A directionless haze of shadows and wind. The billowing skies were painted in a dark gray that blotted out the night above. I leaned heavily on one arm; the rain had slicked the brick and mortar to a near-frictionless surface. I coughed and wrapped my shoddy windbreaker a bit closer. I could have lived with the rain, the wind, and the darkened skies. They were helpful tools for not wanting to be seen or heard. It was the stinging cold that had my head spinning. I couldn't catch my breath, no matter how long I idled.

A single neat split creased my bloodstained shirt. The length of my arm is barely an inch wide. From which, the red seeped out and mixed with the flooded alleyway. It felt so familiar. The sense of deja vu stuck fast no matter how hard I tried to focus on my currently less-than-pleasant circumstances. The rest was a blur; why was I running, and from what, from who?

"It doesn't matter," I told myself for the fifth time in as many minutes. The wind pitched and fell silent. A shiver ran down my back. It wasn't the rain this time. My tongue ran a thin line over my lips. The quiet left me with the sound of my heartbeat and the faint sloshing of running water beneath my feet.

Drip! Drip! Plonk! My breath caught, and I was off. I didn't, couldn't look back. The howl had returned, but it was more beastial, angry, and hungry this time. I stumbled on a sewer grate as I exited the alley and back into the two-lane road, which was empty except for the occasional bit of trash being blown about in the storm. I scanned both sides of the road. The streetlights offered no assistance in making out what might be waiting in the dark.

"Where are you?" I whispered. As if in response, another plonk echoed behind me.

My hooves pounded against the asphalt hard enough to echo in response. The chase was on once more. I was hopelessly lost. The hospital was a pipe dream at this point. I hissed hard as my cut writhed. My coat matted against the wound, wrapping it in a blood-made triage. The howl stopped once more. The quiet returned. I idly flexed my wings. They were too wet to fly, not that it'd help much in the dark.

I turned left hard into a new alley. I barely had time to note the path before the chain-link fence reined in my mad dash. "Damnit," I turned around to find myself face-to-face with my pursuer. My back was to the fence, so I raised a hand palm to the shadow at the alley's threshold. I blinked, hand, no hoof, hoof to the shadow.

"Glacie," the shadow hissed. The word was slow. A lilt strangled the line between song and screech. The shadow's form warped. It became smaller, the limbs cracking and bending in unnatural directions. The eyes shrank to pinpricks, glowing in the dark.

"No."

I pressed harder into the fence, only to find it was no longer there. I tripped, falling on my back. My hooves frantically tried to find leverage on the slickened concrete. I pushed hard and scrambled back, eyes glued to the shadow. It had begun to approach on its warped limbs. It moved like there was nothing beneath it that the limbs were for effect and nothing more. It was a stark mimicry, a marionette attempting to copy the walk of the living. It knew the motions, the mechanics. It was off, but try as it might, it was surreal. Each of the legs took steps at differing directions and speeds. The gait is far longer than the limbs operating it.

"Glacie, please," the shadow begged.

I gulped hard. My vision had blurred. The rain had stopped, though the dark clouds remained. My stomach burned in response to my frantic retreat. The shadow was close enough to make out details. Stark white fur, untouched by the wind or rain. She, I was sure it was a filly. The form was too small to be a grown mare.

"Help us."

Then it clicked. The voice, the filly, I knew her, but why, what was this?

"Freya?" It was a question, one neither of us needed an answer for.

Freya paused and swayed in place. Then she lunged. It was cold and dark. The screaming, the anger—I couldn't place it. It wasn't mine; it hurt, adrift in the dark, so much. I struggled to move, to speak, to run, but there was nowhere to go, nowhere to hide.

"Glacie, please."

Freya's voice called from the dark. The screaming grew louder, and a single icy cold eye opened in the dark and swallowed me whole.

I thrashed, all but leaping out of bed, blanket wrapped around my legs as I hit the floor with a start. I was soaked in cold sweat, or I assume cold. I was so numbed to the feeling I'd begun guessing when something was supposed to be cold. I stared unseeing at the ceiling, heart pounding at a rocket's pace. The eye from my dream? Nightmare? Memory? At this point, I couldn't tell the difference. It was imprinted in my mind. Every time I blinked, I could see it again.

"Good morning or afternoon, I guess?" Freya said, floating into view, eyes sparkling in delight. Her limbs were normal, her eyes still bright and alive. It sucked away some of the adrenaline, leaving me merely painting and lying in a heap.

"Is it?" I whispered.

Freya shrugged. "Probably."

I sat up and pulled my forelegs out from my quilted prison. They were frozen over once more. It was becoming a habit. I let out a deep sigh; my breath vapor hung in the air. It hadn't been a one-time thing, the first dream, the hound and the man in the alley. This new one was different, but the city remained, the rain continued, and the dark eclipsed everything.

