The Last Magi of Karkland

Chapters

Prologue: Remembrance
Chapter 1: Awakening
Chapter 2: A Bitter Soul
Chapter 3: A Little Spark
Chapter 4: A Promise
Chapter 5: An Unexpected Wedding
Chapter 6: A Change of Plans
Chapter 7: The Chase
Chapter 8: Questions and Sorrow
Chapter 9: Long, Far Off, Unhappy Things
Chapter 10: A Nation's Plea
Chapter 11: Doubts
Chapter 12: Along the Way
Chapter 13: Camp D-24
Chapter 14: An Anniversary
Chapter 15: Waking Kingdom
Chapter 16: Broken Crystals
Chapter 17: Realm of Nightmares
Chapter 18: A Moment of Peace
Chapter 19: Before the Storm

Prologue: Remembrance

It was a normal day in the city of Juno. The fishermen were bringing in their hauls, and setting right back out. The children played ball in the streets as mothers watch. The birds were chirping, and flying about as the elders sat and traded stories from their varied past. Juno was a quiet town, but we were proud. We were proud to be in the Seventh Nation, the only nation besides the Eleventh to stay out of this goddess forsaken war. Karklands war had started centuries ago, the twelve nations grew apart and settled it in bloodshed and violence. But we're humans, and fighting is what humans do best.

But the Seventh stayed out, and its citizens were grateful. I've been in Juno all my life, and I always expected to be. Not out of being a dead end town, I could leave whenever I wanted too. But out of safety, as I was a Magi. To date it is believed I was the last magi of Karkland, the very last human to be granted the Goddess's gift. I was taken as a child because of my powers, left to be studied in an Inquisitor prison of the Eight Nation, run by High Inquisitor Talaki. He was one of the most evil beings ever created on this planet. But I was able to escape with the help of smugglers and relocated to Juno with my family, and the city and its people have protected me ever since. But war always found a way to arrive, and that's exactly what it did.

I remember walking through the market that day, gazing at all the merchandise available, saying hello to all my friends as I walked home. I looked on as repulser vehicles zoomed pass overhead, their hover grids blowing a gentle heat upon the pathways, simpler vehicles also traversed around the city. As I made my way home I saw one of my sisters' friends, Peter, playing kickball in the street. He saw me and a big bright smile crept across his face.

"Evan!", he shouted, "Think fast!".

The young child threw the ball towards me and I caught it mid-air with levitation, as I knew he wanted me to. His eyes grew large in amazement as I hovered the ball back to him.

"Evan you are so AWESOME!" the child exclaimed.

I chuckled as I said my goodbye and continued my way towards my home.

As I walked up to my family's home I saw my three younger sisters playing outside, Tamra who was 14, Sarah who was 12 and then Casey, who was turning nine this week. Tamra looked up to see me with her confident grin, she was definitely a spitting image of me, strong-hearted and bold, but also compassionate when needed.

"Hey big bro!" she said," You wanna see what we did to Missus O'Hearans flower bed?".

I gave her a look of pretend disappointment, which she saw through.

"Now haven't you put that woman through enough annoyances?" I asked.

She just laughed and punched me in the arm in a sibling way. I rubbed her head and hugged my two younger sister and made my way inside the house.

"Hey ma, hey pa! I'm back from the market!" I shouted, "But I need to go back out and help Sandusky fix his repulser board, he jammed the hover grid once again."

My mother yelled from the den, "Okay honey, just be back in time for supper!"

"And you tell that slacker to quit riding over Hilmont Street, 'fore I blast him outta the sky!" my father added.

"Alright guys, will do, I love you."

As I made my way out of the house again Tamra ran up to me excitedly.

"Hey! You're going to work on Dusky's repulser right?" she asked.

"Yeah kiddo, wanna tag along?" I replied.

She beamed at me, about to agree, when suddenly she was cut off from a noise. It was ear piercing, it sounded as if someone was screaming in the highest pitch possible by a human. And that's when the bomb's started falling.

I barely reacted when I yelled at Tamra to get the girls and get inside the house now. She turned to me as I ran off.

"HEY! Where are you going?" she yelled to me, almost crying.

"Don't worry, I'll be right back. I have to see what's going on. I love you Tamra, tell everyone else that I love them too. I'm not leaving you." I said as I ran off into the chaos.

As I ran through the now devastated market there was chaos all around me, I still had no clue what was going on until I looked above me into the sky. Warships were raining rockets upon Juno, warships from the Eight Nation of Janmori. They blasted everything in the sky, from passenger and luxury repulser crafts to the small amount of militia vehicles deployed. Juno didn't stand a chance, we were a small fishing village, our police force and militia consisted of part time fishermen and older veterans. That's when troop transports started to drop in, landing a dozen troops in every load.

These soldiers, no, these monsters, were shooting mercilessly. I saw a group of them rounding people into a group, they were all crying and holding onto each other, begging for their lives. The Janmori simply clicked their safety on their guns off, and gunned the whole group down. I was enraged, I could feel the adrenaline and magic course through my body, a deadly combination. I felt my hands light with fire, a power I usually restrained, but I felt nothing as I sent fireball after fireball at these monsters. They screamed as they lit, trying to pat the fire out, but it overtook them as I watched. Another group turned the corner and I felt something inside me, as if an impulse my mouth let out some of the most ancient types of magic, a power tome.

"CORALA MAL NAN," I shouted.

The soldiers that were once running towards me instantly vaporized as a beam of pure energy suddenly erupted from my body and cut them down.

My body had never felt so drained, soldier after soldier poured in; it seemed infinite. Then I ran, ran as quickly as I could back to my home. I passed many bodies in the street, some burned, some shot, others hardly recognizable by explosions. I passed by a small body, a very familiar body, it was Peter. Blood was stained on his shirt from a bullet wound, They had not even spared a child. I ran quicker, bent on saving my family, I had to make it. As I turned the corner I saw my house, the soldiers had not made it there yet.

"Thank the Goddess," I said to myself.

Then I saw Tamra run out of the door and onto the porch, her little body was shaking. I reached out my hand running towards her.

She screamed "Big brother! Eva-"

Her voice was cut short as a stray bomb landed on my house. Completely obliterating it.

My heart nearly exploded as I screamed "TAMRA! GIRLS! MOM, DAD. NOOO!"

I fell to my knees, I failed them. I couldn't protect them, everything I loved died in front of my eyes. Another explosion rocked behind me; it sent me to the ground, I could feel myself blacking out.

All I remember after that was being dragged away by someone somewhere, the person's words shouting at me, "Evan! Evan! Don't worry buddy, we're getting out of here, Dusky isn't going to leave you here."

I never got to thank my best friend as I blacked out, just wanting to die.

Chapter 1: Awakening

I was dead, I had to be dead, and I'm now waiting my judgement in the Void. These thoughts stuck in my head as all I could see was blackness. I was so sure of it, until I felt a dull but constant pain shoot through my body. I also heard several voices around me, voices that I've never heard before, yet they were calming. One sounded regal, like a Madam from one of the big cities. The other sounded quite intelligent, yet had a sort of sweetness to it. But I had no clue who these voices were, nor where I was, and that frightened me. I attempted to move my arm, but was only greeted with a sharp pain. I gave a sharp cry out suddenly, well I knew I was alive and awake, so did the voices now. I then attempted to open my eyes, and was greeted by a bright light, in a small hospital room it looked like. I turned my head slightly and discovered the sources of the voices, they were...ponies? One was tall, a flowing sparkling mane made out of many colors, the other was smaller with a purple coat with a purple mane, a raspberry streak running through it. No...I knew exactly what they were, they were Equestrians, the sentient ponies neighboring my home country. I had only learned about them in school, as the two nations hardly made contact.

"Greetings young man," the regal pony said, "Please do not be alarmed, you are safe from harm now. Your wounds cared for."

I was speechless, I knew they were sentient and smart beings, but I never realized they could speak like humans, or have buildings such as ours.

"You must be wondering where you are. Well my young human, you are in Equestria. Ponyville to be exact," she told me.

She paused, allowing me to get my thoughts together and ask any questions.

"Wh-Who are you two? And how did I get here...the last thing I remember was...oh no," I said, as dread and sorrow engulfed my mind and I remembered the events that had happened what seemed moments ago: the bombs and the death all around me.

She gave a remorseful look, as did the purple one, as she started to explain, "I am Princess Celestia my dear, and this is my student Twilight Sparkle."

"Uh, hello there Mr. Human." Twilight said, uneasy as she saw how upset I was.

"May we know your name as well?" The tall white horse, Celestia asked.

I paused a moment, feeling sick and confused, but I answered "My name is Evan. It's Evan."

Celestia gave a nod as she continued, "I have known about this human war for quite a long time, and I have kept an eye on our borders between our two nations for even longer. I first realized something was amiss as a group of human's had tried to cross into Equestria's waters on a boat. Which they did."

She paused and I took the moment to say "Well what happened to them? Were they refugees?"

She gave a slight nod and added "That is what I made of it, for they were soon discovered by a group of your flying ships, and they opened fire, and all but one were killed."

I looked at the goddess horse and asked, "All but one? Where is that one?"

I was surprised and hopeful for another survivor of Juno.

She let out a sigh as she explained, "That one was you. Your body was enveloped in an aura of magic far greater than I've seen in years; it had saved your life. You had washed ashore, barely breathing, but alive. So we took you in, and managed your wounds."

A single thought had ran through my mind, "Dusky didn't leave me, and he died trying to get me to safety. Thanks Dusky, may you rest peacefully in the Void."

After moments of silence and me putting everything together I looked up again and asked "So...what now? I appreciate you saving me, I do. But I have nothing left, my home, my friends and my...family. They're all gone."

Celestia then put on possibly the royalist attitude I have ever seen and simply said, "You are to stay here and recover. Your nation is no longer safe for you, and I feel this is the best decision. Ponyville will be your new home. We also know hardly anything about our neighboring humans, or their magical abilities. And we would like to study that with you."

My face was contorted in anger as I looked at this pony.

"So," I began, looking into Celestia's eyes, "you saved me, just to study me. To study a human with magical abilities? And you expect me to comply with that?"

Celestia seemed taken aback on how I talked to her, but I didn't care. She wasn't my leader so what did I care?

"No, that's not what I meant at all," she started. "Yes, we want to learn more about humans and their magic, but we also want you to be safe. It takes a strong man, and an even stronger willpower to live through that ordeal. And we believe you deserve to live a new life."

I sat there speechless for a long time as the purple pony, no her name was Twilight, looked at me with a caring face that I knew was genuine.

"And what do you think about this Twilight Sparkle?" I asked, as she had been quiet through the whole conversation.

She gave a surprised look as the words left my mouth, caught off guard she responded quickly but nervously "Well..when you were brought here everypony was very worried about you, me and my friends helped out all we could while you were unconscious, and if things are really as bad as they seem then yes, I do believe you should stay here."

I almost gave a smile, almost. I could tell she was a sweet person, err pony. But I was still in shock about everything, I asked a few questions, trying to block the memories, even just for a second.

"Where will I live? And I need human clothes and food, humans can't walk around like you and I can't eat hay." I said with a bit of bitterness behind it.

"You can stay with me Mr. Human! Uh, I mean Evan!" Twilight burst out.

I gave her a surprised look and she shyly chuckled a bit.

"Uh, yeah I have an extra bed and we know that you're magic, and I'm magic too!" she exclaimed.

She proudly pointed to her horn with a big smile. Ah, she was a unicorn, the race of magic ponies.

Twilight spoke again without giving me a chance, "And don't worry about clothes and food. My friend Rarity is making you clothes right as we speak, and we also have fruit and vegetables for you to eat!"

She seemed quite proud of herself, I could tell she cared and wanted to help out anyway she could, but I was a broken man. So I simply thanked her and gave her the best smile I could muster, even though it was completely fake.

I thought about what had happened, what this princess and Twilight had said. She was not commanding or ordering me to stay here, it was quite frankly the best decision for me.

"So Princess, you'd let a wounded human from a war torn home just live in one of your cities?"

She looked on with a pleasant smile and said "It would be my honor, you need to recover, you need to start a new life."

I cringed at that, the immense sorrow had subsided, replaced with anger and bitterness. The only thought in my head was that I should have died at Juno, but now here I am, an object of curiosity in a foreign country.

I looked up and stared at the two Equestrians, vision blurry with remnants of tears, and simply said, "I guess I have to, but I will never recover. I hope you can all cope with that. Because I can't."

Chapter 2: A Bitter Soul

A week and a half has passed by and I was able to leave the hospital. I wasn't fully recovered but I had made a fuss over it, my left arm was still beat up bad, but I didn't care. Twilight was leading me to her home, my new shelter, walking through the town with a chipper attitude.

"Oh my gosh this is going to be great!" she exclaimed. "I can't wait for you to actually meet everypony now!"

She looked back at me with a smile; I wasn't ready for any interaction with anyone, I simply gave her a forced smirk as we continued. As we walked through the center of town many of the ponies present stopped and stared. Some of them just stood there motionless and stared at me, some smiled and waved, and I could the whispering of a few.

"Who is that?", "What in Equestria is a human doing here?", "Isn't that the magic human they brought here?"

I covered my head in my jackets hood the rest of the way to the house.

We arrived at her house and I was quite shocked by what it was.

"You...live in a tree?" I asked her bluntly.

She nodded as she spoke, "Yes! It's also the Ponyville Library, but don't worry there's plenty of room for you!"

I wasn't quite thrilled at the thought of living in a tree, but I couldn't complain, especially about someone who offered to take me in. We walked in the tree home and I was surprised to see it was actually quite large, multiple rooms with book shelves filled to the brim.

"So what do you think?" Twilight asked.

"It's odd for me," I said honestly. "Karkland has metal and brick buildings, but it is quite homey."

She gave a small smile and continued showing me around my new home.

"Oh, and there's our room in the loft up there!" she said as she pointed a hoof above me.

I saw two large beds with night tables next to them, one bed covered in stars and the other with a plain tan bed sheet.

"This is going to be so nice, having a guest next to me and we can talk about all sorts of magic and-"

I interrupted before she could go on anymore and asked blankly, "Do you think I can have my own room?"

She stopped and looked at me with a hurt look and said, "Uh..yeah I guess, but why don't you want to sleep up there?"

I sighed as I knew I hurt the young mares feelings, "Listen Twilight, first thing about humans. When something bad has happened to us, especially to me, we need time to ourselves, time to recover."

The hurt in her eyes backed away a bit, she took me towards a medium sized room with only 3 bookshelves in it.

"I understand," she said, "So here's your room I guess, but let me help you take the furniture down!"

I tried to resist, my magic could easily handle it, but she wouldn't have any of it. My bed floated down from her loft in her lavender glow as I got my nightstand and box with what was found on me that day.

"Thank you, Twilight." I said as I walked into my new room, "Let me know when dinner is done. We can talk then," I said as I shut my bedroom door.

I could hear a sigh from the pony as she walked away from my door, I felt bad for brushing her off, but I needed to be alone. I laid on my new bed and closed my eyes, letting sleep take a hold of me.

__________________

A few hours passed and I awoke from my sleep. I looked out my window to see the large clock tower in the middle of town.

"5 o'clock huh, well, guess I better make my room feel like me." I said to myself as I picked up the box next to my bed.

There was not much in it, except for the clothes that I had worn that day the only other thing of value was my holo pendant. I hung up my clothes on one of the shelves in the room and stared at it, my old dark hooded jacket had rips in it from debris, my pants had fared a bit better, almost nothing wrong with them. I decided I would keep them, as a reminder of what happened, not that I'd forget, but they also looked kinda cool, the rips and tears gave personality.

"Guess I can call this my battle clothes now." I said as I forced a chuckle out of my mouth.

I then turned to my pendant, which I laid on my nightstand. I opened it and was greeted by the projection screen blaring to life. It still worked surprisingly, this small trinket was also able to take pictures and keep them forever. I scrolled through some pictures from the past, my heart to dropped as I saw the faces of my family and friends.

I closed the pendant and put it around my neck, it was still something I valued and I couldn't part from it. I opened my door to attempt to talk to Twilight, but was instead greeted suddenly by a tremendous hug from a pink pony with a mane that looked and smelled like cotton candy.

"Surrpppriisseeeee!" she said as she hugged me, "Hi I'm Pinkie Pie!"

I let out a wheeze as my arm was still injured but I didn't push her off.

"This is so cool! I've never meet a human before! What do humans like to do? How awesome are your parties?" she blasted me with questions as I stood there confused.

"Pinkie! Would ya stop botherin' him? He just woke up," another voiced said.

I looked over to see five ponies, Twilight included, and what looked like a large lizard.

"Oh, uh sorry!" Pinkie said as she looked at me with a huge smile.

Twilight then spoke up, "Uh haha, I know you said you wanted some time to yourself," she said awkwardly, "But I just thought it'd be nice if you could meet my best friends."

I gave her a blank stare but quickly regained thought as the orange pony who had calmed Pinkie down reached out a hoof, "Well hey there Sugarcube, my name's Applejack."

I just stared at her and then turned my gaze to Twilight who now had a worried look on her face.

"Didn't I say I wanted to be alone? Do you exactly know what happened to me? Everything that I lost? I don't want to talk to anyone, and I don't need ANYONE," I raised my voice at the purple coated mare.

All eyes were on me as I just stared, my eyes and heart empty of any emotion. Twilight's ears had shot down, hurt by words she had started to tear.

"Listen...just leave me alone alright? I want to be by myself, goodbye to you all," I said as I walked back to my room shutting the door behind me quickly.

I leaned against the door and just fell to the floor, my head filled with every possible emotion one should never feel. I heard the voices of the ponies outside, and I could hear Twilight speak through heavy breaths,

"No..no..it's not his fault. It's mine, I should have given him his space before introducing all of you...I know he's not really like this," I heard her say.

Even after that she tried to cover for me. I sat there for a long time, hating myself, hating how my life was turning, and wishing this was all a terrible dream.

I heard a knock at the door and then Twilight's voice.

"Hey Evan...I'm really sorry. I shouldn't have pushed that on you." she said in a soft voice.

The guilt that I felt was overwhelming, I wish I hadn't snapped, but I did.

"It's fine. I just really need to be alone. I need to be alone," I said.

She told me that was completely understandable and walked away after that, I just banged my head against the door and got up. I walked over to my bed and looked out the window, past the large clock tower was the beginnings of a forest. I had always wandered around the forests of Juno back home, it always calmed me and I found it peaceful. I decided I would make that my mission tomorrow as I laid down and let sleep envelop me.

___________________________

I woke early the next morning, ready to start my day for once. Getting away from everything and everyone for a few hours would calm me down, might even make me a bit social. I showered and ate quickly, luckily they had cereal here, which was a nice change of pace from fruit every day. As I was about to change my clothes I looked up and saw my 'battle clothes', a grin crept across my face.

"Well, you kinda are my lucky charm I guess," I said as I changed into my scarred clothing.

It was still comfortable and it would also keep most ponies from bothering me, at least for now.

I walked into the main room of the library to see Spike, who I had found out was a young dragon, sorting some books by himself, I guessed Twilight had gone out on some errands.

"Uh...hey Evan." the tiny dragon said to me, "Watcha up to?"

I made my way to the door as I answered, "I'm going out on a walk. Gonna explore the woods to the south of here for a bit, tell Twilight I'll be back sometime when she comes home."

I was out the door before Spike could reply to me in time, I heard him say something about the Everfree Forest or something, I guessed that was its name. I put my hood over my head again, not wanting to draw attention, but alas I was stopped in the street by a certain orange coated pony.

"Well hey there partner," Applejack said, "where you headin' off to?"

I stopped and looked at her, her eyes gave off a naturally calming sense that almost threw me off guard.

"Nothing important. Just going for a walk in the woods to the south of here," I responded to the mare.

Her calming eyes was suddenly replaced by shock as she recoiled a bit, "What! You can't go there, that's the Everfree Forest!"

Confused I asked, "And? Why can't I go there?"

She explained that the forest had some type of unnatural energy through it, plants and animals there were different from the norm, and that the weather even changed by itself.

I gave a small laugh as I looked at her with a sarcastic stare and said, "Well that doesn't seem to different to forest back in my homeland. So goodbye Applejack. "

I continued walking after that, Applejack started following me, still trying to stop me as she pleaded "Well at least let me come with you, you don't know a darn thing about that forest an you need someone who knows the way around."

It made sense, but I was hard headed and continued on my way.

"Goodbye Applejack," I said as I made my way towards the Everfree.

Almost to the edge of the forest I caught a glimpse of a comfy looking cottage on the way to where I had to go. I walked by noting the abundance of animals around, these animals were the same as I had back home, yet they all seemed more...lifelike. Almost past the cottage I heard a fluttering above me, almost like wings. I looked up and saw the long pink mane and tail of Fluttershy as she looked at me curiously.

"H-hello.." the shy pony said.

"Uh, hi Fluttershy.." I said awkwardly, almost forgetting her name.

I stood there for a moment, expecting another conversation but she said nothing, not knowing what else to say I said goodbye and finally made my way into the forest.

_______________________

It had been about two hours into me walking through the forest, and I decided it was time to start heading back. As I looked around I could see why the ponies wouldn't find this place to appealing, it was quite dark and eerie looking, but other than that nothing really seemed off.

"Ha, it kinda reminds me of the woodlands at home, only not war torn," I said to myself.

Behind me I heard a sharp crack and thud, I turned quicker than light, magic flaring my hands with the cyan glow. But what I saw was Fluttershy, sprawled on the ground dazed from falling off a dead tree branch. I settled my magic and gave a scolding look to the pegasus.

"Were you following me?" I snapped at her.

She raised herself and looked at the ground, trotting one hoof in nervousness.

"Well uh...maybe, uh yes." she said, barely above a whisper.

"Can you explain why?" I continued questioning her.

"Well I saw you go into the forest..and I got scared that you might get lost..so I followed you in, flying above the trees. But I stayed close to you though, this place is to scary for me to be alone...and then I fell out of a tree."

I rolled my eyes at her.

"Listen, does no one understand I can hand-" my retort was cut short as Fluttershy let out a scream.

"What the KRIFE!" I shouted as something large pounced on my back.

I slammed hard into the dirt, my arm erupted in pain as I landed on it. I felt a rush of energy through my body as I chanted, more like shouted, a spell tome I had learned a long time ago.

"CAL ROYKA," I shouted.

A pulse of energy shot out of my body, knocking whatever tackled me clear off. I shot to my feet instantly and turned to see my attacker, what I saw left me startled for a few seconds. It looked like a large wolf...only it was wooden.

"Timb-timb-Timber Wolves!" Fluttershy said behind me as four more pounced out of the dark woods.

Two of these unnatural creatures lept at me, a ear piercing howl erupted from them as they did. I struck the first one away with a powerful blast of energy, its companion ran into me, sending me skidding into a tree.

"Krifing goddess." I cursed as I hit the tree hard.

Pain writhed through my body as the wolf came to finish its job. It sprinted towards me as I put up a barrier in front of the monster, slamming into it dazed the creature which gave me enough time to react. I jumped to my feet and landed an enraged kick to the creatures head, magic behind it a hundred fold. This sent the wolf about fifteen feet away and it stayed there yelping in pain. I saw Fluttershy's eyes grow in terror as another wolf lept at her, claws ready for the strike. It never got the chance as I sent a powerful strike at the wolf, hitting it directly in the head, and sending it crashing into a tree.

No time to catch my breath, I turned to face the others as I was greeted by a swipe from a claw, tearing my jacket and skin mid-waist. I let out a painful cry as I felt the claws slice through my body.

Time seemed to slow as I chanted another tome, "TULOK GANATH."

A blast of fire erupted from my hands as I sprayed the group of wooden wolves. This did the trick as the pack yelped in terror, some smoking from the fire, as they ran off deep into the woods.

I staggered towards a tree to lean against as I looked at my fresh wound, it was bleeding profusely as I examined it.

"Well...this definitely isn't good." I said to myself, forgetting that Fluttershy was close to me.

I turned to her realizing she was almost crying, no was crying, and shaking violently.

