickly.

“Where are Apple Bloom and Sweetie Belle?” Bender looked at me, froze for a moment, and then spoke.

“Good questions, but I have no idea. When I woke up, they were already gone.” He flipped through one of the books, but the next moment, he dropped it. “Scou... Scou... Scoutalu, co... come... he-here!” His stuttering sent chills down my spine. Slowly, I approached; somehow, it felt natural in this body. I looked into the book.

She shall come, whose coat is dark as the night, whose mane burns like a blazing fire; she will end a thousand years of tyranny but bring even darker times. The book’s page declared. Their fur stood on end because they knew who the description fit.

The night was terrible; Bender and Scoutalu were deeply buried under the books, and despite our best efforts searching high and low, we couldn’t find them. All we heard were eerie noises and the distant sounds of someone screaming.

Apple Bloom found the place truly frightening, but she used her bow to tie us together so we wouldn’t get lost or stray from each other. “What do you think our sisters are doing here?” she asked quietly, shuddering even more as she passed an old suit of armor with a sword. "Granny always says this place is haunted." I pondered that for a moment but stumbled over a broken wooden plank, shifting my focus to getting us out of there as soon as possible.

“Bender’s going to hear about this. Coming here at night was a terrible idea,” I grumbled, just as suddenly, one door after another appeared, with twists and turns. I turned left and saw an open hall in the castle, where perhaps the funniest scene I had ever seen unfolded. Four adult ponies were trying to scare each other, like we do on Nightmare Night. The way they touched each other was hilarious, followed by their reactions. They didn’t even notice us sneaking away.

Then they froze, standing in Twilight’s characteristic aura. At that moment, I saw two creatures that looked very much like timberwolves. I panicked and started running, pulling Apple Bloom along with me. Scootaloo hadn’t let go of the machine she was working on, and somehow, it started up, taking us along for the ride.

We flew over the dark forest as Bender showed me some basic aerial maneuvers, so even though it wasn’t perfect, I managed to steer Scootaloo’s machine. It was smart of Scootaloo to drag it in front of the castle. That’s how we escaped from the timberwolves and set off, flying over the palace. As we passed by, I noticed Rarity and the others laughing, presumably at what had happened, but I didn’t care much. The most important thing was to get home before they found out what we had done.

The engine of the machine hummed softly as Apple Bloom turned to me. “Sweetie Belle, we have to find them, you know that, right?” I thought for a moment, then looked up. “Yes, I know, Apple Bloom. Tomorrow, we’ll come back and look for them.” I hoped I was right because I wasn’t sure if the pile of books hadn’t crushed them.

The sun was starting to rise, the first birds chirped like the most beautiful orchestras. On the ground, a couple of timberwolves and other animals were beginning or ending their day, and as we flew over them, it was a beautiful sight, with little swallows darting beneath us and occasionally a hawk mingling among them.

I was starting to get hungry, which wasn’t a problem as a pony, but in fox form, it was excruciating—mildly put, it was torturous. Scootaloo didn’t understand this magic and couldn’t really transform; once she almost succeeded, but then she lost her concentration. We came out behind the castle because two foxes could really confuse Rarity and the others. Apple Bloom and Sweetie Belle entered the viewing hall just then. I moved toward them, but they ran away. I’m a fox; what was I expecting? But before I could transform, I heard a sound and saw them fly over us, heading straight… My ears, as a fox, couldn’t droop, but my fur stood on end. They were headed straight for the dense forest, to a place where, if I believed the others, no pony had ever set hoof. Those two might not be clumsy, but they were as naive as Bambi or Vuk. If they crashed, maybe they’d realize how wrong their direction was, but it would be too late.

“Scoutalu! Look!” I shouted. She glanced up, and I could see the blood run cold in her veins. The machine vanished from sight, completely off course. Scoutalu was still just staring; it was strange, considering she was an adult fox, yet I was like her cub, and I didn’t decide that—it was the magic's doing. I racked my brain for what we could do. In one of the books, I had read that even the wisest animals struggled in the depths of the Everfree Forest; Sweetie Belle and Apple Bloom had practically no chance.

"Bender, what should we do?" I asked, surprised that I even had to.

"Wouldn't it be better if we both went?" Bender raised an eyebrow.

