Quest For Harmony

by destinedjagold

Rating: teen
Tags: Adventure, Human, Main 6, My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic, Alternate Universe, Original Character, Spike, Cutie Mark Crusaders
Length: 216363

A young man found himself as an earth pony in a chaotic Equestria. He now needs to find a way back home, but after learning that the chaos in Equestria also affects his home world, he'll embark on a quest to bring back harmony to both worlds.

Episode 1 (Chapters 1 to 20)
Episode 1 Cover Art created by white-tigress-12158 on deviantArt
“A young man witnessed a strange storm, but seeing that no one else was as intrigued as him, he shrugged it off and continued his life, but after getting into a fight, he was rushed to the nearest hospital.
After regaining his consciousness, he suddenly found himself in Equestria as an earth pony, where things aren't really the same as in the series.
With a voice that kept echoing inside his head, he embarks on a quest to return home and be reunited with his beloved family, as he tries not to get too involved in the chaotic war of the unicorns against the pegasi.”

Episode 2 (Chapters 21 to 81)
Episode 2 Cover Art created by GenericDrawfag on deviantArt
“After learning that the human world is somehow affected by the unnatural phenomenon that Equestria was also suffering of, Gold Blitz, the young man who turned into an earth pony, will now embark on a journey to try and fix it so his family will have a better world to live on.
With Spike's assistance, the duo will embark on a quest to bring back the world he once knew.”

Episode 3 (Chapters 82 to 95)
“After discovering the dimensional portal located on Mount Comet, a group of human scientists began their experiments, which resulted to catastrophic events where monsters from the world of ponies were transported to the human world.
Jay, the human who turns into an earth pony known as Gold Blitz in the pony world, will now try his best to save his world from the looming darkness.”

Episode 4 (Chapters 96 to 115)
“After learning that Jay is in trouble, Spike sets out on a quest towards the Crystal Kingdom to retrieve the ancient item that could help him, with the help of the three young mares that calls themselves the Cutie Mark Crusaders.
What lies ahead of their path, they do not know. However, they are determined to accomplish their mission, no matter what it takes.”

Episode 5 (Chapters 116 to 148)
Episode 5 Cover Art created by white-tigress-12158 on deviantArt
“After recovering from Sombra's curse, Jay must now go back to the island and retrieve the Crystal Heart to stop Sombra from conquering more cities in his world. However, he wasn't sure if he could do it. After all, he's just one ordinary human.
Thankfully, he has his brothers to help him, and Rainbow Dash, and other ponies' assistance from the other world.”

/Author's Notes/
- Everything in this story, even the locations and names in the 'human world', is pure fiction.
- First person point of view. Sometimes the story switches to a third person PoV.
- Current cover art created by white-tigress-12158 on deviantArt.

Published 2012-11-26 11:40:01 UTC
Last updated 2013-07-04 20:48:23 UTC

Chapter 1 - Message

Four o'clock in the morning. Usually, at this hour, everyone should still be asleep, enjoying the embrace of dreams and slumber. Not for me and a few others, I'm afraid. Wake up early, fix myself up, and wait inside the bus station has been my daily routine. Well, except during weekends and holidays.

I am one of the lucky few who got a job in the city. Decent pay, nice workplace, kinda snubby workmates, scary bosses. But meh, at least the company provided free lunch to all their employees. Unfortunately for me, I needed to sacrifice a lot of my free time to get there, and head back home. It's a two-hour bus ride from Sun Ford to the city, and another two hours from the city back home. And that is if traffic isn't heavy. Traffic's a real pain, and that's why I ride the bus at four. The office starts at seven, and it's an eight-hour work, plus one hour for lunch.

I've been wanting to find an apartment in the city to save myself time and money, but, I couldn't really leave my home, not to mention my two brothers and my parents. Sun Ford's a small country town. My dad's a miner, while my mom's a basket maker. Money is pretty difficult to earn here, but my parents really did their best to send me and my brothers to a public school, and even earn enough to help me graduate in college, which greatly help me land a job.

A whistle woke me from my little train of thoughts. I removed my head from leaning on the glass window in the waiting area of the bus station. I stood up, picked up my bag, and stood in line to ride a bus.

I took a seat beside the window. Looking through, I saw my home town still embracing the morning darkness. The dark-blue sky is full of dancing stars, which is one of the things I love to stare at while riding the bus to work.

I love my family so much. It often makes me wonder why everyone else — at around my age — despise their own parents. They only wanted to provide a good future to their children. I never really got good answers from a number of my friends though during high school. Sure, parents tend to do things which may ridicule and humiliate us in front of our friends, but I did not care about other people. I love my parents, and I am proud to be with them...even though...

Though they're really caring, I really wished that they could at least spare a little of their time to attend school events when I was still a student. I always envied others who have their parents around during family days, recognition of honors, and other things. I do understand their reason though, but, sigh...

Sun Ford was getting smaller by the minute now. Soon, it'll disappear as the bus drove on the wide cemented country road towards the city.

My brother, a few years younger than me, is like any other teen back home: rebellious, tough, proud. He always spend more time in work and with his friends than to be with us: his family. Try as I might, as an elderly brother, but I can't reach out to him. I wanted to know more about him, learn more about him, because he really changed during high school. He was no longer the brother I used to know, and it really hurts when he ignores me and walks away. No matter how hard I try, he easily shoves me away and tells me that everything was fine.

A bump on the road shook the sad feeling within me, at least, a bit. I don't think I needed to carry this kind of feeling when I start my work later. I opened my bag-pack and pull out my old notebook and pen. I simply sewed this notebook with pages of other old notebooks that doesn't have any writings on them. I used this notebook to write everything in my head. This was my way to release the heavy feelings inside me. I began writing down, on a blank page, about my brother yet again. He didn't come home last night, but I've seen where he was when I got in town yesterday night. He was with his buddies. He saw me, but didn't mind me. I simply continued my walk back home.

I fill a page, and it was all about him. I sighed. Turning on the next page, I began to write about my youngest brother. He's still in high school. Like my younger brother, he's also outgoing, makes friends easy, enjoys their company, and hangs with them if he's bored to the bone. But he's also like me. He loves his family, though he doesn't show it, I can tell. He's open, always talking and asking me about stuff. He knows how to pick proper friends, and he's a computer addict. Yep, I managed to save enough money to buy myself a laptop to help me with my work. I ended up giving it to him. He's really good at software and stuff, and he began composing his own songs and videos with it. He also learned how to make animations. He told me that when he got nothing better to do, he goes to an internet café with my, er, his laptop, and does his research. And he ended up earning some money out of his original compositions.

I smiled. The city had a lot of hiring posters, looking for people who were good at computers. My brother was going to have a good future. I read some of those posters, and it didn't specify any educational achievements. I wonder if it was too late for me to learn computers. It seemed like an easy job: just typing stuff, burn and other computer-words I don't know the meaning of.

Oh yeah, that reminded me. I might as well add this in my notebook. A few weeks ago, my youngest brother arrived home late, but he had a really wide grin. My youngest brother was usually home by the time I got back from work, so it worried me that he wasn't home when I got there. That feeling of worry was replaced by confusion after I noticed how excited he was as he pulled me inside our room. Yep, the three of us share one room. Well, the two of us, at least. Anyway, he booted the laptop on and began going through folders and stuff. He opened a video player and asked me to sit with him to watch a cartoon.

I arched my eyebrow at him as the video started playing. A cartoon? I haven't watched cartoons since I graduated from high school. I shrugged. If he was excited to share something, then who was I to throw him to the dumps?

The cartoon started with this white horse thing with wings and horn, and the narrator said about it banishing the dark horse to the moon. And then a purple unicorn appeared, reading a book. I turned to him as the stupidly-childish intro song started playing. He even hummed along with the intro. His wide grin completely contrasted my frown. I mean, what the heck? That was clearly a cartoon for kids, specifically for little girls! Don't judge just yet, he told me. I sighed as I promised him that I was only watching one episode.

To make things short, I was late the next day, because I ended up watching every single episodes from seasons one and two! I still think it's a girl's show, but, strangely, I liked it. Does this mean I'm a weirdo? But my brother liked it as well, and he told me that the internet was full of bronies who were around my age, and also loved the show, My Little Pony. I don't think I would be yelling about it in the streets though. Anyway, I liked the story of the cartoon, where it wasn't really a hundred percent childish. I can't explain it pretty well.

Now, he said something about a new season of the cartoon. Season three, he said, and it's my favorite number, but I asked him not to spoil me the details. He respected my decision though. His favorite was Twilight, while mine was Applejack. I don't know, but I really liked her accent, and her hat.

The bus suddenly stopped. I looked over the seat in front of me, and with the bus' headlights, I could see a few cars ahead, but they weren't moving. With the soft rays of the slowly rising sun, I manage to see further as I stood up from my seat. Yep, traffic, and from the looks of it, it'll probably take me a while to get to work. I sighed as I returned to my seat. I'm going to have to do overtime to make up for the time I'm not in the office. Sigh... I hate overtime...

Thunder suddenly roared from the heavens. Great. Traffic, plus a storm. From the city's bus station, it'll be a twenty-minute walk through the busy streets to reach the office. At least I always brought my umbrella along inside my bag-pack. I turned west, where the green mountains stood tall. Above the mountains was a very dark and gloomy blanket of clouds. Blue cracks of lightning crawled through it though. The wind started to blow strong as I sighed and closed the window.

Another roar of thunder. I blinked. Wait a minute...blue lightning? That's unusual. I pulled my phone out from my pocket and went to the video recorder, and then I pointed my phone at the clouds. Okay, another lightning, but it looked ordinarily white on my phone while it was blue up above. Huh, weird. I noticed the volume inside the bus was getting louder. I don't really like loud places, so I stood up and walked out the bus after the driver assured me that he wont be going anywhere without me. Heh, where would he even go, anyway? The bus is surrounded by cars. I stopped and stood in front of the bus as I tried to video record the blue lightning.

“What are you doing?” asked the driver after he poked his head out from the driver's window.

“What does it look like I'm going?” I asked back without turning to him, “I'm recording this strange blue lightning bolts from that storm cloud!”

“What blue lightning?”

I blinked. Okay, that made me turn to him as I hit the pause button. I wanted to ask if he was color blind, but decided against it. "Those lightning are blue, aren't they?"

He looked confused as he slowly shook his head. I think that he was satisfied that it was enough of an answer to my question, and some follow-up questions. Those lightnings aren't blue? But, they are! I looked around, and noticed that I was the only one who was intrigued by the storm. I convinced myself that maybe — just maybe — I was seeing things. I shook my head and walked back inside the bus. The storm clouds were already above us. The driver closed the doors as a heavy rain started falling from the heavens. I let out another sigh as I returned to my seat.

My phone vibrated as I settled down on my seat. I got a text message, but I don't know who it was from. I opened the text message, and as soon as I did so, a very loud and rumbling crash of thunder roared, and made the bus vibrate a bit and the passengers gasp in fear. I rolled my eyes before I read the...blank text message. I sighed as I was about to press the exit button when letters suddenly appeared on the blank message, as if being typed.

“We...need...help?” I read in whisper.

Another loud thunder roared as a lightning flash blinded my sight in blue.

Author's Note

Edited On January 20, 2013
Edited Once Again On June 15, 2013
Edited Once Again On July 3, 2013

Chapter 2 - Beating

The bus arrived in Rentelbud City's Bus Station. It was useless to hurry, since I was already fifteen minutes late. The cause of the traffic was a road accident. Two private cars collided and were not to be removed until the police investigators were done with their investigation.

I took my umbrella from my bag-pack before I stood up and walked out of the bus. The usually-crowded city street was empty of people walking around, except for those who have umbrellas. I needed to stay near the buildings if I wanted to save myself from the watery puddles on the road though. Passing cars could splash water to me, and I don't want that.

The rain was really heavy, and the wind was strong and chilly. Lightning was still blue, but I still don't understand why I was the only one who noticed...or better yet, who ‘sees’ it as blue. I shook my head. It wasn't my job to figure that out.

The city was full of tall concrete buildings. Not much to say about them, but I like the fact that the city added indian mast trees on the streets. On normal days, the birds' chirpings reminded me of home. It at least added something to smile about as I walked towards the office.

I gave my I.D. to the security guard after I went inside the building of where I work. As I dried my shoes on the mat, I hung my umbrella on the umbrella rack near the guard's table.

“You know you're late, right?” he asked me as he handed me my punch card and my I.D.

I smiled and shrugged as I handed him my bag-pack. After he saw that there was nothing that could cause harm to other people, he handed my bag back and I walked towards the elevator. I pressed the up button, waited for the door to open, went inside, pressed the eleventh floor button, waited to arrive, and the elevator's doors slid open.

My middle-aged boss was standing on the other side, with a very scary look on his face. I gulped. I'm sooo dead. He stood straight and tall, arms crossed, an angry look on his face and a pair of deathly glaring eyes.

“Tsk,” he...tsk'ed. I think I was starting to sweat all over. My knees were shaking a bit. “If you're going to be our branch's new assistant manager, I suggest you practice punctuality,” he spoke in a very dark, calm, deathly and scary voice.

I blinked...

...Wait, what?

I tilted my upper body to the side to see the office behind my boss. Eeyup, the place was decorated with balloons and a little bit of confetti.

“If you want, I'll let you have the elevator as your office,” he grinned as a few of my co-workers snickered. His large left hand then grabbed my shoulder and pulled me out of the elevator. I stood no chance against my boss' strength. He pulled me beside him, turned around to face his employees, and brought his palm and gave me two painful pats on my back. Ouch... “Congratulations, kid!”

I'm a little bit lost at the moment as my boss dragged me to a table with food. There were spaghetti with meatballs, cake, pasta, buttered chicken, muffins, and soft-drinks. No beer, which I was thankful for. Well, we do need to get back to work after a few minutes of celebration. I don't think the boss would like having drunk employees during the working hours.

As my friends and co-workers congratulated me, I finally realized that I was promoted. Never in my dear life did I dream to be promoted to a high position. I mean, well, I liked simplicity. I work and do my job in a simple and quick manner. I tend not to leave any tasks undone, unless of course if the deadline is still a few days away.

I noticed a few of the guys on the back of the crowd weren't really looking happy. I think the word ‘pissed’ would fit their expressions, or maybe it was just me. I smiled nonetheless, as I thanked my boss and my co-workers before I took a paper plate. I think I was going to have a bad night later when I head back home. I recognized those guys earlier, and they've been working their asses just to get promoted. I don't really socialize much to my co-workers though. I quietly sighed. Well, at least I can still have a few hours to enjoy being alive.

I was about to have myself some spaghetti when a loud thunder roared through the city and the power went out.

“Great,” I said, my voice cutting through the silence, “assistant manager for a few minutes, and nature's already against me.” I earned quite a lot of laughs from my co-workers. I smiled and joined the laughter nonetheless.

After a few minutes of enjoying the food, we went back to the usual working atmosphere, with a few plates of food on the work-desks. My boss dragged me to my new office. A small room, beside his. He explained my new job as I eyed the flat-screen monitor on my new desk. Yep, I'm going to be using a wonderful computer now. He planted his palm flat on the piles of paper on the left of my new desk, and he told me that I need to check the things from the papers on the server, or whatever. It was an easy task, he said, so he assured me that I won't be having any problems. I pointed the fact that the power was still out, and he chuckled slightly. He then left me alone so I could settle in.

Well, at least I have a window now. And strangely, I could see the island where I live. Yep, Sun Ford is a small town on the island. A large bridge connected the island to the mainland. At least I won't be feeling lonely every time I go to work, that is, if I'll survive my upcoming beatings...

...and to finish it off, the guys threw me on the metallic garbage bins. It was really difficult to stay conscious after what they just did to me. I wasn't able to avoid them when I got out. One of them swiftly stood beside me, and secretly pulled a really sharp knife as he whispered that if I wish to live, I'd follow him and make no resistance. At that moment, I wondered what the security guard was doing, since he apparently failed to notice. Anyway, he dragged me to a nearby dark alleyway, where three others were waiting for us.

Punch, kick, knee, elbow. Every single blow they gave me was too painful, and I was glad that it was over. They said something, but I couldn't make out the words. Soon, they left, leaving me lying on a small dirty puddle surrounded by garbage. It was a good thing that the stormy downpour was nothing but a drizzle now. But the dark heavy clouds were still high above, and lightning bolts were still occasionally breaking through and low thunder roared in the city. Still blue, by the way.

I was startled after I felt someone touching me. It was a she, and she helped me up. In all honesty, I don't want to get up just yet. My aching body was...well, aching. She took one of my arm and rested it around her neck to easily carry me to a standing position. My knees were still too weak to support my own body.

“Why did you let them do this to you?” she asked as we both took a few slow starting steps forward.

How could I not let them? They were muscular and stronger than a skinny little me.

“I-it's fine, Claire...” I assured her, and predictable, she didn't believe me. Who would?

Anyway, Claire's my co-worker, and a friend of mine. She has long black silk-like pony-tailed hair. She's almost as tall as me, and she's kinda beautiful. Not really very beautiful, just, simply beautiful. Our co-workers were always teasing the two of us, saying that we should go and make out already. It started as a little friendly gossip that she liked me, until it reached the teasing point. I kinda liked her as well, but I was pretty good at hiding my feelings and act neutral. That was how I survived the temptations during high school and college. I'm not ready for a commitment, yet. I promised myself to work my hardest to see my youngest brother graduate both in high school and in college. Back home, I'm known to never break any of my promises, and I plan of keeping it that way.

We earned quite a few worried stares from the people who happened to be walking on the street as we stood and waited for...

“Wh-where are we going?” I managed to ask. Talking really hurt my jaws at the moment.

A taxi stopped in front of us.

“The hospital. Where else?” she replied a little too loud as a concerned citizen quickly went and opened the taxi's door for us. She nodded her thanks and helped me get inside.

I'm starting to get dizzy. Probably from blood loss. I lifted both my palms in front of me, and indeed, there was blood all over. Claire sat beside me, and closed the door. As the taxi headed to a nearby hospital, Claire placed a hand on my shoulder. I turned and saw her worriedly looking at me. I tried to smile though.

“You didn't deserve this...” she whispered.

I sighed as I leaned back. I closed my eyes and took calm breaths to ease the painful numbness of my body. Suddenly, I felt my cellphone vibrating. I slowly pulled it out, but my hand no longer had the strength to grab and lift it as it fell on the seat. Claire picked it up and was about to read who's it from when she quickly turned to look at me.

“May I?” she asked and I slightly nodded. It was a chance to divert her attention from me, at least for a few moments.

I really hated it when people were concerned about my well-being though. It's probably caused by my mom. When my brothers and I were younger, and one of us get sick or hurt, mom would go all-paranoid mode and tries to heal us up quickly before it worsen and could kill us. Yeah... The thought made me smile.

“It's blank...” Claire whispered as she turned my phone so I could see the blank screen. After a while, she looked at the screen again, pressing the down button, and up. “Nothing...”

I was really losing my consciousness now. Maybe because of blood loss, tiredness, and how comfortable I was seated on this very comfortable seat.

As I slowly closed my eyes, I let out a quiet sigh as I heard her voice. “Help...us...?”

The second before I totally lost my consciousness, a loud thunder roared through the city.

Author's Note

Edited On January 21, 2013
Edited Again On July 3, 2013

Chapter 3 - Awaken

Beeping sounds. Faint voices. Quiet thunder roar. Those were the things I could barely hear. I don't know where I was, but now that I was slowly regaining my conscience, I think I was in a hospital. Where else would that beeping be coming from?

“He's...g—...be okay, ri—?” A feminine voice. It was faint, but I know it was Claire's voice. She must have stayed, or maybe we just arrived? Well, at least I wasn't comatosed or something.

I heard a male voice mumbled something. I honestly did not understand what he said. I think I'm starting to feel my body now. No need to stay in the hospital for too long. I needed to get back home. The last thing I needed was my mom going paranoid about my wounds.

I slowly opened my eyes, and I saw the white ceiling of the hospital room where I was in. But after I fully opened my eyes, a bright flash of blue lightning blinded me for a split of a second. As soon as the light was gone, so was the ceiling I was staring a split second earlier.

“Help us...” a voice softly echoed inside my head as I blankly stared at the black heavy clouds above, with the occasional lightning cutting through. This time, it was white.

I have no idea how long I stayed lying on my back. My back was starting to ache when I decided to turn to my side...and notice my front limbs...are...horse hooves? I did not dare move as I blinked a few times. No changes. I moved my front limbs, and they did what my brain told them to do: shake. I ran a...hoof...on my other limb's fur. Yes, I can sense it, and it kinda tickles. I was beginning to panic, but through the years of my life, I've learned how to stay calm no matter the situation, except for some situations where my life is about to end.

For now, I convinced myself that I was no longer who I used to be. Yeah, easier to think than to believe. I sighed as I stood up...as a horse. I mean, humans stood on two feet, and not four. To us, it would be called crawling if we walked on our feet and hands.

Anyway, I stood up. I ignored my surroundings for the time being as I turned my head over my shoulder to see my back and hind...hooves. I need to get used to that. My whole body's covered with brown fur. I have a tail, much darker brown than my...coat. I don't have a cutie mark.

I let out a frustrated sigh as I hung my head low. I've read quite a few fanfics during the weekends. I have read a few where humans were suddenly turned into ponies and found themselves in Equestria. Horay for me? At least I was no longer feeling any physical pain.

I was convinced that I wasn't dreaming this. If I was, then I wouldn't be feeling the wind, feeling the ground, and other things. The wind strangely carried the scent of fire smoke, and something...awful... Whatever, I needed to get outta here. I always believed in the saying that ‘if there's a way in, there's always a way out. If there's no way out, then go back where you came in’.

I looked at my surroundings. Aside from the black gloomy clouds, the sky was a bit orange-y red. Thick trees have green-to-brown leaves. The wind was chilly. The dark brown ground was mixed with green and burned grass. The terrain was curvy in an informal fashion. There was a tall mountain in the distance. Though it was gloomy, I could still see details of a castle built on the side of the mountain. Maybe that's Canterlot? I turned around, and the first thing I saw was the thick white group of clouds in the far distance below the thick blanket of black clouds. Cloudsdale? Probably... It's the only cloud city in the cartoon series. It had no rainbow waterfall, though.

I felt my ears perk up when I heard something from behind. Aside from the continuous thunder rumbling in the sky, I could also hear footsteps from behind me, getting louder. Maybe I should call them hoofsteps. I tur—

“Halt!”

I froze in place. I did not dare move. I did not even brought my lifted hoof back on the ground. I heard a sigh.

“You can turn,” the male voice spoke in a rather lame way.

I let out a breath as I slowly turned to face three armored unicorn ponies. I could tell that they were unicorns since their horns were sticking out from the hole on their helmet. The white unicorn, the center of the three, who was wearing purple-coated armor, was strangely familiar though.

He removed his helmet with his hooves, and his blue mane quickly revealed itself, which made me recognize him fully. “What's an earth pony doing here in the War Plains?”

I did my very best not to look surprised after what I just heard. ‘War Plains’? Is Equestria in war? With whom? Anyway, I brought my right hoof over my right eyebrow to salute the three unicorns.

“Sir—” what was his name again? I think he was Twilight's big brother. I only watched the series one time though. “—Armor.”

He awkwardly saluted back, and we both returned our hooves on the ground. “So you know me?” He smiled a bit. “You must be a citizen of Unicornia then.” He then turned over his shoulder and talked to one of the unicorns while I was lost in my own thoughts.

‘Unicornia?’ That word sounded familiar. Maybe it was mentioned in the series? I don't think I've read that word from the fanfics I've read.

The three unicorns then faced me.

“Boulder will escort you back,” Armor spoke, “whatever you were doing here, I ask of you to stop and head back where it is safe.” I nodded before he continued with a serious look on his face. “I don't want to see you here again. You were lucky we got to you first before those pegasi scoundrels have.”

The way he spoke and the tone he used when he mentioned the pegasi made me think that the unicorns were on war against the pegasi. That was in theory for now. If we really were on the battlefield, then I'd best not be here. I needed to get back home, anyway. Being dead won't...hm... Maybe if I die here, I would be able to return? Eh, death is scary, so I don't want to test that theory... Besides, if Armor was from this place called Unicornia, then that meant his sister was also there. I don't know if the fanfics were correct about Twilight being able to help stranded humans like myself to return to my world, but it's worth a shot. I don't have any other options at the moment.

I flashed a small smile at the unicorn named Boulder. “Le—after you, sir.” If I asked him to lead the way, they might start to think of something. Boulder quietly nodded and turned around, facing the City of Canterlot. “Take care, Sir Armor,” I said as I faced him, and then I faced the other unicorn, “you too.”

Both flashed small smiles and walked pass me as I followed the brown unicorn.

Author's Note

Edited on July 3, 2013

Chapter 4 - Pegasi

I am a quiet-type by nature. I don't talk unless spoken to, except for my parents and youngest brother, especially my youngest brother. We spend a lot of time doing stupid things together. We're like the bestest buds in the entire world...well, in the human world, at least. That quietness rendered me from making a lot of friends. Not that I mind.

Unfortunately, the quietness is making me feel uneasy, because I have a lot of things I wanted to ask to this Boulder-guy, who is currently leading me to Unicornia.

"So, uh..." I spoke, and his left ear slightly turned to me. If I ask something stupid, he might suspect that something's wrong with me. They did assume that I'm a citizen of their Uniderpia-whatever. "...h-hows the war going?"

He slightly turned his head so he could give me a side-glance. "Unicornia has conquered a few lands that Pegasopolis failed to protect." He turned his gaze ahead. 'Pegasopolis', huh... "Those lands are full of valuable metal that the pegasi rely in the war. So I could say that we are getting the upper hoof."

So the pegasi and the unicorns are on war against each other, for conquering the land, maybe? I don't know if I should ask that to him. So much for love and tolerate. "How about the soldiers? They're not severely injured, aren't they?" Honestly, I'm not really that concerned. I just don't want this awful silence around us.

"There will always be wounded ponies during the war," he took a deep breath before he spoke again, "some even die."

Okay, so much for childish cartoons. What I'm currently in is really serious. If I do get killed here, I might as well increase my awar--- "oomf!" Stupid uproot.

Boulder stopped and spun around as I stood up and took a look at the offending root from a nearby leafless and seemingly dead tree. "Huh..." I whispered as I stared around and saw quite a few number of dead trees ahead of us. Also, the mountain of Canterlot is a little bit closer now. I noticed that the land is inclined downward a bit, so from our standing point, I could see the base of the mountain. It was surrounded by a few wooden houses behind a large concrete wall that circled a large diameter of the mountain.

Boulder then turned to the mountain. "Unicornia..." He quietly said. He turned over his shoulder to look at me, and gestured with his head that we should continue moving. I nodded and we headed straight to the base of the mountain.

We walked in silence. I don't like this silence, but I don't know what to say or ask to break it. As I thought of something to say, I let my eyes wander around. Aside from the dead trees around us, and the burned grass and earth, I also noticed destroyed wagons, broken wheel carts, rusty and broken metal pieces, decaying clothes, and feathers...?

"The recent pegasi attack happened two days ago..." Boulder suddenly said, making me turn to him. He continued without removing his eyes on the large door on the concrete wall. "We were unprepared, and many of us died -- sacrificing themselves to give the few time to prepare..."

I didn't know what to respond to that, actually. I instead turned my gaze elsewhere as a stinging smell hit my nostrils. The smell of decay and blood.

"I lost my brother that day..." he whispered to himself, but unfortunately, I heard it, and my heart ached. I love my parents and my brothers so much, that I don't even know what I'll do if something were to happen to them. Them, yes...even my rebellious younger brother. I walked beside him and rested a hoof on his shoulder, as I ignored the question in my head about how I was able to keep up with three walking hooves. He gave me a small smile.

We became quiet after that, to my dismay, since I no longer know what to say. Soon, we stood before a concrete bridge before the large concrete door on the large and tall concrete wall. The bridge is maybe five or six meters wide, and probably eighteen to twenty meters long. As we walked on the bridge, I took a peek over the edge, and saw the calm water a few meters below us. I heard a soft whistle from Boulder, and I hastily walked beside him. I was about to ask how we were suppose to open the large double concrete door when he lit his horn up and the doors were envelop with brown magic. Soon, one of the doors slightly opened, enough for us to enter one at a time.

He looked at me and motioned his head that I should go inside first. I nodded, and swallowed a little lump of fear and uncertainty. Whatever, I needed to go inside if I need to go and see Twilight. I walked pass him, and went through the small opening of the door. I stopped once I took a few steps forward.

Wooden houses stood in rows and columns, which were standing on the brown earth with the occasional green patches of grass. Trees surrounded the edges of the wall, and a few stood near the houses. A tall waterfall from the mountain calmly lands on the watering hole on the base of the mountain, where small ponies swim cheerfully. Speaking of ponies, I noticed that the ponies here are all earth ponies. Some are pulling wagons with rocks, metal and wood. Some were walking with basket balanced on their back. Some were carrying mining tools. And a grumpy-looking purple unicorn was walking towards me, while being escorted by heavily-armored unicorns on her sides.

Purple? Twilight! I smiled, and I was about to run to her when I noticed something: the ponies are bowing before her. That made me arch an eyebrow as Boulder stopped beside me and bowed just before Twilight and her unicorns stopped before us. I bowed, to avoid any trouble.

"Where's my brother?" Twilight asked.

Boulder and I raised our heads back and he cleared his throat before he spoke, "Commander Armor's still in the War Plains wit---"

He was cut off by Twilight who raised her hoof. "That brother of mine..." she hissed as she turned her gaze away, "I told him not to wander around." She then returned her gaze at us, or to me, and she arched an eyebrow. "And who's this?"

I smiled, "I'm..." name... Name-name-name-name-name-aha! "...Gold..." last-name-last-name-last-oh whatever, "...Blitz...?" Well, he's the character of my fic in my head. Never had the time to write one. Gold is an earth pony name given by his earth pony father, and Blitz is the name his pegasus mother gave him.

"Interesting name..." Twilight lamely said. "Explain to me the origins of your name."

I opened my mouth cheerfully, yet no sound came out as my mind told me not to tell her. They're at war with the pegasi, right? "I..." my smile evaporated, "have no idea." I dropped my head.

She snorted. "Typical earth ponies." She then faced Boulder, "Go and fetch my brother immediately, or else!" she said with angry eyes.

What's her problem? She's not like that in the series. Well, whatever, for it shook Boulder in fear. "Y-yes, princess." And after a shaky bow, he quickly turned 'round and ran out of the door.

'Princess'? That word echoed in my head as her horn glowed and I heard the large door behind me slammed shut. She then turned around and faced her unicorn guards. "I'm going back to the castle. Since my brother's not here, I need to prepare battle strategies for the incoming battle. Make sure nopony is..." she slightly turned her head, enough for her to see me in the corner of her eyes, "...slacking off." And with that, she was enveloped with a bright purple light, and she was gone, leaving her unicorn guards to look at me with killer glares.

I gulped, "Y-yes uh, I better get my, uh, things, and..." I was enveloped with magic, and my hooves left the ground as I was levitated in the air. "...work?"

Chapter 5 - Mines

I was struggling to set myself free as the unicorns levitated me to somewhere. Soon though, I retired from trying and simply took a look around. Aside from the few stares we have earned, I noticed that we are heading towards the falls. The foals were simply staring at us though as the unicorns dragged me to the cave behind the waterfall, where the large cave's entrance is being guarded by two armored unicorns. Hidden behind the loud crashing noise of the falls is the echoing metal sound hitting tough stone. Clanking sound echoed all around as we entered. The cave was lit with shining gems that were stuck on the walls of the cave. They're mostly blue and white and yellow.

They gently put me back on my hooves. Not really, no. They levitated me in front of their eyes, and simply dropped me back on my hooves. Good thing that I landed on my hooves and not on my back or stomach. I looked around and found myself in a corner of the cave where large wooden open crates and wagons sat on the cave's ground. Within the wooden containers are pick-axes, helmets, chains?

"Hurry and gear up," one of the unicorns said boringly.

It's useless to resist. They could simply use their magic to bring me back, or worse... I slightly shook my head as I started scrambling my hooves trying to grab a helmet. 'How to ponies grab stuff with these?' I thought as I looked at my hooves in front of my face for a few seconds before trying again. Somehow, failing to grab a hold of a helmet is making me nervous. The unicorns might be losing their patience. I heard a sigh and one of the helmets was enveloped with magic. It levitated in the air, and locked its place on my head.

"Earth ponies..." one of them whispered in frustration.

It looks like I'm trapped here for a little while. I need to talk to Twlight again, but with my current situation, that ain't happening, so I might as well play along for a little while. The pick-axe is a bit easy to grab on, and I rested it on my shoulder as my hoof held it's handle. I turned to see the unicorns talking to another newly-arrived unicorn. I heard them say that they're needed back in the meeting hall to discuss their battle plans for the incoming battle. Is the war a phalanx-type of war?

As the unicorns walked out of the cave, a very huge and dirty unicorn was walking towards me with a powerful bored expression. "You," he said, pointing his yellow-coated hoof at me, "get back to work, now." It would have been scarier if his tone was angry than boring. I nodded nonetheless, and walked on the path, slowly and carefully not touching him as I walked pass him.

As I walked on the wide path of the cave, the echoes of the tools digging through the cave is getting louder, which is starting to give me a headache. At the end of the path is a wide circular space where the ceiling is up high and the ground is dug way down below, probably fifteen meters down from my standing point. Unicorns called my attention, and I walked towards them. They told me to stand on the metallic elevator shaft. With their magic, they lowered the shaft down below in a comfortable pace. As I was lowered, I looked around. Shining gems were placed around the wall of the digging site, shedding enough light to see everything. In the middle of the lowering, I noticed the magic aura surrounding the shaft changed color. I took a peek below, and noticed two unicorns staring back at the shaft with their horns lit up. Maybe those up above could no longer reach the shaft with their magic this far.

The metallic elevator shaft landed on the ground soundlessly, and as I walked off of the shaft, the unicorns lifted the shaft back up. Clanging and clacking sounds echoed all around as I stared at the large number of earth ponies digging the earth while some pulled metallic wagons full of metal and gems. In the center of it all was a very familiar white unicorn mare. Her cout was white, almost buried from the dirt that was stuck on her, and her blue mane and tail was short and, unstyled. Her horn was glowing crystal blue, and different parts of the area is glowing from her magic where the earth ponies dig.

"Hey," I heard a dark male voice, even though how loud the area is. I turned and saw two muscular earth ponies leaning close and grinning slyly to a surprisingly familiar pink earth mare, though her mane and tail are straight. The mare however, grunted in anger and continued swinging her pick-axe. "How 'bout after today," he continued, leaning close, but a pink hoof pulled him away.

It's my nature not to mind other's business, even though I felt in my heart to help them. I have a lot of problems of my own, and I do not want to add other's problems to deal with. It's their own, and they should solve it by themselves.

...I just hope Twilight won't tell me those to me when I get the chance to ask for her help.

I shook my head and walked away from the pink earth mare. I saw a part of the cave was glowing where nopony was digging on, so I went there and took my time to get comfortable with holding this pick-axe with both my hooves. After a few pratice swings, where I am sure it won't go flying away, I started digging. It's not as difficult as I thought it would be. The only difficult part was to stand on my two hind legs as I dig.

A loud crashing sound echoed all around as I was about to make my twelveth swing. Yep, I was bored, so I was counting the number of swings I made. The place somehow died to silence as all eyes, including mine, shifted to the scene where the two muscular earth ponies were now lying on their side a few hooves away from the angry and heavily-breathing pink earth pony.

"Pinkamena!" yelled a familiar voice. It was Rarity, and she marched towards her with a threatening glow on her horn. "How dare you harm my workers!"

"Shut your unicorn-blabbering mouth you white piece of ----!" Pinkie Pie angrily shouted back, making the unicornstop on her tracks with a shocked expression. I had the same expression as well. I did not believe the pink earth pony can talk like that! In the series, oh nevermind.

Rarity recollected herself and glowed her horn, wrapping the earth pony with magic and violently threw her on the wall. It somehow made her anger slide away. She took a deep breath and turned to the miners with a stare. That was enough for the earth ponies to resume their work. The two muscular earth ponies stood up and went to a different part of the digging site -- away from the pink menace. Rarity turned and walked towards the slowly rising pink earth mare. "You never get tired of visiting the dungeon, aren't you?" Rarity asked icily, but Pinkie Pie simply grunted. "We are short of miners today, so consider yourself lucky, young lady. But heed my warning: harm anypony again, and you'll never see daylight again." Though calm, her voice sent ice and fear with it.

"Yes ma'am..." Pinkie replied quietly as she hung her head low.

"Very good, now," she trailed off as she turned and went back to the center of the digging site. Her horn glowed, and different areas of the site began to glow as well.

I went back to digging. I left at number eleven, so I took my twelveth swing, and then my thir--- A pink pony stood beside me. I spooked and jumped a bit as I turn my head towards her.

"Mind if I dig here?" Pinkie asked with a suppressed angry expression. I nodded automatically. If she was able to knock two muscular ponies all alone, how much damage could she give to a skinny earth pony such as myself? That made me wonder about my pony physique. I turned over my shoulder and saw my build. It's normal like in the series though. "Don't worry," I heard her speak quietly. I turned to her, her gaze fixed on the glowing part of the wall. "So long as you won't be going to my bad side, I won't harm you."

She must have thought that I was looking at Rarity. But anyway, at least she assured me that she won't be hurting me. I nodded with a slightly small smile. Her respond was to begin digging. I went back to digging as well, and we kept working in silence.

I don't like to get to her badside, so I kept my mouth shut, no matter how much I wanted to ask her some, or maybe a lot of questions.

"What's your name?" she quietly asked, startling me ever so slightly.

"J---Gold Blitz." I almost said my human name. I wonder why pony names are based on items and other things.

"I think you've already heard my name," she said without stopping from swinging her pick-axe, "from that little drama I created."

Eeyup, but that reminded me something. I gave a side-glance, looking at her back. It's really bruised, after being thrown by Rarity to the wall. That must've hurt. "Are...you okay?" I asked as I noticed her flank is blank from any signs of cutie marks.

"Do I look okay to you?" though she kept on digging, her brows turned to anger.

"S-sorry," I replied, and we became quiet after that.

We kept on digging after we dug out a few large shiny green gems. She grabbed one with her mouth and walked towards the metallic containers near the center. Pick one up with my mouth? No thank you. I grabbed a hold of one with both my hooves, and tried to balance it with hone hoof. Satisfied, I started following Pinkie Pie with three walking hooves. I saw Rarity, shotting me a confused look. Pinkie Pie spat the gem in the container, and walked back towards our area. She walked pass me, and arched an eyebrow before she was gone from my vision.

"Too large for your mouth, darling?" Rarity asked with a grin as I dropped the gem inside the container. I replied with an awkward smile as I walked back, and saw Pinkie walking towards the container.

She was also holding the gem with one hoof as she walked. "Heh," was all she said as we walked passed each other. Not sure why, but I'm certain she was smiling, though a tiny bit.

Chapter 6 - Smile

I am not sure of how many hours I stayed inside that cave digging up metal and gems. What was more, I am not sure why Pinkie Pie decided to stick with me wherever I decide to dig. But that was no longer important as a loud whistle echoed in the mines and everyone stopped digging. Everyone let out a tired breath as they fell in line in front of the metal shaft that would take us back up.

Even though I don't care about other people's lives, I still practice good courtesy to at least show to them that I at least am human. I let Pinkie Pie fall in line before me. She didn't say anything though. I stood behind her, and as I waited, I turned over my shoulder and saw Rarity with other unicorns, and they were levitating the large metallic containers and placed them on another shaft a few meters away from us. That was probably for her and for the dug-up materials only. I did not pay any more attention to her though.

The shaft was levitated up, and soon, Pinkie and I will be lifted up there and go out. I've been wanting to feel the cold evening air after a tiring work I did here. I wonder if I'll get paid. Hm... That gave me an idea...

"You boys are to join me this evening." Rarity's voice reached my ears. I turned over my shoulder and saw her talking to the two muscular earth ponies that Pinkie Pie beaten up earlier. "I am a bit exhausted, as you can see, and shall we say, that I could use some relaxation," she continued with a seductive smile. The two earth ponies turned to each other with grins plastered on their faces. I roll my eyes and turned my attention back to out shaft as the three of them walked towards the other shaft.

Pinkie Pie and I walked on the shaft and stood next to each other as other earth ponies took their place. Soon, the shaft was elevated up and after we reached the end, we walked out and headed towards the exit. Now, I noticed that Pinkie Pie was sticking with me for some reason, and I even tried to walk very slow, making me to fall behind the group of exhausted ponies. But Pinkie copied my pace, and settled on walking beside me.

Ever since I was young, I really hate it when other people are watching me if ever I'm pretty busy doing something, and if anyone are following me all around. Pinkie Pie walking beside me for no apparent reason is starting to tick me off, and I have a very thin patience, though I am trying my very best to extend it, for her sake...?

"Listen, Pinkie," I spoke, but she cut me off after she quickly turned her head towards me and gave me a very puzzled look.

"W-what did you call me?" she asked as she stopped. I stopped and looked at her back.

"Um... Pinkie?" I replied, my slowly rising anger flushed away, and left me with the feeling of uncertainty, about if it was a good idea to answer her question.

She narrowed her eyes a bit and opened her mouth to talk, but then soft murmors echoed from behind us. Another group of ponies are coming our way. She shook her head and continued walking out of the cave. She stopped a few meters from me and turned her head over her shoulder to look at me with an annoyed look. "Are you coming or not?"

I blinked. "Coming? With you?" I'm not really sure if that's a good idea. I'm pretty sure I already walked over the line of her bad-side when I called her with her nickname, for reasons unknown at the moment.

She grunted and walked out of the way. "Fine. Stay there if you'd like." And she disappeared after walking on the narrow path outside the cave, where the sound of the waterfall is now echoing all around.

I walked out and saw in time that Pinkie was receiving a brown pouch from one of the unicorns. She walked off without looking back. I walked and was about to walk pass the two unicorn guards when one of them, the very same one who handed Pinkie a pouch, called my attention.

"You're trotting off?" He asked as I stopped in between them. I suppose 'trotting' means walking. He then levitated a pouch in front of us, and he waited for my hoof to grab it, but as the seconds flew by, he arched an eyebrow. "Well? This is your pay for today."

I shook my head and flash a small smile. "A-actually, I was wondering if you'd let me talk to Twi---er---Princess(?) Twilight." The two unicorns looked at each other with raising eyebrows. They then noticed a few earth ponies exiting the cave, so they made it quick, "Look, here's your pay. Take it and leave."

"B-but I'm serious...!" I cried out, but judging from their glares, they're serious about the mental message they're giving me that if I don't move, I'm as good as fried. I gulped, sighed, took the pouch, and walked, or trotted away.

I stopped on the edge of the water hole as I noticed the gloomy black clouds and the reddish-orange sky. I am really certain that I spent a lot of hours inside that cave. Why haven't the sky changed yet? I was so looking forward for the night's air.

I sat down, only to jerk back up on my feet as I felt my rear shot a powerful pain coursing to my brain. I gritted my teeth as I turn over my shoulder, and noticed my tail. Oh, right, I'm a pony now. That made me remember how dogs and cats back home sit. They raise their tails to avoid sitting on them. I placed my pouch on the ground in front of me as I tried browsing through my pony brain to know which part of it controls my tail. In the series, the ponies could control their tails. I ignored the tired-happy-chattering earth ponies walking out behind the waterfall as I continued to just stand there, staring at my tail. I'm not sure how many minutes had passed before I resigned from trying. I decided to sit down, but before my rear could touch the ground, I kicked my slightly long tail with my back feet, throwing it away from being flattened. That seemed to work. Now I just need to remember doing that before I sit down.

I sighed in relief, and decided to look around. The water is clear, and clear of any young foals. The crashing sound of the waterfall floats in the air. Quiet rumbling thunder roared from the skies. And Pinkie Pie was beside me.

"Ah!" I jumped to the other side. I get startled easily if I'm not being alert about my surroundings. She didn't seem to move though.

"Sorry," was all her quiet voice said as I began calming myself down.

I didn't answer. Instead, I sat back down after I kicked my tail out of the way. We sat in silence, with a respectable distance from each other, and simply staring at the calm water. I don't really know what's on her mind.

"Why did you call me 'Pinkie' back there?" she asked with a neutral voice, and not moving anything else except her mouth.

I glanced at her and replied, "W-well, uh... 'Cause that's your nickname, right?"

She turned her head, facing me with an angry look. I am starting to feel nervous. "How did you know about my nickname?" I was about to reply when she cut me off, "Nopony here knows about that. And I planned on keeping it that way."

"W-well I..." reason-reason-reason-reason-I can't just tell her that I knew about it from a cartoon series, right? Luckily, lying is one of my talents. I've practiced it since I was young, making myself look and sound like I was telling the truth, plus, to make it believable, I mix the lie with a bit of truth. It saved me a lot of times, though I only do that if required, and with my current situation, I really needed to lie if I want to save myself. "P-Pinkamena is kinda a long name, and I got used to call everyon---everypony with the short version of their names." I smiled awkwardly as she arched an eyebrow, "l-like your name. It could be 'Pinks', but I got used to add the 'ee' sound after the short versions of names. So, 'Pinkie' came...?"

I noticed her expression softened, staring at me for a few seconds before returning her gaze on the water. "I see..."

"Hey um..." since her features are clear of any signs of annoyance or anger, it's safe, right? "...is it okay if it's my turn to ask a question?"

She sighed quietly. "Guess that's fair," she replied without averting her gaze on the water.

Great. That's really great. Now, what to ask... Hm... I need to consider a few facts about the question I'm going to ask. I want to know why the sky isn't dark yet, or how long the war has been going, or why is the pegasi and unicorns fighting, or how long she's been here, or... "How long have you been here?"

Silence lasted for a few minutes as I looked at her, waiting for an answer. But after sensing that she won't answer, I decided not to push it if she's not willing to. I turned my attention to the water. Okay, enough of that. I need to return to my task of returning home. I need to go see Twilight. I need to find a way to see her. Maybe Pinkie knows a way?

"Ten years..." she suddenly spoke, startling me a bit, for I was about to turn my head to her to ask her.

Wait... Ten years? She's been here for "ten long years, mining?"

She slowly nodded as she closed her eyes. She took a deep breath, and let out a heavy, a very heavy sigh. There's one reason why I don't make many friends. This is one reason why. I don't know how to comfort them, to let them feel better if they're feeling emotionally down in the dumps. I don't think a small joke will do. It might end with me being down in the dumps, literally.

"Gold Blitz, right?" a musculine voice called behind us. Pinkie ignored it while I turned my head over my shoulder, and saw the unicorn who gave me the pouch earlier. "You wanted to see the princess, correct?" That made Pinkie Pie look at me in confusion. I ignored her, only for a moment, as I nodded to the unicorn. "Come with me, then."

Hey, finally, I get to see Twilight! Now I could go back home! I stood up, failing to contain all of my excitement. Pinkie's not really a friend, so I have no reason to stay and help her feel better, whatever it is that is making her feel so down. I saw my pouch on the ground, and thought of something. I grabbed it with my hoof and placed it before Pinkie. "Take it," well, I don't really want to leave her without doing anything, even though she's not a friend. I smiled, though it was small, but I think it was enough for me to counter her confused look. "I know it's not much, and I'm sure it's not going to fix whatever problem you're currently having right now, but, I have nothing else with me to help you, so uh... yeah..." I pushed the pouch closer, stopping on her hoof. "Just, always remember to smile." I smiled wider, to emphasize what I said. "It also may not help, but it would at least make your day at least a little bit brighter." Yeah, I'm poetic sometimes.

I'm not sure if the same message will apply here in the pony world, but I patted her shoulder before walking towards the unicorn, who was boredly waiting for me. Before we could get further though, I looked over my shoulder, and saw Pinkie Pie staring at me, with a small smile, and she slowly mouthed the words "thank you". Not sure why she thanked me. All I did was talk to her, but nonetheless, I smiled back and nodded, before following the unicorn that led me to the concrete stairway that was spiralling around the mountain of Canterlot, leading all the way up to the castle.

After he took a few steps on the stairs, I think the unicorn noticed that I was no longer following him. He looked over his shoulder, and saw my wtf-look I was giving him. "Uh..." I spoke, "I don't suppose you guys have an elevator shaft like the ones in the mines, do you?"

Chapter 7 - Fall

I am starting to think that this unicorn is enjoying the fact that I am so darn exhausted as we are walking up to the castle. We just reached the final steps of the long stairs and I literally dropped myself on the ground, panting and sweating. I was digging earlier, and that did not help me at all, and climbing up to the castle is not fun. It was a good thing there was free bread available while we were digging inside that cave. It didn't really fill my belly, but it was good enough for me at that time.

I'm too exhausted to flash him a glare. Though in honesty, he's looking tired from walking up as well, though only a tiny bit. As he sat and relaxed his muscles a bit, I started remembering the scene I saw as we climbed up earlier. Far away is the tiny white cloud, probably Cloudsdale which is far far away, under the very black and threatening heavy clouds that kept on echoing thunder and flashing lightning. On the far horizon was the orange-red sky. I need to ask why the sky is not changing its color though. But right now, sleep is very very inviting...

"Help us..."

"W-what...? How?"

"T-Twilight..."

"Twilight? I need to go and ask Twilight about how to help you?"

"..."

"...That reminded me... Who are you...?"

"..."

"Are...are you still there?"

"...Don't tell her..."

"Don't tell her? Don't tell who? Twilight? Don't tell her what?"

"..."

"Hey...! You're still there, right?"

Consciousness came back and I slowly worked to open my tired eyes. What I saw startled me a bit. White tiled ceiling. I blinked a few more times, and yes, it did not change. I am back. Or was I? I need to make sure, but I cannot move anything else except for my eyes. What is going on?

"Hey!" I felt a hoof rapidly shaking me as I started to recover consciousness once again. "Wake up!"

I opened my eyes and found myself lying on the concrete floor, and the unicorn guard was shaking me to wakefulness. "I'm up, I'm up..." I whispered, enough for him to stop from shaking me.

"If you're wondering, you only slept for five minutes or less," he said as I slowly forced my tired limbs to help me stand up. "Let us go," he said and walked onward. I sighed and followed him.

At first, I really thought that we would be in the castle now, but I was wrong. This place is like a city, where concrete houses of two to three storeys stood. Unicorns are walking around though, going to their individual destinations. This is probably the city of the unicorns. The capital of Unicornia? Canterlot? The more I think of it, the more I'm starting to doubt that this place is called Canterlot. I saw unicorn guards training other unicorns in the park meters away. They were levitating spears and swords, practicing their skills in combat, while some are being trained to blast magical beams from their horns. There were also others who were training to control the natural elements, like water and air.

As we continued our walk on the street, I noticed quite a number of eyes staring at me. I payed them no mind and continued, but as we walked on, I'm starting to wonder why they're all looking at us, or me.

"Earth ponies aren't allowed here," I heard my unicorn companion spoke without looking back at me. We turned right in an intersection, and we were now heading straight to the large castle's gates. "I don't know why the princess accepted your request to see her, but I would like you to be at your best behavior."

"Yes sir," I replied as we stopped a few feet in front of the large, tall, silver gate, where armored unicorn guards stood inside and out, standing straight up glancing at the both of us.

"Sir Starfall, sir!" the unicorn guards announced in unison as they saluted the unicorn beside me. Wow, he must be a high-ranking unicorn-thingy. He saluted back and requested for the gates to be opened. The unicorns did as what he asked, and soon, we walked forward, and I followed after him. A light drizzle started to fall though. I looked over my shoulder, and saw the unicorns were still standing there. They don't mind being soaked? Well, it's there problem, and not mine.

The castle ground is full of trimmed green grass, with trees arranged-ly placed here and there. White marble statues of different figures were placed neatly on some parts of the ground, with a large distance in between. Some of the said statues are broken, however. There were small groups of unicorns in different parts of the grounds, and they were busy talking to their groups.

We climbed up the stairway towards the grand double doors of the gigantic castle. Two unicorn guards opened the doors with their magic, and we walked inside, well, he walked inside, while I shook off the water all around me, and rubbed my feet, er, hooves on the dry ground before following him. The unicorns arched me an eyebrow though, but I ignored them.

The castle's hallway was empty, except for the unicorn guards standing on the corners. The castle was built on grayish-white marble-concrete. On the center was a red thick carpet, leading from the entrance of the double doors, all the way to the two royal seats.

"The princess is probably in the meeting room," Starfall spoke as he walked pass me. I followed him as we went inside another hallway from the royal seat's left. Unicorn guards stood tall in the hallway. There were occasional wooden doors on the walls as we continued our walk. At the end of the hallway was a door leading to the castle back gardens, and a staircase spiralling up to the next upper floor. He took the stairs, and I followed with an exhausted sigh. Great, more stairs.

We reached the end, and we found ourselves walking on another hallway. The left wall had the occasional wooden doors, while the right wall had tall and wide glass windows, covered by thick maroon and dark-blue curtains. We stopped in front of a large double wooden door. From our standing point, we could faintly hear quarreling voices from inside. This must be the meeting room. He knocked on the door. As we waited for the door to open, I turned around and took a peak through the glass window. The castle is pretty darn high up. And it's also kinda strange why it's facing the far white cloud of Cloudsdale.

"Open the door, now!" We heard Twilight's angry voice from inside. I turned and flashed Starfall a confused look. He carefully took a few steps to the side, away from the door.

"B-but princess," said a strikingly familiar boyish voice from within the room, "th-these books are---"

He was cut off, and Starfall and I jumped in surprise from a loud and powerful explosion from inside, which was quickly followed by the door being shattered, and a powerful pulse of purple beam pulling a purple baby dragon my way. It happened too fast, that I did not even prepared myself to brace for impact. The purple dragon collided on me, the powerful force of the beam even pushed me through the glass window, shattering it in the process. The force of the beam is pushing us both outside in the rain, and just as the beam faded, we started falling diagonally, until gravity properly pulled us directly downward towards the earth pony settlement down on the base of the mountain.

Spike was falling ahead of me, and he was screaming. The cold air and rain were flying up as we fell down. Naturally, I would start to think of how to save myself, but the dragon's screams somehow...

I've seen cartoons and movies, and have read a number of fics where if I need to fall faster to catch someone or something, I need to straighten my body and dive down. Which I did, and it was working, but it also was becoming too difficult to focus my eyes. The loud whistle of the wind is deafening, mixed with the scream of the dragon.

"Grab hold!" I yelled as I wrapped my front limbs around his back.

His screams stopped and he wrapped his arms around my neck, shutting his eyes and dug his face in my chest. "We're gonna die!" He cried, and it looked like we were really going to... We were falling fast, and we were getting close to the ground. If I don't think of something, we're really going to die. The loud whistling wind, the dragon's sobs, and the cold rainwater is not helping at al---water!

I tilted my direction, and my fall started to turn a little bit diagonal. I saw the waterfall meters away. Now, if only I could get there before the ground gets us.

My heart is pounding hard as ever, and I am having a difficult time controlling my nervousness. Who wouldn't when you're about to die? But I was not planning on dying just yet. I needed to go back and see my family.

At this rate, we won't be able to make it to the watering hole, and I was starting to lose hope until Spike's sobs triggered my brain to pop a very random idea. "Spike!" I yelled behind his ears, "Give us a boost!"

I could have taken proper words at that, because he removed his face from my chest, his crying features were mixed with confusion. "Wh-what?"

I groaned, grabbed him, resting my hoof behind his spine and my other hoof on his belly. I lifted him, enough for his head to be over my shoulder, and pressed my hooves, causing him to exhale tiny specks of fire. He got the idea. He tightened his grip around my neck, took a very deep breath, and roared a mighty green burst of fire, boosting us to reach the water in time.

I closed my eyes before we reached the surface of the water. Suddenly, the deafening whistle of the wind stopped, and was quickly replaced by the serene music of the underwater music. I opened my eyes in time to see that I was heading straight to a large rock lying on the water's floor. A powerful shot of pain coursed through my body from my head, and everything became black.

Chapter 8 - Nightmare

I sat on the black royal seat, boredly staring at the empty hall. I turned to my right, and saw the tall regal form of Princess Celestia, who was looking rather nervous. I snickered, and I earned a side-glare from her. "Oh," I said, "come now, Celestia," I snickered once more. This is confusing. I am talking with my own voice, yet the manner of how I talk isn't me. "You should be happy that your sister's coming back!"

"Her return after a thousand years from the moon is not why I am nervous!" she hissed, "She is still possessed by the nightmare," she closed her eyes and quietly sighed, "if she will become a problem, then I hope it'll be enough for the war to end, be reunited, and..."

"...destroy the new problem?" I grinned wide, ignoring Celestia's glare.

She took a breath, turned her head to face me, exhaled, and glared some more. "The union of the two races is more important, and you know that."

"Oh, don't worry," I snickered some more, "I know that it is," I leaned closer to her, "but the real question is, will you know what will be more important when you cross that bridge, hm?"

She looked away, and I laughed. She opened her mouth, and was about to say something when I---

---quickly opened one of the doors of the royal hall. "Princess!" I shouted, landing on my four hooves and panting. Princess Celestia looked quite surprised, and I need to apologize for that. "I'm sorry for startl---" I stopped as I realized who was sitting on the lunar seat. It was blurry, but somehow, I recognize him, and he's making me feel... "You!" I pointed a hoof at him, "What are you doing here!?"

He simply chuckled before answering my question. I was starting to get furious at him. "Temper Twilight," he sang, and oh, how I hate his voice. ...I hate my own voice? Or is it Twilight that hates my voice? He cleared his throat, "You should pay more respect to your dear princess' guest, y'know."

I flashed a confused look at the princess, and she only replied with an annoyed sigh. "He is my guest, Twilight," Princess Celestia spoke, "and I would appreciate it if you'd..." she turned to him with glaring eyes, "...pay him proper respect."

"You too, Celestia," he spoke, "I'm here to help, remember?"

"Help?" I asked, "Help? You're the one who needs help!"

He glanced at the ceiling, as if thinking about it, but his stupid smile is giving him off. "Nah~" he said as he returned his gaze at me, "the way I see it, you're the ones that need help here."

I shook my head, "whatever, just stay out of my way." I glared at him.

I chuckled at that pathetic threatening look the purple unicorn is giving me.

"Anyway, princess," both of them looked at each other, "I just found out that today's the day that the Mare On The Moon will make her escape!"

"Oh no!" I yelled, bringing my two front limbs on my chin, acting in panic, "Oh Celestia, whatever shall we do~!?"

"Zip it," Celestia glared at me. "We are---"

"You're too slow, kid," I yawned, "is there anything new in the menu? No? Then shoo~!"

She gave me a very long glare before returning her pathetic gaze on her princess. "Princess, you know? Then what should we do!?" She was beginning to panic, and I am failing to hold my snickers at her shaking form. "I should maybe tell the other unicorns!" Twilight began talking to herself, "I should ask Shining to double the guards! Or-or...!"

"Calm down, kid," I called, "there is abbbsoooluuutelyyyy nothing to worry about." I smiled innocently at her. It didn't work though. "Fine," I cleared my throat, "your princess here wants her sister's return to be the key for the feather-brains and the magic-maniacs to be united to defeat her."

Her eyes grew wide at the information I gave her, while Celestia was glaring daggers at me. Meh, Twilight being clueless was getting kind of boring. I might as well fill her in, and there we go!

"P-princess...?" Celestia sighed and turned to the purple unicorn, "The...Mare On The Moon's...Nightmare Moon's...your sister...? Princess Luna?"

Celestia inhaled, closed her eyes, and sadly nodded her head. I jumped in glee, "See! And you thought I was lying!" I gave her a glare of my own, "Am I not that trustworthy, Twilight?"

"Princess...? You're going to...sacrifice...your own sister?"

Celestia nodded glumly. "For peace and harmony, Twilight... For peace...and harmony..."

Chapter 9 - War

I groaned as consciousness finally blessed me to wakefulness. What the heck was that dream about, anyway? I opened my eyes and saw gloomy gray ceiling made out of...I'm not really sure.

"Oh," a familiar voice spoke from my left, "you're awake!" I turned in time to see the purple dragon sighed in relief. He was seating on a stool beside the bed I was lying on. "You wet your bed, by the way."

I blinked, I blushed, I jumped up, threw the blanket out of my way, and ran my two hooves to the area where...it...was...wet...?

First, he chuckled, and soon, he laughed. He smacked his knee with a paw as I glared at him. "Oh man, you should have seen your face!" and he laughed some more, losing his balance and fell on the concrete floor, laughing and rolling. I shook my head as my frustration towards the baby dragon faded, and was soon replaced by a smile. He reminded me of... His laughing fit faded, and he stood on two feet as a claw wiped the remaining tears on his eyes. Damn, I miss having hands...

"Eheheh... S-sorry 'bout that." He chuckled nervously, even though I was smiling at him.