"Hey, are you okay? Did they hurt you?" I asked, not wanting to focus on my wound anymore.

"N-no, but they hurt you bad didn't they?" she was hardly able to say.

Pain was nearly the only thing I felt at that point, I winced as I responded, "Yeah, yeah they did."

She stopped shaking a little and looked at me concerned and urgently and said, "Well come on, we must get you back to the hospital!"

I was shocked as the timid pegasus lifted off and picked me up in her hooves, my arms over hers. She wasn't the strongest flyer I gathered at that point, so I lent her a hand as I gave her a spike of energy with my magic.

I rested in the same hospital bed I had awoken in when I arrived in Ponyville. Twilight along with Fluttershy and Applejack were next to me, although the first and former were berating me.

"How could you go into that forest? Especially alone!" Twilight snapped at me.

"I told you I should've came with you, but no you had to be all stubborn!" Applejack added.

I gave a sarcastic retort, "Well hey Fluttershy was with me the whole time! And I'm fine now, so what does it matter?"

"What does it matter? What does it matter?" Twilight raised her voice, "It matters because you have a deep claw wound in you! You're lucky she was there to get you back here, or you might not have made it Evan!"

I looked at Twilight and realized tears were starting to form in her big soft eyes.

I let out a regretful sigh, "Yes, you're right. I'm sorry..I'm sorry. I just really needed to be by myself, but.." I stopped and looked to Fluttershy who was standing quietly as usual, "Thank you Fluttershy, if you hadn't followed me...thank you."

She gave me a caring smile and said, "Well you protected me from those wolves, and I couldn't have left without you."

I repeated my thanks to the shy pony, making it obvious that I was genuine.

Nurse Redheart had entered the room at that point and said, "Okay everypony, I need to change Evan's bandage and check the stitching. But you can wait outside if you want, he'll be ready to leave after that."

As Applejack and Fluttershy left, Twilight came over to me, tears still in her eyes.

"Listen Evan," she started,"I don't know how human's care for others, and I know you need your space right now. I know you are beyond upset and bitter, and you have all the right in the world to be, but all my friends and I are trying to do is help you! But you are my responsibility, and you're also my friend now. Whether you see that or not, you need to realize that you are going to have to open up sooner or later, you have got to. Now, I'll be waiting outside, I expect a talk on the walk home."

She left without another word as her speech struck my head. No one had ever snapped at me like that, but I needed it. She was right, I was bitter and angry. But I shouldn't have taken it out on them, I thought to myself long and hard as the nurse checked me over and re-bandaged me.

"Sooner or later I'd have to open up.." I thought to myself, "Well...I guess I had better do it sooner."

I owed these ponies a lot, and that was a good start.

Chapter 3: A Little Spark

As my time in Ponyville passed I was finally pushed out of my shell, mainly out of my own will, but also because of Twilight's constant nagging. I considered her my closest friend of the six, but I was generally became close to all of them, which surprised me a lot. I also befriended a tiny filly pegasus named Scootaloo who had for some reason, become quite attached to me. The rest of the town however still had mixed views of me, some welcomed me and some still avoided me, which I didn't really worry about. I only needed a handful of good friends to be content.

I was sitting in the main room of the library reading a book about ancient pony lore, to see if any human history resembled it, pondering thoughts and daydreaming a bit. That's when Twilight popped up behind me and propped her legs on my shoulders watching what I was doing.

"Hey Twi, can I help you?" I asked, a bit awkwardly.

"Well, I was wondering if you wanted to go to the field and practice some new spells with me?", she said.

I looked at her with a, 'I'm kinda busy' stare, but she defeated that with her big eyes.

"Pllleeaaassee, it'll be fun!" she insisted.

I gave in and we made our way to the field. Twilight skipping in victory as she got me to do something.

___________________

"Alright, now try to make it disappear." Twilight said as she floated a large rock in front of me.

I tried to remember what the spell had said, but I had only made it flicker as I gave the rock a jolt of magic.

"Twilight these spells are weird, I never learned these in Karkland. Most are mine are meant for..." I trailed off for a second before I uttered the words 'destruction'. "Never mind, one more try okay?"

I picked up quickly. She hovered the rock in front of me again as I concentrated. I thought the process out as I began, grab the rock, feel its presence, then wipe it from existence. As the last step left my mind the rock vanished with a zap, no traces of it left.

"Good job," Twilight said, "maybe not as good as me, but it was a fair attempt." she smirked, giving me a challenging stare.

"Alright miss know it all, can you try and top this?", a smiled formed unintentionally as I prepared my comeback.

I let the power flow through my body; I waved my hands back in forth in small motions, letting the magic build up.

I looked at Twilight, who's face was agape in surprise, as I chanted calmly another tome "Zarath Kinkas".

Bolts of lighting shot through my arms as I flung my hands towards the sky. My unicorn friends face was now in complete surprise as the afternoon sky was rocketed by lightning strikes.

"That was so awesome!" I heard a tiny voice behind me yell. I turned to see the familiar sight of a orange coated filly pegasus running towards me.

"It was pretty okay, too bad you couldn't do those chants of yours if you had a sore throat." Twilight said, although I could hear the hint of impression in her voice.

I just chuckled as the filly ran up, "Hey Scoot, watcha up to?"

"I believe she'd like to ask you to join her on the school's Family Appreciation Day." a voiced said behind the young filly.

I looked up to see Scootaloo's elementary teacher, Miss Cherilee trotting up to us.

Scootaloo let out a rough gasp, "Aww! I wanted to tell him."

Cherilee chuckled, "Oops, sorry dear! Guess I got a bit excited too."

I looked down to the filly again, wondering why she had chosen me and asked, "Scoot, I'm not related to you, why did you pick me?"

Her happy gaze turned into a frown as she looked towards the ground and said, "Well...my parents left a long time ago and never came back...I could ask my nanny, but you kinda remind me of what a big brother would be like."

She looked back into my eyes. I winced a bit, I had been a big brother, but that was ripped away like the rest of my life. Twilight had came over at this point, nudging me and told me silently that it was okay. I gave a sigh and looked at both the filly and teacher.

"Okay, what would I have to do?" I asked.

Scootaloo bounced around in excitement as I talked to Cherilee.

"Well, it'd be nice if you could explain some about human culture to the class and talk about you in general. And then just answer any questions the kids ask!" she said with a smile that seemed permanent.

I agreed that I'd do it and this caused Scootaloo to bounce on me giving me a large huge.

"Thank you so much Evan!" she said.

I told her no worries, anything for her. The two of them departed, Scootaloo hopping on her scooter blasting away and Cherilee heading back to the school.

"This is a bad idea Twi...I don't think I should've said yes." I said as I turned to her, "You know what it's like over there, I've told you nearly everything. And I surely can't tell them anything about me!"

She walked over as I sat on the ground, putting a hoof on my shoulder as she said, "Hey, don't worry. It's not going to be that bad, just focus more on stuff that doesn't involve that mess. And besides, could you really have said no to Scootaloo?"

I looked at my friend as she said that, the little filly had grown close to me, and I admitted I had as well.

"You really are a know it all aren't you?" I joked.

She laughed at the comment, rolling her eyes in sarcasm and exclaiming, "Yep! Smartest pony in the world, yet you still love me for it."

I gave her a slight nudge away as we laughed and got up to go home.

__________________________

It was Family Appreciation Day today at Scootaloo's school. I had begun getting ready earlier than normal, as to be on time and to rehearse every possible answer to any questions the students might ask. I was steadily getting more and more unsure about the whole idea, but by now it was too late to back out.

"Krife Evan...this is going to be bad," I thought to myself.

I tried to push the thought aside, not wanting to make myself negative.

"It's whatever, your doin it for Scoot." I said aloud, combating the negative thoughts.

I walked into the kitchen to prepare myself some coffee and breakfast, I said hi to Twilight who was already up, planning her day ahead.

"Hey there! So you ready for today?" she asked.

I opened the fridge about to answer but was dumbfounded by the amount of pastries and deserts that were in it.

"Yeah I guess..still kinda worried though, but ready. Hey can you explain to Pinkie again that humans literally cannot eat this much desert? It'll kill us." I joked, calming my nerves.

She got a chuckle out of that and gave me a calming glance.

"You'll do fine. Just open up a bit, be you. And we both know Pinkie wouldn't listen. Your her newest best friend after all," she said.

I shook my head as I made myself some toast and coffee, and walked out the door and said, "Alright Twi, wish me luck. Think I'm gonna need it."

As I walked out I heard a "Break a leg!" from behind me, I snorted a bit as I walked towards the school and added, "What a punk."

I found myself dazing off in the school building as we listened to some colt named Rich, or whatever, talk about how wonderful and wealthy his life was. Scootaloo was sitting next to me, glancing and smiling at me every other minute, she was beyond excited about this. I smiled at her, not wanting to seem like I didn't want to do this for her. We waited another two turns as Applejack went up for Apple Bloom, and then Rarity after her for Sweetie Belle. The students and family members clapped for Rarity as we traded places in the front of the room, she passed me with a confident smile for me.

"You'll do fine." she said.

I reached the front of the room and let Cherilee introduce me, all of the children stared at me in confusion besides Scootaloo, Applebloom and Sweetie Belle.

My turn was almost over as my speech was nearly complete. I had talked to the kids about Karklands technology, how advanced it was and I showed them my pendant, the holo screen mesmerizing them. It was question time now, and I was about to sit down before a hoof shot up in the back.

"Uh, yes you in the back," I said.

A tiny filly's head leaned over so I could see her and asked innocently, "Why did you leave your family to come live in Ponyville?"

The question almost made me recoil, but I simply looked at my two friends sitting across the room. They looked at me with worried and concerned faces, not knowing what to do. Then I looked at Scootaloo, who seemed to know something was wrong. I let out a very large sigh as I faced the class.

"I didn't leave my family to live here..I uh, I lost them awhile ago. And I got hurt real bad so I was brought to Ponyville and haven't been able to search for them since," I told her.

My heart ached as I faked the story, but answer seemed to satisfy the student.

"How'd you get hurt?" another asked.

"I uh, I crashed my hover board when I tried to do a triple back flip off a mountain," I lied as I forced a chuckle out.

That seemed to be the end of the questions as I went back to my seat while the whole room was clapping. Rarity and Applejack both gave me reassuring nods, I guess I had done alright. Scootaloo on the other hand was looking at me with huge concerned eyes.

"You..you lost your parents too?" she asked me quietly as I sat down.

I looked at the tiny mare, she was worried about me.

"Yeah Scoot, I lost track of my whole family," I said to her, letting it sink in.

She thought it over for a bit before suddenly turning back to the normal spunky pegasus she was.

"Well its okay! You'll get them back one day, but until then I'll be your little sister!" she said as a grin spread across her whole face. My heart felt like it dropped through the floor, but something in it also lit as the little pony said those words.

"Thanks Scoot...and I'll be your big brother until we find yours," I replied, suppressing the sadness.

Chapter 4: A Promise

Chapter 4: Night Terrors

"Run girls! Keep running, don't stop!" I shouted at Twilight and Applejack as we ran through the Everfree Forest.

I had forgotten why we came into this damned place when we started being chased by this being. The only thing I heard behind us was the sickening groan from whatever foul creature that was chasing us. I turned to look back but all I saw were the shadows it cast, never completely in my sight. The two ponies were in front of me sprinting at full speed, their four legs making much better pace than I. I tried to use my powers but something was keeping me from using even the simplest spell. As we ran through the almost pitch black forest I had tripped over something unseen. I looked up and shouted for help. My friends turned around and ran back, only to be stopped by a sudden gap that had appeared out of nowhere.

"Evan, you have to jump!" Applejack shouted, "That thing is almost here!"

I turned around and saw the horrifying shadows getting closer and closer, I got up and backed away a bit, and sprinted full speed to the gap. I tried to pick up as much speed as I could, but I only seemed to slow down as I tried, and finally I made it to the edge and jumped as high and fast as I could. I was almost to the other side but then it suddenly grew wider and I slammed onto the edge, half of my body dangling over a black abyss. I felt myself slipping as I tried desperately to grab onto anything I could until Twilight grabbed me with a hoof. I looked up at her, my eyes filled with gratitude.

"Thank you Twi, now help me up please!" I said to my friend.

But she didn't move a muscle, I looked at her getting very nervous.

"Twi! What are you waiting for?" I nearly shouted. Her eyes met mine, there were tears forming in them.

"I'm so sorry," was all she said as she let go of my hand, sending me screaming down into pitch darkness.

I woke up covered in a cold sweat, panting heavily and dazed. I looked around me and realized I was in the loft, I had forgotten I had finally moved out of my room and into the loft, much to Twilight's excitement. Still breathing heavily I looked over to Twilight who was looking at me wide eyed.

"Did you have another nightmare?" she asked.

I rubbed my eyes, trying to calm myself down, then answered, "Yeah Twi...I'm sorry I woke you again."

She looked at me with a sad expression as she said, "You cannot keep sleeping like this Evan, you're going to drive yourself crazy. Which one was it this time?"

I stared at her for a long time, gathering my thoughts. I told her about my dreams of Juno, either seeing Tamra's terrified face before the explosion or when I had killed all those soldiers. Both dreams have been haunting me lately, but this dream, it was rare but it was one of the worst.

"It was Juno..but the whole thing replayed, every single detail," I lied, not wanting to tell her about this one; I couldn't.

She got out of bed and came over and preceded to give me a hug.

"I'm sorry, I'm so sorry Evan, I know you're never going to forget. But you have to make peace with it. Or these dreams wont stop." she said.

I just nodded, I knew what she said was true and I knew I had too, but one dream at a time.

"Do you want me to stay with you tonight?" she asked worried.

I had found that the nightmares usually stop when someone is near me, as she awoke to me one night thrashing and breathing heavy and crawled into my bed and calmed me down.

"I dunno Twi, I think I just need some water." I said as I got up out of bed.

I walked into the kitchen and cut on the light, still thinking about the dream I had. What was chasing me? Why was it always me, Twilight and Applejack? And why did Twilight let me go? I filled a cup up with water and drank it down quickly, hydration always helped also. As I walked back to bed I noticed Spike sound asleep in his little bed; that little guy could sleep through anything. I got back in bed and Twilight still gave me a worried face.

"I'll be fine Twi, don't worry okay? Goodnight," I said as my head hit the pillow and I dozed off back to sleep.

I woke up sometime later and looked at my clock, it was only two thirty, and I heard something rustle next to me. I looked to my right and saw Twilight fast asleep, head resting against my shoulder. I gave out a soft sigh and went back to sleep, silently thanking my best friend for all she did for me.

__________________

I awoke the next morning to find myself alone in bed, a note on my nightstand. I picked it up and rubbed my blurry eyes.

"Went out to get some groceries, hope you slept well. Be back soon, Love Twi."

I smiled at that, 'Love Twi', I laughed as I re-read it.

"Yeah Twi, I love you too. Still a punk though," I chuckled to myself.

I then got out of bed and readied myself for the day ahead, not knowing exactly what I should do. I looked out the window and looked past the clock tower and saw the woods behind them. It seemed like it called to me, those unnatural woods, and I didn't know if I really felt that or because of my recent dream.

"I still don't know how Zecora lives out there by herself," I said to myself, as a thought suddenly came to mind "Wait a minute! She does all that voodoo remedy stuff...she could most likely help me with the dreams."

I thought the plan over and decided I'd give it a try, but that meant trudging through the forest again.

At that moment Twilight popped through the front door and I smiled at my closest friend and said, "Hey Twi, wanna help me with something?"

I lead the way towards the forest as Twilight and Applejack, who we had picked up on the way, trotted behind me.

"So I'm glad y'all came and got me for this, but don't ya think we could just wait for Zecora to come into town?" Applejack said.

I turned to look back at my friend, her brown Stetson duster hat almost hiding the worried look on her face.

"Yeah, A.J. I believe Zecora is my best chance to get rid of these nightmares for good, and I want to get it done fast," I explained.

Twilight had taken the lead as she knew the way to the zebra's hut better than anyone. The woods around us seemed to get darker and darker as we pushed farther into the wild, I felt like we were being watched as I remembered the Timber Wolves attack on me and Fluttershy. I lit my hands, the fire emitting much needed light and also protection from watching eyes.

We finally reached Zecora's home and she happily let us in. "Ah my dear friends, what can I do for you before this day ends?" the zebra said in her usual way of speaking in rhymes.

Applejack and Twilight left Zecora and me alone so I could talk to her in private. I then explained to her the dreams about Juno and of the new one.

"Ah nightmares plague your mind, a terrible thing what happens to human kind," she rhymed.

Zecora seemed to know about humans quite well, but I let that go as she continued, "But no longer will you sleep with dread, as I have the perfect remedy for your head."

She brought me over to her cauldron and added various spices and herbs before mixing and boiling them together. She then had me drink at least two cups of the stuff, which tasted like rough cinnamon.

"After that you should dream the night away without anything tragic, but be careful as one ingredient drains magic," she warned me.

I was surprised to see that she was right as I attempted to gather power. This started to worry me, no magic in the Everfree and this seemed eerily familiar. But I thanked the mystic Zebra and started back home with my friends.

"So the stuff she had you drink drains your magic?" Twilight asked, and then playfully commented, "That must be a pretty strong potion, keeping you at bay."

I chuckled, still uneasy at the familiar circumstances, and said, "Well as long as it stops the nightmares I'm fine."

We continued making our way back home, but instead of getting lighter the forest grew even darker all around us.

Applejack got very uneasy at that point and said, "Hey y'all...is this the way we came? It sure is awfully dark?"

I silently agreed with her, but I kept walking, trying to push thoughts out of my head. But It was to no avail.

I thought, "How could this be so similar? Am I dreaming right now? No I couldn't be, but what if..."

My thought trailed off as I heard the sound of a terrible, horrible moaning.

____________________

"Run girls! Keep running, don't stop!" I shouted at Twilight and Applejack.

My thoughts were racing at this point, "How could this be happening? I thought it was just a dream!"

Then the realization hit me. It had to have been a vision of the future. I've read about it before in Karkland, anybody can have one, but someone with magic abilities have them with greater clarity. This knowledge almost made me drop, for I knew what happened next. But I kept running along my friends, who had started to pick up their pace, my magic was useless just as in the vision. I looked back behind me to see what I already knew was there, the shadows of whatever terrible creature upon us, I just ran as hard as I could muster, nearly catching up to my friends.

As they ran ahead one of them shouted, "There's a gap ahead! We have to jump it!" as they picked up speed.

"No...no.." was the only thought in my head kept repeating myself.

I saw Twilight and Applejack suddenly leap clear across, their speed and powerful legs helping immensely. I sprinted to the gap, determined to make my vision wrong, and I jumped with all my might. I landed hard, but that's what I did I landed, until the ground beneath me crumbled. I was now hanging onto a tiny cliff, slipping off slowly.

"Girls! Help me!" I shouted.

They turned and bolted back to me, but it was too late as I lost my grasp and felt myself fall.

"I gotcha!" said Twilight, catching me mid-air.

I looked up and saw a grin across her face as she pulled me up.

"There we go, it's okay Evan relax. You know I wouldn't have let you go." she said smiling.

My heart was racing and we looked back across the gap, the creature was there, a massive grotesque looking shadow. It sat there moaning and then just turned around and left, leaving us in peace. I turned to my pony friend and grabbed her in a hug.

"It's gone Twilight, it's finally over." I said.

She gave me a confused look but didn't say anything, instead she just hugged me back and then we all continued back home. I had beaten it, the nightmare was finally over.

Chapter 5: An Unexpected Wedding

Chapter 5: A Promise

Pinkie Pie was bouncing alongside of me as we made our way down to Sugar Cube Corner, I had told the happy mare that I'd help her deliver some treats to Cherilee so she could pass them out to her students.

"This is going to be soooo great!" Pinkie exclaimed, "I can't wait to see the faces of all those kids when we bring them all these!"

She picked up and strapped on her saddlebag full of goodies and waited for me by the door bouncing in place. I grabbed my bag and thought to myself that it'd be nice to just make Scootaloo smile. She's been really down lately because of still not having her cutie mark, but seeing me always put a smile on her face.

"Alright Pinkie calm down! You're going to crush all the snacks," I said to her.

She just giggled and said "Oopsie!" and we walked out of the bakery towards the school building.

As Pinkie Pie and I arrived at the school, Cherilee met us outside, that smile of hers once again on her face almost as much as Pinkie's.

"Oh wonderful! Thank you so much you two for helping me with this," she said, "Pinkie could you go on in and start passing them around? And Evan could I have a word with you before you go in?"

Pinkie looked at me and I just nodded my head at her.

"Okie Dokie Lokie!" she said and bounced inside, her puffy mane and tail bobbing with her.

Cherilee came up to me with the first concerned look on her face I've seen.

"Hey Cherilee, what's wrong? Something up with Scootaloo?" I asked her.

I guessed right as she nodded at me and said, "She just hasn't been paying attention in class or doing her homework lately. Something has her really upset, I'd say her cutie mark, and I feel like you should talk to her. Maybe take her out of class?"

I let out a sigh, I knew something was wrong and said "Of course I'll do that. Let me go get her, don't worry, I'll fix whatever's wrong."

As I walked inside the classroom Pinkie was handing out all of the treats and just being Pinkie, which included her normal goofy antics and lots of random confetti. Then I saw Scootaloo sitting in the back of class with her head down on the table, I went over quickly and stood beside her.

"Hey squirt what do you think you're doing? Sleeping in school?" I asked.

The sound of my voice made her head shoot up straight, a big grin formed as she saw me.

"Evan! Hi big bro!" she squeed, it still took time to get used to that again.

She reminded me a lot like Tamra, that same spunky attitude and independence, I actually smiled at the memory for once then quickly pushed it away.

I chuckled and said, "Hey Scoot, c'mon, Miss Cherilee said you could use some fresh air."

She looked confused but then got the point and happily got up from her seat and stood beside me. We walked to the door and I gave Cherilee a warm smile and almost yelled to Pinkie over the new found noise she created.

"Hey Pinkie, I'm going out for a bit. We'll hangout later okay?" I said.

Pinkie turned to me and answered, "Okie Dokie Lokie! And hey, we're all having a picnic in the park later on, you two need to be there okay?"

It was nearly impossible to say no to Pinkie, so I agreed and headed out of the school, filly in tow.

_____________________

"So Scoot, what's all this about you being upset and slacking off in school?" I asked her as I picked the little filly up, placing her on my shoulders.

Her little wings started fluttering happily.

"Well...it's just hard not having your cutie mark. I know Apple Bloom and Sweetie Belle want theirs as much as me, but the Crusaders just aren't getting anywhere," she grumbled.

"Ah, Scoot you know there's nothing wrong with that. It just means you haven't found well..you yet!" I tried comforting her.

She just sighed heavily and said, "That's what everypony has said to me, but I want it now! I'm tired of being a blank flank."

I could hear her getting even more upset, so I found a bench and sat her down on it.

"And what is wrong with being a blank flank? Last time I checked I didn't have a cutie mark either!" I said.

I finally got a chuckle out of her.

"Yeah but you're not a pony. You're human and you also have awesome magic, like Twilight but...awesomer," she said.

She got a laugh out of me from that.

"Scootaloo, you are a young filly. You still have plenty of time to find your special something, and that should be exciting for you. You're not stuck, you can do whatever you want with a blank flank until you get your cutie mark." I said.

She thought my words over for awhile; hopefully I made some sort of sense because I still didn't fully understand cutie marks. But she seemed to understand and looked up at me.

"You're right, I shouldn't let it get me down. Besides, being a blank flank is awesome since you're technically one too." she said, the spunky grin accustomed to her across her face.

I smiled as I felt a warm sensation take over my heart.

"Hey Evan...can I ask you something?" Scootaloo asked.

"Well of course you can Scoot, what's up?" I asked.

She looked away for a moment, a nervous look overtook her face.

"Are you ever going to leave Ponyville? And go back home?" she asked me.

I saw sadness creep up in her big eyes. I felt a sting in my heart now, I hadn't ever thought of that actually.