"I need a cleaning."

"Sure do, Mr. Sweaty Flank. You'll need to look your best for the talk with the girls."

Whatever I'd meant to say next died en route. Freya was right, which was bad enough on a good day. "The girls, dang it." I'd forgotten, but my dream was still fresh in my mind. It was hard to recall anything else. It replayed even with my eyes wide open. I struggled to my hooves and grumbled.

"Someone had a poor sleep, didn't they?" Freya asked. She sidled up next to me and smiled. The face of the dream Freya bled into view like a mask over the real thing.

"Yeah, bad dream," I agreed. To the river I went. Perhaps a dip in the gentle waters and a bar of lard soap would wake me up. I couldn't handle the load of my worsening dreams and the potential nightmare of my friends learning what happened to me the day I earned my mark.

Freya's smile softened. "Care to share?"

I shook my head. "No, I really don't."

I skipped the kitchen. I didn't have much of an appetite. I think only a few would. Father had habitually kept the bathing soaps, oils, and brushes in the kitchen. The closer it was toward the door, the less likely he would forget as much. With soap in one hoof and a brush in the other, I was prepped for a nice, long scrubbing. To that end, I also noted that my feathers would need some tidying, too. Nothing to preen, but if I am going on nightly flights, I'd need to keep an eye out moving forward.

The moment I opened the front door, the midafternoon sun peeled down in rays of golden warmth. It was juxtaposed nicely with my dream, as if the day itself had weathered the storm along with me. The river twinkled in the light, clear to the gravel. It was enough to earn a smile. I waded into the waters, letting the refreshing marshland's river water carry away what it could. What it couldn't would be kindly asked to vacate my coat via vigorous lard and brush persuasion.

While the bathing did help calm my frayed nerves, it didn't rid me of the stray thoughts, and I doubted there was much that could ever erase the eyes. The piercing, all-devouring hunger in those eyes, the sheer terror they commanded. I'd never seen anything like them before last night, which begged to wonder. Where could my combined minds come up with something like them? I was not likely to believe it was a foal's whimsey or a cynical man's dread.

"Equiss to Glace, you alive in there?"

I snapped back to reality. Freya had jammed a hoof through my head and pouted at me with a vengeance. "Sorry, what?" I asked.

"Not getting cold hooves, right?"

I scoffed. "No, just thinking. Sorry."

"So, now that you're all cleaned up, are you ready to march into Bogwood and reveal yourself on an intimate level that a foal should neither understand nor ever be a part of?"

There were no words; my brain simply shorted out, and I was left with the lingering worry that Freya was proof of my own insanity, and even now, whether Glacial or Hal, I was locked in a padded cell in some asylum far away from society. It would be the humane thing to do.

"What is wrong with you?" I asked when the neurons in my head finally rebooted.

"More than I care to share," Freya said with a smile and cheeky wave.

So, here is where I left that brain worm for now. Instead, as Freya had made clear a moment ago, I was very much cleaned, and that left the hard part. Tender, Azure, Tally, and Wayward would no doubt be waiting, and at least half of them were very eager to learn what could be a life-ruining secret about their friend, one that could, in an age of paranoia, get him quietly disappeared in the middle of the night. Well, morning, I guess, since my new job was nocturnal by design. It would be a bad time regardless of the time.

So, with the enthusiasm of a snail with chronic insomnia, I plodded out of the river, back to the house, and dried myself off. I lingered, staring at the kitchen, where I'd secured the bathing supplies I'd taken. I stared longingly at the dining table, the three chairs, one rarely used. The simple things were oddly lonely, looking back on what it was like before.

The face of Mrs. Whimsey, then Captain Freezy, the hushed crowds in the market. Perhaps it was all the more noticeable due to my mixed breed. The few thestrals in town were looked at with a weary distrust. I was watched with utter disdain. The scorn in their eyes crawled across the skin like ants.

I could only wonder what that scorn would become if they knew what was in my head now. I could only hope my secrets didn't turn my friend's eyes on me with the same venom, the same tainted sap, of which so many had drowned with rapturous glee.

"Ready?" Freya's voice had lost her regular cadence. Flat, dry, and to the point, this Freya was worrying and relieving in equal measure.

"Yes, yes, I am."

I turned on my hooves and left the kitchen behind, the empty table, and the unused third chair. I locked the door behind me, replaced our lovely hidden key, and reveled in the afternoon sun warming, the cusp of winter's already frosty winds. I ran a hoof through my mane. I'd only just dried it, and it was already damp. I chose not to fly. I doubted my wings would be all that pleased if I tired myself out before heading to the Night House this evening. I appreciated the practice. The patrols would be an excellent way to shape up.

