A Whisper on the Wind

“Do I have to go with him?” Stopper mock-pleaded, pointing a hoof at her waiting pilot and chaperone. Jet, himself kitted out in a very stereotypical pilot's get-up, with a padded jacket that I was almost certain was genuine sheepskin, leaned against the metallic as-yet-unpainted hull of the Tornado, a very unceremonious ‘T’ daubed onto it until much better arrangements could be made for a proper paint job.

“If he tries anything funny, you have my personal permission to render him unable to achieve an erection,” I offered, eliciting a light chuckle from the unicorn as both Ace and I escorted her to her waiting chariot… of sorts.

“In case I haven't said it enough… Thank you, Stuart. I finally feel like I'm part of a family again… and I have you to thank for it,” she smiled, looking up at me as my eyes threatened to mist up.

“You're a good pony… a good person, deep down. I… just needed to make you see that. Now, get going, Captain, that's an order,” I said, raising my hand in a salute, a gesture reciprocated with a firm nod before she turned to Ace.

“Hold down the fort here, Squire,” she said with a nod that Ace returned before the unicorn departed, her light purple tail swaying in the breeze before she hauled herself into the spacious rear compartment at the back of the Tornado’s fuselage, with minimal assistance from what was quickly looking like this world's version of Howard Stark… flirtatious nature included.

Both Ace and I waved at the two of them as the plane roared off, Jet having spent around two hours making test runs before he was satisfied with his vehicular handling. We continued watching as the plane trundled along the dirt track until the chassis lifted back and allowed the craft to ascend into the sky. I kept my eyes on it for as long as I could before it became nothing more than a speck in the sky, deciding only then to walk back the way I’d come and return to the former princesses, with the alabaster pegasus in tow beside me in what was very quickly becoming our new normal.

“What was in that flask you drank before the ceremony? You seemed to perk up a bit after you finished drinking it…” he asked as we walked along the dirt path.

“Oh, that? Ancient hangover remedy. Salt, sugar, and orange juice. Restores electrolytes and alleviates dehydration, the perfect counter to a hangover when you don’t have a fry-up available.”

“Uh… what's an electrolyte?” Ace asked.

“Something to do with neurotransmitters, the elements that our bodies use to make us work. Alex was the expert on that subject, I just know that salt helps. Maybe, if you ever properly meet him, you can ask him that yourself, and for the both of us.”

The Sun was beginning to hang low in the skies, and I knew that twilight wasn't far away. For now, I rounded a bend in the road and once more approached the sisters’ house… or, ‘The House of the Two Pony Sisters’ as I'd nicknamed it when leaving earlier.

There to greet us was Celestia, albeit in the middle of some… rather unorthodox pruning of their front garden, the alicorn chomping heartily on a rose flower as we got closer.

“Mmm. A bit earthy, for my taste, but they show promise. They’ll ripen by summertime,” she added as we reached her.

“Well, do you know what's better than roses on your piano? Tulips on your organ!” I joked, earning a blush and a giggle from the two ponies.

“Ah, such crass humor. It took poor Alexander a whole year before he dared to tell a dirty joke in my presence, the poor dear.”

“As I recall, you then feigned offense, dear sister,” added Luna as she walked into view from the side of the house. “Did he not sink to his knees and beg for forgiveness?”

“He did! Shortly before I couldn't hold it in any longer and I just burst into laughter at him. Once he started laughing, too… I think that's when he realized that this place was now his home. How are you feeling about that, Stuart?” Asked Celestia with a look of care and concern. “About this world being your home now?”

Multiple conflicting thoughts about that subject raged in my head like the very tempest that I'd just been inducted into.

“It's… been strangely liberating… being here, I mean. Sure, I arguably have something very important to do… even if I don't know what that is yet… but, I'm not worrying about my day-to-day life like I did back on Earth. I'm not fretting about rent or the black mold in my bathroom, or if I genuinely have enough biscuits in the house.”

“You were in danger of running out of… biscuits?” Asked Luna, looking slightly perplexed.

“They were very moreish ones, mind!” I clarified, raising a finger in the air for a moment. “Little shortbread fingers coated in chocolate. Eating one led to eating a second, and then a third… before you know it, you've eaten the whole box and then you hate yourself for your lack of self-control.”

“I see,” Celestia chuckled as she looked at both Ace and I. “Unfortunately, one cannot summon biscuits… but, I do have a summon that you should be able to help me with. Luna, could you please fetch Volume Five from upstairs?”

A nod and sigh later, Luna slowly trudged inside the house, leaving Celestia alone with the two of us for the moment.

“I have an old friend that I should introduce you to, Stuart. Do you know what a Familiar is?” She asked as I plundered my Earth-centric memories.

“Uh… In the fiction of my world, a Familiar is a companion, usually an animal or otherworldly denizen. They're effectively a form of support for a spellcaster, be it healing, offensive damage, or distracting an enemy.”

She seemed impressed. “For living in a world without magic, you seem to know a fair amount about it…”

I put my hands up for a moment, showing both my palms to the alicorn. “Hey, it's not my fault if this world seems to enjoy a few parallels to the stories I've read. It probably gave Alex an advantage when he came here.”

The alicorn nodded as her sister emerged from the house with the requested tome held in the grasp of one of her wings that she then extended toward Celestia, who then hoofed it to me. I took the rather hefty book into my hands as I ran the fingers of one of them over the front, feeling the raised gold lettering under my hand.

“That is ponykind's collected knowledge of Summoning magic,” Celestia advised as she tapped the tome with a hoof. “I do need to warn you, however, that this type of magic is unusually taxing on the caster, both mentally and physically; even the survival of the caster is uncertain when a particularly powerful summon is used.”

I continued to run a hand over the tome before I once more looked up to meet the alabaster alicorn's gaze. “Are you saying that performing a summon could kill me?” I attempted to clarify as I could feel my eyebrows raising.