I shook my head. "It's no problem." I extend a hoof and patted his head. "How're you, by the way?" I asked, concerned.

He shrugged, "I'm fine, thanks to you." He smiled.

"How long was I out?"

"Maybe a day or less," he shrugged, "and---"

Whatever he was about to add was drowned from a powerful explosion that echoed through the room from outside. Curious, we went to the window. Judging from what I could see, we're in the castle's tower. What I was seeing however, I could not believe it...

Twilight stood on the wall of the castle, where the city's buildings weren't tall enough to obscure her vision. "Keep that force field up!" She shouted to her brother, who was standing on the castle's ground, sending a beam of magic energy from his horn to the powerful purple shield that circled the entire mountain of Unicornia.

Outside the barrier were land, flying and magical equines, suited in armor, and were trying their best to kill one another. Unicorns who were on the front lines were doing their best to flank off the earth pony army that were under the pegasi nation, while those behind fired mana energy towards the pegasi who were hovering above and about.

The pegasi worked their best to clear the unicorns by manipulating the lightning bolts that they summon through the iron armor they wore, from the gloomy thunderous clouds up above, to their metal armor, and they direct the energy down towards the unicorn army.

Lightning bolts and mana blasts were flying and falling all around. Metal and iron struck against each other. Breath and blood left unfortunate equines.

A rainbow streak was zooming towards the battlefield from the city of clouds. Cyan-blue coat, and rainbow-colored mane and tail, where both were almost completely covered by her grayish-white armor. She flew to the side of the battlefield. Drawing and placing her thin and light sword on her mouth, she dove towards the unicorn on the back, and cut and sliced those who were unfortunate enough to be on her way.

Twilight squinted her eyes as the rainbow-streak flew up and hovered just in front of the shield. "Captain Dash..." she whispered as her nostrils flared.

Rainbow Dash withdrew her sword. "Princess Sparkle..." she grinned evilly, and bowed to the purple unicorn before bolting in time to dodge a blue mana beam that was aimed at her.

"We're about to lose the battle, Captain Armor," Twilight yelled, as a grin spread across her face, "on the ground, at least." She turned back to the castle in time to see unicorns in large numbers marched and stopped a few feet behind Shining Armor. They wore heavy armor, with extra metallic parts on their back, and a shining gem crafted on the chest-part of their armors. "Phase two: air strike," she licked her lips as the unicorns lit their horns, sending pulse of mana energy to the gemstone. Soon, the extra metal parts on their backs lit up, and extended to both the left and the right, spreading apart like the unicorns' own set of wings. With the mana energy pulsing from the gem, they are now able to control their newly added body part in their mind.

Flying up after another of her dive and strike techniques, Rainbow Dash spun to give the princess another one of her signature grins, but what she showed was not even close to a smile. Her features dropped to shock after seeing the purple barrier had a hole, where flying metallic equines flew through it and started blasting mana energy at the pegasi up above and the earth ponies down below. She snapped back in time to avoid two beams that were meant to fry her. She spun and flapped her wings hard to bring herself towards the gloomy clouds. "Do it now!" She yelled with her lungs.

Twilight watched the rainbow streak retreating up to the clouds. She smiled and laughed, for finally, victory will be theirs once more. The pegasi were slowly retreating, as well as their earth pony army. The unicorns marched onward, firing and blasting mana beams at their enemies.

Rainbow Dash flew through the black blanket, ignoring the electrifying sensation all around her. She knew her armor was not designed to withstand lightning, but it'll be enough to keep her there for only a few short seconds.

A loud thunder boomed in the area, and Twilight's eyes grew wide after seeing pegasi ponies dove down from the black clouds. Their fall was being escalated by the large metallic drill that they held pointedly on the earth. Its holes and metallic extensions acted like propellers for the drill to spin fiercely as they fell. Rainbow Dash flew last, hovered above, and grinned at Twilight, earning herself a glare from the purple unicorn.

The pegasi burned in their brains the maneuvers, and they will see to it that they'll apply it correctly. As the drills hit the earth, instead of landing flat, the pegasi continued falling down. They then quickly tilted their angle, and soon, they sprung out from the ground, and they were now flying threateningly behind the other side of the purple barrier. The light-armored pegasi drew their blades and started to attack the earth ponies who were screaming and fleeing in panic, while the others flew up towards the castle. Several unicorn soldiers rushed to protect their earth pony citizens, but their numbers were small, for the majority of them were on the battlefield, too far away to even know what was happening behind them.

"You think you outsmarted me...?" Twilight hissed as her eyes were locked on the pegasi ponies flying towards the castle with her horn glowing fiercely purple. She sent a blade-like magical wave at them, hitting and slicing them all but one, who managed to spin in time and slashed the purple unicorn, but his attack was blocked by a barrier that protected his target.

The pegasus suddenly found himself being enveloped with purple magic, and he was levitating on the air without the aid of his own wings. He grabbed his sword with both his hooves, and threw them directly at the purple unicorn. Twilight reflexively stepped to the side, but the pointed edge of the spinning blade gave her cheek a cut, and blood started to flow out from her wound. Angered, she tilted the pegasus' back on an awkward angle. She saw Rainbow Dash flew and stopped to see what she was doing.

The unicorn gave her a wicked grin before totally tilting the pegasus with her magic, cracking the equine's backbones in the process. Rainbow Dash didn't hear the cracking noise, but she flinched, nonetheless, at the sight of her comrade's lifeless body. Twilight quietly mouthed the words "you're next" before dropping the dead pegasus on the ground.

Rainbow Dash grunted and flew away in time to dodge the mana beams from the flying unicorns. Their direct attack plan failed. Seeing her allies behind the barrier dead or captured, she had no choice but to retreat. The unicorns had won this battle yet again. "Retreat and regroup!" She shouted a few times as she hovered above their earth pony army. They needed to protect their land and cloud cities if ever the unicorns decide to advance. She took one last glance at the grinning purple unicorn. If there's one thing she hates the more, it was losing, and the most, it was seeing that darn purple unicorn's grin.

"We won again..." I heard Spike whispered as he slowly walked away from the window. I still could not believe what I just saw. Equestria really is at war. Unicorns against Pegasi, but...why? "I wish this would end..." Spike whispered again. I turned to him, and saw the dragon climbed up the bed. He sat tiredly, eyes locked on the ground.

One thing is clear, I need to get out of here. I don't want to be in a world of war. I want to go home, where things are safe, peaceful...

I heard a sniffle, and I saw Spike crying quietly. He's crying, and it's...breaking my heart to see him cry... I slowly and quietly walked towards him, sat beside him, and rubbed his back with a hoof. He suddenly threw himself towards me, his tiny arms trying their best to wrap me into an embrace. His sobs and his embrace are making me feel sad as well. I have always sacrificed too much just to avoid seeing my family cry, like Spike is doing now...

I hugged him back.

Chapter 10 - Direction

Even though I was allowed to stay in the castle, mainly because Princess Twilight accepted my request to see her, I was not able to---or maybe, she was not able to spare some time to see me. I don't know why at first, until Spike came inside the room where I was staying at the moment. He was looking really glum.

"Wanna talk about it?" I asked with a gentle smile. He looked at me for a moment before dropping his gaze on the floor as he let out a long, sad sigh. He dragged his feet as he came towards the bed where I was seated. I helped him up, and he settled on sitting beside me, his feet hanging over the edge. He rested his elbows on his knees and his head on his hands.

"She's still celebrating with that Macintosh guy again..." he quietly said, his features flashing obvious anger, frustration, and jealousy. "Ever since that red stallion showed up, Twilight no longer spends time with me." He removed his head from resting on his hands as he turned to look at me. "I mean, it's like she just replaced me with him. What does he have that I don't?"

To be completely honest, I can write a long list where the items are almost the same. I shook my head as I patted his head. "You're not bei---" I cut myself off as I suddenly remembered the two of us falling to our deaths two days ago. Spike was looking at me with a knowing glare, and I smiled back awkwardly. "O---kay... Well uh..." Maybe she did already replaced him. I sighed.

"Exactly," Spike spoke, "I've been doing everything she ever asks me to do, but it was still not enough to bring her back!" I seriously have no idea what to say to ease his anger, but for a kid, I've got to say, he can control his anger perfectly, at least. "Sometimes," he said slowly as he stared outside the gloomy clouds through the window. "I think...that...she doesn't love me anymore..."

I quietly sighed as I rubbed his back slowly and gently. Yeah, Spike makes me remember about my beloved youngest brother. I miss him.

A series of knocks echoed through the room from the wooden door. Before I could even say anything, the door swung open, revealing the red stallion on the other side. "What do you want?" Spike growled at him, but Big Macintosh payed him no mind.

"The princess will see ye now. Gold Blitz, rayt?" I nodded at the red stallion's inquery, and he then started walking away. "Fallow me."

I looked at Spike for a while as he stared at me with angry eyes. He then sighed. "You go. She needs to see you." He then crossed his arms over his chest. "Don't wanna anger her again."

I flashed a weak smile as I crawled out of bed. "Wanna come with?"

Spike rolled his eyes. "I don't think that's a good idea."

"I could always use a dragon to give me a boost, if ever I'll fall off once again." I chuckled lightly, and he replied with a grin of his own.

"Heh," he said as he stood on the bed. "Sure, why not?" I gestured with my head, and he got the message. He jumped and landed on my back. Wow, never did I thought I would feel how it would be like being rode on by a rider. I did turn into a horse, anyway, so...yeah.

Big Mac stood in front of the massive double doors of the castle's library. He pulled one of the doors open, and stepped aside to give me space to enter. The library's...not what I was expecting it would look like.

The library contained bookshelves, yes, but they're either standing or lying broken on the golden-brown floor. Books were scattered in almost every spot of the entire library's floor. A wide table stood near the other side of the room, where the purple unicorn was busy writing something on a large papyrus. But what really caught my attention that made me stop on my tracks and my breath stolen was the gigantic dark-blue crystal that was hovering behind the unicorn. No, it wasn't the gemstone that caught my attention, but what was inside the crystal.

"C-Celestia...?" I whispered, ignoring Spike's pointy finger tapping my shoulder. Princess Celestia was standing completely frozen inside the crystal. Her eyes are closed, and her features are calm and relaxed. Her wings are slightly extended.

"Oh, you're here." Twilight's voice echoed through the messy library. "Sorry 'bout the mess," she said as she dropped her quill on the table. "I haven't found the time to clean up. Or found somepony more qualified for that matter." I'm pretty sure she sent those directly at a baby dragon whose name I won't mention for protection.

Big Macintosh walked pass me, and I followed suit.

"Huh," Spike leaned near my ear, "she's looking happy all of a sudden." And that was when I noticed Twilight's smile as she eyed the red stallion that escorted us. Her smile is something that a baby dragon might not get the secret message behind it. I rolled my eyes just before I stopped in front of the table. Big Mac settled on standing beside the chair where the unicorn was seated.

"So, what do you need? Be quick about it though, for I am quite busy, and will be even busier later on," and she emphasized her point by giving a seductive smile at the red stallion beside her, who earned her the same smile from him. It was too darn difficult to refrain myself from rolling my eyes.

"Yes, right, ahem..." I saw a faint yellow glow on the upper corner of my eyes, but I ignored it. "...I was just wondering if---"

"Don't tell her..."

I got startled by the sudden voice that echoed inside my head, and Twilight noticed as a frown was plastered on her face. "Something the matter, Blitz?"

As if to answer her question, a bright golden light radiated from the crystal behind her, which startled everyone in the room, including myself. Somehow, the glow feels quite...pleasant.

"Don't tell her..." a new voice echoed in my head as my surroundings turned golden-glowy-yellow. And the only thing that I could see now is Princess Celestia, glowing in white, standing before me, staring at me, and completely alive. I don't know what came into me, but I bowed, trembling a bit. I felt a wingtip on my chin, and it gently raised my head back to see her. "Rise, little one." Little? "I don't have much time to deliver this message to you."

She looked and sounded mighty serious, and I better pay attention.

"As you know, Equestria is at war, and you are brought here, that even I don't know how, but the only thing I do know is that you're the only one who can help the three pony races to be united."

Yeah, I need to ask her about that one. She doesn't look finished yet though, so I kept my mouth shut, but only for a moment.

"But I am aware that you must be looking for a way to get back to your world. And I may be able to help you with that. But first, I need to ask you a question. Are you willing to help us?"

Unfortunately, "no..." I need to go back home and to be with my own family. These ponies are not my problem. Why should they be?

She frowned at me, but nodded. "I understand. This is, in fact, a pony problem. I may not hide the fact that I am saddened by your answer, but I will tell you of a way to get yourself back to your world."

Suddenly, she faded with the light, and my surroundings became black. That is, until I noticed that I was now outside, or was I? My vision turned and stopped, where I was now staring at the Castle of Cant---Unicornia. My vision turned, where I was now facing the tiny white cloud. It then started zooming closer, but just before I could feel like touching the white cloud, my vision turned down to the earth down below, and I was rushing towards it. And just before I crash on the ground, my vision stopped and turned towards the forest, where it strangely has black violent clouds hovering above the trees. Above the black clouds was the white cloud of the pegasi, and over that white cloud was the black blanket that was covering the orange-red sky. Strangely though, the forest looked familiar.

"The Everfree Forest," Celestia' voice echoed, "the strangest place in the land, where the flow of mana is impossible to tame, causing everything within the forest to be wild and unpredictable. The pegasi used the forest as their own barrier to protect their kingdom from the earth-bound ponies from attacking."

Clever, I thought.

"This is where you need to go. Deep within the forest is an old castle, where in the basement lies the key for you to return to your world. But, I am not sure if it's still functioning properly, nor if it's still there..."

"It's worth a shot, I suppose..." Like I have any other choice? Twilight, maybe, but...

My surroundings became black, and Celestia appeared before me. "I would suggest not to cross the War Plains. If anypony spots you, they might try and hurt you." I nodded. "And one other thing before I go," she took a breath, and stared at me with a very serious look, "don't tell Twilight any of this."

Her warning kept echoing inside my head as my surroundings turned back to normal again, where I was staring right at the startled and confused purple unicorn. Twilight then shook her head and looked at me with a studious look. "She talked to you, didn't she?"

Big Macintosh and Spike blinked confusedly at that, while I reflexively flashed an awkward smile. Great...

Chapter 11 - Escape

"And why won't Celestia want me to know what the two of you were talking about!?" Twilight asked as she gave me a very furious glare, paired with a viciously glowing horn, as I tried my best to go through the wall where I was cornered by her. I was already sweating and fearing for my life. How in the world am I able to answer her question? Princess Celestia didn't gave me a reason. And I don't think my talent in lying's going to save me this time. I ducked in time to dodge a powerful mana beam that was aimed at my head. "Next time, I won't miss." She hissed through her angry-clenched teeth.

"Twilight, listen," I began through my trembling body, "I don't know, okay? Princess Celesti---" I found myself being levitated and tossed towards a tall bookshelf. The powerful impact caused it to collapse as I nearly lost my consciousness as my back sent powerful signals of pain to my brain. I collapsed on the floor, my vision was starting to blur as my breath became shallow and slow.

"Last chance, Blitz," she said as she levitated me up in the air. She held my head with her magic, turning it to face her. "What did you and Celestia talked about?"

I'm sorry princess, but I can't go back home if I'm dead, now can I? I've decided to spill it all, but when I was about to open my mouth to talk, a fast purple blur collided with the unicorn and sent her colliding on the wall, losing her grip on me as I was dropped back on the floor. Then, two purple feet stood in front of my vision. I looked up and saw Spike, standing tall and his arms spread left and right, protecting me as he locked his gaze on the rising purple unicorn.

"Spike!?" Twilight yelled, "what do you think you're doing!?"

"I could ask you the same thing!" he countered, earning him a killer glare from the unicorn as her horn glowed terrifyingly.

"Either you step out of the way, or I'm going to fry you as well!"

"See if I care!" Spike bravely yelled back without a second's doubt. I reached a hoof and tapped one of his feet. He slightly turned his head, enough to see my face on the corner of his eye.

"S-Sp-ike..." I whispered. It was difficult to talk with a painful back, though. "Just...go..."

"Sorry buddy," he replied as he turned back to the unicorn, "but you saved me, and I'm just returning the favor."

"There won't be statues for your heroism or idiocy, Spike." Twilight hissed "Last warning, move!" she yelled, but earned nothing from it. "Fine! You've done this to yourself!"

What happened next was like in slow motion. I tried my best to reach and move Spike away, but my painful aching body wasn't listening. As a large and powerful purple beam headed straight towards us, Spike stood his ground as he prepared a fist to...punch it? And indeed, he did, and the impact made the beam split in two, and flying pass us in the side, which startled Twilight, Big Mac, who decided to stay safe on one corner, and me.

"Wh-w-wha---?" Was all Twilight managed to say.

Spike hastily shook his smoking fist, but still glaring at the unicorn. "Ever since you took over, you've been firing laser beams at me every time you get angry! And guess what!? I grew tired of it! You've been treating me like I'm some useless piece of junk! And I'm tired of it, Twilight!" He picked me up, and helped me stand on my four...hooves. It was still a bit difficult and painful though. "But even if you kept on doing that to me, I still loved and cared about you like a sister! So if you wanted to keep firing at me every time you get angry, I needed to make myself at least a bit magic-proof so I wouldn't end up being hurt all the time!" Seeing that I managed to stand on my own, Spike withdrew his supportive claws and faced the fuming unicorn. "And lucky me that the castle has a library! I found out about dragons having the ability to repel unicorn magic! I gave it a try, and ever since then, I am now only ending up having slight burns or bumps caused by your magic push!" He wiped a tear that was forming on his eye. "But it was still not enough! You didn't care for me anymore! You've been pushing me way too far, Twilight, and I'm sick and tired of it!" He pointed at her, "And I'm sick and tired of you!"

"Very touching, Spike," Twilight spoke sarcastically after sensing that the dragon had nothing more to add. "Now do us all a favor: be quiet and just die!"

That is not the Twilight I know, and I sensed Spike thought the same as well, for he took a step back after hearing what Twilight just said.

With her horn glowing furiously once again, she quickly fired another beam, only to be quickly countered by Spike's fierce light-green flame. The impact caused an explosion, where thick black smoke quickly covered the entire library. I suddenly felt sharp claws grabbing one of my front hooves. "Come on! Let's go!" Spike yelled at me as he dragged me out of the library. As we ran towards the set of stairs leading to the lower floors, we heard unicorn guards hastily working their way up to this floor, so Spike quickly turned to the stairs leading up right next to the one leading down. I looked over my shoulder and saw black smoke flying out of the library's door, and a bright yellow-orange light flashing through the black smoke for a few moments, and then a burning and angry-looking unicorn came out, swaying her head left and right, trying to spot her prey.

We reached the next floor, and the two of us were startled after seeing unicorns there, who stopped before they collided with us. Spike didn't care and continued running to the next set of stairs as a random idea popped in my head. "Pegasi! Down below!" I shouted before my vision was blocked by the concrete foundation of the next floor. It seemed to work, since the unicorns weren't following us. I saw Spike looked at me with a mischeavous grin, and I smiled innocently. "What?" Loud metal sounds started to echo from the lower floors. The unicorns probably got tangled up with the others who were working their way up.

We reached the next floor, where I told the unicorns the same thing, and they quickly ran downstairs. "This is the last floor!" Exclaimed Spike as the last of the unicorns were gone. He was starting to panic as I looked around, observing the wooden doors. One of the opened rooms caught my attention, and I quickly worked my body to get inside just as a purple glow flashed on the corner of my eyes.

Spike jumped at a start after seeing a burning Twilight teleported herself a few feet in front of him. "It's over, Spike!" she declared as she angrily stomped a hoof on the ground. "Hand him over!"

The heavy weight of the armor I'm wearing is not helping me at all in my current situation, but I needed to wear this if I...if Spike and I were to get away. Now the only problem is how to get it to work? I looked at the door, and saw Spike, who was near the door where I was in, and he was taking a few careful steps back. He saw me on the corner of his eye, and raised an eyebrow at me. I then suddenly remembered how the unicorns work this thing. I raised a hoof over my lips, gesturing to him to be quiet. I then used the same hoof to point at the gem that was attached to the chest-plate of the armor I was wearing, and then pointed at, to my guess, where Twilight is at the moment. His mouth formed an 'o' shape. He nodded and glared at Twilight.

"Hey Twilight, guess what?" Spike asked with a grin, receiving no reply from an unamused unicorn. "Bet you can't take that a baby dragon can defeat you!"

"That's it! You're dead, you're so dead, Spike!" Her horn glowed, and sparks were flying out from her horn. "Don't worry, for you won't be remembered!"

Spike simply shrugged as I quickly jumped in front of him and as Twilight fired a powerful beam towards me. The beam hit the gem, powering it up, but cracking it as well. Twilight was stunned at the moment, and I quickly took that moment to feel the new sensation I was feeling on my back. Yes! It worked! I now have wings! Metallic wings! "Hop on!" I yelled, and Spike quickly grabbed a hold on my side and I quickly ran and crash through the large wide window.

My metallic wings extended just as soon as Spike sat on my back and wrapped his arms around my neck. I don't know how to fly, by the way, so I was slightly in panic as I rushed my brain to come up with an idea on how to fly. Just then, I remembered some movies with aircrafts and such, where the head pulls up, and the body follows. Will that work? Whatever. I closed my eyes as I pulled my head up, and I suddenly felt like gravity had left me. I opened an eye as I heard Spike's cheer. Hey, I'm flying! Or, gliding, to be more specific. I tried flapping my metallic wings, but sparks flew out of the gem as I flapped them, giving me a very powerful headache. I don't think this is a good sign.

"Oh no..." Spike whispered, and I turned my head to see what could possible get things any worse. Flying unicorns were now chasing after us. Well, this is bad. They're still quite far, but at their current speed, and my current speed, they're going to catch us at any second.

Think brain, think! How does Rainbow Dash fly so darn fast!? Well, according to the show, and to a few fanfics I've read, she furiously flaps her wings. Oh, no problem. Jut as long as I can handle these headaches. Gah... Whatever, I...uh...we need to get outta here. I flapped once more, and sparks and headaches rushed back. Ack!

"Are you all right?" came Spike's completely innocent question.

"Fine...!" I answered through my gritted teeth.

"Wah!" Spike shouted. "Left!"

What? Whatever. I flapped my right wing, making me turn to the left, and as soon as I turned, a powerful green beam flew pass us. My eyes grew wide and my breath stopped for only a moment. Great, just great...

"Down!" Spike yelled, and I tilted my head down, in time for my body to fall and dodge another beam. We were falling very fast to the ground, and it gave me an idea. I looked over my shoulder, and saw the unicorns were close behind me, with glowing horns. "Gah!" Spike exclaimed as he grabbed both the base of my metallic wings, and he started turning me like a motorcycle, turning my entire body left and right and in any other direction in the process! I was about to complain when I noticed how it became helpful in dodging the beams that were aimed at us. Wow, Spike's good. Now if only it wasn't me he was riding on.

I looked head in time to see that the earth is dangerously close. My eyes shot wide as I furiously flapped my metallic wings and tilting my head back to pull myself up. I made it in time, my hooves barely touching the ground of the War Planes, and loud crashing noises followed behind me. I disregarded myself for a while as I turned left, heading to the edge of a forest that was surrounding the War Planes.

"Yeah!" Spike cheered, "woo-hoo! Yeah! That was awes---!" My vision became black and I numbly felt my entire body crashing and rolling on the ground. I could no longer handle the powerful headache the gem is giving me. And just before I lost my consciousness, I saw Spike was slowly rising up, and working his way towards me. I took note of our surroundings, and fell to unconsciousness with a smile, for at least, we would be safe inside the forest for a while...

Author's Note

Chapter 12 - Fire

"...and after they left, I quickly ran and helped him."

"...hhh..."

"...I'm sorry, I'm so sorry. I should have helped him earlier than---"

"...It's all right, sweetheart..."

!!!

That voice...! I know that voice... Slowly, painfully, I opened my eyes, and what greeted my hazy vision was the blurry white tiled ceiling. Before my vision could totally be clear, a slightly blurry yet very familiar face leaned over my sight. I wanted to reach out to her. I really wanted to, but I somehow could not feel my own body.

"M-mom..."

The sound of cough mixed with sparks of fire reached my ears, and in an instant, my vision went black, where the occasional white lightning flashes broke through the thick black blanket of clouds up above. A tear rolled down from my eyes, and I did not care. I haven't cried for so long, and now that I am, I don't care. I wanted to cry ever since I thought to myself that it was impossible to get back home. That was why I quickly accepted the possible way to return, even though I'm quite aware of how dangerous the Evergreen Forest is. ...or possibly is...

Another cough and sparks of fire reached my ears, and a faint green glow flashed on the corner of my eyes. My little drama could wait for a while as I turn my head to the source o--- "S-Spike!?" I yelled, and I instantly forgot how tired my aching body was. I leaped on all four hooves and immediately went to the purple dragon, who somehow dug a huge hole on the ground and inserted his head there. As I got next to him, I could hear his painful groans, before another cough comes out from him, and with it was green fire, and...I could swear I heard pieces of paper landing next to each other. I rubbed his back. "Spike...what's wrong?"

He groaned painfully, as if suffering from a very nasty stomach ache. I could not see his face, however. "Scrolls..." his quiet voice echoed from the hole. "...painful... ugh... h-help..." Another cough, another green flicker of flame, and another piece of scroll. "...using it... locate us..." and another cough.

Using it to locate us? I was about to ask what he meant when I faintly heard something slicing through the air from above. I looked up in time to see two unicorns with metallic armor and metallic wings flying and gliding pass us. At that time, I was thankful for the large leafy trees that would have likely blocked their vision from seeing us here down below. From that, I now understood. I then looked around, and I noticed how far we already are in the forest. I could not even find the remnants of the armor I wore, and the impact I did on the ground. Spike must have dragged us here for safety. I should thank him, and to thank him, I plan to help him with his current situation, but, how...?

His painful moans and groans continued after each scrolls forming from the green flames he painfully coughed out. I continued rubbing his back, though it's not helping him. I needed to think of something to help him as I noticed how frequent his coughing fit is now. He's only getting a few seconds of rest in between coughs, and I don't think he'll last much longer. I brought my two hooves on my chin, deeply thinking of a possible way to help the little guy. But what can I do? I have absolutely no idea about the fields of dragons and such! Gah, it's like he's turned into something broken, and a stupid idea popped in my head. What do humans do if their machinery is working abnormally?

"Sorry," I whispered to his ear before I lifted a hoof above and powerfully pounded his tiny little head. The force sent his entire head inside the hole, and his body was now flailing to get out. I helped him out of there, and placed him down before me, where he was glaring at me while rubbing his head with both his claws.

"What'd you do that for!?" he yelled at me, and noticing my stupid apologetic-yet-wide grin, his glare became worse. "That was painful, y'know! And it's not funny!"

"It is to me," I smiled weakly as I sat down on the ground. "'t least it worked."

He blinked at that, and blinked some more, and more. "I don't get it."

I rolled my eyes and chuckled weakly. "Scrolls?"

He immediately got the idea as his eyes grew large at the late realization. "Oh," was all he was able to say as he slowly turned around and looked down at the large number of scrolls in the hole. He chuckled weakly and nervously. "Eheheh," he scratched the back of his neck as he turned to face me with a weak smile. "Uh, thanks?"

I patted his hea---I moved my hoof to pat his shoulder instead. "No problem," but seriously, I didn't think it would work.

Spike then put a claw on his chin, deep in thought. "But you know, I still feel the magical wave of scrolls coming to me, but somehow...I can...control them now?" And to test his theory, he spits green flame and a scroll was formed. He tried another and another scroll appeared. He was smiling that he could now control one of his skills, and he was about to test again, until I stopped him.

"We don't want them to find out where we are, now do we?" I smiled weakly, and he nodded in agreement.

"Right, sorry," he smiled at me, and then his expression dropped to confusion.

I nodded, and I was about to stand up when my body shook painfully, and I then remembered how painful and weak my body is at the moment, and I then found myself lying on my side on the ground, and Spike was shaking my elbow.

"H-hey! You okay?" He asked, clearly worried of me.

"I'm fine, I'm fine," I assured him through my weak smile and quiet reply. "I'm still probably tired and all..." He seemed satisfied with my answer, though not entirely convinced. "I just need to rest, I think..."

"I don't know..." Spike shook his head slightly, and looked at one direction. "I don't think we should be staying here for long..."

I wondered why, and I wanted to ask, but I would prefer to see for myself. I forced myself into a sitting position and turned to where he was looking at. A distance away, bright orange-red-yellow lights were creeping through the trees. "F-fire?" I said, suddenly feeling some energy to run. I stood and tried stretching my hooves. "On my back, now," I said with authority, and Spike didn't seem to have any problems with that, but as he got on my back, I wondered why I offered him that. I'm a horse, but that doesn't mean I need to have someone be on my back all the time. Whatever, I need to get away before the fire reaches us. I saw one of the scrolls on the ground, the one that Spike summoned while he was experimenting on his ability. I picked one up with a hoof--no idea how--and gave it to Spike. "Hold that one for me, 'kay?" He arched an eyebrow, but nodded nonetheless. "Hold on tight," and with that, I started galloping to...I stopped. "Where's the---" Oh never mind. I'll find a way to the Everfree Forest later as soon as we're no longer near the fire.

In the Castle of Unicornia, a purple angry unicorn mare was staring through the glass window, and at the burning forest on the left-side of the War Plains far away. Beside her was a red earth stallion, who was also staring at the same forest. An armored unicorn then came and stopped before her. He bowed before he spoke. "Princess, the search team has withdrawn after they made sure that the fire will spread---" he stopped after large droplets of rain started to fall and hit the glass window. He turned and saw the entire black blanket of clouds making a downpour. "Uh..."

Twilight took a deep breath to try and calm herself. She then brought a hoof and rubbed her forehead. "I never thought that Spike would be able to find a way to control the scroll delivery spell..." she said with frustration.

"I'd like tah help, if you'd allow me, princess," Macintosh offered, but he received the unicorn's shaking head.

"No, but," she turned to him, "you can help me ease this frustration I'm feeling now," and she finished it with a sly smile, earning herself a stallion for use later on.

Just before she and he could walk back to her room, a green wispy smoke floated and stopped in front of the startled unicorn. The smoke circled and turned into green flame, and then formed into a scroll, which she irritatingly caught with her magic. Unrolling the scroll, she read the content, making her angrier than before as she tossed the paper against the glass window, managing to leave a small crack in the process.

Out of curiosity, Macintosh carefully tried his best to read the content through the corner of his eye. The large two words were very easy to read, even though the paper was lying flat on the floor.

"I know what the 'you' meant," Spike said as he threw the burned piece of wood that he used to write with, "but what does 'fu--"

"Zip it," I cut him off as I continued my run, "for the last time Spike, drop it. You're still too young to learn what that word means. Plus, I told you not to read it..." I don't normally swear, not unless my anger is out of my control. And in some cases.

"Your fault for making me write it," he countered, and I'm pretty sure he was smiling back there.

"Touché..." I sighed.

Chapter 13 - Stuck

I'm tired... I'm so darn tired... My sprint soon went to slowly dragging my hooves until I unceremoniously dropped myself on the forest's floor beside a large tree near the edge of the forest, where I lay my head on the side, and my vision is facing the War Plane a few meters away.

Spike crawled off of my back and walked in front of my face. He bent down and looked at me with concern. "Y-you're just tired, right?"

I'm breathing heavy and slow, and I could barely feel any parts of my body, but I managed to flash him a weak smile...for his sake. He seemed to be slightly satisfied by it, though.

"I'm going to go and look around." He stood up and turned his back on me. "I'm not sure if we were running away or going back to Unicornia..." For a baby dragon, he sure is smart. He looked over his shoulder and stared at me. "I won't go far, and I'll be right back, 'kay?" I slowly mouthed the words 'okay', and he sprinted towards the edge of the forest, but he slowed to a careful walk when he got close.

He leaned behind a tree on the edge of the forest, and slowly poked his head to look around. He studied the surroundings for a short while before running back to me. A loud crackling roar of thunder echoed through the land before he reached me.

"Yeah, we're away all right." He said with a smile. He suddenly grabbed the tree beside where I was lying and removed a few loose barks from it. "I'm going to make a fire."

"B-bad idea..." I forced myself to say those words. It's cold, and it's raining heavy, yes, but, "smoke m-might give away our location, Spike..."

"Oh yeah..." he sighed as he slowly played the bark with his claws. He found a root sticking out of the tree, and sat on it, facing me. We were quiet for a short while until he groaned irritatingly after a drop of water fell on his nose. "This will not work," he complained as he stood up. "I'm going to find a nicer and drier place for us to rest for a short while."

"N-no need, Spike," but my words reached deaf's ears as he ran away. I sighed. I slowly forced myself to crawl nearer to the base of the trees, and rested my head on the root where Spike was sitting earlier.

Spike being gone for a moment gave me some time to think of myself. There are so many questions I've wanted to ask about this place, but I haven't found the time to ask them to anyone. I was and still am busy finding a way to get back. That is, of course, my top priority. And that made me ask myself another question: why is Spike following me? Or better yet, why is he tagging along with me? Sure, he had this fight with his mother-figure, or maybe Twilight's his sister-figure? I'm not sure. Anyway, I think he decided to tag along because...I dunno... But I think I should tell him where I am really heading. I don't want him to be broken when I tell him that I can't bring him along to my world, if however, I can go back. Hm... I wonder where'd I go next if the castle in the Everfree couldn't send me back... Sigh... No, I'll trouble myself with that later. Right now, I need to concentrate on getting there. Though I need to tell Spike about t---

"I found a good hiding place!" came Spike's excited voice from afar. I looked to where the voice came from, and saw him running towards me, though he's having a hard time since the muddy earth was slowing his pace. "Come on! Follow me!" he said after reaching me and helping me up on all four. "It's not far, so don't worry, 'kay?"

...I'm...starting to wonder why...he is taking care of me...so much.

I am now lying on the dry earthy ground inside a large hollow under the very large tree. Spike went out after he helped me settle on a spot I found comfortable. He said something about going out to gather some food for me to eat. He's been out there for almost ten minutes now, if my counting is precise, that is.

"I'm back!" Spike's cheery voice came, and he soon came inside, and put a variety of fruits on the ground in front of me. "Heh, sorry if I took so long."

I shook my head with a smile. "No problem." I eyed a very delicious-looking green apple. "T-thanks Spike." I quietly said as I grabbed the apple with my hoof. I still don't know how I am able to grab stuff with my hoof.

"Meh, it's no big deal," Spike shrugged and grabbed the pear. He took a large bite and chewed on it cheerfully. "I haven't ate something fresh in a long time!"

I wanted to ask him a few questions now, but I guess that'll have to wait. I think my body's too tired and exhausted to even register how hungry I am. I've been like this before, and at that time, when my body finally was able to register any sense of feeling, hunger really struck me hard, and it made me faint. It was also during my graduation practice in high school. Since then, I always eat if I feel hungry.

We took our time to satisfy our hunger as we ate in silence, where only the faint thunderous roars up above and the heavy rain-shower from the clouds are the only noise that we could hear.

Finally, Spike sat down next to me and leaned on the wall, rubbing his stomach as he burped. "Ah, that hits the spot..."

I nodded in agreement, as I took a bite on another apple. "H-hey Spike..."

"Hm?" Spike replied, not opening his closed eyes or removing his smile.

"Why are y---I mean, uh, I hope this won't sound offensive, but uh, why are you, y'know...tagging along with me?"

"Ain't it obvious?" Spike replied, still with a smile and closed eyes. "I wanted to help you with..." He opened his eyes and looked at me in confusion. "Uh... What exactly are you doing anyway?"

Obviously, he's clueless. Might as well tell him everything here and now before anything else disturbs us. "Well, I'm trying to get myself back home..."

"Oh," Spike quickly replied, cutting me from continuing, "I see. That's cool." And his features lit up. "Hey! Can I come and live with you?" I was about to reply when he turned his head and stared at the droplets of rain from the upper-part of the entry way. "I-I know it sounds sudden, but," he turned back to me with a sad frown, "I-I don't really wanna be living by myself..." He then looked down on the ground. "...and I don't want to go back to Twilight."

I took a deep long breath, and quietly sighed. "Spike," I began, catching his attention as he looked at me, "I can't. I mean, you can't..."

"Why not?"

I quickly replied, since it looked like he was about to add more. "I live from another world." And there, I said it.

Spike looked at me as though I suddenly became stupid or crazy. He shook his head. "Did you hit your head pretty hard or something?"

"No Spike," I then looked outside the entrance, "but what I just said is true." We became quiet for a long while: myself staring outside, and Spike still looking confused at me. I took a breath and sighed. "Can you keep a secret?" He slowly nodded. "O-okay. Well, hm..." Where to start...? "Spike," I said as I looked at him, "what I'm going to tell you, it'll be only between you and me, 'kay?" He nodded, looking half interested and half doubting. I stared back at the entrance. "I'm from...another world. I am not a pony. Well, I wasn't a pony before I suddenly came here. I don't know how I got here, but I really want to go back home." I then looked at him. "Remember that light from Princess Celestia?" He nodded. "She talked to me," I continued, moving my gaze back outside, "and told me of a way for me to get back home. That's where I'm going, Spike. I'm going to the Everfree Forest."

"You know that place is dangerous, right?" Spike suddenly asked, and I nodded.

"I'm willing to take my chances, just to get back home." I took a breath and sighed again. "I miss my family... And I really think they're worried sick right about now."

"I see..." Spike's only response as he turned to the ground. "...but I find that hard to believe, by the way..."

I nodded in agreement as I rubbed a hoof on his back. "I know-I know... It's...up to you if you'd believe me or not. But I'm going there, anyway."

Spike was quiet for a while, and it was making me worry. Is it a bad time for me to tell him the truth? Maybe, but he needed to know anyway, and I'd prefer to let him know now than later. Saves the trouble of angry shouting and such things later on.

"Can I..." Spike said quietly, though he didn't move, "...still come with you?" He then looked up to me. "I mean, just until, y'know, when it's time for us to part?"

I may not be a psychic, but even the blind could see the purple dragon's fighting back his tears from coming out. I really hate seeing people cry. I really do. I always ended up in a lot of trouble when I was still younger, since I always beat those guys who makes my brothers cry. I slowly wrapped my hooves around the dragon's neck, and brought him into a hug as I rested my chin on his head. "S-sure you can, little bud..." Little bud is what I always call my youngest brother if he's feeling down.

Spike sniffed and slowly tried to push me away. I let him go, and he wiped a tear from his eye. "I don't like too much drama..."

I chuckled lightly, and so was he. At least I've taken care of that now, and, I suppose I'm stuck with Spike for a little bit longer. Not that I'm complaining.

Chapter 14 - Edge

I found myself seated on a comfortable chair on one side of the large brown table. On one side of the table were unicorns, who were seated and glaring at the pegasi who were also seated on the other side. I shook my head and cleared my throat, enough for the two races to bring all their attention to me.

"My little ponies," I said, or maybe it was somebody else who's using my own voice. "I have gathered you here today to discuss a possible threat that will be arriving in a few hours." I took a moment to study their reaction. Some started to worry, while some didn't seem to care.

"All I wanna know is why we're here, and when we'll be leaving!" Shouted a rainbow-maned cyan-coated pegasus mare. She then glared at the purple unicorn, who too, was glaring at her. "Before somepony here can---"

"Please," I cut her off, "this is no time to argue and fight." I took a breath and exhaled. "Today will be the day that Nightmare Moon will return."

I suddenly felt bored. Really bored. Really darn bored. Why do I need to be here, sitting and listening to this boring meeting. What's worse, I am not allowed to bring life to this boring party. I sighed as I made myself comfortable on the tiny chair I was sitting on. My rear's getting numb from all this boringness.

"We need to set aside our difference for a while if we're to fight off Nightmare Moon." Celestia spoke with her usual boring tone. Blah blah blah blah...

"I don't see why we should be worried about that!" Spat the spunky rainbow pegasus. I like her, only for her attitude. She's the only non-boring pony around, I could tell.

"Her arrival will bring forth eternal night that even I could not stand against of," Celestia replied.

"So?" Asked the rainbow pegasus. I may like her attitude, but her stupidity is hilariously crazy!

"You are aware that plants need sunlight in order to grow, right?" asked the studious purple unicorn. If I were to bet who's more boring between her and Celestia, I'd bet my entire laughing lung on that purple brat. She could stay and practically live inside a library and I swear she could find a way to live inside without food and water.

Anyway, the pegasus doesn't like losing, and that is clear, 'cause she's trying her hardest to come up with a counter. I chuckled.

I opened my eyes and the first thing I saw was a purple tail covering my sight. I mentally rolled my eyes as I removed the tiny tail out of my face. I slowly stood up and stretched my legs. I turned and looked outside. The rain has already stopped, thank goodness. Now all I need to do is wait for Spike to wake up. I could wake him up now, but it's good for the body to wake itself up instead of another element to wake it. I learned that from the science section on a newspaper I once bought when I was heading to work.

I heard Spike giggle and mumble something. I didn't get the words though. Meh.

Hm... I wonder what that dream meant. Was it the time before Princess Celestia was trapped inside that crystal gem? It sure looks that way. If I were to save her though, I think I already have a pretty nice idea how to get her out of there. A simple solution. Starts with an 'R' and ends with an 'arity'. Sigh... Yeah, I'm bored. I might as well go outside.

"Where are you going?" Spike's sleepy voice echoed, making me stop as I was about to take my first step outside.

I turned to see the dragon slowly standing up. "To feel some fresh air." I smiled at him as he rubbed the sleep off of his eyes. "Wanna come with?"

Our little walk through the forest ended up continuing our journey towards the Everfree Forest. The said forest wasn't so difficult to spot however, once we decide to poke outside the edge and see if we're getting close. The forest has a violent thunderous blanket of clouds of its own, and above those black clouds is the large white cloud of the pegasi. It's impossible to miss.

"So, what's your world like?" Spike asked as he shifted a bit on my back.

"Well," I began without tearing my gaze on the path I'm taking, "it's like..." Er... If Spike's world was more like of the show, then making a comparison would have been a breeze. Unlucky me? "...this world, without a war going on."

"It must be peaceful there then," Spike concluded. "Heh, no wonder you're in a rush of getting back." True, true...very true. I don't like wars. I don't understand why other countries in my world are declaring war on others because of land and resources. I'm just thankful that Lorina is a peaceful country. "Are there ponies there too?"

"Nnn---yes? But, they're not like the ponies here."

"What do you mean?"

"Well, first, in my world," or at least in the country where I live, "we call them horses, and not ponies. And they don't have wings or horns."

"So, no unicorns or pegasi ponies? Just earth ponies?"

"Er... You could say that," for it to be simple to understand. "But they don't talk, well, at least I don't think they talk."

"They don't talk?" Spike asked with a louder tone of confusion.

"Um...maybe they do, and we just don't understand them?" I offered.

He shook his head. "That doesn't make sense. If they don't talk, then how can you talk to them? How can you talk to your family then?"

I blinked in confusion. "What?"

"You said they don't talk! Does that mean you're the only pony there who can talk?"

"What are y---" oh, now I get it. "Spike, I'm not a pony. 't least in my world I'm not." I told him this yesterday, haven't I? I don't remember, but anyway, "I'm a human. Or, was..." ...whatever.

Spike scratched his head in confusion. "Human? What's that?"

I suppose the fanfics that I've read, telling me that humans really don't exist in Equestria, were all telling the truth. Were the authors also teleported here to learn about that fact, or do they just have a massive amount of imagination? "You've seen a monk---an ape, right?" Science said that humans are more closely related to apes than monkeys, or was it chimps? Nah, I'm pretty sure it was apes...I think...

He nodded. "I've seen what they look like in books." He shrugged. "Never got outside Unicornia before."

"You've never been outside the castle before?" I asked, turning my head to see him.

"Outside the castle, yeah, I have, but outside Unicornia, no, I haven't." He shook his head. "Twilight and Celestia told me how dangerous it was for a baby dragon such as myself."

"I see..." I turned my head back to the path I'm taking. "...well, humans are like apes, except that we walk on two feet instead of four. And... humans have lesser amounts of hair than apes."

"I...think I can imagine." And I think I felt him shiver, and I don't think I'd like to know what he was thinking about. "So, what you're saying is, you, your family, and your friends are called humans, right?"

"Yeah. Humans are superior species in my world because of our intellect that no other animal possess...in my world, at least."

He nodded. "And humans can't understand the ponies in your world, or any other animals, right?" I nodded, not sure where this is going. "And animals understand other animals in your world, right?"

I shook my head. "I don't really know that, Spike."

"But if they do, does that mean humans are the only species in your world that don't understand other species?" Huh, good point. I nodded. "It sounds kinda weird to me that you guys can't understand others."

"I...guess so?" Humans truly are a complicated species. Even though we belong to one specie, we're separated by beliefs and other things. Sigh...

I suddenly noticed that we are heading towards the edge of the forest. I slowed my pace and started to walk forward with care. Spike leaned down to cover himself. Finally, we reached the edge, but I didn't walk out just yet. I hid behind a tree, and carefully poked my head to see what's on the other side. Spike leaned closer to take a look as well, resting his feet on my shoulders and both his claws on my head.

In the distance, I could already see the Everfree Forest. It's only a few treeless hills away. Joy... That meant we're going out in the open, probably in pegasi territory. There's a small settlement near the edge of the Everfree. I could see the houses are clearly made out of wood. I can see ponies walking around that small place, and some were flying above. Yeah, this is definitely pegasi territory. The unicorns weren't that bad when they took me inside their territory. I wonder how will the pegasi welcome an outsider?

"Don't move!" said a powerful voice from behind, and I felt Spike froze in place. I slowly and carefully turned around to see who's threatening me. She's a cyan-coated pegasus mare, wearing full light-weight armor, and was glaring at me.

How will the pegasi welcome an outsider like me? Only one way to find out... "Uh... hi?"

Chapter 15 - Helpful

The cyan-coated pegasus mare simply glared at me as she raised a hoof to remove her helmet, revealing her rainbow-colored mane falling down to her shoulders. "What's an earth pony like you doing all the way out here?"

"Er, I uh..." Come on, brain! Think! Think of a very believable lie! I've been able to lie on the spot before, and I still managed to make it sound believable by mixing it with a little bit of truth. "...I'm, here, to uh..." Don't look around, don't look around... It'll make me look suspicious. Look at her in the eye... "...get, some...stuff(?)," I need a distraction... "...for, uh..." And as if on cue, a loud thunder boomed from the town. The mare and I turned to see what it was, and I saw the gloomy black clouds of the Everfree Forest hovering above the town, and lightning bolts were reaching down to the sea of green trees. And then, rainbow rays of light flashed from tree to tree, leaving it's color behind the fruits of the trees. It happened so quick, and after it was done, the stormy clouds retreated back to the Everfree, but it did manage to strike me enough bolts of electricity to light up that little lightbulb of ideas in my head. "Zap Apples!" I said, turning to the mare, who arched me an eyebrow. "I was trying to look for something that could help me gather up those Zap Apples."

And wow, did it work! The cyan pegasus mare nodded, and even managing to crack a small smile. "So you're an Apple then?"

And that's when I stop lying. I don't want to push it. I shook my head with a smile. "Not really, no. I'm more like, uh, friends, with them."

Her smile vanished, and replaced by doubt. "You are, huh? Do you know any of them?"

I saw that coming. I nodded. "Yeah, there's Applejack, Gran---"

She raised a hoof to stop me. "Okay, I believe you, but I want you to go back to town, now." She ordered with flare in her eyes. I don't want to get to her bad side, so I nodded nervously and began walking towards the town. I was walking for almost a minute until the very same pegasus landed beside me and started walking with me. "What's with the dragon doll, anyway?" She asked with curiosity.

Wait, dragon doll? I turned my head, and saw Spike. Huh, honestly, I forgot he was even there, sitting still on my back. I wonder what's his problem? He's like...not moving at all! He doesn't even look like he's even breathing! I need to ask what's up with him later. "Yeah," I said as I started forming some light lies in my head, "I kinda wanna...have hi---it around me."

She arched me an eyebrow, but nodded anyway. "It's like a charm, huh?" She turned her head towards the town a few small hills away. "I understand that."

I am starting to wonder if the pegasi are really this talkative to strangers, or if it's only just her. I am not much of a talker. I never talk unless spoken to. I also find it difficult to keep up with a group conversation. We eventually reached the edge of town for almost half an hour of walking. During that time frame, Rainbow's been talking a bit, maybe trying to bring up a conversation with me? Anyway, I mostly replied with simple answers like yes and no and giving my opinion in a rather small amount of words.

"What's with you?" She asked as we reached a destroyed wagon beside one of the wooden houses of the small town. "Do you ever talk?"

I shook my head slightly. "I'm not much of a talker," I shrugged. "I've been quiet ever since I was young."

"Must have been a boring life..." she said as she shook her head in disbelief. Meh, I couldn't blame her. My life does seem boring when I look back, but I was satisfied with just me and my family, and having a simple, boring life. "Anyway, we lost the recent battle," she said, suddenly looking quite serious, "and we better work hard to try and win the next one."

'Try', huh? Never knew Rainbow Dash knew such a word. I nodded. "Yes ma'am."

"None of that ma'am stuff!" she glared at me, and I quickly and rapidly nodded my head. "Anyway, just get back to...whatever." She quickly extended her wings and flew off somewhere in amazing speed. Heh, and I thought Pinkie was random.

I shook my head to rid myself of the thought and turned to see Spike, who was now regaining his ability to move and breathe. "M-man..." he quietly said in trembling lips, "...I've...I've never been so close to a pegasi before..." he lied down on his stomach on my back.

I see. Spike did said that he was not allowed to go outside the Unicornian...Empire? Kinda makes sense if he's scared of them, since he was living with the unicorns for so long in his life.

"Glad that you're back, li'l bud," I smiled at him, though he couldn't see it because he buried his face on the fur of my back. He needs a few moments to recover. I started walking through the busy earthy path heading to the Everfree Forest. Earth ponies and pegasi ponies are almost working together. Some earth ponies are pulling a wooden wagon, which was full of fruits and vegetables, and a pegasi was also helping out. A few pegasi were fixing the rooftops of the houses, assisting the earth ponies who were also fixing the roof by climbing up a ladder. There are even a few earth and pegasi ponies resting and sharing a few jokes under the shade of a tree.

"Wow..." I heard Spike's silent amazement. Even though the place is not as great as in Unicornia, the ponies here are...united? "I didn't know that pegasus ponies are..." he trailed off.

"...friendly?" I finished for him, looking around, and I failed to notice my slowed pace.

He nodded. "Y-yeah... Kinda makes me think of how wrong Twilight had told me about them..."

"Hey you!" Shouted a dark yet loud voice from my right. I turned and saw a white pegasus stallion with a slightly messy yellow mane. He was smiling though it was clear that he's quite tired. "Help us out, would ya?" He gestured with his head, pointing at the wooden wagon which was full of stone and metal, and leaning on the wagon were two earth ponies and two pegasi ponies, who were all tired-looking.

I wanted to say no, "sure," and I have no idea why I said yes. Spike arched me an eyebrow, but I ignored him as I positioned myself behind the wagon. On my sides were the other two earth ponies. I saw how the earth ponies push the wagons earlier...with their heads... Yeah, not sure if I'm going to like that, but whatever...

It was quite heavy...uh, maybe too heavy to push, but we did managed to push the wagon to the edge of town where I was planning on heading. We parked the wagon near a large flat metal-thing. As the earth and pegasi ponies started unloading the items and placing them on the flat metal-thingy, I started to figure out what they're doing: they're going to transport the materials up to their cloud kingdom, with the pegasi as the ones to lift the metal platform. Not sure how many pegasi ponies are needed, but meh, not my problem.

"Thanks," smiled the pegasus who persuaded me earlier, and under his wing, he took out a brown pouch bag of Bits. "Here ya go."

I was about to decline when my stomach didn't cooperate with me. It let out a noisy growl, and it make me flash the pegasus an awkward smile as I accepted the bag. "Uh, thanks?"

I was about to turn and find a place where I could eat, until he popped a question I wasn't sure how to answer. "Is that a real dragon on you?"

"Er..." I turned to look at Spike. He's frozen still once again.

"I've seen a dragon twice before," he spoke as I returned my attention to him, and I felt Spike was loosening a bit. "Nearly killed me once," he shrugged, "and the other saved my life. Kinda funny, now that I think about it." He smiled, and laughed a bit.

"So..." I heard Spike was speaking lowly, "is it okay...for me to move?"

The pegasus simply shrugged. "I don't see why not." He gestured with his hoof that we should walk as we talk. I followed his lead, walking beside him. "Dragons left the land when the war began. At least, that's what I heard from my seniors." We stopped on a small food stand, and he ordered a few. I was about to make an order when he cut me off. "Foods on me, dude."

I arched him an eyebrow, but nodded anyway. Besides, free food! Who'd want to say no to that? And Spike was chuckling a bit, probably happy we'd get to eat something cooked. He slid down from my back and I helped him up on a wooden stool.

We ignored a few eyes which were staring at Spike though. Nothing can break our eating concentration.

Chapter 16 - Unicorns

After that wonderful free meal from the white pegasus named Cloud Strike, we thanked him and soon, Spike and I continued our way towards the Everfree Forest as we tried our best not to catch so many attention. We came to the edge of town, took the earthy path which was surrounded by trees, and soon found ourselves in an apple orchard. I stood near the white fence, and the apple orchard was on the other side. I noticed a lot of earth and pegasi ponies were harvesting the very infamous Zap Apples. They pick 'em and put them in wooden circular barrels lying on the grassy earth a few meters from me. I think they saw me, but they don't seem to mind my presence though, until a voice quite too familiar caught my ears from behind.

"Now wat'n tarnation are yah standin' 'round there for?" I turned around and found myself staring at the orange earth pony I idolized quite a bit back home. She's the very same pony as in the show, minus her hat, though, which was a bit of a shame. She was glaring at me for some reason...

I smiled, and tried my darn best to make it look casual, as this weird sense of excitement of seeing her was starting to make my head unable to think straight and my heart to rapidly beat. "Hu-hi?" Yeah, great start... "I---"

"If yer here tah only stare at the apples," she cut me off as she started walking towards the barn up ahead, "then Ah suggest yah better get yer lazy flank off of mah farm!"

"Geez," I heard Spike's quiet yet irritated voice, "what's her problem?" Honestly, I wondered about that as well. The way she looked and talked to me really killed the Applejack-fan within me, and it hurts...quite a lot...

I let out a sad and long sigh. "Let's go, Spike," I quietly said as I began to climb up the fence. Hopping on the other side, I began walking towards the dreaded forest with my slightly slowed pace. Her voice was still ringing in my head, and it was worsening my sadness. I ignored the confused looks from the working ponies in the orchard though. They're not worth to be payed any mind, as I continued my walk, passing through the sea of trees.

A yellow earth stallion was standing in my way, however, so I simply walked to the side and conti--- "Hey there, partner," he called, catching my attention, for his voice sounded mighty familiar. I looked at him, and tried my best to remember. He looked so darn familiar... "What's got ya all so down in the dumps, huh?" He asked with a pretty darn wide smile.

I shook my head. "Sorry, but do I know you?" And I just realized the moment I said it of how stupid of a question that was. I suppresed the urge to facehoof when he chuckled.

"Nah," he shook his head slightly, "I don't think we ever met before," he nodded before continuing, "but that ain't no reason for me tah know a few more ponies. So what's yer name?"

If he wasn't smiling, I would have just easily continued my walk and pretended he didn't even exist, like I always did back home, especially in the city. I don't trust the people in the city streets, but this pony's smile really helped me ease this growing downheartedness. I smiled back. "Name's J---" uh, "Gold Blitz," and I turned slightly so he could see Spike more clearly on my back, "and this here's Spike."

"Hi?" Spike awkwardly said with a nervous smile as he slightly lifted a claw and waved ever so slightly at the pony.

The said pony didn't seem to care that I have a dragon though. "Howdy, you two," he lifted a hoof towards his head, but stopped after feeling that there was nothing on his head. "I always forget that I no longer have mah hat..." he said with a weak smile. "Aw well, mah name's Braeburn." Oh, I think I heard that name from the show before. He took a few steps towards us and eyed Spike. "Spike, was it?" He asked with a smile, and Spike nodded with a bit of uncertainty. "My oh my," he said in awe as he leaned closer to him, scanning his scales with narrowed and fond eyes, "Ah've never-ever seen such a big lizard in all mah life."

"Lizard?" Spike asked, a bit hurt. "I'm not a lizard!"

Braeburn patted his head. "Well, don't yah worry. Ah'm sure we 'ave a few insects flyin' 'round here." He took a few steps back and started turning his head left and right as he tried to spot a few bugs that might be around somewhere.

Spike and I looked at each other with a shared confusion. We turned back and saw the other ponies who were also as confused as us, though they payed the earth pony no mind and continued on their work. "Look, Braeburn sir," I began before sounds of a bell echoed through.

"Well shoot," Braeburn said with a wide smile as he turned towards the red barn a few distance away. "It's about time they call us for lunch!" And from that, I already knew what he's going to say next as he returned his smiling face back at me. "Wou---"

"No thanks," I immediately cut him off, "we really nee---" and I was cut off by the loud rumbling stomach noise of the purple lizard sitting on my back. I shot him an annoyed look as he smiled at me apologetically.

"What?" he asked, "It's not my fault that I'm still hungry."

"It's settled then!" Braeburn exclaimed in so much joy, as if he won a lottery or something. I sighed in defeat. If I want Spike to at least be able to protect me from whatever danger awaits us in the Everfree Forest, he might as well be belly prepared...

...yey for another free food?

We were seated around a large wooden table outside the red barn, which was full of deliciously-looking food: apple fritter, apple pie, candy apple, and some other apple-food-stuff that I am not aware of their names of. I am still quite full from the meal that Cloud Strike gave us earlier, so I only took a small amount of food, just enough to shut the blabbering mouth of Braeburn, who decided to sit beside me. No offense to him, but I am now starting to agree of how the authors of some fanfics portray him. Even when his mouth was full, he was still able to talk non-stop, as if there's nothing inside his mouth. Hm... Maybe that's his special talent?

Spike settled on my other side, eating to his heart's content. He choked a number of times, though. Lunch, or whatever meal they were having at this hour, was lively, which was, quite interesting, for it kinda reminded me of home a few years back, when my very own family was still as sticky as glue...

"Com'on Applejack," Braeburn suddenly said after recovering from his laughing fit after hearing a rather lame joke from a pegasus, "get with the program, couz'!"

The orange mare, who was seated across of me, glared at him. "Unlike you," she spoke, silencing everyone else around, "who's a---" she cut herself off, looked away, closed her angry eyes, and sighed.

I turned to Braeburn, and saw his features dropped. "Aw, couz," he began, "ya haven't moved on yet?"

"Zip it, Braeburn," Applejack shot back as she stood up and walked back towards the barn.

"What's up with her?" Spike suddenly asked through a mouthful of pie. I glared at him for his lack of manners, but it fell to no use, since he wasn't paying any attention to me at the moment.

Braeburn shook his head. "My couz's really having a mighty ol' hard time to accept what has happened to us a few years back..." He swallowed the stuff he was chewing before continuing, to my greatest relief, for I can now properly face him. "First, our Granny Smith passed away..."

...ouch...

He stared at his plate, and slightly played with a piece of pie with a hoof. "...and then Big Mac, her big brother, was captured by the unicorns..."

...eh?

"...and Apple Bloom, her little sister, suddenly disappeared."

"Wow," Spike said quietly, "I-I'm sorry to hear that... That's just, awful..." I wondered if Spike knew that the Macintosh her knew back in Ca---Unicornia and Big Mac are the same pony?

"The unicorns are nothing but heartless ponies..." I heard a female pony murmured a few chairs away from me.

A pegasus across from her nodded. "I heard that they turn earth ponies into their slaves!"

And the table was now filled with voices saying awful stuff about the unicorns being tyrants, snobs, prideful, and whatever, and from the little time I spent inside Unicornia, I...would kinda agree. But maybe not all of them, like that...uh...Boulder, right, him. Wait, no, maybe he's just a victim of the other stupid-thinking unicorns like...Twilight...

Sigh... What is up with these ponies?

Chapter 17 - Viper

I waited for lunch to be properly be over. I don't think that simply standing and thanking and leaving would be okay if the mood of the ponies were sour because of their topic about unicorns.

I waited for almost half an hour before the ponies decided that it was time to get back to work. I thanked them, and Braeburn.

"What's the rush, Gold?" Braeburn asked with a very loud voice, managing to catch a few ears nearby.

"I need to go somewhere..." I replied lowly, trying my best not to pay attention to the curious eyes staring at me.