"No Scoot, I highly doubt it. There's not much left for me anymore," I tried to reassure her, but it didn't seem to help, "But what about your family? Don't you miss them? Don't want to look for them?"

Her innocent question almost brought me to tears.

"I miss them with all my heart hun, but they are gone," I said, "There's nothing left to search, I know I won't find them."

I paused, letting that sink in. Her eyes were now back to their normal state of bigness, not leaving mine.

"Do you promise?" was the only thing she said.

That's when I smiled, I unhooked the pendant from the neck as I answered, "Yes Scoot, I promise."

I flared up the pendant, its camera screen coming to life and Scootaloo bounced up in excitement and jumped on my back, her head and hooves resting on my head. I took the picture and showed it to her.

"Besides, how could I ever think of leaving my little sister?" I said as I gave her a big hug.

"Thanks big bro, I feel a lot better," she said with a grin.

"Good! Now Pinkie said something about a picnic later, c'mon squirt lets get over to it."

The little filly trotted along side of me happy as ever.

__________________

"Hey guys, we made it!" I said, arriving at the picnic.

The group greeted me and Scootaloo and we all sat down.

"Glad you could finally make it Evan," Twilight said, "I thought we were going to have t-"

She was cut off as Spike ran up out of breath.

"Twi..light..something for yo-" he was trying to say, but was interrupted as he burped out a scroll.

She read it aloud as we all listened.

"...and as for you Twilight, you will be playing the most important role. Making sure everything goes as planned. See you all very soon, Princess Celestia," Twilight said as she finished the note; she looked at all of us curiously and said partly to herself, "But I don't understand, who's getting married?"

Spike piped up, "Oh, wait. I was probably supposed to give this one to you first."

She took the note from Spike and read it over.

"Princess Celestia cordially invites you to the wedding of Princess Mi Amore' Cadenza and... MY BROTHER?" she yelled in shock.

Chapter 6: A Change of Plans

Chapter 6: An Unexpected Wedding

"Twilight, I'm happy for your brother, and I understand you're upset. But seriously, why do I have to go to the wedding?" I nagged at Twilight after telling me about her brother, Shining Armor's, upcoming wedding.

"Well first, I'm your best friend, so I'm telling you to," she glared at me, "And all of us were invited, and you're in charge of looking after the girls."

I didn't mind that part, I had babysat for Scootaloo and the gang for a few of their 'Cutie Mark Crusader' sleepovers.

"But I don't even know your brother! Why was I invited?" I exclaimed, still trying to fight it to no avail as she ignored me.

She kept on ranting to herself about how her brother hadn't invited her in person, which was understandable.

"I just can't believe Shining Armor wouldn't tell me about his wedding; I'm his sister!" she continued.

"Twi, I'm sure he had a good reason, you said Captain of the Royal Guard correct? That's a huge job!" I said, trying to calm her down.

She had none of that, "So? One hour away from Canterlot would hurt absolutely nothing!"

I gave up trying to calm my friend down.

"Alright Twi, alright. Well we had better go then, the train is about to arrive," I finally said.

She gave me a annoyed huff and we to the train station to join the others.

Well, I had decided to myself that I hated trains. This thing rocked at every turn and was beyond loud; I really wish I still had my hover board.

"Maybe I could talk to someone about that..." I thought to myself until Scootaloo jumped onto my lap.

"I can't believe I have to be a frilly little flower girl! Ugh," she grumbled.

Applebloom and Sweetie Belle were very much more excited as they bounced around the train cart.

"C'mon Scoot it won't be so bad, you'll look cute," I told her.

Her big eyes remained grumpy as she said, "I don't want to look cute! I want to look cool."

I laughed as the words left her mouth, definitely Tamra.

"You look cool at everything you do squirt. Trust me, you'll be okay. And I have to wear a tuxedo..do you know how long it's been since I've worn one?" I assured her.

She looked at me, now curious.

"How long?" she asked.

"Never!" I laughed, which made her also, "Alright, let me go talk to the girls okay? I gotta go over whats going on."

She dropped down and went over to play with the two other fillies.

I walked over to Applejack who just came from talking to Twilight.

"Hey A.J, is she still freaking out?" I asked.

"Hey there Evan; yeah she is. I tried to calm her down but she's more upset than a snake in the snow," she said in her country drawl.

I laughed at the comparison.

"Don't worry, I'll go talk to her. Keep an eye on the girls for me would ya?" I said as I walked over to Twilight.

"Sure thing Sugarcube, good luck with that one." she chuckled as she went to watch the trio.

Twilight was just staring angrily out of the window, directly at Canterlot.

"Hey Twi, do you wanna talk about it some more?" I asked her.

She glanced at me then back out the window.

"Actually," she started, "When we arrive at Canterlot I'm going to go have a talk with my brother. And you're coming with me."

"Wait what? I mean, sure I'll go with you. But why?" I asked confused.

"Well you want to know why you were invited, and I want to know why it was just an invitation sent to me instead of him in person. So, you're coming with me." she ordered.

I just put my hands up and said, "Alright alright Twi, I'll go."

There was no sense in arguing with her so I just walked back and sat with Applejack and the girls and waited for the train to stop.

___________________

As Twilight lead me through the maze of gardens in Canterlot, we had finally reached the main guard barracks. I really didn't care why I was invited, and Twilight knew that also, so I expected she just wanted to introduce me or just have me along. As she walked ahead, I looked at the large barrier around the whole city.

"Wow, whoever did this has to be feeling the effects. That takes a lot of magic, a lot of strain," I said to Twilight, but she was trotting ahead angrily not paying attention.

I shook my head and continued, hoping that Pinkie could keep a good eye on the girls while I was away.

"You've got a lot of explaining to do Mister!" Twilight shouted ahead of me.

I looked up to see a large white unicorn colt, with a mane that sort of looked like Twilight's but with shades of blue, that had to be her brother.

"Twily!" the colt said excitedly as he ran down the stairs to greet her, "It's so good to see y-"

He paused noticing her anger.

"Hey. what's wrong with you?" he asked.

Twilight then explained, and he finally looked up to see me after.

"Well hey there, you must be Evan! I've heard a lot about you," he said, putting out a hoof.

I shook his hoof and offered a smile.

"Yeah that's me, and I've..heard about you also," I said, unsure as Twilight glared at me.

"Thanks for coming on such short notice. When I heard my sister befriended a human, I had to invite you, can't leave anyone out right?" he chuckled.

I saw Twilight's face agape, and so did he. She was about to go off again but he quickly calmed her and explained why he couldn't come in person. Apparently a threat was made against Canterlot and Shining Armor powered the force field by himself, which Twilight finally accepted.

"Well I'm still ticked that you're marrying someone I don't know! Who is this Princess Mi Amore Cadenza anyway?" she asked.

The colt chuckled as he answered, "Twilight, Princess Mi Amore Cadenza is Cadence! Your old foal sitter!"

Twilight's face went to shock but then happily started bouncing around excitedly. I was just standing silently, quietly hoping to myself no one said this Cadence's full name anymore, as the door next to me slammed open.

"Hope I'm not interrupting anything?" a very demanding voice said, followed by a pink alicorn with a mane of many colors.

That had to be this princess, which it was as Twilight turned around excitedly.

"Cadence!" she exclaimed and hopped over to her and playfully sung her childhood rhyme, "Sunshine sunshine, lady bugs awake, clap your hooves and do a little shake!"

Cadence just looked at her with a smug frown and said "What are you doing?"

Twilight looked confused but still smiled.

"Cadence it's me! Twilight!" she squeed, only to get an 'Uh-huh' as the princess walked past her.

That kind of set me off; I already wasn't too fond of the royalty here but this princess was pushing it. She walked over to Shining Armor and noticed me leaning against a wall.

"What is a human doing here? Shouldn't you be fighting that war in the wasteland you call a country?" she said bluntly.

Twilight and Shining both looked completely stunned, and I felt rage run through my blood as my hands suddenly lit up in flames.

"Who in the krifing hell do you think you're talking to?" I shouted, my eyes now aglow with my cyan aura, and my hands an inferno.

I felt Twilight put a hoof on my arm.

"Evan, it's okay calm down," she said quietly.

I looked back over to the pair and Shining Armor spoke up.

"Hey I'm sorry, its okay Evan. She didn't mean a word of that, did you hun?" he said, glaring at Cadence.

"No, I didn't. I apologize, I've just been stressing out lately and it got the better of me," she said, still smug.

I was still furious, but Twilight always calmed me down when rage took over, so I extinguished my hands and my eyes went back to normal. I simply stood there, beating down the alicorn with a hateful stare.

"Well uh, we need to wrap some stuff up with the wedding, so, it was great to see you again Twily, and nice meeting you Evan. I'll see the both of you later," Shining Armor said.

"Likewise," added Cadence, as they went off, leaving Twilight and me.

"What in Equestria was that all about?" Twilight almost yelled, "That wasn't the Cadence I remembered. She would have never said those things, and it seemed like she didn't even recognize me!"

"Well. I already don't like her," I simply said, "but we have other things to worry about then some stuck up bride to be."

Twilight still seemed upset but nodded and said, "Yeah lets go, I have to go see how everyone is doing and you have to watch the girls."

As we made our way to our destinations I made on last look up at the force field above us and something caught my eye. It was a tiny black spot which seemed to be flying around just above the barrier. I shrugged it off as a bird who was curious and continued on my way.

_____________________

After a long day of helping Scootaloo and the other two fillies rehearse their roles, I was invited to go out and relax with the gang. I made it to the quaint cafe and sat down in between Applejack and Rainbow Dash and ordered myself some tea.

"Well hey there hot shot," Dash said, "didn't think you'd make it in time, now that you're filly sittin'."

I gave her a smirk and retorted jokingly, "Yeah, but I kinda like it. Especially now that Scoot doesn't view you as her idol anymore; that's been thrown onto me."

A spot of jealously formed on her face but quickly turned to laughter as she realized I was joking.

"So, anybody seen Twilight? Is she still stressing out?" I asked the group.

"Yup, here she is now!" Applejack said as Twilight walked over and joined us.

Everyone could tell she was still upset as she sat down.

"Hey Twi, how are you feeling?" I asked her.

I knew how she felt, but I had to ask.

She just looked at me with stressed eyes and exclaimed, "Terrible! I don't know what happened to her but Cadence turned into such a jerk!"

"Oh darling, what are you saying? The Princess is such a gem!" Rarity piped in.

I turned to her and glared a hole through her head and she went silent.

"How can you think she's so great? I told you what she said to Evan!" she said glancing at me with a caring face.

I sat there and waited for a response, just to see what anyone would say. Rainbow Dash was the first one to comment about it.

"Yeah that was a bit harsh. But honestly," she paused looking at me with a face that said 'no offense', as I just stared and added, "Think about the shock and stress mix as she suddenly sees a human at her wedding. I'm sure that was just it guys."

I just turned my head away from her.

She started to say, "Evan, c'mon I didn-"

I cut her off and snapped, "Stop Dash. Just. Stop. It's funny how you think it's completely okay for her to insult everything I am and then try to defend her. I really appreciate that Element of Loyalty."

Her eyes widened with hurt, the others staring at me in shock except for Twilight, who was on my side.

"Evan...you know I'm not-" Rainbow Dash tried to continue but I cut her off once again.

"I said Stop," I said sharply.

My eyes glowed from anger as I yelled at the pegasus. I got up and started walking back to my room, hearing Twilight yell this time behind me, and she walked off in the other direction towards her brother's house. I took one look back and saw everyone looking either at me or Twilight walking away, and then I saw the look on Dash's face, scrunched up in hurt and a few tears forming. I just turned around and put my jacket's hood over my head and let them deal with my anger.

As I made it to my room, my anger still boiled my blood.

"There was no excuse for that, no defense for outright insulting me," I thought to myself, still bitter over what Dash had tried to do.

I decided I'd try to sleep it off but stopped mid-thought as I opened my door. I heard something in my room, like the sound of someone snoring. I walked over to my bed and gently lit a small ball of fire in my hand. As I did, I realized it was Scootaloo. I don't even know how she knew what room was mine but I didn't move her, of course. She had kicked off the sheets in her sleep and her little body was shaking in the cool night air. I carefully covered her up and sat on a padded armchair next to the bed. My anger subsided a bit, but not by much, and I rested my head against the wall and finally fell asleep.

______________________

I woke up the next morning to the sound of crash, which made me shoot out of my chair, ready for anything. Instead of anything malevolent, I saw Scootaloo standing next to the large dresser in the room, with a shattered vase at her feet. She grinned at me in guilt and gave me a nervous chuckle.

"Well..I guess I can cross off a cutie mark for room service, huh hehe.." she said.

I rolled my eyes at the filly and levitated the broken pieces into the trash can.

"I don't think you'd like that kind of special talent anyway, huh?" I said, finally giving her a smile.

"So, can you tell me why I found you here last night? Obstructing me from a comfortable nights rest you little squirt," I kidded with her.

"Well," she started.

"You could have gotten into bed still, so that's your fault, dork," she shot back.

I put up my hands in pretend defeat and laughed.

"And Apple Bloom and Sweetie Belle had rooms with their sisters and then there was me, so maybe I snuck in here and fell asleep!" she said matter-o-factly.

"Well alright, you little punk, go get ready for the wedding rehearsal, okay? I gotta bring you three there soon." I said.

She nodded and ran out of the room, leaving me alone to get ready for the day.

As the trio of fillies and I walked through the enormous castle, I gazed around me, learning the twists and turns as we had almost gotten ourselves lost several times. Finally, we had arrived at the main hall and the girls trotted up to where they were directed, leaving me to just sit and watch as the rehearsal went on.

"Perfect girls, no need to rush," Princess Celestia was saying to my friends.

For some reason or another they had replaced the old bridesmaids but I didn't really know how weddings went on so I stopped caring after about a minute.

"And then of course Cadence enter's the room," Celestia said, as the shrew pony princess entered the room.

As I watched the procedure , Rainbow Dash glanced at me, which I met with complete anger. She looked away after that and hung her head slightly.

"Then I'll say a few words, you two will exchange your vows, and Shining Armor will receive the rings from his best mare," Celestia finished.

At that point everyone looked to where Twilight was supposed to stand, but she was nowhere to be seen.

"Hey, has anypony seen Twilight?" Shining Armor asked.

I began to get nervous, but then the huge main doors burst open. Twilight stood there her face determined.

"Oh no. This isn't going to be good," I thought to myself as I stood up in preparation for whatever what was about to happen.

"I'm right here!" she yelled, "And I'm not standing next to her, and neither should you!"

Oh yes, this was going to be very bad. Shining Armor and everyone else's faces went into complete shock as Twilight went on.

"Because she's evil! I saw her cast a spell on him that made his eyes go all," she said as she made her eyes swivel around in circles, kinda like Derpy, "And she has been mistreating my friends and obviously done something with her bridesmaids!"

Twilight backed Cadence into a wall. Cadence looked around and started crying.

"Why are you doing this to me?" she cried as she ran out of the room.

Shining Armor then stepped up and yelled at Twilight, explaining everything that Cadence had done and why she had done it. It made sense what he was saying, but I still hadn't forgiven her.

"Now, if you'll excuse me I have to comfort my bride, and you can forget about being my best mare. In fact, don't even bother showing up to the wedding," he said, stomping out of the room.

I saw Twilight's heart shatter at that point; she was devastated. Applejack and the rest of the group got up and trotted past her.

"C'mon y'all. Lets go check on the Princess," she said, not stopping for a second.

Princess Celestia then passed by.

"You have got a lot to think about," was the only thing she said.

Twilight then looked over to me, her face covered in tears, and just cried. I had no clue what to do as I watched my best friend nearly be destroyed in front of me. So I walked over to her and put a hand on her head, rubbing her mane.

"I'm sorry Twi. Come by my room later okay? We'll talk then," I said.

Then I turned and walked away, leaving the large room with Twilight by herself and shut the doors with a flick of my hand behind me.

Chapter 7: The Chase

Chapter 7: A Change of Plans

As I made my way down the main halls of the castle I heard something behind me, coming from behind the doors I had just closed. It sounded like a scream, and then followed by laughter. My head nearly exploded in thought.

"TWILIGHT!" I shouted to myself as I ran back to the main hall.

I shot the doors open with a burst of energy, almost breaking them down. As I ran into the room I was greeted with nothing, the whole room was empty, Twilight was nowhere to be found. My hands were burning with fire, ready to strike at the first thing that appeared.

"Twilight where are you?" I yelled, "Twilight!"

"Why don't you find out." said a familiar voice.

I turned around and let a fireball aimed at the voice of Princess Cadence. She blasted it away with a barrier and just smugly laughed.

"Goodbye human, too bad you can't make it to the wedding," she laughed.

I sprinted towards her, rage taking over, my body almost an inferno. She simply smiled as I was engulfed inside of a green dome, slowly sucking me into the ground.

I woke up after what seemed like hours, but it had only been a few minutes I could tell as my hands still were on fire. I looked around me, trying to see where I had been taken, only to find myself in a system of caves of some sort. I let out a scream of pure anger, at myself for letting this happen, and for leaving Twilight alone. I blasted the cave around me with fireball after fireball, attempting to release the pent up rage.

"Evan? Evan!" a very familiar voice said behind me.

I turned to see Twilight standing behind me, her eyes wide in surprise.

"Twi! You're okay!" I said as I ran up to her and grabbed her into a hug.

"Where are we?" she asked a bit scared.

"You're in the caves below Canterlot." said a voice, suddenly Cadence's face was everywhere on the cave wall, "Where greedy ponies use to live to find crystals, now it's your prison," she laughed, "Now you two won't be able to interfere with my plans."

My blood had started to boil again, but Twilight started up this time.

"Plans for what!" she snapped.

The alicorn looked at us in feint surprise and answered, "Well my plans for your brother of course."

Twilight's eyes filled with anger at that point.

"Don't you dare do anything to my brother you monster!" she shouted.

Cadence's face was overwhelmed with confidence.

"Only way to stop me is for you too catch me!" she taunted us.

Twilight's horn powered up and she blasted the crystal that the Alicorn's face was on, only having it ricochet back at us.

"Krife Twi! Be careful," I said to her.

But she didn't listen, she kept blasting at where ever Cadence's face popped up. Twilight then shot at an image of her laughing, the tough cave rock seemed to fissure, but not break, and the faces stopped coming. We sat there in silence, thinking about what to do next, when suddenly an orange light emitted from the cracks. The light grew bright before spreading across the wall into the shape of a doorway and vaporized the rock. Twi and I started to investigate where the light came from, but instead we saw a figure beyond the new found hole, and it was Princess Cadence.

Twilight was already moving before I could react, Cadence tried to scoot away.

"No! Wait!" she shouted.

But Twilight had already tackled her, the quivering princess beneath her. As Cadence was shaking she looked up and saw Twilight, and her eyes grew wide.

"Twilight! It's me Cadence, the other one was a fake!" she attempted to plea.

I was making my way over, hands lit, but also wondering where and what could have created that light, neither me or Twilight did it and the Princess seemed shocked also.

"Yeah right," Twilight said, "Good excuse!"

But as she said that Cadence slipped from under and started singing a child's rhyme, "Sunshine sunshine, lady bugs awake. Clap your hooves and do a little shake."

I stopped in my tracks, hands going out, as Twilight shouted in joy and hugged the princess.

"It really is you!" she exclaimed.

After a few moments the Alicorn explained what had happened to her, how she got sent her like us and what the fake Princess was. She then looked up to me and smiled.

"And you must be Evan, I've heard a lot of amazing things about you my human friend. I'm glad you could be here," she said, all of it genuine.

I just nodded my head and thanked her, still wondering about the cave wall bursting.

"Well, now it's time we get out of here. We have a wedding to save," Twilight said.

I nodded in agreement and our little group made our way, trying to find an exit.

*******************

"Has anypony seen Evan or Twilight at all? Been a few hours since Twi's little outburst." Applejack said to the group.

"I'd imagine they would have left. Both were rather upset, Twilight of course we all know, and Evan's outburst at Rainbow Dash," Rarity added.

Dash's eye's lowered in guilt.

"I didn't mean to insult him! It just...came out really bad," she said.

"Maybe he's just watching the girls! Oooh ooh! What if he took the girls to get ice cream!" Pinkie added.

Applejack shook her head in annoyance.

"No..I talked to Apple Bloom a few minutes ago. Said neither her 'nor Sweetie Belle or Scootaloo seen him since," she said nervously.

"Well where ever he is, he is most likely trying to calm Twilight down. So let us just get ready for the wedding alright? It starts soon," Rarity commanded.

The group shook their heads in agreement and started to prepare for the false wedding.

***********************

As I followed Twilight and Cadence through the caves I felt uneasy, like someone was watching us the entire time, yet nothing has come of it. I pushed the feeling out as we came upon a large center chamber with a huge stone in the middle. We stopped as we heard something above us, it sounded like..music.

"It's the wedding progression!" Cadence cried out, "We'll never make it in time!"

The only thought in my head was that I needed to get the girls out, before whatever was supposed to happen, happened.

"Well how are we going to get out of here!" I almost shouted.

Twilight looked around the chamber and then smiled, she pointed a hoof up to a bright shining hole, it was an opening.

"Well how are we going to get up there? Cadence could hardly support my weight when she took off the mine cart!" I said.

Twilight simply concentrated and teleported us to the exit.

"Ah, I guess that's how," I chuckled.

At that point three figures stood in the exit and walked towards us.

"You're not going anywhere," they said, almost without emotion.

As they got closer I recognized all three, it was the original bridesmaids, Lyra, Minuette and Twinkleshine and I could tell they had been hypnotized.

"Oh Goddess be damned! What are we supposed to do? These are our friends!" I yelled, almost to myself.

The Princess walked up and waved a bouquet of flowers around, catching the trio's eyes, and tossed it off in the distance and they followed.

"How did that even work?" I said astounded, but then ran off with the others as they raced towards the castle.

The three of us raced through the castle, bent on making it in time. We could hear Celestia say the final vows, her voice echoing through the empty halls. Twilight sped up reaching the main doors and burst through.

"STOP!" she yelled.

I could here the audience gasp in surprise as I came up behind her, and then saw the faces of my friends, some in shock and some in slight disappointment. I ignored them and made my way to the fillies.

"Why does your sister have to ruin my wedding! Augh!" the fake Cadence pretended to cry.

"Because it's not your wedding, it's mine!" the real Princess shouted from behind.

Even more gasps erupted this time, and the faces on my friends and Celestia dropped.

"She's a Changeling!" the real Cadence shouted, "And she imprisoned us in the caves below the castle!"

This drew laughter from the fake Alicorn as a whirlwind of green magic enveloped her, and as it subsided what stood there took me by surprise. It looked like a pony, but it was insectoid in form, with chitinous wings and armor. The Queen of the Changelings had revealed herself to everyone in attendance, things were about to get ugly.

I shoved past every pony in my way.

"I have to get the girls out now," was my only thought, it was my mission.

I looked over and saw Applejack staring at me, her face full of confusion.

"A.J. I need to get the girls, we'll make our way back to my room and then I'll come back okay?" I said to her.

She nodded, her face now defiant. I finally reached the trio of fillies, they were huddling with each other and shaking.

"Girls! C'mon let's go now," I said.

They looked up and smiled, almost about to scream. I hushed them quickly, we needed to get out unseen while Twilight and Cadence distracted the changeling. We had barely made it to the doors when Celestia had confronted the Queen, beams of magic erupted from each others horn. Celestia seemed to have the upper hand, but then suddenly the Queen had a burst of energy, sending Princess Celestia to the ground. I turned to the girls now urgent.

"Okay girls, follow me and run," I said, and we sped out of the chamber, only into chaos.

______________________

As the fillies and I ran outside I took a look around, everything seemed okay, until I glanced towards the sky. Thousands of the black dots I had seen before now covered the barrier. I could hear them smashing against the dome, trying to break in.

"Krifing goddess," was all I was able to say as they smashed the force field as one, shattering it completely.

"C'mon girls RUN!" I shouted, the girls now screaming in terror.