“If the summon needs enough mana, yes,” she answered as she briefly turned to look at Luna. “And that… eventuality, is something that you need to be prepared to do.”

Luna now stepped forward to formally join the conversation. “There may come a time when invoking a summon is the only solution available. You are the only friendly face we know who can cast magic… and we need you to be ready to make that sacrifice.”

I swallowed hard.

Yeah, you dun fucked up, Stuart.

“Well… I already said that I'd be willing to if needed. But only if there's no other option. So, I guess that means I should start reading this, huh?” I guessed as I curtly raised and lowered the book.

Celestia nodded. “Turn to the first chapter, there is a spell on the first few pages that will tell you how to summon a Familiar.”

As I flicked the gold-lined pages, a thought struck me; I smirked and uttered “Levenesis,” targeting the book as it slowly floated out of my hands with my now-distinctive blue aura surrounding it. I held the book up with the magic, and I was then able to manipulate the field enough to turn a few pages without using my fingers.

“You have impressive telekinetic control. Are you sure that you don't have any unicorns in your lineage?” Teased the elder sister as I found the spell she'd just advised me to find.

“Ah, here we are. Hmm…” I said with a pause as I read over the spell’s instructions. “I can see that it wants me to draw… a summoning circle. I've not done that before,” I commented as I carried the book in my telekinetic grasp while I looked over at the nearby grassland.

“Now, the question is… what Familiar should I summon?” I proposed, genuinely seeking inspiration from everypony.

“What about a big, heavy animal, like a bear?” Offered Ace.

“That's… not a bad call. Ferocious in battle and likely would be quite intimidating to face,” I mused.

“A bat,” was the answer Luna gave. “They are silent, can sense well in the darkness, and are the perfect stealthy companion.”

“I… have a third suggestion,” noted Celestia as she looked down for a moment. “An old friend, in fact. Are you familiar with phoenixes?”

I paused, wondering how much more that this world really shared with Earth's fiction.

“Only that I think they're fire-aspected creatures with the ability to revive those that fall in battle…”

Celestia smiled. “There is a bit more to them than that, but those are the basics, I suppose. Create the summoning circle, and repeat this mantra: ‘From one to fire, fire to one, come to me as I call upon thee. Shower me in fiery blaze and smoky haze as I invoke thy name: Philomena the phoenix’.”

“... Huh. You alicorns don't do anything small, do you?” I joked as I repeated the mantra in my head and loosely on my lips as my mind's concentration focused on the tome's instructions for the summoning circle.

“Probably best if you go stand next to Luna, Ace; apologies in advance if this makes you a bit nauseous,” I said, gesturing to the navy blue alicorn. The pegasus trotted over and sat next to her, giving a nod.

“I… feel a bit weird, but nothing I can't handle!” He said, raising his voice as he set about watching me perform my instructed task.

“The only thing missing from this get-up is a cape, but no matter…”

I ran a finger over the instructions for the creation of the summoning circle as the tome continued to hover in mid-air with my magic. Using my free hand, I scorched the ground and flora beneath me, weaving the intricate pattern called for as I stood in its center.

After a few moments, a light began emanating from the circle as I completed the instructions, the book going to great lengths to reassure me that this was completely normal as I turned to look at Celestia.

“The circle is prepared,” she affirmed, “You know the next step.”

I nodded slowly at her and levitated the book across to Luna, who grabbed a hold of it with a wing as I turned to look into the distance.

“From one to fire, fire to one, come to me as I call upon thee,” I began as I held my arms against my chest, crossing them together. “Shower me in fiery blaze and smoky haze as I invoke thy name: Philomena the phoenix!” I shouted as I held a fist up to the sky, just as the ground started smoldering beneath me before shortly erupting into an inferno. I was about to panic before I realized that the flames were not actually burning me; rather, they had no sensation at all, and after a few moments, they started to transform into an intricate light show within the circle.

The flames then suddenly coalesced in an instant into the appearance of a medium-sized bird with a flaming tail that then soared upward and across the sky with what sounded like happy squawks before coming back down again to rest upon Celestia's back, the two of them then sharing a tender nuzzle as the rest of us looked on at the happy reunion.

An old friend, you say…?

I let them have a few moments as the summoning circle beneath my feet faded and decayed before walking over to Luna and Ace to stand next to them as we continued to look on while Celestia recomposed herself.

“I’m… sorry about that. Please allow me to introduce Philomena. She's been my Familiar since I was taught how to summon her… a long, long time ago now. Say ‘Hello’, Philomena.”

The bird squawked with an unmistakably happy expression on it. The phoenix had a plumage of bright red crimson, with its secondary wing and tail feathers exhibiting bright orange and yellow hues, mimicking the majesty and glory of a roaring fire. Her beak didn't instantly match up to anything I expected to see, being slightly larger than a bird of its size would be expected to have, were I to compare her to Earth approximations.

“Good girl, Philomena,” Celestia said with a profound smile. “I haven't been able to summon her since we both returned to these lands from Skyros.”

“I remember you mentioning Skyros earlier. A continent in the sky, you said?” I queried.

“Yes. Right now, it’s hidden, insulated from the changes to these lands as a consequence of the magic contained within…”

“... which is why we did not know about the magic dampening effect here,” further clarified Luna, “We now cannot even return to Skyros.”

I was growing ever more curious by the moment. “You said that you only returned to… well, what was Equestria, about a year ago. I assume that you were exploring Skyros, then?”

“Yes. We knew that it’d risen from the ocean centuries ago…” continued the dark-furred alicorn until her sister spoke up.

“... But we had little reason to visit it. Until Opaline Arcana came along…”

That name was another one I'd heard mentioned previously.

“Wasn't she the one who drove the wedge between the tribes in Equestria?” I asked.

“Yes. We recognized the name, which is why, once we were sure Twilight and Alexander were settled in their new positions, we returned to Skyros to see if other alicorns had survived the destruction of the Kingdom of the Alicorns as we had.”