Braeburn's smile vanished as he blinked a few times. "Home? And where else would it be besides Ponyville?" Huh, so the town was really called Ponyville. I wonder if Manehattan's here as well. Wait, did I say 'home'? I swear I didn't...

"He's heading to the Everfree Forest and I'm t---" Whatever Spike was going to add was cut off by the ponies' loud gasps. They then started walking towards me and telling me of how crazy of an idea that is, how dangerous the place is, and some other things.

"Quiet!" Yelled Applejack's voice, immediately silencing the area, and the crowd quickly made way for her as she marched towards me. "Is it true yer headin' to the forest?" She asked me as she stopped in front of me. This was a different Applejack, though. Earlier, she was angry and frightening, but now, she looks like she's...about to cry? "Take me with yah, please..." She pleaded, sniffling quietly.

"Applejack!" Braeburn exclaimed, together with the surprised gasps of the ponies around. The mare shot him a glare. "Are yah out of yer marbles? That place is dangerous!"

"Don't tell that to me as if Ah'm not aware of that fact." She replied flatly, and then turned to me. "First, y'all would stop me if Ah ever go there alone," he walked beside me, and wrapped a hoof behind my neck. "But Ah ain't be alone this time!" And I don't like where this is going.

"Applejack," argued Braeburn, "this is nonsense!"

"Oh?" Applejack shot back. "And simply forget 'em and move on is not!?" She hastily removed her hoof behind my neck and marched towards her trembling cousin. "Ah've been waitin' far too long, Braeburn, and it's about tahm Ah go and look for 'em!" She snarled, and after delivering her piece, she turned to me and walked pass me. "Com'on Brownie."

Brownie? I turned and saw her marched towards the forest. I turned back to Braeburn and he was still looking quite terrified. I looked at the other worried faces, and none caught my attention that could turn this thing around. I sighed and turned towards Applejack.

"Applejack!" Braeburn yelled, making the mare stop and turn to look at him. "But what about the farm!?"

"Sell it for all Ah care! You comin', Brownie!?" And she continued towards the forest a few distance away.

Before I could start following the fuming mare, I turned back to Braeburn and the others. "Gold Blitz," he said after a sigh, "please watch over mah couzin." He then stared at the said mare. "Ah knew this day would come, but Ah didn't think it would be this soon." He returned to me. "So please?"

I nodded, just simply to finish the conversation. As I turned and started following Applejack, I repeated in my head that I have to stick with my task: to get to the old castle and return home. As much as I'd like to help Applejack out, and it could also be fun being with the pony I idolize the most, but I need to return home. I caught up with her and walked beside her, and decided to keep quiet.

We walked in complete silence, and we ignored the light drizzle as we continued heading to the forest. We were only meters away from the edge of the forest when a shadow flew pass us. I planned on ignoring it, but an armored pegasus landed in front of us, blocking our path.

"Applejack," Rainbow Dash spoke as she removed her helmet, "what the hay are you doing here?"

"Outta the way, Rainbow," Applejack replied coldly as she walked pass the annoyed pegasus, "it ain't yer business tah stick yer nose on to."

"Listen here, AJ," Rainbow hissed as she flew in front of her, "but it's my duty to watch over Ponyville, and that," she pressed a hoof on the earth mare's chest, "includes you."

Applejack slapped her hoof away. "Then guess what?" She said as she walked pass the pegasus, "Yah can remove me from yer list tah make yer job a bit easier."

"Don't be stupid! You know the forest is dangerous!" She yelled as she blocked my path. "Whatever the reason that is making you go there..." she quietly whispered to herself.

Applejack stopped and looked at the pegasus. "Do Ah look like Ah care?" And she quickly returned walking towards the forest.

"Gah, fine!" Rainbow snarled as she wore her helmet, "Go inside and die! See if I care!" She flared her wings open as she turned to face me. "Stop her, okay?" She whispered before flying off. Gee, I've been given a task to stop an angry mare... Joy...

Applejack stopped near the edge of the forest, staring at the narrow pathway the trees were providing. I stopped beside her and scanned the forest. The trees are thick and tall. Roots were crawling sideways, up and down, making the available path difficult to navigate.

"The Everfree Forest," Spike whispered, shaking a bit. I then felt his claw grabbing my ear, as he tried to get my attention. It was annoying. "Do we have to go inside there?"

"Let go of my ear and I might reconsider leaving you behind." I whispered back as I tried make him see my glare. He let go and gulped. I shook my head slightly and turned to the mare. "Applejack, just so you know," she turned to me, "that I did not agree on helping you."

"Ah know that," she quickly replied as she returned her attention at the forest, "but Ah wanna come with you. Wherever yer goin', I'll follow yah."

"Why?" Spike and I asked in unison.

"Because this is where Ah last saw mah sister..." Her angry features dropped to sadness once more. "Ah don't care if she's still alive or not. Ah just want to see her, and have her back..."

I sighed quietly as I patted her shoulder. I can relate, in all honesty. A few years ago, I came back home where my youngest brother was missing. My parents were already going insane, running around town just to look for him. That was one of the most terrifying moments of my life. I first went to the places where the two of us usually hang out. Seeing him not being there, I then tried going to the places he and his friends usually hang out. Eventually, I bumped into my younger brother, who quickly grabbed my hand and dragged me towards the cliff which was outside of town, where we saw our youngest brother hanging for dear life. After we rescued him, I made him promise never to head out of town again. But he's a growing teenager, and of course, he broke that promise, though he was more careful now than before.

"Let's go then..." I said slowly, bringing my hoof back on the ground. She nodded, and I walked pass her, leading the way.

We walked through the path with clear difficulty. Minutes of walking, and I finally asked Spike to get off of me. He complained, of course, but what can I do? We continued making progress while making sure not leaving anyone behind, while I was leading the way to...

"You have no idea where yer goin', ain't ya?" Applejack said as she climbed up an uproot.

"S-sorry," was all I could reply as I helped Spike up. A sudden chirp from a bird up above caught my attention. It was a blue bird, but after I spotted it on a branch, it flew off. Oh well.

"No reason tah apologize, Brownie."

"I have a name, y'know." I said with irritation as I snapped a few low-hanging twigs out of the way. "And it's...Gold Bli-OW!" My mane got stuck on a twig.

"The forest said 'hello' back," Applejack chuckled as she helped me get the twig out of my mane. I glared at her for a short moment before nodding my thanks. I turned back up ahead, and noticed our path is now a bit easier to walk on now. I'll just need to remove these vines that suddenly coiled around each of my hooves. I lifted a hoof to shake the vine away, but as I caught a glimpse of it, I froze in place as it quietly hissed at me. "Don't," Applejack quietly said, standing still as well, "move..." Snakes... Green, slimy, scaly snakes, coiled at each of my hooves...!

I heard a loud snap of twigs from behind us, and soon was followed by an annoyed voice. "Stick together, he said, sheesh... Whoa!" Spike stopped in shock after noticing me and Applejack's current condition. We then heard a series of quiet hisses, making Spike turn his head around, and saw snakes, crawling towards him in every direction. He was starting to sweat in nervousness when quiet hooves touched the forest's floor a few meters before us.

"Good job, my little babies," said the yellow pegasus with the most gentle voice and with the scariest of smiles. A blue bird then quietly landed on her head as she eyed our nervous states. And oh, Fluttershy's cute, but sadly, that cuteness is the one that's going to kill me today...

Chapter 18 - Castle

"Hurt them and they'll hurt your friends." Fluttershy calmly warned as Spike was about to breathe out some fire to scare the snakes which were crawling towards him in every direction. He looked at me, full of worry in his eyes.

"Spike," I said, trying my best not to move, "Go! Just go!" I almost yelled at him. I don't know why I'm wanting him to run and be safe, but whatever.

"I can't just leave you guys behind!" Spike cried as he dodged a snake that struck him. He immediately ran with haste to the area where the snake was once was, managing to dodge the two snakes he passed.

"Okay," I called out, "good job Spike! Now hurry and run away!"

"I told you," he replied as he shot me a glare. He then picked up a large twig and started swinging it at the snakes to drive them away from him. "I'm not leaving the both of you!"

"Ack, don't be hard-headed, Spike!" I argued. "Just go and save yourself, now!" And I sounded more demanding than pleading now. I countered his glare with my own. We continued our argument for a few more minutes until we both stopped as we realized that we're the only ones being active at the moment. We turned and looked at the mares, who were both arching their eyebrows at us.

"Are the two of yah quite done with yer quarrels?" Applejack asked lamely. Spike and I turned to each other for a short while before returning our attention back to them, and nodded awkwardly. "Right," she rolled her eyes as she faced the pegasus, "now, what was that ye were sayin', miss?"

Fluttershy shook her head slightly with irritation, making the bird on her head hover a few moments before landing back. I guess our shouting has drowned Fluttershy's voice, if she was trying to say something earlier. "Right. I asked why two earth ponies are wandering in the forest."

"I'm looking for a castle," I replied quietly.

"And Ah'm lookin' fer mah sister..." Applejack replied calmly.

Fluttershy then turned her attention at Spike, who was at the moment trying to push the snakes away from him with the twig he's holding. "Oh, don't mind me," Spike said a bit with haste, "I'm just tagging along and all..."

"Sticking with them when in danger," Fluttershy spoke as she hovered towards the snakes that were trying to grab Spike, "is not tagging along." She said with the tiniest bit of emphasis, but it was hardly noticed. She let the snakes crawl and wrap around her back as she turned to face us. "Why do you need to go to the castle?"

"Uh... I need to go there, for me to get myself back home..." She arched an eyebrow, and I felt like I needed to add more if I wanted to convince her for whatever reason. "I was told by Princess Celestia that I---" my speech was cut short after the two mares gasped in surprise.

"You spoke with the princess?" Fluttershy asked in complete surprise.

"You're with those unicorn bastards!?" Applejack snarled with great anger.

"Hey hey hey!" I said as I took a few steps back, ignoring the hissing of the snakes coiled on my hooves. I stopped after I felt a tree blocking my rear. "And no, the princess spoke to me and I am definitely not with those unicorns!" Fluttershy was busy processing what she just heard while Applejack was glaring daggers at me. I gulped as I looked at Spike, who decided to just simply stand beside a tree and being very quiet. "Spike, a little help?"

He thought about what he's going to say, which took him quite a few long seconds before facing to me again. "Nah," he shrugged, "I'm sure you'll be fine."

"Not helpful, Spike." I glared at him.

He rolled his eyes. "Fine, fine..." He said as he walked and stopped beside me, though kept his distance from the snakes. He faced the two mares neutrally. "Gold Blitz here is from another world and Princess Celestia told him how to get back by going to the old castle here in the Everfree Forest but Twilight won't let him so we escaped with a metallic wing thingy and found our way to Ponyville and now we're here. The end."

She blinked, I blinked, she blinked, he scratched his head. Wow, that's quite a good summary of the adventures we had together. Kinda sad that it's going to end soon. Wait... "Spike," I began, narrowing my eyes as I glared at him, "you promised to keep that between us!"

Spike however, gave me a lame look. "Would you rather be bitten instead?"

I opened my mouth to say something, but instead, I hung my head low in defeat with a sigh. "Touché..."

Fluttershy was now leading us towards the castle, but keeping up with her pace was a bit difficult if snakes are coiled on each of my hooves, as well as Applejack's. Spike went back...on my back. We were walking in silence for minutes that I've lost count, until Applejack broke the silence.

"Hey, um, Miss Pegasus?"

"Hm?" Fluttershy responded without looking back.

"You, uh, you've been here for quite some time, right?"

"...Yes."

"Have you maybe uh," Applejack sighed, took a deep breath, collected some courage, and continued, "have you maybe met an earth filly who came here a few years ago?" Wait...years? "Yellow coat," she continued with hope, "red mane, red---"

"...ribbon?" Fluttershy finished for her as she stopped and turned to face us.

"So you've seen her!?" Applejack asked in excitement. I wouldn't blame her though.

Fluttershy nodded. "I have." She simply replied as she turned and continued walking towards the edge of a forest. We soon found ourselves on a cliff, where a very scary-looking rope bridge is connected to the other cliff a distance away. What was worse, the wind is mighty strong, carrying the cold drizzle hitting my...fur.

"Is she..." Applejack spoke as Fluttershy turned to face us. "...is she...still alive?"

"Why don't you go and see for yourself?" She said as she took a few steps to the side, for us to cross the bridge that is slightly dancing with the wind. "I'll wait for the two of you on the other side." She added, and soon flapped her wings and flew to the other cliff. Damn you ponies with wings...

Applejack carefully took a peek down below the cliff, and gulped. I took a peek as well, and I could not see the bottom from that darkness. Must be pretty darn deep. "Well," Applejack said as she brought a hoof on the bridge. "If Apple Bloom's on the other side, then Ah'm going to see her!" She said as she nervously began walking on the bridge. I admire her courage despite the danger though. Not wanting to wait, I quickly followed. If the castle's on the other cliff, then I need to go there as well. Spike tightened his grip on my neck as he shivered.

"Just don't look down..." I whispered, and as I did so, I slightly looked down below, and gulped as I felt all my four knees started to shiver slightly.

Spike chuckled weakly. "Y-yeah, you should follow your own advice as well."

"Zip it..."

Applejack's and my own weight made the bridge stable enough not to be carried around by the wind so much, which was very welcomed by the two of us. We reached the other cliff after a few minutes. It wasn't really easy nor fun, but whatever, we did it. Fluttershy then continued leading us to the castle.

"Why are ya helpin' us, anyway?" Applejack asked as we entered another gloomy forest, but Fluttershy remained quiet. Applejack didn't press her question further and decided to simply follow the pegasus. At least the path we're taking isn't as difficult as the previous one that Applejack and I took when we first entered the forest. Though the coiled snakes are makes walking awkwardly difficult.

Finally, we reached a wide clearing, and stood in the center was the old-looking tall gray castle, complete with flashes of lightning up above to add the creepiness-feeling it was radiating. What had caught my attention more was the armored pegasus guards standing tall on the draw bridge and near the castle's open entrance way. Though...their wings resemble those of bats than birds...

Fluttershy walked on the draw bridge and headed inside the castle. Applejack casted me a quick glance before following. I turned and looked at Spike's worried face. I smiled weakly at him before following the two mares.

Chapter 19 - Chamber

Inside, the castle was lit up by torches on the walls and a few number of faintly-lighting gems. There are glass windows in this tall and wide hallway, but those are useless with the forest's own crazy weather. Speaking of weather, the drizzle is now a rain a few moments after I got inside. The bat-winged pegasi guards went inside as well, but stood near the entrance and kept an eye outside. What's more is that there are ponies here of every races: earth, unicorns and pegasi ponies. All are looking tired, hopeless, scared, and whatever things that are related to the three words I could describe them. They were either lying down or seated on thin clothing that they use as their bed on corners of the hallway. I feel...sorry for them...

Fluttershy stopped and turned to face us. Applejack and I stopped as well, but the two mares started to talk to each other as I looked around to see the ponies around. They look...quite malnourished? I felt Spike climbing down from my back. I ignored him and kept staring at the ponies. None of them seemed to be interested with us though. They're busy watching over their sleeping partners or children. They're trying to feed their tired young ones. Some were having quiet small talks.

"I'm sorry..." I heard Fluttershy's soft voice. I turned to her, and suddenly felt my hooves were free from constriction. I looked down for a moment, staring at the snakes crawling towards the entryway before returning back to her. I saw Spike and Applejack walking towards a group of ponies on one corner.

"Sorry for what?" I asked quietly. I don't think I need to raise my voice to normal though.

She turned and stared at the few ponies around. "I saw your face. You felt sorry for them, and..." she turned to me, "...I'm sorry if you feel that way..."

I'm not in the mood to ask her sudden change of approach, but whatever. I looked at the few ponies. "Who are these...ponies?"

"Refugees..." she replied quietly. "Ponies who grew tired of the war. I rescue them and bring them here, and to keep them safe."

Three vicious-looking wolves came inside and started shaking the water off of their coats. I jumped in panic, and wanted to run away the instant they started running towards me, but before I could, a hoof touched my shoulder. I decided to close my eyes, fearing for the worse, but after I heard Fluttershy petting them, I opened my eyes, and saw the wolves were giving her a few large brown bags of...bread?

"Good job," she smiled sweetly at them, earning her a lick on her cheeks by the three wolves before they retreated to a corner near the entrance, where a pegasus guard yelped in surprise. Fluttershy then grabbed two bags with her mouth, but after seeing that she was having difficulty trying to carry the third, I decided to help and grabbed it with a hoof. "Fanksh..." She nodded slightly and gestured with her head to follow her. I nodded and followed her lead, where she approached a weak-looking pegasus and unicorn couple, with two foals fast asleep. She gave them some bread, and the couple smiled weakly at us and thanked us. Their smiles somehow...lifted my spirits a bit? And...it also made me feel sad that I'm about to leave them to return home. But what can I do? I turned into an earth pony, and what can this earth pony do? Unicorns can cast magic, and pegasi can fly. Earth ponies? Their at the disadvantage of the two other races. Maybe that is why they let them rule over them? I'm not sure. As I handed a loaf of bread to a young earth colt, I started to wonder if maybe what Princess Celestia said is true; about me being the only one who can help the three races be united. But again, what can an earth pony do?

"Something the matter?" Fluttershy asked as she handed some bread to the last ponies she needed to give food. She turned and faced me with concern, and I looked away. She gave me a first impression that she's a scary pony, and seeing her...not being scary...is scary... Yeah, I'm not making much sense. I sighed, nodded, and took a side-glance at her.

"I'm...it's just..." There was one reason why I wanted to work in the city, even though I hated the streets, and that is because there's a few buildings there accepting voluntary help or donations for the unfortunate. I like...helping others, but the problem with that is I don't have enough money to spare. So if ever I could make some free time, I volunteer to help pack some clothes or food to be sent to affected areas of natural disasters or anything. I sighed once more. Yeah, I like helping the unfortunate ones, and only the unfortunate ones. "I just wish I could do something more for them..."

"I know what you mean..." Fluttershy nodded in agreement as Spike came by. Fluttershy and I then eyed an earth pony couple, sharing their bread with their two young children: a unicorn and a pegasi. I feel sorry seeing Mrs. Cake not as chubby as in the show. I sighed quietly through my nostrils. "...but, this is the only thing I can do for them, and seeing their smiles..."

"...they're worth to be protected..." I finished for her, and she nodded. I turned, facing her with a small smile. "You're very kind, Fluttershy."

"Huh?" She turned to me with a slightly arched eyebrow, and with slightly blushing cheeks.

"Your kindness is all they need at...this chaotic times..." Her cheeks reddened as she cracked a small smile, but instantly looked away from me. "And I mean it. Look at them, sure, they look very hopeless, but with you being here, your kindness is...somehow, lifting their hopes."

"Poetic," Spike chuckled. I ignored him and continued, but my train of thought suddenly vanished because of his interruption. I threw a glare at him, and he chuckled some more.

"Um... thanks." If Spike's chuckles were louder than it is now, then I would have definitely failed to hear Fluttershy's very quiet response. I turned to her and smiled.

"She and the others are probably looking for more food," Fluttershy replied to Applejack's inquiry about her sister's whereabouts. She is now leading us down the spiraling stairs, where two pegasi guards were walking with us, carrying torches to provide light in this dark stairway. One was walking beside Fluttershy, while the other was walking behind us.

"Ah see..." Applejack said with a slight frown. "At least Ah know she's alive an' kickin'. Heh..." She smiled weakly.

Spike was being quiet, and I know why, but I don't know what to say to make him feel a bit brighter... "Spike," I said quietly, ignoring Applejack who turned to me, "don't feel so down in the dumps..."

"Easier said than done..." he sighed sadly. "You're leaving, and..."

"Who am I to you, Spike?" I suddenly asked him, making him raise his head and look at me with confusion. That's a normal question I often ask myself towards others. Who am I in their lives? Why are they inviting me to this and this and that, and why should I go? Honestly, I always turn down all party invitations my co-workers are offering me. I don't socialize much, and I plan on keeping it that way.

"Uh... Um..." he looked troubled, trying to think about it as we reached the end of the stairs. We now found ourselves inside a wide, spacious chamber-like basement being lit up by dark-blue glowing gemstones on the walls. On the center was a square elevated platform, where in each corner were curved pillars from the floor, arching up and curving halfway to the center. The center of the platform has a strange circle marking of some sort, and on it stood a familiar pedestal with five white orbs. But what really caught my attention was the giant yellow-transparent gemstone floating near the opposite corner of the chamber, and inside was... "P-Princess Luna!?" Spike exclaimed in total shock.

"Luna?" Applejack asked to no one in particular as she eyed the alicorn in disbelief. "That there's Luna? The one everypony called Nightmare Moon?"

"She's not Nightmare Moon," Fluttershy said, turning to us, "not anymore. She was possessed by the nightmare spirit when she came and caused trouble."

"Ah see..." Applejack nodded doubtly. "But from what Ah heard," she said as we walked closer to the platform, "Celestia and Luna fought in the War Plains, and with the unicorns and pegasi helping out, Nightmare Moon was no more."

"That's not what has happened," spoke a pegasi guard as he and the other placed their torches on the holes on the platform. "The unicorns and the pegasi didn't agree with each other, causing more trouble than planned."

Fluttershy nodded as the other pegasus continued the story. "Because they didn't cooperate, they were quickly defeated by Nightmare Moon, and Princess Celestia tried her best to defeat her. Both became weak as the battle continued, but in the end, Celestia fell."

"That's when Discord appeared," Fluttershy said. "He did manage to defeat Nightmare Moon, but not before the nightmare could cast a curse on him."

"What kind of curse?" Spike asked.

Fluttershy could only shake her head. "We don't know. What we do know is that the princesses were cursed as well..."

"But because alicorns have great magic powers," spoke a pegasus guard, "they were able to counter the curse, probably, maybe... That's why they're trapped inside gem-like prisons..."

"Ah see..." Applejack said quietly, still processing the new information that was given to us.

"So what happened to Discord?" Spike asked. I came here to go home, but I don't mind learning a few things about the place though.

"Nopony knows, really..." Fluttershy said. "Before Princess Luna was trapped inside the gem, she made her way here, where I and a few ponies took refuge."

And silence reign over us. Applejack was the one who broke it as she turned to me. "Yah came here to get back t' yer home, right?"

I nodded, suddenly feeling sad. "Y-yeah..."

"W-well, before Ah say goodbye," she smiled weakly at me before turning to the pedestal. "Ah got a question for yah."

"Oh, uh, okay. Shoot."

She took a while before turning back to me with confusion. "How are yah planning on heading back?"

...uh... "I..." I shook my head. "...have no idea..."

Chapter 20 - Farewell

While I was examining this pedestal-thingy, Spike and the others settled on sitting on the edge of the platform, where the purple dragon was telling the others of what was life like in Unicornia, how we met, how we escaped, and the reason why I came here if all I wanted was to head home. It was difficult for them to accept that I am from another world, that even Spike still have some doubts about it. I don't blame them though. Who would believe such a story anyway?

As the minutes flew by, I am starting to get annoyed and irritated, that I even snarled at Spike when he called my attention earlier. I apologized soon after though, and he understood my situation, I guess. I am this close of going back home, and I'm stuck, unable to figure out how to activate this darn thing. I stared at the five orbs, but there was nothing about them that could help me, as usual, for I have checked them a countless times already.

I sighed, and I got tired of being irritated and annoyed, as I let out another heavy sigh and let gravity pull me into a sitting position, after quickly kicking my tail out of the way. I stared at Luna's calm features, and wished that she could talk to me, like how Celestia talked to me back in Unicornia...

"...Do you really have to go...?"

I was startled a bit. I haven't heard this voice for quite some time. I sighed before replying mentally. 'Yes, I do. I'm sorry, okay? But I need to go back home.'

"...But we need your help..."

'What could an earth pony do anyway? And who are you?' Silence, inside my head. The voice did not answer my question. 'If you don't plan of letting me know who you are, then I don't have a reason to trust you.' And that was me, getting irritated once again as I stood back up and started examining the pedestal once more.

"Gold," Applejack called, making me stop but I didn't turn to face her. "Maybe ye should rest up for a li'l bit." I took a deep breath, and exhaled frustratingly through my nostrils. "Besides, Ah'm sure these weird ol' contraption-thingies won't be goin' anywhere."

"Good point..." I sighed in defeat. At least I am here now. I might as well rest up for a bit so I could have a clear mind to figure out what to do.

We went back to the ground floor, and we were in time to see three young adult mares of different races that just entered the hallway from the rain outside. Although they may look older than in the show, I still recognized them, and Applejack recognized the earth mare among them and rushed to her with haste. She didn't mind the mare's wet state as she hugged and cried of how much she has waited to see her little sister once again. After the yellow mare finished processing what was happening, she fought hard not to shed her own tears as Apple Bloom returned her older sister's hug. The very sight lifted my spirits, and noticed that the other ponies' spirits were brightened up as well. Sooner or later, that's going to be me and my youngest brother. Spike sniffed and looked away. I sighed internally. Hm...

"Spike?" I called, catching his attention. "I may not be around for long, so uh," I pointed a hoof at Sweetie Belle and Scootaloo, who were busy giving fruits to the ponies around. "Maybe you should go and mingle? Y'know," I shrugged, "so you'll have someone...somepony to talk to?"

Spike sniffed, wiped a tear, crawled off of my back, and nodded. "I...guess that's a good idea... B-but I---" I pulled him into a hug. I'm sure going to miss this little dragon. He chuckled bitterly and weakly returned the hug before I shoo'ed him away, and he went and talked with the two other Crusaders.

Despite Fluttershy's warning that there was nothing on the upper floors, I ignored her and went up anyway. There has to be something that I could use to rest or maybe to sleep on. The upper floors are too darn dusty and a wreck. Broken windows, fallen and destroyed statues and chandelier, broken and decaying pieces of wood and books, crumbled walls, puddles of rain water, cobwebs, and many other things. The rooms were also a wreck. I sighed as I began walking back to the ground floor with nothing. The reason I came up here in the first place is that...I don't like to see the poor ponies all the time. It makes me feel sad, and feeling sad is not a good feeling before falling to sleep, for it often gives me something sad to dream about... Fluttershy must have been too busy with helping and watching over everypony to at least make the upper floors 'habitable' enough for ponies to stay there. I sighed once more as I reached the ground floor, where I saw Spike and Applejack having some fun-chat with the Crusaders. Fluttershy wasn't around though.

I suppose there's one place where I could rest with peace. I quietly went down to the basement-chamber floor and rested myself at the edge of the platform, my back leaning on the elevated floor. With a contented sigh, I closed my eyes and eased my mind, feeling my tired body slowly crawling to blissful sleep. Hm... I wonder how many days has passed? No, not important. I'm going back home, but after I rest up a bit, that is.

Hm... I wonder what is wrong with Twilight. She seemed to be fine, in that dream I have at least. Rarity is...I dunno...not like her, I guess. Pinkie Pie, a very sad pony. At least I made her smile the last time I saw her. Rainbow Dash is too busy being loyal as always, and very talkative... Applejack finally is reunited with her sister... That reminded me... I haven't told her about Big Macintosh yet. Should I tell her though? Sigh... It may hurt her very much, but I guess it has to be done. Maybe later. Hm... And Fluttershy. She's busy watching over the pony refugees. Being able to talk to animals is really helpful for a task that she has.

"Gold Blitz..." a new yet familiar voice echoed to my ears. I opened my tired eyes, and gasped at what I saw. I found myself in a wonderful field of...flowers? Hills upon hills, filled with harmonic-blends of colorful flowers, under the beautiful evening sky and shining with the radiant and soft glow of the full moon. After recovering from awestruck, I turned and saw the alicorn of the night, sitting tall beside me, also looking at the fields of flowers. "Beautiful, is it not?"

"It is..." I whispered as I turned to her eyes' direction. I could even feel the cool and gentle evening air that dances with the flowers. "But...what is this place?"

"Thee would call our art as dreams."

"I'm...dreaming this?"

"No," she gently shook her head with a smile. "You are in my dream."

"I see." No argument there. According to the fanfics, she does control the dreams of ponies if she ever wanted to. I shrugged. I guess one of those authors really visited Equestria before. "But, Princess Luna, wh---"

"Please call me Luna, and simply just Luna." She smiled, facing me.

"Er, yeah, uh, Luna..." I don't like calling her with her name without a title. Celestia, I'm kinda okay with it, but Luna? I guess I'm not used to it. "...why did you send me here?"

"I didn't."

"I mean, my consciousness..."

"Ah!" she said after she understood. "That would make much more sense about your previous question..." I stared lamely at her. "I sent you here, to help you ease your mind."

Help me ease my mind? "T-thanks," I guess? We sat in silence, adoring the beautiful scene. It really does help ease my mind. I couldn't help but smile. "Thank you, princess."

"You already thanked us, Gold Blitz," she replied warmly, closing her eyes and feeling the air the passed us by. "Are you ready, though?"

I blinked, completely confused, as I turned to her. "Ready?"

"To return home. Your home."

I looked down on the flower before me. "I...guess so." I took a moment before facing her again. "But, how'd you know?"

She turned to me, her smile absent. "Our sister has contacted us a day or two ago." Don't you mean your sister? Well, whatever. "She has told us about you, and we would be willing to help you return home."

I flashed a small smile. "T-thanks, but how?"

"Do not worry about that. We have saved enough mana to activate the device that could help your mind and soul be transferred back to your world."

Only my mind and soul? I guess that's quite obvious, considering that I sometimes see the white ceiling of the hospital room where I was in. But, why am I able to see it if I'm here? No, not important. What is important is that I could go back home.

"The Everfree Forest is filled with chaotic mana, and we are lucky enough to extract enough mana of purity to help you." I nodded, not sure if I understood what she just said. "Shall we begin?" I nodded, and soon, her smile was the last thing I saw before the blackness took over my vision. I opened my eyes, and saw Applejack, Fluttershy and Spike, standing a few feet in front of me. I stood up, ignoring the dark-blue glow from behind me.

"I guess..." I began, looking away with a hurt smile, "...this is..." I returned my gaze back at them, sighing through my nostrils. "...goodbye?" Fluttershy simply smiled at me, Applejack nodded with a smile, and Spike... "Come on, Spike, don't cry..." Seeing him crying quietly is making me want to cry as well. I walked towards him and hugged him. He hesitated, but returned the hug as he sobbed quietly. "I'm sorry Spike... But, you're a strong dragon, even for a baby dragon. Just, stay safe, okay?"

"Will---" he sniffed, "will I be able to see you again?"

Honestly, "I'm not sure, but hey," I pulled him out from the hug, and stared at him directly in the eye, "I got here, so there must be a way, a way that won't be against my will, at least," I chuckled lightly, but it failed to lift his spirits. I patted his head. "S-sorry, but really Spike, I'm not really sure." He nodded, wiping the tears off of his eyes, and gave me a quick hug. I sighed, but hey, I'm heading home, right? Sigh, this is one reason why I don't make so many friends. I get so darn emotional if one of them ever leaves and quite certain never to return again, or vice versa.

"...pedestal ..." echoed the voice that didn't want to let me know who it belonged to. I nodded at the three present beings before walking on the glowing platform, and stopping in front of the pedestal . Staring at the orbs, I felt like my own spirit is being pulled, but I looked away, the sensation gone in an instant. "...you don't want to go home...?"

"...a moment..." I replied quietly, turning around to face the three. "Applejack," I spoke, "don't listen to lies, and always listen to the truth in your heart." I don't know why I'm talking like this, but I also don't want to leave without saying anything that could help them at least for the tiniest bit.

"Thanks," she nodded, "and I know. I followed mah heart when Ah heard you were goin' to the forest, and look where it got me?" She chuckled. "Thanks a ton, Blitz. If it weren't for ye, Ah wouldn't have found Applebloom."

I nodded, "and oh, get yourself a stetson hat," I winked at her, earning myself a confused look from her. I chuckled and gaze at Fluttershy. "Fluttershy, thanks for leading us here. And always be kind to everypony," I am going to end it, until a thought popped up, "but uh, just be sure to know the pony you're going to help isn't a pony who's planning on hurting other ponies."

She nodded with a smile. "I know, but thanks, Gold Blitz." She shook her head slightly. "I still don't believe you're from another world, but, I hope you'll have a safe trip."

I smiled and nodded. I took a breath and sighed through my nostrils as I faced Spike, who was crying quietly. "S-Spike," I flashed an apologetic smile. "Be safe, and please, don't always be sad just 'cause I'm no longer here." He nodded, staring down on the ground. I nodded back and turned around, and focused on the five glowing orbs, allowing it to pull myself, even though how weird the sensation is...

"Gold..." I blinked, cancelling the sensation, as I turned my head and looked at Spike. "You asked me who you are to me..." I turned my body so I could face him properly. "W-well," he played with his tail with his claws for a bit before looking at me. "Y-you're like...like a brother that I never had before." He flashed a sad smile. "A brother that I guessed I longed for, after Twilight casted me away... Thanks."

I walked off of the platform and hugged him, and he immediately returned the hug. Fluttershy and Applejack then joined in just as I was about to let go. Oh well. A group hug wouldn't hurt, now would it? But we broke the hug eventually. I nodded at them. "T-thanks you guys," I smiled, "and be safe, all of you, okay?" I earned three nodding heads. After that, I went back on the platform and stared at the shining orbs, allowing whatever to pull myself. As I felt that my soul was really about to be pulled, my vision went pitch black, and silence deafened my hearing.

Chapter 21 - City Festival

Black... That was the first I noticed after I recovered my consciousness. Huh, I guess it's because my eyes are closed. Anyway, I feel like...I'm lying on a comfortable bed on my back...and I'm covered by a blanket? Beeping sounds... Wait, those beeps...! I'm back? Oh yes, I'm back! But...I feel so darn tired...

As I slowly forced my tired eyes to open, I kept on wishing that I'd see...white-tiled ceiling. I am really back. As I blinked a few more times, I am starting to feel my tired body...my tired human body.

"You're awake!"

"AH!" I exclaimed, jumping right into a sitting position as I quickly turned my head to the source of the voice. "C-C-Claire?" I asked, but my head suddenly felt too darn heavy as my vision started to dim and slightly waving. I quickly lied back down before I get completely dizzy.

"Sorry 'bout that, Jay." She apologized with a very apologetic...yet cute face.

I brought my hands and rubbed my aching head. "Ow... It-it's all right..." I replied as I wandered my eyes to look around. "What time...no, how long have I been out?" I needed to know, but I am quite certain that I was asleep for a couple of days, considering the time I spent in Equestria, if ever my experience there was real, or anything close to real.

Claire brought a hand on her chin as she tilted her head up, thinking. "Huh, let's see..." She returned her gaze back to me. "Well, we arrived here at eight in the evening..." she took a glance on her wrist wat...

"Isn't that my wrist watch?" I asked, arching an eyebrow.

She smiled apologetically, "I know, but I just felt like wearing it for a while."

"Sssuuurrreee..." I narrowed my eyes at her. I am quite aware that she has feelings for me.

She shook her head slightly and completely dismissed it as she looked at the time. "Well, I'd say, we've been here for like...one...three...five...ten, right, ten---"

"...days?" I finished for her. It didn't feel like I've been in Equestria for ten days, but I suppose the flow of time there's slower than here?

She raised an eyebrow at me. "Ten hours," she corrected... Wait, what?

"Ten hours?" I am surprised, really surprised!

She nodded, "It's almost six in the morning. And oh, it's Friday today, if you're wondering." She smiled.

I dropped my head back on my pillow, my gaze focusing on the white ceiling. So...I was asleep for only ten hours? It didn't feel like I was in Equestria for only ten hours. I am quite certain that I waited for one whole day to see Twilight after their victory of the battle.

"Did you want to be sleeping for days?" Claire asked, though I didn't look at her. "You know the boss wouldn't want that from his new assistant manager,"she teased, sticking her tongue slightly as I shot her a tired glare.

Right, anyway, it's six in the morning. "Work starts at seven..." I said as I rose into a sitting position, and I was really planning on standing up if it weren't for the tube that is connected on my arm from a tall dextrose.

Claire frowned at me though. "Work? Today's a holiday, remember?"

"Erm..." I tilted my head to the side.

She rolled her eyes and shook her head. "The city's foundation day? Remember?"

"Oh..." right... I suppose I forgot about that. "Can I have my wrist watch back?"

She shook her head with a smile. "Not until the nurse allows you to."

Rentelbud became a city after Lorina granted the city freedom, and that was almost a hundred years ago. According to history books, this city is under the governance of the neighboring city, Silkwind. Sir Rentelbud led the army of resistance, and won and conquered Silkwind because of his great tactical strategies. He conquered a few more troubled cities, and soon, he created a whole region consisting of the places he governs. Soon, he and his wife became the king and queen of Lorina. Lorina is the name they gave to the region.

As Claire and I walked on the early morning streets, the city is already alive with bands playing music, and traffic is slow, were police enforcers are rerouting them, while some were scratching their heads in frustration. I did remember reading that today, no one is allowed to drive their vehicles in the main city's streets because of the festival. I let Claire lead the way to wherever she wanted me to spend some time with her. I didn't want to, though. I've been wanting to go home, but she said that I owe her for helping me last night. Sigh... One of the things I hate about the people here. If someone helps you, they are expecting something from you in return. Although I am quite certain that Claire was only trying to make me feel guilty so I could join her instead of actually owing her.

She led me to the center of the city, a very spacious park, where it was also the center of the festival..or going to be the center, since the people here were still busy making some final preparations. The queen will be here to join the celebration. I busied myself by trying to call my mom or dad, but my call wouldn't connect for some strange reason. I checked the signal bar, and my phone only needed one more bar for it to have the signal strength at max. I looked up at...the sky...which is still quite...gloomy, like yesterday...like in Equestria...

"Oh?" Claire noticed me and immediately took out her phone from her black handbag. "Your parents visited you a couple of hours ago," she said as I took her phone that she was offering. "They're really worried about you," she continued, and grinned, "momma's boy." she teased. I shot her a glare before turning my back on her and as I began typing my mom's phone number. "Oh!" Claire exclaimed, browsing through her items inside her bag. "That reminds me..."

"I can't reach her..." I whispered with a sigh as I gave her phone back. She took out a notebook and held it on one hand as she took her phone with the other.

"May I try?" she asked as she browsed through the recently dialled numbers. I shrugged and nodded. She pressed the call button, and set it to loud-speaker mode. Less than five seconds later, we heard ringing sounds. The call connected? She smiled while I frowned. She set it back to normal as she handed it to me. But after I put it on my ears, all I could hear was static. Confused, I shook her phone, earning myself a weird look from her. Shaking my head, I gave her phone back, but as she took it and I let go, I faintly heard my mom's voice on the other line. Quickly, I took it back, but static was all I could hear. What the heck? I gave up with a sigh and asked Claire to talk to her. She nodded with a confused look on her face as she brought her phone to her ears. "Hello? ... Yes, he's here. ... Sorry, but there's...something wrong. ... Well, uh..."

"Set it to loud-speaker," I suggested. She stared at me for a few moments before doing my request. I tried going closer, but my mom's voice is drowned by the static noise. Claire gave me an even more confused look as I took a step back, enough for the static noise not becoming a hindrance. "Mom?" I said loudly, enough for my mom to hear my voice. "Can you hear me?"

"Oh, sweetie," I hung my head low in shame at that. Not only was the phone set in loud-speaker, but there were loads of people around. Bah, whatever. "we were so worried! How are you?"

"I'm good, I'm fine. I guess...? I'll be going back home as soon as I can." Claire frowned at that, but I don't really care. Unfortunately, my mom had other plans.

"It's all right, sweetie. You can rest up for a bit there if needed be."

"I can rest for two hours during the bus trip, y'know..." I pointed out lamely.

"Hm...true. But how about your girlfriend there?"

"Wh-who-wha?" I blinked in surprise, and glared at the female human being who is flashing me a sheepish grin with the slightest blush on her soon-to-be-dead cute face.

"Oh, it's okay hon. Your dad and I are proud that you finally got yourself a girl! And finally!" I slapped a palm right to my face. Facepalm is too mainstream, anyway. "We're growing old, y'know..."

"Set it to normal speaker..." I pleaded, but Claire stuck her tongue at me.

"...and we've been waiting to have grand-kids! Hahah!"

"...now would be a great time, Claire." I glared at her. She put on a pouty face, but I glared some more. Finally, she obliged just before another word could fly off from her phone. She then started talking to my mom on the phone, and explained to her about this static thing I have if I get close to her phone. Phone... That reminded me. I took my phone out once again, and browsed through my inbox. Aside from my mom and dad's messages filling my inbox while I was out, the blank text from an unknown sender was still there. Taking a breath, and thinking that it may have something to do with what's going on, I opened it and...it was still blank. I check the text's details to try and see the phone number of the sender, but it only has one question mark there. That can't be right. I tried replying, but I got an error, stating that it was an invalid phone number. No duh... Sighing, I exited the messages folder and was about to bring my phone back inside my pocket when I got a new mms message. Opening it, the message was blank, until the image started to load very slowly from top to bottom. Halfway, the image already loaded the black blanket of clouds. A quarter of the image left, and I now saw the little town of Ponyville. But as soon as the image was done loading, I gasped, making Claire arch an eyebrow. Unicorns...took over Ponyville?

Chapter 22 - Deep Thought

"I told you not to eat that sandwich!" I yelled as Claire hastily dragged me towards the nearby mall. We went inside in complete haste, almost running pass the security guards. She took a sharp turn to the left, and soon, she let go as she went inside the ladies' room.

I rolled my eyes as I walked away from the room. I settled down on the chairs near the fountain inside the mall meters away from the entrance and exit. A few people were here though, since they are mostly outside, enjoying the festivities going on in the park just across the street. The festival started a few hours ago, and there were a lot of things to do there. Contests were held, small amusement parks were built, drinks and foods to buy. I did warn her about the sandwich she bought. It looked delicious, the contents looked fresh, but the mixture of different food were sure to upset one's stomach. And Claire proved me right. There is nothing for me to do except to wait for her.

After a minute has passed, I took my phone and stared at the image of Ponyville. I wonder how the unicorns have taken over the closest town in the pegasi territory though... I wonder if Rainbow Dash is okay. No, wait... Why am I worrying about this? Surely, Equestria isn't real, no matter what I have seen or felt or ventured...while asleep. But it did felt real... Which is troubling my thoughts for a while now. If it was real, then how the heck did I got there? And if ever I am the one who could help them, I don't plan on getting beaten up all the time just to get there.

I suddenly remembered the page Claire ripped from her notepad. I took it from my pocket and read the contents. She told me that she listed the weird flashing messages that appeared on my phone while I was out.

Help...us...

Help us...

Help us...

T-Twilight...

...Don't tell her...

Don't tell her...

...Do you really have to go...?

...But we need your help...

...pedestal...

...you don't want to go home...?

I think these are the lines of the voice that kept talking to me in my head. Hm... Wait, Luna said that only my mind and spirit were taken to their world. So that body...that brown earth pony, was only my vessel for my mind and soul? Maybe that voice belonged to the original owner of that body? So, if that were the case, does that mean that earth pony's now walking around with them? Hm... Why am I thinking about this so much? Oh, there's Claire.

She apologized, and was about to explain when I stopped her. I don't want to have something nasty to think about. Anyway, as we walked back to the park, I was wondering...why was I only out for ten hours? Hm... "Can I borrow a pen?" Claire looked at me with an arched eyebrow, but she did let me borrow a pen from her bag. I folded the piece of paper that she gave me.

Okay... Let's see here... I woke up, went to Unicornia, dug some gems. I am guessing that is a total of twelve hours. Then, I went to the castle, fell and saved Spike, and took a day sleeping. So, I guess that's twenty-four hours, maybe? And then I waited for one day inside the castle because Twilight was busy celebrating, and that's another twenty-four hours. Then, we escaped, and I fell unconscious once again. If ever I found myself back in Equestria, I'll try my best not to fall unconscious ever so often. Anyway, I'm guessing that was maybe twelve hours? Spike didn't really specifically told me though. So twelve, I guess. We ran to escape a fire, which was put out by the rain, and then we rested and slept. Ten to twelve hours, I guess. Walk to Ponyville, which was hours. I am guessing...three, I think. And then I helped some ponies, had lunch with Cloud Strike, and another lunch with Braeburn and friends, went to the Everfree, and followed Fluttershy to the castle. Four hours, maybe?

Okay, summing it up... Twelve plus twenty-four plus another twenty-four, plus twelve, plus ten, plus three and plus four... Eighty-nine hours. Divided by twenty-four... Three days and seven hours... I've stayed in Equestria for three days and seven hours, and I was only out here in my world for ten hours... So...time runs faster in Equestria. I think. Hm... How to solve this... One week has seven days, and a day has twenty-four hours. Seven times twenty-four is...one-hundred sixty-eight hours. Divide it by eighty-nine...one point eighty-eight...something. This ain't right... My math's wrong.

Let's restart that, hm... Eighty-nine hours divided by ten is eight point nine. Round off, nine hours in Equestria is one hour here in the human world. Okay, so one day in the human world...twenty four times nine is...two-hundred sixteen hours. Uh...okay. Divide by twenty-four, I get...nine? So, one day in the human world is nine days in Equestria!? That's...! Okay... Why am I really startled by this?

An explosion...! Yells and screams were everywhere as the people ran away from the event. "Did you see that!?" Claire asked in panic as she dragged me away from the incoming crowd which were heading our way. We stood behind a mini-van, and the large sea of people avoided it, to our relief. "The sound buffers were hit by lightning!" She said, recovering herself from the state of panic.

Lightning? I felt a cold drop of rain on my noise. I wiped it dry, and soon, the city started to rain and loud crashing thunder roars echoed through the city. "I'm sorry, Claire," I said as we ran back towards the mall. "But I really really need to go back home now."

"T-that's okay," she replied after we got inside. She fixed her hair as I checked my wallet. Yeah, I still have enough money for a ticket. "C-can I come with you?" I rose my head to look at her with an arched eyebrow. "I-I don't think I wanna be alone here..."

"Your apartment?" I suggested.

"I live by myself, and I don't like being here in this city," she looked at the park through the wide glass window of the mall. "N-not at this moment..."

"Friends?" I asked as I felt the vibration of my phone.

"I don't really know where they live..." She replied as I opened the new...blank message that I received. She got curious and completely violated my personal space as she stood beside me, our shoulders touching as she looked at my phone. "Another blank message?" She asked as I stepped away from her.

I was about to reply when letters started appearing on my phone, and at the same time, Claire leaned on me to see the message. 'I hope you're okay there, Gold... Things here are pretty darn crazy. Oh, this is Spike, by the way. I'm not sure if you'll ever get this message, with you being a statue and all, but I could hope, right? ' What? Really?

"Spike?" She looked at me with a confused frown.

"Uh," I quickly looked back at her, "nothing... Never mind." So...me in Equestria...was really real? It really happened...?

Chapter 23 - Pony Fans

I sighed in relief as I sat on a slightly comfortable seat inside the bus that'll take me back to Sun Ford...to home. I leaned my head on the glass window, ignoring the loud collision of the rain against the windows, and ignoring Claire who is seated beside me. What is important now is I am heading back home.

The bus has left the city's borders, and we were now taking the quiet road towards home...but it's still too far away though. Usually, it's a two-hour trip, but whatever, I can wait, even though I cannot wait.

Flashes of lightning and roars of thunder were soaring through from the black sky up above, which is kind of annoying...unsettling...weird... Come to think of it, the lightning bolts are now white instead of blue. Meh, whatever. But, why is this storm too darn violent? It also looked similar to the black clouds back in Equestria. But, don't they all? I'm thinking too much. Coincidence, yes, coincidence. What other explanation could there be?

"Hey, Jay..." Claire called with a quiet tone. I turned and faced her slightly-worried face. "What do you think is going on?"

I shook my head slightly. "How am I suppose to know that?" She looked slightly offended by my reply though. "S-sorry..." I really really need to watch my tongue. One reason why I don't like socializing...I don't know how to watch my own tongue. I got used to talk with my family alone, and it devolved my ability to talk like a nice person towards others. Not that I kept on talking bad stuff back home. No. I'm just...direct to the point and all...

"It's all right, but um..." she returned her worried expression once more. "Who's Spike?"

"Uh... He's, a friend..." I replied, trying my best not to look like I was lying.

"Oh, okay," she gazed ahead, locking her sight on the seat in front of us. "Weird name for a guy," she suddenly spoke as I was about to lean my head back on the window. She chuckled slightly, making me arch an eyebrow. "I wonder if he's more like the Spike in em el pee."

"Eh?" She turned to look at me with confusion. "You mean," I spoke quietly, as if the words I am about to say is top-secret, "My Little Pony?"

Her eyes brighten and her lips curved to a smile. "You're a brony, too?"

I shrugged, "I am, well, kinda." She squealed. A squeal that seriously hurt my poor ears. She ignored the strange looks the other passangers were giving us though, as she quickly grabbed my hand and shook it like crazy, whispering the 'oh em gee' chant. "Calm down, sheesh," I spoke, trying my darn best to look annoyed at her, but her cute reaction is making it difficult, for she looked like a small girl who suddenly received a bag-full of chocolate goodness.

To my relief, she did calmed down, after a number of minutes, and let go of my hand with an apologetic grin. "Best. Day. Ever." she whispered in excitement as I rolled my eyes. She then looked eager, staring me deep into my eyes, as I leaned back, but unfortunately, the window isn't cooperating. "Favorite Mane 6?" she asked with narrowed eyes.

"Eh...Applejack?"

"Twilight," she immediately said. "CMC?"

"A-Apple Bloom?"

"Sweetie Belle," she said with a small grin. "Background pony?"

"Octavia," because she looked so darn beautiful and amazing with a cello, and the fan-arts of her...are so breathless.

Her grin went full, "Lyra," and she chuckled as she leaned back, returning my personal space back, to my relief. "Funny how I like unicorns and you like earth ponies," and she chuckled again. I simply rolled my eyes. "Oh my, there's so much to talk about!" she exclaimed, oh joy... "Have you watched the new episodes yet?"

I shook my head, and a smile formed on my lips, which was completely against my will. Oh, the power of ponies... "I haven't yet, but I will, when I get the time."

She nodded excitingly. "Well, I won't spoil you about it. It wouldn't be fun anymore if I spoil you," and she stuck her tongue at me. I rolled my eyes once again with a humored sigh that escaped my lips.

"I'm sure my brother's going to bug me again to watch it when I get back," I suddenly said out of nowhere. Heh. I get to see him again, and I'm excited about it.

Claire laughed at that though, for some reason. "I could imagine," she said, "my sister bugged me to watch it with her, and I became a brony ever since." She then brought a hand to her chin, deep in thought. "Or should I be a pegasister instead?" And she shrugged aftew a couple of minutes.

"I...can relate," I said, averting my eyes elsewhere.

"Aw, don't feel bad about it," she said, pretending to be motherly-like, to my annoyance. I shot her a small glare.

"I don't, really," I shrugged. "It's fun to watch, and I like the story of the show."

She nodded in agreement. "Speaking of stories...have you read any fanfics?"

I nodded, "yeah, I have. Why?" She looked excited and eager. I rolled my eyes. "I've read My Little Dashie. Very sad and beautiful fic, by the way." I felt my phone vibrating, but I ignored it.

"Oh, that fic," she spoke quietly, wiping an invisible tear from her eye. "Tears were shed." I rolled my eyes.

"Eternal," she arched an eyebrow as she frowned. "The fic where Twilight and Celestia were both wearing masks to impress the other and other ponies around them?"

"I've read that one," she shook her head slightly, "but I never finished it. It was too confusing for me."

"It was, but I did understood it," and that was the first ship-fic I've ever read. "Rainbow Factory and Cupcakes," her eyes grew in horrow. "I never finished reading it though. I don't know," I slightly shook my head. "Reading the first and second paragraphs of those two fics didn't really caught my attention, so I didn't bother finishing it..."

"T-those were gore-fics..."

I shrugged. "I guess I'm not into gore so much," I smiled weakly, and she reflected it back.

♪Dust in the wind~♪

Claire and I blinked at each other.

♪All we are is dust in the wind~♪

I smiled stupidly, and she reflected it. Damn that bus radio. "Not into gore, huh?" she grinned.

"I could bounce that back, y'know," I countered with my own grin. She laughed a bit, and so did I. "My parents and brothers love horror and gorish movies." I shrugged. "I am drawn to take a few glimpse if the sound effects get my attention from the other room."

She laughed at that. "Oh gosh, me too!"

And the bus suddenly stopped, almost sent the two of us towards the seat in front of ours. A few startled and confused passengers started murmuring while others stood up to see what made the bus stop. I stood up to see what was going on.

The bus stopped a few meters from the long bridge that connects the mainland to Selaro Isle, where Sun Ford and a few other towns are there. But...there wasn't a bridge. The bridge was no more, and my eyes grew wide in disbelief. What was left of the bridge was the part on the mainland. The other part, where it was over the body of water, is gone.

I just noticed how quiet the bus was. I turned around and...saw the empty seats of the bus... I turned back, and the other seats are also empty, even the driver's seat. "C-Claire?" I called out, but all I got was my nervous echo. "Anyone?" No answer but my own echo. I shook my head to dismiss the worry in my head as I went to the door. It won't budge. I went to the driver's seat to play with the lever that opens the door. Nothing. "The heck?" I whispered as I worked around the window in the driver's seat. I clicked it open and jumped out. As I landed, I turned my head to the bridge. I was not imagining things: the bridge really is gone. I ran towards the edge of what was left of the bridge, but a deep gray fog blocked my vision from seeing further ahead and down below.

What the heck is going on? Whatever. I need to go back to the city then. I think I know how to drive a bus...I think. I shrugged. I have no choice anyway. I turned back and...I found myself inside the chamber where...Luna was... I blinked. I was staring at the five white gray orbs. I blinked again, and again and again. No... No...!

I dropped myself, and brought my...hooves...over my eyes...as I cried. Why...? Why am I back!? I was home! I was almost home! I felt a claw on my shoulder, giving me a friendly squeeze, but I didn't care... I sobbed. I cried.

Chapter 24 - Sent Back

"Go away, Spike..." I sobbed, not lifting my head up from the ground, nor removing my hooves from covering my eyes. Spike however, didn't listen. Instead, he began to rub my back to comfort me. He hasn't said a word yet though, but I don't care. Why am I sent back here? I thought I made it clear that I don't want to help anypony! I was sent here against my will, and now it happened once again! And what is worse, I haven't even seen my family before I got back here! "GAH!" I shouted as I threw myself immediately to stand, feeling really angry.

Spike took a few steps back, which was a completely good idea right now. I locked my sight and glared at the gray pedestal that was used to send me back home. I lifted a hoof and started punching the god-damn thing!

"Send me back!" I shouted repeatedly as I continued punching the pedestal, which was shaking a bit from every punch I give it. "Send me back!" My eyes were starting to blur, but I didn't care. I wanted to go back home. I needed to get back home. To my parents! To my brother! Why did this stupid thing sent me back here!? "Why!? Why!? WHY!?"

I don't know how long I punched the damn thing, but soon, I got tired and instantly dropped myself back on the ground, sobbing. Why...? Why am I sent back here? I didn't want to go back here... I didn't ask to be back here... So...why...?

"G-Gold...?" Spike's quiet, nervous and sad voice reached my ears, but I did not move to let him know that I heard him. I continued my quiet sob. He took slow steps towards me, and placed a claw on my shoulder when he was in reach. "Its...it's going to be okay..."

Okay? It's going to be okay? Yeah right... I did not reply. I took my time to calm myself down. Now that I let all of that out, it'll be easier to calm myself down...though I'll be staying down in the dumps for a long time. Okay, so I'm back, sucks to be me. I needed to get back, but how? Luna said something about gathering mana-thingies. So I guess it'll probably take her some time to gather enough to send me back...again...if she'll let me, that is. Okay, be logical... There must be a reason why I was sent back. But...I couldn't think of anything at the moment. I rose up into a sitting position, quickly remembering to get my tail out of the way. "S-Spike..." I quietly said with closed eyes. I sniffed.

"Yeah?"

Let's see here... "H-how long was I out?" I've been with Claire for...four hours, I think... So that means...

Spike scratched his head as he thought about it. "Uh, a day and a half, maybe?"

Thirty-six hours. I guess a day back home really is nine days here. Okay, so it's a two-hour trip back home. If I want to 'wake up' on time, I only have...er...eighteen hours or less to find a way back. Wait, I don't need to find a way back, because I'm already here, aren't I?

I faced Spike with a small smile. "S-sorry Spike." I took a breath and sighed. "Sorry about me getting angry earlier."

The pedestal suddenly broke and fell into pieces before our startled presence, and the five orbs rolled over the edges of the raised platform, and each one broke into tiny bits as they fell and touched the ground.

I blinked twice after recovering from being stunned. "Uh... There goes my ticket back home..." I sighed, already too tired to get angry or be upset about it. Sigh... Darn it... I looked ahead and stared at Princess Luna's calm features. I guess I need to sleep if I want to talk to her...or for her to talk to me. I may be tired, but I am not sleepy yet. I do have eighteen hours left, so I might as well tire myself out, I guess. I'm...quite sure that there are still other ways for me to return home. I hope...

"Are..." Spike hesitatingly spoke. I turned my tired face to see him. "...are you okay now?" I sighed as I nodded. "Well, uh, good," he said, sounding nervous, "b-because, we kinda need your help at the moment."

I arched an eyebrow at him. "And...how can an earth pony like me can help you?"

Fluttershy, Applejack, and the CMC weren't around, but it didn't stop Spike from asking me to follow him to the edge of the Everfree Forest. With a wolf as our guide, and Spike riding on it -- that gave me a little bit of relief -- we walked through the forest until we reached the edge. Spike cautiously looked beyond the edge, and so did I. We were staring at the tiny town of Ponyville, where...it's different from the last time I saw it from this vantage point.

There were no more pegasi ponies flying around. There were so many armored wagons stationed in the edges of the town, filled with metal and gem stones. And there's a new wooden stage that was built outside the town, where a large number of ponies were gathered.

"Oh no," Spike whispered, "it's starting!" He then looked at me with a scared expression. "W-we have to go there now!"

I am not sure what was going on, but I nodded anyway. He climbed on my back and I then started running towards the commotion.

Earth ponies were standing before the wooden platform, and all of them wore worried and scared faces, as I worked my way to get in front to have a better view of what is happening. The ponies didn't seem to care if I am getting ahead of them though.

"Ladies and gentlecolts," said a loud voice from up ahead.

As I was finally among the ponies in front of the crowd, I saw armored unicorns standing on the wooden platform. There were five unicorns lined horizontally on the back and were standing tall. In front was the one talking, a familiar dark-blue coated unicorn wearing a high-ranking armor. There were three wooden pillars on the platform, and each has pegasus that was tied there. One of them is the infamous rainbow-maned pegasus, who was glaring daggers at the unicorn. Just what is Starfall going to do with Rainbow Dash and two other pegasi ponies?

"As you are aware," Starfall spoke with a loud voice as he scanned every pony before him, "we unicorns of the Empire of Unicornia have now taken this land under our control. We are but friendly ponies," he grinned, "if however, you follow our every order." He then turned to the nearest pegasi: white pegasus stallion who I just recognized as Cloud Strike, and he was glaring at the approaching unicorn. "If, however, we find you slacking off..." he said as his horn lit up ferociously, "or disrespect us, or anything of that matter..."

I heard sparks of fire from the unicorn's horn, and in an instant, Cloud Strike screamed in pain as he was suddenly enveloped in a fierce fire. The other two pegasi were terrified as the earth pony audience gasped in horror, and some covered their eyes and ears to escape the scene that was happening before us.

I don't know what got into me, but I soon found myself picking up a large rock and immediately tossing it at the unicorn, hitting him on his head. He was stunned in shock as he fell sidewards to the wooden platform. The fire vanished, Cloud Strike gasped for air to calm his aching body, the audience gasped once more, Spike was completely stunned as I put him down, and I climbed up the platform angrily as the other unicorns either helped their high-ranking officer back up and others stood before me.

I am angry, even angrier than a few seconds ago, now that the anger I had while punching the pedestal came back. I glared at the rising unicorn as he glared right back at me.

Chapter 25 - Earth Ponies

"You..." Starfall hissed as he got right back on his four hooves. He glared at me as I did the same. "How dare you," he spoke, walking in front of the unicorns who were standing on my way, and he stopped right in front of me, "breaking and stealing from the castle, and now hurting a unicorn!" I heard murmurs from behind after they heard the unicorn's hisses, but I didn't care at the moment. He opened his mouth to say something, but instead I suddenly found myself levitated, but I did not struggle as I continued to glare at him. "For resisting the unicorns, I will hold you under arrest, Gold Blitz!" He then stared at the crowd with anger in his eyes. "Let this be an example to all of you!" He shouted, and soon, he tossed me towards the pegasus that he was burning earlier. My back hit his under-belly, and soon, I found myself lying on the floor.