As Bogwood came into view and the town square sat waiting, I could already see a particular filly sitting at my usual spot. Azure Brew swayed back and forth, humming to a tune only she could conjure up. She may have been the first to the bench, but she was not the first to greet me. I'd barely crossed the town threshold before somepony pulled up beside me.

"Your schedule is a problem," Tally said. She sniffed in distaste. I wish I was surprised, but I wasn't, and oddly enough, I found that comforting.

"Not even a hello, tsk, tsk, shame on you," I said. I flapped a wing into her side. Tally stumbled but otherwise made no move to retaliate.

"Hello, Glace, how are you today?"

It was my turn to stumble. I hadn't noticed as Wayward, in a very 'her' fashion, manifested from the void to play the comforting reminder that not every pony was Writ Tally. A fact I praised Faust every day was true.

"Were all of you waiting to ambush me?" I asked.

"Yes," both fillies answered together. I planted a hoof to my face, though even that couldn't stop the smile that followed.

"And Tender?" I asked.

The others shrugged. Well, at least my ambushers weren't coordinating. By this point, Azure had noticed our approach and was waving in our direction. She looked disturbed by how frantically she attracted attention. Some of the shoppers and passerbys were giving her odd looks and a wide berth.

"She can't go a single day without making a scene, can she?" Tally asked.

"No," Wayward and I said. Tally did not seem to like the turnabout, even if she was smiling along with the rest of us.

"And just look how easily all that angst vanishes when little Glace is with his fillies. How cute can you be, hm?" Freya asked.

"Hey, girls and Glace. Everypony ready for some super secret, secret sharing?" Azure asked no sooner than we entered conversational speaking levels, which still meant Azure was several octaves too loud.

"Azure, please."

The filly giggled and hopped off the bench. She wrapped me in a hug quicker than I could manage a protest. "I'm just kidding, Glace. I promise to take whatever it is you want to talk about seriously, for real."

I returned the hug. "I know, Azure. Tally will tan you if you don't." I nodded at the filly in question, who in turn nodded. Azure pulled back and sheepishly kicked at the dirt.

"That's so mean," Azure said.

"If it helps, I won't tan you," Wayward offered. Azure stuck her tongue out in response.

"Has anypony seen Tender Crop?"

Azure rolled her eyes. "No, only got done with Dam a few minutes before you got here. I know you like this bench for some reason. So, I came straight here."

"Only been waiting a minute or so before Azure got here," Tally said, motioning to the bench. "Wayward?"

Wayward shook her head. "I just got here myself. I saw you, Glacial, and well."

"Should we go looking?" Azure asked.

"She knows where we'll be, or at least where we'll meet up. There is no point in wandering off blind."

"Oh, look."

Wayward was pointing down the street to a very flustered filly who was all but sprinting in our direction. The rest of us shared a look and waited for Tender to join us. The look on her face was mildly amusing and more worrying. While yes, she looked annoyed about her own tardiness. There was also the lingering wild look of fear. The eyes from last night crept into my vision. The exact contrast to the look in Tender's eyes, one the effect, the other the trigger. It sent a shiver down my spine.

"Sorry, I'm— it was," Tender said between gulps of air. The second she came to a stop in front of our little group, she waved about in frantic charade to whatever had her spooked.

"Breathe, Tender, breathe," Wayward said, gently patting the larger filly's back.

"Poor thing looks ready to faint," Freya cooed.

"Border toad was sitting on the main path. It just sat there, and the muck around that part, it's bad. If it saw somepony passing by, it would have moved." Tender's face fell at the implications.

Border toads were a nasty local fauna. They were lumpy, gray, oozed mucus-like sweat, and otherwise gave any sane pony the willies. They could eat a whole pony, and their tongue was a local terror. I always thought the way it looked at anything it saw was the worst part. It only saw three things: food, not food, and predators. It did not have many of the latter. They were sedentary creatures that loved mud baths, so they rarely came near town.

"So, what happened?" Azure asked. She'd taken a position on Tender's opposite side from Wayward. Tender squirmed between the two, reassuring warmth of the other fillies.

"It saw something. I don't know what, but it leaped away after it. If Dam was the one bringing me to town, she'd have sent me back by that point. Dad has a stubborn streak."

"Of course he does; look at his herd," I offered, giving Tender a greeting nuzzle. She glowered at me in return. "Am I wrong?"

"No, but that's not a bad thing," Tender said lamely. Her pout gave way to a small smile.

"Never said it was. I like your sire. He's the most welcoming pony I know."

"Yeah, he's always so nice when he comes by the shop," Azure said.

"Whatever."

That was that, which led to the real meat of the talk.

"So, we're all here," Tally said, turning to me. I nodded. I wasn't getting out of this either way. The fillies would tie me up and throw me in a cellar before letting me chicken out.