“And… Did they?” I asked.

“No… either they all perished…”

“... Or, they do not want to be found.” Luna finished.

The phoenix continued to nuzzle the elder alicorn, prompting Celestia to turn her attention toward me.

“I think the time has come to pass the torch, so to speak. Philomena, how would you feel about protecting this one,” pointing a hoof at me, “As you have done for me all these years?”

The bird launched herself and landed on my shoulders, digging her talons into my skin as she shuffled to my right while her beak ruffled through my black hair that was, by now, in serious need of a trim, along with my unkempt beard.

“I think she likes you,” Celestia said with a smile as the others looked on.

“I did not know that summoning our Familiars was an available request. Wouldst thou summon ours to join thee?”

“Another phoenix?” I asked as the younger alicorn shook her head.

“Nay. He is a more… terrestrial creature, a water-aspected opossum named Tiberius. Like my sister, I was taught how to summon him in my earliest days here.”

This place is starting to feel like North America…

I mulled over the thought in my mind, but couldn't think of a reason not to grant her request.

“I don't suppose you remember the summoning mantra?” I asked before Celestia held up a hoof briefly.

“I think that this is an ideal time for a lesson,” she began as her hoof lowered. “Mantras are not set in stone; they just need to invoke key words related to the summon one is attempting. All you need to do is perform the one I gave you, but swap out some of the words for more relevant ones, like changing references of fire to ones of water, for example.”

“Huh… That actually makes a lot of sense,” I answered as I churned those words of hers in my head, looking for words or phrases to change. After a few moments, I decided on my chosen set of phrases, moving off to the side for a moment to once more cast a summoning circle, but now doing it without the aid of the tome. Within mere seconds it had been completed and radiated light from below in the same manner as the previous circle. After looking down to admire my handiwork, I looked up at Luna while nodding in her direction as I extended my hands, while still feeling the talons of Philomena digging into my shoulder.

“One to ocean, ocean to one, come to me as I call upon thee; Save us from watery blight and shower us in your tidal might as I invoke thy name: Tiberius the opossum!” I shouted as I reached a hand upward and toward the sky, followed by a torrent of water falling from above that failed to make my clothes even so much as moist as I moved through the waterfall that was now descending all around me. After several moments, the collective water concentrated into the form of a grey-furred rodent with a head of white fur and a bright pink tail.

The opossum looked surprised to be here, in as much sense of surprise that a rodent's face could convey, before looking around and then immediately scampering away toward Luna, the small critter climbing up her leg to perch on her back before they, too, tenderly embraced one another as we all looked on.

“Tiberius the… thirty-sixth?” She asked her sister.

“Thirty-seventh. The previous one was choked to death by an evil little filly as a show of force,” Luna remarked as she spat on the floor in a clear show of disgust.

“Wait… you've had thirty-seven of these things?!” I sputtered, not really believing that rodents could have such long lifespans.

“He, like Philomena, is a magical being. His lifespan is around a century, but he is still vulnerable to more mundane terminations of his existence,” Luna replied nonchalantly, the opossum shivering as it sought refuge in her mane.

“I will… pretend that I understand some of that... Also, ‘evil little filly’? Just how evil could a kid really be?” I asked as the summoning circle faded around me.

“I’ve seen many troubled souls in my time,” confessed Celestia, “But, Cozy Glow? That filly was beyond troubled.”

“She was sadistic, psychopathic, and resistant to all attempts to help her reform. She was the one who…” Luna looked down for a moment, joined by her sister in the gesture. “... who mortally wounded Alexander.”

It was an odd sensation to hear so casually about the one that had ended the life of my friend, even if it had ultimately led to his resurrection.

“What happened to her?” I asked in a flat, neutral tone that was doing some seriously heavy lifting to mask my anger at this past event.

“Twilight Sparkle sealed her in stone,” continued Luna, “Along with her partners-in-crime, Tirek and Queen Chrysalis. Together, they nearly brought about the end of Equestria, and if by some miracle you somehow released them, they'd dominate the land once again, for what is left of Equestria is wholly unprepared for their return!”

“In other words, my dear apprentice summoner: Don’t go looking for them,” ordered Celestia with a frown, every bit underlining the potential danger to me. “Maybe, one day, you’ll be strong enough to deal with them, but that day is not today. Do you understand?”

I looked at them both before glancing down at Ace before I very reluctantly nodded my head. “Yeah… I do. So… when will that day come? The spell I've just cast is obviously a low-level one. What's an example of a high-level spell?” I asked as I once more levitated the tome toward me, out of Luna's grasp.

“Turn to page sixty,” Celestia instructed as my manipulation of the magical field turned the pages.

“Hmm… Summon Beast… Summon Elemental? You guys could summon creatures of fire, water, and so on?”

“Yes, but we largely avoided doing so. Aquarius, the Water Lord, got quite angry when one of us summoned a Water Elemental,” explained Luna as I continued turning pages, choosing to park the fact that the elements here apparently have Lords, for now.

“Hmm… Summon Gigas… oh… Summon Aeon?” I queried as my finger once more ran over the paper on page sixty. “It says here that such a summon is to be considered a summon of last resort. Wait... what is an ‘Aeon’, anyway?”

“An Aeon,” began Celestia, “Is a creature of immense power, born from the prayer of a summoner, and is cast as the final option when all hope seems lost. ”

“They are, ultimately, extensions of their summoner,” added Luna. “They can represent feelings, emotions, memories, even abstract concepts. But… the summoning of an Aeon taxes the summoner to their very limits; If one is summoned, the summoner that wills it rarely survives.”

I crossed my arms and let that possibility flow through me. “So… in other words, if I were to summon an Aeon, I should be prepared to die as a consequence?”

That last point made Ace look very uneasy, his state of mind washing over me via the amulet, making me feel like he absolutely didn't want me to part ways with this mortal coil, which was entirely understandable, and was a feeling I shared. I clutched the amulet with a free hand for a moment, the oversized pendant now suddenly feeling much heavier in my grasp.