As we ran I saw the changelings drop from the sky like bombs, crashing into anything they hit, and then they started attacking. Guards charged out of the barracks, the Pegasi took to the sky, the Unicorns blasting enemies with powerful burst of magic, and the Earth pony guards waging a war on the ground. I wasn't paying attention as a changeling landed right in front of us, it got up hissing ready to attack. It never got the chance as I struck it with a magic fueled punch, knocking it clear out in its impact hole. But more blasted in from the sky, it seemed like it was never ending. We were near the corner of two buildings, solid on both sides, as an idea struck.

"Girls stand in that corner now," I ordered and the girls complied.

"Talon Plakath," I chanted, and a force field formed over the fillies.

"Evan what are you doing!" Scootaloo cried out.

I could see her still shaking, but her defiance showed as well.

"I'm supposed to watch you three, keep you safe. And they have to come through me to even get within ten feet of you," I said as a whole dozen changelings crashed in front of me.

They charged out of the holes, only met with fireballs and beams of energy, I felt the anger ripple though me, feeding my magic. I grabbed one in mid air as it tried to fly by me, and slammed in hard into the ground, cracking the solid concrete. I wasn't going to fail this time, I had to protect the ones I loved.

***********************

As Twilight and the group was dragged back after unsuccessfully attempting to get the Elements of Harmony, they were thrown into the wedding chamber to see the Queen laughing.

"Yes this is turning out very well I must say, very well. It seems your little plan has failed, and mine has just begun," she said as she faced the group, "Now go. Feed!" she commanded the other changelings.

They flew out of the room, laughing and hissing.

"We will stop you!" Twilight shouted confidently.

The Changeling merely chuckled.

"And how do you plan on doing that?"

As Twilight went silent she moved back over to the balcony.

"Exactly. Although your human friend seems to be causing a slight issue," she said.

Twilight, Applejack and the others looked down to see plumes of fire and cyan beams of energy erupt from the battle that raged below.

"No! You will not lay a hoof on him!" Twilight shouted, now furious.

"Ooh, it seems we have another strong source of love! I can almost taste it," she chuckled.

Twilight now backed up.

"No, wait!" she tried to plea.

But the Queen ignored it as she turned to more of her soldiers.

"Why don't you go...break the humans heart," she laughed maniacally as one of her soldiers changed form into Twilight and the rest followed him out.

Twilight felt her heart sink as they ran out of the room.

*********************

My body was nearly spent, the changeling soldiers just kept coming and I kept blasting them away. The guards around me weren't fairing any better, most had been captured or knocked out, a few others seemed to not move at all. There was finally a break in the flood of soldiers and I took the time to rest and calm the girls.

"Evan, are you okay? You look hurt," Scootaloo said.

She had stopped shaking the moment she knew I was fighting, her confidence beaming.

"Yeah Scoot..I'm fine. Just need a quick rest, how are you guys?" I asked the three.

"We're scared! We need to get out of here Evan!" Sweetie Belle spoke up that time.

"Yeah I know, but we can't leave until I know you three will be sa-" I stopped mid-sentence a I noticed someone behind me.

I turned quickly only to see my best friend standing there.

"Twilight! What are you doing out here? Are you okay?" I asked her.

She just stared at me and nodded.

"Twi? You okay?" I asked again and came closer.

The smile across her face became an evil grin as she suddenly kicked me square in the chest.

"Oof! Tw-Twi!" I tried to say but she kicked me again, sending me to the ground.

I grabbed her with magic and threw her away from me.

"Twi what is wrong with you! Its me, its Evan!" I shouted at her.

She stood back up, evil grin still on her face.

"I know," she said and sprinted full speed at me.

Twilight hit me full force and I yelled out in pain, her horn stabbed me in the stomach as I looked down in shock.

"Twi...why?" I said, the pain brutal.

But it wasn't Twilight in front of me anymore, it was a changeling laughing in my face. The insectoid shot a bolt of energy at me, hitting me in the chest, and I fell to the ground panting. The changeling then turned its gaze to the fillies as they cried out in terror.

"Evan! Help us!" Scootaloo cried out, her words seemed to spark something inside of me, adrenaline and rage poured through me yet again.

I jumped up and grabbed the soldier by the throat, shocking the creature into submission as another group landed in front of me. They crept their way to me, but I hardly paid attention as I looked the one who stabbed me in the eyes.

"You will not hurt them," I uttered, then I let out a scream, "ZARATH KINKAS!" and lightning bolts erupted from my hands.

The changeling I held was the first to be sent electrocuted away, his friends barely had time to cry out as the bolts of plasma hit them, sending the back a few feet, unconscious or worse. At that same moment there was a bright light from the balcony of the main castle chamber, it almost blinded me so I looked away. I felt my powers draining and I quickly un-shielded the girls and staggered back against a wall.

"Evan! Evan!" Scootaloo was yelling my name.

"Hey Scoot, I'm okay. Don't worry, your big bro is fine," I said trying to calm her.

That's all I remember as my body passed out from exhaustion.

_______________________________

I woke up about a few hours later in a hospital bed, thanking the Goddess herself it wasn't the same one in Ponyville. I saw Twilight next to me, along with Scootaloo and Rainbow Dash.

"Hey guys...getting pretty tired of hospitals," I laughed as I sat up.

All three turned in excitement and all three attacked me with a hug.

"Evan! We were so worried, the stab wound nearly killed you. If it had been not even an inch closer it would've cut off a massive artery," Twilight said concerned.

"Well it didn't Twi, and I'm fine," I said as I gave her a reassuring smile, "So how was the wedding guys?"

Scootaloo bounced on me, taking care to avoid my stomach.

"It hasn't started yet duh," she chuckled.

I roughed her hair up with my hand and she giggled.

"Yeah we couldn't have it without you there dude," Dash said.

She also gave me a regretful sigh.

"And I need to apolo-" Dash started.

"No you don't Dash. It's fine, just forget about it okay?" I said.

She smiled and nodded, compliant.

"Well, I guess it's time for a real wedding then?" I said and stood up, "Hope Rarity has my tux ready."

Scootaloo looked down at the floor and trotted a hoof in nervousness.

"Umm..Evan, after the wedding and everything is over..I need to talk to you and Twilight. It's really important." she said.

I looked over at Twilight who looked concerned.

"Uh, yeah Scoot of course," I said

The wedding had played out nicely, considering all that had happened. I saw Scootaloo bouncing down the aisle in her flower girl dress and gave her a thumbs up, which reassured her that she looked cool. The after party was also nice, but I didn't stay long for that. Instead I took a trip to the guard barracks, trying to let some souls be at peace with what happened today. As I reached my destination I saw one guard that I had seen at the castle, who was constantly with the same guard, I guessed they were good friends but I didn't see him around. As I walked past him I saw something in front of him, a tombstone with a helmet laying next to it. I heard the guard crying and trying to speak past heavy breaths.

"Thanks..thanks for having my back buddy. Thank you," I heard him say.

My heart felt heavy, how many people lost friends and family today? How many ponies are just like me right now?

My head was running with thoughts but was interrupted by a shout.

"Evan! I have Scootaloo, she really needs to talk to us," Twilight said, filly in tow.

"Hey Scoot, so whats up? Why were you all worried?" I asked her.

She looked up at us, her big eyes were nervous and confused.

"Well..after you passed out, the changelings tried to get your body... they all started falling down though, kinda like a ghost was beating them up, but one of the changelings shot a bolt of magic and hit the thing, and it was a thing, it looked like you... then when Cadence and Shining Armor used the bolt of magic he stopped, looked at us and disappeared...he was wearing a scary dark mask," she said, letting me soak it in.

I was stunned, as was Twilight. Another human in Equestria?

"What do you mean disappeared Scootaloo?" I asked sharply.

"Well he turned invisible I guess," she said.

"What color was his magic?" Twilight asked.

"It was a bright orange," the filly answered.

I turned to Twilight.

"The caves, that magic in the caves. Whoever this is has been following me Twi," I said urgently.

"Well if he's invisible I can track him, I have magic that can detect heat signatures," she said proudly.

I paused for a moment, feeling something almost as if my instinct.

"Twi...use it on that cliff hanging right there," I whispered.

She looked at me confused but gave in as I gave her a sharp look. Her horn glowed to life and sent a wave of energy that passed through the air. As it reached the cliff there was a noise, and then the heat signature of a fully grown human appeared in front of our eyes.

Chapter 8: Questions and Sorrow

Chapter 8: The Chase

There was no hesitation in the human in front of me as he dove of the cliff side, sailing down using his powers to glide.

"Twilight, get Dash and A.J. and catch up as quick as you can," I ordered her.

"Catch up? What do you-ack!" she gasped as I dove off the city down the mountain side after the man who had been following me.

I instantly regretted the decision as I plummeted towards the ground but I clumsily blasted energy under me using it to propel down.

"Krife I could really use my repulser board right now," I thought to myself as I landed on the ground, albeit it was more of a crash landing.

I looked up to see the masked man land away from me, much more gracefully and he turned to me, giving me a long stare. I could sense something about him, but I hardly thought about it as I got up and charged after him.

"Hey, STOP. Why were you following me?" I yelled at the man, his response was to send back a few blasts of ice at me, harmless enough but it enraged me.

"So THAT'S how you want to play?" I said to myself and lit my hands ablaze.

I sent a large fireball after him only to see it freeze and shatter from the inside out.

"He didn't even turn to look...." I thought to myself; I was dealing with someone powerful.

A few feet behind me there was a burst of light and Twilight appeared with Applejack and Rainbow Dash.

"Evan! We saw your fireball so I tele-" she started.

"Get after him girls!" was the only thing I said as I took off running again.

They quickly followed suit, Rainbow Dash quickly gaining ground overhead with Applejack sprinting in front of me.

"Twi, try to teleport in front of him! Trip him up," I directed her.

She nodded and her horn came to life and she vanished, reappearing in front of the man, startling him but he somersaulted over Twilight. Applejack took this time to speed up, her powerful legs charging the masked human, he looked back and saw her gaining ground and let out a powerful burst of energy, propelling him across the field. I almost stopped dead in my tracks but I forced myself to keep running. I could see he was running to the Everfree, there was no way possible we'd be able to catch him in there.

"Girls, we have GOT to get him before he gets to the forest!" I yelled at my friends.

I let out a few more fireballs at him in rapid order, trying to tag his legs with one or two, as they neared him he spun around mid air and did the same with shots of ice, although his were much more accurate. Two ice balls hit me square in my freshly mended stab wound and it brought me to the ground panting.

"Equestria is going to be the death of me," I said to myself as I quickly got back up, cringing and out of breath, but determined to catch this person.

As I commenced the chase once again I saw the girls ahead of me hot on his tail, but still a healthy distance away from being caught. I boosted myself with energy and finally caught up to the group as we entered the forest, cursing myself for letting it get this far. As we zig zagged through the previously calm forest I gathered energy for another fireball and let it rip from my hands, the speed and intensity almost shocked me but I yelled out in anger as it was once again dissipated into nothing. I turned my head to the girls and told them to get ready to strike again, they nodded in agreement as we came upon a clearing.

As the runner entered the open area I shouted, "Girls NOW!"

Twilight vanished and reappeared far in front of him, her horn let out a bolt of magic meant to paralyze him, but he blocked it with a simple hand barrier and flipped over Twilight. Rainbow Dash then took her chance and dived right at the runner, only to meet thin air as he vanished, causing her to ram into the ground.

"Krifing goddess! He can teleport too?" I cursed out loud.

The man reappeared about twenty feet away and started to dash of as Applejack ran up unseen and prepared a devastating kick, only to have him teleport into the trees above and jump from tree to tree.

Angered by her previous failure, Dash jumped up and sped at the runner, I prayed that she'd make contact. To my disbelief she tackled the human and caused them to both tumble in the air sending them to the ground. At the last second the runner flipped Dash over causing her to absorb the impact as he bounced up and continued running. As I ran past Dash I could her her murmuring something as she was dazed and I knew I couldn't stop now. Twilight had taken the lead and was firing shots of magic bolts at him, he dodged left and right until Twilight got to close and she prepared to charge him. I saw him teleport to Twilight's side and turned to the side and sped off. As we changed direction I saw the embarrassment of letting him trick her like that on her face. As we closed in on him I realized this part of the forest was much more dense, he was trying to lose us in the confusing twists and turns.

"Girls! We CANNOT lose him in here. We have GOT to make this work!" I yelled over my heavy breathing.

They grunted in confidence this time, I know they couldn't do this on their own so I planned a little trick when they distracted him.

Applejack sprinted on ahead again, running through the trees next to the runner as Twilight and Rainbow Dash distracted him from behind and above. She pounced and and kicked with all her might, I could see she was hoping somehow she could contribute to the chase and she was rewarded, as her kick landed on his side, sending him into a tumble. Dash didn't hesitate a second before she slammed him into a tree, pinning him against it. Applejack came to help but both were sent flying away when a burst of energy erupted from the magic.

"What in TARNATi-" Applejack yelled as her and Dash landed in a glop of mud a few yards away.

The runner turned to escape but my plan was coming.

"TWILIGHT NOW!" I yelled and her horn flared up and the runner was caught in a barrier that formed on his body.

I took my chance and dashed into the shrubs and made my way in front of the group and waited. He soon broke out of the barrier and sprinted towards me, I let out a smile as I prepared the ambush.

"NAKATA COROTH!" I bellowed and my body was consumed by an inferno as I sprayed the pathway ahead of him in fire.

He stopped dead in his tracks and formed a shield as I walked to him, the girls surrounded him from the ground and above and we waited. I let myself extinguish and felt empowered by our victory. We had him, and now it was time for questions.

"Well" I started, "YOU have something to explain to us now."

He didn't move a muscle as I analyzed him over. He wore a dark grey hoodie and running pants. His face was covered with a black ski mask and dark tented wind goggles accustomed to the Klimith people of the Fifth Nation, a huge tundra covered area, and wore them as a necessity.

"Now, tell us why you've been following me. How long you've been following me," I demanded.

He looked at me and then at my friends, Applejack and Rainbow Dash were mud covered and very angry, ready to pounce. Twilight had her horn ablaze, meeting him in a stare. I knew he was sizing up the situation, but instead of making a move he lowered his barrier and turned to me again. He walked calmly towards me and I heard Twilight almost growl in protection, her horn was covered in her lavender aura. I felt my hands light as he stopped nearly a foot away from me, I was about to knock him back but I was cut off as he uttered his first words.

He took a breath and then said with a strained voice, "I'm here because of you. It is my job to keep you alive."

Chapter 9: Long, Far Off, Unhappy Things

Chapter 9: Questions and Sorrow

"Protect me? Explain now," I barely managed over my adrenaline rush.

The runner stood before me, surrounded by my friends, motionless and uncaring. He was within arms reach of me, I felt like ending it and striking him down with a fiery strike, but I needed answers.

"I said talk." I hissed, getting a reaction from his eyes.

He looked me over one more time and finally spoke, "You are Magi. The last Magi we will ever see for a long time. I was sent to protect you, keep you safe, until we knew you can hold your own, and continue the arts."

Every urge in my body told me to stop listening, to just end him right now, but I resisted.

"Who is we? And what do you mean? You're obviously trained in magic. I'm not the last?" I asked him.

I heard a small chuckle behind the ski masked man in front of me.

"The Order of Al'uon. The keepers of the Goddess's gift. And while I am considered a magi, you are a pure blood. The last untapped magi in Karkland. I am simply a half-blood, maybe still beyond you, but that will change in time," he stated simply.

Pure blood, the words ran through my mind. Someone born with the genes of the first Karklandic Magi's had, very rare but extremely powerful. I saw Twilight off to my side, her face in a sort of surprise and shock, Apple Jack and Rainbow Dash seemed confused but didn't take their eyes off the stranger. I continued questioning him as my thoughts processed.

"That's impossible; there hasn't been a pure blood in two hundred years," I retorted.

"Until you were born Evan," he said.

My hands lit, my stomach tightened and I felt myself about to jump at him.

"HOW THE KRIFE DO YOU KNOW MY NAME?" I shouted, ready for anything to happen.

He just stood there calmly, making no movements, not caring that I was about to reduce him to ash.

"Because we sensed your birth. The power that magic influences exploded when you became of this world. And I was tasked with following and protecting you since." he explained.

It wasn't enough for me. I lurched at him; the inferno that was my hand stopped within inches of his face. My body was overwhelmed by anger and confusion.

"Tell...me...everything," I demanded.

He pushed my hand away from his face and let out a sigh before he started to speak.

"It was I that helped rescue you from Talaki's prison. I arranged for your family's refuge to Juno. And I was there the day the city fell, but after you were carried away all that happened was you. You saved yourself with a barrier spell far greater than I've seen before, and when I arrived in Equestria I easily found your power and tracked you down. If you really want everything then we will talk later. For now that's the sum of it. Any more questions?" he said.

I was numb. He was at Juno; he saw all of those people be murdered like animals; he most likely saw my family die right in front of me; he saw my face as I watched Tamra be turned to nothing as I broke into nothingness that day. I wanted to vomit. All of the memories flooded back in a instant. I grabbed the pendant around my neck and held it tight, resisting my sickness.

I regained myself on the outside, putting back on a facade as I was breaking down mentally again. I looked over again and I could tell Twilight knew, her eyes told it all, filled with sadness and wanting to help. But she couldn't, it was too much.

"Well..." I started, trying to figure the words I was saying, "I guess you answered my questions. What should I do with you now?"

He simply shrugged and said, "I built myself a shanty not to far away from the town you're staying in. I planned on staying there, no matter the circumstances."

I thought about it for awhile, letting this human who I've never seen before, but knew me my whole life, live so close to me. I decided I would take the upper hand.

"Fine. But I will have eyes on you. Including mine, I never trust a man behind a mask easily," I warned.

I could tell he formed a smirk as he joked, "Sorry, it is tradition. But I do have a few things for you."

He reached into his back pack and pulled out a pistol. I thought about throwing him to the ground but he held it out to me.

"You might need this, magic only has so much resources to rely on. Backups never hurt. And by the way, I could take you down with a single thought. You're not all powerful yet young magi," he said, a little threat hidden beneath truth.

I eyed him as I took the pistol and placed the holster on my side. It was an older model, almost looked to be clockwork era but it was engraved with power symbols of magic. I was about to ask him but he pulled something else out.

"And here's a holo..for updates on our home," he added.

I looked at the computer in his palm, with a click of the button it would open and reveal to me any answers I needed on what was happening back home. I took it hurriedly and placed it in my pocket.

"So what now?" I asked him, "Do you become my mentor or something? Because I can tell you I will not kri-"

He cut me off before I finished.

"Nothing like that. I am here to observe and protect. If you want lessons all you have to do is ask. Same with answers. You would not listen to me anyway, but for now, it's time to return home. It's been an eventful day and things have changed. Goodbye," he said as he made his way back through the forest.

Dash was about to pounce him, but I held her back by grabbing her tail with my mind.

"Hey! Are you just going to let him walk away!?" she asked hysterically.

I eyed him as he walked away and told her, "For now, yes. I will press him later, but as of now...I have some catching up to do."

_______________________________________________

The train ride back to Ponyville was silent, except for Pinkie constantly talking and trying to interact with me. Twilight kept her at bay most of the time as I was on my newly acquired computer that sat in my lap, blaring to life as the projection screen hovered above the small console. My mind was thinking about two things at the time, the human who apparently is my guardian and has been following and protecting me my whole life, and what was I about to find as I searched for a specific city on the holo. I sighed heavily and heartbroken as I typed the words 'Juno, Avak District, Seventh Nation of Karkland. My emotions nearly made me collapse as I was greeted with images of horror and death. My hands were shaking unintentionally as I saw the city had been reduced to nearly rubble, body bags were lined up on the street as the soldiers of the Seventh stood in disgust and horror. I read one headline that informed me that the survivors of the initial attack were rounded up and executed, one by one..on camera. My mental state finally pushed out of the inside and tears began flowing as I saw the bodies of good friends and neighbors layed out like they were worthless. The six ponies down the train car jumped up and were making their way over but I didn't let them as I stood up and almost ran to the next car, away from them. I looked around and saw it was empty and I broke down, letting everything flood out. My pendant dangled in front of me and I opened it, knowing full well it would only cause more pain. I scrolled through everything, from family trips to the lakes, to holiday photos, to me and my parents together in our new home in Juno. The next picture I stopped on and froze, it was my three sisters in a group, all hugging and smiling at me. Casey and her little self was to the right grinning with her almost full set of teeth, Sarah was to the left and her long blonde hair flowed like the ocean, and then Tamra was in the middle. Her dark brown eyes and black hair were the exact same as mine, showing her independence and strong will like nothing I've seen. I closed the pendant after that and thought to myself for a long time, very dark thoughts. Everything had been taken from me, all the people that I loved, the city that raised me, everything was gone.

I slipped my hand down to the holstered pistol at my side, closed my eyes, and whispered, "I should be with you all in the Void."

I felt my hand let go as Twilight entered the cart I was in, her face saddened at the state I was in.

"Hey Evan...do you want to talk?" she asked me.

I could tell she wanted me to spill everything but I pushed it back in.

"No thanks Twi...I'm fine. When we get back to Ponyville I'm going for a long walk okay?" I told her and left it at that.

I then got up and walked with her the train cart holding my five other friends, and knew that I was going to hurt them badly.

______________________________________

As we disembarked the train my mind was blank, devoid of all emotion, but set on what I was doing. I turned to my friends and hugged all of them before returning to the library with Twilight. I opened the door and let her in. As I did, she paused and looked back.

"Still going for that walk?" she said unsure.

A nod was my only response.

"Well what time do you think you'll be back? It's been a crazy few days with everything and I think we need a good dinner and rest. I actually have some fish for you!" she said as she grinned slightly.

I actually smiled at that and answered, "I dunno Twi. I'm just going out, I'll be back when my body tells me I'm ready."

She trotted a hoof as I walked away but called out behind me, "Evan wait.."

I turned around to hear her.

"You know we all love you right? That I love you? And you can talk to any of us about anything.." she said.

A hint of sorrow crossed my face as she knew I was shattered.

"I know Twi..I love all of you too. Don't...don't ever forget that," I said as I finally walked away from my best friend, bent on doing something that I know would shatter her heart.

I walked though town like I did every other day, waving at my friends and smiling with the first fake smile I've done in awhile. They knew nothing was wrong, and I hoped none of them would be the one to find me. I passed by a light green unicorn who smiled at me greatly and waved.

"Hey Evan!" Lyra said as she approached me.

"Oh, hey Lyra. What's up?" I replied.

I didn't want to continue the conversation but I was not about leave my last impression as a jerk.

"Welllll I was wondering if maybe you wanted to go get a smoothie with me or something? You know kinda repay you for almost standing in your way at the wedding hehe.." she said nervously.

"Crap," I thought to myself, "Why now Lyra, why in the hell now?"

I had known she had a crush on me, mostly from the stares she hadn't thought I noticed in town, but also from Rarity who could hardly keep something like that a secret.

I gently smiled at her and replied, "Im sorry Lyra, but I'm going on a walk for awhile...maybe some other time okay?"

The lie hurt as it left my mouth.

She seemed disappointed but regained herself quickly and said, "Well can I come along wit-"

I couldn't let her continue as I cut her off and said not to, that it would not be for the best. She seemed hurt at that but I explained that I needed to clear my mind and that seemed to calm her. I said my goodbye and knew she was still looking at me until I made my way out of Ponyville and headed for a lone tree overlooking the pond outside of town.

I arrived at the solitary pine tree and sat down against it, looking over the beautiful scenery that it beheld. The breeze sent ripples though the large pond, causing tiny waves to wash gently onto the shore. Canterlot was in view and it was more amazing far away as it rose above the lush forest, overlooking all of Ponyville and the land around it. I closed my eyes and took in a heavy breath and took advantage of the many scents that came with it. I opened my eyes again and grabbed my pendant, opening it one last time. I scrolled through the pictures again, memories now pouring in, both the bad and good. I finished scrolling as I reached the last picture and it made my heart melt. It was the picture of me and Scootaloo, she was on top of my head smiling with the biggest grin I've ever seen, her eyes filled with joy beyond any measure. I looked at myself, the same could almost be said for me at that point as I smiled and closed the pendant. I had been a big brother once, and I became one again, but now this time I was ridding an innocent little filly of someone who loved her.