I had started chewing on my inner cheek without noticing. "I'm glad you're here. This talk is already going to be…" I trailed off, and the words escaped me. I'd put as little forethought into this whole afternoon as possible. The ramifications always won out over any other thoughts. At the very least, my confession wouldn't sound practiced. "...Difficult."

"So, should we… go somewhere a bit less listen-inny?" Azure asked.

"Most likely," Tally affirms.

Tender scanned the market. A glance from one passerby, another from an older mare as she bought groceries. The fact that the townsfolk were giving our group some side eye wasn't itself suspicious. The mares in town were expected to. It was the elders who paraded around the town like clucking hens who left every pony a bit too alert.

"So, where to?"

"I bet Dam would let us use the back of the shop for a bit. As long as we don't make a mess or bother any customers," Azure said. She waved in her home's direction. The bounce in her step was infectious. The talk had clearly left her a bit antsy since the theft incident.

"Any objections?" I asked.

There were none. So, Azure leading the way, our humble herd of totally not suspicious secret-having foals would find sanctuary in the trusting bosom of Home Brew's shop of wonders. Each step sent a shock down my spine. Azure wasn't the only antsy one. Tally had given me several odd glances when she thought I wasn't looking.

'What Ails You' stood as it always did, not a thing out of place. The scent of various flora and oils wafted out the front door, holding ajar and inviting all to come in. It was a beacon in the sodden mildew that was Bogwood. Every time inside was like the first. Azure pranced in like she didn't know the sneaky tactics her dam came up with to draw in the passerby. The rest of us followed at a leisurely pace. There was no rush. I certainly wasn't racing towards potential disaster. There was a place for a "stopping and smelling the roses" analogy lost somewhere in my mind, but where it started and ended was uncertain.

"Dam, I'm back," Azure announced.

Home Brew sat behind her counter, sorting vials of powder of various colors into neat little stacks. She didn't look up from her work but smiled all the same. "Back so soon, are we? You seemed sure you'd be gone a while longer. You did." Home Brew shifted an eye in our direction, and her smile grew. "Oh, brought everypony back here. I take it your outing isn't quite over then. No, not quite yet."

"No, but we kind of need to borrow the sitting room for a bit. If that's okay?"

Azure armed her ace, the dreaded pout and tearful eyes. A bane to the weak-hearted, used only in the most grievous situations or when you wanted extra dessert. It was truly the most potent attack a foal could wield. Home Brew held her daughter's gaze with impressive fortitude. She only looked away once. Her defenses were strong. No pony could ever claim Home Brew was spineless. But, like the tide erodes stone, so did Azure's assault wear down her mother's walls.

"Whatever for?" Home Brew finally asked.

Azure's grin claimed victory. "We just want to talk, is all. I promise there will be no mess or trouble."

Azure was not one who should ever make such a promise, and everypony present knew it. Tender rolled her eyes so hard that I worried she might get them stuck. Wayward mouthed an apology. One Home Brew acknowledged with a giggle.

"Very well, but no stomping around back there. This is a business, and you will treat it as such, young filly. Yes, you will."

Azure nodded eagerly. "Thank you, Dam." Azure rounded the counter and gave her mother a hug and nuzzle. One Home Brew returned readily.

As Azure called them, the backrooms were the family's living quarters. I'd been back plenty of times, though very rarely in the middle of the store's open hours. It was like the storefront wrought with smells most couldn't name. The sights very much matched the scents. The hall was garnished with an array of colored fabrics. Projects Azure's oldest sister dyed herself. Bright Brew had a knack for dyes and fabrics. She could rattle off every flower and root in the marsh and what color came from what. The Brew herd seemed to interweave their talents with an unnatural grace. Outside of the plants and fabrics that took up almost every available surface, the rest of the herd's specialties were present. Azure's other sister, Dark Brew's various stouts, and even her sire's flower arrangements sat on display for all to see. A place where every herd member was represented in all their glory. It made me smile, even if Azure's sisters were a bit too much most of the time.

"I will never figure out how you find space for all this stuff," Tender mused. She jabbed a roll of fabric, nearly as tall and broader than herself. The rose red fabric did not so much as wrinkle in response.

"It's not that much, silly. Just enough for everypony to shine."

"I like it," Wayward agreed. Azure bumped the pegasus filly with her flank.

"Sitting room, right?" I pointed to a doorway to the far left of the entry foyer. Azure nodded and skipped around the gallery of familial pride.

"There should be plenty of room there, even for fillies as big as Tender Crop. I promise no big scary fabrics to offend you there." Azure winked back at the older filly, who huffed, cheeks pinkening in response.

"I just think it's a bit much, is all," Tender muttered.