“Your phrasing is… crude, but accurate,” confirmed the former lunar diarch, “Let us hope that it does not come to that.”

“But you should read up on that spell, Stuart,” encouraged Celestia. “I, too, hope that it will never be cast again… but, these are dangerous times, as I'm sure you've noticed. You,” she punctuated by pointing a hoof briefly at me. “Are now the only ally we have who's capable of casting that spell.”

I returned my gaze to the book still levitating in front of me, focusing on a gold-embossed illustration of an almighty dragon-esque beast being summoned by a unicorn summoner. The weight of the situation finally started to sink in for me as I crossed my arms and exhaled deeply, closing the tome in front of me telekinetically while keeping it in the air.

“Well,” I began, “If I die, may it be with glory and resolve. I don't intend on kicking the bucket unless it's the only option, mind you; I quite like being alive, despite the understandable misconception that I have a death wish.”

I was about to grab the book when an overwhelming sense of nausea came over me, causing my concentration to falter and the tome to drop out of the air and land on the grass as I fell backward, the phoenix fluttering away as I collapsed onto my back; Despite my sudden malady, I could feel Ace immediately running to my side as I saw stars for a few moments, but still having enough presence of mind to reach a hand immediately around to my back to attempt to soothe my coccyx with a few generous rubs.

“I believe that someone is in need of rest,” offered Luna as both of the sisters approached me, my nausea diminishing as the alabaster pegasus nuzzled my cheek.

“Summoning even small creatures can be detrimental to one's health, especially to someone who is inexperienced. It is a wonder that you were able to hold out this long,” mused Celestia as I continued to awkwardly lie on the grass while I grabbed the tome off the grass.

“‘Tis no wonder at all, unless the Nightmare is not providing assistance to him,” Luna countered before I gave Ace's head a pat and slowly got back onto my feet, albeit shakily.

“Perhaps you two should stay with us tonight. It has been too long since we had overnight guests,” Celestia offered with a hoof pointing to their front door, accompanied by a slight bow of her head. In no real position to decline, I nodded and shuffled inside, Ace dutifully following as the two alicorns did the same, Luna closing the door behind us all with a satisfying click.

I plopped myself on one of their sofas after putting the book on the rectangular coffee table, shaking my head to dispel the last remnants of my mental miasma as Ace came over to lay in my lap, looking up at me as his wings shuffled at his sides. I reached out a hand to cup one of his cheeks, but my grasp was subverted by Celestia as a hoof pulled my hand away, the alicorn studying my palm intently for a few moments from her seated position next to the sofa.

“While I am certain that a unicorn did not meet their end at your hands, you nevertheless have the remains of one in your hands. I truly hope that you realize the scope of what you have done… despite the fact that such an act might very well save the world. It is… profoundly uncomfortable to think about.”

I closed my eyes for a moment and exhaled sharply before looking up at her still running a hoof over the bumps in my palm.

“Then I think we all owe it to that unicorn to ensure that we make that post… equinus sacrifice counts for something.”

I felt an invisible mental pressure for a moment; I knew not its source, but it made me recall the two creatures whose lives I'd extinguished, each one of them evoking feelings of guilt and remorse, despite the circumstances of their deaths and their, at the time, their necessity.

“Celestia… I understand that you counseled Alex during his time here. I… am in need of that counsel.”

I hated, hated, hated admitting that I needed help or advice… but, I was starting to feel circumstances slipping out of my control, and I was becoming acutely aware that this whole experience was making me feel like a fish out of water, like I had no business being here at all, much less a knight.

The white alicorn made her way over to the sofa opposite the one I was seated in, softly depositing herself upon its upholstery as she reclined back and put her hooves together.

“I wondered if you were going to have the courage to ask for help. What is on your mind, Ser?” she asked, a motherly tone now becoming evident.

I struggled to think of what to say first; I had so many conflicting ideas in my head that they all threatened to pile on top of one another.

“I’m… having difficulty… coming to terms with killing other creatures,” I began as Ace nuzzled my hands. “I've killed twice since I got here… and I hate myself for having done so. But, more than that… I hate having broken a promise I made to Alex on the subject. I feel like… If he knew what I've done here, I think that he'd be disappointed in me…”

Celestia continued looking at me while Luna appeared to busy herself in the kitchen as Philomena swooped in through an open window to perch on the back of one of the sofas.

“He really did mean a lot to you, didn't he?” The elder alicorn remarked as her gaze continued. “Well, I’ll tell you the same thing I told Alexander when he expressed similar concerns…”

Luna then joined us, carefully hoofing a selection of biscuits and four steaming mugs of tea onto coasters on the table in the middle of our meeting, before joining us on a seat to my right.

“Thank you, sister. I told him that it’s a good thing to… What were his words again? ‘Feel Like Shit’? Yes, I think that was it.”

That got a chuckle out of me as I encouraged Ace to let me lean over to grab the mug of tea with my hand.

“It’s a good thing to ‘feel like shit’ when you take a life. There is no place in the world for wanton, indiscriminate murder… But, there will come a time when it becomes a binary choice; either you come out alive, or they do.”

“Incidentally, Alexander named his weapon of twin swords ‘Binary’, although I do not think that its name was intended as an allegory for choosing between life and death,” commented Luna as her hoof dived across the table to fetch a biscuit that she devoured whole.

Maybe I'll get to see that weapon, one day…

“The fact that you feel remorse over those deaths is a good thing; it should remind you that life is precious and is something that should be fiercely defended… even if that defense means ending a life in the pursuit of it,” continued Celestia as she leaned forward to pick up her mug of tea, taking a generous slurp from the porcelain as it met her lips.

A gulp from my own mug had me ruminating on the flavor; a pity that, despite my heritage, I never was very good at telling one tea blend from another.

“Does it ever get easier… taking a life?” I asked as the warm liquid descended down my throat.