I slightly turned my head and saw Cloud Strike was wincing from the impact. "S-sorry..." I whispered, ignoring the rant of the unicorn.

"You shouldn't have tried to save me," he replied with a weak smile.

As soon as I got myself back on my four hooves, the unicorn levitated me once again and slammed me back on the wooden floor, creating cracks on the area where my back has landed. I lost some air, but still conscious. He continued his rant, but I did not pay attention as I worked my way back on my four hooves. Seeing me standing once again, he levitated me and slammed me back, and this repeated for a couple of times, until I was now weak and taking large breaths of air as I was struggling to stand on my four weak hooves.

He glared at me with that fierce glowing horn of his, while I glared right back, even though I'm quite tired and already in the brink of losing my consciousness. "Are you done?" I asked, surprising him for a bit. I lifted my head to glare at him properly, before I stared at the scared crowd. "Was that it?" I asked them, "Was that it!? Huh?" I took a step forward, ignoring the pain that flew to my brain. "Was that the reason why you guys are so darn afraid of these magic freaks!?"

"You don't have the right t---"

"Zip it, horn-head!" I spat, glaring at him. "I let you finish your stupid rant, and now it's my turn!"

He took a step towards me. "You have no authori---"

"See this!?" I yelled back at the crowd. "Are these the kind of ponies you want to rule over you!?" I scanned the crowd, and they were murmuring to each other. "Do you know what kind of pathetic future you're giving yourselves if you let them rule over you!?"

"I'll give you your last warning, Gold Blitz," Starfall hissed.

"Better listen to him, kid," Cloud Strike called.

I shot them both a glare before I returned my gaze at the crowd. "Why are you so afraid of their freaking magic, huh!?" I glared at Starfall. "So they can hurt and probably kill us," I returned to the crowd, and noticed large numbers of unicorns have circled the area. "So what if they can!?"

"We're afraid to die!" Cried a mare, who was already in tears.

I shot her a glare. "You're afraid!? Of death!? How about slavery!? How about letting you guys work without rest until you die!?" I eyed the crowd. "If you ask me, I'd rather die," I glared at Starfall, "than to live the rest of my life working for these unicorns!" I returned to the crowd. "At least I could sleep in peace than to live and suffer!"

"You're not doing a good job at persuading them, Blitz," Starfall smirked.

I shot him a glare. "I know," I returned to the crowd, "what about the rest of you!? I'll ask you, would you rather be enslaved by the unicorns," I extended a hoof at them, "or by the pegasi!?" I turned and pointed at the three tied-up pegasi. I noticed Rainbow's confused stare at me, but I didn't mind her as I returned my attention to the crowd. "Yes, I know both choices are falling on the slavery category, but think about it. Have the pegasi ever hurt you, or any of you!?"

Honestly, I don't really know if they did or not, but seeing the crowd having that realization, I knew I was heading to the right track, but unfortunately, Starfall knew it as well, so he immediately pinned me down with his magic, pushing me down on the wooden platform.

"Time's up, Blitz," Starfall hissed as he stopped beside me.

"There's also something I want you all to realize!" I shouted as I was levitated. "The pegasi loves to fly! Flying is freedom!"

"And freedom is what we're fighting for!" Rainbow shouted. "We came here first, and we never did anything to you earth ponies!" She glared at the unicorn that was levitating me. "Not until we asked for your help after the unicorns decided to invade this land!"

"That's true..." "Hey, she's right..." "I don't want unicorns around!"

The earth ponies' voices rose as their spirits soar as well, their frightened looks were now replaced by determined realization. I grinned victoriously at Starfall. "All you unicorns want from us is to work and dig and provide you food! Well, guess what!?" I spat at him. "You're not getting any of those, even more so if all of you decide to imprison or kill us!"

The earth ponies started shouting and throwing stones at the unicorns now, while those at the receiving end used their magic to cast a barrier around them. To protect himself, Starfall removed his magic from me to cast a protective shield around him. As I rose up, Spike climbed up and helped me while Starfall and the other unicorns on the platform slowly walked back.

I noticed that their barriers are only protecting their front bodies, leaving their rear body completely open. "Everyone!" I yelled, "their backsides are open!" Those who heard me have let the others know. I was about to jump off of the platform when my vision suddenly dimmed. Recovering a bit, I quickly found myself lying on my side on the earthy ground. I must have fallen off the platform. My vision was slowly getting darker...and darker... I heard Spike's voice, but it sounded so blurry and distant...

A roofless yet elegant carriage was magically pulled by four marching unicorn stallions up front. Behind where four more other unicorn stallions. Seated on the carriage was a serious-looking purple unicorn mare, and beside her was a red earth pony stallion. The group were trotting on the War Plains, near the forest.

The group stopped after seeing their own kind rushing towards them from the small town that was suppose to be their destination. "P-princess!" Starfall managed, catching his breath as he stopped near the carriage.

"Speak, commander. What is it?" Twilight asked, annoyed.

An echoing cry of ponies reached their ears. They looked up ahead and saw a large group of earth ponies running towards them with weapons clenched on their teeth. Among them was the orange earth mare, who stopped in her tracks after she had a clear view of the stallion beside the purple unicorn. She was even able to register in her head of the startled expression of the red stallion before the carriage and the unicorns were covered by a large purple sphere, and within a blink, the sphere vanished, along with the unicorns.

Chapter 26 - Yesterday's View

From the treeline, I don't know why I am secretly peeking at the small town that is near the Everfree Forest. Also, I know what that town is called, but at the same time, I don't know it's name. I am confused, I really am, but that sense is set aside for another feeling: hatred. I...hate that town. Why?

I eyed a flying cyan pegasus, who was hovering above the town. The longer I stared at the flying pony, the more this rage within me is building up. I don't understand, and I fear that this anger will completely consume my thinking... It was to my greatest relief that my vision changed.

I turned back, and saw armored unicorn ponies, silently preparing themselves. I don't know these ponies, but I know them at the same time... They're oppressors, but at the same time, they're my allies. I turned to the nearest unicorn, and he looked back at me and nodded. I recognize him, and this other feeling also recognizes him. This foreign feeling is telling me who that pony is, but it doesn't need to inform me who Starfall is.

Starfall opened his mouth, and mumbled something, but I couldn't hear him. I was about to ask when I suddenly felt like my head was nodding to whatever he just said to me. This other feeling within me is calming down a bit, to my relief. But I don't understand... What is going on?

This anger... It was growing less and less earlier, but now, it's rising once more, and I don't like it... I glared at the purple unicorn who is seated accross from me, while the unicorn was also glaring at me. She was saying something, but I couldn't hear what Twilight was talking about, but, I think I know. I remember it from a previous dream I had...though I could barely remember what it was about. I snarled at her, saying something, but I couldn't hear my own voice, but this second feeling...I feel like I need to make a plan... A plan that would not involve the help of these bastard unicorns.

I felt like I heard a voice, but I did not hear it. I turned my head and eyed the sun princess. She spoke something, her features calm and comforting, and it eases this anger that I was feeling, but this other sensation...it doesn't want to... I don't want to work with these unicorns. Heck, why is the princess even with these unicorns, anyway!? The pegasi came here first! Well, not, not really... When we came here, there were earth ponies living in this land. But whatever! I know the princess is going to ask us to work together, but that ain't happening! Gah, how I wish I could just fly away and feel the wind right about now!

My vision suddenly became black... I then suddenly felt the second feeling I was having was slowly shifting into...feeling the cold air...and I was tilting my head up to look at the thunderous clouds. I looked ahead, and saw a lower-hanging blanket of black clouds of the dreaded Everfree Forest. This other feeling...I feel that I was...flying? Whatever... This cooling and soothing feeling is what I really need to calm this rage I was feeling right now... I locked my eyes on the Everfree Forest, and I suddenly felt anger and guilt, rushing to me at the same time.

Why did I let the two earth ponies enter such a dangerous place? Ack... Why did I let them? Why didn't I try harder to stop them? To stop her: to stop that stupid stubborn farmpony...? Gah, whatever! It's her fault. I have more important things to wo...

I stopped from flying, or hovering, whatever, as I saw a familiar orange pony emerging from the forest. I don't know why, but seeing her safe made me feel at ease.

Phew... Glad that stupid mare's alive. I glided down and landed a few feet in front of the startled mare. I removed my helmet and flashed her a glare. I tried to look angry, but it's difficult if I'm not really angry. Whatever, for she seems to buy it, for she looked apologetic as she turned her gaze a way. She said something, but I couldn't hear her words, yet, I nodded anyway, and this second feeling within me feels that I am satisfied with her plea...whatever she said just now. I slid my helmet back as I told her...I don't know what I told her... I couldn't even hear my own voice. I was about to fly when I noticed a purple baby dragon on her back. Huh, I wonder why I didn't notice that doll earlier.

Wait...

I was feeling in panic. I feel like there's something...somepony missing. Two, right, two! Where's the other pony!?

She said something, but I was stubborn to listen as I continued to panic. Why am I panicking? I suddenly felt two strong hooves holding both my shoulders. I looked ahead and instantly saw the annoyed frown of the farmpony. Okay, I suppose I need to pay attention. Calm down...just...calm down.

After taking a few deep breaths, I nodded, and soon, she started talking, but I couldn't hear her. It was like...her voice...any voice...any sound... couldn't reach my ears. But it was no longer important, however, as I felt really really relieved... Phew... I seriously needed that.

I seriously needed to calm myself down... The princess is right: we unicorns need to work together with the pegasi...no matter how much I hate it, but it has to be done. Nightmare Moon is coming, and we really need to work together if we want to stop her. But no matter how much I try and reason with this cyan pegasus, she wouldn't accept, and neither does the rest of her kind! Doesn't she know the risks at stake here? We could lose the land! GAH!

I jumped in surprise. I turned back, and from the distance, unicorns were running on the treeless hills, quickly approaching the town of Ponyville.

Darn! I flapped my wings hard, immediately flying towards the center of town, where a few earth ponies were stunned in fright. I flew to every faces, snapping them back to their senses. I yelled at them. I slapped them. I shook them. I did all those things with haste. I knew they're going to attack, but why did we let our guards down!?

...why did I let my guard down...?

Chapter 27 - Five Orbs

Consciousness... So those weird jumping scenes are merely just dreams? Ugh... I feel kind of dizzy... I could hear voices... Familiar voices...

"A-are you sure he's okay?" I heard Spike's worried voice. I kinda wanted to let him know that I'm just feeling mighty tired, but I found my body too darn tired to even just open my eyes, even for the tiniest bit...which is weird. I've never been this tired before... Why am...oh...right... I was slammed, and slammed, and slammed quite a lot...

"He's gonna be fine, Spike," Applejack's voice replied. Somehow, her voice sounded...down? Anyway, I guess I'm still in Equestria then... I slowly gathered some breath and exhaled slowly. Okay, time to open my eyes. No need to make them worry for long. Ugh... Still tired. Another breath, and another. Okay, I'm good.

I slowly opened my eyes, and I was greeted by a blurry ceiling. I blinked a few more times before I finally had a clear view of...the fields of flowers under the blanket of the moonlight? I quickly found myself in a sitting position, at the same spot where I sat the previous time I was here. I turned, but Luna wasn't there. She is not with me this time.

She did told me that this was her dreams, and so, that would mean that she took my consciousness here once again but, why isn't she here? "Pri---er---Luna?" I called out, "are you here? Hello?" I looked around, but all I got was the calming and soothing evening air quietly flying pass me, making the flowers dance along with it.

I was about to stand up when I suddenly noticed a white familiar orb lying on the grassy ground in front of me. I blinked in confusion. Where did that came from? I turned my head around, and sure enough, the other orbs where there as well, circled around me. I suddenly heard a crack, and immediately noticed all five orbs have cracks on them. It became worse, the cracks spreading around the orbs, and when it stopped, the orbs crumbled to tiny pieces of fragments and shards and dusts.

Everything went quiet after that. I don't know what significance those orbs hold in this dream. I was about to let out a quiet sigh when smoke-like wisps flew up from each of the crumbled orbs. They flew and turned into a wispy cloud just above me. The wispy cloud radianted the colors of the rainbow, before I suddenly found myself blinded by a bright white light.

I jumped, startled, and it brought me to wakefulness. I blinked a few more times to confirm that I was indeed staring at the back of the bus' wide chairs in front of my own...er...our own...? I felt hair on one of my cheeks. My senses around my body have finally came back to me, and I felt Claire's sleeping head leaned on my shoulder, and my head leaning on her head. And...we're kinda close to each other...er...very very close to each other. I felt the heat rising on my cheeks, and I wanted to push her away from me. I've never been this close to a girl before, but...I kinda like it. I smiled, which was completely against my will. Oh well... I suddenly heard her voice as she quietly murmured something in her sleep. I don't know why, but it made me feel...happy inside. Ugh... Sigh... Anyway, I'm still feeling quite tired, so I might as well take the best of my current position.

I stared sideways at the glass window beside me, and sure enough, the bus was still heading back to Sun Ford: to home. I smiled, and this time, it was not against my will. Only less than an hour now, and I'm finally be back home.

My smile vanished after a thunder roar quietly echoed from the sky. I slightly lifted my head to give myself a better view of the scene through the glass window. The gloomy black clouds have reached the island already?

I didn't fall asleep even after the bus arrived at Sun Ford's bus station. I gently woke Claire up, and we then exited the bus after making sure we got all our belongings with us.

Sun Ford is a little town surrounded by thick trees on the east, a very large mountain in the west, the road to the city in the south, and another road leading to another town in the north. The town contains wooden houses, where the people around the place are busy tying ropes on their roofs and houses, for safety measures. We often do this to save our houses from being blown away by a rampaging storm coming our way. I don't need to worry though. My family owns a few homes which is built with cement.

With my umbrella, since it was starting to drizzle, Claire and I walked on the earthy and slightly muddy path towards home...er...my home. Claire walked really close to me, maybe to stay under the umbrella. I'm not quite sure, but I'm hoping that's the reason. She was turning her head around, observing the town's environment. "This is where you live?" She asked as she turned to me.

I didn't turn to face her though. I kept my gaze ahead, since my home's already in view. "Eeyup," I replied.

"It's quite lovely and peaceful," she said as she turned her head around. I wish I could share the same thought. This town's a bit cruel, in my early years at least, when I was still a student. Now that I'm working in the city, I haven't spent a lot of time around town to know if the town's people have changed or not. But seeing my younger brother laughing with his friends in front of a small snack bar made me feel that things haven't really changed all that much. Sigh... Claire noticed my expression, and turned her gaze to where mine was earlier before I looked ahead. "Is..." she turned back to me, "...something wrong, Jay?"

I shook my head slightly. "Don't worry about it," for I don't want to give others my own problems. Why should I let them worry about my own problems, anyway? They have enough problems of their own to deal with. That is what I always tell myself. She frowned. I flashed her a weak smile. "Really though, don't worry about it."

Finally, only a few more meters before I'd...we'd reach my home's brown wooden fences. Outside the house's door, on the two-step stairs, was my youngest brother, sitting comfortably, leaning his head on the railings, and busy browsing whatever on my mother's laptop. He looked up and smiled excitedly at me as I pushed the wooden gate open. "Hey ugly," my crazy li'l brother greeted as he closed the laptop and stood up.

I grinned, "hey stupid." Yeah, we exchange insults as greetings. I kinda...was the one who started it, when I was still in high school. Claire looked at us with a confused look though. My brother must have noticed, for he chuckled. After we reached the stairs, I closed my umbrella, put it leaning on the railing, and hugged my brother. Damn, I really wanted to cry, but I don't think I'd want him to tease me all day.

"You made me worried, y'know..."

"I know... I'm sorry..." I quietly replied. We broke the hug, and introduced Claire and Kronz to one another.

"Hey, bro," Kronz, my brother, excitedly went inside, sat on the chairs around the dining table, placed the laptop on the table, opened the laptop, and quickly started browsing whatever. I shrugged as I let Claire enter the house before I closed the door. "You really really need to start watching Season 3!" Claire and I took a seat beside him. I can't help but notice Claire's stupid yet cute grin.

"You're a brony, too?" Claire asked, and she earned a bro-hoof, which she returned. I rolled my eyes, and they both chuckled. "You're a brony too, y'know."

"Hahah," I said lamely, but I flashed a smile anyway. My brother played the first episode of Season Three of My Little Pony - Friendship is Magic.

Chapter 28 - Dream Message

I admit: watching the new episodes really...made me feel happy inside, and I can't really explain why. Meh, must be my broniness squealing with joy inside of me. Lighting Dust is a good antagonist. Heh, I wonder if there will be fanfics about her when I'll visit FIMFiction sooner or later. Aw well.

I went to the kitchen to prepare lunch, or dinner, whatever we call it at this hour, while Claire and Kronz were in the living room, talking about ponies. I rolled my eyes at that with a smirk. Heh. While I'm waiting for the fish to be fried, I began setting up the table. I texted my younger brother half an hour ago if he's joining us for lunch, but I am yet to receive a reply from him... I took a breath and exhaled through my nostrils. I still don't get why my younger brother became like that... He used to be so darn jolly and friendly and good with his family...

My family isn't really perfect, and I have seen this family struggle in my years. My mom always wants to go around places, and that is why she isn't here at the moment, or maybe she's just at work. My dad...my dad... My dad almost ruined this family, because he... I think I need to flip the fish now...

We ate peacefully, exchanging a few words here and there, mostly related to ponies. But as we were about to finish eating, the conversation went about the weird storm. Speaking of which, it was raining so darn hard now.

It was just only the three of us here... As I collected the plates and brought it to the sink, I saw Claire cleaning the table. I asked her to stop, but she insisted: stating that it was the least she could do. I rolled my eyes as I started washing the dishes. I don't know, but being the eldest, I feel like it's my responsibility to do everything around here. Seeing Claire cleaning the table made me feel like I've lost a few of my purpose here inside the house.

I shook my head to get rid of the thought. I continued washing the dishes until I felt my phone vibrating. I wiped my hands dry and took my phone. I got a new message. I was about to open it when I suddenly stopped. What if it's another blank message? From Equestria? I don't want to go there again. I'm home now, but the last time I ignored the message, I was still sent back, and that was while I was in the bus.

I sighed as I opened the text message, but to my relief, it was from my mom. She won't be able to get back home, not with this strong downpour. My mom works inside a factory where she weaves baskets. The factory's located in the edge of town, quite far from home though. I replied with a simply 'ok', and I continued washing the dishes.

A very very loud and earth-shaking boom of thunder roared from the heavens, and instantly, the power was out. Great... Wiping my hands dry again, I took my phone and enabled it's flashlight feature, and then I went back on washing the dishes.

I am seated on the sofa in the living room. Sitting in a comfortable position, I closed my eyes and let out a relieved sigh. Claire and Kronz were busy browsing whatever with my bro's laptop, so they left me all alone, which is perfectly fine for me. Oh, how I missed sitting very comfortably here on our sofa.

I didn't care about the heavy sounds of rain outside, or the thunder roars, or the loud hisses of the wind, or the gentle flows of the flowers, the soft breeze of the wind...wait, what?

I opened my eyes instantly, and I found myself seated on a hill full of flowers. Gasping, I turned and saw Luna, staring blankly at me. "No," I said in panic, bringing my ho---hand? I stared at my own two hands, confused.

"Thou would clearly see the effects in thou world as well..." Luna spoke ever so lamely... I blinked in confusion, making the lunar princess sigh as she gently shook her head. "Thou would have noticed the clouds, yes?" I nodded slowly. "Tell us thy observation then..."

I rubbed my head, easing this confusion, but whatever I may try to do, I can only come up with one conclusion... "Those clouds are from your world, huh?"

Luna slowly nodded. "Indeed they are, but what have caused it to reach to thy world," she shook her head, "we have no clue."

"So..." I spoke, "why are you telling me this?"

"Me thinks that you may be the key to bring forth harmony back -- if not in both our worlds -- then at least one."

I opened my mouth to say something, but instead, I let out a sigh. "Look, Luna," I spoke, avoiding her gaze, "what could," I turned to look at her, "a human -- or an earth pony -- do?"

Luna shook her head. "That, I do not know." She looked and stared at the vast flowery hills. "But, me thinks that there must be some sort of reason of why you are able to connect to our world."

I am fighting the urge to tell her that her world was just a made-up cartoon, but I don't think that's a good idea at the moment. But really though, what can I possibly do? I have no wings, and I have no magic powers, and I am through telling this to myself a few...hours ago. And I'm tired of going back and forth in two different dimensions or worlds or whatever. And what is more: why me? Why only me? Of all humans...why me? I turned to the princess, and going to ask her of all those questions in my head, but she was no longer there. Blinking, I looked around, and the flowery hills were quickly being consumed by the darkness. This ain't looking good. I was about to run when I couldn't move my own feet. I looked down, and saw the shadowy-rope-thingies wrapped around both my two feet. I gasped as the shadowy-strings climbed up towards me with haste. I closed my eyes in defeat, but, I found them open instead, and I am staring at Kronz's and Claire's confused looks.

I took few quick breaths to calm myself down, and once I achieved that, I leaned back, and focused my eyes on the screen of my brother's laptop, since it was turned to me. "Big bro," Kronz's voice broke through the stillness of the room as I couldn't believe what his laptop was showing me, "I think you need to explain this..."

His laptop was showing a full-screen image of me and Luna on the flowery hills. It flickered once, twice, until the image crashed and closed.

Chapter 29 - Going Back

"It's a...fan-made art?" I said with a small yet not so awkward-looking smile, even though it was too difficult not to make it look like an awkward one. Claire and Kronz however, arched me a disbelieving eyebrow.

"...of you?" Claire asked, and I was thankful to hear her voice, since it triggered a quick thought inside my head. It quickly made me remember about the things we have talked about while we were in the bus.

Unfortunately, my response was droned by the very loud roar of thunder, so they asked me to repeat what I just said. That little bit of distraction allowed me to think of a few more words to add. "Hey, I'm a brony too," I said with a shrug, "and I kinda like Luna, so yeah." But unfortunately, I forgot a little bit of detail that I just suddenly thought about as soon as the words left my mouth.

"Then how did the image oh so suddenly appeared on my laptop's screen?" Kronz asked, with a small victorious smile. He knew he got me cornered. Unfortunately, my lying ability gave me a quick answer to that one, but it was too darn difficult not to smile back.

"Hey, why are you asking me?" I said, "I don't know a lot of stuff about computers and all..." I shrugged. That was an honest truth. Well, no, not really. I know a few about computers, but not that much to consider myself an average user or whatever they call those kinds of people. My brother's smile dropped, and as he switched his attention back to his laptop, I knew I won the battle.

"So you asked an artist to make a drawing of you and Luna?" Claire asked while looking at my brother's laptop screen. I couldn't really see what my brother's doing, since they were now seated across from me. They may have moved there while I fell asleep earlier.

Okay, so while they're busy with whatever, I need to think of...what Luna has told me...about this strange weather. I stared through the glass window, and the black thunderous clouds are really really looking a lot like back in Equestria. I don't know how it got here, but if it those really are from Equestria, then is it possible for humans to reach that place. I shook my head. No, no time for random and irrelevant thoughts.

Even though it's not my nature to worry about something that isn't my business, those clouds are really troublesome and worrisome. If those will stay in my world, the same as in Equestria, then no, I need to find a way to get rid of those ugly clouds. I'm not doing this for me. No. I'm doing this for my brother. I don't want him to have a future of black clouds forever and ever. I love my family more than myself, and I am willing to take risks just to see their smiles.

I nodded. At least I now have a plan. Now, the problem is how to get rid of the clouds. If Luna managed to contact me here in my world during my sleep, then maybe...

"Not a natural phenomenon? What?" Claire exclaimed, which caught my attention. I stood and sat beside my brother, and read the weather bulletin posted on Yahoo. According to what I'm reading, the stormy clouds 'suddenly appeared out of nowhere' and the ones investigating the 'phenomenon' have 'no clue of what is going on, where the clouds came from, and how strong and dangerous they are'. Well, that's helpful. I sighed.

I glanced at our battery-powered wallclock. Hm... The room's too dark for me to see the time. I took my cellphone instead to check the time, but as soon as I did, I remembered that my brother's laptop is displaying the current time. I slapped myself mentally as I checked the time on my phone. Six twenty-seven in the evening. Hm... I got another text message. I opened it and it was blank. This time, I was...happy...that it was blank, and from an unknown sender.

I took a deep breath and exhaled through my nostrils as letters started appearing on my phone's screen. Okay, at least I have a mission to do when I get to Equestria, and not just some random quest to get back home. Wait, how will I get home anyway? Beat myself up again? Ugh... I need to find a better way to return home other than giving myself pain. I rolled my eyes before reading the message.

"I'm...sorry... But we need you..." I rolled my eyes again. Fine, whatever. As I felt myself being pulled for unknown reason, I kept saying in my head that I'm only going to do whatever...for my family...and not...for the ponies...

Author's Note

If there are misspelled words, or grammar errors, please let me know. Thanks.

Chapter 30 - Filling Up

"A-are you sure he's okay?" Spike asked, standing nervously on the bed beside an unconscious brown earth pony lying on the very same bed.

"He's gonna be fine, Spike," Applejack replied with a frown as she looked at Ponyville through the open window of the room they were in. If she were to be honest, she didn't know if the brown earth pony's really going to be okay, but right now, that wasn't concerning her. 'Why Mac? Just...why?' She fought hard not to let a single tear run down from her eyes. She was successful, but she failed to stop herself from sniffing.

"A-Applejack?" Came Spike's concerned voice.

"Ah'm fine...!" She immediately said, keeping her back on the purple dragon. She found Apple Bloom, and to her greatest relief it was to know that she was okay. But, she also found her big brother. She was also suppose to feel at ease, now that she know that he's still breathing. 'He won't be when Ah get d' chance to see 'im again!' Applejack thought angrily as she walked out of the room, leaving the confused baby dragon and the unconscious brown earth stallion within.

Applejack came out of the barn, and ignored a few calls of the other ponies in the area as she trotted towards town with no real goals in mind. As she reached the edge of town however, she found that the ponies there were working extra hard for... "What's goin' on 'round here?" She asked to nopony in particular. She eyed a certain rainbow-maned pegasus, and started approaching her, who was looking like she was having an argument with a few bulky pegasi stallions.

"Just give me another chance!" Rainbow Dash cried. "I swear to do better this time! Just...please!" She begged, but her actions were against showing it.

Applejack stopped a respectable distance from the group of pegasi ponies before the supreme-looking one, who was standing before the cyan-coated mare, spoke. "Do not make me repeat what I've just said, Commander." He glared at the slightly trembling form of Rainbow Dash. "You have failed, and you are no longer needed."

Rainbow really looked like she had something to say, but she choked instead. Recovering after a few coughing fits, she spoke, but failing to make eye contact, "T-that's not fair!"

"Nothing's fair in this war, Commander." He turned to the other pegasi stallions and nodded. As soon as he did, the others behind him flared their wings and flew away. He returned his attention to the trembling mare. "But if you really wish to be useful once again," at that, the rainbow-maned pegasus lifted her head, and managed to make eye contact, "then stay here if you'd like." With that, he flared his wings and flew off.

Rainbow dropped her gaze on the ground and fell on her stomach. She let her hoof play on a small grass sprout, ignoring the grunts of ponies around her. "This..." she whispered, barely audible, even for her own ears, "...isn't fair..."

Applejack stopped beside the cyan mare, but wasn't sure of what to do or what to say. She wasn't really sure why Rainbow Dash was feeling so down. In fact, she'd never seen the mare so down. Though, she hasn't really been talking to other ponies, aside from her family.

"Leave me alone," Rainbow Dash said lowly as she stood back on all her four hooves. Applejack was about to say something when the pegasus suddenly and angrily kicked the ground with her hind hooves; immediately throwing herself up as she flared her wings and flapped with haste, bringing herself into speed in the air.

Applejack was left alone. Without thinking, she shook her head. Why was she trying to ease the cyan-coated pegasus anyway? More importantly, why is she here in town? She looked around and sighed after not providing herself with an answer. With her head hanging low, she trotted back to the apple orchard slowly.

"I see," I said lowly before taking a sip of water from the cup that Spike offered me. My pony body is still feeling quite sore from the smashing that unicorn did to me though.

"That's just what Applejack told me after she got back though," Spike said with a little shrug. "That pony's still under the weather about her brother and all..." He glared at the water in his cup. "Macintosh," he whispered icily.

Oh well... Anyway, if I wanted to get rid of the black clouds in my world, I need this pony body of mine to recover. And soon, hopefully...

She has heard about it, and has worked hard to achieve it, and finally, she was able to crawl out from that empire of horn-headed ponies. After making sure that nopony else noticed her outside, and after covering her tracks, the pink earth mare quickly yet quietly worked her way towards the nearby forest, where she could provide herself the protection she needed from the horn-headed ponies, if necessary.

Reaching the edge, she wasted no time to enter the forest, and started galloping towards the direction where she thought might be able to help her. For all those years, she'd wanted to go out of that damn place. However, she was losing hope each passing year, each passing month, and each passing day... But after she heard of a certain brown earth pony, who managed to escape the empire, her hope was brought back to life, and now that she was out and inside a forest, she'll stop at nothing to get to her destination.

Author's Note

If there are misspelled words, or grammar errors, please let me know. Thanks.

Chapter 31 - Dragon Mail

I've lost track of time. I forgot how many hours I spent on lying on the bed of the Apple family's guest room. During that time, I'd barely seen the orange mare. The only times I saw her was when she was delivering us something to eat. And now matter how hard I try to come up a conversation, she brushes it off and moves out of the room. Damn, maybe the knowledge of her brother with Twilight is really bothering her too much.

At one point, Spike became sleepy and crawled beside me. His quiet snores made me fall asleep as well, which I welcomed, and I hoped to be able to talk to Luna through dreams or whatever, but I didn't dream anything, to my disappointment. I guess this means I need to go back to the old castle to talk to Luna there. She is trapped inside a gem-thingy. Maybe her magic's being drained, or she needed to recharge? Inter-dimensional communication, I think, is not a simple task to do. It must really require quite a lot of mana or whatever. Sigh... Oh well. At least I have a goal to achieve.

After I'm satisfied that I'm quite rested, I sat up and stretched my pony body and waited for Spike to wake up. As soon as he did, we went downstairs, ate some food, said our goodbyes, and he hopped on my back as I began to walk towards the Everfree Forest through the apple orchard. I didn't get the chance to say goodbye to Applejack though. None of the ponies in the far knew of her whereabouts. I felt a bit sad to leave without telling her where I was going, but I don't want to waste time.

After a few minutes of going through the forest on this annoying path I'm taking, I spotted a familiar blue bird. It chirped and landed on my head. I didn't bother getting rid of it, even though I was already feeling a bit annoyed. After a few more minutes, I finally understood why the bird was on my head, chirping. It was kinda letting the forest animals know that I'm no threat, 'cause I saw a hungry-looking wolf, but walked away from me. Huh, I guess Fluttershy did a good job training the forest animals here. I just hope that the big ones like manticores and hydras won't harm me as well.

As I was slowly working my way in crossing this scary rope-bridge, I have thought of how unfair I was to tell the ponies in Ponyville about the unicorns. Sure, they are a bunch of...uh, yeah, but not all of them are like those. Like that Boulder guy. Hm... His name really suits for an earth pony than a unicorn though... As soon as I reached the end of the bridge, the clouds decided to let out a small drizzle. I think I need to hurry up if I don't want to get soaked, if ever this weird weather decides to make a heavy downpour.

Too late, I guess. It was already raining too darn hard, and the wind is strong and cold. I was just thankful for the trees around the path I'm taking, for the leaves shielded us a bit from the rain and the wind. The path was getting wet and slippery, so I needed to walk with care. No rush.

Hm. I wonder how this voice within me can send me messages through my phone back in my world. Magic, maybe? But how? I'm...er...He's an earth pony. Earth ponies can't use magic. At least, that's what I think. Huh, that very thought reminded me of something... "Hey Spike," I suddenly said, breaking the silence.

"Yeah?"

"How were you able to send me that message?"

He blinked, confused. "What message?"

I rolled my eyes. "You know, the message where you told me that you hope everything back in my home is okay because things here are crazy..."

"Oh," he spoke a bit shyly, scratching his head, "that. Well uh. I just wrote on a paper and sent it to you."

"You sent it to me?" I asked with an arched eyebrow. "How is that even possible?" I asked out loud.

Spike however, simply shrugged as we came out to the large clearing, where the old castle stood in the center. "I don't really know. When I send letters, I just need think of the pony who gets them."

"That's it?" I stopped in my tracks and turned to see him with a very unsatisfied look. I ignored the rain and the wind and the awkward looks the bat-winged pegasi ponies were giving me. Receiving an annoyed glare from Spike -- who was unsuccessfully shielding his body with his small claws from the rain -- I sighed and went inside the castle. Once inside, the bird flew off to somewhere while Spike crawled off of my back. Damn, I'm soaking wet. Aw well. I tried to shake my entire body, mimicking how a dog does it. After I was done, I was rewarded by a venomous glare from my purple dragon companion, who was soaked even more. I flashed him a sheepish smile.

Fluttershy wasn't around, and so were the crusaders, and Applejack was not here as well. No one seems to mind my presence though, so I grabbed a white gem, which was faintly glowing, before Spike and I went down towards the chamber where Luna is. After we reached the gloomy chamber, I placed the gem near the stairs, since Luna's gem-prison-cage-thing was glowing enough light for Spike and I to see things clearly.

"Luna can only communicate with me if I'm asleep..." I said in a low voice as we climbed up the elevated platform on the center of the chamber. I sighed... "Unfortunately, I'm not sleepy...yet..."

"Me neither..." Spike replied as he scratched his head. Suddenly, his features lit up as an idea sprang in his head. He excitedly spun to face me with a cheery smile, and he completely ignored my confused frown. "Maybe I can send her a letter!"

Huh, not a bad idea. I did received his message when, if Spike was...er, "I remembered you told me that I was turned into a statue..." He blinked in confusion, making his cheerful smile fade, as he nodded twice. "How did I became a statue?"

He rolled his eyes. "Gee, you're asking a dragon about magic and petrification." He crossed his arms and stared at me lamely. "What's next on your ask the dragon list? Love advice?"

I glared at him. He really didn't have to do that just to make a point. "Okay, I'm sorry," I sighed, shaking my head slightly. We then stared at Luna's calm features. She really looked so peaceful inside. "I guess we need a paper and pen, huh?"

"What's a pen?" he turned to me with an arched eyebrow.

I shrugged. "It's an item we use for writing back in my home."

"Oh, I got that covered." He smiled. He lifted a claw, and spat a tiny flame, blackening the tip of his nail of his pointing finger.

"Er...okay? I guess we just need some paper then." I said with a small smile, but he replied with a burp, summoning green puff of smoke, and formed into a scroll. He picked it up with a grin.

"There's a traffic of scrolls that Twilight has been sending me," he chuckled as he opened the scroll. He rolled his eyes after reading the contents, and tore the scroll, dividing the part where there's written texts and a blank area for him to write. I took the written part that he discarded on the floor and read the contents.

Spike, you are so dead if you don't come back with that crazy earth pony.

I felt a bit offended. "Hey, if anything," I snarled at the piece of paper as I stomped it on the ground, "you're the crazy one Twilight! And not me!"

"You got that right," Spike chuckled. I looked at him after I was calming down, and I saw him; ready to write. I nodded and flashed him a smile.

"Anyway, you ready?" He nodded, and I took a breath and stared at Luna. "Dear Princess Luna. It's me, J...Gold Blitz, and I've decided to try and find out how to get rid of those black clouds."

"You could have just asked the pegasi ponies to do it." Spike whispered as he wrote. I ignored him.

"But I don't have the slightest clue on how to do that... So I guess I'm asking for your help on that part. Sincerely, Gold Blitz." I turned to the purple dragon and smiled as I nodded. He rolled the scroll and exhaled some green fire, and the scroll was completely turned to ashes, and flew towards Luna. It vanished as soon as it touched Luna's crystal case. I was about to sit back when Spike suddenly jumped in place.

"Whoa, that was quick." He said before burping green puffs of smoke, and it swirled in the air in front of him before turning into a scroll. He managed to pick it up before it fell on the ground. Opening it, he arched an eyebrow. "This is the very same scroll we sent her."

I smiled at him as I stared at the letters on the back of the scroll. "Turn it around," I suggested. He did, and chuckled shyly.

"Ahem, yeah... Dear Gold Blitz. We thank thee... Thee?" He shook his head slightly. "We thank thee for helping us, but it pains us to tell you that we don't know how to 'get rid' of the black clouds hovering above the lands." Spike scratched his head. "Well, that wasn't helpful. Ahem. But I am certain that our dear sister knows-" I froze "-of a way to purify it, or 'get rid of it', in your words. We are thou certain that..."

Whatever Spike was saying was no longer reaching my ears as my brain became too busy repeating the very same thought of going back to Unicornia, just to talk to Celestia...

Spike finished, rolled the scroll, and chuckled nervously at me. "Y-yeah, we're not going back there, are we?" After he got no reply from me, he sighed. "We're dead..."

Author's Note

My new keyboard is annoying. If there are misspelled words, or two words stuck together, please let me know. Thanks~

Chapter 32 - Nosy Apple

"We're not going back there!" Spike yelled angrily for quite a number of times now as we took the stairs back to the ground floor of the old castle.

"I need to go there!" I shouted back as we reached the ground floor. I forgot how many times have I yelled those very same words to this stubborn dragon.

"You're stubborn and crazy!" Spike yelled as he hastily ran and stopped in front of me: completely blocking my way with a glare.

"Gah, so what if I am!?" I countered as I walked around him. "Stay here if you'd like!"

"Fine!" Spike yelled, "See if I care!"

"Fine!"

"FINE!"

"FINE!!!" I yelled as I stopped and gave him a piercing glare, countering his own. We held our glares for a short while until I broke it first by turning my back on him and marched towards the entryway; ignoring the concerned looks from the ponies in the area. I ignored the three members of the crusaders as I walked pass them and headed outside where a very violent storm will accompany me. In normal circumstances, I wouldn't go outside with a violent storm, but...!

I reached the end of the draw bridge when I saw Fluttershy who just got out from the tree lines. She flashed me a concerned look, but I ignored her as I walked pass her. "Where are you going?" Came Fluttershy's rather loud voice, enough for me to hear it from the violent and loud whistles of the wind.

"What!?" I asked as I stopped, pretending not to hear her.

"Where are you going!?" She yelled as I turned to face her.

"Unicornia!"

Her eyes grew wide in horror. "W-what!? B-but why!?"

I shook my head. "To get rid of the black clouds!"

The instant the words left my mouth, Fluttershy's features dropped to...lonely-worried something-something. She tore her gaze away from me and stared elsewhere. "O-oh," she said, barely audible, "I-I...I see..." I arched an eyebrow, but shook my head and turned towards the path I'll be taking.

"Just take care of Spike for me!" I yelled as I began walking away from her. If ever she replied, I didn't hear it. The loud rustling noises of the leaves and the whistles of the wind and the roars of thunder were stampeding to my ears.

I stopped on the edge of the cliff, in front of the rope-bridge, where it's viciously dancing with the storm's strong wind. Ugh... I can't turn back now though. I shook my head and took a deep breath to brace myself. I took a step on the bridge as I bit on the rope. Every step I take, I moved my head ahead and bit on the rope. I missed my human hands...

I reached the other end of the bridge, eventually. I don't think I'd want to repeat that scary experience ever again. My own weight was good enough to make the bridge stay still, though barely. Whatever... I need to continue...and I'm soaking wet. Do ponies get sick? I don't think I'd want to deal with being ill while I'm here. Huh, that actually rhymed. I wonder if Zecora's here as we--umph! Gah, I slipped, and hit a slippery uproot with my mouth, or nose... Maybe it's called a snout? Gah, it hurts... Ow... Darn it...! I need to be more careful with my footing.

I eventually reached the edge of the forest with...a few number of 'ouch' and 'ow'. Yeah, they really hurt... I shook the water off of me, but got disappointed in the end, for it was still raining. I sighed. Hm, I suppose I need to cross the treeless hills once again if I want to reach my destination. I might as well...prepare myself. Hm... Cloud Strike gave me a bag of Bits. I wonder where I left them... Hm... I didn't found any in the castle, so I guess in the apple orchard? I do need some stuff though, so the apple orchard it is then.

The ponies in the orchard were still busy though. They were still picking apples on the apple trees. I think there's an area where the apple trees only grow Zap Apples? 'Cause there's a part where the trees don't have any apples on them, and if my memory serves me correctly, that part was where I first met Braeburn, where the ponies were picking the Zap App---ow! An apple landed on the ground in front of me as I rubbed the back of my head where that darn fruit hit me. I turned around and saw Applejack's frowning face.

"An' where in tarnation did'cha ran off to?" She growled.

"Geez," I said, still rubbing my painful head, "what's your problem?"

"What's mah problem is that Ah got all worried and searched the entire orchard just looking for you!"

I arched her an eyebrow. "Worried, huh?"

She glared icily at me. Gee, as if I still need something cold to go with this cold downpour. Speaking of which, Applejack doesn't seem to mind being under the heavy rain as she continued to burn my head with her cold glare. "Don't get the wrong idea, brownie."

I don't have time to argue with a fuming mare for whatever reason. "Look," I began, "have you, by any chance, seen my pouch bag?"

Her glare softened for the tiniest bit. "Yeah, Ah put it in yer room." I nodded my thanks and turned to the barn. "Why?"

"Oh, nothin', really." I started walking until Applejack suddenly appeared in front of my way. I blinked. How'd she got there?

"Yah ain't getting near the barn, brownie," she glared, and I'm getting tired of her glare, "not until yah tell me what are yah goin' to do with it."

"Have you by any chance," I glared back, "thought that it's my money and I can do whatever I want with it?"

She grinned, to my confusion. "And have you, by any chance, thought that yer money's inside mah barn?" I glared at her, and I do not like where this is going. "Yer choice, brownie. Tell me, or yer money's mine."

I frustratingly rolled my eyes, and followed it up with a frustrated shake of my frustrated head. I glared at her. "I'm going somewhere and I need to buy some stuff to help me get there."

She narrowed her eyes, but still holding that annoying grin. "Oh? And where's that?"

"Are you always this nosy?"

"Are yah gonna tell me or not?"

"Fine!" I sighed frustratingly. "I'm going to Unicornia to g---"

She lifted a hoof -- a really muddy hoof -- right in front of my face. And I think a few of the mud really flew inside my mouth. Ugh... "Hold it there, brownie," she began as I spat the mud out of my mouth. Eew... "Yer goin' where now?"

"Thank you for the mud-cake, gorgeous," I said sarcastically as I rolled my eyes. "I'm going back to Unicornia."

She looked angry and confused at the same time. "And why exactly are you heading back there?"

I sighed. Darn it. Is she really this nosy to other's business? "To find a way to get rid of this black clouds." She blinked a couple of times before tilting her head up. I sighed. "Yes, those clouds. Now can I please have my money back?"

She turned back to me with a frown. "We need tah talk," and I was going to ask what she meant by that, but she quickly turned towards the barn and immediately started walking towards it. I shook my head and followed the mare. Reaching inside the barn, she threw me a towel and we dried ourselves up...or...she dried herself up, while I was having a hard time mimicking her. How can I even grab a hold of the ends of this towel with a hoof anyway!? "Lemme help ya there, brownie," and she didn't even wait for my response as she took my towel and started rubbing my sides and back. I...am kinda feeling a bit awkwardly embarrassed by this... "Ah sure hope your red cheeks meant somethin' else," she glared as she started rubbing my face and head.

After that awkward dry-off, she gave me the towel back and told me that I should be the one to do my underbelly and tail. I don't think I need someone to tell me that though. As I busied myself, she walked up the stairs; probably to get my pouch bag. She came back as soon as I was done drying myself off. "T-thanks," I managed as I awkwardly grabbed my pouch bag from her mouth. Gee, I can grab my pouch bag no problem, but a towel's too difficult? Sigh... "So uh, what are we going to talk about?" I asked as I sat on a wooden chair

She sat in front of me and sighed. "Ah'm goin' with yah."

I was startled to hear that. "W-what?"

She glared. "Ah wanna see mah brother, and Ah wanna hear it from that stallion's mouth his reason why he left us!"

I opened my mouth to argue, but no words came out. I sighed. "B-but---"

"No 'buts, brownie," she stomped her hoof on the wooden floor, leaving a very nasty crack on it. I gulped and nodded immediately. "Good," she then stared at the window, "we'll head out as soon as the rain stops." I was about to say something, but I don't think I'd want to have a crack on my skull. Even though this body isn't mine, the feelings are clearly mine, and I do not think I would like to feel her powerful hoof hitting my head. The only thing I could do was to sigh in defeat.

Author's Note

If there are misspelled words or grammar errors, please let me know. Thanks~

Chapter 33 - Broken Feather

After the rain had stopped, Applejack informed the ponies in the barn that the two of us will be heading to town to buy some stuff. I was going to ask why she didn't let them know our real destination, but her glare cut me off. I instead followed her towards town with a sigh. I am just thankful that the path we were taking is grassy, for at least it meant I'd get less mud on my hooves.

We reached the town, where the ponies are busy with pulling carts. The atmosphere somehow...changed. The smiles around town seemed to have lessen. Also, there are more armored pegasi ponies around town now. At first, I thought that the place is also starting to be the same like in Unicornia, but I saw a few pegasi ponies helping the earth ponies around, so I guess...no, but still... Hm...

Applejack and I went inside a wooden house, where inside were earth mares -- young adults and middle-aged ones -- were busy sewing some clothing, capes, blankets, and whatever else there was around. Applejack gestured with a hoof to follow her, and so I did, and we were now standing in front of an old-looking sewing machine, where a yellow-coated earth middle-aged mare was busy sewing a...bag. I think, in the show, the ponies call them 'saddlebags'. After asking if it was okay, Applejack took the bag and examined it. Satisfied, she smiled genuinely and nodded to the mare, stating that we'd take it. I arched an eyebrow and I was about to share my piece of mind, but Applejack cut me off by immediately putting the bag on my bag, and quickly taking my pouch bag from my hoof. Her actions irritated me, but I bit my lips instead. She gave the needed Bits for the trade, and we then headed out of the building.

I glared at the orange farm-pony, but it was useless, for Applejack brought a hoof on her chin as she stared at the black clouds; thinking. "Hm, ye got a bag now to put yer stuff in. Ah!" Her features brightened as an idea popped in her head. She stared back at me cheerfully, completely contrasting my glaring frown. "Yah need a flint t' start a fire! And a blanket, and a---" Whatever she was saying could no longer reach my ears for my attention suddenly shifted to a blue fur inside a dark alleyway across the street. Well, where the ponies walk through town is still called a street, right? Even though it's still earth and grass? Whatever.

"Applejack," I said suddenly, startling the mare a bit. I removed the bag on my back and gave it to her. "Could I ask you to buy the stuff we'll need?"

Applejack blinked. And she blinked again. "Uh, okay?" Came her doubtful reply. I nodded my thanks and put the bag on her back. "Where are yah goin'?" She asked as I walked away. "Hey! Ah'm asking ye a question!"

As I was nearing the alley, I was expecting Applejack to march towards me and stop me or whatever, but after nothing has been happening yet, I dared to look back, and I saw her just entering the building where we bought the bag. She must be going to buy a blanket. I shook my head slightly and took a breath, and sighed through my nostrils. I entered the alleyway, and sat on the ground beside the rainbow-maned pegasus, who immediately turned her gaze away from me.

"What do you want?" Came her cracking voice, followed by a sniffle. She then rubbed her nose with a hoof, but still not turning her head at me.

Hm... Why did I decide to approach her anyway? I have no clue. I suddenly remembered what Sp-Spike...had told me...while I was unconscious. What was it again? Applejack saw Rainbow Dash with a bunch of high-ranking pegasi stallions, and Dash said something about giving her another chance? I don't remember clearly, but whatever... "Something the matter, Dash?" I asked quietly, flashing her a smile, just in case she'll face me, but she didn't.

"N-no," she spoke, almost choking. "Nothing's wrong. Just... I wanna be alone for a while..." She sniffed.

"Dash, even the blind could see that you're not okay."

She immediately turned to face me with a tearful glare. "I told you: I'm fine! So buzz off!"

I took a breath to control myself, and sighed through my nostrils. I have a general idea of what's troubling her but, I don't want to jump to conclusions, and also, if my idea's wrong, then it'll be difficult to try and reach out to her. I flashed her a smile, but she quickly tore her gaze away from me. I was about to say something, but a loud rumbling growl of her stomach cut me off. "I'll get you somethin' to eat." I stood and winked at her with a smile as soon as she faced me.

"N-no don't..." and her stomach growled once again.

I frowned at her. "Dash, you need to eat," and as soon as the words left me, it was just then that I noticed her skinny condition. How long has she been here? No, she needs to eat first. "Stay put," I glared at her, "and don't move, don't run, don't fly. Just stay put!" She winced, and I took that as my cue to turn around and go to Applejack. Thankfully, there was a fruit stand near the building where we bought the bag. I asked for the prices of the fruits before going inside, where I found Applejack examining a thick orange blanket. "Applejack," I said as I reached her, and she turned around to face me with a confused look. "May I have Fifteen Bits please?"

She opened her mouth as she eyes narrowed, but no words came out. She shrugged instead as she put a rather large gold coin on my hoof. It was larger than the Bits that I've seen so far. "That's Twenty Bits," she said simply before returning her attention to the blanket. I nodded my thanks before heading out. I bought three pears and three apples. The stallion put it inside a brown paper bag before handing it to me. I handed him the supposed-to-be Twenty Bit coin. He simply took it and he was about to give me five smaller coins, but I instead asked to buy a watermelon.

I returned, and found Rainbow Dash, still there, her gaze not on me, but on the fruits that I laid in front of her. Her stomach grumbled, and her mouth hung open. "Go ahead," I offered. She gulped and slowly grabbed an apple. She took a hesitant bite, chewed slowly, looked away, and swallowed. I rolled my eyes with a small smile as I sat beside her, providing ourselves a respectable gap in between. I let her eat the fruits in silence.

She ate the pears and the apple, and she was now ready to eat the watermelon. I grabbed it with both my hooves and opened it by slightly smashing it on the ground. "You're weird," she suddenly said as I handed her a piece. She stared at the melon on her hoof in confusion. "That's now how to open a watermelon."

I shrugged as she faced me. "It worked, right?"

She frowned, then smiled, and chuckled. "T-thanks," and she began eating, and so did I. We ate in silence, until she suddenly broke it. "I failed," she whispered, sighed, and took a bite. "I let the unicorns win... I let me guard down... I let everypony down..." Her hooves fell on the ground, losing her grip on the melon she was eating as she sniffed.

"Rainbow..."

She grunted, and punched the ground with both front hooves. "I'm such a weakling!"

"Rainbow..."

She continued punching the ground, which was weird, for it somehow made me remember what I did to that pedestal-thing. I gently brought my hoof on her shoulder. She stopped, tensed up, and eased up as a frustrated sigh escaped her lips. "I'm nopony now..." She dropped on the ground, covering her eyes with both her hooves as she started to sob.

Damn... This is not the Rainbow Dash I know from the show. I gently rubbed her back with my hoof as she continued to sob. I sighed, and was startled a bit after I saw an orange hoof gently rubbing the pegasus' head. I looked at Applejack, who was giving me a soft smile. I smiled back.

It took a few minutes before Rainbow calmed down. She thanked Applejack and I, and sniffed. "What am I to do now...?" Rainbow whispered, dropping her gaze on he ground. "I really like to protect this town but..."

"They took you out of the job," I said, and I received the pegasus' nod. Rainbow Dash sighed. "Well, you can't protect the town if you're crying here, right?" I smiled, earning myself a teary glare from the pegasus. "Rainbow, why are you so affected?"

"I..." she glared, blinked, glare gone, blinked again, turned away, and sighed. "...don't know..."

"You're loyal," I said with a smile, earning myself a confused look from the pegasus. "You're very loyal, Rainbow." I smiled as I shook my head. "But I don't know why. Maybe you can help me with that?"

"Uh..." she stared at the ground, slowly playing with the melon seeds with her hoof. "B-because..." she slowly stared at Applejack, who was smiling. Rainbow smiled back. "B-because...because my sister lives here." I arched an eyebrow while Applejack nodded.

"Sisters 'till the end," Applejack said as she extends a hoof at the pegasus, and Rainbow returned the gesture. Huh, that's the first time I saw a brohoof here. I stared at my own hoof.

Rainbow smirked, "why the hay am I crying, anyway!?" She jumped up and dusted the dirt off of her. "Darn, now I need a bath."

"Gee, yah think?" Applejack smirked. Honestly, I don't understand these two mares. The first time I saw them together, Rainbow didn't care what would happen to Applejack inside the Everfree. I shook my head.

Rainbow chuckled, and hit my shoulder with her hoof. Huh, that was a strange gesture. I thought only us humans do that. Aw well. "Thanks," Rainbow nodded with a smile, "...err..."

"Gold Blitz," I said with a smile. "Just remember to always be loyal, Rainbow."

"Yeah, yeah," she said as she waved a hoof at me and extended her tired wings. "They did say that I could stay here," and with that, she flew away. Yeah, I'm going to have to ask Applejack a few things. As Applejack and I reached the edge of town towards Unicornia, Rainbow Dash flew and landed in front of us with a concerned look. "Where are you guys heading, anyway?"

I...gulped... "U-Unicornia?"

Rainbow's eyes grew wide, and her left wing was twitching slightly. "WHAT!?"

Author's Note

If there are misspelled words, or grammar errors, please let me know. Thanks~

Chapter 34 - Rainbow Permission

"WHAT!?" Rainbow Dash exclaimed, catching a few ponies' attention behind us. "Are you two crazy or something!?"

"Keep it down, Rainbow," Applejack hissed, shuffling a bit after noticing a few stares that we gained.

Rainbow Dash glared at us with angry flaps of her wings. "Keep it down?" she echoed angrily, but with a low tone this time. "Why the hay are the two of you going to the horn-heads anyway?"

Applejack opened her mouth to answer, but I stopped her by extending a hoof in front of her face. She glared at me, though I didn't bother looking at her as I fixed all my attention at the pegasus. "I..." But I think I need to make it sound official, or important, for this pegasus to believe us...or me. "I am tasked to go back there so I could learn of a way to get rid of the black clouds up above."

Rainbow arched me an eyebrow. "You know that cloud-removal jobs are for pegasi ponies only, right?"

I tilted my head to the side, acting as though I didn't knew that. "So why are the clouds still up there?" Rainbow was taken aback with that question o'mine. It wasn't really a question to get her though. I honestly wanted to know why those clouds are still up there if the pegasi ponies could simply and easily just get rid of them.

Rainbow tore her gaze away and mumbled something that I failed to hear well. She shook her head before facing us again. "Why are you doing that task-thing of yours, anyway?"

"Luna," I simply replied, and I think it was enough of an answer, for Rainbow's eyes grew big in maybe disbelief or awe. I am not quite sure. "Anyway, we should be moving now."

"No," Rainbow said coldly, standing her ground. "I won't let you."

"Yah can't stop us, Rainbow," Applejack said with a glare. "We're goin' there whether ye like it or not." She then turned to me, and gestured with her head to move. I am not sure if that's a good idea, but her glare's telling me that I'll be in serious pain if I won't budge. Sigh...

I slowly started walking pass the glaring pegasus. "You wouldn't dare," she whispered threateningly.

"I'm sorry Rainbow," I sighed as I stopped beside her, "but I really need to do this." I looked up the heavy clouds. "These clouds are affecting my home... Princess Luna told me of a way to learn how to get rid of it," I then returned my gaze at Rainbow, "so please forgive me," even though I shouldn't be apologizing, "but I love my family, and I am willing to do anything and everything to make sure that they'll have a better tomorrow."

We stood on our places for minutes, not moving nor talking nor averting our attention elsewhere. Rainbow was glaring at me, Applejack was glaring at Rainbow, while I was uncomfortably staring at the forest beyond the treeless hills.

"We don't have all day, Rainbow," Applejack suddenly said, breaking the tension that was swirling about. She walked towards the pegasus and flashed her a small smile. "It's okay. We can take care of ourselves, ye know."

Rainbow dropped her gaze on the ground and sighed. "I know," she hung her head low, "I know..."

I smiled at the pegasus. "Tha---"

Rainbow pressed a hoof on my chest, slightly throwing me back. I was completely startled that I didn't even realize how threateningly close her angry face was to mine. "If something happens to my sister, you're dead, you get that!?"

I gulped and nodded nervously and vigorously. "Yes ma'am!" I said with haste, but she pressed her hoof even harder, and it was starting to hurt.

"I told you not to call me that!"

Applejack chuckled as I was about to apologize. Rainbow Dash then returned my personal space as she moved back and faced the earth mare. Sheesh...

After a few quick change of words, Applejack and I said our goodbyes to Rainbow Dash, who kept her glare on me as the two of us started walking away from the town, and onward to the forest.

"What was that about?" I asked Applejack, who was quietly following my lead.

"What was about what?"

"Rainbow Dash."

"What about her?"

I sighed... "Why is Rainbow Dash so protective of you?" I turned my head to look at her. "And why does she call you her sister?" Does Rainbow even have siblings?

Applejack looked away with a small smile, which confused me. "Heh, that was a long time ago, Brownie..."

I frowned. "I'd rather you call me Gold Blitz..." I looked ahead. "Care to share? This will be a long journey, so..."

"Fine, fine..." Applejack suddenly said with surrender. "Ah guess, since Ah owe yah, Ah might as well share a story." She shrugged.

Hm... I get to hear a story. That's something new. I just hope that this won't be a ship-like AppleDash story...

Author's Note

I wrote this to tire myself so I could sleep.
If there are misspelled words or grammar errors, please let me know. Thanks~

Chapter 35 - Back Then

"Stay safe, sugarcube," said mah father one last tahm before he went off with the soldiers tah fight those damn unicorns who kept on tryin' tah invade our lands. That was before we earth ponies allowed the pegasi tah help us. The look he left us: the sad smile and the worry in his eyes... If only Ah could have just hugged him back then. But Ah was too young to understand what was goin' on back then. Big Mac and Ma kept on cryin', while I was there, standing like how an innocent filly should be.

"You'll be back soon, right dad?" Ah asked him, but he didn't answer, fer a few earth pony soldiers were already calling him. He gave us one last look, one last smile, before he went off tah the horizon.

Ah kept on askin' about when will dad be coming back, but either mah folks won't reply, or simply tell me that he won't be returnin'. It was a few years after that when Ah realize what really happened. Ah made a promise tah mahself that I'll work so dang hard for mah father's farm. But Ah also spared a few of mah tahm with Ma, Granny, mah brother, and mah li'l sister.

The war wasn't really turning into our favor back then. The unicorns were brutal with their magic-thingies. Ah'm just glad I couldn't see it first-hoof of what they do to us ponies in the war zone. We only had a few lands left when the pegasi decided to aid us.

From what Ah heard from mah Granny's stories, those winged ponies came here first, but didn't really mind our business. They just built their cloud-kingdom-thingie, and traded with us earth ponies for food. Mah Granny said that it was a harmonious relationship until the unicorns invaded the northern land, and built their own kingdom there. Ah heard that unicorns forced the earth ponies there into their slaves, and that it was the beginning of chaos.

Mah father went to war to stop the unicorns from invadin' our little town. Long story short, they succeeded, but...mah father didn't make it. Ma told me that his comrades will never forget mah Pa's heroism during that fight.

The day mah consciousness was mature enough for me to know what really happened, Ah busied mahself with farm-work. Ah tried being strong, but it was so darn hard. When nopony was lookin', Ah wept. Each night, when everypony was asleep, I wept as I walked along the trees of mah family's apple orchard.

A few years after that though, durin' dinner, mah Ma said somethin' that broke me even more: mah brother's goin' to the war. Ah know that every stallion should help in the war, but back then, there's no way Ah would let mah brother go to war! Ah lost mah Pa! Ah don't wanna lose mah brother as well!

Mah family kept on arguin' about mah brother every single day. One day though, he was gone, and Ah could barely even move or eat after Ah got tired of lookin' for 'im 'round town. Ah was broken, Ah really was. Ah didn't even realized that mah li'l sister was gone as well. Ah understand that mah family didn't had the heart to tell me 'bout Bloom though, with the state Ah was in back then.

One night, when everypony was asleep, Ah suddenly found mahself slowly walkin' in the orchard. The night air was really cold that tahm. Ah don't really know how long Ah was walking there before Ah realized that it was snowin'. Ah remember that Ah blinked quite a few tahms, tryin' tah see if Ah was hallucinatin' or just seein' things. But no, it really was snowing. The snow was falling peacefully from the thin black clouds up above. Yeah yeah, it was night time, but the moon was full back then, so Ah could tell. Anyway, the snow really made me feel a bit weird inside. Ah don't really know how tah explain it, but to put it simply, it was like reality slapped me right tah mah face, tellin' me tah wake up, suck it up, and live on.