I drew the pistol from the holster and thought aloud, "I'm sorry everyone. I know what I'm about to do will cause more pain than anything you've experienced. But I can't go on anymore. I've tried but everything keeps coming back, the nightmares of what happened...keep coming back."

I teared up as I said my last confession and put the gun to my head, the cold metal sent a slight shiver in me.

"I'm sorry everyone. I'm sorry Twilight. I'm so sorry Scootaloo. I love you all very much...may you and the Goddess forgive me," I said.

And I pulled the trigger.

Chapter 10: A Nation's Plea

Chapter 10: Long, Far Off, Unhappy Things

"Twilight he said he wanted to be alone, you know how he is. Why do you want to go an bother him?" Spike said to Twilight.

She didn't care. Her mind was made up, her stubbornness at a peak.

"You saw how he was Spike, he needs someone to talk to, and that someone is me. Now we'll be back later, go get some rest okay?" she said to the young dragon.

"Fine. Whatever Twi," Spike said as he made his way upstairs.

Twilight then made her way out of the library into town to look for her human friend.

"I know he's hurting, and I know he wants his own space, but I can't let him do this on his own," she thought to herself, but she realized she had no clue where to begin looking.

Twilight sighed to herself and began asking everypony she saw around town if they'd seen Evan at all, some seeing him briefly or not at all. She was about to give up and teleport to all his usual hangout places until she saw a very happy Lyra bouncing in place as she was talking to Bon Bon.

"Ah, why didn't I think of asking Lyra in the first place? She's always watching him," she said to herself as she laughed at the thought.

Twilight then made her way over to the pair and was greeted by Lyra with a huge gasp.

"Twilight! GUESS WHAT! hehe!" the light green unicorn almost shouted, making Twilight stumble back a bit.

"Uh hey girls, whats up Lyra?" she asked.

"I finally asked Evan out on a date and he said yes! Hehe, were going out for smoothies really soon!" she squeed in delight.

Twilight on the other hand, almost had her jaw hit the floor.

"What..? Evan wouldn't go on a date with Lyra would he? And he'd rather go out to the club instead of smoothies. " Twilight thought to herself with a pang of...jealousy?

But she had heard what Lyra had said and felt almost numb, after all the time her and Evan have spent together he agrees to go on a date with the pony who has been pretty much stalking him? She tried to push the thought aside until she found him and then would rip into him about it.

"Oh that's...great Lyra, anyway did you happen to see where he went off too? I need to talk to him about some things," she said.

Lyra was still in the middle of giggles while she answered, "Yep! He walked off down to the lake, but he seemed kinda down, he wouldn't let me come with him, said he needed alone time."

"Okay, thanks Lyra, see you girls later," Twilight said blankly.

As she made her way towards the lake she heard behind her some more giggling and an annoyed sigh from Bon Bon.

Now coming over the hill that lead to the lake, Twilight was once again filled with the thought of Lyra and Evan.

"Why am I worrying about it so much? He can do whatever he wants. When the human nation and Equestria were close there were many pony and human couples...but that's not why I'm upset. Do I like Evan?" she thought.

She felt butterflies in her stomach and her face blushing at the thought, which gave it away to herself in an instant. She realized she had gotten very close to him in the past months he has been here, he considered her his best friend of the six and did pretty much everything together.

"He's trusted me with so many things, and I of him. He's opened up to me before anyone else about his past, the only thing he is still hiding is what happened that day," she thought as she reached the top of the cliff, "I know he hates it when I pry..But I care about him way to much to even think about him being in pain. He's going to get a lecture if he doesn't open up. And then I'll work Lyra in there someho-".

Twilight stopped dead in her tracks, all previous thoughts erased when the sight before her played out. She saw Evan sitting against a tree and put his new gun to his head, she wanted to scream but no words formed. She wanted to dash at him, but her muscles were locked. The only thing she could do was feel the tears and dread form as she was about to see her best friend take his own life. She nearly collapsed as she heard the loud -BANG- of the handgun go off, until she saw it flying away in an orange aura.

*****************************************

I pulled the trigger and I felt the heat of the gun, I heard the gunfire go off right next to my head. But I was still very much alive. I opened my eyes and saw the gun was tossed aside at the very last moment, a millisecond longer and I'd have been dead. I felt myself tense up with anger, for I had been denied my way out of my misery, and sadness of why I had to keep going. I turned to see who or what had stopped me and saw who I expected, it was the other human, his hands aglow in the orange aura that defined him. Rage finally took over as I shot straight up, no longer was I looking for answers, now I was just bent on destroying him.

"You just HAD to follow me this time didn't you, you goddess damned STALKER!" I yelled.

He still hid behind his mask and goggles but I heard a gruff sigh from beneath it.

"I told you my house was over here, you just happened to be in a spot where I saw you. And you just happened to be doing something very stupid, and I couldn't allow it," he said calmly.

But I never heard a word of it, I wanted a fight and I was going to get one.

"Stupid? No, it was stupid letting you walk away," I said bitterly and flared my hands up.

He eyed me cautiously.

"You don't want to do this. I can take you down without hurting you...permanently," he said threateningly.

And that was it for me. I charged up and sent a plume of fire straight at him, not letting up an instant, yelling in anger which only fueled me. He put up a barrier and seemed to bat my attack out of the air like nothing. After my inferno let up he sent a barrage of ice shards hurdling towards me, which I engulfed in a fireball as big as a small boulder, and let it fly towards the other magi. He put up another barrier, but I was ready this time, as the fireball connected to it I took back control and sent it around the front and brought the blaze upon his unprotected back. He figured this out quickly and regained control but not before being singed on his lower back.

He looked back at me now with his eyes filled with not anger, but determination to end this fight. I hardly noticed before I was picked up and slammed into the pine tree, the impact took all my breath out and I fell to the ground. It took only a second for me to recover and stand back up but he was on me in less. He got in close and peppered me with quick, magic fueled punches to the chest which left me stunned. He ended the barrage with a solid punch to my stab wound and brought me to the ground once again. As I laid on my stomach, trying to catch my breath again and aching in pain, he flipped me over and squatted down to look into my eyes. I was done and he knew it, everything had happened to quick and he took me down so easily. My anger had been replaced my pain and shame, the sadness still dominated the other areas of my brain.

As he looked down on me he said only one sentence, "Tell me why."

I knew what he meant by it, and I had no other choice but to tell him, the fight in me was gone at that moment.

"Because my life was ruined. Everything was taken from me, everyone I loved. You might have seen it happen to me, but you will NEVER know what that kind of loss feels like," I told him.

He then smacked me across my face, which did nothing but shock me into surprise.

"Don't you EVER make that kind of assumption you krifing idiot. Everyone has been affected by this damn war...everybody..." he paused, his eyes showed a brief flash of pain,"But let me tell you something.." he continued, his voice getting calmer and gentle, "You might not see how important you are, but something is happening, something awful. What it is, I have no idea, the Order has told me nothing beyond that. But you are needed, not in the point of being used, you as in everything you are."

His words struck me as I was lying on the ground, unsure of what to make of it. What was happening and why me? Nothing was making sense, but he seemed to not understand either. I snapped back to reality as he started talking again.

"Too many human lives have been lost in this damn war young one, and too many by their own hands. I couldn't let you just take your life, out of my duty and morality, and because I know that you don't want to die," he paused, my full attention on him, "From what I've seen in my time here, you've picked up a new life, filled with many friends and a new family. Not to replace your old one...but to help you adjust and move on. What you were about to do would destroy everyone that cares about you, and undo everything fate has in store. And that's something I cannot allow. It was selfish and stupid, but it was stopped."

He finished, his words genuine and point taken in my head.

I was still in silence for another minute before I was able to say something.

"What is you're name?" was all I asked.

What seemed like a random question was said as a sign of new respect and understanding. He picked up on it and smiled faintly under his mask.

"You may call me...Davian," he replied.

I simply nodded at him, which showed I had taken in everything he said and believed, I was just too emotionally wrecked to say it aloud. He returned the nod and sat me up before speaking again.

"I know you have questions about the events I have told you, but the answers to them I do not have," he said as he glanced off beyond my shoulder and his eyes dropped a bit, "But if you're frustrations are out meet me at my home and I will answer anything you ask to the best ability, for now I would spend time with the ones you love, I think you need it."

He held out his hand for me to shake, and I took it, after he turned around and walked in the direction to his home, leaving me to turn and look at what had made him glance off.

The pony who stood in front of me made my heart drop, I saw Twilight standing within feet of me, her big eyes filled with tears. I was about to say something before she tackled me down and held on to me now crying.

"WHY? Why Evan, why were you going to do that?" she yelled at me. "Were you just going to hurt me and everypony else like that so calmly?!"

I sat in silence holding my crying friend while she continued to yell and punch me a bit, letting her tire out. She had stopped yelling after a few moments and began sobbing, I just held her tighter and began rubbing her mane, tears now in my eyes. Her mane was silky to the touch as I ran my hand down it, trying to calm Twilight down.

"Twi...I'm so sorry. I cannot apologize enough, but it wasn't me," I explained, "Something else took over..something dark, and I just let it do whatever it wanted. But I'm back now, it's me again."

She finally brought her head off my shoulder and looked at me, her coat was wet from tears still streaming down her face and her eyes looked into mine.

"But I thought you had gotten better? I thought all of us had helped you, I thought I had helped you through all of it!" she said between sobs.

I couldn't hold back anymore tears at that point, I hated her being upset, and to know I caused it just meant that I had to fix it. I felt like I had crushed her, and I felt like I was the weakest person on the planet at that point.

"I'm only human Twi...sometimes bad things happen to us that we can't control, but you and everyone else have helped me so much I can never begin to explain. Don't ever think you haven't," I said seriously.

She kept looking into my eyes before resting her head on my shoulder again, the sobs getting quieter now and her breathing was normal.

"I love you Evan..please don't ever take yourself away. Please don't ever leave me." she pleaded.

I felt my heart warm up at the words; I was going to make this right again; I was going to make this up to her.

"I'm never going to leave you Twilight. I love you too...and I promise," I said, as we sat under the lone pine tree holding each other for sometime.

_____________________________

A day had passed and the event that had happened yesterday was kept a secret. Twilight and Davian were the only ones who knew, and Davian wouldn't interfere with my friends. I had decided too take up his words and spend some extra time with my friends today as I walked around town. Twilight was still somewhat upset about what happened but that was expected, but she trusted that I'd keep my word. Today had been pretty eventful from the start, I had a big breakfast with Twilight and Spike, followed with a trip to Sugar Cube Corner to help Pinkie bake a dozen cakes for a party she was throwing for someone. I then joined Rainbow Dash and Applejack in a friendly race which I was destroyed in. After that I had gone over to Fluttershy's cottage to help her adjust some new animals to their homes, which mostly meant her getting nervous when I touched baby animals. Finally, Rarity had called me to her boutique to get a few designs for new sets of clothes for me, which ended with me leaving with a bag full of new jackets and pants, as winter was starting to be brought in. As I thanked the white unicorn I decided I'd go and pick Scootaloo up from school and spend the rest of the day with her, doing whatever she wanted.

As I made my way to the school I saw Lyra sitting on a bench who then blushed as her eyes locked onto me.

"Hey again Evan! Sooo I was just wondering if you still wanted to get a smoothie or something?" she squeed shyly.

I smiled at her and realized how happy and nervous she was.

"Sure Lyra, how about later tonight hmm?" I said.

Her only reaction was to jump up and hug me, blush and run off towards her house to probably bug Bon Bon with the news. I smiled after her and continued my way to the school.

"I'd much rather go to the club though," I thought to myself.

Finally reaching the school building just in time as the bell rang, I waited outside for Scootaloo who walked out last alongside Sweetie Bell and Applebloom. As she noticed me a huge grin came across her face and dashed towards me, her little wings fluttered as she jumped into my already out stretched arms for a hug.

"Evan! Whats up? What are you doing here?" she said excitedly.

"Well I just thought that maybe you'd like to hangout a little today?" I grinned at her.

She nodded hurriedly but then looked back at her friends.

"Uh..is that okay with you girls?" she said nervously.

Applebloom spoke up in an instant, saying with a smile, "Well duh! Why wouldn't it be okay? Go hangout with your big brother!"

"Besides, we don't have any crusading to do until tomorrow!" Sweetie Bell spoke up.

"Awesome! Thanks guys; see you later!" Scootaloo said as the duo made their way home.

Scootaloo then turned back to me and climbed onto my shoulders, her wings still fluttering.

"Well Scoot, waddya wanna do today?" I asked her.

"Whatever is fine for me big bro! I'd like to practice some new moves on my scooter, but we have to stop my my house so I can drop my school stuff off," she said.

And with that we made our way to the little filly's home.

As we arrived she hopped down and brought me inside, showing me around and bringing me to her room. On her walls were posters of the famous Wonder Bolts everywhere along with some rock and roll pony bands.

"Wow Scoot, pretty cool room you got here, might even rival Rainbow Dash," I said.

She giggled at the thought.

"Yeah right, she's the coolest pony ever! No one is cooler than her, well except you, but you know what I mean," she said.

I ruffed up her mane and made her giggle more.

"Sure I do punk," I replied.

At that point a voice called from down the hallway, saying, "Scoot honey, is that you?"

Scootaloo looked up and yelled back, "Yes Nanna, I'm in my room with Evan, just showing him around."

After a few seconds a middle aged Earth pony stepped into the doorway.

"Oh hello dear! How are you doing today?" she said politely.

Something seemed off about her.

"Hi Miss Buckle, how are you today?" I said to Scootaloo's nanny.

"I'm doing well dear. I'm actually glad you stopped by, may I have a word with you for a moment?" she said, still polite.

I looked down to Scootaloo who was confused but I ruffed her mane once more.

"Of course you may, be right back Scoot," I said as I left the room with the nanny.

"Is everything okay Miss Buckle? You seem kinda upset about something," I said.

She brought me to the living room before sighing and looking at me with heavy eyes.

"No my dear; something is not okay. I'm afraid the payment left by Scootaloo's parents is running out, and I will have to move back to Manehatten," she explained sadly.

Her words hit me like I ran into a brick wall.

"What!?" I exclaimed, trying to keep my voice down, "What will happen to her?"

"Well I had planned on taking her with me, I love the child with all my heart, but the payment for the house and my services in Ponyville are almost gone," she said.

"But you can't take her from here! Everything she knows is here, all her friends and I! It would destroy whatever family value she still has left," I said, now desperate.

Miss Buckle simply looked at me and smiled as she said, "And that is exactly why I want her to stay here with you."

My eyes opened wide and I hesitated for a second.

"I'm only eighteen...I agree to taking her but as to why you chose me I don't know why." I said to her questioningly.

Her dark blue eyes shone with happiness and loss.

"Ever since her parents disappeared in their trip to the Griffon lands I have looked after young Scootaloo for years. She's turning twelve this year and in all my time I have never seen her grow to love and care about someone more than you. And I could not bare to take that away...I will miss her with all my heart, but she will be happy to know that she has you to look after her." she said.

We stood together in silence before I spoke up.

"When and how are you going to tell her?" I asked.

She looked like her heart had been taking a beating but she quickly overcame that.

"Tonight would be best, and I will explain to her about you taking her in. Are you sure Twilight will be okay with it?"

I didn't blink before I gave an instant 'Yes."

"Fantastic...now why don't you go and spend the day with her, I have much to sort and pack," she said before walking off holding in a sniff.

As I re-entered Scootaloo's room I was much more solemn, but smiled as I saw her bouncing up and down on her bed, her wings letting her hover up for a couple seconds. She stopped as she saw me and sat down and I took a seat next to her.

"Hey Evan, what was all that about?" she asked.

I thought about telling her, but quickly pushed that away.

"Just something your nanny wanted to talk about, don't worry everything is fine Scoot," I answered.

She shrugged and smiled at me but then saw my face and looked at my pendant.

"Hey big bro, can I ask you a question?" she asked.

"Well duh, ask away squirt," I said calmly, expecting something dorky or cute.

"Are you happy here in Ponyville? And that I'm your little sister now?" she asked.

"Of course I'm happy Scootaloo, especially with you! Wha-What would make you think I'm not?" I asked her, shocked.

She brought her tail around her and scooted next to me.

"Well some days when I see you, you look really really sad. You may think other ponies don't notice it, but I can tell. Especially after you look through your camera necklace," she explained.

My heart felt heavy, and I tried to explain the best I could.

"A lot happened to me before Scoot...some really bad things. And some things on my pendant bring back those bad things and really upset me," I explained.

"Well, what kinda things are on there? Does it have to do with your..family?" she asked now concerned.

I thought a moment before answering and turned to her.

"Yeah it does Scoot...but those are things that you should never have to worry about hun," I said.

Scootaloo thought for a moment before jumping up and hugging me.

"Well, I do worry about you, but those things aren't going to come back today or anytime soon big bro. Not if I can help it, I love you Evan," she said before squeezing me harder.

I chuckled to myself and hugged the filly back.

"And I love you too Scoot, you're a perfect little sister," I said back to her.

She giggled again and then got back to her defiant self.

"Alright come on! We got some new moves to practice!" she said, grabbing her scooter and helmet, motioning me to follow her.

I smiled as I stood up, following her out into the street. As we made our way to her practice spot I thought about what her and Twilight had said, I looked around town to see all the ponies laughing and doing what they did daily. As I passed them by I was greeted with smiles and waves instead of quick glances and whispers. I thought about the town itself, the six mares, and a little pegasus filly who had adopted me into their family.

Soon I found myself thinking of the future here, instead of those long, far off, unhappy things.

Chapter 11: Doubts

Chapter 11: A Nation's Plea

I sat alone under the pine tree overlooking the lake, but in much different spirits than I was a few days ago. Everything seemed to be smoothing out in my new life at this point. Twilight had little objection to Scootaloo moving in with us. Scootaloo had been more than excited, except when Miss Buckle had finally left back to Manehatten after all these years. But Scootaloo understood what had happened, and her spunky self brightened up quick with the new idea of staying with Twilight and me. I smiled at the thought of going home and seeing the happy filly with her friends over, finally having a real family, before continuing my reading.

I looked down at the computer screen which hovered in the air; I had been reading news of the war back home nearly all day, almost none of it good, but I put up a heavy wall for that information. What struck me as good news was that the Seventh had sided with the People's Coalition of Karkland against the Sengian Empire and the Janmori Ascension. The PCK and the Sengian Empire were by far the biggest factions of the civil war; they were of course the factions that started the war in the first place. Neither side was a truly "good" or "evil"; they fought for what they thought was right. But the democratic PCK wants a free, united Karkland and is commanded by all of its nations leaders, while the Sengian is ruled by Emperor Valenti Koropaz as the supreme leader. I hated the war with every inch of my body. It had taken countless lives,and left countless more ruined like mine, but most of them never got a second chance like I did. But I took this alliance as good news, the Seventh was a peaceful nation, and it wanted its people free.

I looked up for a moment to rest my eyes from the computer and stare over the beautiful landscape before me. Everything here was so innocent and untouched. Even though Equestria was only separated from Karkland by a small sea, it had remained just the way it is after all the years next to my homeland. I continued to look over the horizon until a faint but familiar sound caught my attention. It was a distant "beep beep" that seemed to be getting closer and closer to my location. Then suddenly I realized what it was as the object flew past my head, its direction towards the great city of Canterlot. It was a message drone, its blinking light a bright red indicating an emergency message.

"This isn't going to be good in the slightest," I said to myself, trying to be calm as I picked myself up, but gave up quickly as I started sprinting back to Ponyville.

_________________________________________

"What do you mean it's headed to Canterlot!?" Twilight said hysterically as my group of friends listened to the news I had brought to them.

"That's all it means Twilight, it's a message drone, they're not dangerous. But I'm still worried, why would Karkland be contacting Canterlot? And what side?" I pondered out loud, now getting a bit anxious myself.

"Well whoever it is or whatever it is why don't we just go talk to the Princesses?" Rainbow Dash suggested as Twilight shrugged at the idea.

"I think we should just wait and see if the Princesses even need to talk to us about it?" I finally said after a moment.

All of the ponies around me just sighed, except for Pinkie who stood there smiling and waiting. I shook my head and laughed to myself, at least one of them was calm. At that moment Spike burst into the room followed by Scootaloo.

"Guys! Message from the Princess!" he said urgently, the bow that tied the scroll together was black instead of its usual red, indicating top priority.

"Wow! Good idea Evan, that worked really well!" Pinkie Pie exclaimed, which I couldn't help but smirk at.

Soon all of our attention was turned to Twilight as she levitated the scroll in front of her and read it aloud.

"Twilight Sparkle, a urgent message has come to Luna and I from Karkland. I would like Evan and all of you in Canterlot as soon as possible. Yours, Princess Celestia," she said.

All eyes turned to me as she finished, and as if on impulse I got moving.

"Well come on! What are we waiting for? Lets go!" I said hurriedly as the others and I made for the train station.

Before I was able to leave the house I felt a tug at my leg and turned to see Scootaloo with big, glaring eyes.

"You're not just going to leave me here all by myself are you?!" she said in a hurt and angry tone.

I bent down and smiled at her before scooping her up and putting her on my shoulders.

"Of course not Scoot, family doesn't leave family behind," I said, which beat down any feelings other than happiness in the little filly.

Pinkie Pie suddenly appeared next to me bouncing.

"That's exactly what Granny Pie said to me when I was a little filly! And we're all family so lets go!" she said bouncing next to us the whole time.

A smile hid my face from the true feelings of angst and dread as we settled on the train to Canterlot. I had no clue what was going to be the message, and I looked all around the train car at all of my friends. I prayed that whatever it was wouldn't change us, wouldn't change the nation around me, and wouldn't change me. I was sent back to reality as a hoof was placed on my shoulder and I turned to see Applejack looking at me with a concerned face.

"You alright Sugarcube?" she asked.

I couldn't lie to the Element of Honesty, she'd see right through it.

"I don't know AJ, I'm worried," I admitted.

She seemed to be able to read my mind as she just smiled.

"Don't you worry a hair, ain't nothin' gonna change anything," she said as she settled into the seat and looked out the window.

Twilight took the other seat next to me and laid her head on my shoulder, she was even more worried than I. Pinkie and Scootaloo were playing a game that involved keeping Rarity's favorite comb away from her as Dash laughed at her expense, while Fluttershy sat across from me giving me the same worried glances that I had on my face that was natural to her. Finally the train started moving, and we were on the way to a new situation, one that involved a nation at war.

_________________________________

As the train arrived at the Canterlot station we were greeted by two royal guards who told us we were to be taken to see the two Princesses at once. As they lead the way I had Scootaloo propped on my shoulders again and Twilight pacing nervously next to me.

"Twilight you need to calm down; we don't even know what's going on and you're already freaking out," I told her, but I was every bit as worried on the inside.

She saw through the facade easily with a glare and turned back to the path ahead, murmuring to herself about what she should do in any scenario. I shook my head and felt Scootaloo give a nervous twitch of her legs against my head.

"You alright up there hun?" I asked her.

She started rubbing her hooves nervously on my head.

"I don't know whats going on bro, why is everyone so worried?" she asked curiously.

"Nothing you need to worry about Scoot, I'm gonna handle it don't worry," I said as I put on my big brother character and she seemed to calm down. "But you're going to wait outside the throne with Spike while I do okay?"

She didn't like that part at all and yelled, "What! Why?"

Twilight and Applejack turn their heads in surprise.

I waved them off before explaining, "'Cause it's really important Scoot, and this is just something the seven of us have to do alone. Don't worry about it okay?" I said.

She gave me an annoyed huff and was silent for the rest of the trip.

We had finally made it to the castle and the guards let us find our way to the throne room ourselves. Twilight was now freaking out even more as we reached the large throne room doors. I picked up Scootaloo off of my shoulders and put her on the ground, her little wings fluttering in slight anger and her eyes looking at me in the same way.