The sisters both paused in thought.

“Well… Every time I took a life or ordered my guards to do so, I went to the gardens in Canterlot Castle and planted a flower,” advised Celestia, taking another gulp of tea, “It helped remind me that life and death, rather than being opposites, are in fact part of the same journey that we all undertake. Planting a new life was my way of giving something back in exchange for taking the life of another. It made the process only slightly easier, mind you.”

A final gulp and a hushed “Ahhhhh,” from me signaled the depletion of my beverage while I thought about what Celestia had just mentioned.

“Then, I will do just that,” I said as I redeposited the mug on its assigned coaster on the table while Ace was barely halfway through his. I sat back once more, crossing my arms. “Every time I extinguish the life of another in pursuit of peace… no, in pursuit of harmony, I'm going to keep a running total. Then, when this world is a little more forgiving, I will create a garden, and in that garden, I will plant a flower for every life I've ever taken.”

Luna and Celestia both finished their tea at the same time, each putting their respective mug on the table at the same time.

“I am grateful that my suggestions are rubbing off on someone else,” Celestia said with a smile. “You should also know that, while I truly believe peace is the noblest aspiration… it sometimes cannot be won without violence, and that, on occasion, you must be prepared to fight for it,” the elder alicorn cautioned.

I laid back in the seat, prompting Ace to get up and shuffle up next to me, his face burying itself in my armpit as I settled my hand on his body for some slow strokes across his fur. My thoughts then wandered back to the day that Alex went missing; I must've become lost in my own mind for a moment as I suddenly noticed that Celestia was waving a hoof at me. “Is everything okay?”

“Yeah, it's just… I was just thinking back to the day that Alex disappeared. I'd messaged him earlier that morning to meet me at my residence; I was originally planning to walk over to the international students’ accommodation to meet him and then we’d walk down to the university together, but… he never arrived.”

“Was an investigation conducted into his sudden disappearance?” Asked Luna, to which I nodded.

“Yeah. But, they only found a partial route that he'd taken. He was seen walking into an underpass… but he wasn't seen walking out of it. Had I met up with him as I'd first planned… I would've had to walk through that same underpass to get to him. In fact, had I left my flat at the time I usually would…”

Oh.

Oh, fuck!

I stood up suddenly, unwittingly causing Ace to face plant into the fabric I'd vacated before putting my hands on my head. “Oh my fucking god!”

My sudden shouting had clearly caught everypony napping as I stood there, bringing my arms down slightly.

“If I'd left my home at the usual time to meet him, I would have to have gone through that very same underpass at roughly the same time that he did that day. I changed our plans less than half an hour before he was last seen.”

I hadn't bothered to think about it much since I got here. I'd dismissed it as an irrelevant detail, only now mentally addressing the incident with a new potential factor: Harmony.

I put my hands on my face and exhaled, closing my eyes briefly. “If I hadn't had to change plans… would I have been sent here instead of him?”

The revelation seemed to plunge the room into an uncomfortable silence.

“Assuming that is correct… Why?” Celestia asked. “Why would Alexander be taken if just the timing was different?”

I sat back down, feeling all eyes upon me. An answer loomed in my head, and yet it felt impossible.

“Could Harmony… have made a mistake?” I posed, scarcely believing that a demigod was even capable of making an error. My question initially was met with yet more silence, but Celestia’s brow wrinkled for a moment. Sensing an answer, I dug deep for it.

“Do you know if that's even possible?” I baited as the elder alicorn shifted uncomfortably in her seat.

“There was a time, long ago, when I would never have even dared to think about something like that,” she said, looking around at all of us. “Maybe… It is the nature of humans to be unpredictable. Maybe… Harmony found your behavior difficult to predict?”

“Difficult to predict?” I countered.

“Mmm. We've made many assumptions about her, including that she can see the future. That assumption might be an inaccurate one.”

“Well, either she can see into the future or she can't, right?” I pressed.

“I… have a theory,” offered Luna. “Are you familiar with Starswirl's Chaotic Assertion, the belief that every action ever made, no matter how slight, affects the universe in unforeseen ways, enough to affect subsequent actions?”

I once more crossed my arms. “I… think I know what you're getting at. The nickname for it on my world is ‘The Butterfly Effect’; however, it's probably better described by its scientific name, ‘Sensitive Dependence on Initial Conditions’. It gets its nickname from the belief that the wingbeat of a butterfly can set in motion a chain of events that could ultimately lead to a tsunami on the other side of the planet.”

“You must have very odd butterflies if they can do that,” said Ace as Luna and I shared a smile.

“What I am getting at is that,” continued the younger sister, “For centuries now, I have suspected that Harmony does not see the future… but possible futures.”

“What makes you believe that?”

“She never acts directly. If she could see the future outright, she would likely interfere with the timeline itself. Instead, she has others rise up and do what is needed. I do not think that she would do this unless she was attempting to balance probabilities.”

“You can't be serious,” I said, “Do you actually believe that Harmony makes decisions on the basis of probability? That is… insane!” I exclaimed, my eyes probably going wider than usual. “You really have a supernatural quasi-deity playing with dice here? Man, that’s fucking wild.”

My assertion was rhetorical, for no creature present could possibly understand Harmony enough to make a definitive answer, least of all me, and the room's silence reflected that.

“Fine. Whatever. Pointless thinking about that for now, I suppose. There’s probably an alternate timeline where I did get here first, and if there is, I sure as hell hope that I didn't fuck things up.”

Celestia then turned her head to look at me. “Speaking of alternate timelines… Do you remember the name Starlight Glimmer that you mentioned earlier to me?”

I nodded slowly and unfolded my arms as Ace once more returned to tuck himself into my armpit, my hand again finding its way over to rub his back and side.