But the weird coldness gave both Ma and Granny a strange illness that no local doctor cold cure. As the days flew by, both of 'eir conditions was getting worse and worse, and I was starting to panic once more. They both told me not to worry about them, but Ah can't just sit there and watch 'em die! No, I wouldn't let that happen. But...what else can Ah do? What could a simple non-flyin' and non-magic-usin' earth pony such as mahself could possibly do tah save 'em? Ah'm powerless... Ah was losing hope one evening. Everypony was asleep, and there Ah was again: wandering in the apple orchard, not minding the coldness of the snowy weather... If Ah were to take 'em to this place Ah heard called Manehattan, then maybe there will be somepony there that could cure mah family... It's risky, but it's worth a shot. But how the hay am Ah suppose tah get there? Plus, Ah don't even know where that place is! Darn it...

I looked up, and saw the moon. It's full glory was struggling to get through the black clouds. And something blue blurred passed mah vision. I followed it with mah gaze, and saw it landed a few distance from where Ah was standing. I had nothin' else tah do, so I decided to see what that was.

"Hush..." I whispered, cutting her story as I looked around the trees around us. I felt my ears perking up as I ignored the mare's glare. "Did you hear that?" I whispered, still looking at our surroundings.

She arched an eyebrow. "Y'know it's not n---" she cut herself off as her ears stood as well, and she soon stood low as she looked around. "Darn it," she whispered, standing low beside me, "Ah hear hoofsteps..."

I nodded, "lots of them..."

The two of us soon drew our attention at the edge of the forest, where the War Planes is. We crept closer, careful not to make any noise as possible. From behind the thick trees, we leaned our heads to take a peak, and we saw unicorn ponies. As they marched towards -- I think -- Unicornia, they were circling around tired-looking earth ponies, who were forced to pull metal wagons. Whatever was on the wagon was covered by a purple-colored clothe. There were seven wagons, and quite a lot of earth ponies were pulling them all. Ugh... I couldn't stand watching their tired and beaten forms. I turned away, and saw Applejack was clenching her teeth, and holding her best to hold herself back.

Chapter 36 - Riding On

A tired earth pony stumbled and fell off of his hooves, making the others pulling the same metal wagon stumble, lose their balance, and collapse to the ground. The unicorns ordered everyone to stop, and a few of them approached the collapsed group of earth ponies. They shouted commands to stand up, and the earth ponies struggled to comply. It was a slow process, and it made the unicorns grow impatient. They lit their horns up as I bit Applejack's tail and pulled her back behind the trees.

"Are you nuts!?" I hissed as soon as I stood in front of her. I ignored her glare. "Are you just going to show up and get yourself killed?" She just glared some more, and I held my own glare until I sighed. "Look, I know you want to help them but you can't just walk there and do whatever."

She kept her glare. "Ah think ye got the wrong idea, brownie..." She walked and stopped beside me, and pointed at the wagon on the rear of the group. I looked back and instantly saw what she meant. The unicorns on the rear went to the commotion, leaving behind the earth ponies to catch their breath. What was more, they were close to the edge of the forest, so...

With a nod, Applejack and I quickly yet quietly approached the wagon within the shield of the forest. After we got there, we crept behind the wagon without anyone to notice. We heard the mumbles of the angry unicorns coming close, so we worked fast to climb on the wagon, and we hid underneath the purple clothe. After achieving that, we sat still and ignored the slightly sharp gem stones we were sitting on. Just why the heck would unicorns need so many gems anyway? Whatever, for at least the gems are shining faintly for us to see each other.

We felt the wagon started moving. Applejack and I stayed still and quiet. It's kinda sad though, for she won't be able to continue her story. Aw well. Some other time, I guess...I hope... Hm, now I need to think of a way to get off of this thing once they reach their destination. I don't want them to suddenly remove the blankets and instantly see two earth ponies on their hoards of gems. Shouldn't it be dragons who are hoarding gems? Wait... Does that mean...they have dragons? And these gems are for them to feed them? I...sure hope not. Escaping from the unicorns was really tricky. Escaping from dragons...er...stop thinking about that...

"Why does the princess want so many gems, anyway?" We heard a masculine voice from outside. Probably from the unicorns, and his voice sounded familiar...

"Beats me," another voice responded. "As long as it could help us bring that cloud kingdom to the ground."

Applejack and exchanged glances. Bring Cloudsdale...er...Pega-what's-it's-name to the ground? "I sure hope so. I don't mind seeing the pegasi suffer, but..." the voice trailed off for a few seconds. "...I just hope that collecting all of these gems will be worth it. The earth ponies did worked hard to get them."

"If I were you, I shouldn't care about the earth ponies. They are our slaves, after all."

"But they're still ponies," argued the familiar voice, and I think I already know who it belonged to.

"You're starting to get on my nerves, kid. I suggest you drop the subject." And they were quiet after that.

Somehow, hearing Boulder's voice, and the way he talked about earth ponies, made me feel...weirdly guilty. I suppose...I really was unfair during that speech I had with the earth ponies in Ponyville. Boulder isn't like the other unicorns. He really sounded like he really cared about the earth ponies' well being. But, I don't really know him quite well, but still...

I took a breath and sighed through my nostrils. I grabbed a few small pieces of gems and put them inside my bag. Not many though, just enough not to become a burden for me. I saw Applejack's strange look, and I smiled at her in return. I'll answer her quiet question of why I took a few gems later. I...suppose...I'm going to the fill-your-belly apology approach...if I ever get the chance, that is...

Chapter 37 - Digging Gems

It was a really rough ride, but Applejack and I really kept quiet and still. It really was a long journey to wherever the unicorns were marching to, but we eventually reached the end of the journey. Where that is, I'm not sure, but I don't want the unicorns to remove the clothe and find out that there are two earth pony stowaways on their wagons. I carefully lifted the clothe, enough for me to take a peak outside. The unicorns' full attention were on the tired and panting earth ponies a few meters away. It was now or never, to say the least, so I turned and faced Applejack, gave her an affirmative nod, and I quietly slipped off of the wagon, careful not to make a sound. Applejack soon followed, and the two of us quickly hid behind the wagon, shielding ourselves from the eyes of the unicorns.

I looked around, and saw our surroundings. We were inside a cave, but not just any cave. I'm back inside Unicornia's mining field... Sigh... Oh well. That is the point: to get back here. Applejack and I were close to the cave's wall, and the faintly glowing gemstones on the walls were providing enough light for us to see around, though it was not enough to remove the shadow that hides the two of us from sight.

It may look like the mining cave, but I don't recognize this part of the cave. Well, I did only came here only once, so I doubt I'd instantly remember the layout. Anyway, there was a tunnel up ahead, with brighter light coming from it. It's probably the exit, so I guess we should head there. I told Applejack this, and she nodded without giving it much thought.

We quietly crept towards it, hidden from the shadow of the cave. I simply hoped that it was enough for us to be hidden from their eyes. As we turned around a corner, we found an entryway, to both our relief. There was no waterfall though, so I suppose that this part of the cave really is new to me. I don't plan on celebrating my new discovery however. I turned to see if Applejack was right behind me, which she was. With a nod, I faced the opening, took a breath, and walked tow---

"Were are you two heading off to?" A grumpy and rusty voice echoed through the tunnel, making the two of us froze in place. We heard hoofsteps, and we knew that whoever that voice belonged to was coming closer. I braced myself as I awkwardly turned to face him, which was a struggle on my part. He stopped meters away from us. He was wearing a dirty mining helmet, and he was wearing a very angry glare.

"Er..." think brain! Think! Aha...! "Our uh, mining tools broke..." I flashed a small smile, an awkward one to be honest, while Applejack nodded quickly in agreement.

The unicorn arched an eyebrow, but lifted a hoof and pointed at the wooden wagons near the entryway, where several unicorn ponies were standing. Where the hay did those unicorns came from!? "Pick your tools over there, and be quick about it!" He yelled as he turned around.

I sighed as I faced my companion. "I guess we're stuck here for a little while..."

Applejack slightly shook her head, and nodded soon after, which confused me... A no and then a yes? "It's fine, I guess." She simply said with a neutral tone and expression as she walked towards the mining tools. I sighed through my nostrils as I followed her. Great. I'm back being a miner... Well, at least no one seemed to recognize me as the earth pony who escaped Unicornia or whatever title the unicorns gave me.

I picked up a dirty-white helmet and a pick-axe. We didn't really had the time to choose, since the stares of the unicorns were burning through our souls. The exit was a few steps away, but I sighed sadly as Applejack and I walked towards the other direction: towards the mining field. This is definitely going to take a while...

I don't really know how long Applejack and I have been stuck here, digging up gems and putting them on the metallic wagon-container-thingy. Maybe we've been here for two or three hours, I think. We kept close to each other though, as we followed the bright blue aura from the white unicorn mare.

As we dug gems, I could overhear the white unicorn's conversation with other unicorns in the area. Bless my sharp hearing senses. Hm... I do have a sharp hearing as a human. I wonder if that ability is also passed to this earth pony body I'm using? Anyway, I didn't really understand what they were talking about. They said something about the princess needing more and more gems to bring the pegasi down. I have no clue how these gems could bring the pegasus down. Are they planning to throw all of these using a giant catapult and launch the gems towards the pegasi kingdom? I thought anything will simply go through clouds. But this is Twilight, so I'm sure she's thought of a way to bring the cloud city down with these. I'm not really sure if I should interfere or not.

No no. I came here to talk to Celestia about how to get rid of these black clouds. That, and nothing more. I just hope I'll be able to achieve that. As I continued digging, I started thinking of ways to get there. I do seem to recall the layout of the castle though... At least, the parts that I took to get to Celestia but, the room where she is...is also where Twilight is...maybe? I hope she moved to another room for her fun activities with a certain stallion that will soon get his flank fly towards the moon when a certain orange mare gets him.

"Alright," echoed Rarity's loud voice, "everypony, stop what you're doing." Everyone did as what they were told. Applejack and I then faced the white unicorn, who was standing on the center of this small crater-like hole on the cave's floor. We didn't need a unicorn-powered lift to carry us up or down though, for there are wooden ladders provided. Though I'd prefer the lift. "Gather all the gems and pull them all."

I heard a few ponies groaned, but they immediately silenced themselves after the white unicorn mare glared at them. I was really tired, and it was a bit embarrassing, for Applejack seemed to be just fine. I guess she's really used to work a lot. She did gave me a teasing grin after she noticed how tired I was. I replied with a tired glare, which made her chuckle slightly. I rolled my eyes as I collected a gem with my mouth and another with my hoof. I didn't really have a choice though. I needed to use my mouth if I don't want Rarity to recognize me, for she might be aware of the news. Heck, I'm sure she knows about it.

We earth ponies then fell in two line in front of a number of metallic wagons. Applejack and I stood beside each other. Unicorns then started using their magic to levitate and install metallic harness around our necks. I don't like where this is going. Before I could even complain, I heard rattling noises of chains, and with the unicorns' magic, the chains attached themselves on the back of the harness we earth ponies were wearing. Eeyup... We're going to pull a large metallic wagon full of gems. Joy...

Chapter 38 - Dark Tunnel

The unicorns have led us to the upper parts of the cave. The terrain isn't really comfortable, the place is dimly lit, the metal wagons are damn heavy to pull, and the metallic whips that the unicorns are levitating are really painful even just to look at. Ugh...

There were already several earth ponies who got whipped because they slipped, or too tired to continue moving onward. Majority of them were able to get back on their hooves and continued to pull, but for the few others who were really thin, tired and exhausted were...

I shook my head to rid of the thought, but...the poor ponies' cries for mercy, and the painful echoes of the whips and mana fire... These damn unicorns are pushing it way too far. I tried to yell at them to stop but, Applejack, with that worried look she was giving me, told me everything I needed. I sighed.

"I'm sorry," I whispered suddenly, ignoring the salty taste of my own sweat that rolled to my mouth. Applejack was hanging her head slightly lower than when we began pulling the darn heavy wagon. She gave me a side-glance that lasted for a second or two before she returned it back on the ground. "I'm really sorry for dragging you here..."

"Not your fault brownie..." she whispered back, and she soon followed it with a heavy sigh. "Ah brought this to mahself."

"I didn't do a good job of stopping you back there..." I stared at her for a long while as I tried my best to pull and ignore the heavy burden we and a few others were pulling. I sighed before returning my gaze forward, ignoring the sounds of whips from behind us. There's a unicorn walking beside me, but I didn't bother staring at the damn creature.

"I don't know why you came back..." whispered a voice that was so darn familiar, that it startled me. I turned to the unicorn, who the voice belonged to none other than Boulder himself, staring at me with a worried frown. "You shouldn't have come back."

"I needed to..." I simply replied, and I was about to add a few more when something hit my shoulder. I turned to the other direction to see a glaring Applejack. I flashed her a small smile. "Applejack, this is Boulder," I whispered, ignoring the intense glare the mare was giving me. I turned back to the unicorn. "Boulder, this here is Applejack."

Boulder arched an eyebrow. "Quite a weird situation for introductions, don't you think?"

I chuckled quietly as Applejack responded, "I ain't talkin' to unicorns."

The unicorn sighed as I spoke, "Boulder, I came back to...ow..!" I turned and glared at the mare who hit my shoulder pretty hard. "Could you let me talk, please?"

"Ah don't see that as yer brightest idea ever, brownie," she frowned at me. "If yah have't noticed, your Boulder friend's a unicorn," she hissed.

Boulder sighed. "Gold Blitz, right?" I turned to him and nodded. "Look, I understand what your marefriend is tr---"

"She's not my marefriend!" "We ain't a couple!"

Applejack and I hissed at the same time. We looked at each other for a brief moment, and I quickly turned back to the unicorn after I felt something on my cheeks. Boulder rolled his eyes before another unicorn meters ahead of us called his attention.

"What's going on there?" asked the middle-aged unicorn.

Boulder simply shook his head. "Nothing. I'm just talking sense to these earth ponies."

"Better do it well, else, this whip will do the talking for them," and to make a point, he levitated a spiky-metallic whip in front of him as his horn glowed threateningly. Applejack and I gulped and nodded. Satisfied to deliver his piece, he looked ahead as I noticed faint hammering noises of metal against metal, and sparks...?

"I suggest you two lower your voices from now on." Boulder said as he looked ahead. I nodded while Applejack rolled her eyes. "Anyway, I don't know why you're here, but you need to go away from here." He paused after a painful yelp and sounds of whipping noises from behind echoed through the tunnel. He opened his mouth to say something, but I failed to hear his voice after hammering noises started to get louder and louder the further we walked onward.

A large wagon was blocking my sight to see what was up ahead, but the sounds of metallic clangs from up ahead is already giving me an idea of what is going on there. I do remember that aside from gems, unicorns were also collecting metal. We were reaching the end of the tunnel, and we now found ourselves on a flat floor inside a very large and spacious...space, inside this mountain we were walking up or, gah...my words are failing me...

Rarity and a few unicorns, who were walking ahead of the group, gave an order for us to stop. Finally! Boulder used his magic to remove the chains that were attached on the harnesses that were attached to me and Applejack. "I saw your little speech back in that village," Boulder whispered as he began removing the harness on me. "When you get the chance, get away from here." I was about to ask him what he was saying, but that serious look he was giving me had killed the words that were still forming in my throat. I slowly nodded instead.

"Ah don't trust 'im," Applejack whispered coldly as she glared at the retreating unicorn. "But Ah'm not headin' back. Not until Ah---!" She cut herself off as she turned and saw the very same thing that took my breath away.

A distance ahead of us, almost occupying all of the space in this cave, was a giant metal. From the looks of it, the metal looks like a horizontal cylinder, I am staring at it's side, and both it's ends are stretched way beyond the dark corners of the large cave. Ponies -- both earth and unicorn ponies -- were working on it. From the faint lights the gemstones were emitting all around, I could see that the unicorns were levitating and pouring the gemstones inside the cylinder. There's probably a hole there. I'm not sure, and I'm not sure what this giant metal rod is for.

"W-what..." Applejack began, her low voice barely audible from the metallic clangs from hammer to metal and loud sparks from the unicorns' flares. "...in tarnation...is that...?"

I shook my head slowly. "I...have no idea..."

"You two!" a loud voice reached my ears. I turned and saw the very same middle-aged unicorn pony from before. "You two seem to be fit for this task," he eyed Applejack and I as I arched an eyebrow. "Right," he cleared his throat as he walked nearer to us. As he did so, I could feel Applejack's intense glare. The unicorn then turned and stared somewhere. I followed his gaze and saw a white unicorn mare giving instructions to other unicorns. "Head over to Miss Rarity for your tasks." He then turned and faced us. "Consider the two of you as lucky ponies," and he stared at whatever from behind us. Applejack and I turned and saw unicorns were installing chains to earth ponies for them to pull smaller wagons, while others began unloading the gems and putting them on the wagons. "Now move it, you two!"

Chapter 39 - Rock Apple

"Ah," Rarity smiled on our arrival, "you two do seem fit for this task." She replaced her smile with a curious frown as she eyed me and rubbed her chin with a dirty hoof. "Hm... Have we met before?"

I smiled weakly, trying to ignore Applejack's raised eyebrow. "I-I'm sure that we have, miss."

"Hm... You look skinny." She shook her head slightly. "I don't remember anypony as skinny as you that I took to relax with."

"Er..." I have no idea how to respond to that.

"No matter," she shook the topic aside, to my greatest relief, though I had to stop myself from sighing gratefully. Rarity's horn glowed, and soon, a small blue diamond-shaped gem floated from her saddlebag, and floated in front of me. "Please take this to Princess Sparkle immediately." I nodded as I grabbed the gem with both my hooves. I then, as I sighed internally, bit it with my lips as I used my hooves to open my own saddlebag. "I suppose the commander saw you two still capable to doing the long journey back down," she nodded and then faced the mare beside me, "and as for you," she spoke as a scroll levitated from her saddlebag and floated in front of Applejack, "please take this to that lovely red stallion the princess goes with," she started to stare...elsewhere...with a dreamy smile that completely contrasted my companion's frown, "whooo...I couldn't even imagine how good he'll be when---"

I...started walking away, as I sang very loud inside my head to drown Rarity's words. Applejack quickly followed, and we walked towards... I stopped. Where are we suppose to go again?

"I'd teach the both of you proper manners if time permits," we turned around to face Rarity, who was looking a bit angry for leaving her while having a daydream. "I'll take care of that later. For now," she lifted her nose up in the air, "deliver those items to their respective recipients. Are we clear?" We nodded. "Good. Now, make haste," she said as she turned around and started walking back to the large metal cylinder-thingy, towards the group of unicorns.

I tilted my head to the side, for I am clueless as to how to reach our recipients from here. I saw Boulder walking pass my vision, so I immediately called his attention. He looked around before walking towards us. I could already feel the rising anger from my companion though. "Yes?" Boulder simply inquired with a bored tone.

"Could you perhaps help us for a bit?"

Boulder nodded. "What is it?"

"Well, Rarity g---"

"That's Miss Rarity," Boulder corrected.

I rolled my eyes with a frown. "Whatever, anyway, w---"

"Look," Boulder cut me off once again, "you need to address her properly, and any other unicorns here if you don't want anypony to grow any suspicions of you," he then faced Applejack, "and you too."

Applejack rolled her eyes as I nodded. "Huh, point taken. Anyway, she---" Boulder frowned, but I ignored him and continued, "---gave the two of us a task to deliver some things to Twi---er---Princess Twilight and Big Macintosh."

Boulder blinked. "That's...a weird title for Sir Macintosh..."

Big Mac's a sir now? I arched an eyebrow, but shook my head soon after to dismiss the question. "Y-yeah, anyway, so uh, can you help us?"

"You are seeking my aid in which part of your task?"

"You talk weird, you know that?" I whispered, and I think Applejack heard me, for I saw that she suddenly flashed a small grin. "We kinda need directions of how to get to them."

"Ah!" Boulder smiled. "You are in luck then, for I am also going there to meet with Commander Armor."

"Commander who-now?" I asked.

Boulder frowned at me. "You met him before. Back in the War Plains."

That little light bulb inside my head brightened oh so suddenly. "Ah! Him!" Boulder rolled his eyes.

"I do not think it's a good idea for you to meet the princess, Gold Blitz..." Boulder said as he led the way back down with a glowing horn, providing enough bright brown light to see the area around us.

"I know..." I simply said, as I am thinking of a way to avoid the destined meet-up. There is an idea, but I don't think it'll be accepted. I turned to Applejack, who was walking beside me. "Could we--"

"No," she immediately responded. "Ah'm meeting mah brother, and he's gonna have a piece of mah mind!"

"You will definitely be turned to pieces if they'll catch you, miss." Boulder said with a small frown as he turned his head to face Applejack.

Applejack, being stubborn as always, glared at him before moving her gaze elsewhere. "Do ya think Ah care?"

Boulder opened his mouth to say something, but no words came out. He sighed through his nostrils as he returned his gaze back onward. "I am quite sure that Sir Macintosh will have a few unicorns that is guarding him." He didn't have any when he went inside my room that time... "And, please take no offence to this, but I find it difficult to believe that you are Sir Macintosh's sister."

Applejack was about to say something, but I was faster. "Cutie mark, the accent..." I trailed off. I have nothing more to add.

Boulder tilted his head to the side, deep in thought. "Huh, now that you mention it, I think I do seem to see the connection now."

"Good fer ya," Applejack quietly replied.

Boulder turned to face her. "Why are you so, uh, grumpy?"

"Ah just don't like unicorns."

"But I am helping you."

"Ah didn't ask yer help." They stopped, so I stopped as well...

"But I'm not like any of the other unicorns." I have no idea why they're quarreling...

"That don't make yah any less cruel!"

"I care about the earth ponies!"

"Ah didn't even see you do such a thing!"

"STOP!" I yelled as I stood in between the two snarling ponies. I glared at them both. "What is with you guys?"

Boulder suddenly looked shocked, as if he just woke up from a nightmare, while Applejack gave me a cold glare before focusing her attention elsewhere. "I-I..." Boulder started. He coughed weakly to clear his throat, inhaled deeply, and exhaled sadly. "I'm sorry," he said sincerely, facing Applejack who wasn't facing him, nor myself.

Applejack closed her eyes and took a deep breath. She then sighed, but said nothing for a short while. "Just...walk..." she said without opening her eyes, nor moving her head. Boulder sighed and turned around, and we soon resumed our walk in complete silence. I really need to think of a way to avoid meeting Twilight.

Chapter 41 - Reviewing The Task

Aside from my heavy breathing, my heavy yet lazy footsteps...or should I call them hoofsteps, or hoovesteps? Whatever... Aside from those two, and the thunderous rumbles from the black clouds above, and the whispers of the cold wind, there was no more sound that Applejack and I made as we continued walking on this ridiculous spiraling staircase to horn-head territory. Each step I take is a hassle. I could barely feel my feet anymore. My muscles are aching and tired, and there were already a number of times where I almost passed out.

We did pass a few armored unicorns though, and they were heading down, but they didn't mind the two of us, which I find rather weird, considering that -- if Starfall were to be believed -- no earth ponies are allowed up there. Well, Big Mac sure is up there, I think. I guess Starfall reall...

"Easy there, Brownie," Applejack provided me a hoof to stop myself from collapsing yet again. I shook my head rapidly, and took a deep breath soon afterwards. The smell of my own sweat isn't helping me recover though. Huh, it's weird that I am even sweating. Aren't furred creatures suppose to sweat through their noses and tongues? "We're almost there, Ah think..."

"T-thanks for th...the encouragement..." I rolled my eyes soon after. We soon continued our journey... Sigh... I should probably keep my mind busy. At least it'll divert my attention from myself for only a bit. Hm... I wonder how my brother and Claire are doing back home. Sun Ford isn't really known to have floods during heavy rain, so I could at least breathe at ease. Though the trouble would be if the storm carries strong winds. Majority of the houses in Sun Ford are made up of light materials though.

I wonder how...Spike is doing. Our last talk wasn't really good though, and if I were to perish from this world, I'd left him with bitter talk as our last conversation. That's not very brotherly...even though he's not really my brother. I should maybe try my best to survive whatever awaits me up there. I am doing this for my brothers anyway, so I might as well try and be alive after all of this... Damn, this walk is taking us forever... Ugh... And here I thought that earth ponies had more stamina than unicorns! Oh yeah, Applejack... Sigh... I guess I'm the only weakling earth pony. Weakling... Hm... I wonder if there are changelings around here. Or maybe they fled to another land? Cloud Strike did said that the dragons have fled to avoid the chaos within Equestria. Why won't the earth ponies do the same anyway? They could just, I dunno, build a boat or a raft and sail away?

Sail away... Huh, that made me stop and stare at the horizon. Meh, I couldn't see the ocean beyond the vast forest. What is worse, the black clouds beyond is darkening whatever was beyond. Come to think of it though, I could barely see the orangey-red sky now... Has the black clouds gotten worse the last time I checked? Darn it... I don't care about this place, but I don't want the same to happen in my world! I seriously need to find a way to stop that from happening...even though it's not my job to do so. Sigh... Elderly brothers and their stupid habit to be responsible...

I wonder if Big Mac also felt that kind of responsibility, hence why he left his family to protect them? But what is he doing now? He's having a lot of great time with a certain purple unicorn, as far as I've heard. I rolled my eyes.

Oh, goodness and finally! We've reached the end of this darn forsaken stairway! The moment I had all four of my feet off of the stairs, I dropped myself on the ground, ignoring everything around me. Oh...I could just lie here and die... Hm... Strange that the first time I got here, I was lying down as well... Heh, brings back strange memories.

"That's him!" I heard Applejack's loud voice. I opened my eyes and tilted my head, and I found her staring at the unicorns a few meters away, with a hoof pointed at me. She then faced me with angry eyes. "That's the pony that escaped Unico'nia!"

I blinked...twice... "Er..." Sounds of hooves were getting louder as the owners of those hooves were getting closer. I tilted my head to the source, and saw angry-looking armored unicorns. "Well... fu---" A magically levitated and rusty bridle closed my mouth shut...

Chapter 42 - Fierce Yet Tired

I am quietly resting on this very thin and very dirty rug that the unicorns claim as a mattress. Aside from my own calm and relaxed breathing, and the echoes of the water dripping somewhere, there are no more sound that my ears could hear inside this very dim prison-dungeon cell thingy that the unicorns threw me in. Aw well, at least I could rest myself up a bit. I find it a bit hilarious that the unicorns forced themselves to carry me all the way here with their magic, since I was really really tired to even stand up. Not even their threateningly-looking whips forced me to stand though...

Applejack demanded to come and see me be put inside the dungeon though. She still didn't trust the unicorns, even though she was the one that turned me to them. Sigh... Anyway, they took my saddlebag. I asked them if they could at least give me some of the food I bought, for I was hungry at that time, and even now, but they refused, which sucked... I'm tired, and hungry... Yeah, I'm going to die...

The last of the unicorns that brought me here was inspecting the contents of my saddlebag on the other side of the iron bars. He arched his eyebrow as he levitated the blue diamond-gem thingie. I told him that Rarity asked me to deliver it to Twilight. He tilted his head to the side in confusion though, as he asked me a question: why was I to deliver such item if the receipient was going to kill me? I didn't answer. He shrugged after deciding that he should deliver it himself. Meh, saves me the trouble of facing the wrath of the purple unicorn.

Hm... I think I'm hearing footsteps...er...hoofsteps...hoovesteps...whatever...! A black figure stopped and stood a few meters in front of the iron bars that restricted me from escaping. I tilted my head weakly, and blinked a few times to help my eyes adjust to the blackness of things...even though I've been lying here in the dark for quite some time now. Well, outside my cell, there are torches that provides enough light to see the dungeon pathway.

He was a unicorn, oh great. I dropped my head back on the ground as the unicorn used his magic to open the iron door and helped himself inside. He left the door open as he stopped in front of my weakened self. Gee, as if I have the strength to make an escape. "What do you want, Starfall?" I asked weakly, not bothering to look at him.

"Oh? So you can still talk, huh?" came his stupid question, and I am certain he was grinning. I rolled my eyes and huffed. "Now now, you should learn how to show respect, after all," he took a step closer as a few more footsteps were echoing louder and louder from beyond the iron bars, "you don't want the princess to be angry with the way you bring yourself," I suddenly felt myself being pulled up in midair, and I felt my face was forcefully turned to meet a grinning unicornian face. "...right?"

"You have no idea," I hissed as I threw daggers with my weak glare, "how I want to spit on your face..."

He opened his mouth and was about to say something when three pony figures stopped in front of my dungeon-cell-room thingy. I don't really know what this place is called though. All I know is back at home where inside a police station, we call them jail cells. This here doesn't even look like a jail. Anyway, it was Applejack, and on both her sides were two unicorn ponies. "Commander," one of the unicorns spoke, making Starfall turn his head slightly, enough to give the three ponies a side-glance. "This pony here is demanding to get her reward money for the capture of Gold Blitz."

Starfall sighed slightly before returning his full gaze back on my frowning face. "Yes yes, later, after I'm done he---" Sounds of breaking bones and painful groans boomed from behind him. The two of us turned our attention at the source, and we saw a grinning Applejack, with the two unicorns lying quite hurt and unconscious in both her sides.

"Hey Star," I spoke, and Starfall immediately turned back to me with a shocked expression. I spat and hit his eye, making him yelp a bit, enough for him to remove his magical grasp on me. I may be tired, but I really tired my darnest to tackle him, it did made him take a step or two back. He clenched his teeth as he glared at me, but as he summoned magic on his horn, two powerful hooves kicked him from behind, sending him towards me, where I quickly lied down to avoid impact. He crashed on the wall, and bounced a bit back before falling on the ground in front of me.

"You could have hit me!" I glared at the grinning Applejack.

"Well, ya didn't, so stop yer complainin'," she smirked, and I rolled my eyes. She then came to me and helped me stand on my own four fe---er, hooves. "Ah can't believe yer stupid plan actually worked.

I grinned as she took an apple from my saddlebag that she was wearing. "Told you so."

"Whatever," she said as she handed me an apple. She went outside and dragged the other two unicorns inside my cell.

"At least you didn't kill them," I said after I finished my apple, and after Applejack dragged the two unicorns inside. Seeing her smirk made me gulp a huge lump of uncertainty. "...right?"

"Heh, dunno, dun care," she then faced me, "now hurry up before any more of those unicorns show up." I nodded and tried my best to ignore my tired body as we came out of the cell. She closed the door, locked it, and slammed both her hind hooves on the lock, bending the door and jamming the lock. I winced. "Heh, that'll give 'us more time when they wake up."

What she just said made me breath at ease. "So, they're still alive, right?" I turned at the three unconscious unicorns. From the darkness, I can't really tell if they're still breathing or not.

"Heh, who knows. Maybe, maybe not," she simply replied with a grin. I turned to her with a frown, and her grin dropped into an annoyed frown as she rolled her eyes. "Darn it, Brownie. Why do ya even care about 'em, anyway?"

"Er... Good point, but..."

She shook her head. "But nothin'. Now com'on. Their Princess Twi-whatever is waitin' fer ye in the castle ground."

I nodded as we started walking towards the...sigh...spiraling stairway leading to the castle's ground floor. "Right," came my lame reply. There's one thing I hate about my plan, is that I didn't take into consideration my tired state. And...I didn't expect Applejack to immediately call the unicorns' attentions. She didn't even gave me a heads up that she'll start the plan! Aw well... No use complaining now.

"So where next?" Applejack cautiously asked after we reached the end of the staircase. I sighed in frustration as I turned slightly, and pointed a hoof at the nearby set of spiraling staircase leading to the second floor. As we started heading towards it, where strangely, no unicorns were around, I think Applejack noticed my frustration. "Gotta love these here stairs," she grinned, and chuckled, and completely ignored my fierce-yet-tired glare.

Chapter 43 - Reaching The Destination

"Bloody..." I panted as my left hoof finally reached the last step of this darn staircase... "...stairs...umf..." I dropped myself on the castle's fourth floor. There were several unicorns on the lower floors though, but they were really busy running around for whatever reason, and they really didn't my our presence...except for this unicorn who is already approaching us from his post in front of the castle's library, where Applejack and I are heading. Great...

"What are two earth ponies doing here?" he asked with a raised eyebrow.

Applejack glared, "Brownie here's lookin' fer this here castle's library." The unicorn's eyebrow arched even further, and Applejack rolled her eyes. "Twahlight sent 'im."

"That's Princess Twilight, you unrespectful dirt-pony!" the unicorn hissed with both narrowed eyes and glowing horn. His partner, who was still standing on his post meters away in front of the library's door, turned his attention at us with a confused look, while Applejack took a daring step forward, and glaring daggers at the unicorn. Me? Oh, nothing new... I'm still lying on the ground, panting, tired, and hungry...

"Ah suggest ye step aside, horny," I actually blinked at that. I stared at Applejack, and yeah, she's grinning. "Or do ya want yer princess tah strip ya." Wow...uh...

The unicorn's horn stopped glowing, but his glare and stance remained. "What makes you think I'll let you pass?"

I didn't plan this... We're goners. Oh well... At least I tr---Applejack took out a scroll from her saddlebag with her mouth. She then turned with a glare to the unicorn in front of her, and judging from how she's trying not to bite the scroll and split it in half, she must really be wanting to kick the poor unicorn to kingdom come. The unicorn grabbed the piece of parchment with his magic, and studied the seal. "That there's from this horn-head called Rarity. She asked us tah deliver that to yer princess, but she told us to put it inside the library," she explained with a glare and a lame-sounding voice.

The unicorn opened his mouth, but no words came up. He shook his head slightly. "Fine, fine. I believe you," he said lowly through clenched teeth. Applejack then took the scroll with a fast hoof. Heh. "But only one of you will go inside."

Applejack was about to protest when I cut her of with an intentional loud groan as I stood on all four. "I-is the library neatl-ly arranged now?"

He arched me an eyebrow. "What do you mean?"

I shrugged. "Last time I was there, the books were all scattered about."

"You've been inside before?"

I flashed him a lame look. "Oh, really? No." He actually growled, and I winced slightly. "Okay okay, I was, sheesh... Look, let me just deliver this here paper and then we'll leave."

"Be quick about it," he hissed and he exhaled sharply before tuning around and walking back to his post. Applejack and I soon followed after I took the scroll from her.

"Ah'm gonna wait out here," she said as she was staring around, until she suddenly stopped. Curious, I stopped as well, and she was staring at the hallway opposite to where we came from. I was going to ask what it was, but judging from how her neutral expression suddenly became like she could take this castle down to ashes, I kept my mouth shut. "Ah think ah need to go somewhere," she hissed through clenched teeth and started walking away.

I...guess I'm on my own then. The two unicorns lit their horns and opened the double door to the library. Noticing my lame look, they both turned their heads and saw how messy the library is. It still even have that black explosion marks on the ground, where Twilight's magic and Spike's flames exploded. Spike...

"Th-that's Princess Celestia...?" the other unicorn whispered in disbelief. I rolled my eyes as I walked inside. Finally, I can talk to Celestia.

I jumped, startled, after a loud bang sound of wood or something echoed. I quickly turned around and saw the startled looks of the two unicorns. "What was that just now?" I asked the two of them.

The two unicorns looked at each other, and then back to me. Seeing their faces, I'm certain that they don't know as well. After staring at the peaceful form of Celestia for a few moments, they then closed the double doors. I took a deep breath, and exhaled. I then took a step forward, and then another, and another... I stopped. Nothing bad is happening yet. What the heck, why am I waiting for something bad to happen!? I continued moving forward.

Turning around the corner, Applejack took notice of the nearest door of a room that just closed. Exhaling angrily, she marched towards the door, and slammed a hoof, instantly opening the door and slamming it on the wall, creating a loud bang, and startling the red stallion inside, dropping the golden helmet from his hooves.

"Ah've got somethin' tah say to yah, mister," Applejack hissed with a cold glare at the shocked red earth stallion, and everything went dead silent, saved for the creaking sound from the door, that is slowly closing.

Chapter 44 - Cause Of Darkness

As I reached the table, where Twilight was seated the first time I got inside this messy library of hers, Celestia's dark-blue gem-cage-thingy started to glow faintly. And while it was glowing though, I was starting to feel...light...lighter...inside of me... It's like, if you're really having a troubled mind, you just need to go somewhere to cool off, like in a quiet beach. The beach...how I miss that cool and salty breeze...

"Gold Blitz..." Celestia's voice echoed, and as soon as I heard her, that was when I realized that I was closing my eyes. I opened them, and I found myself in the darkness once again, though Celestia's glowing form was a few feet in front of me. She was...frowning... "Must you need to risk your very life to reach me here? And for what purpose, may I ask?"

I frowned. Gee, "hello to you too, Princess," I cleared my throat, "I'm realy in a hurry though, so I'll make this quick. Ahem, well uh, your sister directed me here to ask you how to get rid of the black clouds."

The dark environment around us suddenly changed into the brown field of the War Plains. I could see the Castle of Ca---er---Unicornia from a distance. Turning to the other direction, I saw the white cloud kingdom of the pegasi. I heard Celestia took a gentle intake of breath, which caught my attention. I faced her as she turned her head up, staring solemnly at the black blanket of clouds.

"Are you knowledgeable of dragons?" She asked, still staring at the clouds above.

I tilted my head to the side in confusion. "Er... Not much. Dragons don't exist in the world where I came from, anyway, so uh..."

She slowly turned her head down to face me. "What do you know of them, then?"

I am not sure if this is needed. I just told her that I am in a hurry, haven't I? Aw well... "Well, they're reptiles, they're huge, they have wings, they breathe fire, they can fly, they eat other animals---" Celestia's eyebrow arched, "---they're strong, and uh..." I blinked a few times, "I guess...that's all I know about them. Why?"

She turned slightly, facing something of her general direction of her sight. I followed her gaze, and saw tall mountains from the distance. From my point of view, those group of tall mountains are...west...from Unicornia. Huh, and out of all those mountains, one of them -- the tallest -- is looking...very thin. And now that I was staring at that specific mountain, I am sure that there are...black...smoke-clouds coming out from that land formation.

"The Smokey Mountains," Celestia's voice echoed, "that is where the source of these black clouds are coming from." O-oh... I think I know where this is going already... Celestia's head slightly turned, enough to give me a side glance. "There, inside the cave on the highest peak of the tallest mountain, is a dragon currently in slumber."

I sighed. Yeah, I knew it... "This dragon's snoring is making all of this, huh?" Celestia nodded with a small hint of surprise. "So, all I need to do is to wake that dragon up and ask it to sleep somewhere else?"

Celestia closed her eyes and shook her head slightly. "If only it was that easy, my little pony." I'm not a pony! Well, I am, at the moment, but uh, oh whatever... "And if the dragon were to comply and sleep elsewhere, the area of it's choice will suffer the same fate."

"Good...point..." I scratched my nape, confused. "So uh," I gulped, "h-how am I to stop the dragon from snoring?"

Celestia's face wrinkled slightly, and it was full of worry. I don't like where this is going... She opened her mouth to say something, but I suddenly felt that I was flying. It was a very weird sensation, but I suddenly felt a sharp pain on my side, as if I was slammed on a wall or something. The instant I opened my eyes though, I found myself lying on the messy library's floor, near the wall. Was I really thrown to this wall?

"Welcome back," I was stunned to hear the voice of the unicorn mare I so did not want to meet just yet. I then found myself being levitated and floated towards the fierce-looking Twilight Sparkle, who was standing on the center of the room, and behind her were the two unicorns who were standing outside. I am suddenly feeling quite tired. That soothing feeling I was having earlier was instantly gone, and was quickly replaced with the feelings I was dealing with a while ago: tiredness, hunger, and more tiredness... Flailing my limbs to break free seems useless though. "You've been a pretty bad pony, Blitz."

"Look who's talking," I snarled. "Let me go!"

"No chance," she grinned as her horn glowed intensely. "You're alone, and nopony will come to help you this time."

That's where you're wrong. But I just wish Applejack would come here now and...oh! There she i---her hooves are tied with ropes as she was dragged inside the room with three other unicorns, and one of them was Starfall. Oh great...

Twilight turned her head towards the newcomers. The instant she did, Big Mac came in with a serious look. "Look's like everpony's present," Twilight grinned, winked at the red stallion, and turned towards my floating self.

"S-sorry Brownie..." I heard Applejack's quiet voice as she dropped her gaze on the floor. She eyed me slightly, and I immediately took it to flash her a small smile. Not like this was all her fault. I planned everything poorly, in all honesty. I should have planned things better than this... I wonder if I'd be able to get back to my human self if Twilight decides to kill me. Gulp... I don't wanna feel how death would be like... What if... Eh? Something was opening the window from outside behind Twilight's direction.

"You made me wait in the castle ground, Blitz, and that is not very nice," Twilight grinned as I rolled my eyes.

"Let him go!" Yelled Spike, as he jumped from the window, and landed on the floor. Twilight, surprised, spun around, as I placed a hoof on my face. Oh goodness...haven't Spike heard of a surprise attack? It could have worked! What's done's done, I guess. Other unicorns turned with different levels of surprised expressions.

Twilight calmed and frowned. "Oh, it's just you..." she said lamely.

Spike grinned as he crossed his arms over his chest. Damn, I miss having arms... "Guess again, Twilight."

From the same window he came in, three pony figures jumped in and landed in front of the small baby dragon. Applejack and Big Mac gasped in unison after recognizing one of the three crusaders. How they got up here from a window, I need to ask that later. The three crusaders wore their small signature capes. Their teen-aged figures may not deliver a threat, but their eyes...they're...fearsome...and scary...

Chapter 45 - The Rescue Mission

Scootaloo groaned in annoyance, "Spike," she turned to face the wondering baby dragon, "you said there's going to be hundreds of unicorns here!"

"Er..." I arched an eyebrow... Isn't it a good thing there are only less enemies to fight? Wait... This is Scootaloo... I better start to adjust to her tomboy-ish attitude...

"Not now, Scoots," Sweetie Belle spoke, making Scootaloo's attention return to the unicorns. The unicorns' horns are already glowing threateningly, however. Twilight's as well. Wait, she can fight them while holding me in the air? Ugh... Element of Magic... We're doomed.

"Bloom," yelled Applejack, "get outta here!"

Apple Bloom only shook her head. "Ah can't do that, sis. I'm a crusader, and we're gonna do this tagether." She then glared at the red earth stallion. "Ah also wanna buck Big Mac so hard in his arse fer leavin' us!"

Scootaloo sighed in frustration.

"Sounds like you ponies only came here to die," Starfall grinned, taking two painful steps forward, making Spike jump slightly in place. "Allow me, your highness."

"Not now, Scoots," Sweetie Belle spoke, making Scootaloo's attention return to the unicorns. "Here's the plan," Sweetie Belle mentally communicated with her fellow crusaders and to Spike, who was standing behind her. "Bloom, you take those unicorns close to your sister."

"Not a problem," Apple Bloom replied in her mind.

"Scoots, think you can deal with mister ugly over there?"

"Aw... I'm only fighting one pony? Talk about lame~!"

Sweetie Belle fought the urge to roll her eyes. "If it makes you feel better, that already-hurt unicorn's magic is stronger than the others I've sensed, except for that purple one."

"Can I fight that purple one instead?"

"Scootaloo..."

Scootaloo sighed in frustration. "Fine fine."

"Sounds like you ponies only came here to die," Starfall grinned, taking two painful steps forward.

"Spike," Sweetie Belle locked her gaze on the purple unicorn.

Spike jumped in attention. "Y-yes?"

"Allow me, your highness."

Starfall's horn glowed fiercely and brightly for a short second before he shot a powerful beam from his horn, and towards the crusaders. Sweetie Belle shouted "now!" and the four of them scattered to avoid the beam. Colliding on the wall, the beam exploded on impact, shaking the room slightly as smoke covered the scene.

Scootaloo jumped, extending her left wing, as she grinned. She landed in front of Starfall, and immediately swept the unicorn's hooves off of the ground with her wing -- her only wing...

As Scootaloo jumped, Apple Bloom quickly dashed towards the two unicorns holding her dear sister. She turned left and right, to avoid the beams of the unicorns, while she still kept running. She jumped, turned, and delivered a powerful spin kick at the two unicorn's heads. Their helmets weren't enough to filter the powerful kick the teen filly gave them, as they flew in all sides.

Landing in front of her sister, she turned and glared at her startled brother.

As Scootaloo jumped, Sweetie Belle summoned a thin air barrier, which was strong enough to block the two beams of the two unicorn stallions that were standing before Twilight. Reaching close to the two, she magically threw her barrier at them, pushing them towards the purple unicorn mare.

Twilight however, shoved the two stallions aside before they crash into her. The two stallions slid and stopped below the floated earth pony.

Twilight's horn glowed and levitated the unicorn filly just before Sweetie Belle could prepare herself to jump at her to deliver a horn-stab headbutt. But as the filly was quickly levitated up, Spike appeared and breathed out a fierce green fume of flames, swallowing the wide-eyed purple unicorn.

As Twilight shoved the two unicorns aside that were thrown towards her, Scootaloo brought both her front hooves in the air, and stomped at the darn head of the unicorn, only to grace her hooves with the library's floor as Starfall rolled away from her.

Immediately standing on all four, and ignoring his highness being swallowed in flames, he flared his horn at...nothing.

"Right here," Scootaloo whispered, giving Starfall enough time to glance on his right before the filly's powerful wing pounded his helmet-less head.

As Applejack tried to remove the ropes that were binding her hooves, Apple Bloom quickly dashed towards her brother after the stallion was about to grab the fallen sword from the unicorn the filly knocked out.

Unable to reach the weaponry in time, Macintosh raised his hooves to block his little sister's kick. As he did so, he noticed a bright green light in the corner of his eye. Unfortunately, it distracted him from noticing that his sister grabbed his hooves with her own, pulled them down with the aid of gravity and her own weight, and immediately slammed her head on Macintosh's neck.

He took a few awkward steps back as he choked and coughed. Apple Bloom was about to continue her angry attacks when a bright magical light flashed on her side.

Landing on all four, Sweetie Belle ran just before Twilight summoned her own wind spells to create a shock wave to remove the smoke around her, but not the green smoke hovering above her.

Angry, she had no time to concern herself of why the dragon in front of her was smirking. Finally giving in to curiosity, she noticed all the books around her were gone.

"Shoot," Twilight whispered sharply as dozens of books fell over her.

Sweetie Belle ignored the groaning stallions beside her as she casts a counter-spell on the floating earth pony. She also ignored the number of falling books behind her.

She has to admit: casting a counter-spell against the purple unicorn's magic is tougher than she thought. She felt a beam of magic, but sensing that it wasn't aimed at her, she ignored it.

Applejack had no time to deal with the ropes binding her hind legs. Using the ropes that were used to tie her front hooves, she quickly and expertly knotted it to make a lasso and threw it at her little sister. And she pulled her out of the way in time before a beam of magic hit her.

Apple Bloom stumbled, but immediately got back on her hooves as a few more unicorns came inside the library with glowing horns.

He received a few wing and hoof attacks before he finally got enough energy on his horn to surround the fast pegasus filly with magic. Grinning, Starfall levitated Scootaloo as sounds of falling books reached his ears. Not satisfied, he mixed his magic with other enchantments, making the pegasus cringe in pain.

Scootaloo had never dealt with such a painful headache before, but she needed to focus if she desire not to continue having this pain coursing inside her head. Breathing sharply, she flared her only wing as she slightly opened an eye to see her target. Sweetie Belle has thought her of a technique before, that magic energy depends on the user's mind. To counter magic, one's mind must be stronger.

Starfall gasped as a painful magical wave reached his mind and as the filly flared all her limps apart, breaking his magic energy around her as she yelled.

Quickly emerging from the mountain of books, and ignoring the already weakening field of magic she casted on the pony behind her, Twilight glared at the baby dragon, who somehow managed to summon a green fiery lance that he held on both claws.

Already in his stance, Spike aimed, only to be thrown back from the impact after a beam of magic exploded in front of him.

Twilight immediately took this as her chance. Standing on the mountain of books, she channeled powerful magic on her horn, and immediately fired a fierce purple beam, hitting the recovering baby dragon, and pushing him towards the wall before the beam exploded.

"SPIKE!" I yelled, suddenly forgetting how tired and hungry I was. I ignored Sweetie Belle's voice of comfort as I flailed my limbs, trying to break myself free. I was angry, no, I am angry.

The beam exploded, and I was stunned for a moment before this...powerful anger...within me...

"RAHHH!!!" The brown earth stallion shouted in rage as he sliced the air in front of him with a hoof, managing to shatter the fields of magic that was surrounding him, making both Sweetie Belle and Twilight receive a powerful and painful wave of magic in their minds.

Landing on all four, Gold Blitz immediately dashed and delivered a headbutt on the side of the dazed purple unicorn. A bolt of magic hit his side, but he didn't budge, even after it exploded and swallowed by the smoke.

Recovering, Twilight stood, only to stumble back on the floor as the brown earth stallion jumped and pinned her down. Gold Blitz stepped aside as he immediately bit the unicorn's mane. He pulled, dragging the yelping unicorn along, and he started spinning in place, gathering enough momentum and speed before letting go of the unicorn's mane.

Twilight's back slammed on Celestia's gem-cage. She bounced slightly as the air on her lungs escaped, and she landed on top of her table. She tiredly opened her eyes, and saw the enraged brown earth stallion walking towards her, his red and yellow eyes sending chills down to her spine.

Chapter 46 - Shifts Of Memories

"RAHHH!!!"

"RAHHH!!!"

"RAHHH!!!"

"RAHHH!!!"

"RAHHH!!!"

My shout echoed inside my head a few more times as I started to...lose control of my own anger. I was moving, despite my own mind not giving any commands to do anything. I tried to stop myself, but I was powerless against...myself...

My vision was dimming on all corners, as I was also being blinded by flashes of yellow and red... I don't understand what is going on. I was completely no longer controlling my own body. It was as if my own rage left me in the back seat to watch it take over.

My head, ack...!

Applejack...opened a wooden door by slamming it open with her own hoof. "Ah've got somethin' tah say to yah, mister," she hissed at the startled red earth stallion inside the room, the helmet he held with both hooves fell from his grasp.

Darkness... I felt like I was freezing... I heard myself breathing out calmly. My eyes opened without the need of my mind's commands. It was evening, and on the foot of this small hill I was standing on was a blue equine figure with a rainbow mane...

I suddenly wondered: what is that pegasus doing, seating on this darn cold snow? I decided to approach the pegasus. One step at a time. Soon, I was standing beside her. She noticed my presence, but turned her head away from me. I don't understand, but I feel that I already have my own problems to deal with but... I brought a hoof on her shoulder.

And it was dark once again... I heard a crack. It was quiet, but it hurt my ears, and I don't know why... The sound was really painful, but I can't feel my own limbs to try and rub my ears to help it ease up a bit...

Lightning broke through the darkness. I turned and saw the three teen mares of different races. We were inside a castle, and I turned my angry gaze away from them as I crossed my arms over my chest. "Whatever," I heard myself saying. It sounded mine, but it didn't felt mine...

A hoof slapped my on my cheeks, and I suddenly found myself lying on the forest floor. I groaned tiredly as I stood back up on all four. My ears suddenly jerked up straight as I heard faint sounds of hooves. I quickly hid behind a thick tree, and dared taking a peek. I feel the need of not letting myself be caught once again. I won't let them! I've worked so hard to escape that damn place!

I saw a lot of ponies: unicorns and earth ponies. They haven't taken over Ponyville yet, have they? No, they couldn't! Why am I even thinking of such nonsense! Darn it... Why are those unicorns so heartless to those earth ponies!? They look extremely tired of all that pulling they're doing, and those unicorns are whipping them still!?

I wanted to help them, but I can't... I mean... H-hey, they stopped. At least they could rest up a bit. W-wait, who's that? Isn't that...me? And Applejack...?

"Get away from me," I blinked as Rainbow's voice reached my ears. I winced as I removed my orange hoof on her blue shoulder.

"Sorry," I heard my voice spoke, but it really and strangely felt like it wasn't my own. I heard that painful crack sound again, and I winced, I really felt like I winced, but I didn't. "What's got ye so down in the dumps?"

"Are you earth ponies dumb or something?" Rainbow turned her head sharply to give me a cold yet teary glare. "I said to get away. Leave me---!"

"---alone," Big Macintosh spoke gently yet threateningly after the door closed behind me.

I dared taking a step forward. "Ah've been dyin' tah know somethin' for quite some tahm now, big brother, and Ah wanna know it now!" I slammed both my hind hooves on the slowly opening door behind me, making the door slam shut and throwing the pony who was trying to open it back.

Macintosh frowned. "Yer gonna be captured, even if Ah tell you."

"Do Ah look like Ah care!?" I snarled as rapid hooves were desperately trying to open the door behind me. Annoyed, I kicked the handle, jamming the door shut. I growled at the stallion in front of me. "Tell me!"

"No!" Apple Bloom hissed and was about to slap me again, but a wing grabbed her lifted hoof. She turned and saw Scootaloo's slowly shaking head. She returned her hoof on the ground as she took a breath to calm herself a bit, as I rubbed my painful cheek with my scaly purple hand. "Listen here, Spike," Apple Bloom was clearly trying to stay calm. "The first tahm we met, ya said that he was more like a brother to ya, but is this how yer gonna treat 'im?"

"Hey," I spoke, to my defense, "he's the one being unreasonable! I tried telling him that it's a crazy idea, but he just won't listen!"

"I don't know," Sweetie Belle spoke gently, "and I'm not sure if I really should believe that he's from this other world, but maybe, just maybe, that he has good reason to be doing such a crazy thing?"

"Yeah," I replied lamely as I rolled my eyes. "He wants to get rid of the black clouds."

"Really?" Sweetie Belle quickly said, cutting both her friends off. "Why so?" she asked with complete interest.

I shook my head. "I don't know, and I'm not going after him to know."

"Yer bein' selfish," Apple Bloom spoke.

"I am not!" Spike and Rainbow Dash yelled in unison.

I grinned. "Yes ye are," I said as I sat beside her. She exhaled sharply and turned her head away from me. "Com'on, spit it out. Maybe Ah can help."

Rainbow didn't said anything. After a few quiet seconds, she took a deep breath and sighed. "I failed..." She took another few seconds before turning her head slightly, enough to give me a side glance. I flashed her a weak yet genuine smile.

"All Ah wanted," I snarled at the red stallion in front of me, "is to know the truth, Mac!"

"Ye want the truth!? Fahn," he glared back, "Ah went to war, but Ah was captured and then---" and then the door behind me exploded, and everything went black and a painfully loud crashing sound of a shattered glass echoed inside my head, that made me jerk and jump into...wakefulness? I blinked a few times to adjust to the candle-lit room I was in. I found myself on my home's sofa... I'm...back home?

"Bro," I heard my brother's quiet words across the table in front of me. He lifted his monitor-lit head and gave me a bored look. He then turned his laptop around for me to see the screen. "You've got a lot of explaining to do..."

"Eeyup," Claire chimed in, who was sitting beside my brother.

I was...stunned. I have absolutely no idea how to explain that to them... My brother's laptop is showing me a video...of my point of view...of the battle...inside the library...

Chapter 47 - Realization Of Actions

The candle-lit living room was filled with the noises outside: heavy rain, loud and earth-shaking thunder roars, strong wind currents and rustling iron rooftops trying their best not to be blown away.

Inside this candle-lit living room was me, Claire, and my brother. The two of them were seated on the sofa across from mine, and a wooden table was in between us, where the candle was joining me in quietly watching the two's dumb-founded faces as soon as I finished telling them the bizarre experiences I've been having: me going to Equestria as an earth pony, the war between pegasi and unicorns, me and Spike escaping the purple unicorn, and so on and so forth...

I chuckled nervously as I shifted on my seat into a more comfortable position after a few minutes of my two listeners still not moving an inch. If they keep that up though, I'm pretty sure a fly or two will decide to land inside their open mouths.

As I was telling them everything though, I ignored my phone vibrating in...oh yeah, my phone. I took it out form my pocket and yep, I got a new text message from an unknown sender.

"So..." I heard Claire's voice as I opened the message, "what happens next?"

"Gold, please stop! We're trying to help you!" I whispered curiously. 'What the heck is going on back there?' I thought as I typed it. If it's from Spike, then I can probably send this message. Pressing the send button, sending...done. Nice. I turned to Claire as my brother's laptop buzzed in weird noises that irritated my ears a bit. He woke up from his daze and started messing with his laptop.

"The heck's happening to you?" My brother whispered to himself.

"What was that, Claire?" I asked Claire, who was seated beside my brother.

The noise from my brother's laptop ceased as Claire replied. "I just asked if what are you going to do now?"

I blinked, and shrugged. "I'm not sure exactly..."

"But you can't just leave them back there."

I blinked in confusion. "You actually believed me?"

"Were you lying?"

"Well, no, but..." I scratched my nape, unsure of what to say next as I removed my gaze from her, and settled on staring at the candle in front of us. "But like I said earlier..." My brother's laptop was at it again with the noise, "I am just trying to figure out---" my phone vibrated, so I looked at the screen, and as soon as I did, my bro's laptop stopped screeching or whatever. "---of how to get rid of the black clouds..." I opened the text message.

"So, you're just using them, then?"

I was about to read the message, but Claire's choice of words made me look directly at her with an angry frown. "Of course not!"

"Well, it sounds like you are..."

"No. Look, I...tsk..." Fair point... Why haven't I thought of that? I never would have wanted to use anyone for my own personal needs and wants and desires before... M-maybe it's because my brother's future was at stake? I sighed. "No, you're right, Claire..." I can't believe I'm using the ponies just to reach my goal... I can't believe that I'm using Spike for it... He's did so much for me, and in return, I was using him... But if I help him... Wait... What does he need help with again? I shook my head hastily and read the message.

"Oh, Gold! You replied! That's a great relief! And here I thought you were the one thrashing around here. But if you're there, then who's controlling you here?"

...I have no idea what he means by that...

My bro's laptop was screeching once again, and after a few seconds, my phone received another message. A few seconds after that, the laptop stopped screeching. My bro lifted his head and gave me a frustrated look.

"Your phone's killing my laptop..." he gave me a small glare as he turned his laptop to me. Claire leaned ahead and turned her head to see what was on the screen. The screen is displaying some sort of line graph with zigzag-gy patterns and numbers that I don't understand. "Big bro," Kronz spoke, "your phone's receiving a very powerful wave of frequency from somewhere. Are those messages from uh...Equestria...?" I blinked, and nodded slowly. "Huh," he whispered with a grin as he spun his laptop and started typing whatever. "I'm gonna trace the source. This'll be interesting." He stuck his tongue out as he concentrated, and Claire was really staring curiously and excitedly at the screen. "So, what's the message about?" My bro asked along with the noise of furiously pressed keys on the keyboard.

I opened the message and read it out loud: "Okay, you're calming down now. Sheesh, you caused---" I read it to myself instead, "---quite a mess back here. I'll tell you the details later. Right now, we have to get far away from Unicornia... Take care, and oh, thanks for the gems in your bag. Um... You don't need them, right?" I chuckled.

"Who-hoo!" my brother threw his hands in the air with a victorious smile. "Traced it!" He quickly spun the laptop for me to see the screen. "And the source isn't far from here, too!"

I think that's called a Google Map. The screen is displaying our little Sun Ford Town, and on the west was the red pointer, where I assumed was where my brother had located the source of the frequency he was talking about. Why does it always have to be west again? And...it's the tallest mountain on the island.

"We're going hiking?" I asked, and my brother smiled and nodded. I glared at him. "Under this storm?" He nodded again, and his smile grew bigger. I glared some more. "You're crazy," yet I flashed a smile. "Let's go then!"

"What!?" Claire exclaimed, quickly glancing at the wall clock above me. "It's midnight! And it's raining!"

Chapter 48 - Through The Storm

I don't know how to drive a two-wheeled vehicle. I don't know how to balance, and I don't want to have another fearsome accident again. When I was young, when my family was still as sticky as glue, my parents were teaching me how to ride a bike. To make things short, what was suppose to be another beautiful family bonding ended up in horror-panic when a car accidentally hit me. I'm really envious to those who are able to ride on bikes with ease. Every time I decide to try again, I couldn't...

But that didn't stop me from learning how to drive a motorbike. A three-wheeled motor bike, I mean. A tricycle. Claire and Kronz told me that our parents have arrived while I was still out, and they were now probably asleep inside their room. And oh, the power was still out, hence why there are only candles providing light in our house.

I left Claire and my bro in the living room as I quietly snuck inside our parents' room. I'm glad the strong and loud storm is filtering the creaking noise of their door, but I ain't taking any chances. Slipping inside, I quietly worked my way to their side-table, where a dimly-lit candle's struggling to live. Beside it was the one I needed. Quietly grabbing the keys, I then stared at my parents' sleeping forms. Yeah, my father still snores very very loud, and I have no idea how in the world my mom got used to such a noise.