"It won't take long, I promise. Besides, you gotta watch Spike and make sure he doesn't get into trouble. Love you, kiddo," I said as the seven of us walked into the gigantic room in front of us.

"Yeah, love you to bro," was all I heard from behind me.

The two large doors shut gently behind us in a magic glow as we saw the two alicorns waiting for us next to a large object with a blinking light, the message drone. As we reached them all of my friends bowed in respect except for me, I wasn't a citizen and they didn't rule me. But I gave a friendly smile and nod to both of them, especially Luna the Lunar Princess, who I became closer to than Celestia on my trips here. As my friends rose the Sun Goddess stepped foward and began speaking.

"I'm sure you can see why we have called you here my little ponies, and human, for we have received this drone from our neighbors to the east, Karkland." she paused and looked to me. "Evan my dear friend, we have not viewed the message inside yet because we wanted you here for input."

"Well Celestia," I saw Twilight twitch out the corner of my eye for using just her name, the Princess seemed however perfectly fine, "I'll certainly try."

"We uh, also do not know how to activate it," Luna said with a sheepish smile.

That was why I was fond of her, she was to a point silly, but still held a very regal demeanor and I couldn't help but chuckle.

"Of course," I said as I walked over to the drone, "Let's see what home has to say."

As soon as I said it, I regretted my words.

I pushed the viewing button on the drones front casing and instantly a large holo screen burst to life with the image of General Augustus Yavik staring at us, the high general of the People's Coalition of Karkland. My heart dropped at the site of this once great man's face. His whole life he was a man of honor, mercy and compassion, and the war had torn all of that into a sunken face who had seen more death and destruction than one human should ever see. Then he began talking.

"Greetings Princess Celestia and Luna of Equestria. I am General Augustus Yavik of Karkland, and I have sent this message in a time of great need," the hologram general said.

All faces were set in stone watching the recording, except for mine which was preparing for the worst.

"Many years ago, my ancestors could recall a time where Karkland and Equestria were once great friends, and it shames me that in such a long period that this message is one for help. Karklands war is growing, many people are dying, too many," he said.

At this point, the screen switched from the General to a video. It was a news broadcast in the city of Havel, in the Fourth Nation, which was home to a very deadly battle in the war. I braced myself as the video recorded soldiers of the PCK and the Sengian exchanging fire as missiles rained from above. Civilians caught in the crossfire stood no chance as the eight ponies and I watched them go limp from gunfire and fall to the ground motionless. Suddenly from out of the videos angle one lone figure ran to a group of PCK soldiers and pulled something he held in his hand, then a bright flash of light erupted as they were reduced to nothing in an explosion. My friends and the Princesses faces dropped in shock, Fluttershy started to cry and Pinkie's hair went limp.

The General's image came back into view and continued speaking, "I am very sorry for the images you have seen, but this war is destroying Karkland. And now with the war against the Janmori Ascension...these terrorists are targeting non-combatants on both sides. They slaughter innocent people in their own march for power."

It switched to another video. This time it was a helmet camera of a PCK soldier leading a group of refuges in a large field; this video had audio as well.

"Don't worry everyone, the base camp isn't far from here. We'll get you there in no time," the soldier we were seeing through said, his camera turning to a little girl whose hand he was holding and then behind him at a mass of civilians and soldiers in his protection, "I promise."

The little girl had dark brown hair and beautiful hazel eyes as she looked at the soldier, and us, and gave him a slight smile. She couldn't have been more than ten I figured.

"I know you promise, Daddy, you'll get everyone out, like you did for me." she said.

The solider rubbed her head gently and gave a audible huff as he took back her hand, until he thrashed around quicker than light at a scream. His camera focused on another soldier as he began running.

"CALA MINES!" a soldier yelled.

Then there was nothing but an image of terror as an explosion ripped apart the soldier and the closest group of refuges, sending body parts and dirt everywhere.

"AMBUSH!" shouted the soldier as figures popped up from the area around and began shooting indiscriminately.

The camera turned and the soldier pressed his child to the ground, who began crying in fear, as he wielded his rifle and began returning fire.

I switched my gaze for a moment to the Princesses to see their faces. Celestia seemed shocked but kept it hidden well, while Luna was much more visibly affected; her eyes seemed to be glossy. I turned back to the screen and found myself looking at the ground. The soldier had fallen and blood was spattered across his hand.

He looked up to see approaching figures and screamed at his daughter, "DANALA RUN NOW!" and she obeyed.

The figures came closer to him in the chaos around as surviving PCK soldiers fought back or protected civilians while the attackers continued their killing. Soon the lead human came into view and wore the patches of the Janmori on a wrap around his head. He bent down to look us and the soldier in the eyes.

"It seem you have failed in you're goal Sergeant. Now these unworthy will die, as will you, but do not be scared. Your deaths will help our glorious ascension!" the Janmori said as he brought out a pistol from his holster and aimed it at the Sergeants head.

The camera took one last look around and then back up to the murderer before him.

"My name is Sergeant Carson Faelorn..and I don't break promises," were his final words before he let out a large scream.

He pounced on his executioner, brought him face to face and held something between them, a thermal grenade. The screen went black as he pulled the pin, ending his life.

The message paused for a few moments before returning to the General.

"The sacrifices and death will never go unforgotten. But now, I give you my request, I ask and beg of a save haven for our refuges, for there are none in Karkland. We ask that we may build emergency camps in Equestria for the use of hospitals and housing. I understand that after centuries of no contact this is a massive request, but we have simply run out of options. Whatever your decision may be, this is General Augustus, PCK High Command signing off. May the Goddess be with you and us."

The screen went dark for the final time.

The room was completely silent except for the soft cries of Fluttershy, who had obviously seen much more violence than she knew existed. Right next to me, Twilight had sat down and attempted to realize what had just taken place, Applejack and Rainbow Dash were in shock but still in reality. Pinkie Pie and Rarity just sat there, not knowing what to do, until Princess Celestia finally broke the silence.

"Well...it seems we have a great decision weighed upon us. Any opinions my human friend?" she said to me directly.

I had no clue what to say, except what seemed the most rational at that time, so I picked myself up and responded.

"This war has been going on for centuries...people are still going to die no matter what, innocent people included. This choice is to save a few thousand of those people, but risk involvement in this krifing war," I said.

She nodded her head and asked, "Anypony else?"

Luna then spoke up and said, "When I was on the moon...I watched over both nations..we share the same moon sister. It was awful, what they did to each other. To save even a few would be better than none."

Dash then shot into the air "Yeah! We can't just abandon them like that! We should help them, no we NEED to help them!"

The others nodded in agreement, which Celestia gave a nod back to. After a few moments she stood tall and began speaking.

"I do not think I could call myself a Princess anymore if I let these people die for no reason. Equestria will come to Karklands aid. Word will be passed for volunteers to help aid the displaced humans, doctors, physicians and more, no longer will the innocent suffer so much," she said.

And with that, the decision was made, my heart was twisted with dread and relief. The Princesses thanked us, and as we turned to leave Celestia hit the respond button on the drone and began speaking.

"This is Princess Celestia and Luna of Equestria," was all I heard as the large doors shut behind us.

Outside, Scootaloo and Spike jumped up and nearly pounced on us.

"SO? What happened?" Scootaloo said as she hoped up onto me.

I looked at my six friends with a heavy face.

"Nothing important, Scoot, just something you'd be bored with. But c'mon, how bout we get some donuts before we leave?"

"Oh...well alright," she said and jumped down, walking to Donut Joe's. Twilight and Applejack stayed behind and looked at me with worried faces.

"That was a lot to take in hun, are you okay?" Applejack asked.

"The Princess knows what she's doing Evan, it'll all be okay, she's saving those people," Twilight said as she put a hoof on my side.

She had calmed down much after she realized the importance and gravity of the situation, but both of them were shocked at the images that they had seen.

"Yeah girls..I'm okay, but I hope the Celestia and Luna realized what they just did," I said.

Both of them looked puzzled at my reply.

"An' what did they do Sugarcube?" came a curious response from Applejack.

I paused for a moment and then looked each of them in the eye before simply saying, "They're now part of the Karkland Civil War."

"Pardon?" Applejack asked, confused.

"We just aligned ourselves with the PCK. I don't think the Sengian's will retaliate, but the Janmori..." I trailed off, thinking of the horrors that might happen to those refugees if they did not get the proper protection.

"We still have to help those poor people, Evan. Regardless whether or not these 'Janmori' think of it." Twilight confidently stated.

Her words did nothing to reassure me. She hadn't seen the horrors of the Janmori.

"I know Twi. But anyway, I gotta get Scoots. When's the train for Ponyville leaving anyway?" I asked.

"Uhh, Sugarcube," Applejack said wearily, "We're stayin' for the night. We're leavin' for Ponyville tommorow."

"Oh. Well, I'll head back to the castle as soon as Scoots and I finish the food. I wanted to talk to her about some stuff privately anyways," I said.

All seven parted ways, anticipating rest and time to comprehend the news we had just received.

I entered the store and saw Scootaloo seated in a booth table, slurping down a milkshake, chocolate, by the looks of it. I slid into the other booth.

"Who said you could have that shake?" I asked as she sheepishly smiled, "Without getting me one?"

She took her mouth off of the straw and chuckled.

"Just for that, take these bits and buy me one, and pay for yours while you're at it. Last I recall, you didn't bring any money." I said jokingly.

When she left, I made a mental checklist in my head of what to do. Eat here, go to the castle, and talk to Scootaloo. I never truly connected with her, and figured now would be as good of a time as any. My train of thought was interrupted when she returned with my drink.

"Chocolate, how did you know that was my favorite?" I asked.

"ALL the cool ponies like chocolate,"Scootaloo said with a laugh. "You're cool, right big bro?"

I rolled my eyes and smiled at her antics. I decided to chug down my milkshake, regardless of my suffering after. I tossed out my straw and lifted my glass, attracting Scootaloo's attention. I had finished the chocolate genocide, and slammed my glass onto the table. All of a sudden, Scootaloo started laughing. Curious at what she was laughing at, I skimmed my hands across my face, and felt cream on top of my lips. Without changing my expression, I cleared the whipped cream from my face with a napkin. All of a sudden, my brain started throbbing.

"Ooooowwww," I groaned, putting my head in my hands.

This only served as fuel to Scootaloo's joyous, and somewhat cruel laughter.

I grumbled and said, "Let's go, I need painkillers or something. Ugh!"

The walk back was fairly uneventful. The Guards didn't even stop me, talk to me, or communicate at all, other than lifting their spears and allowing us to pass. I looked down to see Scootaloo yawn as she walked. I smiled and lifted her up over my shoulders, eager to get to our rooms for some well deserved sleep. As I had opened my door, however, I had found an unexpected, and potentially unwanted surprise.

"Greetings," said Davian casually, even after sneaking into the heaviest guarded facility in Equestria.

After our last encounter I had learned not only to respect his fighting prowess, but also fear it. I had jumped up a few inches off the ground upon seeing him there, awakening a napping Scootaloo.

"What do you want Davian?" I asked.

"To tell you what you just got yourself int-" he started.

"AAAAAH!" Scootaloo screamed at the sight of the new human, as she jumped in the air like a scared cat, hitting the ceiling.

I have to admit, the sight was fairly amusing. I caught her in my hands, putting her back on my shoulders. I still couldn't believe it, though. After this whole time, I didn't tell her about Davian, and now I had to tell her of this peculiar being's purpose.

"This is Davian. He's some sort of Guardian, supposed to look out for human mages. He's also supposed to train me to get better," I explained, as briefly as I could. "He's also magic, just like me."

"You are both impatient. I can tell." Davian said as he got up.

It wasn't until now that I had seen his size. He was roughly six feet tall, taller than me by a few inches, give or take. I had always imagined him as smaller.

"I just wanted to tell you how you had changed the fate of this entire world with what you have done. If you would like your, err, sister, to leave the room, now would be a good time to do so," he stated blankly.

"No, what I can hear, she can hear," I said.

"Very well. What you have done today is the beginning of a new era. How this will turn out is impossible to predict. Either faction, even Celestia and Luna's, could rule all of Karkland. The Janmori, needless to say, will the be the ones to start terrorizing the Equestrian people. You have brought new powers into a war that has been only human for centuries. Equestria knows nothing of violence, but they will fight if need be. This is the perfect target for the Janmori Ascension; they are the chaos of Karkland, and they will not stop till every last human bows down to their will. Now that there will be humans in Equestria, the chaos will spread, my young friend," he explained.

Scootaloo sat on my head confused, scared, and shocked, while I just gave him a blank look of knowing.

"You don't think I know that Davian? My whole village, my family, was taken from me by them." I said as Scootaloo looked down at me in a shock of sadness, "I know very well what they're capable of. But until that time comes, the Princesses have the say, and I think they will be prepared. If not, then I am."

Davian sat there just staring a hole through me, searching my face for any indication of fear, and he found it. He gave a large sigh and stood up and walked to my door. He turned around and spoke one last time before leaving.

"Well then I guess I must prepare too then. Find me when you have time; your powers must grow, my young friend," he paused as he was out the door. "Karklands war is coming to an end soon, the order has seen it. What that end is, no one will know. I just pray to the Goddess that we will be here after it. Goodnight, young Magi."

With that he disappeared into the darkness.

After he left, Scootaloo began tapping on my head and I looked up to see tears forming in her big eyes. I just realized I had blurted out what had happened to me while she was here.

"Evan your family is..." Scootaloo started, but I cut her off.

"Yeah Scoot, they're gone. I'm sorry I didn't tell you but you're much to young for that kind of stuff," I said.

My heart felt like it weighed a ton.

She just kept looking me in the eyes, finding out that we were so similar, and so hurt. She grabbed my head in a hug and nuzzled my ear as she spoke.

"I'm never going anywhere, Evan. You're never going to be alone again." she promised.

I felt tears of my own forming at that point. Tears of happiness, of sadness, and fear of the future.

"And I'm never going to leave you, Scoot. You'll always have your big brother," I said as I lifted my hand and rubbed her mane.

As the moment continued I found myself looking out of my window into the dark horizon, past Canterlot, past my new home in Ponyville, past the peacefulness of Equestria. I found myself looking at the raging storm that was the human nation of Karkland.

Chapter 12: Along the Way

Chapter 12: Doubts

After the news spread through Equestria of the Princess's agreement to aid Karkland, both nations wasted no time in beginning preparations. Ponies everywhere flocked to volunteer and help their neighbors in need. Newspapers called for as much help as possible for the coming days. There were some ponies, however, who were very skeptical about the whole deal and made their thoughts clear, though those were few and far between. The PCK had also been very busy in the short amount of time that had passed. Many small and medium sized camps had been built quickly, although most of the buildings consisted of tents and rough wooden housing. Then the refugees started arriving, hundreds at once in every boat load. Celestia and Luna had sent guards to aid the few PCK soldiers process the civilians and send them to camps. Most ponies were shocked to find the majority of refugees consisted of displaced families and many orphaned children.

Ponyville remained the quiet town it always was though. One camp popped up near it, but it didn't seem to be making a large impact. While the town resumed its normal routine I had been visiting Davian every other day to talk and train, reluctantly at first, but I had grown to see that he was just another human who had been caught in a war. I looked around the small shack that the masked man called his home and turned towards him as he began speaking.

"You have come quite far on your own my young friend, farther than I have in half my life. But as a pure blood you must learn to gather your strength more efficiently and... with subtlety," he finished, looking at me with a smirk behind his mask.

I realized that he meant the rage that builds up so often when I use magic, the rage that fuels my body to do inhuman actions.

"I don't mean to get angry Davian, it just..happens. But it fuels me, it makes me stronger than I've ever felt, and I just let it happen," I said in my defense.

"Yes I know Evan, for your element is fire. You are passion, you are power, but you can also be death," he said, looking into my eyes. "You wield it as a weapon when you should wield it as your own body. Know your limits, know its limits. Know the pain you've felt, know the pain that you can create."

I sat there for a few moments, pondering his words before a question came to mind.

"How many people have you killed before Davian?" I asked and saw his eyes immediately drop down. The question seemed to catch him off guard.

"Far..far to many. Too many to the point where I don't think I can ever be forgiven. I can see the worry in your eyes young magi," he said as he looked within me. "You have committed the ultimate sin as well. But it has not become you."

I took a deep breath and let out a sigh as I recalled the soldiers I had killed in Juno. The murderers who lined up every man, woman and child and gunned them down without mercy. I remember setting them ablaze and blowing them into nothing.

"When does someone lose their humanity Davian?" I asked him.

"When someone stops regretting, when they start to enjoy it, when they no longer show mercy," he said instantly before pausing for a split second before he continued. "When they kill, just to kill."

I saw something in his eyes flash as if he was reliving a memory.

"I think..I think we can call today over with. Why don't you go back home, spend some time with your friends. Remember what I have said today, understand?" he said to me.

"Will do Davian," I said walking out his door and pausing before continuing. "And I think we both still have some humanity left. Thank you, Davian."

He simply nodded as I made my way out the door and back to town.

_______________________________

As he watched the young magi shut the door behind him, Davian let out a mournful sigh and removed the mask so accustomed to his face. He walked over to his mirror and stared into it without blinking for a long time, what he saw was the shell of his former self. He saw back to the fires that burned, the explosions that deafened, and the gunshots that took so many lives, all because he couldn't stop it. He moved his hand across his scarred face, the mark of ultimate shame, a magic induced burn. The Order had given it to him after the town under his protection crumbled in seconds, and it was all his fault. He remembered how furious the Masters were, they told him his redemption was to ensure the survival and guidance of a newborn magi.

Something in his pocket started to beep and he pulled out his transmission node an it clacked to life.

"Is the Pure Blood ready Davian?" an old voice said over the comm.

"Of course he's not ready!" Davian angrily chuckled. "No one could ever be ready, especially just a kid."

"Then make him ready, your status and worth as a human are on the line. Get to it, we do not know how long the Janmori will hold back. Vastras out," said the node.

"Master, wait," Davian said urgently, as the feed stayed lit. "This is more than just a matter to guide him, he has what he thinks of as a family here. He is committed and loyal to them, as are they to him. If it came to it he would die for them, ten times over."

"They are none of our concern. Just make sure that he doesn't if it comes to that," the voice said.

"And where is the humanity in that master?" Davian shouted angrily.

"Humanity," the voice said. "Is exactly what the Magisters are trying to save."

The comm fell silent.

Davian roared with anger and brought his fist down on the wooden table, snapping it in half without the help of magic. He brought his head back up and saw himself in the mirror again, an angry husk of the person, of the human he used to be. He thought of a young magi who lost everything not so long ago, who was about to have the weight of the world on top of him, and he could do nothing but watch. He then thought of young boy who was cast out of home for being born with magic, who lived in a corrupt and insane nation that was now bent on senseless murder.

"No.." he said to himself. "This one will be different. He'll have his own life afterwards."

His anger subsided and he grabbed his mask and covered his scarred face, reliving the moments that lead to it just like he did for the past eighteen years.

_______________________________

As I arrived back in town, I was glad to see everypony going about their normal lives, not hindered by the news of the war or the camps in the least, it seemed. I remembered that I had scheduled an appointment with Nurse Redheart about my stab wound. It had healed up very well but would occasionally flare up in pain, and she had always taken care of me. I decided I'd head over there before I was stopped by a certain green unicorn.

"Hey Evan!" Lyra said springing out of nowhere, as the slight blush reddened her face like it always did when she talked to me.

"Oh hey Lyra, hows it going? Here to ask me on another date?" I said jokingly.

Her face now blushed completely and she dropped her ears down in embarrassment.

"Wha-uh..well...hehe," she paused and smiled faintly. "..maybe."

I chuckled at her reaction and gave her a smile. She had been taking me out somewhere nearly every other day and I've accepted every time, mostly so I wouldn't hurt the mare's feelings. I also found it fun and I was glad to see my company made her happy, even though she obviously wanted to be more than friends, I wasn't quite ready to make that large species jump.

"I'd love to Lyra, but I have an appointment with Nurse Redheart, gotta get the last of my injury squared away, is that okay? Maybe tomorrow or something." I told her.

"Oh well yeah of course! But if it's with Redheart you'd better hurry!" Lyra told me.

I paused for a moment, confused and said, "Why would I hurry? She always makes time for me."

"Oh, well didn't you hear? She volunteered at the human camp close to here to-," she started.

I cut her off at that point and said goodbye. As I made my way away from the hurt looking green unicorn I turned towards the Ponyville hospital and nearly sprinted to it, hoping to catch Nurse Redheart in time. Along the way I passed Pinkie, who shouted and waved to me frantically but I keep on my tracks, which of course she decided to follow.

"Hey Mister," Pinkie said, almost angry, bouncing alongside me. "Most people don't ignore their best friends when they invite them to lunch!"

I slowed down my pace to a normal walk and hung my head down, I wasn't getting rid of her so might as well not try to get away.

"Uh, sorry Pinkie, but I really have to talk to Nurse Redheart, she might be leaving Ponyville," I tried to explain, which seemed to work since she let out a big gasp.

"HUUH! I didn't even plan a going away party! Ohmygosh I have so many things to do n-" she started to say before I cut her off.

"PINKIE!" I shouted, and she turned to me with hurt looking eyes for raising my voice. " Oh wait, its okay Pinkie. A party would have been good on another occasion but not this one. She might leave for the camp that set up near Ponyville a little while ago."

"Oh, well why didn't you say so before yelling at me..?" she asked.

I couldn't believe that Pinkie Pie was actually upset about something, even more so since I caused it. I was about to apologize before she perked up again and shouted something to me.

"Hey! There she is!" she exclaimed as she pointed her hoof towards a white Earth pony with a bright red medical cross as her cutie mark who carried saddlebags full of items.

Pinkie and I ran, and bounced, over to the white mare and as we approached she looked and up and gave us a warm smile.

"Oh well hello you two! I didn't expect to have any visitors today," Nurse Redheart said, a bit surprised.

"Well now you have two, and one wants to know what the hell you're thinking going to that camp," I said, my tone void of any good emotion.

Nurse Redheart looked taken aback and Pinkie let out a gasp at the way I talked to her. She seemed much more affected by the way I did things for some reason.

"Well..." she started. " I suppose I should start by apologizing for not telling anypony."

I nodded silently and beckoned her to continue talking.

"But the reason that I'm leaving is because the camps need nurses and doctors. Volunteers have been abundant through Equestria, but not to this one so much. They're short on medical staff and I feel like I should do something. After all, one of my best patients is a human. So I'm also a bit more qualified," she said with a smile.

I finally let my angry facade go, which was replaced by worry.

"You don't know what you'll be getting yourself into, you will see things...you wish was never possible." I said.

Her eyes discovered my worry and she gave me a calming smile.

"I thought the same thing when I first met you, broken and hurt, in that hospital bed. I thought to myself 'What are you doing Redheart? You don't know anything about humans!'. But that didn't stop me from doing whatever I could to bring you back from the edge, and it paid off when I made a very good friend after that," she said.

I smiled lightly as more of my emotions came back.

"What happened to me isn't even close to what you will see though. I'm taking a guess that you have not actually been to the camp have you?" I asked.

Her eyes darted to the ground and she shook her head as she said, "I just planned on leaving and volunteering as quick as I could."

"That's not a good idea, especially if you end up hating it, but..." I trailed off in thought; Pinkie jabbed me in the ribs to bring me back, "I don't think you should go without proper knowledge. How about I go with you, so you won't be alone?"

The Nurse's eyes gleamed at the suggestion, "I think I would like that very much Evan, but what about the rest of your friends?" she said smiling at Pinkie.

"Yeah! What about us!?" Pinkie shouted, looking at me with squinted eyes.

"Ah, uh, I don't quite think that's a good idea. Pinkie listen, a refugee camp wouldn't be the pla-" I started before I was interrupted.

"Oh would you quit being so silly!" Pinkie exclaimed. "Remember what you said about family? 'They don't leave each other behind.' Well that applies here mister! I'll grab everyone and you two meet us at the library!"

With that, the pink pony shot off like a rocket, not giving me any chance to argue.

"Now why are you worried about me going alone, but won't let them tag along with us? You'll need company on the way back if I decide to stay," she said to me rather sarcasticly.