“Well, she was once the self-appointed leader of a town where she coerced and manipulated its citizens into following her vision of equality. Twilight Sparkle and her friends visited her town and revealed to the whole town that Starlight was deceiving them. She rebuffed every attempt of Twilight trying to reason with her, shortly afterward escaping from the town and the rest of its inhabitants after being confronted.”

“That sounds… complicated,” I pondered, wondering what would drive someone to do that to an entire town.

“Shortly after Twilight and her friends returned home, Alexander arrived, and he later ended up being caught up in a showdown with Starlight, alongside Twilight Sparkle and Spike. To enact her plan to correct an undesirable situation for her in the past, she dived through time itself; Twilight and Alex pursued her through multiple alternate timelines of Equestria, each one caused by Starlight going to the past while Alexander, Twilight and Spike repeatedly pleaded with her to stop.”

“Wait… She time-traveled?” I asked, having difficulty accepting that such a thing was possible here, never mind being possible at all.

“Yes, using a forbidden and hard-to-learn spell. According to Alexander, one of those alternate timelines featured a barren and desolate world, with many signs pointing to a war in progress. He claimed that his sigil was featured quite prominently on some very… authoritarian posters. He couldn't be a hundred percent sure, but he believed that that version of Equestria was one where he became Equestria's sole ruler… where his desire to do good somehow became corrupted.”

“A fascist version of Equestria with Alex in full control of it? Man, that thought must’ve shaken him up a bit,” I said, finding the very idea a difficult one to swallow.

“It did indeed. He was never the same after he witnessed that… and he confided in us that he feared that he might do the same here, that he might lose himself and become a force for evil instead of good.”

“Those other alternate timelines had very undesirable outcomes, too,” added Luna, “In one of them, Nightmare Moon apparently won against my sister when she returned to Equestria. Another showed Queen Chrysalis and her changelings dominating Equestria, with yet others showing Equestria under siege from the past, vanquished foes of this timeline.”

“Sounds rough,” I commented. “Let us hope that the ponies in those universes were able to eventually rise up and free themselves from oppression.”

Time travel…

The very thought of it intrigued me, despite the obviously disastrous ramifications of using it.

“Alex is technically using a form of time travel, too… only, he's using it to travel to the future, not the past,” I observed.

I looked down at Ace, the stallion looking a tad weary as his nose buried itself into my hoodie.

“I'd follow him given half the chance… but then I'd leave all of you guys behind… and, I'm not sure that I could do that.”

Celestia nodded. “If you could take them with you, would you?”

I thought about that for a few moments before responding. “Only if I was sure the settlement and everypony in it was safe. I swore an oath, after all… I don't get to break it when it becomes inconvenient. I mean, it would be nice to take everypony with me, but I don't think that that's even possible.”

As soon as I'd uttered those words, I mentally reminded myself that Equestria, or what was left of it, had a knack for making the impossible look mundane.

“Tia, I know that look,” accused Luna as Celestia let a small grin cross her features. “That is the look you get when you have an idea.”

“You know me too well, Lulu,” she addressed her sister before turning to me. “There are many ways to travel to the future, Ser: Stasis, dimensional folding, and mass summoning, for example.”

I snapped my fingers. “I remember Alex mentioning that he was going to seal himself away… which sounds like stasis, in all honesty.”

“Yes. Stasis is generally quite safe, but getting out of it on time is tricky, although the time penalties are usually measured in days or weeks at worst. Then, there is dimensional folding, but it would only spirit you away… and the exit mechanism is unpredictable; even a moment later than needed might put you much further in the future than you wanted, usually on the order of years.”

“What about mass summoning?” I queried.

“Mass summoning is… impractical.” she continued. “While the energy costs are low to seal yourself or others away, it requires a tremendous amount of energy to summon them back, to make the void return them… depending on how many you’re summoning, of course. It's also risky keeping them within the void itself; the upper limit is about a thousand years, but conditions in the void make that figure unreliable at best.”

The situation with the land decaying was forcing me to consider such unorthodox solutions, just to survive.

“If the land dies, nothing will live to see the future,” I contended, “If we do somehow fix things, the land might take decades or even centuries to fully recover. In the meantime, settlements like ours might not be able to survive.”

I continued to give Ace's fur some generous scritchings as I outlined my plan while he practically snoozed next to me. “I think we should do all that we can to repair the land. Then, if it turns out that staying put in this time is a bad idea, I propose that we all travel to the future. Every last soul in both known settlements.”

“That is… extraordinarily risky!” stated Luna with significant enthusiasm in her cautionary warning. “It would risk oblivion for anyone who agreed if they could not be extracted from the void in time.”

“I know!” I exclaimed in frustration as I looked at the younger alicorn. “It should only be done if the extinction of the settlements in the long-term looks certain. Maybe…” I trailed off, thinking for a moment. “... it’ll mean we can meet up with Alex.”

Celestia had been listening but took a while to voice her comments.

“If this plan can grant refuge to everypony who wants it, I’ll endorse it, even knowing the risks. If we are truly set upon this being a possible outcome, then we should investigate the catacombs of Canterlot together.”

I looked up for a brief moment in thought. “What would we find there, Tia?” I asked, repeating Luna’s apparent nickname for her sister, the alicorn not even batting an eyelid at my doing so.

“Well, probably artifacts and equipment that can help; spell mantles, mana orbs, and imprinting matrices, to name but a few items of interest. We won’t be able to breach the magical barrier over the city, and the Gate of the Ancients is impassable without our magic; though you may be arcanally inclined, it’s impossible to teach you the unlocking spell, as no physical notes of it were ever made, and it’s too complex to orally recite.”

“That means the old sewers are going to be the only way in,” added Luna. “We did block them off, but the protection is weak enough to overcome now that we know someone who can wield magic.”

I chuckled to myself. “Yet another item on the list of places we should visit,” I mentioned as I looked out the window, noticing that it had gotten much darker since coming into the house. “It’s getting late out there. As you’ve probably noticed, this guy…” I said in hushed tones, pointing to Ace, “... is looking a little sleepy. Maybe we should get some shut-eye and reconvene tomorrow.”