I went out and quietly shut the door behind me. I went to the living room, and saw Kronz was ready with his laptop in tow. How many hours can his laptop stay on power, anyway? Well, he did made some modifications to it, so yeah... Claire was still insisting that we'd drop the idea, but nope. That ain't happening. It has been forever since my brother and I did something together that involves going outside and experience adventure. I took my gray jacket, tossed the two of them a jacket each, left a note on our dining table, went out of the house, wore some boots, opened our garage, drove my dad's tricycle out, closed the garage, Kronz and Claire sat on the passenger seats, and off we go.

It was really cold, and the wind is strong. I could barely see the road ahead of me. This storm has somehow created a thin layer of fog. But I doubt that anyone is on the road at this hour, and with this crazy storm. I just hope that the wind wont be strong enough to lift our tricycle flying in the air.

A small log on the road made us jump on our seats. Claire and Kronz hit the ceiling, and I couldn't hold my laugh. I felt my phone vibrating, but I don't want to trouble with it for a while. I'm driving here! The first time I ignored my phone vibrating, I was sent back to Equestria. I gulped, quickly pulled my phone from my pocket, and threw it at Claire's lap. She glared at me for a moment before opening the new message my phone received. My bro muttered something about my phone making his laptop go crazy, but I didn't mind him. I kept my attention on the road.

"It's blank!" Claire shouted through the loud wind and engine noise. I noticed that if the messages were from Spike, the message would instantly appear. But if it's blank, then... "O-oh, something is being written!" I knew it. It's probably the voice that I haven't heard for quite some time now. "'Twilight knew... She knew...' What does that mean?"

My bro shook his head. "I still can't believe my favorite pony's a bad pony!"

"I can't believe unicorns are bad ponies!" Claire chimed in, and I rolled my eyes at the two of them. Twilight knew... She knew what, exactly? Claire was typing on my phone, but groaned. "I can't send it..."

"Turn left, bro!" My bro spoke as he was busy with his laptop. I barely noticed an intersection ahead, and I then turned left when I could.

"Control your anger..." Claire spoke after my bro's laptop stopped being crazy. Control my anger, huh? That's a bit difficult to do, to be honest. I shook my head and concentrated on the road.

We were now reaching the edge of town, and I stopped on the road where the cemented path ends. With a crazy storm like this, and a very muddy path up ahead, I don't think this tricycle can handle it. I sighed as I informed them that we'd be walking on foot from here. As expected, they complained, but I shrugged. Claire again insisted that we'd go back, but I asked my bro of what to do from here. I don't really like making decisions if my bro's involved.

"Let's continue," my bro said with a nod, earning him a smile from me and a groan from Claire.

I shut the engine off, pulled the tricycle beside a thick and tall tree, chained it there, took three flashlights from my dad's toolbox, and we continued going to our destination by foot. I gave them each a flashlight, and with it to light our path, we continued our journey. Lucky that we were wearing boots, and for my bro to put his laptop inside his jacket. It was a sticky walk, and a cold and difficult one, but we did manage to reach the edge of a small forest bordering the town from the wild nature.

"I-it's safe there, right?" Claire asked as we slowly worked our way inside, where the forest ground is at least easier to walk on.

"I doubt that even predators would dare wander around with this kind of weather." I grinned.

"Jay!"

"I'm kidding," I smiled at a glaring face. "There aren't really any animals here," I spoke as Claire and I followed my bro, who was walking ahead. "Aside from birds and squirrels and other small little animals."

As we continued our walk through the forest, I asked Claire for my phone back. She gave it back to me, and we continued our trek in silence. The occasional roars of thunder, the strong winds dancing with the wild rustling leaves and the whispers of the cold night wind are the only noises that were surrounding us.

We soon reached the other edge of the forest. Before us was the base of the mountains, which was a few meters from the edge of the forest. There's a cave, but that's not the one that caught our attention. We quickly turned our flashlights off and hid behind the trees. There were vehicles here and near the cave. One stood out the most, for it was the only vehicle with lights on. It was a van, with a satellite on it's roof. Huh, looks like we're not the only ones who are investigating this frequency thing...

"No one seems to be outside," my brother whispered.

"We're still going!?" Claire almost shouted. "What if we get caught? What if we're trespassing!?"

I nodded, "I agree with Cl---" My brother was already walking stealthily towards the cave. "Kro---oh, whatever," I groaned and turned to Claire. "I'll follow and try to stop him." I love adventure, and I certainly want to spend more time with my bro, but there are limits, and as a big brother, it's my responsibility to make my younger siblings see logic. "Stay here and wait for us?"

"Y-you're leaving me?" she shook her head hastily. "No way. I'm going with, but we're only going to get Kronz, and then we head back."

I nodded. "Sounds like a plan." I turned and saw my brother went inside the cave. Darn it...! "Let's go."

Chapter 49 - Inside Mount Comet

It took us a few minutes for Kronz to convince Claire and I to continue our little adventure-investigation-thingy. The cave was dark and chilly. Good thing we have our flashlights, but our slightly wet jackets aren't helping us properly against the chilly air inside. It was still bearable, for them, at least. I kinda don't like the cold.

With his laptop, my bro led the way. I think I saw the layout of the cave on his computer screen. "This way," he spoke and took a left when the three of us reached a three-way fork.

The cave was made of dark earth rocks, and a few bats were flying above. Little winged insects are flying around, busy being scooped by bats. I noticed that our path was slightly inclined upward. The cave soon started to feel like a pathway, with the walls being smaller than the first time we entered the place.

"So," Claire's soft voice caught my attention. "What will you do next when you get back to Equestria?" She smiled awkwardly. "Heheh. That sounded weird..."

"Very," I replied, "Well, I am probably going to...another mountain adventure yet again."

She frowned, concerned. "A-are you going to deal with that smokey dragon?"

I shrugged. "I don't really have any other plans."

"Why not bring Fluttershy along?" Kronz suddenly spoke as he took a right.

"I'm not sure," I replied as Claire and I followed him. "I mean, she's kinda busy watching over the ponies inside the old castle..."

Claire quietly squeed, earning herself a raised eyebrow from me. "Oh, Fluttershy's so cute!" she squeaked, "oh, I don't know if I could handle seeing her for real!" I rolled my eyes, and I think Kronz did the same as well. "Anyway," she composed herself, "I think you should ask Fluttershy to help you. I mean, well, the CMC are also helping out, right?"

I nodded, but, "...but, I'm not even sure if they escaped the castle..."

What if they didn't? Or what if Applejack or one of the CMC didn't manage to escape? What then? Should I go back and rescue them? But what if the unicorns already killed them? Going back to rescue them would be pointless then... Ugh...

"...you alright?" Claire asked as I rubbed my forehead.

"N-no," I admitted. Damn, I suddenly am feeling a very painful headache...

Kronz stopped, and I barely noticed him doing so. Claire and I stopped as well behind him. "If I didn't disable the audio," Kronz spoke as he was typing on his laptop, "my comp's really going to screech." He looked ahead, pointing his flashlight ahead, lighting nothing but the cave's floor. "The frequency is really getting stronger." He looked over his shoulder. "I think we're---are you okay bro?"

I shook my head as I waved my hand to dismiss the question. "I'm fine, kinda..." I suddenly felt my phone vibrating... Tsk...

My brother frowned as I took out my phone. "Big bro, we can leave if you want." Yeah, my bro's caring if he notices others are suffering or no longer enjoying themselves.

Blank... And then... 'I can feel something powerful... What are you doing...? Where are you...?'

Yeah, as if I am able to reply. "Any thoughts on who might the voice be?" I asked out of the blue as I returned my phone back. Claire and Kronz looked at each other with puzzled looks. They returned to me with the same response: "no". I sighed and rubbed my head. "Let's continue, then..."

We continued, my head really hurting, but I tried my best to bear it, although I'm failing to do so miserably...

"You guys noticed that there are no bats or bugs flying around?" Claire suddenly asked, breaking the silence.

Kronz shrugged. "Yeah, I did. Must be the frequency. It's getting really strong." He spared a moment to glance at me, and I smiled painfully. He frowned.

We continued onward. We turned, walked on, and soon, we saw the path up ahead. We...saw. There was light up ahead. We stopped, turned our flashlights off, and quickly hid behind a large rock. And oh, I wonder if it's just me, or is the place getting chillier...?

"Okay," Kronz spoke quietly, "there are really people here aside from us."

I rolled my eyes, despite this painful headache. "Gee, and I thought the vans down below were only for decorations..."

"I-I think we should go back, now." Claire spoke, and I could agree, but...

"...but we've reached this far, and," he looked at his laptop, "the source of the frequency is just up ahead."

"...where the light is coming from? Joy..." I sighed.

"Well," Kronz spoke, "what if this source-thing is the one giving off the lights?"

"A fifty-fifty chance of that, then..." I replied.

"Can we go now?" Claire frowned.

Kronz looked at me, and grinned. "Well, you heard the lady." And he quickly and stealthily moved onward, completely ignoring my and Claire's whispered calls. Tsk...! I felt my phone vibrating, but bah, whatever! I ran after my bro. Claire gasped, but stood her ground.

Kronz crouched behind a tall rock, peeking his head out to see what was up ahead. I reached him, and crouched behind him. Darn, this headache is getting worse...

"Bro, we nee---"

A powerful roar of thunder cut me off. Thunder? I peeked ahead, and saw that the light was coming from outside. Huh, so we're on the peak already? Or is that just an exit? The source of the light were those light stands scattered around the flat surface outside the cave. Box-like machines stood there, with lights of colors flashing there and there, and wires were running around and down to the edge of the mountain, probably towards the vehicles down below. What is more, there are three people wearing raincoats, but...they're lying on the cold ground.

And I just noticed... The light stands were all pointed and focused on something up above. Meters from the ground, was a...hole, of some sort. And that hole was sending off black cloud-smoke towards the sky up above. "Well, that explains the storm..." I whispered through clenched teeth.

"AHH!" Claire's loud voice echoed, making my bro and I jump and turn to her. She was in panic and was running towards us. A growl echoed, and we soon saw a pair of yellow eyes chasing after Claire! "T-t-t-t-t!" She was unable to voice out what she was going to say as she hid behind us.

Those yellow pair of eyes stopped meters away from us, and the lights from outside were enough for the three of us to see the...timberwolf...taking a step closer as it growled at us.

"O-okay," Kronz said, taking a step back. "This is really really weird."

The timberwolf growled and quickly ran at us, and Claire and Kronz shrieked in fear. It jumped at us, claws outstretched and mouth wide open. Just before it got us, I kicked it's head, scattering its woody body parts raining down on us. Claire and Kronz blinked...twice.

At least now I knew why those men outside are lying on the ground. The rain must have washed their blood away. I groaned as I started walking outside.

"W-well," Kronz whispered to Claire. "Th-that was anti-climatic."

I turned to look at them, slowly approaching me. "Oh," Claire spoke icily, "so you'd want us to get hurt and die from a cartoon wolf instead!?"

Kronz could only shrug. I think I'm seeing things. The timberwolf's pieces of wood are releasing small green fumes. I wanted to point that out, but I wasn't in the mood to do so. Not with this painful headache. The three of us went outside, staring at the black-cloud-releasing hole-thing...

"So..." Claire spoke, "now what?"

Chapter 50 - Retreating The Castle

"RAHHH!!!"

Spike was covered in smoke after Twilight's beam that pushed him to a wall had exploded. It hurt, and it was painful -- he admitted -- but he could take it. Coughing once or twice, he stood and waved his claw to get rid of the smoke that surrounded him. When his sight was clear of smoke, he saw his pony-brother, Gold Blitz, was spinning in place, his mouth biting Twilight's mane as he carried her and spun her along with him.

Gold Blitz let go of his grip on the purple unicorn's mane, sending her flying towards Princess Celestia's crystal case. Her back caught the impact, and she bounced a bit before landing on the table in front of Celestia. The air in her lungs had escaped her, and she just lied there, as she eyed the brown earth pony growling as he slowly makes his way towards her.

"Gold!" Spike shouted, ignoring the ongoing battle in the other parts of the room. The purple dragon ran towards the earth pony, only to stumble back after Gold Blitz turned his head to face him, his angry red and yellow eyes almost petrifying the dragon in fear.

With the purple unicorn down, the morale of the unicorns within the library had lessen, and soon, every unicorn were down on the ground, except for an old stallion who was giving the one-winged pegasus filly a difficult time.

Starfall grinned as he evaded Scootaloo's quick hooves. He has learned her technique by now. He sent a powerful pulse of mana energy, making the pegasus fly towards a bookshelf. The impact caused the shelf itself to fall to the ground, with Scootaloo. Grinning, Starfall took a step towards her, and another, and rope was now wrapped around his neck. He managed to blink before his vision collapsed to the floor. Struggling, he failed to get back to his four hooves when a rope wrapped itself on all his four limbs.

Applejack and Apple Bloom had already taken down their unicorn foes, and they have just finished lasso-ing the old unicorn. Apple Bloom glared at the unicorn as she approached him.

Scootaloo emerged from the mountain of books, and instantly saw Apple Bloom's mighty hooves pounding on Starfall's neck. The old unicorn stallion choked before losing his consciousness.

"Awww," Scootaloo pouted, "I was going to kick that old guy's flank!"

Apple Bloom rolled her eyes, "yeah, sure ya would."

"I'm serious!" Scootaloo looked away angrily as she crossed her front hooves on her chest. "I need no rescue..." She spat.

"Little help guys?" Spike called, taking a few steps back. He took another, and another, until his back was now against the wall. Gold Blitz was staring coldly at him as the stallion took fearful steps towards him, like how a predator corners his prey. "Gold, it's me, Spike! Remember!?"

Gold Blitz let out a quiet growl as he took another step towards Spike, his yellow and red eyes piercing at Spike's emerald eyes.

"Brownie," Applejack spoke as she carried her brother on her back, "stop fooling around! We need tah get outt---!'

Gold Blitz launched himself towards Spike, with front hooves outstretched and mouth wide open. Spike yelped and brought his claws over his head as he closed his eyes in fear. One... Two... Three... Huh, Spike was sure something would be happening by now. Daring to open an eye, he saw Gold Blitz was floating in mid-air inside a bubble of some sort. Meters away, he saw Sweetie Belle, her horn glowing fiercely as she concentrated her magic around the brown and wild earth pony.

Gold Blitz growled and threw his limbs around. Soon, he started pounding the edges of the bubble with his limbs, and even headbutting on it. "I can't hold him much longer," Sweetie Belle whined.

"R-right," Spike said, walking away from the crazy earth pony. "He's the plan," he continued as he reached Sweetie Belle, where Scootaloo and Apple Bloom had gathered along with Applejack.

Scootaloo laughed, "and since when were you the party-planner, huh?"

"Scoots, not now," Apple Bloom warned, earning a groan from the pegasus.

"If you want a plan, here's one: we run out, kick all unicorns' flanks off, and we get out." Scootaloo smiled.

Spike ignored her as he brought his own plan. "Anyway... We'll escape his place, the same way we got here."

"Awww, but that was boring!" Scootaloo whined.

"One more word, Scoots," Apple Bloom glared icily at her pegasus friend, making her flinch in place.

"All right, all right... I'll zip my mouth, sheesh..."

"Thank you," Spike nodded, "now, we escape from where we came. After we reach the ground -- where I'm sure there will be a few unicorns there -- we fight them, only enough for us to make a path towards the hole that Pinkamena had dug." He brought a claw on his chin as he thought of it. "Hm... Applejack and Sweetie will be in the middle. Scoot, you protect the back. Apple Bloom, you take care of the front. I'll be in the middle, since I can deflect their magic beams and all..."

"No need to rub that on our faces, you little---" whatever Scootaloo was going to say next had died inside her throat as Apple Bloom's cold glare had frozen the pegasus' mouth.

"A'right, Ah like this plan an all," Applejack spoke suddenly, a bit faster than usual, after she heard a few running hooves approaching. "But how exactly did yah got here?" And to answer her question, Spike pointed at the open window. Applejack paled. "Y-yer kiddin', right?"

"Nope," Spike replied as he and the others started heading to the window. "Bloom's kick made our climbing ropes reach this floor from the ground."

"By 'ground'," Applejack spoke nervously as she reached them, ignoring the thrashing earth pony inside the bubble, "do ya mean from the base of this ol' mountain, or on the city's ground?"

Spike shook his head. "From the castle's ground, of course. Would be kinda impossible if we did it from the base of the mountain... Now come on."

Everyone nodded, except for Applejack. Apple Bloom climbed out of the window and grabbed the rope with her mouth, and started working her way down. Scootaloo hopped on the window frame. She sighed. "Stupid unicorns cutting my other wing..." She glared at the rope before biting it and working her way down.

Spike was about to tell Applejack to go next when two unicorns had suddenly entered the room. "Darn it," Spike muttered, spitting fire to his claws and forming a green lance from it. He quickly ran in front of them and batted the mana beam that was fired towards them, sending it back to it's sender. "Applejack, could you maybe carry Sweetie as well?"

"Ah see no problem with that," yet she gulped, "b-but, we're so high up...!" She quickly brought a hoof on her mouth as she accidentally spat her fear.

Sweetie Belle arched an eyebrow, even though she was already having a hard time dealing with the thrashing earth pony. "You're afraid of heights? Bloom had told me that you're a very tough pony!"

Gold Blitz brought a mighty pound, managing to make a crack on the crystal bubble. Sweetie gasped and concentrated on her task, as Spike ran towards the unicorns and fought them with his green lance against their swords.

Applejack, realizing that she needed to act now, sighed. "A'right, fine..." She grumbled, carried Sweetie Belle, worked her way out of the window, shivered and gulped, grabbed the rope, and started going down...although slow...with Gold Blitz in tow.

"You're trembling," Sweetie Belle teased.

"Hush," if only Applejack could glare at the unicorn right now. She still hated unicorns. Might as well drop her to the ground?

Chapter 51 - Truth Or Lie

Spike had defeated the two unicorns with his new skills with a lance. His battle training with the Cutie Mark Crusaders had definitely paid off, even though it was only for a short time. He smirked. He quite enjoyed battling, but he also needed to continue both his magical fire training with Sweetie Belle, and his combat skills with Apple Bloom and Scootaloo.

He ignored the groaning unicorns lying in front of him as he spun to the window. Applejack and the Cutie Mark Crusaders were no longer there. They must have already went down. He threw his lance behind, turning into smoke and vanished in the air, as he rushes to the exit -- the window.

"S-Spike," a familiar in-pain voice reached the purple dragon's ears as he reached the window. He turned and saw Twilight, still lying on the table, but was staring tiredly at him."W-why are you helping him?"

Seeing her in such a state, Spike felt hurt, and wanted to help her, but of what she has been treating him for all those years were more than enough for the purple dragon to immediately collect the strength to turn his back on her as he climbs on the window. "Why do you care about me and my reason, anyway?" He asked with bitterness in his voice. It felt good to talk to her like that, though he didn't feel proud of it, but still.

Twilight managed to stir a bit. "Don't---don't you know what he is?"

Spike could only shrug. "He's a pony who's gone crazy. Yeah, thanks for pointing that out."

Looking down, Spike saw the ponies who were waiting for him, hiding behind the tall bushes from the few number of unicorns walking around, who probably have not heard of what has happened yet. He grabbed the rope and was about to jump out when Twilight's voice reached his ears.

"H-he's Discord, Spike," the purple unicorn spoke, making the purple dragon froze in place. Spike stared at her over his shoulder with an arched eyebrow. "Y-you do remember what D-Discord looks like, right?"

"Yeah," the dragon replied lamely, "he's a dragon with different animal body parts, and he's definitely not a brown earth pony."

Twilight groaned as she collected enough strength to bring herself into a sitting position. She was still in pain, but at least she wasn't lying down now. Her muscles were already getting painfully numb. "Spike, don't you get it? He's Discord. Gold Blitz is Discord!"

Spike jumped out of the window. He swung, and his feet landed on the outer wall of the castle, where his head was the only visible body part of his through the window. He glared at the purple unicorn. "Why am I even wasting my time with you, anyway? The way I see it, you're just buying time so you can get us."

"You stupid and stubborn wingless dragon! Don't tell me you didn't notice his yellow and red eyes!?" She wanted to yell all of those, but she could only manage a medium voice -- one that couldn't alarm any unicorns outside...if there are any.

"It's been more than a decade since I last saw him, Twilight. Who knows where Discord is!" Spike countered. He couldn't believe that Gold's Discord. How could he? And of all the ponies that would tell him that, it would be her? Whatever she's going to say, Spike is definitely not going to buy it.

"Discord fought Lu---Nightmare Moon after Celestia couldn't, an---"

"I know what happened, Twilight!" Spike cut her off, and started sliding down. "But I'm not going to believe what you're going to say! So goodbye!" he shouted, "and hopefully, this would be the last time!"

Twilight groaned and stomped the table with her front limb. It sent a powerful wave of pain to her brain, but she didn't flinch. Her sad lips slowly formed into a small smile, and then into a grin -- and evil one. "Oh, Spike," she whispered to the quiet library air, "you don't know what you're getting at." Two unicorns suddenly came inside through the broken library's double doors. Twilight stood, wobbling a bit before composing herself. "...you're going to get yourself killed," she whispered as the armored unicorns rushed towards her.

"What took you so long!?" Scootaloo hissed through clenched teeth. She was clearly bored and annoyed.

Spike jumped to the ground, making a quiet thud as his feet landed the green ground. "Sorry everypony," he whispered, "but Twilight was getting annoying earlier, so yeah."

"Wait," Apple Bloom spoke, arching an eyebrow, "yer not gonna double-cross us, now are you?"

Spike was shocked to hear such an accusation. He glared at the earth pony and was about to say something when Gold Blitz managed to make another crack on the bubble case.

Sweetie Belle groaned as she sweated heavily. "Can we have this discussion later?" she begged, tightening her grip around Applejack's neck.

Applejack coughed twice before controlling herself. "Calm down, horn---head," she managed to crack a forced smile. "Just concentrate on yer magic thingy." She can carry her unconscious brother and the unicorn filly on her back no problem, if only she wasn't being choked to death.

Sweetie Belle loosened her grip on Applejack's neck a bit as Spike spoke, "okay, I think we need to hurry things up." The others nodded. "Twilight's awake. The unicorns will know of us any time soon. So here's a new plan. You guys make a run for it while I try to deflect their beams. Any questions?"

"Yeah," Scootaloo spoke, which was followed by a loud pound from Gold Blitz on the bubble case. "Just what is happening to this crazy pony, anyway?" she gestured with her head, pointing at the levitated bubble.

Spike was about to reply, but decided against it. "Not sure as well," he lied as he looked away. "But that's not important."

"Right," Apple Bloom agreed, "let's hurry it up and get away from here."

"I think I heard voiced around here," said a male voice over the bushes.

Another voice sighed, accompanied by sets of hooves walking on the grassy ground. "Earlier, an explosion, and now voices."

"But I am serious! Somepony must be hiding around here!"

"Got that right!" Scootaloo jumped out of the bushes, landing all four of her hooves on the startled unicorn's face.

Spike followed, sweeping his lance on the other unicorn's feet, making the unicorn fall on the ground. Apple Bloom stomped on the unicorn's neck as she galloped after them, with Applejack following as well.

"The pegasi are attacking!" shouted a unicorn who just arrived on the castle's gates. Panting and sweating, he ignored the startled looks of his fellow unicorns as he ran towards the castle's door, shouting the same thing.

"The pegasi are attacking?" Spike asked as they reached a tall bush near the castle's wall.

"No clue," Apple Bloom replied as they squirmed under the wall through the hole they made earlier. "But Ah don't think this place is the best place to be during a pegasi attack..."

Lightning bolts started to land in different parts of the Unicornian Empire. Spike turned over his shoulder, and saw the awkward smile Scootaloo was having. He narrowed his eyes at her as she noticed him staring at her.

"W-what?" the pegasus filly asked, failing miserably to dispel her smile.

"What did you do?" Spike asked coldly as they reached the edge of the unicorn city.

"W-well..." she chuckled as Apple Bloom glared at her and Applejack already climbing down towards the spiraling stairway down below. "I uh, kinda told Rainbow Dash that we're going to be infiltrating the castle and all that stuff..."

Spike and Apple Bloom shouted, but their loud voices were filtered by an even louder lightning bolt that landed a house meters away from them. "We'll talk later!" Spike said as Apple Bloom started climbing down the rope.

"Uh, s-sorry?" Scootaloo whispered through the thunder roars and screaming voices.

Chapter 52 - Blinded By Rage

Lightning bolts and mana beams flew in the air as it was also filled with sounds of electricity, fire, explosions, screams, metal, hooves, and rain. The unicorns have been struggling to keep up with the battle, but they have quickly gotten control on protecting their kingdom as Shining Armor and a few other unicorns raised the purple barrier and completely surrounded the castle. But their protective barrier only lasted for less than a minute, for he and the others were forced to defend themselves from a rainbow-maned pegasus who was trapped within the barrier.

Spike and the others quickly broke into a gallop after the barrier was gone. Behind them were a few unicorns that were chasing after them. The purple dragon rode on Apple Bloom's back, and batting mana beams with his green lance. Pegasi ponies flew overhead, and zapped a number of their pursuers while others casted a protective barrier around themselves.

Scootaloo, who was ahead, stopped, making the others stop as well. She excitedly turned to see the poor zapped unicorns, but her grin was wiped out the instant a mana beam flew past her ear, missing only inches. The pegasi were busy battling the unicorns, and the scene was behind three unicorns who were running towards Spike and the Cutie Mark Crusaders.

Raising her only wing, she prepared to fight, only to drop the idea after her friends ran past her. Sighing, she broke into a gallop, and soon caught up with them.

"Sorry Scoots," Apple Bloom spoke as Spike batted a mana beam, "but we got no time fer fightin'..."

They were still far away from the forest. Thankfully, three pegasi ponies saw them being chased from above. Diving, they prepared their swords and clashed with the unicorns. Scootaloo turned her head over her shoulder to catch a few of the action. Just when she thought that the unicorns were going to get it, the pegasi were being rained by mana beams from above. Tilting her gaze up, she saw the source of the attack.

"Ugh, you've got to be kidding me!" she grumbled as she quicken her pace.

Flying armored unicorns were now gliding through the raining air, chasing after them as they fired mana beams after mana beams at them. Spike shouted directions of where to turn to dodge the attacks as he tried to parry some of them if both possible and reachable. He did manage to deflect one and knocked one unicorn from the air.

As they neared the edge of the forest, Scootaloo dared looking back, but as she did so, she stepped on a rather large rock, causing her to collapse on the muddy ground of the War Planes. It took the others a few seconds before realizing what happened. They stopped and quickly turned. Scootaloo turned on her back in time to see three powerful beams of mana heading her way.

She was in panic, and could no longer think of how to save herself, as her friends up ahead shouted and ran to try and save her, but it was no use, for they were much slower than the beams. She closed her eyes in fright, unwilling to see the beams hitting her. It's going to be painful, she knew, but she instead felt the fast rush of air and rain against her coat. Opening her eyes, she saw her friends getting smaller and smaller as they ran towards the edge of the forest, and with the unicorns hot on their tail. A rainbow mane blocked her sight. Blinking, she realized that she was saved.

"I'm not going to lose you again, squirt!" Rainbow spoke through the rush of wind and rain as she turned and flew straight towards Scootaloo's friends.

The young pegasus' vision was now facing the castle of the unicorns, where she saw that the kingdom was now surrounded by flying armored unicorns, firing mana beams at the fleeing pegasi army.

She wrapped her hooves around Rainbow's neck. "I don't need saving, y'know." She groaned, yet she smiled genuinely.

"Heh," Rainbow chuckled lightly, "sure yah didn't, squir---ARGH!"

"Rainbow!" Scootaloo shouted after a powerful green beam had struck Rainbow Dash.

The two pegasi were now diving towards the ground, and landed just near the edge of the forest, and in front of their friends, who all stopped and gasped.

A powerful mana beam was fired at them, and Spike sensed it. He quickly spun around and tried to bat it with his lance, but he missed, and the beam flew directly towards the white unicorn on Applejack's back.

"Ah!" Sweetie Belle screamed as she and Applejack flew towards a tree.

"Applejack!" Apple Bloom screamed and quickly ran towards her sister, unknowingly dropping Spike on the ground in the process.

Spike dropped his lance as he fell on the ground. The lance, after hitting the ground, turned into green flames before it disappeared in the rain. He rose up, and saw that they were now surrounded by unicorns with flaring horns. He gulped as Gold Blitz struck his bubble case with a mighty headbutt.

There was a purple glow in the brown earth pony's eyes, but no one had noticed, and it only lasted for a second. He calmed down. He breathed rapidly, but slowly becoming normal. Purple was slowly mixing in his red and yellow eyes as he calmly stared at the purple dragon that was standing a meter or two away from his bubble case.

Two beams of mana hit the purple dragon, pushing him towards Gold Blitz's bubble case. "Oomf!" Spike fell on the ground as soon as the beams stopped, leaving behind a shocked brown earth pony.

The purple color disappeared, and instantly, anger and fury filled his heart as his eyes suddenly became all black before returning into red and yellow. He screamed and delivered a mighty headbutt on the crack of his cage. He got through, leaving a breaking bubble case behind. He landed in front of Spike, who was rubbing his painful head, and Gold Blitz quickly ran towards the unicorns. He kept on running towards them, ignoring the beams of mana that hit him, as if they were nothing. He bit the neck of a startled unicorn, spun twice, and threw him at the others as he continued his rampage, hitting and knocking unicorns in the process.

Scootaloo and Rainbow Dash groaned as they slowly went back on all four hooves. Apple Bloom had shoved his big brother off of her sister so Applejack could easily stand back up.

They turned and saw Sweetie Belle and Spike, both were standing beside each other, and both were either awestruck or dumbstruck as they stared at the angry Gold Blitz, taking deep and quick breaths as he stood in front of the unconscious unicorns that were threatening to kill them a few seconds ago. He suddenly turned around, and angrily eyed Spike and Sweetie Belle, who stumbled back after seeing his fierce glare.

Gold Blitz growled and ran towards Spike. "N-not again," Spike gulped, but a blue blur gave the earth pony a mighty headbutt, sending him flying back as Rainbow Dash flapped her wings and landed in front of Spike.

"Hey, calm down!" Rainbow Dash shouted, but Gold Blitz ignored her as he quickly stood back up and started running towards her.

Gold Blitz jumped at the startled pegasus, only to fly back to the ground after Applejack gave him a powerful back kick on his side. Applejack grinned, but it didn't even last for two whole seconds after Gold Blitz was quickly back on all four. "W-what in tarnation!?" Applejack spat as she jumped away from a dashing Gold blitz. "Who the heck is this guy!?"

"Sweetie Belle!" Scootaloo shouted, snapping the unicorn out of her daze.

"S-sorry! I'm on it!" the unicorn filly replied as she concentrated her magic on her horn.

"T-that's not Gold..." Spike whispered, and jumped out of the way before Applejack could land on him. The rain had turned into a light drizzle, but no one seemed to have noticed.

Growling, Applejack dropped her saddlebags and ran towards Gold Blitz, who was trying to stomp the crawling Rainbow Dash. Applejack gained enough speed to deliver a powerful headbutt on Gold Blitz before he could put his hooves on the pegasus' head. The brown earth stallion quickly rose back up, only to continue flying up in the air as a bubble case was encasing him. He growled and started pounding his new case.

"Gold, stop!" Spike cried, only to receive an angry growl as Gold continued to try to escape his imprisonment.

"Ugh..." Sweetie Belle concentrated to encase the crazy pony with a more powerful cage this time. "I-I think he's blinded by rage..."

"So whatever we tell him is useless?" Scootaloo asked as she walked and stopped beside her unicorn friend.

"N-no... There has to be a way to get to him..." Spike said, as he desperately tried to think of ways to calm him down, and as he noticed a sudden purple coloration in Gold's eyes, he tried his best not to remember what Twilight had told him. "Twilight..." Spike whispered as an idea was slowly forming in his head. "That's it!" He shouted and quickly spitting green fumes from his mouth. The fume then turned into a scroll and landed on the muddy ground. He then breathed a small fire on his finger nail, picked the scroll, hoped it'll work, and started writing. "Gold, please stop! We're trying to help you!"

Chapter 53 - The Video Blog

The box-like machineries were having blinking lights, screens of data, levers, buttons, wires, beeping noises, printed papers, and whatevers. And all of these machinery were under a huge tent-like umbrella, that was standing strong against the strong wind currents here.

My brother was busy with his laptop and as well as observing the machines. He said something about the people here must've been really trying to control the phenomenon, or maybe they were focused on closing the dimensional hole that appeared here. Although he also doubt his own conclusion. He also said that maybe the guys here were trying to control the hole so they could get through the other world? He wasn't sure, but he wanted to include that in his research.

Claire was checking the corpses around. I questioned her about it, but she gave me an offended reply that she took a year and a half in nursing before she could no longer continue her studies. I don't know much about her though, so I couldn't be really sure. Maybe she's working to save enough money to continue her course? Anyway, she asked me to help her gather and pile the dead bodies. Eew... Never in my life have I touched a dead human body...

Aside from me trying my best to control is disgusting feeling of pulling dead bodies, I am hoping not to be included with the dead, since this headache is really really really painful and is killing my mood. I have snarled at Claire and Kronz for more than three times now. I did apologize, and I hope they understood my situation. I don't really understand why I am having this headache in the first place.

Maybe it has something to do with that dimensional hole-thing? This headache did start when we got close to it. Maybe if I go back, this headache will disappear?

I finished piling the dead bodies. There were five of them, and all were wearing the same white lab-like uniforms, except for the three others who were also wearing raincoats... They're probably scientists. Claire checked them, and told me that they received severe scratches and bites that caused their deaths. Gee, if I'm blind, that would have been very informative, but since I'm not, I thanked Captain Obvious. She glared at me for a short while before informing us that they just died recently. Huh, so the timberwolf just arrived?

Claire stood up and started looking at the contraptions that surrounded us. I wonder if these machines are water-proof. Anyway, she bent down and picked up a fallen video camera.

"It's still playing," she said, catching me and my brother's attention. Oh, this'll be interesting.

"Log number eight," said a voice as the scene was in a backseat of a car. The two people in the front seats were white-uniformed men. "We have now pinpointed the source of the strange magnetic field that has occurred. We are now on our way to the mountain called Mount Comet, but as you can see," the scene was moved near the window, were vehicles were on a stand-still, "we are caught in traffic." From the scene, there was a guy that moved out of the bus and took his cellphone. "Huh, that guy must be recording that strange storm. Oh yes," the scene was moved to the mountains, where a black blanket of clouds was rolling. "That storm is somehow connected to the strange magnetic field that we have discovered. It'll be interesting to learn more of this phenomenon."

"That was you?" Claire asked, ignoring the voice from the recorder. I replied with a simple shrug.

"Let's skip it," my bro suggested. "Jay's not really photogenic, anyway. I might puke..."

"Har har..." I replied lamely as I continued rubbing my aching head.

"Log number nine," the guy holding the camera opened the car's door, and went out. "The current time is eleven thirty-four in the morning," but the scene was like it was already evening. There were cars around, and people started going out and lighting their flashlights. The guy tilted the camera up, where the tall mountain and the black clouds came into focus. "Our analysis shows that the source is on top."

The scene was now focused on the dimensional hole. "Log number ten, here we are now... Wow... Just...wow... I mean, just look at it!"

The hole was almost invisible, for it was darker than the dark clouds rolling above.

"Huh, okay, it's barely visible through the lens, but you can clearly see it with your own eye---"

"Hey professor!" a new voice called. The scene turned and focused on a young female scientist, who was carrying a metal box. Other scientists were also in the nearby area, busy with the box-like machinery. "Help us out here, will you?"

"I am!" the male voice sounded bright, happy, and excited, which was completely contrasting the frown of the female scientist. "I am recording this very historical phenomenon in science history! And we are a part of it!"

"Give us all a hand or I'll tear you apart myself!"

The male voice sighed. "How could you not see the importance of sharing this discovery to the world!?"

"The only thing I see here is that everyone else here are busy setting things up while you're talking to your lovely camera."

The scene was now focused on the dimensional hole. "Log number ten...again. Anyway," a bolt of lightning came out from the hole, and almost hitting the camera, and an explosion sound erupted. "Whoa--!"

"Professor!"

"I'm okay!" he turned and now the scene was focused back on the set of machines. He hurriedly walked towards the other scientists, who were all looking at him with terrified expressions. "I'm okay," he repeated.

"Don't kill yourself yet, prof," a male voice said. The scene was moved and now focused on a black-suited middle-aged man. "We wouldn't want any of you to die just yet. No, not without gathering enough information of..." the black-suited man turned his head at the hole. "...that thing." He then looked back at the one who was holding the camera. "Professor, I suggest you do more research than what you were doing earlier, and now."

"I am logging the events of our research, sir, so we could share this disc---"

"No one should know any of this," he cut him off, with a cold glare. He didn't add anything else as he turned and walked back inside the mouth of the cave.

Claire, who was holding the camera, dropped both her hands and left her mouth hanging open. "T-that was..." she spoke through trembling lips, "...t-that was..."

A quiet yet fierce growl echoed from the cave. We looked at the dark cave, and saw a pair of yellow glowing eyes. Two more pairs of eyes appeared from the darkness, making both Claire and Kronz take a fearful step back.

Okay, so where the heck do those timberwolves come from, anyway?

A vicious growl echoed, and soon, the three timberwolves jumped out of the cave and quickly came rushing towards us.

Chapter 54 - Troublesome Little Pups

A quiet yet fierce growl echoed from the cave. We looked at the dark cave, and saw a pair of yellow glowing eyes. Two more pairs of eyes appeared from the darkness, making both Claire and Kronz take a fearful step back.

Okay, so where the heck do those timberwolves come from, anyway?

A vicious growl echoed, and soon, the three timberwolves jumped out of the cave and quickly came rushing towards us. Claire hid herself behind me, shouting from fear as she held both my shoulders with her hands, while my brother took another step back and used his laptop to cover his face.

Me? Oh nothing, for I was just watching the three small timberwolves rushing towards us. They may still be timberwolves, but, they look more like timberpups now... I mean, those three are like the size of a regular two or three month old puppy. They reached me and bit my jeans, and pulled and pulled as they shook their heads, as if they were trying to rip my jeans off.

I arched them an eyebrow as Claire and Kronz recovered themselves, and stared confusedly at the three wood pups, still busy trying to pull my jeans off. They said something, but this powerful headache of mine became powerfully painful, as if my brain was a drum, and this stupid headache was a rock band drummer. Ugh, I rubbed my head as the two small timberwolves let go of my jeans and started scratching and biting Claire and Kronz's feet.

As Claire and Kronz tip-toed away from the small attackers, this timberwolf of mine started climbing up on my jeans, its small claws painfully sticking through my jeans and skin. I started kicking my foot around, to send this little devil off of me, while Claire was running around as she was chased by a pup, and my brother was trying to squish another with an iron bar he found lying around somewhere.

The pup was on my waist now, so I grabbed it with both my hands, evading its waving front paws in the process, and I started pulling it off of me. Claire slipped, and the pup bit her jacket, and started to try and rip it. Kronz was chasing the pup that managed to steal his shoe.

I pulled the little annoying pup at last. I was about to throw it away when I noticed that its claws were still attached on my waist. I looked down and saw the leftovers were turning into a smaller version of the pup. I blinked. I looked at the one in my grasp, and saw that it was also turning into a small pup.

I was about to smash the little critter on the ground, but a sudden realization struck me dead on my tracks. If I do that, then I'll just be making smaller versions of this pup... Darn it...

Claire managed to grab a large rock and smashed the pup with it, while Kronz was able to catch the one who stole his shoe, and he instantly smashes it on the ground.

Oh, great... Now there are six of them...

Claire was startled and was trying to stand up, but in her haste, she slipped and slipped, until a small pup jumped on her head and started messing with her hair while the other bit her jacket and started pulling her.

Kronz was having a pull-fight as he tried pulling his shoe from a pup, and while keeping his other shoe in place, as it was being pulled by another pup.

Claire managed to grab and throw the pup on her head and angrily pulled her jacket off of the pup's grip. She quickly stood back up and ran away.

I yelped as the one on my waist started climbing up again, and I accidentally freed the one on my hand for it gave me a nasty scratch. I clenched my teeth and tried pulling this one on my waist as I waved a foot in front of the eager-to-attack pup on the ground.

As soon as I pulled this pup off of my waist, the one on the ground bit my shoe and immediately pulled back, making me lose my balance. I fell on the ground flat on my back. My head hit the ground, and I am sure it was painful, but I was busy with the headache to even register how painful my head hitting the ground was. I opened my eyes and saw the video camera beside me. It was still playing, and the scene was showing me of the scientists being killed by the large timberwolf.

My vision was blocked by a small timberpup that stopped in front of my face. I immediately rose to a sitting position to evade it's attempt of biting me. I grabbed it and threw it on the other one who was still trying to pull my shoe off.

I quickly looked around, and to my left, I saw a fallen metallic box, probably the one that female scientist was carrying. I stood up and rushed to grab it, while the pups chased after me. The box was empty and unlocked, to my greatest relief. What is more, if my quick calculations are correct, this box would be large enough to put all these six wolves inside.

I bent down, immediately and carefully grabbed the two wolves, and quickly put them inside, and closed the metal lid. I lifted it as I stood up, and I made haste towards Claire, who was nearer to me. We put the pups inside, and then we rushed to my brother.

"Darn it!" my brother cried, "I loved these shoes!" I rolled my eyes as I sat on the metal box, ignoring the chaos going on in there.

While he was checking his shoes, Claire tried fixing her hair, but she stopped, fear was on her face as she slowly moved both her palms in front of her face. Oh, darn... She's wounded!

I was about to stand up when she quickly turned to me. "I-I'm fine. Er... I'll be fine..." She said as she tried to calm herself down.

Even with this headache of mine, I am still concerned of her well-being. "A-are you sure?"

She nodded, and started looking around. "I remember seeing a first-aid kit somewhere..."

As she started walking away, I focused my attention on my brother, who was now standing in front of a box-machine. He settled his laptop on top of it, and he was busy typing and doing stuff. He mumbled something, but the rain and wind were louder. I sighed as I rubbed my aching head. Oh yeah, I did received a text message earlier.

I pulled my phone out of my pocket. I did received a new message...from mom? I opened it as Claire stood beside me, leaning a bit to get a better look on my phone.

"You guys better not be having a threesome somewhere, or else!"

I blushed...furiously...as I immediately closed the message.

"I'll pretend I didn't read that..." Claire's trembling voice reached my ears as she quickly walked away as soon as I was about to look at her. She had a white towel on her head now.

Chapter 55 - Wind, Rain, Darkness

Kronz was still busy with his laptop, and Claire was curiously watching his monitor screen from behind. Kronz let out a big and long yawn, which immediately infected the one who was behind him.

Unfortunately for me, my head is still as painful as ever for me to be tired... Well, I am quite tired of this pain. And these beasts inside this metallic box I am sitting on are still rumbling inside. Sheesh. They don't give up, huh?

"Hey bro," I heard my brother's voice through the wind and rain. "I'm getting that strange frequency again, and as well as these machine here..."

I raised an eyebrow, and the machines were emitting strange beeping noises, which were frustrating to hear. Ugh... My patience is really running thin... I'm having a hard time controlling myself... Hm, well, at least this new text message could distract me for the time being...

I took my phone as my bro and Claire both turned their heads at me. "I think it's rather usual for phone messages to cause such noises." Claire turned to my bro as I opened the message from an unknown sender. "I mean, even ordinary speakers could create noises if there's an incoming text."

Kronz shook his head. "That message came from that hole over there," he gestured with his head, pointing at the hole meters above the ground, and a few feet away from the tent.

"Oh," Claire responded as she turned to me. "So, what's on it?"

I read the newly-typed message out loud for them as soon as the noises from the machines stopped... "We need you..."

They need us, again... Sigh... Does that mean I'd be going back to Equestria once ag—ack!

"Bro?"

"Jay!?"

Both Claire and Kronz exclaimed as I immediately brought my two hands on my head. There's this weird feeling of me being pulled again, and a powerful wave of a headache...

They were about to run towards me when a voice from inside the cave echoed out. "Who's there!?" And as soon as the voice was heard, two men came out with flashlights and a...gun.

Both Claire and Kronz froze in place as the two armed men pointed their weapons at them. "Don't—!" I stood up, but I stopped myself after one of them turned and pointed his gun at me.

"Don't move!" the man commanded.

"Just don't hurt them, please!" I begged, and brought my hands back on my aching head as I clenched my teeth... Gah...

"Hey," the other guy called my two companion's attention, "what's wrong with him?"

"Migraine," I replied.

The other one — the one who is aiming his gun at me — gasped as he eyed the dead bodies behind me.

"What on earth happened here?" a new voice came as a black-suited man came out from the cave. He stopped, stunned, as he saw Claire, who too, was surprised to see him. "C-Claire?"

Claire shook her head. "What are you doing here?" It took her a few seconds before she added, "...dad...?"

"Dad?" Kronz and I echoed as we turned to her.

They said something, but I failed to hear their words for I was momentarily stunned after I felt like I was pulled again. My breath has immediately left me when I was pulled, and it instantly came back as soon as I recovered my senses back, where I was now lying on the ground.

The noises of the machines around us were screeching like crazy, and Kronz and Claire were already helping me up. I saw the gunmen were now at ease. I was helped into a sitting position.

"Like I said," Claire spoke in a rather annoyed tone, "they're already dead when we got here."

I saw Kronz threw the camera and was caught by one of the men. "Watch and see for yourselves if you don't believe us." He said in an uncertain tone of confidence and fear.

I can't leave just yet... I can't go back to Equestria just yet... We're in trouble and—! "No!" I managed to hiss as I felt numb all over for a short while, and my vision became black.

The rain and wind became louder...

The sounds of the video recorder was mixed...

The scratches of wood against metal inside the box...

Darkness... Darker...and darker...

My headache...it's booming like drums within me... Louder...

I'm losing my shallow breath... I'm losing my grasp of my body...

I see myself, seated on the metallic box in the darkness...

My vision was going further and further away...

Wait... Please... Not yet... My brother...!

"Don't worry..." That voice...! It's been quite a long time since I last heard that voice... It wasn't as clear as it was now... But no, that couldn't be...

Chapter 56 - Trust In Battle

Explosion was the first thing I heard as soon as I recovered my senses.

"Aaahhh—!"

I shot my eyes wide open as soon as I recognized the voice's owner. I found myself lying on a tree's branch, where my limbs and my head were hanging lazily. Below me was a battlefield: Spike, Apple Bloom, Scootaloo, Sweetie Belle, Applejack and Rainbow Dash were fighting against swords and beams of probably a dozen armored unicorns.

Spike flew and hit a tree with his back as Apple Bloom ran and dodged a swinging blade, and gave a mighty kick on the chest plate of a wincing unicorn.

Applejack was dodging swords and beams. She couldn't find an opening to deliver an attack. She instead swept Spike as she dashed in front of the unicorns who were about to strike the dizzy dragon.

Rainbow Dash and Scootaloo were fighting swords against swords with unicorns.

Sweetie Belle was having a magic duel with other unicorns as she expertly dodges beams here and there.

The battle wasn't really going for their favor as I tilted my head towards the source of hooves from a distance. Unicorns were rushing towards the battle scene, swords and spears in tow.

Darn it, I need to help them, but how!? Darn that voice! Why did it sent me back here where things are looking grim!

"I'll help you..." spoke the undeniably masculine voice in my head... I still can't believe that of all the ones who'll help me, it had to be him!

"I'm not sure if I should trust you..." I replied in my head as I scanned my surroundings. Big Mac was unconsciously laying on a branch on another tree near my whereabouts...

"It's difficult, but please trust me..."

Scootaloo lost her grip on her sword, and quickly ducked in the nick of time to dodge a swinging sword.

Apple Bloom was stabbed by a sword on her hoof, and cried in pain as she dashed away in a slower pace.

"Darn it..."

Spike jumped and blocked the attacks of the unicorns who were chasing after Apple Bloom, but a unicorn struck him with a mana beam on the side.

"Darn it...!"

"Jay..."

My brother's in trouble, and so is Claire... But so are these ponies... So is Spike... I don't want to help them! I want to help my brother! But I'm just simply lying to myself! Even if I act like I don't care, I still am! I jumped off the branch and pressed my hooves on two armored heads. I landed on the ground. I quickly turned, and sent my two hind hooves on their faces. I smiled nervously at Spike, who was stunned to see me.

"Tell me what I have to do!" I shouted in the air before biting Spike's tail and dragging him away from our pursuers.

"Jump right," the voice echoed in my head.

I obliged, and the instant I jumped, I managed to dodge a beam of mana from behind.

"Throw Spike at them."

"W-what!?"

"Just do it!"

"Ack, don't shout in my head!" that was truly painful...

"Sorry."

I stopped, and turned around, ready to throw Spike at them, but before I did, I saw Spike already had a green spear on his grasp. I threw him towards the unicorn, and he swung his lance within reach, hitting the startled unicorn on his head.

"Grab a rock" I snapped myself back to attention and grabbed a rock...

"Can I ask—"

"Magic of the hooves. Now throw it at the unicorn on your left."

Uh, okay? I turned and threw the rock, hitting the metal armor of the unicorn who had Sweetie Belle cornered. It served as a minor distraction, enough for Sweetie Belle to run pass him.

"Jump forward." No need to instruct me with the obvious! I jumped in time to avoid a swinging sword. "Roll to your side!" I dodged that same sword again. "Jump up!" I jumped, and the blade flew under my hooves. "Jump forward!" Ugh, this is getting ridiculous! "Again!" I did. "Jump behind you!"

I blinked. "Wha—augh!" Ack, painful... Ow, painful... Darn it darn it darn it...

The blade stabbed me on my side... It pulled out, and I quickly dashed forward to avoid whatever its owner wanted to do.

Ugh... Painful... Ow, painful...

"I told you to trust me!"

"And I told you not to shout in my head!" I snarled in the air as I stopped and turned. I saw the bloody sword and it's unicorn wielder rushing towards me. "Okay, now what!?"

"I can't help you if you question my instructions..."

"Then I hope you don't mind me to return your body in pieces then!" I jumped back to avoid the swinging sword.

I actually heard a sigh inside my head. "When he swings his swor—" I jumped back again to avoid his swing. "—uh, the second time, jump back, but not too high, and give him a headbutt..."

I sighed internally, and after dodging another swing, I dash forward, pinning the unicorn on the ground as I grabbed his sword with my teeth. I raised one of my forehooves, and started beating his face.

"Okay, you can stop now and duck!" Quack? I jumped right instead as soon as I heard a powerful stream of mana coming towards me. I landed, yet I lost my balance because of this painful wound I had, and I fell on the ground. "I said to duck!"

A unicorn fired a mana beam at me. Nervous, but I managed to lift my head in time to deflect that beam with the sword on my mouth. It was deflected to the unicorn who I was pinning down earlier. The firing unicorn was startled enough to not notice Apple Bloom giving him a powerful headbutt on his exposed neck. That got to hurt.

I groaned as I rose u— "Roll forward!" I kicked my hind hooves on the ground, sending me flying forward as I heard swords clashing on the ground from where I previously was. I turned to my attackers, and blocked a sword with my own sword on my teeth.

"This would have been so much easier if I had hands!" I thought bitterly as I jumped back, not even realizing that I bumped on a unicorn who was standing behind me. I ducked to dodge a swinging sword, and it instead slashed the neck of the unicorn behind me.

The unicorn in front of me was startled. It was enough for me to strike, but...kill him? I don't think I can... I don't think I can live with it...

He snapped back to attention, and struck his sword towards me...towards my frozen self...towards my exposed neck...

A green lance swung and blocked the sword, merely inches away from my neck. I blinked, took a step back, and I ended up stumbling on a dead unicorn's body. A blue blur knocked the unicorn out and with a swift swing of her head, she struck the unicorn's head with her sword.

I wasn't breathing... I couldn't... How could I? I have never ever seen a killing scene as close as this, or right in front of my eyes... Spike must have noticed as he turned. His smile was dropped as he realized how terrified I was... The sword on my openly-hanging mouth was dropped on the ground.

"S-sorry Gold..." was all Spike could say as he tried to make me stand up. "You're wounded!" he exclaimed, but I didn't care... I was terrified... W-what if—

What if Claire and my brother would meet the same fate at the hands of those three people back in my world!? Worse, what if I'll witness that scene right in front of my eyes!?

"...I'm sorry..."

I hung my head low...

"We've got tah skedaddle, ponies!" Applejack exclaimed as she puts her brother on her back, and as well as her wounded sister. "There are unicorns approachin'!"

Rainbow Dash carried a wounded Sweetie Belle on her back as she stared at Scootaloo. "Glad you're okay, squirt."

Scootaloo beamed. "Heh, it was nothing, really."

"Gold," Spike spoke as Applejack, Scootaloo and Rainbow Dash were approaching me.

I sighed, no need for me to trouble myself with this for now. I need to get outta here first. "W-will you help me Spike?"

Spike looked at me worriedly, but nodded as he flashed me a small smile. "Of course I would! What kind of a question is that?"

Chapter 57 - Confirming The Truth

Sweetie Belle's magic helped us out with our bleeding wounds. She may not have been able to heal our wounds completely, but at least she managed to stop the bleeding. I don't think dying from blood lost wound be a pretty sight to see.

Anyway, we were now walking through a forest. A cold forest. The weather started raining earlier, and now, we're soaked from this very strong storm.

My wound is close to my right horse thigh... I guess it's a thigh, I think... I don't really remember the things I've learned back in biology about animal body parts... Why do they even teach stuff in high school that aren't really important, anyway? Like that square root thingies in math class.

I sighed as we kept moving. Spike is helping me walk because it's really painful to walk with my right hind hoof. I'm really thankful for the little dude. The two of us are behind the group though, but those who were in front weren't walking faster than our pace. They're probably just scouting ahead to see if the coast is clear and all. We're in a war anyway...

I sighed yet again. Do I have to kill to survive? Do I really have to kill just to get rid of those stormy clouds back home?

B-but, I don't think I can... I'd fight if I had to, but I don't think I can kill someone...or somepony...

Where are we heading, anyway? Hm, well, my guess is we're heading back to Ponyville. I did saw a glimpse of Cloud—er, Pegasopolis earlier when we were close to the forest's edge a few times. And each time, that cloud kingdom was getting closer the more we continued our walk, but it was still too far away.

Spike had also told me of what happened after I went crazy in the library. I don't think I could believe it, but I think I should. Even the others agreed to the little dragon's tale. Mana beams struck me but had no effect? Now I wish I am also metal-proof, or sword-proof or—

"You're not an invincible pony..."

"You're very supportive," I whispered sarcastically, "thank you..."

"It's no problem, Gold," Spike replied, and gave me a small and genuine smile. I smiled back, even though what I said wasn't for him. He then turned his attention ahead. "Hey Gold..."

"Hm?"

"Can I ask you something?"

"Y-yeah, I don't see why not..."

I noticed him taking a deep breath before speaking. "Um... Tw—, uh... Hm..." He sighed. "N-no, forget it... Never mind..."

I frowned and sighed. "What is it? Come on... You can tell me..." I encouraged him with a low and determined voice.

"W-well, uh... Earlier, w-who were you shouting at?" he gave me a puzzled look.

"Oh, that," I looked ahead as I let out a small sigh. "...the voice in my head..."

"Oh..." Spike voiced out as he looked ahead as well.

Apple Bloom and Sweetie Belle were now walking beside each other, and were having a small discussion. With their serious expressions, I doubt their chat is anything around girl-talk. The same to Applejack and her brother. Big Macintosh had his hooves tied up, and was being carried by Applejack. The mare was talking a bit, but the stallion kept his mouth shut.

Rainbow Dash and Scootaloo were ahead of us, and were the ones scouting and leading us to what path to take.

A bright white light blinded my vision for a short of a second.

There was a powerful crash of thunder that roared from the heavens.

"Was it..." I heard Spike's low voice. I turned my attention to him. "...was it... Discord...?"

I blinked my sad eyes at him. I felt my ears drooped as I sighed and turned ahead. "Y-yes..." I sighed again. "Yes Spike," I nodded, "this voice inside my head's Discord's...but..."

"But...?" Spike turned to me with pouring curiosity.

I shook my head. "I think I must have only imagined it... Sure, the voice is Discord, but...the way he speaks in my head... It doesn't sound like it's him at all..."

I turned to Spike, and saw him arching an eyebrow. "Have you ever met the guy?"

"Uh... Er..." I looked ahead. "Well, he's a dragon, right?" I saw Spike's nodding head from the corner of my eyes. I took that as a good starting point then. "He has different animal body parts." Another nod. "He's like a jester... An annoying one, if I should point out." Spike actually chuckled lightly at that.

"Okay, so I guess you do know him," he blinked and frowned in confusion. "But, how?"

I shrugged. "I'll explain when I get the chance... But yeah, as I've said," I turned to him. "I don't really know, or I'm not really sure, if this voice inside my head really is Discord..." I looked ahead. "I think that if this voice really is him, then the way he tells me stuff or gives me instructions would have been more...Discord-like."

Our conversation really pulled me out from my main problem: about if I should really kill others just to fix my world, but, I'm thankful anyway. I don't want to deal with that problem now or any time soon. I think I'd need to heal first before I'll start heading to the Smokey Mountains...which, now that I think about it, we're walking further and further away from... I sighed. Oh well...

"Wait," Rainbow's voice broke through the loud droplets of the stormy rain. "You guys hear that?" Rainbow's ears was turning at any possible direction.

"Wh-what is it?" Apple Bloom asked.

"S-something is..." Sweetie Belle whispered as Spike and I reached the filly. "...very very...powerful..." she gulped as the rest of our attention was on her. She shook her head nervously. "...and I don't like it..."

There was a powerful clank noise. From what I've heard, it sounded like it was from far away, but damn, it was loud enough that it sounded like it was close. We heard it again. Rainbow Dash and Scootaloo both rushed towards the edge of the forest, that was meters away. The rest followed, leaving Spike and I to follow in a slower pace.

"You can join them... I'll just follow," I offered. I don't want to drag Spike from whatever was going on.

Spike only shook his head. "That ain't happening. Now, come on."

I smiled and tried my best to walk faster. I did manage to walk faster than earlier, but my wound was as painful as heck. I tried my best not to show it, and thankfully, whatever was the source of that metallic sound caught Spike's attention. I don't want him to make me go slower. In all honesty, I am also curious of where that sound was coming from.

We reached the others. The first thing I noticed was their grim expressions. Whatever they were staring on the direction of Unicornia, I'm sure it won't be pretty. Spike helped me and we stopped beside the cyan pegasus. Upon staring at the mountain of Unicornia from a distance, Spike and I couldn't hold our surprised gasps.

The middle part of the tall mountain was opened like a two-door cabinet. Another clank sound erupted as a...large white metallic mouth of a huge cannon was slowly dragging itself out from the mountain.

"I-is that..." Applejack's trembling voice echoed along with the rain. She gulped. "...is that the iron-thing Brownie and Ah saw back inside the cave in Unico'nia?"

It stretched out even further, and soon, it stopped. It's fearsome metallic head was aimed at none other than the cloud kingdom of the pegasi. And, if I am not seeing things, I think there's a spec of purple on top of the mouth of the giant cannon.

"That," Rainbow whispered, "is not cool..."

Chapter 58 - Breaking The Limit

"I've got to warn them!" Rainbow's voice trailed off as she zoomed further and further away from Gold Blitz and the rest of her companions. She flapped her wings as hard and as fast as she could, as she headed towards Pegasopolis while leaving a trail of rainbow behind her.

"R-Rainbow Dash—" Scootaloo shouted, "wait!"

A purple unicorn, standing firm and proud on top of the edge of the giant metallic cannon, disregarded the strong stormy wind and grinned as she eyed the rainbow trail that was heading towards the very target of the weapon.

A few feet behind her was a dark-blue coated unicorn, who stood tall as well.

A white unicorn walked out from the shadows of the mountain, and was heading towards her majesty with clear difficulty of keeping her footing on the weapon, not to mention the strong wind is making things for her a lot more difficult.

She stopped, two or so meters from Starfall. She bowed, despite having difficulty to even stand firmly in the spot. "P-princess," she shivered. She just realized how cold she was feeling at the moment. She hid a grin. Maybe after all of this, a private victory celebration is waiting sooner than later.

Starfall didn't move an inch. He locked his gaze on the cloud kingdom, while Twilight turned her head towards the white unicorn, her grin was still plastered firmly on her face. "Yes?"

Rarity lifted her head, returning her gaze at her. "Everything is in order, princess. Shall I take my position?"

Twilight grinned further, and Rarity took that as an answer. She bowed before carefully trotting back. Twilight turned and locked her gaze on the cloud kingdom.