"I've never had a problem with being alone, and I've certainly never had a problem with any of them wanting to spend time with me. What I have a problem with is how they will react," I said, as she gave a questioning look.

"Everything humans do can be used in violence and warfare; we are a brilliant but destructive race. While we have had some moments of pure goodness, it never lasts. I don't know how they will take what they see, I don't know how you will respond, and I don't know if what they see will rub off on them and affect their image of humans," I explained.

Nurse Redheart walked over to me and prodded my sides to get my attention. "You're worried about them rejecting you aren't you? You're worried that they might think all humans have some capacity to become a monster," she said.

I gave her a sad nod at her statement; it was entirely accurate.

"Well then let me say, you are the farthest thing from a monster. I knew that the second I laid my eyes on you, you will never become anything like that, Evan. Now come along. I believe you are supposed to escort me," she said with a sort of sadness in her voice behind a smile.

She began walking ahead of me towards my home to meet the others while I stayed behind for a minute, looking at my hands. The hands that had already taken several lives away, both human and changeling, and thought on the white mare words. 'You will never be anything like that,' she had said. Before I began walking, I looked at my hands one more time.

"You're not a monster Evan," I said to myself and let my hands flare up in brilliant flames.

They swayed through the wind as I stared, waiting for me to cast them upon another soul so they could burn like the rest.

"At least not yet," I finished, as I made my way to the library.

Chapter 13: Camp D-24

Chapter 13: Along the Way

As I boarded the train at Ponyville, yet again, with my friends on our way to the refugee camp, knots were forming everywhere in my stomach. I was furious at Pinkie for rushing off and gathering everyone to come with me and Nurse Red Heart without even letting me think about it. I made my way over to my seat followed by Scootaloo, Twilight, and Rainbow Dash. Pinkie came to join us but I turned away from her and she took the hint for once.

"Dude are you feeling okay? Don't seem to happy that we're all here," Dash asked rather harshly.

I leaned my head against the seat and prepared myself for the lurching start of the train, sighing to myself in frustration.

"No, Dash, it's not that. I'm fine with you all being here, except for you Scoot," I said and she looked at me in surprise.

"What!? Why? I didn't do anything!" she said confused.

"No hun, you're not in trouble, you're just much too young to see some of the stuff that is going to be at the camp. And since we left in such short time I couldn't find a sitter for you because some pony brought everyone along," I directed towards Pinkie, although she didn't hear me over her laughing with Rarity about something.

"Hey it'll be okay. I'm sure they have an area that won't be too bad right? She can stay there with one of the others," Twilight said.

"And why can't you watch her Twi? You're good at babysitting," I asked.

"That came from good practice babysitting you, and that's a permanent job," she said giving me a sarcastic glare..

I felt a warm smile form as she smiled at me with those huge eyes of hers, always warm and caring, but also knew when something was wrong. I was brought out of my daze as Scootaloo poked my in the stomach and I realized Twilight was blushing, as was I a bit.

"So uh..so who's gonna watch me?" she said a little awkwardly.

"I'll get Fluttershy to do it, I can probably guess that you'll tag along with me and Twi huh Dash?" I asked.

"As much trouble as you get into without me? Of course I am," she laughed.

Scootaloo frowned a bit but then Dash prodded her in the sides, "Buuut, before that. How about I tell ya about some of my new moves squirt?" she asked.

Without question Scootaloo jumped up like lighting and followed Dash to another seat and began talking, leaving Twilight and I by ourselves. I rested my head against the head rest and closed my eyes, the rolling and lurching of the train keeping me from rest. I felt a nuzzle on my shoulder and looked to see Twilight staring at me again.

"Yes?" I asked with a grin.

She rolled her eyes and rested her head on my shoulder, I thought that was it and I closed my eyes again before she spoke up.

"Evan are you and Lyra dating?" she asked barely above a whisper.

My eyes shot open but I kept calm and turned my head towards her. She wasn't looking at me but I felt her grow warm and I could tell she was blushing.

"No Twi..we're not..any reason you brought that up?" I asked.

She looked up at me and I was right about her blushing, her face was a light red all over, but she also seemed relived to a point.

"Well you two have been spending lots of time together recently, and she obviously likes you a lot, so I just kinda wanted to know.." she said shyly.

I smiled at her and gave her a look, "Alright so whats the real reason Twi?"

Her face reddened more when she spoke, "Well the next Grand Galloping Gala is coming up soon, and I was maybe wondering if you wanted to..be my date? Uh, not date, well yes date but its not a date!" she said, becoming more and more embarrassed.

I laughed to myself and began to rub her mane which got her to calm down quite quickly, although the embarrassment seemed to stick around.

"Of course I'll be your date Twi. I'm flattered," I said and a bright shy smile formed across her face. A sly grin formed on mine as I chuckled and added, "And I'm fine if it is a date by the way Twi."

She froze for a few seconds before the red returned and she began to rest her head on my shoulder again, breathing heavy.

"You owe me a few lessons in human magic for that," she said.

After that everything was relatively quiet except for a short conversation I had with Nurse Red Heart concerning human medical terms, diseases, and operations. I told her all I knew, which wasn't much, but if she decided to stay there was no doubt she'd be one of the best. After that I was left to my own thoughts and a sleeping Twilight on my shoulder. All of the others had fallen into naps as well, except for Applejack who was staring out the window. I myself could come nowhere close to sleep on this rickety transport, so I decided to carefully bring out my computer and browse the world.

I began searching random things, like the newest hover and repulser board champion competitions and repulser car racing. As I looked up the small hopeful things in the world still Applejack had made her way over and sat next to me, and I knew a deep conversation was about to be had.

"She really likes you ya' know. Can't walk into a room with ya without gettin all bright eyed and giddy," she said, directing the comment towards Twilight.

"Thing is, she really worry's about ya too. You hold everything inside, and I'm not one to poke and prod, but Sugarcube somethin' happened recently didn't it? She's always with you in the first place, but she's been really protective too," she asked.

I thought to myself for a few moments, thinking over everything that had happened in the recent past before I responded, I turned back to Applejack and smiled.

"I know she likes me A.J...I've known that for a while. But I just can't do anything like that right now, too many things could happen," I replied.

"Like what?" she asked.

"Humans can last a good time A.J. but not that long. We're in the middle of a war, something could happen at anytime. I've almost died a couple times in the time I've lived here, and the fact that I lived is pure luck. Next time I may not be so lucky Applejack, I don't want her to have to face that kind of hurt," I said blankly.

"Now why would you say a darn thing like that!? You don't know that!" she gasped but quickly went quiet.

"You're the Element of Honesty Applejack, you can't tell me I'm not telling the truth," I said.

She stared through me, searching for anything, but her ears went down in resignation.

"Well that don't mean it has to happen. Just because something might be true, doesn't mean it's always right," she shot back.

"Very true, very true. But something is happening A.J. , something bad. Davian has told me about it, and I have no reason to not trust him anymore," I insisted.

"What do ya mean? What's happening?" she asked.

I looked at my friend in thought, she was everything someone needed in a friend. Loyal, trustworthy, kind and caring, but she was innocent to the large world outside Equestria.

"Applejack I want you to promise me that if something does happen to me, I want you to look after them, Twilight and Scootaloo. It'd put a lot of worry to rest in my head," I said.

She looked shocked at my request and didn't respond for a few moments.

"I promise," she nodded and spoke again, "but I want you to promise nothing will happen to you."

My heart sunk a bit at her statement, I was never one to make a promise to something I possibly couldn't keep, but I know she'd never let it go if I told her that.

"Yeah A.J I promise. I promise," I said.

She nodded and smiled at me, but her eyes told a different story, one of worry. She got up and made her way back to her seat and began looking out the window again. I looked down and realized Twilight had moved from my shoulder to my lap and it brought my heart close to melting. I began softly rubbing her mane and thoughts began processing in my mind. I decided that I'd block them out today, I promised myself that I'd begin to try to revert back to my old self, the one that didn't have some bleak outlook on life every second. I'd apologize to Applejack later and blame that whole conversation on nerves, which I needed to get rid of before we reached this camp.

I gazed out the window next to me and took in the beauty of the landscape that was passing by me so quick. The endless meadows and ponds lead way to the thick untouched forests that blanketed the land, it all seemed so alien to me, even after living here for a good while. I felt a rustle on my lap and looked down to see Twilight sleepily opening her eyes.

"Why did you stop rubbing?" she asked in a daze.

I chuckled and said sorry, then began rubbing her mane again, laughing to myself.

"Good human," she said with a sleepy wink.

"Well excuse me princes-," I said before the train blew its horn, signalling arrival.

Everyone instantly woke up shocked and looked out the windows facing our destination. I looked along with them and before my eyes laid the refugee camp. Chain link fences blocked the inside away as four guards stood near the entrance, two humans and two Royal Guards, one of Celestia' and one Luna's. We stood up and gathered our things before stepping off the train and made our way to the front gate. Behind the fences I could see metal and wooden housing alike; some makeshift tents were propped up here and there. Beyond that the rest was blocked by a solid metal wall, which was I guessed the medical side.

"That's where you'll be going," I said to Nurse Redheart. "Everyone else is going to stay in the housing section, alright?"

Everyone nodded in agreement.

"Applejack, look after Scootaloo if I decide to wander," I said to her, moving closer. "And I'm sorry about earlier, just forget all of that okay?"

"Sure I'll look after her, but I don't forget a promise," she said, smiling sternly.

I nodded and turned to Nurse Redheart.

"So are you ready? Still want to do this?" I asked.

"Well I won't find out standing out here will I?" she asked sarcastically.

"Well then let's go everybody, stay together and don't wander around okay?" I said.

With that we all made our way towards the entrance, guarded by the two humans and equestrians. One human raised his hand as we neared looked to all of us.

"Volunteers, visitors, or refugee?" he asked, the last one directed towards me.

I stepped forward and spoke up for the group.

"All visitors and one volunteer," I said pointing at Nurse Redheart. "We came with her as moral support on whatever she chooses to do, if that is allowed sir."

The guard eyed me surprisedly, looked to his friend who gave a shrug, then looked to the Royal Guards next to him who nodded, recognizing who all of us were.

"Well alright then, you're free to explore; be careful with some patients, as some have...lost a lot," he said, his eyes showing pain beneath them as he stepped out of the way. "Welcome to Camp D-24, Emergency Housing for Displaced Families and Children."

Chapter 14: An Anniversary

Chapter 14: Camp D-24

As we entered the camp I instantly felt the mix of defeat and sorrow hit my body, like a large cloud of depression hung over the camp. The girls followed my lead into the housing area and were shocked to see that most of the populous consisted of children and teenagers, with only a few adults to be seen. I saw that numerous other ponies were with the majority of the children, volunteer caretakers I took it, and they seemed to be taking the job seriously. Twilight came up to my side and looked at me with a confused face.

"I don't understand," she started, "where are all of these children's parents?"

Her innocence struck me so that all I could do was give a shake of my head and she seemed to understand, a look of sadness developing on her. Some of the occupants looked up to see us with tired and war torn faces, expressionlessly and silently they stared, and I knew the pain some of them felt on the inside. At that moment a human female approached us and gave the first smile I saw there, she had bright blonde hair with crystal blue eyes and she looked to be about my age.

"Well, hello and welcome to Camp D-24, my name is Katherine," the girl began, "I was told that your group had a possible volunteer for us and I have the pleasure of escorting you around."

She had a thick accent, hearty and filled with an odd cheer to it. She was a wealthy girl, she hadn't seen the war in person, her face still young and innocent. The youth of Karkland regularly volunteered for work when called upon, one of the only good changes during this age.

"Yes Katherine," I said, "My friend here, Nurse Red Heart, would like the tour of the medical facility."

The girl's eyes seemed to darken a bit, but she still held her tone.

"Of course! Now if you'll kindly follow me," she said to Red Heart before turning to us uneasily, " And I apologize but only volunteers and employees may enter the hospital area,"

"Oh, well what can we do in the meantime?" I asked, my plan now over so quickly.

"Well, I will come find you when I have the papers for the Nurse here filed, for now you may talk with some of the children, they like visitors," she said and went off with nurse Red Heart.

I turned around to talk to the group and found Dash right in my face, an angry look across hers.

"Whats the big deal! I thought we were going in?" she said rather loudly.

"Hey hey, calm down Dash. I know I said that, the plans have changed. Why don't you stay out here, you're really good at pep talks and such," I said and moved my head towards the camps many children.

She understood what I meant and she changed her attitude quick and flew off to one of the kids who was all alone in a corner. The others broke off in a flash as well, except for Fluttershy who took off at what would be a normal speed, leaving me with Twilight and Scootaloo.

"Welllll looks like its just us three!" Scootaloo said, a grin coming across her face.

"Oh no, you're staying here with everyone else. Why don't you go with Dash, play with some of the kids?" I suggested.

"Fine...I never get to do anything with you.." she pouted, but it was for the best.

As Scootaloo trotted away towards Dash I gave a quick thumbs up to Applejack to know she was off the hook. I then turned my attention to Twilight, who was staring off into the camp, looking at its occupants, not truly knowing how they got here. Her large purple eyes glistened in the bright sun, her mane swayed in the gentle breeze. As I looked at her I caught a little smile form on her and she blushed a tiny bit.

"You're really bad at being sneaky you know. I could see you looking a mile away," she laughed and looked back to me.

"Well what if I wasn't trying to hide it?" I asked. Her face reddened even more and she giggled.

"Got you," I said and gave her a friendly wink.

"Oh whatever," she said rolling her eyes, still blushing. "Why don't we walk around and talk before that girl comes to get us?" she suggested and I agreed with a nod of my head.

I looked around me, looking for a child that looked like they needed a talk the most. Twilight was looking with me as we both sat both our eyes on one boy in a wheelchair, sitting by himself on the outside of a tent. I didn't have to say anything to Twilight as she made her way after me. As I neared the boy, I looked him over better. He looked to be a couple years younger than me and he was holding something in his hands; I finally realized that it was folded repulser board. At least I had a conversation starter.

"Hey there buddy, how ya doin?" I said as I neared him, Twilight offered a big smile and said hello as well.

"Hi, I'm okay," he said blankly, almost as if he wasn't there.

"Whats your name bud? How old are you?" I tried again.

"I'm Corso, and I'm fourteen," he said. Twilight began to look uneasy as he answered short again, so I decided to bring out the board.

"Well Corso, that's a really nice repulser you got there. What model is it?" I asked, and I finally got something. His face shifted down to the board and back up to us, his hazel eyes seeming to glow.

"Uh, it's a Skyrider 20 XL; why? Do you ride too?" he asked this time.

"Well I used to, but all I had was a ol' hover board model, never got into the sky like yours," I said, smiling at myself for getting him interested.

"Well there's nothing wrong with hover boards, what happened to it?" he asked, now committed.

"Ah, well I lost it when I had to leave Karkland, woke up here in Equestria and I've been hoverless ever since," I explained vaguely.

"Yeah..this board is the only reason I'm here. Lost my family when I was twelve, been a 'feral' ever since, just riding around the country trying to get by on my own..and then I got into a stupid accident," he finished, his eyes getting heavy.

"Mind if I ask what happened Corso?" I asked.

"You can call me Core, that's what everyone called me. And no I don't mind, one day I was riding through a forest and just got too reckless. It was stupid, but my fault, I just slammed into a tree and fell and that was it. Good thing that caravan was passing through and I wouldn't have made it. I can't use my legs without mecha legs...and they hurt, haven't flown since," he finished.

I saw that he was upset but also relived to talk to another human, getting it off his chest. I gave him a smile and turned toward Twilight who looked to me with a warm face; she knew I had more to talk about than her. At that moment a light blue pegasus with an aqua mane swooped down from above, surprising Twilight and me, but gaining a slight smile from Core.

"Well, looks light someones been making friends, how are you doing honey?" the pegasus asked.

"Free Wind! Uh..yeah," he started, embarrassed, "This is...actually I don't know your names."

I gave a smirk as the pegasus, Free Wind, went over to Core and nuzzled him. He more or less tried to shrug it off, but the young mare simply smiled and continued. I could guess that she was his caretaker.

"Oh right, well my name is Evan and this here is my friend Twilight," I answered.

"Well hello to you two, glad to meet you!" Free Wind said, "So are you new here to the camp?"

I was confused at her question, then it dawned on me that she thought I was a refugee.

"Uh no, I actually live over in Ponyville, I'm just here visiting with friends," I said.

She seemed surprised but answered with a happy nod.

"Well, I just came back from Cloudsdale to get some food for a few days, and it's time for physical therapy for you Core. Do you have the legs on?" she asked, a hint of sadness in her voice now.

"When don't I, Free Wind?" Core sighed and lifted his pant leg up, showing a metal brace that gripped on his legs for support and slight ability to walk. He then stood up, rather wobbly, and began walking towards me, board in hand.

"You seem like a really good guy, and you know how to ride. So do me a favor and look after mine, I now know you live in Ponyville, so whenever I get better and can use my legs right, I'll come back and get it. Sound good?" he said.

"Uh, wow Core. That's a huge and sudden request, are you sure?" I asked, thrown off completely.

"Yeah, I'm sure. You lost yours, and I lost my legs for now. You seem like the trustworthy type, so do me the favor of not letting it collect dust alright?" he almost demanded.

"Yeah. Yeah I'll look after it Core. And it'll be waiting for you when you can ride again," I said and held out my hand, which he took and turn. Unknowing to him, I sent a burst of energy through him to give a little energy and relax his tired muscles; he needed it. After that he began making his way in the direction that he needed to go, leaving Free Wind here with us.

"Wow, he's very blunt but never have I seen him like that. I don't know what you did but he likes you, and that proves it," she said, pointing at the board.

"I don't really know what I did either, but humans make friends rather easily," I said.

"Well I'm glad to hear that...he's such a strong boy, but he hides everything in him, all of his past and pain," Free Wind said, real sadness coming out.

"I know that much to well, but don't worry, you're good to him. He'll come around soon enough," I said.

"I hope. I've been with him from camp to camp for the past couple of months and I love him like my own. I want him to be happy again," she said, her eyes brimmed with tears not fallen.

I was about to say something, but she perked up again in an instant.

"But I know one thing. One day, I'll get him out of here and I'm going to take care of him. I'm going to help him start new, a life filled with friends and happiness again. And even if he can't ever walk normally again...I can still help him fly," she said, a bright, hopeful smile spread across her face.

With that Twilight and I exchanged goodbyes with the pegasus as she went off after Core, asI looked at the newly acquired repulser board in my hands with admiration. Twilight prodded me with a hoof and I turned to see her beautiful eyes looking at me and I felt my heart skip a few beats.

"Want to go around some more, or do you just want to wait for the tour lady to come back?" she asked me, her smile bright.

"Actually Twi..I think Nurse Red Heart is right. She belongs here, these ponies are making a difference. I think I want to go home now, I've seen enough to know this is right," I said.

"I have too," a familiar voice said behind me. "And I'm glad you agree with me."

I turned to see Nurse Red Heart and the girl Katherine looking at us with the rest of our group with them. Katherine held a binder in her hands, which I guessed was paper work they had already done. Red Heart was set on this place with or without my approval. I got up and made my way with Twilight towards her and gave her a tight hug.

"Thank you for all you did for me Nurse Heart; thank you," I said.

"You don't have to thank me dear, but do me a favor and try to avoid getting into hospitals again please?" she smiled as she teased.

"I'll do my best, you know my luck...goodbye and good luck here, I know you'll make a difference," I finished as I let the rest of my friends say goodbye before we boarded the train to Ponyville again.

We all waved as the train chugged away, the camp and nurse soon out of view, the scenery of the landscape in view again. I sat down next to Twilight as the rest of the girls shared what they talked about and done with the children of Camp D-24, all of them happy with what they had done. I was busy looking at the board again, wondering if Core would live up to his word about coming to get it. Whether or not he would, I promised I would look after it, and I was going to. Scootaloo snapped me out of my thinking when she hopped up onto my lap.

"Ugh I can't wait to get home, I'm so tired, I just wanna sleep all day," she whined.

"You? Tired? That's strange. Well just take a nap here, Scoot," I said.

"Yeah, he's a pretty good pillow if I say so myself," Twilight said next to me, laying her head against me again.

Scootaloo laughed as my face turned red but quickly got tired herself and ended falling asleep herself on my lap. Stuck between sleeping filly and mare I couldn't do much but start to wonder off into my thoughts; the rhythm of the train seemed calming now for some reason. I found my eyes getting heavy as I began to drift off to sleep, the last thing I felt before I finally fell into slumber was a pair of warm, silky lips peck my cheek, then I caught an almost unheard whisper.

"I love you Evan," Twilight said.

Chapter 15: Waking Kingdom

Chapter 15: An Anniversary

After the visit to the refugee camp things had been relatively quiet, which I had taken advantage of. My new repulser board is a gracious thing to have. Turns out they work similarly to a hover board, except you're a few hundred feet in the sky instead of a few feet off the ground. Scootaloo had also taken to it but I had to ban her from touching it as long I wasn't with her. I had also begun practicing new spells with Davian, mostly defensive and offensive attacks, but also a few lessons in healing. Although I still keep an eye on him, he is proving to be a loyal ally. He hasn't quite reached the ranking of friend yet.

Most importantly, I had been spending much needed time with just my friends, Twilight in particular. We were nearly everywhere together now, I didn't even notice it half the time, we were so close. We were best friends, but everyone around knew there was something else brewing between us, even we did, but I was the more reserved one on that.

"Hey! Wake up lazy, it's almost eight o'clock!" Twilight shouted as she nuzzled my head, waking me from slumber.

I simply opened my eyes and glared at her for a good minute, everything groggy, before I responded.

"Give me...one reason...not to light you on fire Twi," I half joked.

"I could give you a million, so come on get up! Today is the day!" she said excitedly.

I thought a moment on what she meant, what was today? She hadn't told me of anything important coming up, unless I dosed off as she ranted about something.

"What's today Twi? Someones birthday or something?" I asked, still exhausted.

She smiled sheepishly before answering, "Just get ready and come down stairs okay? Pllleeaasseeee?" she whined cutely.

I rolled my eyes and put my hands up, signaling her victory as I got out of bed, a few bones cracking pleasurably. Twilight trotted happily downstairs and I then heard the clanking of dishes. I sighed and looked over to the other side of my bed. The growing filly that laid there still slept peacefully through Twilight's noise and I intended to leave it that way. I reached a hand over and rubbed Scootaloo's mane softly, causing her to let out a sigh as her little hind legs started to kick. My smile covered my face as I preceded to grab a shower and get dressed. I looked at myself in the mirror and admired the new jacket Rarity had made me, a good thing too, Winter had crept up quick.

Twenty minutes had passed and I could no longer hear the noise Twilight was making downstairs, so I expected whatever what was going on had died down. Before I went downstairs I crept over to bed again and checked to see if Scootaloo was still sleeping. To my surprise she was sitting up rubbing her eyes, just awaking.

"Well good morning sleepy head, sleep well?" I asked her, sitting down next to her.

"About as good as a filly can when you snore like a dragon," she said groggy.

I laughed and I ruffled her messy mane, her spunk never seemed to quell.

"Well missy, you don't have much room to talk, I can hardly fall asleep when you snore," I retorted.

"Right, you pass out as soon as you hit the pill...OH NO!" she suddenly gasped.

The sudden outburst left me shocked, "What?! What's wrong Scoot?!" I asked worried and startled.

She didn't give an answer before she ran off downstairs, yelling sorry to Twilight for being late. Late for what? I decided it was time to see what this was all about as I made my way off the loft into the kitchen where I heard the noise. The room was dark as I entered and I wondered where the noise had come from, and where Scootaloo had gone. Suddenly as I made my way farther in the room the lights cut on and I was surrounded by ponies.

"Happy One Year In Ponyville Evan!!!" everypony shouted at once, confetti shot out of a canon at the same time, erecting more cheers from the crowd.

"Annndddd birthday! Since you haven't told me when it is yet!" Pinkie shouted again and gave me a silly wink. I actually turned nineteen a month ago, but I knew Pinkie would do something over the top.