Celestia continued looking at me, before briefly pointing a hoof at me. “That necklace you’re wearing… where did you get it?”

A light snore alerted me to the pegasus now having drifted off to sleep as I removed my hand from his body and cupped the socketed gemstone in my palm. “There’s a tomb to the north, beyond the town of Stratusburg, hidden within a cliff face, inhabited by the discombobulated intelligence of someone who referred to themselves as ‘Prince Blueblood’. This artifact was at the end of the tomb.”

Luna now also began to scrutinize it from her seated position. “You have the Amulet of Truth!” she practically shouted, rousing Ace from his slumber with an annoyed grunt. “For decades, we thought it had been lost. That thieving nephew of yours stole it!” she angrily pouted at her sister.

“I think being dead is enough punishment for him,” Celestia indicated with a long exhale, like she now finally found herself free of some prior hidden burden.

“Well, dead nephew or not, Celestia, he managed to save his mind. There’s a crystal in my backpack that seems to serve as his window into the world from wherever he’s managed to stash his consciousness. I’ll grab it tomorrow and bring it to you; maybe you can keep it,” I suggested. “What do you two know about this amulet, then?” I then asked, curious to know what else this thing shackling Ace and me together might be capable of.

“Well, as you have found out, if improperly handled, it binds its finders together in a mental and physical bond with it, to deter thieves and tomb raiders,” Luna advised as she momentarily narrowed her eyes at me while Celestia gave her sister a side glance.

“Without our magic, we cannot neutralize the active spell within it,” Celestia noted, “It uses old changeling magic, like the necklace and earring we used to hide our appearances. Reversing changeling magic is not something that can be easily taught; unless you were to live for the centuries needed to learn it, that is.”

I reached a hand out to ruffle Ace’s mane playfully. “Looks like we’re stuck like this, huh?”

“It’s alright. I don’t mind…” he said while trying and failing to hide a blush forming on his cheeks, the amulet conveying every thought the pegasus was having, causing me to poke his chest in jest. “Later, hun.”

“If you’ll follow me, I’ll escort you to your room,” offered Celestia, and as she got off the upholstery we followed suit, the elder alicorn leading us up the stairs to a landing that led to a series of rooms; two doors were at the end of it, each with the cutie mark of one of the sisters upon it, presumably their private bedrooms.

“You can sleep in our guest room, just here,” she said, motioning to our left with a hoof. “There’s an ensuite bathroom attached to the room; It’s already got fresh towels in there, so feel free to freshen up before you sleep.”

“Yeah, I’ll make sure he does,” the pegasus said, this time causing me to break out into a blush as I cleared my throat.

“Thank you. I appreciate your and Luna’s hospitality,” I acknowledged as I opened the door, stepping inside the reasonably spacious room as Ace followed, hopping onto the bed while I walked around it. “Sleep well when you go, you two,” I said to Celestia, making eye contact with her as she smirked.

“We will. And, please… if you need anything at all, please don’t hesitate to wake us; We’d be more than happy to sort out any problems,” she offered with a wink that I wasn’t entirely sure about before closing the door behind us, leaving Ace and I alone as my mind immediately turned to the bathroom.

My mood immeasurably improved when I walked into the ensuite and flipped a switch on the wall, causing the room to illuminate from a fire crystal socketed in the ceiling. A metallic shower head was now visible, installed above a very spacious wooden bathtub. I reasoned that the entire feature was likely made bigger to accommodate the sisters’ larger frames compared to other ponies.

I poked my head out of the bathroom and extended a hand toward Ace, bending a finger back and forth at him. “If I'm having a shower, then you're having one, too,” I stated, the pegasus apparently needing little convincing to join me.

As soon as he entered the room, I closed the door and then hooked the amulet's chain around one of the bath taps before turning my attention to the shower mechanism. After a few moments, I pulled the lever to the right to align with the ‘red’ side of the affixed temperature guide, causing the shower head to erupt with a forceful stream of water into the bathtub.

The water itself was warm to the touch almost immediately, probably due to magical means like the fire crystals the settlement used for its own showers. Needing no further motivation, I started unbuckling my belt, the pegasus with me sharing yet another experience of me getting naked; only, this time, he was very much staring at me as I did it.

Before long, I was as naked as the day I was born, my clothes and shoes now deposited in an unkempt pile on the floor away from the tub. Turning to Ace, I pointed to the running shower. “Get in, then,” I encouraged as he did as I asked, the pegasus gingerly hopping in and immediately soaking himself with the water as I joined him by carefully stepping foot in the tub too.

After grabbing the soap, I momentarily stole some water by sticking my head under the stream, letting the warm liquid flow across my scalp and down my face before I reached down to start scrubbing Ace's back with the soap bar, the warmth of the water ensuring that it took almost no time at all to form a lather.

“So, how does it feel to share a window into my mind?” I asked him as I lathered up his mane and tail with the suds from his back.

“It's weird. Before, I was just hearing your voice as you thought… but now, I can see things that you're thinking of in my head. It's like having a third eye.”

“Just like when I can see what you're thinking of. This world of yours is really something else, you know?” I asked rhetorically as my hands moved to soap the stallion's undercarriage, feeling like I'd earned enough trust at this point to give his sheath a lather with my hand, a gesture that almost instantly caused an image to flicker in my mind of precisely what a certain pegasus wanted to do with it.

“Maybe when we've had a good night's sleep, eh? You must be really pent up down there,” an observation that resulted in Ace trying to flick his sopping wet tail at me.

“I know you must be, too,” followed by a much lewder mental image from him. I fired back with a much, much lewder one, causing Ace's whole body to quiver in response, even as a torrent of warm water continued to douse us.

With the stallion now properly soaped up, I turned to my own body, my companion getting a front-row seat to a rather vigorous cleaning of my sack, crack, and foreskin with an available flannel before I then sat down and grabbed a clean sponge, handing it to Ace.