If I weren’t a fox cub, I would have facehoofed, but instead, I scratched myself.

“No, it wouldn’t be. Food and survival skills aren’t learned overnight. The princesses need to know about the prophecy; if it’s all true, we’re in great danger.” After thinking for a moment, Bender accepted my point and nodded before running off to the others who were already heading toward Ponyville.

“Well, Bender, you can thank life that you read Vuk and Chi. Being a cub isn’t the best thing that could happen to me, but maybe… just maybe, I can manage something.” I found the direction where the machine had gone, took one last look back, and then started running as fast as I could in that direction.

Meanwhile, in Ponyville:

I think I'm getting used to it here. I hardly see that strange mare duo in my dreams anymore. It's getting dark, but that doesn’t bother me; thanks to my magic, I can see in the dark.

A wild magical wave swept through me, though it seemed like just a shockwave. Bender wasn’t home today; he had gone to the castle with Fluttershy, where Twilight found me. Twilight was also there, and it was like they had forgotten about me, so I had to have dinner at a restaurant using my allowance.

I ordered a portion of that fried onion Bender had shown everyone, and waited, though my thoughts felt strange, as if I weren’t alone, as if someone or something else was with me. Then I heard some whispering and forgot about the feeling.

The food went down well, and I ordered a nice strawberry soup and some cake, stuffing my face like there was no tomorrow. Then a pony sat behind me; I couldn’t see its kind or gender… I was still eating when I heard it muttering.

“It’s time...” I pondered those words, and then blacked out.

“Wow, that was weird,” I said to myself, trying to recall what had happened, but my mind drew a blank as if something had erased it. It was dark; I could hardly see where I was, so I channeled magic into my eyes, allowing me to see. It was an abandoned, dark shack full of various bottles. I had no idea how long I had been out or how far I was. Yet I felt something inside me, something strange. I saw a fox outside behind one of the walls, and for some reason, I felt compelled to shoot at it with my horn, and why not…

The fox yelped but kept moving in the direction it was headed. Then I realized what I had done and could have kicked myself. I climbed out of the small hut and recognized it as Zecora’s—the zebra whom Twilight had already introduced to me. She was very kind but a bit of an odd character. I didn’t get far from the door because I noticed a security cuff around my hoof, which only allowed me to go so far. I lay back down, figuring that tomorrow, Zecora would surely release me.

From a third-person perspective:

In a dark, abandoned hall, many hooded ponies were gathering. One stepped forward and raised a candle in the middle of the room.

“Brothers and sisters, that vile sect which once planted the seeds of evil in our mother has taken action again. We must thwart their dark plans once more.”

The pony set down the candle, and another took it up.

“I suggest you succeed this time. Last time, our mother was imprisoned for 1,000 years, trapped in darkness on the moon. Our failure would now mean the downfall of Equestria itself.” The candle was placed back down.

The council lasted for many hours, with numerous plans proposed and almost as many discarded into oblivion. The candle was half-burned, and they had gotten nowhere when finally, a young pony stepped forward and picked up the candle.

“Brothers and sisters, though I am your child, listen to me,” the young pony spoke, and everyone watched intently. “When we, brothers and sisters, were chosen, we received the sacred task. However, we have no successors, and our numbers dwindle. If we are to win, we need new members, those who are brave, resourceful, and above all, clear-sighted.”

The young pony drew a circle in wax, in which there was a small pony with red fur and a sparkling horn.

“Brothers and sisters, this one will be the new member who will help lead ponies on the true and rightful path from which so many have strayed.”

The others then spoke in unison.

“For the night, for every star, and for our mother!”

The central light in the room went out, and with that, the story ended.

Author's Note

Hello everyone, yes, this is where the story ends for now, but the big jurney is just beginning. Will Bender find the others? Will he be able to stop Cycle? What is this organization? All will be revealed in Revolution (which I am starting to work on now).
The chapter may seem contradictory in some places, but let me clarify it here. At the beginning, there's just a quick outline of the situation, and yes, at that time, I was already looking for Apple Bloom and the others. Since it came up, no, I didn't forget about it halfway through or anything like that; it simply didn't come to the attention of the main characters. For those who want to understand what this organization is, at least in part, listen to this (I know it doesn't exactly outline this, but I think it makes it more interesting):