I stood there shocked for a moment, but soon gave way to a warm feeling as I saw my friends around a large cake with a big candle of the number one burning on it. My six closest friends sat under a banner that read 'Happy One Year!', in the middle was Twilight, her big purple eyes glowing in happiness.

"PARTY TIIIMMMEEEEE!" Pinkie Pie yelled, and that commenced the party to begin, everyone coming to talk to me.

I struggled with the crowd, offering everyone a genuine smile and a few hugs before making it over to my friends. Scootaloo stood beside Twilight and Rainbow Dash, her hair still a ruffled mess, but nonetheless adorable.

"What is all this guys? I didn't know any of you even kept track," I said, rather blunt but still in shock.

"What does it look like dude? It's a party for you!" Dash said.

"Darling how could we forget the day your wondrous self came into our lives," Rarity added.

I was speechless as I looked at them, I probably looked incredibly stupid, but they all just smiled ad laughed.

"C'mere you," Apple Jack said as she walked over to me, stood on her hind legs, and grabbed me in a hug. The others soon followed suit, Dash and Fluttershy hovered up and grabbed me as I struggled to hug back the six ponies and little filly as they nearly tackled me.

"Well thank you all, I really..really appreciate this," I said composing myself, holding back the hidden emotions that were about to burst; I didn't want to seem too excited.

As they let go the party seemed to engulf them as everyone was soon talking among each other, only Twilight stayed behind, looking at me with a satisfied smile.

"And what is with that look Miss Sparkle?" I asked sheepishly, a crooked grin forming.

"You're cute when you're surprised hehe. So I take it I did a good job?" she asked, her large purple eyes glowing.

"This was all you! I thought it was Pinkie who did it," I said even more surprised.

"Well she helped, but yeah I did most of it. Decorations, the cake, invitations and...thought into it," he said as her smile turned into something else, as if she was lost in something.

"But go ahead and have fun, we can spend time after the party okay?" she said turning, her face glowing red as she giggled away.

I smirked to myself as I stood there, now left in the middle of my own party with dozens of ponies that wanted to talk to me. As I looked through the crowd my heart dropped a bit as I saw a light green unicorn all by herself in a corner. She saw me as well and turned away fast. I sighed to myself, I knew she was going to be upset someday, this had to be it. I brought myself back the the real world and made my way over to her; I was going to make it better between us.

"Hey Lyra...having fun, all by yourself?" I asked the mare, half joking.

She jumped a little as I talked to her, her ears pinned back a bit in slight embarrassment.

"Oh Evan! Yeah I'm okay, Bon Bon wanted to come and I came to say its been a great year knowing you," she said, although something more was meant to be said.

"Lyra whats wrong? I thought we were okay, the thing between you and me, we talked about it," I said confused.

"We are! Its just...she makes you happy, and I know you haven't been happy in a long time, so that makes me happy. I'm just a little upset that I couldn't do the same," she blurted out.

"Well of course you make me happy? You're an amazing friend, and I wouldn't change a thing between us. And with me and Twilight, there's not really anything going on between us," I feigned.

She gave a slight chuckle and smiled at me before responding. "You don't have to hide it, everyone can see it when you two are together. The way her eyes light up whenever she looks at you, the smile that lights up on you when you lock eyes. I never got that reaction from you, so I know it wouldn't have worked, but like I said I'm just glad that you're finally happy Evan. You've been angry and hurt long enough."

The Unicorn's response caught me off guard as I stood there, not knowing quite what to say, but also a small relief as she confessed my own truth. I brought my attention back to Lyra and I just gave her a small smile, that was really all I could muster.

"Hehe, I'll still think you're the cutest thing in all of Equestria though. Don't think I'll ever stop bugging you either, but beyond that yes, we're just friends. Thank you for that," Lyra said.

With that she walked over and nuzzled my sides in a friendly way and made her way back over to Bon Bon, who looked over and gave me a nod that said 'I'll control her'. I hung my head in a laugh as I finally took part in the party, looking for a certain unicorn, wondering what to do afterwards.

_______________________________

The party started to die down around late afternoon giving way to the cleanup procedure. Thankfully, ponies were much cleaner than humans at parties so the only relative thing to clean were a few spilled drinks and the dishes. As I attempted to do them, Twilight grabbed the dish rag out of my hand and gave it to Spike, saying, "It was your party, let us clean up." I put my hand up in surrender as I walked out of the kitchen stuffed and tired. While I waited for Twilight to finish up I helped Scootaloo get ready for a Crusader meeting at their clubhouse, getting her saddlebag from upstairs as the happy filly bounced at the door.

"So what do you girls have planned for today?" I asked her as I propped it on her back.

"Today we're going to try to get out Cutie Marks in learning math!" she laughed at the door.

I paused in my tracks, "Really?" was I could muster.

"Pfft course not! We're going para-sailing! It's gonna be AWESOME!" she shouted.

"Uhh yeah, try to tone it back a bit...get a instructor okay?" I pleaded as I laughed.

"Yeah yeah fine, are you and Twilight gonna have some alone time now? Gonna kiss her? Hehe," she smirked.

That sudden change in topic definently threw me off guard. I just looked at her while she gave me a huge quirky grin.

"Oh come on, just do it. You know she wants you too! See ya big bro!" she said and ran off towards the clubhouse.

I stood there shaking my head, wondering how I'm supposed to live with her antics, when I felt someone standing behind me. I turned too see Twilight looking at me, her face turned at a slight angle, her dark purple mane with that raspberry streak seemed to glow with her eyes.

"Well hey Twi, parties done now. Said you wanted to spend some time together? What do you want to do?" I asked her.

"I'd like that a lot, and I just want to sit down and talk, just the two of us. Know anywhere we could go?" she said, a little smile crept up on her face.

I thought about our usual hangout places but couldn't think of one with any privacy. As I kept thinking I remembered this quaint hill not to far from town I saw while practicing my repulser board, that would work perfectly.

"Well then get ready to fly then, I'm still getting use to the heights," I laughed and I pointed to the board sitting in the corner of the room.

_______________________________________

"ARE WE ALMOST THERE?!" Twilight shouted, holding on to me for dear life as we rode across the sky.

"Twi we're only about twenty feet up, you don't have to shout or freak out," I said trying to calm her.

"Well I'm sorry, I DON'T HAVE WINGS OR A FANCY FLYING MACHINE!" she retorted back.

I just rolled my eyes at her as we reached the hill I remembered, doing a small flip right before we landed, causing Twilight to nearly fuse into me. I winced at her surprising strength but rubbed her mane as we touched the ground, she opened one eye nervously but was soon taken by the view.

"Wow...its beautiful," she said, overlooking the valley.

Indeed it was. Lush forest covered the area, randomly dotted with fields of grass and different sizes of ponds. Birds flew through the gentle breeze, the cold air whistling through the air as the ecosystem around us flourished, untouched by ponies. A large butterfly made its way towards us, fluttering elegantly in the wind, landing on Twilight's nose as she giggled in delight. It was a beautiful sight indeed.

"Did you forget you're horrible at being sneaky?" Twilight said, her face turning a slight hue of red.

"Sorry, got caught up on the little guys flying. So What'd you want to talk about Twi?" I asked her, her attention back to me.

"Well you know, about you, about me, about us," she said.

"Well alright, you start with whatever then," I said, rather confused.

"Well I just want to know about you. Your life. I know you told me a lot, but not the stuff I want to know now. What did you want to do with your life? What are your dreams? What are you scared of?" she barraged me with questions.

I took a moment to soak all of them in, thinking to myself about the answers, if I even knew them. I grabbed my pendant and closed my eyes, remembering the times before my life was thrust into a new world. I opened them and face Twilight, and began talking.

"Before all of this, I always wanted to be a doctor. Helping people, saving lives, making someone's life easier. With my magic I would've been amazing too, healing magi are some of the greatest legends in Karkland," I said, pausing a moment to think on the next question. Twilight was completely focused on me, just listening.

"Now what was a dream of mine? Hmm...I always wanted to raise a family, just like every other being. But that's what I wanted, to get up in the morning to see my smiling children as I said goodbye when they went to school. Look at my wife and tell her 'I love you' every single day of my life. The closest thing to that I had was my sisters, they were my everything," I finished, not quite upset, but a hollow feeling was brought down on me.

Twilight simply brought her head to my shoulder as we sat and over looked the scenery before I spoke up again.

"And I'm terrified of a lot actually. I'm scared of this war, I'm scared of that darkness coming back over me, I'm scared...of losing you," I said reluctantly.

Twilight brought her head up as I covered mine in my arms, I heard a slight huff from her, then a soft nose against my cheek brought me out of my hiding. She looked at me with a caring smile, everything seemed okay when she smiled.

"It's my turn now I guess huh?" she said, I nodded lightly feeling a bit better.

"Well as I've told you before all I did when I was younger was study study study. I didn't put time on my list for friends or much fun, that's just what I wanted to do. I dreamed of being the first unicorn in Equestria to learn as much magic as possible, to surpass even Star Swirl the Bearded. It all seemed to come true when Princess Celestia made me her student," she paused, smiling at her accomplishments.

"But when I came to Ponyville I realized that it wasn't my dream, after all those years I had just realized that my dream was to learn about friendship, to understand it, to have it. And I've been living that dream since that day. Plus on that day you arrived in Ponyville, hurt and angry, beaten and bruised. I just knew that I'd like you, I knew it when I first saw you, even if you weren't the nicest person from the start," she chuckled.

"Well I'm glad you saw through me at least, so. What scares you Twi?" I asked.

This time she took a moment to think about her answer as I looked her over, the mare that had changed my life forever, who saved it.

"There's so much left in the world to know...and I want to be the one who understands it. To discover something new, be it a new spell, a world even, it would be amazing. But then I realized that I have so much more room to grow, and that if I let myself do that I'd miss everything going by in life. There's so much time in life, but it doesn't last forever, I want to see my friends grow with me. I want to raise a family like you, I want to have time to do that. I...I want to be with you Evan," she forced out.

When those words came from her mouth it didn't shock me like I thought it would, in fact it felt right, it felt good. Twilight's face had turned completely red and she just stared straight ahead, her eyes shut. I placed a hand on her mane and rubbed it gently, the soft silky hair running through my hand like water. I brought my pendant off my neck and opened the camera, tapping Twilight to get her attention.

She turned her head as I scooted right next to her and wrapped her in my arm, pulling her towards me, though she went forward herself.

"There's nothing more in the world I could ask for," I said as I took a picture of us, locked in each others eyes.

Smiles beamed on our faces as we looked into each other, soon I found the both of us inching towards each other, slowly our lips connected on the hill that overlooked the peaceful valley before us. A kiss filled my body with a feeling of happiness and love I thought erased from my mind. As our lips parted from each other Twilight lifted her head up and brought it to mine, cheek to cheek, and whispered into my ear.

"No matter what happens in this messed up time, know that I will love you always. I have since I first met you, helping you was my new dream," Twilight said, all of it sincere.

My eyes began to water as she confessed her love, as I had done, a new fire had lit inside me. Nothing could douse it, the world could try to destroy me and it might, but it would never destroy that. No matter what challenges lay ahead, it was she and I together, always.

Chapter 16: Broken Crystals

Chapter 16: Waking Kingdom

"Concentrate, let the energy flow through you, don't force it out," Davian instructed as we stood outside his shack.

I had begun training with him more and more often. If I truly was a pure blood he had said my powers needed to increase, that I need more control. At the moment he was teaching me simple ways to extend my stamina so I wouldn't drain my energy too quickly. Having no sort of mentor besides old books before, it was proving rather odd.

"When you go to strike, let the magic roll of your arm as you extend, don't throw it like a ball," he said, gesturing me to start practicing.

I took a stance and began striking the air like he showed me, moving my arms in a controlled movement rather than rapid bursts. My eyes became a cyan glow as magic shot out of my hands, vaporizing innocently in the air as I repeated my movements. Davian eyed me cautiously as he began the next step.

"So lets talk about your personal life for a moment," he said bluntly.

The slightest twitch of my arm was enough for him to begin speaking, I just tried to calm myself while he did.

"It seems you've become quite attached to one of them. Twilight, am I correct? So what happens if you need to leave? Or if she does? What happens when the war comes here, which it will," he snarled. "She has watched you rise and fall, along with the rest of your friends and the town. What happens if they give up on you? If they finally just reject you." he attacked.

My pace began to quicken, the magic shooting a little faster every time.

"And young Scootaloo, who knows how long til-" he tried before I cut in.

"You WILL NOT bring her into this," I shouted

Davian sighed heavily and hung his head to the ground, pointing at my hands. I looked over to see a patch of grass on fire, burning elegantly in the daylight. I let out a cuss as I waved my hand, extinguishing the small blaze, knowing I failed this test.

"You have to learn to control your anger, you cannot lose yourself that easily. You know I use these things as examples, I don't mean them," he sighed.

"Yeah well why don't you leave Scootaloo out of it? She's to young to be brought into this shit," I cussed.

"She needs a protector in the coming times. Do you think you'll be to handle that?" he said.

"Why don't you just let me handle that okay? Continue what you're doing and stay out of their life," I commanded.

"If you lose yourself with such simplicity you won't be able to handle it," he bluntly said.

"Then I'll learn to control it. But like I said, stay out of their lives," I repeated.

He simply nodded, not saying a word, obviously disappointed. I shook my head and cleared my thoughts, letting the stress flow away. I looked back up to the masked man standing before me, knowing he was only trying to help, but in the harshest way.

"Are you ever going to take off that mask?" I chuckled slightly.

The mask wrinkled a bit, signalling a smile as he answered, "Wouldn't want to blind anyone with my beauty. Why don't we call it a day huh? Got some stuff to take care of."

"Yeah. I'll see you later Davian," I said as I turned and made my way home.

******************************

The chirping of Davian's communicator brought him back to reality as he continued to watch over the horizon, long after the young magi had left. He looked at the device in his hands, knowing too well who it would be, and dreadfully clicked the receive button.

"Davian here," he said.

"The time is coming. They make their move within the coming year. The boy is to be brought back to Karkland immediately," Head Magister Vastras commanded.

Davian sat there for a few minutes, contemplating what the old fool had just told him. What he had never told Evan, and what he had never let himself fully know. The Janmori threat was growing beyond anyone's knowledge, it would soon be the biggest threat not only Karkland had seen, but the whole planet as well. But what they would do to Evan, what he would let happen, was unspeakable.

"Ha. You know Master I've watched this boy grow much in the past year. And I've grown a little myself, so my answer to you is to no. I won't do this anymore, I'm supposed to protect him, and that's what I'm going to do," Davian said proudly.

"You would betray the Order? You would betray the Magi? You would betray humanity?!" Vastras shouted.

"If it means saving the life of an innocent being then yes, I would," Davian said calmly.

"You know what this means then. Magi are not permitted to leave the Order, we will find you and take the Pure Blood," the head Magi threatened.

"You can try, but I'll be waiting. I also can't wait to burn your smug face like you did mine. Davian out," he said, turning the communicator to ash before staring peacefully back over the horizon, waiting.

********************************

Arriving home after the walk from Davian's shack I found my home empty except for the clacking of small hooves upstairs in the loft. Twilight the gang had gone out today to Canterlot for some test Celestia was giving her, leaving me and Scootaloo behind to relax and do whatever.

"Hey Scoot, I'm home. Want anything for lunch?" I asked to the filly upstairs. I head a surprised yet happy squeak as she came trotting down from our room.

"Well its about time! I'm starviiinng," she whined.

"Well I'm sorry, most big fillies can make their own food," I chuckled, "Want to go out to lunch?"

"Uh, yeah! SugarCube Corner?" she asked.

"What is with you ponies and pastries? But anyway we can't, Pinkie went out with everyone and the Cakes don't work weekends," I explained.

"Ahh drat...well then I guess lets just go to the diner down the street.." she grumbled.

"You know they have desert too? Whiny little thing, alright lets get going. Just gotta grab my stuff real quick," I said as I ran upstairs into the loft.

Scootaloo followed behind me into the bedchambers where I had my computer resting on the desk. I picked it up and pocketed it, hesitating as my hand hovered over the small drawer, turning back to Scootaloo who suddenly had a terrified expression on her face.

"Scoot, whats wron-bashat!" I cried as a glowing vortex surrounded me.

Instinctively, Scootaloo tried to pull me out of it but her contact with me only engulfed her into the vortex of light also. She screamed as I grabbed her into a protective hold, kneeling down and forming a barrier over us. Within seconds all I heard was a zap, then the vortex was gone completely, although it was much brighter than it was moments before. I realized why as I looked up to see we were now in Canterlot, Twilight and the gang stood in front of us, her horn still glowing from teleporting us.

"Twilight?! What in the-" I tried to exclaim before she raised a hoof in the air. She smiled and lowered it, silencing me.

"I can explain, everyone else go get ready. We'll be there in a second," she said, the others left as told, entering the train behind me. Scootaloo pranced in place nervous and confused before being shooed in by Rainbow Dash, leaving Twilight and me alone.

"Well I guess you better give me the short version, cause apparently we're on to a new goddess damned adventure when I'm supposed to be at home relaxing," I said bitterly.

"Hey! Don't get that tone with me mister, and I do have an explanation," she paused, and took a deep breath. "Princess Celestia called me here to tell me a long lost kingdom called the Crystal Empire has suddenly returned. So it is up to me, and me alone the Princess said, to return the Empire to its formal state of love and kindness. She also told me that my friends were to accompany me and you fit into that category..greatly, and I had to teleport you here!"

I sat there for a moment trying to process the information, smirking a bit at her comment towards me, but soon found my sarcastic side taking over.

"Well...I can honestly say I have no clue why I'm constantly dragged into these situations, but I'm always here for you. One problem though," I said. Twilight's head turned slightly to the side confused. "Scootaloo came here with me."

"And?" she said. "What's wrong with that?"

"Well nothing, but what if something goes wrong? I don't know anything about this place," I said, worried.

"It'll be fine, you have nothing to worry about trust me. I just need you by my side okay?" she asked, her eyes shining bright in the sun.

"Of course I trust you, and alright. I'm in," I said, knowing she'd drag me if she had to.

"Great! Let's go!" Twilight said boarding the train.

My head lowered as I boarded the train that felt more like a second home from recent events. I just felt tired as the train began chugging away and I took my seat next to Twilight as the others talked among themselves. I never got much free time since nearly everyday consisted of some crazy event that came up. I shrugged it off as I realized I could now spend some time with the two beings I cared about most in the world, and that offered me some satisfaction. Twilight began rambling on about her mission ahead, more to herself than me, but I still pretended to listen as I gazed out the train car's window. It had taken a turn that I've never seen used before; everything we passed by was usually open fields or rolling hills. No other stations or even signs of any civilization seemed present. This track hadn't seen much use in a long time, I guessed.

On usual train rides I would have fallen asleep by now, but a mix of Twilight's constant talking and uncertainty of this trip kept me awake. The train had finally left the temperate territory of Canterlot and its surrounding cities, and we found ourselves chugging through snow covered plains, a tundra it seemed. The train's horn rang loud three times, signalling its arrival. Looking outside, all I could see was a small unused service station.

"Well I guess this is our stop. Everybody ready?" Twilight asked as she stepped off of the train.

As I stepped off the train I was shocked at what I saw before me. Thick blizzards blew without restraint through the merciless tundra, the unrelenting wind hurt as it smacked against my open face. The hood of my jacket suddenly placed itself on my head and tightened to offer some protection from the harsh winds. I gave a glance to Twilight who gave a small wink as we waited for the others to group up. Rarity was busy having Spike haul her enormous amount of luggage when we all heard a shout from the distance.

"Twily!" a voice said hidden in the snow storm.

Suddenly a silhouette appeared through the storm, as the shadow came closer it shouted again for Twilight. This time the voice sounded very familiar as Shining Armour trudged towards us though the winds.

"Twily you made it!" Shining said as he ran towards his little sister.

"Shining Armour!" she said as they grasped each other in a hug.

"C'mon all of you, we have to go now. There are things out here we don't want to run into after dark."

"Wha..what kind of things?" Fluttershy squeaked.

"Lets just say..the Empire isn't the only thing that's returned." Shining said before leading us into the storm.

As we made our way through the frozen wasteland I came to the conclusion that I hated snow. It had hardly ever snowed in Juno, it was a very temperate area, and I dread the day the Pegasus decide to have it snow in Ponyville. Lighting my hands ablaze to feel the warmth of fire was a relief for a brief moment, until I let them extinguish as I bent down and picked Scootaloo up.

"C'mon Scoot, you don't need to be walking in all this." I said as I place her on my shoulders.

Her tiny body was shaking from the cold, her wings folded flat against her sides. I loosened my jackets hood and let her use it to soften the blow of the raging winds, it didn't help me much but at least the wind didn't hit her face anymore. I overheard Twilight talking to Shining about something to do with the Empire, I was about to join in until we all heard a sick moaning coming from somewhere in the darkness.

"That's one of those things isn't it!" Fluttershy shouted.

"Come on! We have to get to the Crystal Empire now!" Shining Armour commanded.

As soon as the words left his mouth a sick cloud of pure black rose from the ground behind us, it stretched itself until it rose many feet above us. I found myself running as fast as I could when I saw the pair of green eyes open in the body of the cloud. Scootaloo screamed on my shoulders as I chased after the rest of my group, adrenaline not letting my body fumble or slow down.

"Quick! There it is!" Shining yelled out as we passed over a hill, coming into the view of a great shining barrier.

The sight of haven only made us sprint faster until I made the mistake of looking behind me, only to see the dark cloud right on us. The moan it once made turned into a terrible screaming, one of pure anger. I brought Scootaloo off my shoulders and ran with her in my arms, carrying her life an athlete does a sports ball. The barrier's wall was close now, just a couple more yards and safety would be reached. Shining Armour suddenly stopped in his tracks and turned around, standing in place defiantly. I felt myself stumble, I reached the barrier with my friends, but I brought out a hand to try and grasp him with me. The colt fired off a few shots of powerful magic before the dark cloud crashed into him, engulfing him, I let out and angry scream and through Scootaloo through the barrier, my body about to ignite. The cloud turned to me, its green eyes scanning me, then it seemed to get even angrier.

"Huumaann.." an echoed whisper came from the black mass.

I stood there shocked for a moment before being tackled through the barrier by a large white mass. I landed with an 'omphf' as I gazed up shocked to see Shining Armour stumble off me, black crystals covering his horn.

"Shining Armour! Evan! You're okay!" Twilight shouted, running towards us.

"Oh no, Shining your horn!" she exclaimed, seeing the crystals that covered his horn.

He attempted to gather magic to no avail as the crystals seemed to block or absorb it. He gave a silent shake of his head but padded Twilight on the head. She looked to me as he walked ahead of the group, her eyes filled with worry.

"What do you think you were doing?! Why didn't you come through with us?" Twilight bombed me with questions.

"I needed to help your brother Twi! Or at least try, and I couldn't do that with Scoot in my hands." I tried to answer back, reaching down and rubbing the mane of the filly who had approached my side.

"Sorry bout that Scoot, I needed to know you were safe." I told her.

"I'm a big filly, I can take care of myself...but thanks Evan." Scootaloo said, trying to hide her earlier terror.

I looked back up to see Twilight with a disappointed look still glaring at me, I gave a shrug of my shoulders and tried to usher her along. She gave an audible sigh as we regrouped at an two crystal columns jetted into the sky, three individual crystals hovered midair between the two. As we looked pat them the sight before us made our mouths drop. An entire city spanned before us, made entirely by crystal it reflected magnificent colors across it. Perched over all of it was an enormous crystal castle than spanned high into the sky above. I couldn't think of any words to say before Pinkie spoke up for all of us.

"Woah...Sparklerific!" she exclaimed.

Shining Armour chuckled to himself before coming to the head of the group.

"That's the same reaction I had when I first got here. Well everypony, and human, welcome to the Crystal Empire." he said, gesturing us ahead.

Chapter 17: Realm of Nightmares

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Chapter 18: A Moment of Peace

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Chapter 19: Before the Storm

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