The sitting room was, as Azure assured, far less cramped. As was the kitchen. The bedrooms were stocked with the sleeper works but did not evasively parade between the three bedrooms. It was only natural, to some extent, that if your business and home were one and the same, both would bleed into one another to some extent. The fact none of this even came close to the two storerooms in the far back was amusing.

The sitting room itself was cozy. Plush and scraggly stuffed pillows sat spread around a stone fireplace, doused at the moment. Compared to the other rooms, it was almost spartan, with a few knick knacks on the walls and mantle and a single portrait of the family hanging across from the fireplace. We each found a seat to our liking and moved them into their own little circle.

This was it, time to get everything in the open. The girls watched me with open curiosity and an unknowable glint in Tally's golden eye. Freya had taken to sitting on the mantle, kicking her hooves about with eager anticipation.

"So, where to begin."

"At the beginning of whatever 'this' is," Tender said. Her mossy brows seemed stuck in a complex dance of frustration and curiosity. That was when you could see them through her thicket of a mane. I had to resist a toothy grin. I could already feel the cold clock if I did.

"It is okay to be nervous, Glace," Wayward said, reaching out and patting my hoof. Well, there goes my poker face.

I brushed my as usual slightly damp gangs ro the ise and clapped my hooves together. "Okay, okay, so it started when I got my cutie mark. Which is its own pain in the butt. One each of you has seen to some degree."

"Sure is," Azure said. "The ice fort was fun, though."

"Ice fort?" Wayward asked.

I waved the memory away. "I was having a bad day. Ice everywhere. Sire was a bit upset. I will not be doing any cryomancy practice in the yard again."

"Poor Glacie had a bit of a panic attack," Freya added to no pony's benefit.

"So, back to the point. At the same time, I got my cutie mark. I was given something else too, or, more, someone else."

The looks that ran across every ponies' faces was telling. Confusion, contemplation, annoyance, and back to blank. It took less than a second for each expression to come and go. It matched up to the knots forming in my gut exactly.

"You've had to notice. I don't exactly act like I did before. I haven't exactly been subtle. I've tried, but it never really sat well with me, lying to you, pretending to be someone I'm not, someone I'm not anymore. Or someone's?"

"What are you bucking talking about?" Tender asked with a sharp breath, her eyes dilated to pinpricks. "What does any of that mean?" she asked. She was angry. She trembled in place, breathing out in snorts of hot air. An urge to run struck me, but I found myself unable to move. "Do you think this is funny?"

My head cocked to the side, ears pinned flat against my head. "Funny?"

"Glacial, I don't get it. What do you mean by someone else? Who, and what does this have to do with your cutie mark?" Wayward stumbled over her words as her sight traveled between the seething Tender and myself.

"I don't know. It just… happened at the same time. I was just Glacial Zero, and now, there are other memories, feelings, someone else."

"So you're crazy?" Azure asked. Unlike Tender, Azure seemed lost, her eyes scanning a distant horizon beyond me in the vain hope of spying on something she didn't even know she was looking for. It stung. I'd known they could get upset, angry, or confused, and it still stung.

"Can you prove it?"

I felt like I'd been slapped. Four simple words, a fair request. Tally stared unwaveringly at me. If only it were that simple.

"Hal."

Tally's blonde brow rose. "What?"

I shook my head and earned a face full of mane. I really need to stop pushing it aside like it won’t pendulum back. "Not what, who, the not Glacial Zero? His name is Hal."

"And just what is Hal? That's no pony name," Tender asked. Her anger had quelled to a passive annoyance, but an improvement of any kind was a thin chance at salvation.

"Not a pony, no, a human," I said. I offered a limp shrug. Neither Hal nor Glacial had anywhere near the knowledge of Equiss history to know if that meant anything to anyone at all. That was discounting Starswirl's mirror.

"A human?" Wayward asked. She said the word slowly as if easing into it. She was giving it a chance. The look of shock had passed for her, and now, a quiet curiosity led her to think about it.

Azure Brew's gaze had failed to find her answers. "Glacial. If this is a joke, please just tell us. None of this makes any sense," Azure said. She looked on the verge of tears. She was trembling much like Tender, but this was no fury.

The issue was, no matter what, all of the girls were fillies, children. Tally was smart and Azure resourceful, Wayward offered a hoof to everypony, and Tender was braver than most. But they were still foals, and even with Hal in my head, I didn't understand any of it either. I was living it. They were just thrown into this mess. They deserved to be confused, angry, and upset. I was, too, even days later, and it still made no sense at all.

"It isn't a joke."

Foals or not, they deserved the truth. I promised I('d tell them, and I wasn't stopping until they knew it all. I could feel the ice crawling under my skin. All my hooves, forehooves, and back were frozen to the knee. If anypony noticed, they didn't say anything. Freya had taken the chance to land beside me. She wasn't smiling. There were no snide comments. She was eerily silent. The eyes from this morning reflected in her own. It was enough to turn my stomach.