"Order isn't really the right word, my dear Rarity..."

Rainbow Dash, upon her arrival on the cloud kingdom, was blocked and was now surrounded by armored pegasi stallions.

"We are sorry, Miss Dash," one of the stallions spoke loudly so his voice will break through the strong chilly wind. Rainbow cringed, hearing her title was no longer spoken by the stallions she used to command. "...but we have strict orders not to let you go further in the kingdom."

"Look," the cyan mare grunted, "I don't care if you'll let me in or not, but," she spun, facing the direction of where the mountain of Unicornia stood. "I want you to deliver a message, and fast!"

Rainbow extended a hoof, pointing at the mountain far away. Other stallions stared at the direction, and lost their breath after what they have seen.

Rarity stood on the metallic weapon near the shadows of the mountain of where it came out. She took a deep breath — the cold stormy air filled her lungs. She turned her head back, and took a while for her eyes to adjust to the dimly lit interior of the mountain.

Earth ponies from inside were now closing the rectangular door of the cannon on the end of the weapon, were they have filled it with years and years of collected gems from all across the land.

Such a waste of gems, she thought as she smiled bitterly before turning her head back to the purple unicorn on the other end of the weapon. As the purple unicorn's mane danced with the wind, she wondered how such a young soul was able to command the empire after Celestia fell ill. She shook her head, for there is a proper time to deal such thoughts. She inhaled deep yet again, shivering slightly as the cold air filled her lungs once more. As she exhaled, she concentrated her magic on her horn, and slightly collecting mana energy from a small radius of her surroundings to enhance her power. Though it only provided little help, for there was no mana energy on steel, and the air was too strong to collect a few.

Nevertheless, she concentrated. "Princess!" she yelled with all her might. Twilight's horn glowed, Starfall's horn glowed soon after, and Rarity took that as her reply. Soon, the faint purple glow of Twilight's horn flared brightly as a purple strand of mana started crawling in the air. It connected with Starfall's horn, where he grunted slightly, and soon, three purple strands of mana stream slowly wormed in the air, crawling towards Rarity's glowing horn.

Rarity sighed a bit. She didn't know that streaming mana energy would require time to connect from one horn to another. Hm... Maybe it's because of their distance? She shook the question away. She needed to concentrate, and if she needed to wait, then wait she shall.

The pegasi ponies in Pegasopolis were in panic. Civilians were flying everywhere, while some even flew out of the kingdom's borders. Armored stallions did manage to stop each one, but for how long is a question none of them bothered troubling with.

"Listen up!" Rainbow's voice boomed from the heavens. Each soul turned to her. She was flying a few inches above the tallest tower of the kingdom. "We're not going to achieve anything from being afraid!"

Far below, Cloud Strike smirked. The king had ordered him to take her place in protecting Ponyville after her failed attempt of stopping the advancing unicorns from a surprise attack. He knew far too well that Rainbow Dash no longer has the authority to make commands to anypony. But as he scanned the royal grounds of the castle, those higher in rank than him were speechless. His grin grew longer. He knew it was a mistake to remove her from her rank. But did they listen? They are now.

"That weapon of theirs is far too big for even a hundred — no, — a thousand unicorns to move! You know why!? Because it's locked on the ground!" Rainbow spat, shouting with all her lungs as she landed on top of the tower. She doesn't want to show it, but she knew she couldn't hover in the air while wasting her breath shouting. "They can't move their cannon, but we can move its target!" She flapped her wings twice as she raised a hoof in the air. "Now who's with me!?"

As the crowd all shouted in unison, Cloud Strike closed his eyes, turned to the ground, and shook his head slightly with a warm smile. There really is something about Rainbow Dash that she can motivate any pony.

"I can't hear you!" Rainbow shouted, and it was quickly followed by an even louder roar from the crowd below and around her. She eyed the crowd with a victorious smile before fixing her gaze at the mountain far away. "I won't fail again..." she whispered as her smile faded into a serious frown. "I won't fail again..." she repeated, more quiet this time.

The purple mana streams have already snaked their way on Rarity's glowing horn. She grunted as a powerful wave of magic — that she never knew would be possible — had made contact, and now, a few more snaked out from her horn, growing longer as it quietly crawled in the air towards the other unicorns inside the mountain, where their horns were already lighting in different colors.

Rarity heard an echo of shouting ponies. She narrowed her eyes as she stared at the kingdom of clouds far away, where she thought was where the echo had come from.

Twilight also heard it, and also doubted if it came from Pegasopolis, but what it was didn't matter. She looked down, and the unicorns down below were like ants: taking their positions and preparing themselves if ever the pegasi were to strike.

Inside the mountain, the unicorns were shivering slightly. Whether it was the uncertainty of the mana stream reaching them or the chilly stormy air that continually entered the huge hole on the mountain's face, or probably both.

After each of the unicorns' glowing horns were reached by the strands of the mana stream, their horns — as well as Twilight's, Starfall's and Rarity's — glowed dimly, as a bright serpent-like stream of mana flowed out from the group of unicorns, and was slithering its way in the air towards the crystal rods poking out near the end of the cannon inside the mountain.

The crystal rods were two meters in height, and were already glowing brighter and brighter the mana stream got close.

The mana stream connected with a rod, and continued heading to the others. Finally connected with all rods, Twilight sensed that she was finally connected with the crystals inside, and as well as the cannon. She grinned as she eyed the cloud kingdom slowly moving east.

"So," the purple unicorn licked her lips and kept her grin, "time for the grand finalé." She took a breath and concentrated. With her powerful magic, she was able to gather huge amounts of mana from the air, and absorbed it all to her horn, and directly sent jolts of mana energy to the cannon through the mana stream, where Rarity and the other unicorns jerked from the powerful energy they were channeling.

Rarity and the other unicorns suddenly felt their grounds were shaking slightly... Rarity didn't know what was happening.

"Keep it up!" Rainbow shouted as she and the other pegasi ponies pushed the edge of their cloud kingdom towards east. It was a slow process, but at least they're now out of the aim of the cannon. Grinning, she flew out of the pushing ponies and looked at the mountain of the unicorns.

Rainbow's grin evaporated as her coat went white...as white as the cannon's mouth, which was glowing brightly, and was still aimed at their kingdom.

"N-no..." Rainbow whispered. She slowly turned to the pegasi ponies. They were still busy pushing, and were all completely unaware that their efforts were fruitless. How did that cannon manage to turn, she had no idea, but now's not the time to think. It was time to act! "Everypony!" Rainbow shouted as she hovered and flew above the others. "Fly away! Fly away! Now!"

"Target..." Twilight gasped, "locked..." She had no idea that a great amount of her energy would be drained away in the process of preparing the mana cannon to fire. Has she miscalculated perhaps? No. This is the first in history, and she'll be the one to write all of the facts, if she remembers doing so. Through the mana stream, she also felt the exhaustion of the other unicorns. She couldn't delay any further. Despite her stamina rapidly decreasing, she grinned, and continued sending waves upon waves of mana energy to the cannon.

From the mouth of the cannon, Twilight could already see the brightly white glow and could already hear the hissing noises of burning mana from within.

She closed her eyes, and everything went dead silent. She slowly took a breath. She felt how cold the air was traveling from her nostrils down to her lungs. He kept it there for a moment before exhaling through her mouth. She slowly opened her eyes. With a serious look, she spoke, "game over..."

The pegasi ponies were flying away from their kingdom, while some decided to stay and, to what fate their kingdom faces, they'll face it as well. Unfortunately, Rainbow Dash would be none of those. She knew that if the kingdom falls, the unicorns would easily take over Ponyville.

She failed protecting that town once, and she swore never to fail again from protecting it...no matter what the cost.

"Dash!" a white coated stallion with yellow mane and tail hovered to her. "We should leave, now!"

Rainbow Dash turned away from him, and locked her gaze on the glowing mouth of the cannon. "N-no..." she replied through trembling lips.

"Dash," Cloud Strike spoke, "leave, now!" But after receiving no response, he added, "this is an order!"

"Screw your orders!" Rainbow Dash removed her helmet and dropped it towards the thunderous clouds of the Everfree down below.

"W-what are you doing!?"

Rainbow shook her light armor off of her, following her helmet down below. "Sorry Clouddy," she stretched her legs and cracked her neck. "But this mare flies solo from now on."

"Ack!" Cloud grabbed her foreleg with both of his. "Don't be crazy!" Rainbow shot him a glare. "What could a mare like you possibly do at a time like this!?" He strengthened his grip on her hooves to make sure she won't be able to fly anywhere.

Rainbow was silent for a while, holding her glare. She soon grinned devilishly at him, which made Cloud blink in confusion. With smiling lips, and teary eyes, she spoke. "I-I'll let you see a legend..."

With that, she quickly opened her mouth wide and bit his foreleg, making him jerk and lose his grip on her. She flared her wings and flapped them as hard and as fast as ever, heading straight towards the cannon far far away...

Twilight's eyes glowed white as her whole body was surrounded by a white glow. And finally, with a stomp, the cannon fired a fearsome ray of mana, huge enough to cover everything of Pegasopolis, and powerful enough to dissolve anything.

The cannon flew backwards, and it's base hit the other side of the mountain, summoning a terrifying earthquake that startled and made the unicorns stumble and lose their concentration, resulting for the mana stream to break and for the cannon to slowly return to its neutral state.

The monstrous mana beam was quickly approaching towards the cloud kingdom.

Rainbow Dash was quickly flying towards the incoming mana beam. She gulped, but didn't slowed her pace. In fact, she became even faster and faster in every beat of her blurring wings.

Everything became slow for the ponies and a dragon who were watching nervously on the edge of a forest. They have shouted, and they have wailed, but their voices were only carried by the wind elsewhere.

Rainbow Dash had already summoned a v-shaped air wave, but she hadn't noticed. All she was focused on was to hear it. She was too late when she did it before. But this time, she knew she'll make it.

But her hope of making it was slowly dissolving as she realized how close she was getting towards the quick mana beam. But there's no time to turn and evade it, as she suddenly heard something breaking all around her.

Rainbow Dash had broken the sound barrier.

Rainbow Dash has created the legendary Sonic Rainboom.

Rainbow Dash was too close to the mana beam.

Everything stopped for one moment. Rainbow had realized that things won't be going as she hoped it would...

"Rainbow Dash...!" she heard the wind faintly delivered the voice of a filly to her ears.

Will she ever see her again? She doubted it, but, she was thankful to be given this moment to smile.

"Heh," she whispered to herself, "sorry squirt..."

She closed her eyes...

The instant the Sonic Rainboom had appeared was also the moment it collided with the huge beam of melting mana. Rainbow had only time to register in her brain of how close and how hot it was when a powerful explosion had erupted.

The explosion was loud for even those who were far away needed their hooves to cover their ears. But it also created a blinding white light, forcing the ponies — even those who were staring elsewhere — needed to close their eyes to protect their sight.

Seconds flew by, and everything became rain and wind again.

Twilight collapsed, slipped off the cannon, and was to fall were it not for Starfall's quick hooves to catch her. He grunted, and pulled the purple unicorn back up with all of the strength that was left in him.

Scootaloo and the others were quickly working their eyes to spot the only pony they were concerned for the moment, but as the seconds became minutes, the one-winged pegasus lost her footing and collapsed, sobbing.

"N-no, wait..." Gold Blitz whispered to himself, his pupils small and his face pale after what he just witnessed. "R-Rainbow's...no..."

Chapter 59 - The Missing Piece

Everything is quiet now... No, everything still has their own unique sound...but my ears or my brain no longer registers any of them as I wandered around the town of Ponyville.

Everything is dark, as always, but to me, everything was darker... The town I once called a peaceful town was gone. Well, Ponyville is still here, but something is no longer present...

No one seemed to mind my presence, and that is fine, for I don't think I'd be willing to open my mouth to talk to anyone... I kept on walking in a very slow pace. I didn't mind the rain. I didn't mind the wind. Both weren't worth my attention... Nothing has caught my attention...

The town was full of working ponies, but now, there were only ponies... Those with wings were absent. Those bound on the earth were walking around. At least they had a purpose of their walk. I had none...

There's a mare up ahead. She was pulling a wooden wagon full of little house-hold items. I walked pass her. She didn't mind.

There's a stallion walking out of his home. He closed the door slowly as I walked by. He didn't mind.

I suddenly stopped as an orange fruit rolled in front of my path. I stopped and stared at it, and Scootaloo slowly extended a hoof to pick up the only thing her idol had left her after we have searched the quiet and barren War Planes. Lifting her hoof in front of her face, she sobbed as she stared at the blue slightly burned feather on her hoof. She threw herself into a sitting position as she brought the feather on her chest, and embraced it as she let the stream of tears roll down her face.

An earth filly suddenly picked up the orange on the ground. She noticed me, and smiled sheepishly at me as she walked towards Scootaloo, and gently placed a slightly muddy hoof on her shoulder. Apple Bloom opened and closed her mouth several times, but she couldn't find the right words to say something...or anything. Sweetie Belle joined and placed a hoof on the sobbing pegasus' other shoulder.

I couldn't bare seeing her like that. I sadly threw my gaze on the ground, and saw my reflection on the small puddle of rain water on the ground... I closed my eyes, and let out a heavy sigh.

I continued walking through the busy road. I didn't mind the ponies I walk by. They didn't mind me as well.

I don't know how many minutes it took me to reach the edge of town. I stared ahead, and a lightning flash blinded me momentarily before my vision came back and we continued our slow trek towards the Everfree Forest. We've reached the edge of the said forest before Applejack announced that she probably needed to head back to the farm. We didn't respond, and she didn't wait for one either. She turned and started walking off with her brother still tied and carried on her back.

We stared at her, and after she was out of sight, Apple Bloom sighed and quietly started walking to the same direction that Applejack took. And again, none of us said a word. She did however, turned her head over her shoulder and stared at the misty-eyed pegasus filly. She flashed her a weak smile before continuing her trek.

When Apple Bloom was out of sight, we turned our attention at the forest. It was darker than I last remembered. The darkness however, was dispelled as Sweetie Belle summoned a faint glow on her horn as she led the way. Spike patted Scootaloo's shoulder with a claw, and the two walked after Sweetie Belle.

It took them a moment before they have realized that I wasn't following them. Spike stopped and turned to me with a look of sadness and concern.

"Howdy, Brownie," Applejack greeted me with a smile, yet her eyes and her tone betrayed her lips.

I tried to force a smile, but what came out was a sigh instead.

Her small smile vanished the instant my sigh came out from my mouth. She opened her mouth to say something, but none came out. I turned my head and stared at the vast green leaves of their orchard beyond the worn-white fence of their farm. I turned my head back to Applejack, but my gaze was locked on the red stallion as I remembered him telling us his reason as to why he decided to stay in the castle. He had no choice, he said, for if he wanted to continue living, he'd had to do what the unicorns asked him to do.

Despite our current situation however, Applejack must've sensed that her brother gave us the answer she wasn't looking for. It held no truth, she said, and Big Macintosh showed it pretty well. Giving up through a sigh, he finally told us that if he didn't die in the war, then staying with the unicorns was the second best option for him to be away of his family. He recounted the time that everyone were quarreling over his future of joining in the war. He didn't like it. He couldn't have a say on it. Every time he tries to voice out, he was completely shoved off and shut quiet. He was tired of having a quarreling family, and death was his only solution to escape. Unfortunately, that didn't happen. So instead, he took an alternative. And so, he is sitting glumly on a chair just outside the barn, staring blankly at the ground below him.

"He'll turn around," Applejack's voice reached my ears. I turned and saw her staring at her brother with a sad frown. "Ah'm sure he will." She then turned back to me. "Ah mean, he did have a good reason to leave but, he was bein' mighty selfish."

I stared at the ground near the mare's hooves, and then stared back at the sea of green leaves of the apple orchard. The rain and wind were adding beauty to the waves of leaves, but my heart couldn't feel it...

"Oh, hey," Applejack called, dragging my attention back at her. She pulled something out from her saddlebag, and after she got it out, she slowly placed it on her head. She made a few adjustments before staring back at me with a small smile accompanied by a small blush on her cheeks. "Ah got mahself a hat, like yah said that one tahm. Ahem...er...h-how'd Ah look?"

I wasn't really sure of the number of seconds that flew by. I wasn't awestruck or anything. I was too down to feel that way... But strangely, her little act gave a tiny flare in my cold and down heart.

"Ah'll take that smile as a positive feedback," she smiled weakly as she removed the hat off of her head. "And Ah think yah got a good look of me, and that's fine and dandy, 'cuz Ah won't be wearin' this any time soon, yah hear?"

My small smile grew a bit wider. She has a strange way of trying to cheer someone up. She must have noticed it as well, for she nodded her head before returning the hat inside her bag.

"Glad tah help, Brownie. Ah really don't wanna see those ol' gloomy faces plastered on everypony's faces." She shook her head. "Well, Ah better try and cheer mah own family up. Consider my little presentation earlier as mah warm-up." She started walking back towards the barn. She only took a few steps before stopping on her tracks and turning her head towards me. "Oh, we have some pie back in the barn. Wanna come an' have a bite?"

The smile I had was still there as I closed my eyes and slowly shook my head.

"Well, if yah change yer mind, yer welcome to come anytime." She gave me a small smile and a nod before walking back to the barn house. I stared at her for a short while before I continued our walk towards the old castle located in the deep parts of the Everfree Forest. We met Fluttershy on the way. At first, she asked us how we were doing, but after receiving no reply and having a good look at our expressions, she kept quiet and led the way, as she asked the creatures we come across to not harm us... At that time, I wondered if I'll feel pain if any of the animals would attack me.

Upon our arrival, the looks of the ponies inside made everything worse for me, so I turned around and walked back to the forest instead. Spike called me, but I ignored him and kept my slow pace. I didn't really know how long it took me to get out of the forest and absentmindedly continue my walk all the way to Ponyville...

As I made my way out of the other side of the apple orchard, I saw a small purple blob near the edge of the Everfree Forest.

"Hey..." Spike greeted me with a low voice through a weak smile as I reached him.

"Hey," I greeted back with my own version of a small smile as I stood beside him, turned around, and sat on the ground after kicking my tail out of the way.

We stared at the green sea of leaves of the apple orchard and the town of Ponyville in silence. We didn't mind the cold rain. We didn't mind the chilly air.

Things have really changed dramatically since I last came to town though... As I've told myself... Something about the town is missing now... The town is still there... The ponies are still there, but for how long? Even though the town was still there, there's something very important that it was missing...

"So..." Spike spoke, breaking the silence, "...how is everypony back in town?"

"They're...okay, I guess..."

"...oh..."

...The town's spirit is gone...

Chapter 60 - Quest For Harmony

Rainbow's gone, and it really broke the morale of the pegasi. Though Cloud Strike has been trying his darn best to boost it back up. He's not doing pretty well, but he's not giving up. Rainbow did gave them a second chance, and he's not willing to waste that chance.

The unicorns in the far north are probably not doing so well either. With that much power from their cannon, I'm sure that even Twilight would be left exhausted, but for how long is the question.

It wasn't fair that the pegasi had lost one of their own while the unicorns haven't...or have they? I'm not sure.

The ponies in Ponyville aren't really doing so well either. That explosion casted fear inside their hearts, and dispelling that would take a miracle. At least things at Sweet Apple Acres aren't as gloomy as Ponyville.

Big Macintosh was still as quiet as ever the last time I saw him before I headed to the castle. I wanted to talk to Luna, and so here I am, lying on the raised platform where the five magical orbs' pedestal used to stand.

Sigh...

Rainbow is gone. I don't know why, but it saddened me so much... Why...?

No. I need to get over this... I shouldn't really dwell on it for far too long. I should remember that I have a goal here. I have a mission to do. I wanted to fix my world for my brother so he could have a peaceful world to live in. That is why I kept on going, despite how much I hated it.

Call me selfish, but I can be who I want to be, just to see my brother smile.

If I needed to be here, if I needed to be a pony, if I needed to go through so many trials, then I will. But, I hope to avoid killing as much as possible. Friend or foe, I couldn't stand the idea of killing just to achieve my goals. B-but if there's no other way, then so be it. But there should be other options, right?

My first test of that is to head to the Smokey Mountains west of Unicornia. I plan to go through the forest to avoid being detected by either unicorns or pegasi, but I need to avoid the unicorns at all cost...except for Sweetie Belle of course, and a few who aren't posing a threat. And other things...

Other options... Well, the unicorns seem to be the only ones who are after me for some strange reason. And, they don't really know where I'll be heading. No one knows where I plan of heading. So why am I lying around here for? I already had a goal, and that is to go to the tallest mountain in the Smokey Mountain to stop that dra—oh, right...that...

I guess I should wait and ask Luna of how to deal with that problem first...

"Luna..." my voiced echoed around the spacious hill of flowers under the evening sky. Oh, how I miss the sky. "I don't want to keep you for long, so I'll make this as short and as quick as I can..." I took a breath and sighed.

"If you are to inquire of your brother's status, then he is fine." Luna spoke in a gentle manner.

That made me blink as I turned to her. She held a small smile, staring at the vast hills. Actually, I have even forgotten that we were in trouble before I found myself back in Equestria. "Wh-where is he now?"

She shook her head slightly. "I do not have the knowledge of your world," she turned to me, "so I couldn't answer that question. However, rest assured that he and your female companion are safe."

Huh, well okay then. At least I wouldn't worry about their safety while I'm here. I nodded my thanks and stared at the sea of flowery hills. "Thank you, Luna. But there's also one other thing..."

"Oh?" She turned to me.

I stared at the brilliant glowing moon up at the dreamy sky. "Celestia has told me of what is causing the black clouds."

I turned and saw her smiled even further. "She has? Such news!" She nodded. "She has also told you of a way to stop it, yes?" Her smile slowly drowned after seeing my frown. "She...hasn't?"

I dropped my gave on the ground as I shook my head. "No, she did... Or rather...she was about to...but uh, the unicorns interrupted."

"I...see..." she stared elsewhere, "that is disappointing to hear."

"Can't you call her?" I asked suddenly.

She blinked. "I beg your pardon?"

I raised my head to see her. "Can't you, you know, call her? Connect with her? Communicate?"

She frowned. "You speak as though I am not aware of the meaning of such a phrase but," she shook her head, "no, I cannot." I was about to ask when she stared at her moon up above. "It has been a thousand years since I last connected my magic with hers. You could say that I have forgotten how to do such a simple magic spell. Yes, she can "call" me, but that is it..."

Oh, that's...not very useful... I sighed.

"But I doubt you'd need her wisdom on this," she turned to me with a small smile. "Such a simple task of shutting the source of the clouds down should be a simple task." Her small smile vanished once again after staring at my frowning face. "...would it not?"

I sighed and hung my head low. "A dragon's causing the clouds..."

"O-oh my..." she coughed a bit. "T-that is a big problem that I thought."

"Tell me about it..." I sighed yet again.

I decided to wake up after Luna couldn't help me with my dilemma. Still, there has to be a way. I'd just hope I'd figure it out before I reach the dragon's cave. From the series, the dragon was sleeping inside the cave on the peak of that mountain.

If only it would be as simple as to wake that dragon up and ask it to sleep elsewhere, but Celestia pointed out that it would be pointless to do so, for the dragon will cause the problem in a new location.

Sigh...

"Where are you going?" I heard Spike's voice. I turned around and saw him on the draw bridge of the old castle, staring at me worriedly.

I stared up in the Everfree clouds. I hope he'd get the idea.

And he did. "Oh, right..." He then started walking towards me. "But I won't let you walk off this time," he declared with a glare as he stopped right in front of me.

"Ack," not this again... "We've talked about this, Spike."

He shook his head. "Nope, we haven't. And if we did, then we didn't end up with an agreement."

I tilted my head to the side. "What are you talking about?"

He rolled his eyes. "I said that I won't let you go anywhere to do something crazy again," he crossed his arms on his chest as he smiled. "Not without me, you're not."

It was my turn to roll my eyes as I rubbed his scaly head with a hoof. "Ain't happening, small guy," I managed to flash a small smile, contrasting his frown. "I don't want something bad happening to you."

He slapped my hoof with a claw. "Heh, look who's talking." He crossed his arms once again. "The way I see it, you're the one who's going to have something bad to happen to yourself if I don't come along."

I felt my ears droop. Heck, he has a point. What could an earth pony do, anyway? Just stand there and be dragon food for that large dragon? I sighed. "Fine, fine, you win."

He chuckled. "Of course I do," he said as he ran to my side and hopped on my back. "Now let's get going. This place is making me sad..."

...and now I'm feeling sad all of a sudden...

I shook my head to get rid of that feeling. Concentrate on my goal. I have nothing to do here.

"Let's get moving then," I said with a small smile as I turned and took a ste—

Fluttershy came out from the trees. She was startled a bit when she saw us.

I smiled. "Sorry to startle you, Fluttershy," I said as I tried my best to ignore the two vicious wolves that came out from the forest and walked passed me.

"It's okay," she stared at us with worry. "W-where are you going this time?"

"This time," I replied with a smile, "I—er—we're going to get rid of these gloomy clouds."

Fluttershy's ears drooped for some strange reason. It made me remember that she also had the same reaction when I told her where I was heading that time. "O-oh, I see..." and she replied the same that time.

I arched an eyebrow. "Is something the matter, Fluttershy?"

She suddenly sprung back to life—though in shock. "Oh? Nothing! Nothing at all!" She laughed awkwardly. "But um...just be careful, okay?"

My eyebrow arched even higher. She didn't said a word anymore as she walked pass me towards the castle.

"Well, that was weird," Spike commented.

"I guess she was just being Fluttershy..." I shrugged as I started walking. "But Spike, are you sure you want to come with?"

"But of course!" he hopped excitedly on my back...four times. "If you're on a quest, then I'll be your loyal...er..." he scratched his head, and soon shrugged. "...whatever. Point is, wherever you go, I'll go too."

I rolled my eyes with a smile. "I don't think I'll be able to stop you, so uh, suit yourself."

"So where are we going? You said that you're going to get rid of the clouds, right?"

I nodded. "Yeah. We're going to the Smokey Mountains."

"Smokey Mountains? But that place is far away, and it's snowing there!"

Yeah, I think I'm quite aware of that fact. "What? You want to back out?" I teased him.

"No way!" he shouted. "A little cold wont scare this dragon away!"

Yes, I know... But that dragon's a big one to even bother with the cold from up there, I think.

"Wait, so the black clouds are coming from there?"

I nodded. "Smart as ever, Spike."

Spike scratched his head. "Huh, that's weird. I wonder why the clouds are coming from there... I mean, there's nothing there except for that big—" he froze.

"Yeah," I chuckled awkwardly, and I borrowed Spike's words from last time, "we're dead."

Chapter 61 - A Long Journey

"Spike," I hissed, for the thousandth time already, "stop tapping my wound with your tail!"

Spike winced, and immediately lifted his tail and rested it on the other side of my thigh. "I'm sorry," he said, "but I couldn't help it!"

I know he doesn't mean it though, but really, I've told him to mind his tail for so many times ever since we started our journey. It should have already stuck in his brain by now.

I sighed. "I know you don't," I said, lying to myself, since I also said that to him a countless times already, "just, mind your tail," and I have no idea why I kept on saying that. But it just felt like I needed to say it anyway.

Spike nodded, nonetheless.

Anyway, we already exited the Everfree Forest for half an hour ago. We're now walking through the western forest of the War Planes, away from the edge of the forest to avoid being detected. Hm... Maybe I should correct that it's only me who's doing the walking. Strangely, if I were human, I'm pretty sure I would be dead because of exhaustion not long ago, but I guess ponies have more stamina than humans. At least, they have more stamina than a skinny human being...like myself back in the human world.

"How'd you get so good with a lance, anyway?" I asked, just so we have something to talk about. He already told me that it was Sweetie Belle who taught him how to make a lance out of his green magical fire.

"Scootaloo and Apple Bloom thought me," Spike replied. "They taught me how to defend myself while we were in the castle. You know, when you left..." He trailed off.

I couldn't blame him though. It wasn't really a good memory to hold on. Anyway, I'm still amazed that he learned a lot for only a short time. I guess he's really built for fighting. Dragons should know how to fight, after all, right?

We continued our little trek, exchanging a few short stories here and there, while yelping in pain and yelling at Spike about his darn tail tapping my still-healing wound.

The forest really isn't that thick or difficult to go through though. The only thing making things difficult is the cold rain shower and the thin fog that shrouded the forest.

Food wasn't much of a problem though, for there were several fruit-bearing trees in the forest. Often times, I'd need to use Applejack's methods of bucking a tree for fruits to fall off. If that won't work, then Spike would climb up and pick some for us.

There were also several wild animals we came across while continuing our journey. They were mostly herbivores though, from rabbits to deers. There were carnivores, like a leaf-covered wolf, or a rock-scaled croc, but Spike managed to scare off the former, and the latter was pretty much acting like a rock while it continued its sleep.

We reached a small clearing though, and in the middle was a clear pond. The instant we set our eyes on it, we suddenly realized how thirsty we were. Spike jumped off of me and was about to dash straight towards the pond when I bit his tail to stop him.

Of course, he asked what was the big idea, so I told him that the water might not be safe. He rolled his eyes but listened to me anyway. We waited for other animals to come by and take a drink. It took us a minute or so when a red fox came out from the trees and took a quick drink from the watering hole before running back. We took that as a good sign and so we drank. The water was cool, and Spike even dared jumping to the water and started splashing all over. I simply rolled my eyes and let him be. He is, after all, still a baby dragon.

Eventually, I joined him, not for the splashing, but for the cool water to bless the wound I had. It was refreshing, and I really didn't feel like going out, but we needed to, after resting there for two or so minutes. And, the water was cold anyway, and I really didn't like the cold so much.

Shaking the water off of me, we continued our journey through the forest. Aside from my own hooves touching the forest floor, the rain was also the only noises that our ears were receiving.

Soon though, I felt that Spike was already sleeping on my back. Not that I mind. At least it'll stop him from poking my wound. I smiled as I continued the journey, though I stopped after I saw a large hollow on the foot of a rather giant tree. I suppose it's time for a quick rest. I am not really that tired, but meh, what the heck.

It was rather warm inside though, to my relief. And the ground was dry, obviously. I carefully removed Spike from my back and gently placed him on a corner as I settled down beside him. Man, his gentle snores reminded me of my brother. I sure hope Luna was right about my brother being okay back in my world.

It wasn't long before I noticed that I was already lying down on the ground, my head resting in between my front limbs. I sighed lightly. This is going to be a long journey...

Chapter 62 - Dark Cave

If my estimation is correct, I'd say that we've been traveling through this forest for almost two days now. That is, if my estimation is correct. We were able to get a glimpse of the Smokey Mountains through the little gaps of the leaves that covered our view to see the sky—er, clouds. Those little gaps were enough for us to see if we were getting closer to the mountains.

Now though, the trees in the forest were getting spacious. The gaps from tree to tree were getting wider, and we could almost see the edge of the forest up ahead.

The forest is still cold. The rain hadn't stopped at all. At least it's not a storm though. The mists were long gone now, and soon, we have exited the forest, and I stopped as I tilted my head up slowly, observing the tallness of the mountains that we're going to climb as soon as we're going to reach the base.

The edge of the forest was probably ten meters away from the base of the nearest mountain. I gulped. This is going to be a pretty darn difficult climb. The pale brown surface of the mountain looked really slippery, so one small miscalculated footing would end in disaster. I gulped again. I started observing the lower parts of the mountain as I started a slow walk towards it. I tried to see if I can see a few small rocks poking out or a few dents that I could use to climb on. From the looks of it, there are plenty, so at least it won't be that difficult. Though I wonder if there are still a lot of footing the mountain could cover when Spike and I are higher an—

"Hey look," Spike immediately stood on my back, rested a claw on my head and pointed with the other. "There's a cave!"

I blinked as I lifted my pupils up to see his pointing claw, and followed the direction, which was a bit left from the base of the mountain where I was focused on... Okay, I have no idea why I missed that huge cave there. "Eheheh..." I chuckled as I changed my route towards it. "Good call, Spike."

He slipped back into a sitting position as he puffed his chest. "Oh, it's nothing really." I rolled my eyes.

We reached the mouth of the cave, and inside, it was pretty dark. Too dark for comfort. Spike stood on my back, planted both claws on my head, leaned forward, and blew a huge green flame, providing enough light for the both of us to see how huge the cave is. The flame's light failed to reach the ceiling, nor any walls of the cave.

The green flame faded, and left us there simply staring at the darkness. The raindrops were the only noises that danced to our ears before I shook my head and asked Spike to hop off of me. I began looking around.

"Hm," I wondered as I kept on staring around and at the forest. "There must be something we could use as a torch though..."

Hearing me thinking out loud, Spike started looking around as well. "Well, how about this?" I turned to see him picking up a rather long and thick tree branch behind a rather large rock near the cave's mouth.

I nodded my approval. "That could work."

Smiling, he held the tip of the branch close to his face and breathed out a small green fire, and presto, we have a torch. He immediately ran towards me and hopped on my back, to my great annoyance. I sighed for I planned of making him lead the way this time, but oh well.

As I began walking inside the cave, the rain from outside was slightly echoing around the cave. There was nothing much to see from all this darkness with our little radius of light from our yellow flame...

I stopped and blinked, and turned my head to see our torch. "Why is the fire yellow?" I'm pretty sure it was green when he breathed it out.

Spike shook his head. "Dunno, and do we really have to wonder about that now?"

I glared at him, but he has a point. Aw well...

I continued walking onward. Spike was occasionally turning the torch left, right, and ahead, as he tried to see if there were things that could get our attention. It was probably five or seven minutes when we saw an inclined earth from the ground tilted towards a—hopefully—higher portion of the mountain.

I turned to Spike, and he nodded. I started walking on it as a thought came to my mind. "Hey Spike," I spoke too loudly, 'cause my voice echoed all around. I decided to lower my volume. "I have a weird idea, but can you send Twilight a rock over her head?" I chuckled slightly. "That might actually help to stop the war."

"Hey, that's a great idea," he exclaimed, his voice echoing around. "But, I can't..."

"Why not?" I asked, fighting the urge of turning my head to look at him. There were rocks lying around, and I don't want to trip and slide all the way back down.

"Well, during that rescue in the library, Twilight fired a beam at me. I think that made you go into a rage or something. Anyway, that beam was powerful, and it even exploded. My guess is that it may also be the reason why I couldn't sense her through my dragon mail-thing..."

"Oh," I don't think I get it, since I'm no expert in magic anyway... "That sucks..."

"Yeah," Spike agreed as he nodded. "Why didn't you thought of that sooner though?"

I rolled my eyes. "I have no idea."

We suddenly found the ground ahead of us turned flat. I guess we must be on a new floor of the cave, or mountain. After taking a few steps on the flat ground, we found ourselves in front of a huge wall, so I had to turn to see what path we should take next. Spike waved the torched for us to get a better view, but I guess this is another spacious area.

No choice, I had to walk and see if we can find another inclined earth-thing to walk on to reach a new floor. I chuckled lightly, earning myself a confused dragon. It kinda feels a bit weird. It's like one of those mystery dungeons from the Pokémon games, where I need to search for the staircase to reach a new floor. Here though, there aren't any staircase. Aw well.

I started hearing faint flapping noises. Spike and I turned our heads up, and saw faint images of flying bats. Well, they're just bats. Nothing to worry about.

Chapter 63 - Dragon Study

I've lost track of time... And our torch is already small. Spike was already having difficulty holding it. It'll be soon before he'll be forced to throw it away. I'm not sure about dragon scales, but from his reaction, I think his hand will be burned if this keeps up.

Fortunately for us, after walking up on a new floor, we saw an opening not too far away. Strangely though, ever since we started walking to this floor, the air became...chillier than earlier. We must be pretty high up. Also, sounds of rain echoed around the dark area. It's still raining? Sheesh.

As we came closer, Spike threw the small torch aside. The light from the opening up ahead is already providing enough faint light for the both of us to see our surroundings around.

It's...kinda strange though, now that I think about it, why is there still light outside? I mean, isn't the whole sky covered by the dark clouds? I'm pretty sure, from the looks of it, that the clouds are too thick for sunlight to penetrate...if the sun is still around that is. Celestia controls the sun here, right? Hm... Actually, no, I don— "Hey Spike?"

"Yeah?"

"Celestia controls the sun, right?"

"Before she was trapped inside that deliciously huge crystal, yeah. And the moon as well. Why?"

I shrugged. I guess the series was correct about her. I just wished the series had told me about this war. It would have been a big heads up for the unfortunate ones like myself to accidentally get here. Wait, Spike said before Celestia was trapped. "What about now?"

Spike shook his head slightly. "Last time I saw the sun, it was stuck in the sky when it was about to set."

I see. I guess the battle of Celestia and Nightmare Moon took place at almost sundown. Kinda the opposite in the series, though. Aw well.

As I walked out from the dark mountain, Spike and I were immediately greeted by the strong wind and rain. I quickly ran back inside.

Spike jumped off of my back and tried his best to dry himself off.

"We should probably wait for the rain to stop," I suggested after shaking myself off of the water that I caught from the rain. I turned and saw Spike dripping wet, and was giving me a very nasty glare. Er... I must have given him the Gold Blitz rain. I smiled apologetically. "S-sorry..."

We went out after the rain became a light drizzle, that took for about...ten or more minutes though. And oh, my wound is all dried up and it's no longer painful when Spike's tail taps on it. It was a big relief. The path we're walking on, from my analysis, is circling around the mountain, and...damn...the mountains of this place is pretty close to each other. The earthy paths are wide enough to walk freely though, but I still need to be careful. It's still raining, and I don't want to slip and fall to my death. I don't think Discord, or whoever this spirit or voice within me, would appreciate a broken-boned pony.

After walking on a curving path, I saw another path from another mountain within reach. Before walking on it though, Spike and I stared at the tallest mountain, which is still...uh...two... three... four... seven... twelve mountains away from us.

The tallest mountain of the Smokey Mountains. From our vantage point, we could already see black smoke coming out from a pretty large cave near the peak of that mountain. I gulped as I continued our journey.

Okay, so how the heck are we suppose to deal with a giant dragon, anyway?

"So," Spike spoke quietly, "what's the plan on dealing with the big dragon?"

One... Two... Three... "I have no idea..." I responded with a sigh. "I don't really know much about dragons, though..." And an idea sprang inside my head, and it gave me something to smile about. And hoped for. Hope is important, right? "Spike, you're a studious dragon, right?"

Spike arched me an eyebrow. "Yeah?"

"Well, as I've said, I don't know much about dragons, so uh...could you tell me more about the—er..." I forgot, Spike is a dragon as well, "...about your kind?"

"Hm..." Spike put a claw on his chin as he was deep in thought.

I stopped for the path we were taking is no longer offering any more earth for me to walk on. At least there was a cave on my left. I went inside, and saw another opening on the other end. I walked towards it, and carefully watching the path ahead of me with the aid of the very faint light from both openings.

"Well," Spike's voice echoed slightly around the place, "there's a lot of things to talk about dragons though... What do you want to learn about?"

I shrugged as I rolled my eyes. "About how to defeat a giant dragon would be pretty nice to know about..." I said with a lame tone.

"Oh, yeah." He scratched his head. "That would be useful, huh?"

I rolled my eyes again and exhaled through my nostrils as I exited the mouth of the cave and started following the path towards our destination. "Gee, yah think?"

He chuckled awkwardly. "Well, there aren't really any large collection of books about dragons though." He shrugged as I carefully jumped to another path of another mountain. I thought you said that there are lots of things to talk about dragons... Sigh... "All of the books I've read are written by ponies, an—"

"And lemme guess, the ponies were too afraid to study dragons, yes?"

"Are you sure you're really not from here?" He shook his head slightly. "Anyway, yeah. The only known weak points of dragons I've read are their eyes..."

"Eyes?" I blinked. "Dragons have sharp eyes, right?"

"Yeah, but it's also their most vulnerable and exposed part."

Still kinda useless if I manage to blind it while sleeping, for it'd still be able to sniff me out...

"Second is their wings." Spike continued. "As the book says, a flightless dragon is a dead dragon."

I arched my eyebrow of how familiar that phrase is. How To Train Your Dragon perhaps? I'm not sure, but whatever. Even a wingless dragon can still be pretty darn scary to deal with. Eyes, nope. Wings, nu-uh... Next...

"Third is their limbs. If they can't move, then they're sitting ducks."

"I'm beginning to think that the title of the book you've read is 'How To Slay A Dragon For Dummies'..." I sighed frustratingly...

"Hey," Spike spoke like he was surprised, "how'd you know!?"

I forced myself not to slam my face directly on the wall of this mountain. I groaned instead.

Chapter 64 - Cold

I am shivering... I am shivering so darn much that each time I lift my hooves to continue walking, they are shaking like I haven't eaten in decades... Ugh... I knew that we are heading to the tallest mountain, where there were ice around that area, but, Spike and I were still four mountains away, yet the area we're on is already covered in a white blanket of snow... And speaking of Spike, my little companion is also shivering very badly from the cold. Also, every time we exhale, there's a white puff coming out from our nostrils. And oh, it's snowing lightly here...

Sheesh... I was soaked from the light drizzle, and here I am, freezing myself to death... I could even feel the frozen water on my coat. Shaking them off wouldn't make a difference though...

I stopped on the edge of the path I was on. I took a look down below, and I gulped. Yep, it's a one-way ticket to doom. I turned my attention ahead and saw a cave on the wall of another mountain four or five meters from me. It's pretty reachable, I thought. I just need to run and jump to get there.

"Spike," I called as I started walking back. "You may need to hold on tight."

As an answer, I felt him tighten his grip around my neck. After I was satisfied with the distance I made, I started running towards the edge of the path with the speed I could muster out of this cold pony body of mine. I jumped, and landed inside the cave, and skidded to a stop.

Wow, that actually felt pretty good. But that feeling was instantly shook away as I shivered from the cold. Ugh...

I jumped on the path on the last mountain. Finally, we're already on the tallest mountain. Well, no, not literally. Anyway, I started walking the path that is spiraling all the way to the cave near the summit...

I was now standing in front of a huge mouth of the cave. The wind here is pretty darn strong and the cold of the snow made everything for me much worse than ever. Disregarding the black smoke crawling out from the ceiling of the cave, I went inside and instantly felt glad of how warm it was. Well, not really that warm but at least—

"Fluttershy?" I exclaimed, my voice slightly echoing all around the fairly-lit cavern. Meters in front of me was no other than Fluttershy herself, wearing a black scarf that wrapped around her neck. I smiled, but I instantly wiped it off after noticing her angry frown. "W-what's going on? Why are y—" I cut myself off after just noticing the giant dark-green dragon lying asleep on the large piles of gems a few meters behind the pegasus. And yes, there really is smoke coming out from the dragon's large nostrils each time it exhales. I blinked twice before shaking my head slightly and turning my attention back at the frowning pegasus. "...uh... Why are you here?" I asked with a low voice this time.

"I should ask you to leave, Gold Blitz," Fluttershy said with a calm tone, yet it strangely sounded very fierce.

It was warm here, and I am really thankful for that but I was still shivering. Probably, the cold inside me is coming out. I frowned at the pegasus. "Sorry, but that ain't happening." I shook my head. "Also, you didn't answer my question."

She blinked, but held her angry expression. She opened her mouth, let it hang open for a few short seconds before closing it again. She inhaled as she closed her eyes. She shook her head slightly, and then exhaled. She then opened her eyes, and gave me a glare. "I'm telling you to leave. Now would be a good time."

I don't like how she's asking me to leave. I came here for a reason, even though I still have no idea how to deal with that reason of mine. I countered her glare with my own as I took a step forward. "Look, I just got here, and no, I am not leaving." I shook my head. "Not after I'm done dealing with that sleeping dragon behind you..."

We glared at each other for a minute before she sighed, her ears drooping as she turned her head and stared at the dragon. "She's not sleeping..." Oh, the dragon's a she, huh? No idea how that'd be useful. "...she's dying..." That took me by surprise. I blinked as Fluttershy turned back to me with an angry stare. "...and so is your dragon..."

What? My drago— "Spike!" I cried, immediately realizing that he didn't even loosen his grip on me right before I was to run and jump earlier! I turned my head, but I couldn't see him other than his tail. I just now realized how cold his hands are around my neck, and I felt that he buried his face behind my neck. "Spike!"

"H-huh?" came Spike's very low voice as he lifted himself up slightly, removing his arms around my neck. "O-oh, you jumped already, huh—?" He fell off of my back, and he stayed lying on the ground, no matter how much I nudged him with my hoof. His eyes were barely open, and his breathing was too darn shallow and slow.

"Hey! Darn it Spike! Why didn't you say anything!?" I shook him until something glittered on the edge of my eye. Turning to its source, I found a green gem lying a foot away from me. I reached out and grabbed it, and flashed it right in front of Spike's bluish face as I tried to force myself to smile. "L-l-look Spike," I said through trembling lips. "It's a deliciously-looking gem!" Nothing... Nothing... Darn it! I tossed the gem away angrily.

"Baby dragons aren't supposed to be out here in the cold..." Fluttershy calmly said, but it felt like a powerful slap right to my face.

Darn it! Is that why Spike didn't come with them to stop the dragon in the cartoon series!? Spike's eyes closed. "Darn it Spike!"

"Hhhnnnggg... I wanna...wanna...sleep..." he breathed out while I was shaking him in my grasp.

Darn it... I put him back on the ground gently and quickly glared at Fluttershy.

Fluttershy only shook her head. "Gold, you can turn back so you can save him, or..." I already know what she'll say next, and I glared at her some more. "...you can stay here and leave him to die..." She smiled, "You're not that selfish, aren't you? Just look a—"

"Shut up!" I cut her off. "You knew there's a dragon here from the start! You knew all along what caused the sky to darken! But you kept quiet! Just because of a stupid dying beast!"

"How dare you!" Fluttershy shouted back, but her voice made it feel like she wasn't shouting at all, but I didn't care. She flared her wings and took a brave step forward. "She is not a beast! She is a poor little dragon who just needs to rest!"

I suddenly felt guilty for calling that dragon a beast... It also sounded like I called Spike one... Gah! "Rest!? REST!? For how long!?"

"I don—"

"Can't you see what's her resting is doing to Equestria!?"

"Equestria? What are y—"

"And you didn't even said anything about baby dragons not suitable in this kind of weather!" I took two steps forward. "You tricked me! You tricked us!"

"I had to! I'm protecting her from ponies like...like you!" She dared taking a step forward.

"You are too kind, Fluttershy!" I snarled as I took another step forward. "Too kind that it made you go blind to see what is happening to the world outside!"

"That's not true!" She shook her head. "I took care of the ponies inside the castle! I too—"

"No you did not!" I shouted. I was about to add more, but I realized that if this goes on, Spike's condition will probably go worse! "Step aside!"

But she stomped the ground. "No! Stay away from her!"

I lowered my body, preparing to kick the ground with my hind hooves. I glared at the pegasus who is blocking my way. "Make me..." I kicked the ground, instantly sending me towards the startled pegasus and tackling her off the ground.

Chapter 65 - Draconic Beast

'She knew all along!'

Gold Blitz immediately tackled Fluttershy while she was still thrown from the impact of his first attack. He prepared is skull before delivering a powerful headbutt on the yellow pegasus' chest.

'Yet she didn't said anything!'

Fluttershy landed on the hill-like gemstones where the dragon's huge head was resting on. The sharp gems stabbed her back, and she gasped and screeched in pain. Wincing, she flapped her wings and went airborne just in time before Gold Blitz's hooves could land on her.

Fluttershy braced herself as she hovered low, preparing her two front limbs to catch or block Gold Blitz's attack, but it didn't happen. She just then realized that the earth pony was working his way towards the head of the resting dragon. Each of his steps were difficult for the gems were occasionally falling like a land slide each time his angry hooves presses down, but even so, he did managed to get closer.

The pegasus quickly flapped her wings and gave the earth pony her own version of a tackle. She pinned him down, and didn't got off of him as the gems rolled down, bringing the earth pony sliding down as well.

Gold Blitz hissed from the pain of sharp gems stabbing him. Before he reaches the ground however, he kicked his four hooves up, lifting him and the pegasus diagonally in the air. He twisted his body vertically, and delivered his front hoof on the startled pegasus mare's face. The pegasus was thrown further, and as the two landed, Gold Blitz was panting, his head hanging low, and he could see his own blood dripping from his chest and stomach. Snarling, he rose his head and saw Fluttershy was lying on the ground, just a few feet away from the frozen baby dragon.

'She was even using Spike just so I would turn back!'

'But it's all my fault!'

'No! It's not my fault! How could it be! I didn't know!'

'Fluttershy knew! She knew about baby dragons! But she didn't say anything about it!'

Fluttershy's world was spinning, but she knew she needed to snap out of it. Shaking her head, her vision was cleared and focused, but her face is aching. As she brought herself on her hooves, she felt a small stream of blood flowing out from one of her nostril. She wiped it with a hoof before fixing her gaze on the earth pony, who was already climbing up the hill of gems.

Flaring her wings, she flapped rapidly and flew straight towards the earth pony, her two front hooves ready to pin him down once again.

However, Gold Blitz's ear twitched after hearing her quiet flaps. He lowered his body and jumped in time, and Fluttershy crashed on the gems instead. Gold Blitz immediately pinned her down, and now they were sliding down while Fluttershy cried from the pain of the sharp gems stabbing her lower body.

When both reached the ground, the earth pony got off of the wincing pegasus mare, crying quietly while staring at the few gems that got stuck on her, and her own blood flowing out. Gold Blitz felt pity, but reminded himself of how cold-hearted the mare was for letting him and Spike coming here.

Realizing that there are no longer any obstacles in his way, he started climbing up the hill of gems, his angry gaze locked on the closed eyes of the resting dragon—

—which suddenly opened its eyes, its red large eyes reflecting the shocked features of the brown earth pony who was merely a foot away.

The dragon let out a low growl as it lifted both its wings and front limbs. With its large claws open, the dragon pulled both down on hills of gems to lift itself up while flaring its wings and locking its gaze on the shocked earth pony, who was already sliding down towards the ground, and stopped a few inches from a very familiar pegasus mare, who is not moving. Seeing the pegasus was bleeding, the dragon's tired eyes instantly became fierce. It exhaled a fume of black smoke through its nostrils as it slowly opened its mouth, showing large numbers of white, large, and sharp sets of teeth.

Gold Blitz gulped, sweated, and gulped again. "Uh... Boss battle?"

The mighty dragon dove its head and roared in front of the earth pony. Gold Blitz was shocked momentarily before snapping himself back into his senses. He quickly turned around and ra—stepped on a sharp gem, making him fall on the ground and roll twice before stopping.

The cavern shook, and Gold Blitz realized that the dragon took its very first step towards him. He dared looking up and saw the dragon just made its second step as it folded its wings to avoid the few large and thick stalactites that were poking out from the black blanket of smoke on the ceiling. What was worse, yellow bright fumes of fire were escaping the dragon's mouth.

Gold Blitz bit the gem that was stuck on his hoof, pulled it off, spat it out, jumped back into his hooves, and ra—ducked in time as the fiery hot blaze flew above him. Opening his eyes, the flames was still going, and was burning the ground in front of him...where Spike was lying on!

His eyes opened wide at the horrific fiery scene he was seeing. Spike was burning, but all he could see was yellow, orange, and red flames. And when the fire stopped, the earth pony quickly jumped back on his hooves and dashed straight towards the burned baby dragon. He disregarded the earth-shaking steps of the large dragon behind him as he stared at the charcoal-black body of the baby dragon...

His vision became misty as another heavy step came from behind. He lost his breath. He lost his strength to even stand up. He slowly extended a shaky hoof and touched Spike's head as another heavy step shook the cavern, making the small stalactites fall around the place. The cavern was then filled with a predatory growl, mixed with the quiet sobs of the earth pony.

A final step, and the dragon's mighty head was above the sobbing earth pony. Growling, it opened its large mouth, pulled its head back, and dove for the ki—the earth pony spun in time to punch the side of the dragon's head, directing its route to the side and crashed its head and opened mouth on the hard ground instead.

The back of a claw quickly appeared in front of Gold Blitz's startled eyes, and it immediately swept him towards the wall of the cave, where his back took the impact. He lost the air in his lungs as he fell on the ground. He coughed as the entire area shook from claws rapidly closing in on him.

'Jump to the side!'

He heard the voice inside his head shouting too loudly for comfort, but he didn't have the time to complain, and instead, followed what the voice had told him to do. He jumped out of the way of an opened mouth. This time however, the dragon had learned from its mistake earlier, and instead of crashing directly on the cave's wall, it quickly turned its head towards the pony, making the dragon's side to absorb the impact from crashing on the wall instead of its head again.

It closed its mouth and exhaled a fierce wave of fire, but Gold Blitz was able to jump out of the way in time. He saw a gemstone. He grabbed it, aimed, and threw it directly towards the dragon's exposed eye. But the dragon stopped breathing fire and ducked its head to avoid the projectile. It brought its head back and roared at the fleeing pony.

The dragon gave chase, and almost stepping on the baby dragon. Gold Blitz ran towards the hills of gems, and started grabbing a few and tossed them at the dragon, but it did little to no effect whatsoever. He gave up and concentrated on running instead.

He climbed up on a hill of gems with difficulty. He left a few gems flying down in his wake, making the dragon stop momentarily from following him.

Reaching the top, Gold Blitz turned, and yelped after seeing how quick the dragon crawled up and its head already in front of the startled pony. The head pulled back and breathed out a fierce flamethrower.

Gold Blitz ducked in time, but started sliding down on the other side. He looked up, and saw the dragon was already chasing after him. Thinking quickly while still sliding down, he decided to kick a few gems with his front limbs towards the dragon chasing him. His first try managed to slice the dragon's left eye.

The dragon yelped and roared in pain. It lost its balance and started rolling down quickly towards the ground. Seeing this, Gold Blitz spun and started running down, ignoring the sharp stabs on the gems on his hooves.

As he got on the ground, he jumped quickly in time before the large body of the dragon would crush him. However, while still on the air, the dragon flailed its claws, managing to push the earth pony hard on the ground, and shoving him away with great force.

Gold Blitz was seeing yellow and red, but he quickly closed his eyes and shook his head viciously. Opening them once again, his vision returned clear, and he quickly ran and climbed on the dragon's back, and worked his way on its neck. He gave the neck a mighty embrace with his four hooves, planning to choke the monster to death.

The dragon yelped after realizing what is happening. It quickly disregarded its dizzy state as it tried to flail its head to shake the pony off. After a few tries and no success, the dragon started reaching with its claws, but they were an inch or two short from reaching the pony. Flapping its wings to desperately get rid of the nuisance, it started standing on its hind legs, wobbling in the cavern, and even bumping on the caves walls until it decided to flap its wings hard until both the dragon and the pony realized that they were already soaring in the air.

"Nnnggghhh...uh..." A weak voice echoed in the cavern. A black claw was suddenly lifted and turned to scratch a black head. Groaning, green weak eyes came out from black eyelids.

After the wake-up task of scratching his head, Spike lazily lifted himself into a sitting position as he rubbed both his eyes with both claws, and letting out a pretty large yawn. He sniffed, and stopped. 'Something's burning. Or something is burned.'

He removed his claws from his eyes and started looking around himself. 'Huh, I must have fallen over a campfire or something...' Satisfied with his initial conclusion of the burned mystery, Spike stood and brought his claws together to stre— 'Why are my arms black?' He looked at himself. 'Why am I all black all of a sudden?'' He brought a claw on his chin to try and solve this weird mystery, but he stopped after hearing a faint whisper.

Turning from the source, he saw a familiar pegasus lying helplessly on the ground, bleeding. "Oh my gosh, Fluttershy!" He rushed towards her.

Chapter 66 - Testing The Ties

A fierce roar of a mighty dark-green dragon soared in the ever-gloomy heavens. It broke through the strong and cold wind. Strong and mighty wings flapped hard, but the dragon wasn't flying peacefully. The dragon was soaring up, diving down, spinning 'round, and turning left and right. And these are to accomplish its goal of removing a pony who is currently binding his limbs around its neck.

The air above was strong, cold yet thin, and Gold Blitz was already having a difficult time breathing normally. He was already feeling pretty weak, after forcing himself to choke the dragon. But it has been twenty long minutes since they started flying out in the sky, and the pony had already realized that he couldn't keep this up. Sooner or later, he'll probably lose either his strength or his consciousness, and everything he has done will end to nothing.

He couldn't have that. He shouldn't. But what more can he do? He's fighting against a massive dragon. If this is how a dying dragon is, then how much would a living one be, if ever he'll need to deal with that, he thought bitterly and amusingly. Still, he won't give up. He'll try his best to keep it up, until he still has both the strength and the consciousness to continue.

The dragon roared as it dove towards the earth with speed that made the earth pony's eyes shed tears. The air was deafening, and he almost lost his grip when the dragon suddenly pulled up. His hind hooves slipped off, and he struggled for a few seconds before he manages to clamp them back onto the dragon's neck.

His hope that the dragon wouldn't notice was swept away after he noticed the dragon was grinning as it quickly flapped its wings and flew higher and higher. The black blanket of clouds were getting closer and closer, and soon, the dragon will dive down again. Gold Blitz gulped, shivered slightly, and strengthened his hold.

But the dragon kept flying. It kept flapping its wings, bringing itself and the pony through the thick blanket of clouds. The air suddenly felt poisonous, and the earth pony coughed and wheezed a few times before deciding to stop breathing, even though his lungs demanded air.

His ears could now only pick the dragon's flapping wings. Soon, however, they emerged from the sea of darkness, and Gold Blitz's eyes saw the magnificent and beautiful crimson sky in the far west. He turned his head slowly to the east, mesmerized by the sky's color from orange to night-blue. Stars were shimmering like diamonds in the dark sky, and he kept staring at them until a large dark-green dragon head appeared before his sight.

Gasping, he just realized that he has already softened his grip on the neck of the dragon. He tightened his hold, even though his strength was already drained.

"Enjoying the view, aren't we?" The dragon grinned with an eye closed shut where dried blood has flowed.

Gold Blitz wasn't sure whether to made a response. He didn't even know that a dragon could talk. Then again, Spike is—or, was a dragon, and he ca—could talk. Remembering Spike made his spirit drown in the sea of despair. Without even realizing it, he nodded in defeat.

"You are a strange one..." the dragon spoke, turning its one-eyed gaze at the sea of stars.

Gold Blitz was actually confused by such a remark. "What do you mean?" He needed to know. Earlier, they were trying to kill each other, and now, what is going on? He needed to know.

The dragon slightly shook its head. "...unicorns started the war. They enjoy nothing but power."

"I'm not a unicorn..." Gold Blitz pointed out quietly, but the dragon's sharp ears picked it up.

"No, you are not." The dragon growled, "but you are among them."

"What?" Gold Blitz blinked. "Among them? Me? Among the unicorns?"

The dragon's head turned to him, though it only managed to give him a side-stare. "...are you not?"

The pony fixed the dragon with an angry stare. "I'm not one of them." The dragon seemed unconvinced, and Gold Blitz sighed. "I've escaped their empire twice! Well, once... The recent one was I was rescued out of there..."

"Rescued..." the dragon echoed in a whisper-like manner. "They are after you?"

Gold Blitz was about to respond; about that the unicorns didn't really captured him. He was about to tell the dragon that he went there to seek answers, but that'd probably take a few minutes to explain everything. He settled with an uneasy "...yes..."

"Hm..." The dragon returned its gaze back at the stars. "I've lived quite a long time, and from those years, I've been able to know whether creatures such as yourself are telling the truth or otherwise..."

Everything was quiet for a while, except for the dragon's flapping wings. Eventually, the dragon broke it the silence.

"...there is more to that story, is there?"

"...yes..."

"...then answer me this..." it turned its gaze back at the pony. "...why did you hurt the pony I cherish the most?"

Gold Blitz cringed. If he's going to answer that would anger the dragon, then he's sure he'd be good as dead. He started forming lies in his head, but decided against them after the voice inside his mind reminded him of what the dragon had just said. The pony eventually sighed in defeat yet again.

"I didn't want to hurt her but...she knew..." The silence bid him to continue. He sighed once more. "...she knew that I was going there...to your cave...but she didn't stop me." The pony allowed several seconds of silence before continuing. "...she knew everything, but she told me nothing. She made me take Spike along in that cold place without realizing that baby dragons aren't supposed to be out in the cold...so..."

The silence hung in the air for seconds until the dragon spoke. "So it is her fault then?"

"How should I know that Spike shouldn't be taken to cold places!?" Gold Blitz spat.

"That dragon you refer to as Spike is from the unicorns, yes?"

"He i—was, and he's sick of that place as much as I am! And he didn't even know that he wasn't suppose to be in cold places!"

"Do you think he should tell you if he knew?"

"Of course he will! And I don't even know why you are asking me these questions all of a sudden!"

"...to test your ties with him..."