“My back could probably do with a thorough clean, too. This bit’s always easier if I can get a helping hand… or, hoof with it,” making gestures with a hand at the sponge now being firmly gripped by my bathroom buddy in one of his forehooves.

Getting comfortable, I sat down cross-legged as I turned my back to the pegasus, who immediately got to work on a thoroughly satisfying rub-down of my skin, the combined sensations enough to encourage me to close my eyes and just relax together under the shower. The pegasus seemed to use my unconscious appreciation to focus on specific areas, like the small of my back and my shoulder blades, doing an absolutely stellar job at getting all that loose skin dislodged.

Sensing that he'd finished, I turned around and grabbed hold of him, depositing him in my lap as I exposed his barrel to the water, watching the escaping stream carrying with it several days’ worth of sweat, grime, and frustration as it swirled down the plughole.

Once I was satisfied that our bodies were squeaky clean, I reached up to halt the flow of water before sitting back down in the tub, continuing to hold Ace against me as our wet bodies rubbed against one another.

It was easy to tell that Ace was enjoying this private time with me as a warmth flooded my mind; images flickered in and out of focus but most of them projected a feeling of safety and protection.

Alas, the dampness of our embrace would soon give way to the chill of the cold, so I gently eased him from our hug and got up, stepping out of the tub and grabbing a towel before unceremoniously throwing it on the supremely moistened pegasus; a minor pang of annoyance came through the mental link we shared, backed up with a huff as he shook his head to free his eyes from their temporary confinement in the fabric.

Seeing him momentarily flummoxed by a towel got a hearty chuckle from me as I grabbed a towel for myself; while I got to work drying myself off, Ace took his time joining me. Once I was merely moist rather than sopping wet, I hung my towel back on the rack and helped the stallion finish drying himself off, a much more intensive task due to his fur and feathers.

After much patting down and strategic drying, followed by Ace shaking his entire body, I opened the door to the guest bedroom, almost immediately regretting it as the steam escaped and I was greeted by a sudden cold chill against my clammy skin that made my whole body momentarily shiver.

Leaving my clothes in the bathroom, I grabbed the amulet and hooked it around my neck before turning the light off as I stepped onto the lush carpeting of the bedroom, walking over to the window to close the curtains, lest prying eyes get more of an eyeful than they intended. The room was now much darker, so I went to one of the bedside tables and touched the surface of it, causing the socketed crystal within it to glow softly, illuminating the room with a weak, steady light.

“I keep forgetting that all you ponies walk around naked. Humans don't really get that luxury unless we're somewhere warm and safe. Feels liberating to just walk around in the buff for a change.”

I could tell that he was staring at me; not that I minded, but it still had this undercurrent of weirdness that I couldn't quite shake.

I noticed that Ace was still looking a little damp, so I went and grabbed a couple of clean, unused towels from the bathroom. I then removed the green duvet, revealing a crimson bed sheet that I proceeded to drape the towels over, giving the bed some protection against our combined moistness.

Tentatively planting my buttocks on the fabric, I bounced up and down to test the firmness of the mattress before applying my full weight to it and swinging myself around to put my feet up before patting the other side of the bed, an invitation that was immediately accepted as the pegasus hopped onto the bed with gusto, lying down and facing me as I laid back against the pillows.

“We… haven't really had time to properly talk since we left the settlement. How are you holding up?”

“Me?” He said, pointing at himself with a hoof. “I should be asking you how you’re holding up! You've just been told that you should be prepared to lay down your life! I… I don't… want you to die…” he said, lowering his head and despondently looking down.

“Believe me, Ace… I don't want to die… but, after reading from my country's history, sometimes, the ultimate sacrifice must be made, for the good of all.”

“Why you?” He fired back at me. “Why not somepony else? Let them save the world…”

“Because there is nopony else!” I raised my voice and somewhat startled the stallion in the process. “If there was? Sure, I'd let them take on the responsibility. But, there isn't anypony else here who can wield magic with your interests in mind… so, I have to be the one to carry that burden. If I don't, then everything you've worked for could be snuffed out.”

I sighed and hit the headboard with my noggin as I looked up at the ceiling briefly. “You guys took care of me when I had nowhere else to go… despite the fact that I wasn't who you were hoping I’d be. That is a debt to you all that I can never repay… Protecting all of you is the least I can do… Even if it means giving up my life at some point.”

I then put my arms out towards Ace, making grabby gestures with my hands that prompted him to come over and join me in a mutual hug as our bodies once more rubbed against one another, but without any clothes to separate us this time.

“Look, I don't mean to be morbid, or anything… but, nothing lasts forever…” I began, as Ace looked up at me, “Let's just enjoy what we have, and worry about the future when it comes, okay?”

The alabaster pegasus nodded before I leaned forward a bit to plant a kiss on his lips, our noses touching as we hugged each other tightly in our embrace, his damp fur brushing up and rubbing against my clammy skin.

“It's probably best that we sleep apart tonight, otherwise neither of us will get dry,” I said, breaking the small kiss as I motioned to the unoccupied pillow to my left; Ace then slowly and very reluctantly pried himself off me to lie down facing away from me on the other side with a heavy thump, accompanied with a mental nudge equivalent of ‘Okay, but not because you asked me to’.

“Sleep well, Ace,” I said, reaching a hand across to him to give his body a few gentle strokes from top to bottom, getting a series of low murmurs in response from the sleepy pegasus. After mentally offering the same affection to him, I turned over and tapped the bedside light once more, extinguishing the light from its crystal and plunging the room into pitch-black darkness before I opted to finally rest my weary head on a rather voluptuous pillow.

It wasn't long before a series of soft snores wafted over to me, the stallion's mind offering no further thoughts via the amulet that I unhooked from my neck and put between us on the bed. Closing my eyes, I let the warmth of the room radiate across my naked body as sleep finally claimed me for the night.