"Then what is it?" Tally asked.

I took a single deep breath, as hard and as long as possible. I wished the fireplace was going. The frost had moved from my hooves and now danced in the air. Once again, nopony said anything. The silence was painful and grating; I hated it.

"I don't know. I don't know if Glacial was first, if Hal is fake, or if either is or was ever real. I'm scared, I don't know what to do. Hal has shown me things. Things from a long time in the future. Things I don't know are real either." I'd begun to cry. Begun only because the tears had frozen on my cheeks.

"From the future?" Azure whispered.

I nodded.

"Stop it, Glace, this isn't funny." Tender had stood. She glowered down at me. She was scared; the look in her eyes and the hurt made no sense. As much sense as Hal made at this point. "Stop."

I shook my head. "Like Nightmare Moon."

There was a gasp. Tender towered over me, hoof raised. But whatever she'd planned to do, her hoof never came down. Tally had taken it and pushed it away. Tender looked dumbly, not understanding why she'd been stopped.

"What about Nightmare Moon?" Tally asked. She'd placed herself ahead of Tender and looked ready to bolt. The panic in her face, the way her wings flexed.

"On the longest day of the thousandth year, the stars will aid in her escape, and she will bring about nighttime eternal." I recited it from memory. Hal recited it.

Tally plopped onto her haunches and blinked blearily.

I reached out, placing a hoof gently on her shoulder. "Tally?"

"I see her," Tally said.

"What?"

"Nightmare Moon. She's trapped, yelling down at Equiss. She screams, but nopony can hear her. But she knows I'm there. Then the moon shatters."

It was my turn to be baffled. The others didn't seem any more inclined to laugh Tally's words off, either.

"Then all the stars all go out one by one. Until only six remain."

My hoof dropped from her shoulder. "I don't—"

"Tally, are you—" Azure's own words faltered.

"What is even going on?" Tender growled. She fell back, toppling onto her back, and flailed in frustration.

"Does that fit whatever you've seen? Does that fit?" Tally asked.

"I don't know. The prediction I gave is a prophecy for the future, so they may be one and the same. Maybe not."

The prophecy was a single line, a bit to move the plot. Its history was vague at best. For all I knew, it could have been mine. I learned it from when Twilight read it, and then by knowing it, I made it real. Maybe it was Tally's? Maybe it wasn't true, Hal's memories or the prophecy. It could all be fake.

"Is the human a seer?" Wayward asked.

It was a fair question. In a way, it wouldn't be inaccurate to say he was. It was a memory of a far-flung future. "Maybe."

"I give up," Tender said. She rolled onto her barrel, and all of that pent-up anger, fear, and confusion just withered up and died. "So, you have weird magic and see the future now?"

"It's like a fairytale. A voice comes to a foal and guides them to a brighter tomorrow," Azure said. She cracked a faint smile and pointed at me. "Glacial Zero and Hal, heralds of tomorrow. Here to stop the big bad Nightmare Moon."

I opened my mouth only for Azure to clamp it shut.

"No, sorry, Glacial Zero, Hal the human thing and Writ Tally. Stop the big bad Nightmare Moon." Azure's smile had begun to grow.

Azure certainly had an optimistic take on what should be considered total insanity. Just moments ago, I had the whole lot confused and angry. That was a rational response. It made my heartache, a deep sense of regret fill my lungs, and bile creeps up my throat. Then, as if a switch was pulled. Azure was making jokes, and Tender was tired and done.

I couldn't help it. A tickle in the back of my throat, then a chuckle, a guffaw, a manic hysterical laugh. My ribs hurt as I rocked in place. The others were staring. Wayward looked ready to flee for help. She would too. Tally seemed to get it. That twinkle in her eye was still there. A knowing but wary fluffing of the wings. It all made it funnier. It was truly bizarre. A gentle warmth that promised a raging inferno if pushed too far.

"I think you may have driven the poor colt insane, or more insane there, Azure," Tender said, throwing a lazy hoof in Azure's direction. One Azure made a conscious effort to ignore.

When I finally regained control of myself. I found that the tension I'd had clawing at the back of my mind had lessened. The ice had retreated from my back, though all my hooves remained frozen.

"Sorry, sorry, I—" I took a very deep breath. "I really needed that. I know what I've said; most of it sounds crazy anyway. Trust me, I know it does."

"These human, oracle things, what are they?" Wayward asked. She paused, enunciating 'human' and 'oracle' with weight far beyond their scope.

The question made me wince. Humanity was a very complicated and loaded question. I breathed in through my teeth, ruminating on just how much I truly needed to know. Humanity, at best, was a thousand years away and one magic mirror away from mattering. That didn't mean Wayward and the others deserved anything less than the facts. The frost had returned.

"A species of highly advanced apes that have a pension for war and invention. That and apparently gazing into other worlds. If Hal is anything to go on. I think it's called isekai?"

It was incomplete, a fundamental, simple view of things. Tally had leaned forward. Her mind must have been whirling pretty hard. I could almost see the smoke billowing from her ears. She was, it seemed, very capable of a blonde moment. The poor filly, what a way to go. Tender hadn't even sat up. If her ears weren't twitching like mad, I'd have thought she was ignoring me altogether.

"That's a bit—" Wayward said. She shrugged hopelessly. Wayward was confused, but they had been the least perturbed of the four. It, in some ways, made me happy. I'd known her so long that we were practically family. She gave me the benefit of the doubt without so much as a second thought on the matter.

That did not mean she believed it; the scrutiny of her scrunched muzzle was proof of that. She struggled with words because the ones she was thinking stood in contrast to what she believed was right. I scooted over and wrapped Wayward in a side hug. It didn't dissuade her plight, but she seemed happy to return it all the same.

"Crazy," I agreed.

"I'd like to get back on point," Tally said. She turned to Azure with a scowl. "I'm not so certain Glacial's and my 'visions' are one and the same, perhaps not related at all. But, the fact they happened in the same time span is strange."

"I'd be hard-pressed to think they are either. It doesn't fit. Tally's dreams might just be that, bad dreams. My 'vision' is far less metaphorical. Mine knows where she arrives, who she meets, what she does, everything. If mine are to be believed, that is."

"You're not sure?" Tender asked. She sat back up but still seemed rather done with the whole conversation. I couldn't blame her.

"One thousand years is a long time. So much could happen in that time. So many things could change the future completely. But, I don't think the 'visions' are fake."

“Oh, maybe it's a thestral thing. Princess Luna was the Princess of the Night and Princess of Thestrals. So, maybe she sent the visions. You know, all secrety, so Nightmare Moon wouldn't know. Maybe she had visions about your visions," Azure said. The filly was practically buzzing in her chair.

"Why send them to a foal?" I asked.

"Why disguise them as these 'human's’ memories?" Tally asked.

"Why not send them to her sister?" Wayward continued.

Azure deflated with each question. She was left muttering to herself. "Maybe Luna wanted to let a colt be the hero for once."

There were no words, not one. There was the overwhelming desire to either scream into the pillow I'd been sitting on or beat Azure with said pillow, maybe even both. Tally simply shook her head in defeat. Wayward looked baffled, and Tender laughed. Of course, she was.

"No, shame on you," I said with a growing groan in the back of my throat.

"She might be onto something, Glacie. There needs to be more stallions who get to play hero. Oh, to be coddled and weak. What tragic creatures stallions are."

I wished I could hit Freya with a pillow, or at all if I were honest.

"She might be right, Glace. You and your sire aren't exactly the portrait of a normal colt. Not that that is a bad thing. But all of Bogwood knows, your sire is something else entirely," Tender said between giggles. She wasn't wrong.

"True." Tally nodded distractedly. Her thousand-yard stare was becoming a bit concerning at this point.

"Maybe you should ask the Night Guard. That is if thestrals have visions."

It was something to consider. If anypony is going to be able to commune with our Princess, it would be a thestral. That or somepony who could learn to dream walking. As rare talent as that is, I certainly had about much chance at dream diving as using magic beyond my tribe.

"I intend to look into it, regardless of Glacial's efforts. I swear this, on top of druids, this colt is going to work me to the bone," Tally tutted. The sly smile she had only left me rolling my eyes in response.

"So, you girls believe me, or am I going to wake up in a cell tomorrow?" I asked. I motioned to the group, my eyes pleading, even as I smiled coolly.

"Believe? Not so sure on that, Glace," Tender said with a head shake.

The pit in my stomach gargled. The fur on the back of my neck tingled.

"But, you've never been much of a liar. Not much the creative type either."

I pressed a hoof to my chest tuft in mock displeasure. It didn't last. Tender had been the more erratic of the four so far. If she was willing to at least give me a chance, I wasn't going to dismiss it. Tally vouching for me, if unintentionally, was a lifesaver.

"Oracles have happened in the past," Wayward said. She offered me a hug, much like I'd done a few minutes ago. I happily accepted. The contact was a kind of warmth that even my ice could not chill.

"You have my support, you big magical confusing dummy," Azure said, offering a mock salute. "Besides, if it is true, who knows what other things you might see."

I had yet to consider the other adventures Hal could recall. Nightmare Moon was the first and one of the more memorable, but she was hardly the only monster hiding or locked away. "I mean, sure," I said.

"You've already seen others, haven't you?" Azure was in my face, hooves wrapped around my shoulders before I knew she'd moved. "Haven't you?"

I couldn't meet her eye, which was rather hard, with her face nearly pressed flat against my own. "Maybe."

Azure released a startled eep as she was pulled back from me. Tender had the unicorn filly hooked and cuffed by the neck as Azure vainly tried to pull herself free.

"Calm down," Tender said, eyeing her captive. Azure stopped flailing and crossed her hooves in dejected offense.

"Any of note?" Tally asked. She'd taken the side opposite of Wayward. She spoke softly, pressed just barely against my side, and leered at me. Her ears twitched in eager anticipation, her ponytail bobbing to and fro. The filly couldn't decide if she was excited or frightened. Both were equally fair responses.

"A few, all of them after Nightmare Moon."

"That oracle of yours is quite the seer. A bit too good at seeing if you ask me," Tender said, eyes still glued to Azure, who had at this point recalled she had a horn. Each time it lit up, Tender would flick the appendage, shattering the charge and leaving Azure even more upset.

I nodded. "Agreed."

"Maybe we should take a break?" Wayward offered. "This has been a bit much. Not that I don't want to hear more. It's just… been a while, and you still have some work."

"Glace." Azure had calmed down and had been plopped into Tally's old pillow. "I have a question before we stop."

"Yeah?"

"Shouldn't you tell Princess Celestia?"

Chilled to the bone, dead silent, the air harsh on the lungs. My heart had stopped, time slowed, and I felt sick. Not an ounce of magic is involved from me or any other pony. The thought sent a wave of nausea through my everything.

In Hal's memories, Princess Celestia was a wise, kind, loving ruler. The type of ruler any nation would be lucky to have. That Celestia, I'd have already been on a train right to Canterlot. If that Celestia was here. The wandering eyes and jump at the tiniest creaking of wood proved my point thrice over. The only pony in the room not preparing to duck and cover was the same filly who'd asked the question in the first place.

Glacial Zero's Princess Celestia was not Hal's, not at all. Ever since Luna was banished. The remaining ruler of Equestria had been nothing short of disillusioned. She had little patience for any noble of the court and barely any more for the ordinary pony who sought her aid. No pony could blame her. Celestia did not take to regret or grief with any grace. She took it better than most, but even then. It had been eight years, and there was no sign of her pulling herself from the faunt of angst she'd tried to drown herself in, with mixed success.

"I don't think that is a good idea." Tally was the first to regain her wits.

"But, doesn't she deserve it? If she knew, she wouldn't be so sad."

"Prophecy is never that simple," Freya said. She floated up behind Azure and tried to pat her on the head. I blinked; maybe I was seeing things; this afternoon had been a wild ride. But, for just a second, I thought I saw Azure's ear twitch.

"Her knowing could affect the outcome," Tally said.

"She learns it at some point," I said with a sigh, "I have no idea when or if it is me who tells her. Maybe I do, at some point, but I don't think that's now."

"But, she's so sad, it's not fair."

Azure was right. Celestia was heartbroken. She may very well find peace in knowing Luna will eventually come back. Or, in her grief, she may see the prophecy as some twisted insult and deep fry the messenger on the spot. It was a gamble. Celestia had already dealt with several skirmishes on the Griffon border herself. If rumors were true, it was not pretty.

"Who claimed fate was fair?" Freya asked, her voice scornful. Her look mirrored Azure's, one of compassion and the other of rage. I felt neither.

"It isn't fair, but neither is asking her to wait a thousand years in the hope that the 'prophecy' is true."

"That'd make things a whole lot worse if you ask me," Tender said.

"What if it didn't happen? What would the Princess do?" Wayward shook in place.

"Break," Both Freya and I said at once.

"That settles that," Tender said. Azure made to say something but found a hoof covering her mouth. The look she gave Tender was enough to wilt flowers.

"For now. But, girls, for real. I know this has been a bit much. But I want to thank you for at least hearing me out. I felt terrible keeping all of this to myself. So, thank you."

Tally grabbed me from the side. "Thank us, he says. You really are a big colt dummy."

"He sure is," Wayward said, latching to my other side.

"I don't know if any of this oracle stuff is true, but if anypony I know would see the future, it'd have to be the colt who broke his own magic," Tender added to the hug pile.

"We're not done talking about these prophecies, you know?" Azure said and jumped atop the group.

"No, I doubt I am."

On some level, it was a relief not to be the only one who knew the truth. On the other hand, it was a new type of anxiety. I was putting a lot of faith in the girls in a time of paranoia and fear. It may not have been the most innovative idea. But I think I could live with that.

Author's Note

This chapter was an utter beast to write. I hope it laid the foundation for where I want to go in the immediate future.

Comments and Critiques are welcomed.