Gold Blitz was taken aback. He blinked in angry confusion. "W-what?"

The dragon nodded. "Figure that out on your own."

Gold Blitz wanted to ask how he'll be able to do that if he's going to be dead soon, but decided against it.

The dragon returned its gaze back to the stars. "I am Xelene, and from your words I could see that my cherished Fluttershy is at fault. You harmed her because you cared about this Spike, and not because you are with the unicorns that gave you such an order of doing so... You have told her that you are heading to my resting place, yet she did not stop you."

Gold Blitz actually sighed in relief that the dragon could actually see reason.

"...however," Xelene spoke, eyeing him, making Gold Blitz tense, "that does not excuse you of hurting her."

The earth pony gulped.

Xelene turned her gaze back to the stars. "But I'll let it slide..." she then slowly eyed him, "...for now."

The dragon tilted her body down, and the pony, sensing what is going to happen, hold on tight.

Spike was fighting against the strong, chilly and snowy air as he dragged the wounded and unconscious pegasus mare on the snow-covered path that spiraled around the walls of the tallest mountain in the Smokey Mountains.

He didn't know where his pony-brother Gold Blitz went. The last thing her remembered was a faint memory of him telling him to grab on tight as he took a few steps back before jumping to the next path.

He wished he was here now though. The thought of him leaving him there inside the cave to die was...no! That's impossible. He wouldn't do that...would he?

He shook his head viciously. He needs to stop thinking of thoughts like that, but...he keeps on thinking them anyway...

He shivered. He never realized how cold the place is. He never felt so cold in his life, and he wished he could get out of here sooner than later. But how could he? How could he continue when the path ends here? There's another path up ahead, but with his tiny body, it's impossible for him to reach it.

"Oh, Gold Blitz..." he cried as he heard a faint echo of a roar of some sort in the far distance. He didn't mind as he dropped himself into a defeated sitting position. He sniffed. "Why'd you have to g—!"

He jumped after a powerful loud roar echoed from a distance. He turned just in time to see a large pair of claws towards him. Spike closed his eyes as soon as the claw...caught him?

That's not how predators grab their prey... Daring to open an eye, he saw that he was now standing on a large open claw, and Fluttershy was on the other. He gulped and slowly turned his gaze up until he saw a brightly grinning brown earth pony riding on the back of the dark-green dragon's neck.

Chapter 67 - Clash

There were flying armored unicorns around the mountain of Cant—uh—Unicornia. I seriously needed to get used to that. Anyway, Xelene was large, so it was no surprise that they have spotted us.

The unicorns started pursuing us and firing mana beams at us, making our ride pretty darn scary. Xelene tilted and turned, dove and stalled, but the unicorns are too darn persistent.

Xelene was diving towards the ground fast. The unicorns followed suit. I had a pretty stupid idea that I wanted to try though.

“Xelene,” I shouted so my voice could break through the loud whistling air, “you'll catch me if I fall, right?”

“It depends on the situation...” she murmured back. Well, that's good enough. “What a—”

I started running on her scaly back towards her straight tail. Grinning, I jumped as I got on the very tip of her tail, and I was now in the air, and the unicorns were fast approaching, and quite startled.

I planted a hoof on a unicorn's face, kicked the side of an incoming unicorn, grabbed the one I kicked on the face, quickly worked on removing his body armor — which was a bit disturbing, but whatever — got it off, kicked him off of me, quickly wore the armor on me, the ground is pretty darn dangerously close now, a beam struck my wound — OUCH! — making me spin as I fall, the gem was humming quietly as I felt that strange sensation in my brain once again, feeling my metallic wings on my back, flared them open, and soare— “Ack!”

Another beam struck me on my head and...

A fierce wave of flames blocked the diving path of the unicorns.

Xelene swiftly caught the falling earth pony with her head, and she gritted her teeth in the process for her feet were grinding against the ground of the War Planes. She flapped her wings hard and continued until she soared in the heavens, and unicorns were still hot on her tail.

She faintly heard the earth pony's weak and unconscious groans. She then eyed the baby dragon on her open claw, and she saw Spike was shaking his head slightly.

“Yeah,” Spike spoke, “he's crazy like that...”

Xelene huffed as she tilted her body to turn. She knew that they needed to get away, but it was such a long time since she last used her wings to fly. She was also surprised that the unicorns were now able to fly as well. How many years have already flown by during her deep slumber, anyway?

Her train of thought was interrupted after she felt a mana beam struck her hind leg. It didn't hurt much, however, but she'd be in trouble if so many unicorn beams will hit her. She turned and she was now flying straight towards the Everfree Forest.

Though her intention was to head towards the forest, the pegasi, who were hovering around their cloud kingdom that was floating above the stormy clouds of the forest, were shocked and terrified that unicorns and a massive dragon were flying towards them.

Armored pegasi ponies quickly prepared themselves. Those with swords started flying towards the threat, while those with rods flew high up to collect lightning.

“Not good, not good!” Spike panicked.

Xelene huffed in annoyance as she continued flying towards the forest and dodging beams in the process.

Cloud Strike, who was one of the pegasi wielding a sword and flying towards the dragon, had noticed that the unicorns were firing mana beams at the dragon. Looking around, he noticed the looks of confusion on his comrade's faces. A few looked back at him, and from their eyes, he could tell that they were asking for a command. He is the commanding officer anyway. He returned his confused gaze back at the dragon. He knew that dragon.

Cloud didn't have enough time to think for numerous lightning bolts struck both the dragon and a few unicorns from the heavens. Xelene roared in pain as her left wing was struck by lightning, partially paralyzing her massive wing. She growled through gritted teeth. Her flying has been greatly affected, but she somehow managed to dodge another lightning bolt while Spike was climbing up to her back.

Spike quickly spat green fumes of flame on both his claws and quickly formed two small lances on both claws. He started waving them over his head in hopes of the pegasi to get the signal.

Cloud Strike noticed the semi-glowing green rods on the dragon's back, and immediately shouted at his comrades to redirect their attack on the unicorns instead, who were slowly turning back.

Spike panicked and covered himself with his claws as the pegasi were far too close. He clenched his teeth as sweat ran down from his scaly head, but all he sensed was his ears hearing the air was slicing through them. Opening an eye, he saw the pegasi ponies were flying pass them.

Xelene grunted annoyingly as two pegasi hovered near her head, a sharp blade on the other and a sparking rod on another.

Cloud Strike held his sword with both hooves as he flew along with the dragon on an even speed. He may hate this dragon, but he needed to hold himself for now. “State your—” he spoke, both fiercely and nervously, but he cut himself off after he noticed a very familiar earth pony on the dragon's head.

Xelene flashed a pained grin at the pegasus stallion. “It has been a while, Strike.”

“Cloud!” Spike yelled and waved a claw at the startled pegasus.

Cloud Strike ignored the grinning dragon, returned his sword back and slowed his pace until he was flying above the dragon's back, where Spike was standing on. “Spike, yes?” The baby dragon nodded. “Why, ah, what...?” He took a breath and sighed. “I need to know what's going on...”

Spike nodded. “Yeah, sure thing! But uh...” Spike looked away as Cloud Strike landed beside him. “A friend of mine is hurt and needs help.”

Cloud turned his gaze on Gold Blitz. “You mean him?”

Spike shook his head. “No, Futtershy...”

Cloud immediately turned to the baby dragon in complete shock. “Who—?”

Chapter 68 - Burning Home

Huge numbers of armored pegasi swarmed all around a small town not to far away from the majestic Castle of Unicornia. The air was filled with metal and screams, lightning and mana, fire and explosions. Unicorns stood their ground as they fired beams of mana and clashed their swords and spears with the pegasi ponies.

Boulder clenched his teeth as he swung his sword towards a pegasi, but Cloud Strike simply bent down, evading the swinging sword. The pegasi kicked the ground, instantly sending himself towards the unicorn stallion. He gave the unicorn a powerful headbutt with his helmet-equipped head against the chest armor. Boulder was thrown back, and losing his balance. Cloud Strike took this opportunity to strike. Quickly, he held his lance from his back and—

A fierce beam of mana struck the pegasi on his back. He was pushed meters away from the unicorn, but luckily, his armor protected him from the attack and the explosion from the beam.

“Gyaaah!” a fierce feminine voice came from the heavens.

Boulder looked up and he froze as a sharp blade was pointed towards him, only to be deflected by another swinging blade. The spark of the colliding metal snapped the shocked unicorn back. Blinking, he saw a muscular armored unicorn pony clashing swords with a cyan-coated pegasus mare.

One mighty swing, Rainbow Dash blocked the attack with her own thin sword, but the impact sent her flying back. The muscular unicorn turned his head slightly, enough for him to see Boulder on the corner of his eye. “You okay, bro?”

“Yah...” Boulder gasped as he brought himself back to his four hooves.

“Darn these horn-headed magic freaks!” Rainbow hissed through clenched teeth as she flew in the air and dodged several beams of mana that were aimed at her.

Boulder flared his horn as he swung his sword hard, making his pegasi opponent to lose his hold on his sword. Immediately, he fired a beam of mana, pushing his foe towards a burning wooden house. He then hovered his sword above his back to block a strike from another pegasi stallion. He quickly turned, but the pegasi was quicker and sent his hind hooves on Boulder's side. The unicorn was sent flying towards wooden barrels.

He groaned as he removed the debris that buried him with telekinesis. He saw the pegasi stallion charging towards him, so with telekinesis, he threw the debris towards the pegasi. It bought him enough time to recover his footing. As quick as he got back up on all four hooves, he charged towards the pegasi, swung his sword mightily, only to be blocked by a sword from above. Looking up, he saw cyan-colored hooves pound on his face.

A dim beam of mana struck the two ponies away from Boulder. A muscular stallion then levitated Boulder back on his hooves.

Boulder grunted as he rubbed his face with one hoof. “Ugh,” he turned slightly to look at his brother, “Silver, you don't have to protect me always, y'know...”

“Can't let anything to happen to my li'l bro, y'know.” Silver grinned as both unicorns blocked the swinging swords of two pegasi ponies. “Also, I came here to tell you that...” He swung his sword hard. His foe blocked it but was too weak to hold himself. He was pushed back, losing his balance. Silver then fired a dim gray beam of mana and pushed the pegasi stallion towards another pegasi who was fighting against another unicorn. Rainbow Dash flew away after realizing that she couldn't handle two unicorns at once. Silver then turned to his brother. “Commander Starfall ordered us to retreat.”

Boulder was startled to hear his brother's words. “R-retreat?” He shook his head. “But this is our home!”

Silver smiled painfully as he brought a hoof on his brother's shoulder. “I know that bro, but we can't stay here and die in a losing battle...”

Boulder was even more startled. They're losing this battle? They're going to lose their home? He slowly looked around, and saw the wooden houses in flames. Lightning bolts struck the ground from the heavenly sky. Bodies of unicorns, pegasi and earth ponies were scattered all around. In the direction of Unicornia, several unicorns were holding off pegasi forces.

Boulder hung his head low and let out a quiet sigh. “Okay...” he nodded glumly.

Silver nodded and the two unicorns began their way towards the others. As the two were nearing the edge of their burning home town, they could see large numbers of unicorns running towards the battle zone from the empire. That must've been the reinforcements. The gloomy sky started to rain as well. Boulder smiled. They still have a chance to save their home after al—a bright white light blinded the unicorn's vision for a short of a second as a powerful loud electric explosion erupted behind him.

He stopped and spun as his heart started to pound hard and quick in fear, and his eyes gave him his older brother, who was lying on the ground, and a few electric sparks were flashing around his body. He was about to run towards him when a cyan blur came down from the heavens with speed that matched lightning itself, and instantly landing its sharp blade through his brother's exposed neck.

“Gah!”

Boulder gasped as he threw his limbs in the air in shock and fright. His breath was deep and fast, and his heart was pounding so hard that it was deafening. Few seconds flew by before he realized that he was inside his dim room. He relaxed himself to calm himself down. Finally recovered, he took a deep breath and let out a very frustrated sigh before rolling back on his bed.

A tear rolled down from one of his eyes. He didn't mind as he thought about that dream he just had... It was such a long time now since he last had that dream...that reminder of that very heartbreaking day.

He sighed. If it weren't for the reinforcements, he too would have been killed that day...but... His brother's eyes...he saw how the light escaped his brother's eyes...

Boulder sobbed as he covered his entire face with his thin blanket.

Chapter 69 - Sand

It has been four days after Nightmare Moon came back. It was a traumatic event for the unicorns that they have lost their morale to continue the war. It was also the perfect time for us to attack. But for four days, they have proven themselves to be quite powerful. Even so, we have managed to conquer the number of lands that they have controlled.

As I've said, the event was traumatic for the unicorns, but it took us four days to realize its impact on the other beings of this land. The higher ranks held a brief meeting about this concern, and it was concluded that it would be best for them to flee the land for the time being, and allow them back when the war is all over.

I was one of the pegasi that were assigned to assist the herd of cows towards the west where a large water vessel was crafted for the sole purpose of escaping the land.

It was in the San Palomino Desert. It's a very harsh environment that the other beings had chosen to work on their vessel, for the land wasn't conquered by us or the unicorns. Although we have assured them countless of times that we will not bring them any harm, they still doubted us.

It was a terrible job assisting the herd of cows going through the desert. The wind was strong yet thin and also carried dust and sand. The weather was so hot even though the sun was suspended on setting. Still, after two days we managed to safely escort the cows to their destination without any casualties...on our side at least.

The air here became cooler, which we welcomed greatly. It carried the salty feel of the vast blue ocean. Unfortunately, we were stunned to see the large number of vessels that stood on the shorelines. All of them were broken and destroyed beyond repair. Dead bodies lied everywhere, and some were already rotting. Vultures and other animals were already starting to devour the bodies that made a lot of us wanted to vomit, while some did.

What happened to this place? I wanted to find out, but we had priorities, and that is the safety of the herd we are escorting. Whatever happened to them, we don't want it to happen to us... We had no choice but to turn back.

We were all curious as to what had caused the destruction of the vessels, and after one day of venturing back, we found out. What was the cause of the destruction were large land sharks! Their dorsal fins were poking out from the sand, and there were so many of them circling the herd.

“Don't move!” One of the pegasi soldier shouted from behind me. I turned around and saw Snowflake. How he can fly with such muscle yet tiny wings is still a mystery to me, but I have bigger things to worry about. The instant his loud booming voice reached everyone's ears, the cows stood still, trembling in fear. “They sense movements on the sand! So don't move a m—!”

He was cut off when two large light-brown land sharks jumped from the sea of sand, and their jaws opened wide and aimed at Snowflake. I quickly pulled him up while the others hovered away from the land sharks.

Those things were really looking like sharks, if my memory serves me correctly. The only differences that I've noticed were their color, their size, and their snouts which were narrower.

“They can sense the air as well...” Snowflake murmured after he calmed himself down.

The land sharks probably has no idea where we were now, for their predatory circle was already broken, and they're just swimming around aimlessly. It will not look pretty when one of those sharks accidentally touches one of the cows, and the heat is not helping at all. Soon, one of us will collapse, and the sharks will sense it.

“I'll create a diversion...” I whispered to Snowflake, who only gave me a shocked expression.

I am a pegasi after all. We are built with speed. But I suppose I should ask our commanding officer...my uncle...

Long story short, we argued through low voices, but in the end, I managed to convince him of doing my plan. I hovered away from the group as quickly and as quietly as I could. I looked back, and I was quite far from the herd, which was good enough to start my plan. I flew down and landed hard, and instantly, the land sharks began swimming towards me. I gasped, but I quickly started running towards south while flapping my wings to grant me the speed that I needed to not get eaten. I can safely fly back when this is all over. And if ever they'll meet another group of land sharks, then one of the pegasi will perform my plan.

I was working a lot of sweat as I ran and flapped my wings. I never expected that it'll take a lot of effort of running on the ground. The earth ponies have earned my respect. Walking and running around isn't really that an easy task...

I have ran passed numerous rocks and cacti. Looking back, the land sharks were still hot on my tail, and they were gaining on me! It's only been a solid five minutes, and I'm already pretty worn out...

I stepped onto something that made me lose my footing and stumbled and rolled on the sand. I stopped, and my back was against the sand, and my eyes showed me three land sharks with killer jaws aimed towards my tired body. I was too stunned to move.

“Here...” Scootaloo whispered lifelessly as she put a wooden plate on the ground beside Cloud Strike, who was reading his old notebook. Scootaloo then walked back to the others, who were seated near Gold Blitz and Fluttershy, who were both lying on the ground, unconscious, and being treated by Sweetie Belle's magic assisted by Spike.

Near the camp fire, Apple Bloom took the pot of boiling water and set it on the ground near Spike. Scootaloo then glumly took a white cloth from a bag, and extends her wing towards Spike to lend the cloth.

Cloud Strike sighed as he closed his notebook and puts it back inside his bag.

“I was reading that...” whispered Xelene, who was lying on the ground, and her head was behind the glaring stallion. “Who was that dragon that saved you in the desert?”

“None of your business,” Cloud Strike spat as he grabbed an apple from the wooden plate and started eating it after turning his back on the dragon.

Chapter 70 - Wing Beat

“I failed...”

Rainbow's voice echoed from the darkness... I looked around, I really did, but I couldn't feel myself at all... All I could see was the darkness and nothing else. I shouted, but nothing happened. I looked at myself. I tried to, but I saw nothing. I tried touching my hoof with the other, but I touched nothing... I felt nothing... I am...nothing...?

I wanted to panic, but I couldn't...

Wait... There's light up ahead...cutting through the darkness horizontally... Whoa! Too bright! Ack!

I felt a hoof rubbing my eyes. I blinked a few times, and my vision returned to normal, and I was staring at the giant full moon. I breathed, and I really felt the cold air running down to my lungs. I shivered and giggled as I exhaled. I sighed as I glided quietly in the evening sky.

Sigh... If only things were as peaceful as this. I sighed again as I quicken my descent back to...Ponyville.

I hovered and glided above the rooftops of the wooden houses of the town. Aside from the majestic silver light of the moon washing over the sleeping town, there were a few torches on the earthy pathways to provide light. Not that the ponies needed them for anything. The pegasi and the unicorns are currently on a cease fire while their Princess Cele-whatever-her-name-was are trying to find a ‘diplomatic solution’ to ‘unite’ the ponies in the land.

Pfft, yeah right. If I didn't know any better, I'd say that they're trying to find a peaceful way to rule over the land. And that ain't happening as long as I'm around.

Huh, orange rays? I hovered in the air and turned around. Oh, so it's sunrise already? I shrugged. Aw well. I didn't need the sleep anyway.

I flapped my wings and started gliding down towards a small wooden house near the edge of town. I landed in front of the old wooden door, and pushed it open as quietly as I could.

I quietly went inside and quietly closed the door. Ugh... All of this ‘quietly’ is annoying but... I turned and saw my little home. It's not really something a pony could call home but, meh, I rarely sleep in here anyway. The only furniture I have right here are a wooden table, a wooden chair, and a wooden bed.

I trotted quietly towards the bed, eyeing the rising and falling of the pony underneath the dark-blue blanket. I stopped on the side of the bed, and smiled at the peacefully-sleeping form of Scootaloo. Sigh... Foals do need a lot of rest, so I guess it's okay if she wakes up late. Heh, like me when I was a young little foal.

She steered, mumbled something, and became quiet again. Heh.

I went to the table and quietly dropped my saddlebag on top, and pulled out a few apples. I placed them on the table before resting myself on the old chair. Ah...

It's more comfortable to be sitting on the cloud, but there's something about this chair that really feels comfortable... I don't wanna trouble myself of why that is, yeah...

“Rainbow...?”

Oh, I guess the squirt's awake. I turned my head and smiled at the sleepy foal. “Hey squirt,” I stood up and walked towards the bed as she yawned. “You ready for another day of flying lessons?”

Her sleepy eyes brightened the instant I finished my question. She hopped on the bed as she excitingly buzzed her little wings. “Yes!” She screamed full of excitement.

...And I think I heard a faint groan from next door. Nah, it's their problem. I raised a hoof and rubbed the filly's messy mane. “Okay, but eat fir—” she zoomed to the table and started munching on the apples I brought. I chuckled as I sat on the bed, watching her eating.

...It has been a while since I found her crying inside that burning house of a burning village in the east. Those were the first of the attacks of the unicorns, and they have slayed a few of my dear friends there...

Thunderlane... Oh how I miss that stallion. I am still mighty clueless of what he saw from that earth-bound pony... Sigh, I guess love is something I won't be able to understand. And I'm also glad that I'm not as heartbroken as I thought I would be after the two of them invited me to their simple wedding. Oh, I remember their looks when I told them that Thunderlane's lame in bed. That was a joke that we kept teasing on him though, since back in Pegasopolis, we never seen him with a mare, or a stallion.

Sad that they're gone and couldn't see their daughter growing up...

“Why are you cryin', Rainbow?”

“Wha? Oh?” I was crying? That's crap-talk! I wiped my eyes with my hooves, just in case...and yeah...I guess I really was crying.

“It's nothing. There was a water bug that flew straight to my eyes...” I chuckled and Scoots frowned.

“I thought you said water bugs only land on one eye...”

“Yeah, well, today was special, I guess?” Yeah, I suck at lying... I got off of the bed and approached the smiling filly. “Heh, looks like you're done eating.” I flared my wings and aimed myself at the door. “Last one at the Dash Hill is a rotten egg!”

The hill we're on is four hills away from Ponyville. I don't want other foals to tease her like the first time we practiced her flying. So I always fly her here and practice in peace.

We spent our morning at the Dash Hill. It's not really the name of the hill though. I just started calling it that 'cause that's where Scoots and I usually hang out to practice her flying. Her wings are still too small to fly though, but I couldn't say that to such a cute face. I'm not that cruel.

She only managed to lift herself by a few inches, but hey, that's progress. I beamed at my little buzzing-bee.

We lied down under the shade of the only tree on the hill. Conveniently, the tree is on the top of the hill, and even more convenient is that it's an apple tree.

As we are eating some apples that I took from the tree, I heard a rustling noise from the forest down below. Huh, I shrugged. It's probably just a wild boar or something. But there was it again, and it's kinda annoying. Scoots must have heard it as well, for she stood up and walked beside me and leaned forward to stare at what I was staring at.

“Wh-what is it?”

I shook my head. “I have no idea...” I turned to her and smiled. “I'm sure it's nothing, but lemme check and see what it is.” I rubbed my hoof on her little head. “You stay here, okay?” She looked worried, but she nodded. “Hey, there's nothing to worry about. I'll be back in a sec.”

I stood up, stretched my limbs and cracked my neck before eyeing the edge of the forest down below. I flew down and landed just outside the forest. The forest was dark, and there's nothing there. I shrugged. Yep, nothing, and totally wasted my time. I turned around, flared my wings an—“Augh!”

“Rainbow!”

A mana beam struck me on my hind leg. I quickly flapped my wings, but then I felt myself being pushed to the ground. Ugh... Magical aura is around me! Two armored unicorns quickly appeared on my sides, grinning wildly at me as I glared at them.

“No! Stay away!” My eyes shrunk as I heard Scootaloo's voice. “Ah! Rainbow! Help!” I managed to turn my head enough to see Scootaloo was levitated by two more armored unicorns. What the hey!? Where did these horn-headed freaks came from!?

“Let her go!” I shouted as the unicorns above the hill were walking down, levitating the struggling filly along with them. The unicorns just laughed at our struggle. Just wait 'til I can get outta here!

“Very good,” a voice from a unicorn who just came out from the forest spoke. I turned my head and glared at the newcomer. He looked older than the unicorns that captured me and Scootaloo. “It seems that the four of you have been trained quite well.” He smiled genuinely at them, but it was an evil smile for my taste.

I struggled to break free from the magical aura that is pinning me down on the ground. Gah!

“What shall we do with them, commander?”

I brought my hooves on the ground, and started pushing myself up, but it's too darn difficult! Ugh... My own sweat is stinging my eye!

“Please let me go!” Scootaloo cried.

The higher-ranked unicorn shrugged. “Meh. What makes pegasi ponies special?”

The other four unicorns thought about it while Scootaloo was crying in fear and I was trying to free myself.

“Their wings?” One of the unicorns spoke.

The higher-ranked unicorn nodded. “You catch up fast.” He grinned. “Now here's another question. What would happen when pegasi ponies lose their wings?”

My eyes shrunk in fear of what they're about to do! I gritted my teeth harder as I forced myself back up.

“Let's remove the small one's wings first!” I quickly turned my gaze back at the higher-ranked unicorn. I saw him stare at me and shrugged as if it was nothing!

“No!” Scootaloo screamed and—

—my vision broke like shattered glass as I eyed the two unicorns running towards the edge of their burning town. A fellow lightning striker flew my way. I immediately called his attention and pointed at the two unicorns down below. He nodded, and pointed his electric-charged rod towards the stallions and—

—Scootaloo's loud and painful scream broke my breath as I yelled with all my might, breaking myself free from the magical aura. The two unicorns who were pinning me down yelped in pain, and I immediately slammed my wings on their faces. I spun around and—

—dove towards that bastard unicorn with my blade on my hooves. The air ran passed me and it whistled so deafeningly yet I did not care. In a split of a second, my blade went through his neck—

...and I suddenly feel too darn tired as I slowly opened my eyes... I was...lying down on my back, and I was staring at the sea of leaves up above. I'm in a forest?

“Rainbow...” I heard Scootaloo's trembling voice. I turned my head and saw the Cutie Mark Crusaders and Spike sitting near a camp fire. “...I don't know what happened. They cut my wing...and it was too painful to focus what was going on back then but, Rainbow saved me...”

I turned my head back, and simply stared at the leaves. So...I guess that dream I just had was real... I exhaled...

Chapter 71 - Mission Accomplish

I could not believe how hungry I was. Spike turned his head and noticed that I was already awake. I smiled at him as I was about to stand up, but he tackled me into a hug. I suddenly remembered that dream I had when I subconsciously rubbed his scaly head with a hoof as I carried him with the other. But, as soon as I let him go, my vision became darker, and my senses went dead for a short while. When I came back, I was lying down on my side, and I saw faces of panic.

It wasn't cold, but I shivered of how cold I was feeling. My head was too heavy and I was too dizzy that I wobbled when I went to four hooves. I sat down the instant I felt like I wanted to puke. Ugh...

I've felt this before...twice even, back in my high school days. I knew what to do, but I don't know if I can do that now though. I mean, I've never seen the ponies from the series ever listening to nature's call. Pinkie Pie was an exception. Come to think of it, I've never actually listened to it until now.

Finally, my hearing was slowly returning to me.

“—re you okay?” Spike's voice echoed the most from the mixed sounds of the Cutie Mark Crusaders' worried voices.

I nodded, though weakly. “Y-yeah...” I brought a hoof up on my forehead as I clenched my teeth at suddenly feeling how painful my stomach was... I really hate feeling this way... I shivered again.

“You don't look okay...” Sweetie Belle spoke. Gee, you don't say? I wanted to roll my eyes, but I shivered again.

“Oofff...” I groaned as I lowered my head near Spike's ear. “I think...nature calls...” I whispered, and hopefully, he'd get the id—

“I don't get it...” Spike spoke with uncertainty and worry.

I sighed frustratingly. “Never mind... Help me up.” He did, and I wobbled a bit, but he helped me. I started walking towards the forest, and I think I saw Xelene's head from the corner of my eyes, but that doesn't matter. After Spike and I reached the closest tree, I stopped and whispered, “O-okay... You can go back now...”

“What? No, I'm not going to le—” My stomach growled harshly, and it was too loud that the others might have heard it as well. Spike eyed my blushing face. He smiled apologetically. “Y-yeah, I think I get what you mean now...” He slowly backed away as I weakly glared at him.

Grr... Ugh... Better get this over with... I started walking further, to save myself from further embarrassment...

Ung... I'm glad I got that out of me. I'm still feeling quite sick, but I know I'll get back to normal after a few short minutes, and after I have something to eat. I wanted to cover it up with earth, but it was too dark for me to see it...thank goodness. The forest will be happy of my contribution.

After I moved away from my deposit site, my dizziness was too overwhelming that when it settled for a bit, I found myself lying on the forest floor. Up ahead, I could see the faint light from the campfire through bushes and trees.

I wanted to continue but, lying down here is just oh so comfortable right now... If the others will get worried, then I'll just be lying down here to be found.

Hm... If Xelene really was there, then I suppose I could talk to her about her exhaling black smoke. Maybe I could ask her to stop snoring smoke or exhaling smoke or whatever it's called in the pony-dragon dictionary. I sighed in relief. If I could talk to her about that then, I guess my quest here is complete. I could finally go back home. I'm sure it'll probably take some time for the sky to recover, but it will return to normal, since Xelene already stopped exhaling smoke during her sleep.

“Gold?” I heard Spike's voice from the forest.

“Here...” I tried to yell, but I was too tired to do so. I tried to pull myself back up, but then I felt small claws helping me up. I opened my eyes and saw Spike was helping me. I smiled. “Thanks.”

As we walked back to the camp site, I started thinking of how to say goodbye to Spike and the others. It seems like I won't be coming back. That is yet to be confirmed though, as we came out from the forest and found Xelene was lying down, her huge head behind...Cloud Strike? What's he doing here?

Cloud Strike noticed us first, and smiled. “You're finally okay, Gold?”

“Land sharks...” I suddenly said, and I have no idea why I said that, but it came to my head when I saw him. Pretty weird, and Cloud Strike frowned at me. I suddenly remembered the first few bits of my dream before the Rainbow Dash one. Let's see... A burning town... Desert... Wrecked ships... Lightning bolts... Land sharks... Sword... Whatever...

Spike let me sit around the fire together with the CMC and Cloud Strike, and Scootaloo then gave me a wooden plate with a few apples. I nodded my thanks as I took one and started eating. I sighed in relief after I realized that I was starting to feel better.

“It would seem,” Xelene's voice echoed, and all our attention were turned to her lying form. Her eyes were closed, yet her mouth was slightly open for talking. “...that you could access the mind of others.”

“What?” I asked before taking another bite.

“I sensed a strange magical aura from you while you were unconscious.” She opened her good eye, and stared directly at me, the fire's light was reflected on her eye. “It was a strange magic that I've never felt before... It was...peaceful.”

I arched an eyebrow at her, and shook my head. Whatever, I don't want to deal with another mysterious things. Now that I know she's actually here, and conveniently awake, I changed the subject. “Ca—may I ask you a favor?” I took the silence as a signal for me to continue. “May I ask of you not to...uh...snore out smoke?”

Her features quickly turned into anger. “I don't snore smoke.” She growled, making Cloud Strike to stand and looked like he was about to strike her.

“Yes you do...” a soft voice echoed, making Sweetie Belle and Apple Bloom to jump and rush towards Fluttershy, who was lying down on a think blanket. Cloud Strike settled down beside me though.

My ears drooped as I saw her. She was full of bandages. Seeing her made me remember our fight. I looked down, and saw my chest, stomach and back were wrapped by bandages as well.

Fluttershy smiled at the young mares before carefully pulling herself into a sitting position. She winced, but managed to calm herself down. She then turned to us, and then to Xelene. “You've been kinda...snoring smoke...ever since you...um...started sleeping...”

I looked back to Xelene, and her angry features were gone now. I think she's shocked to hear the news though. “Why didn't you tell me this before?”

“Well, um... Because you were sleeping...” I slowly brought a hoof on my face. All of this would have been avoided if Fluttershy just woke her up and told her about it. “...and I didn't want to disturb your sleep, so...and...” I turned back to Fluttershy, and her gaze was on the ground. “...you said you were dying an—”

Xelene coughed, and it actually made me jump as I turned back to her. “Who told you such nonsense?”

Fluttershy, shocked, turned to the dragon. “You, of course. You said that you're going to take a long and peaceful sleep!”

Xelene closed her eyes and sighed long and hard. “I have chosen the wrong words before my slumber then...” Wait... Does that mean I've been fighting a non-dying dragon? Cool, I guess... At least I survived. Xelene opened her eye tiredly this time. “Snoring smoke is a rare disease for us dragons.” She rose up on all four, and grinned at Cloud Strike. “It would seem as though you have given me quite a powerful blow, Strike. The usual cause of such a disease is when we receive powerful physical harm on our chests.” She grinned wider, and Cloud Strike glared at her as Xelene spreads her wings. She turned her head to the dark sky. “This is goodbye, little ponies.” She gazed at Fluttershy and smiled. “Thank you, Fluttershy...for everything. It was because of you that I was able to see that not all ponies are as bad as...” she grinned at Cloud Strike, and the pegasus stallion scrowled.

“Wait,” I called her attention. “Does this mean you won't be snoring smoke again?”

“Snoring...smoke...as you ponies like to call it, is a rather embarrassing thing that could happen to us dragons.” She nodded.

I smiled. Finally, mission accomplished... “T-thanks...”

She then flapped her wings hard, and soon, she took flight, roared for the final time, and was gone.

I sighed in relief. Finally, my world, and this world as well, will have normal skies again. Except for the Everfree Forest, I guess. I smiled to myself as I turned, and I quickly noticed Spike's sad frown as he stared at the fire. Oh... Right...

Chapter 72 - For Home

Fluttershy was being assisted by Apple Bloom and Sweetie Belle, for she was still having difficulty on walking. I really need to apologize to her, when I get the chance. Scootaloo was scouting ahead, while Spike and I are at the back of the group. Spike, as usual, was sitting on my back. Not that I mind though... This is probably the last time we'll see each other...

We were all quiet. None really spoke a word ever since we heard an explosion from far away. Cloud Strike needed to check what it was.

“We're close to Ponyville now...” Scootaloo said while staring at us, who was standing near the edge of the forest that we were in.

We reached the edge of the forest, and we quietly stared at how little and peaceful the town was from our positions. We're going to be crossing a few tree-less hills to get there though. Also, the cool air faintly carries the sounds of fire, explosions, lightning, and clashing armor.

Soon though, Scootaloo sighed and started walking towards the town. Apple Bloom, Fluttershy and Sweetie Belle followed. I took a breath and sighed before following the others.

I stared at the white cloud kingdom of the pegasi, and noticed a number of pegasi were flying to and from Pegasopolis towards the direction of Unicornia. There must be a battle going on again. Well, whatever. I don't think I can do anything to stop the war. It's a miracle that I am able to fix the sky problem. I don't think another miracle will happen if I'll try and stop the war.

We reached the town of Ponyville, and everyone were looking very busy. They were pulling and pushing metal armor and weaponry towards the other edge of town with wooden wagons. Sounds of hammers slamming against metal echoed everywhere. I don't remember ever hearing those on my few visits here though. The pegasi must be really desperate to end this war if they asked the ponies here to start learning crafting armor and weaponry.

Several armored pegasi ponies flew by and landed meters behind me. I slightly turned my head to catch a few of what they were saying.

“—that some of them were heading this way through the woods!”

“Create a blockade then!”

A few more armored pegasi ponies landed near the group, and they then rushed towards the edge of town where my little group came from. If there were unicorns from the forest where we went through, then I'd say that we're lucky enough not to encounter any.

I looked ahead and saw Fluttershy's group where already exiting the town, and were heading towards the Everfree Forest. There were so many ponies running around for me to catch up with them though, but I worked my way slowly.

I managed to go through the sea of ponies. I sighed in relief and...I noticed Scootaloo was sitting in front of a wooden door of a pretty familiar small wooden house. Wait... Was that dream really happened before? Because, if it was, then...

I slowly approached her and put a hoof on her shoulder. Scootaloo didn't move. She just sighed, hung her head low, and let her head lean on the door, creating a small thud sound.

“This isn't fair...” Scootaloo whispered as she sniffed and brought a hoof to wipe her eye. “Darn waterbug...” She whispered, barely audible from all the noises around.

I sighed through my nostrils as I felt Spike was crawling off of my back. He walked to Scootaloo's other side and placed a claw on her other shoulder. The three of us were quiet for a while.

I don't really mind though. I mean, I already did what I needed to do. The only trouble now for me is how to get myself back. I tried talking to this voice within my head earlier, but I received no response. Luna can probably help me though, but if she's going to suggest that I need to seek her sister again, then I'm going to find another way.

Hm... Now that I think about it, how did those black clouds even reached my world? And how the heck did that timberwolf got there in my home world?

If it came from that dimensional hole thing, then maybe there's another one here in this world. Hm... Maybe in the Everfree Forest? I mean, where did that wolf come from? At least, from the series, they come from the Everfree. Then again, the series only showed us about the events near and around Ponyville, so, it's likely that there are timberwolves living in different parts of this world...

‘Timberwolves live around the world, preferably inside forested areas.’

‘Oh, so now you decided to talk...’

‘Sorry... I was...busy...’

I arched an eyebrow as I quietly excused myself. I turned my back on Scootaloo and Spike and sat on the ground. ‘Busy with what? I mean, no offense, but you're just a voice. What could a voice inside my head would be busy about?’

‘It's not simple to explain, but I think I will be able to help you return.’

I blinked. ‘Uh...yay?’

‘You don't trust me? I haven't lied to you before, have I?’

‘It's kinda difficult to trust a voice who has its own conscience and uh...reasoning...yeah, reasoning, and what's more is that you are using Discord's voice... See what I mean?’

No answer... Sheesh...

‘Thank you for suddenly becoming quiet.’ I stood up.

‘Just go and see Princess Luna.’ I tilted my head to the side in confusion. ‘I need her assistance to send you back, because I couldn't sense the connection of our worlds after that mana beam struck you on the head.’

My ears drooped. Oh, yeah... I remember that. Wait... What happened to my armor? Did we left it in our camp site?

“They're here!” A powerful voice shouted from the distance. Instantly, the pegasi ponies who were standing on the edge of town charged at the unicorns who were running towards town from the forest.

“This isn't good!” I shouted as the ponies around town began to panic, and as more pegasi ponies came to the scene. I quickly turned and saw Spike was looking frightened, but Scootaloo was still as is. I shook her with my hoof. “Scoots, look, I'm sorry for your loss, but we have to get outta here!”

“Why bother...?” She whispered as she stared at the blue feather on her hoof. Where'd that came from? Whatever.

I shook my head. “Look, Scootaloo. Rainbow Dash did a noble thing of sacrificing herself. And no, it's not because she could save Pegalopo-whatever, but for her to save you as well!”

Scootaloo turned her head slightly, enough to give me a side-glare. “What do you know?”

Ack! Do I really have to deal with this!? I quickly bit Spike's tail, and threw him on my back as he yelped in surprise. Scootaloo glared at me some more, but I ignored her as I grabbed her with both my hooves and tossed her on my back. She landed in front of Spike, and I quickly started running towards the Everfree Forest.

“What do I know? Then let me tell you, Scootaloo!” I shouted as I felt that she was about to jump off. She stopped her attempt, so I continued. “Rainbow did what she did so she could protect your home! That wooden house the two of you call home, where she raised you!”

She jumped off. What the heck!? I skidded to a stop and turned around, and was surprised to see her smiling tearfully at me as she stuck the blue feather on her left ear. “Home... You're right...” She turned towards the chaotic town, where a few unicorns managed to get through the wall of pegasi, but were now dealing with other pegasi reinforcements. “She risked her life to save our home!” She sprinted towards the town.

“Scootaloo!” Spike and I shouted in unison.

“I'm going to protect my home! Our home!” She shouted as she flared her wing open.

Ack, god-darn it! I chased after her, but I stopped after a powerful explosion erupted meters in front of me. Black smoke covered my sight to see up ahead. I turned up and saw flying unicorns and pegasi having an aerial battle. Lightning struck the ground meters away to my left.

“Let's get outta here!” Spike shouted, pulling my head to face the Everfree Forest.

“But what about—!”

“She made her decision! Now let's go!”

Huh, but...Scootaloo might... No! Why am I worrying!? She's not my problem, but...! I forced myself to face back to the town. “No Spike! I'm tired of seeing dying faces.” I was about to run when two young mares dashed from both my sides, and were heading straight towards town.

“Don't worry, Gold!” Apple Bloom shouted, “we got this covered!”

“Spike!” Sweetie Belle shouted, “make sure that you and Gold will reach your destinations safely!”

No! I won't accept this! But I was about to run after them when Sweetie Belle's voice rang inside my head. ‘This is my friends' home, Gold, and we are to protect it! So go!’

“Y-you heard her...” Spike spoke, with a trembling voice. Sweetie must have communicated with him as well, probably.

A mana beam struck the ground inches away from me, throwing me back, but I managed to land on my hooves. ‘This is getting out of hand...’ I sighed frustratingly as I quickly turned around and ran towards the forest.

Chapter 73 - Brother

Flying unicorns were cutting through the air, firing mana beams at the pegasi who were attacking them with swords and lightning bolts. A brown earth pony on the ground was running as fast as he could towards the dreaded Everfree Forest. On his back was a small purple baby dragon, tightening his hold on the earth pony's neck. All the while, the earth pony jumped left and right to avoid the mana and lightning strikes that erupted on the path before him.

As he got closer to the forest, a huge flock of different kinds of birds flew out from the forest, and were quickly flying towards the battle. Above, the flying creatures attacked the unicorns, providing enough distraction for the pegasi ponies to bring them back to the ground. Several unicorns started falling down like rocks from the heavens.

Getting closer to the forest, he saw vicious wolves of different races rushed out from the forest. Gold Blitz, startled, skidded to a stop and ran back to town, but he was too slow, and soon, wolves began to...run pass him. He stopped as he realized that the wolves were after the fallen unicorns, and those who were in Ponyville. Turning back to the forest, he saw a yellow pegasus mare coming out from the trees, being aided by a bear.

Convinced that the animals will bring him no harm, Gold Blitz continued to run towards the forest. The earth pony then stopped a respectable distance from the mare. He closed his eyes as he took quick breaths to calm himself down. He then took a deep breath and sighed. He lifted his head back and opened his eyes and stared at the mare, who already turned her gaze away.

“Fluttershy...” the earth pony began, but the mare kept her gaze away even after the bear left them and headed towards town. “Look, I, uh... I'm sorry...” He sighed as he hung his head low and closed his eyes. The mare turned her eyes on him. Gold Blitz sighed. “What I did to you back there was completely wrong, and I'm sorry. I really really really am...” He lifted his gaze at the mare, who was now facing him with angry yet teary eyes. “I am so sorry, Fluttershy. And, and I hope you can forgive me...” He wanted to hug her but that may be pushing it a bit far. He settled on nodding to her instead before dashing to the forest behind the mare.

Fluttershy turned her head and stared at the brown earth pony until he was completely under the shadow of the forest. Her ears drooped as she sat on the ground and began to shed some tears. She doesn't know if she will be able to forgive him.

Reaching the chamber where Luna is imprisoned, Gold Blitz stood on the raised platform before the princess' gem-like case, while Spike stood behind him. The pony stared at the alicorn's gentle features with doubt in his face and mind.

‘This feels so wrong... I know I've said that I won't be troubling myself with this world's problems but...’ He turned his head back and saw Spike was quietly staring at his feet with both hands behind his back. Two bat-winged pegasi stallions are standing near the stairway, and both were carrying torches to brighten the dark chamber.

The earth pony sighed quietly as he returned his gaze on the princess of the moon. ‘I'm going back home. And I'm going to continue my life there, and forget the things that ever happened here.’ He sighed as he closed his eyes and hung his head low. ‘C-could I live with that? I mean, the only reason why I came here—or rather, why I decided to come back, was so I could fix those black clouds from home. And that was it. That was only it. But why?’ He gritted his teeth in annoyance. ‘Darn it! Why do I feel like I need to do something first!? This is the very reason why I don't like to socialize much! I become so attached to the people...and ponies and dragons, that leaving them without helping them dealing with their problems gives me so much guilt!’ He quickly and angrily threw his eyes open and stomped the ground with a hoof mixed with frustration.

Spike saw this, and wanted to ask what is troubling the earth pony, but decided against it after the earth pony stomped again and hissed, and stomped and hissed, again and again.

Gold Blitz stopped, and panted as he felt his sweat running down from his head. He breathed through his open mouth, which was smiling a bit. ‘It's...kinda weird that a furry creature like myself is sweating. Dogs back home sweat through their noses and tongue...’ He shook his head slightly, making the baby dragon wonder what he was thinking.

Neither of them spoke when they went inside the Everfree Forest, and even when they reached the old castle of the alicorn sisters. And now that they're here, neither of them said a word to each other yet. Spike wanted to say goodbye or something else, but he couldn't manage to even make a sound, and he doesn't know why. Though he has a basic idea of what is going on. Gold Blitz did mention that he's going to fix the black clouds. Now that he fixed it, he'll go back home, and probably won't come back ever again. He is not sure if that thought is true, but something inside him is telling him that this is going to be their last time seeing each other. Sighing, he took a few steps towards the earth pony.

“G-Gold...?”

No answer. The earth pony was quietly breathing while his head was hanging low with closed eyes. Spike took another step forward. Unknown to him that Gold Blitz was busy talking to the voices inside his head.

“Gold?”

Still no answer. Spike was about to call his name again when the earth pony slowly lifted his head and gaze back at the princess. The spacious chamber became quiet, allowing only the burning fire's noises to echo as it burned the torches that were held by the pegasi stallions.

“Spike...” Gold Blitz called, almost a whisper.

Spike was startled a bit. He straightened himself, trying to steal himself as well to prepare himself for their farewell.

“Tell me... I wish to hear it again...”

Spike tilted his head on the side with confusion completely written on his face. “Tell you what?”

“Tell me... Who am I to you again?”

It was quiet for a while. Spike didn't expect such a question. “Uh... You are like...a...brother to me, Gold...” Spike smiled weakly as he felt his eyes were starting to water. He took a breath to calm himself. “A brother, Gold. That's why I decided to follow you around, and, uh...” he trailed off as he scratched his head. He wanted to add some more to what he was saying but—

“A brother...huh...” Gold Blitz thought out loud, still gazing at Luna's calm features. “Back home...I have a brother. Two, in fact, and they mean the world to me... Kronz and I are very close, and we always tell everything to each other.” The earth pony chuckled weakly before continuing, “Xilfer, on the other hand, is very rebellious and independent. He's always with his friends, and no longer spends time at home for us...” The earth pony sighed. “Then again, I couldn't blame him. Our dad ruined our peaceful lives, breaking our peaceful family. It made us drift apart, but we managed to collect each other again but, Xilfer drifted further...” He sighed again. “But even still, I still care for him. I care for them both. That's why I came back to fix my world so they can have a better world to live in.”

Spike trembled a bit. He tried to calm himself, but he couldn't. He's going to say goodbye, and the baby dragon isn't sure if he could handle it.

Gold Blitz sighed once again. “The three of us are brothers... We used to do a lot of crazy stuff together, but now, it's only me and Kronz...” He turned his head back, and stared at the purple dragon with teary eyes and a small grin on his face. “Strangely, I also consider you as my brother... So before I say goodbye...” He grinned further, confusing the already confused purple dragon. “...wanna do something crazy before I go?”

Chapter 74 - For Ponyville

A powerful echo of clashing metal erupted after Apple Bloom and a unicorn stallion clashed swords. Apple Bloom pulled back with a back jump, but her tactic of letting the stallion stumble forward from the force he was putting on his sword didn't work, for he was using telekinesis to hold his sword.

The earth mare cursed mentally for missing the obvious, and blocked his attack before it touches her bare coat. Electricity danced in the air horizontally and shocked the mare's foe. She turned her eyes to the side and saw Sweetie Belle had casted a lightning spell. She didn't waste any more time, and struck her sword to the unicorn's throat and immediately pulled it out.

Apple Bloom nodded her thanks, and Sweetie Belle smiled, but she yelped after two pegasi stallions landed to both her sides.

“Wait—!” Apple Bloom yelled, dropping her sword from her mouth, but she stopped after one of the stallions, who was familiar to them both, patted the startled Sweetie Belle's head.

“Nice work, kid,” Cloud Strike said with a smile.

Sweetie Belle nodded her thanks awkwardly as Apple Bloom picked her sword back.

“I already told the pegasi about you three. It's easy for us to spot you with your capes.”

The other stallion pulled out his sword and took flight towards a battle close by. Cloud Strike stared for a moment before returning his gaze back at the two crusaders as a slightly-burned wolf passed by.

“I doubt I could convince you three to pull back, but be careful.”

After the two nodded their understanding, Cloud Strike flared his wings and took flight.

Apple Bloom brought her sword on her hooves and stared at Sweetie Belle. “Speaking of which, where is Scootaloo?”

“Gah—!” Scootaloo yelled as the ground a few inches before her erupted from a unicorn's mana beam. The explosion sent her flying back towards slightly-burning debris of wood. She coughed and spat blood as she squirmed her tired and battered body out of the debris. Panic started to cloud her mind as three armored unicorns with fiercely-glowing horns approached her. It would have been easy to get out from the debris, but she couldn't think straight, even worse that the two of the unicorns lifted their swords with telekinesis. The swords swung towards her, and the pegasus cringed as she closed her eyes.

A green lance swung in front of the crusader, blocking the swords' path. Startled, the unicorns turned their heads in unison and saw a fierce wave of green hellish fire began to swallow them. The three unicorns screeched from the burning sensation as they ran away to recover.

“You alright there, Scoots?” asked a familiar dark-purple armored earth pony with a brown coat as he extends a helping hoof at the shocked one-winged pegasus crusader.

“They're coming back!” a purple baby dragon yelled on the back of the armored earth pony as he swung his lance, batting the fired mana beam that was aimed at them.

Scootaloo snapped out of her daze and accepted the hoof that pulled her back to her four hooves. “Gold Blitz,” she began as the three unicorns surrounded them, “what are you doing back here?”

“No reason,” the earth pony smiled. “Just decided to have a walk through town and all.” He smiled at the frowning pegasus beside him before leaping towards a unicorn.

Spike waved his lance, and the unicorn awkwardly blocked it with his sword. Gold Blitz ran towards the unicorn and slammed his helmeted-head against the unicorn's armor.

‘Ponyville isn't really my home,’ Gold Blitz thought as he ran through the thick lines of trees in the Everfree Forest. He jumped high to avoid thick roots that blocked his path, managing to jump over them even though the weight of both Spike on his back and the dark armor he wore added to his weight. ‘Nor is this world my home,’ he thought as he saw the blue bird up ahead, who was guiding him towards town. The bird made a sharp turn, and the armored earth pony followed suit.

“Gold,” Spike yelled as he made effort not to lose his grip around the earth pony's neck, even though he was jumping up and down, and his rear was starting to feel numb for pounding against metal. “This has to be your craziest idea yet! Aaaahhh—!” He yelled nervously as Gold Blitz jumped again. As soon as the pony landed his hooves on the forest ground, Spike's chest and stomach slammed against the pony's armor. “Ugh... This is far worse than the description of how a rodeo ride feels like...” the purple dragon groaned.

Gold Blitz laughed nervously as he saw the edge of the forest. Sounds of lightning, mana beam, and metal started reaching his ears. “Sorry 'bout that Spike,” he panted as he skidded to a stop after he rushed out from the forest. His smile vanished and he stared nervously yet seriously at the burning town of Ponyville. “But we have a town to save...”

The blue bird flew above him as it stared at the town.

Spike climbed off of the pony's back, and stared at him for a moment, his dark-purple armor reflected the baby dragon's worried face. “But Gold, you could die here!” Spike reasoned, and he then stared at the burning town. “And you said it already that this isn't your home or your world or whatever!” He turned back at the pony, who still had his eyes on the town. “I thought you wanted to see your real brother again!”

Gold Blitz took a deep breath and sighed before turning his head to the baby dragon, who stared at him full of worry. “Spike,” the pony spoke with an angry tone, “at first I thought everything in this world is just a fantasy, but everything's real...” he trailed off as he returned his gaze back at the town. “You're real, and you're my brother.” He shrugged. “Not by blood, but that's not the point.” He turned back to Spike with a confident grin. “You're real and you're my bro. So what does that make you?”

Spike's features drooped, even though it felt really nice that Gold Blitz accepted him as his brother. “I just don't want to see you get hurt...”

“Hey,” the pony patted the baby dragon's head, “I survived Xelene's attempts of killing me.” He then suddenly frowned. “I still don't know how you survived though, but,” he smiled, “what's important is that you lived.“ Gold Blitz shook his head and settled his gaze on the town. “The only problem I needed to fix back in my world is the cloud problem. Now that it's settled — I think, — I want to help you have a better life here in this world.”

Spike looked down on the ground. He really didn't like the war, and the chaos and pain this brings to everypony around him, but he also don't want to... “Even if...even if you'd get ki—”

A brown-coated hoof tapped his mouth, disabling him from talking further. Spike gazes back up and stared at Gold Blitz's calm-yet-nervous brotherly smile. “I'll try my best not to.” He brought his hoof back on the ground and stared at the town. “Anyway, we shouldn't delay any further...” The pony then hopped in place twice, and cracked his neck. “Remember the plan?”

Spike nodded, and he was about to climb back on the pony's back, but instead, he walked in front of him, which confused the pony, and hugged him. It took the pony a while to recover from his startled state before he wrapped a hoof behind the dragon's neck to return the hug. “I still think it's a stupid and crazy idea, Gold...” Spike murmured as they ended the hug. He walked to his side and climbed up on his back.

Gold Blitz simply shrugged. “Meh, you'll get used to it.”

And soon, the armored earth pony galloped towards the chaotic burning town as Spike spat green fumes of fire on his claws and formed a rather long lance, and stared at the closing town as he wished mentally that things wouldn't end so badly. It was the blue bird's turn to follow suit.

Gold Blitz slammed his head at the unicorn, throwing him back slightly.

Grunting, the unicorn flared his horn but a mighty wing pounded his face. Yelping, he jumped back, and fired a mana beam to the sky after a green lance struck his head from his lower jaw.

Gold Blitz stared — shocked — as the unicorn took his last breath, the mana beam slowly becoming thin until it was gone, the light slowly leaving his eyes, and the blood slowly flowing and boiling down on the green fiery lance.

“That's the last of them,” Scootaloo said as she turned her head back, staring at the two unconscious unicorns laying on the ground. “I'll finish 'em off—!” A bright flash made her turn her attention back.

“Gyah—!” Gold Blitz shouted as he was pushed by a fierce beam of mana. He crashed towards a burning wooden house, and the beam exploded, wrapping his crash site with thick black smoke.

Spike and Scootaloo shouted his name in panic, but as Spike ran towards him, Scootaloo turned her head and saw a lone armored unicorn with a fiercely glowing horn, and was walking closer to Scootaloo. She braces herself as she prepares to dodge the incoming attack, while paying attention to the other two rising unicorns who just recovered their consciousness.

On one edge of town, Apple Bloom and Sweetie Belle worked together to bring down another unicorn. A lightning bolt struck the ground meters from them. Turning, they saw an electrocuted unicorn, and a diving pegasus. The pegasus however, was struck by a mana beam from elsewhere, and exploded upon impact. A thick black cloud of smoke erupted, and an unconscious pegasus fell through the burning roof of a house.

Something was starting to brighten on their vision. Quickly, they noticed the electrocuted unicorn was slowly regaining his ability to move. Sweetie Belle quickly summoned mana energy to her horn, chanted the spell in her head, and la—

—an explosion erupted from the ground in front of the two crusaders. They both were thrown back, while Sweetie Belle accidentally casted the lightning spell upward, creating a fierce electric field that flew beyond the rooftops, and bent back down, striking anything it touches. Sweetie Belle landed on the ground hard, while Apple Bloom managed to land on her hooves, her blade still on her mouth's hold.

The electrocuted unicorn fired a fierce mana beam straight at her. She ducked to dodge the attack, but didn't notice a fierce wave of fire from her side that swallowed her. She screeched through her teeth as she stood up to run away in reflex, but it caused her to be hit by the still-streaming mana beam above her. She was swiftly pushed by the mana beam, and against an iron wagon before explosion and smoke covered her entire form.

“Apple Bloom!” Sweetie Belle screamed as she hastily dodges a fierce fire ball from a unicorn. She rolled to the side to dodge another one, and quickly struck her foe with a light electric shock.

She was about to run and see how Apple Bloom was, but she sensed a mana beam coming her way, so she turned and countered the other unicorn's mana beam with her own. She gathered her might to try and push the beam, but she couldn't.

Suddenly, as if from nowhere, a rope lassoed the tail of the crusader's foe, and was forcefully yanked outside of town. The unicorn hissed as his body was dragged on the ground, and when it stopped, he sighed in relief, only for two powerful hooves to stomp his helmeted head, digging down through the ground with his face first.

“How'd ya like that, ya horn-headed freak!?”

Sweetie Belle sighed in relief as Applejack grinned evilly at the unicorn under her hoof. Behind her were a few ponies of the Apple family, carrying with them different weaponry of wood and metal. Seeing Applejack suddenly reminded her of Apple Bloom. She quickly turned around and rushed towards a groaning earth pony mare.

Scootaloo was ready to jump and dodge, but a loud rumbling noise caught her attention, and so were her three unicorn foes. Turning to the source, the unicorns yelped in surprise, but weren't fast enough to avoid the very fast moving wooden wagon. The unicorns were pushed by the wagon, and continued towards the earthy path and beyond.

“That'll show 'em,” Braeburn chuckled as a few of his relatives appeared from the direction of where the wagon came from. “Ya okay there, kid?” he asked as soon as he saw Scootaloo's beaten form.

A few of the ponies quickly helped Gold Blitz after Spike caught their attention. Gold Blitz coughed and wheezed. He sat down on the ground as he hastily began removing his hot armor. “Ugh,” he groaned after he removed his body armor, “these stupid things, all for Ponyville...” He chuckled weakly, and coughed. “Heh, I didn't do much, anyway...” He coughed again as a familiar blue bird landed on his head.

“Just stop talking and concentrate on breathing, will you?” Spike spoke with anger and worry as the earth pony went into a coughing fit.

Cloud Strike hovered about the burning town of Ponyville. He stared at the retreating unicorns that were still being chased by the pegasi and countless of flying and earth-bound animals. He smiled weakly as a few pegasi flew above town from Pegasopolis, carrying with them a few stormy clouds. The pegasi then kicked the stormy cloud, and the cloud responded by pouring rain down below. As the pegasi started hovering around with raining clouds, Cloud Strike stared towards the War Planes, where the unicorns were already retreating as well.

Chapter 75 - For Unicornia

“They took the bait?” a purple unicorn asked weakly as she steered from under her covers. She was lying on a big and elegant bed and stared weakly at the dark-blue middle-aged unicorn stallion who stood near the room's window, his gaze outside.

The stallion nodded, but didn't move his gaze away from the scene where his fellow unicorns are retreating back towards their empire, being chased down by pegasi ponies. “It would appear that you are right yet again, my princess. While some are trying to save the town, most of them are chasing after our army.” He slowly removed his gaze from the War Planes and turned to the ill-looking Twilight Sparkle. “Your most recent feat has made them unable to think properly. If they were, then they would have obviously noticed the lack of numbers on our side.”

The mare grinned weakly at the stallion. “That's what they get for staying above the ground for far too long, commander.” She lied her head down on her pillow and stared at the ceiling of the room. “Send the word, commander, that phase two of the plan will be executed in exactly ten minutes after you arrive.”

Starfall bowed and walked towards the door of the room. With telekinesis, he opened the door, but turned his head back at his princess. “If I am allowed to ask, your highness, how are you feeling?”

Twilight groaned weakly as she threw a hoof in the air. “Pretty much drained still... A simple levitation spell is far too difficult for me to achieve at this condition...” She shook her head in annoyance. “It has been days, commander. And it's really starting to drive me insane.” She then stared at the stallion with frustration.

Starfall bowed, showing his understanding. “I understand how frustrating it is, my princess. Believe me, I truly do.” He lifted his head back up and stared at the mare. “Perhaps you need somepony to accompany you, to at least help you ease your frustration?”

Twilight groaned and stared at the ceiling. “Nopony could be more capable of doing such a thing, commander... Other than Macintosh...”

“Then perhaps it's time for you to look for another pony.” He was a bit taken back when the mare shot him a glare. “Ah—I mean no disrespect, your highness, but I am simply voicing out the obvious.”

Twilight glared icily at him for a few seconds before sighing. “I suppose you are right, commander,” she then stared at him weakly, “but I don't know any pony capable of...” she trailed off with a faint blush on both her cheeks.

Starfall bowed, “let me handle that problem, your highness.” Starfall then left the room, but left the door open. He stopped after taking a few steps from the door. He turned around, and eyed the two armored unicorns who were standing tall at each side of the door frame. He then locked his gaze on the more muscular stallion. “Your name, private.”

“Force Field, sir!” the dark-green unicorn stallion replied.

“At ease, private,” Starfall spoke before moving his gaze on the door, and then turned to the other stallion. “You are to make sure that nopony will disturb the princess.”

“Sir, yes sir!” replied the other stallion.

Starfall then turned back to the muscular stallion, who was now leaning on the door frame and fixing his armor. “And you,” the stallion stood still in attention, “you are to please the princess.”

The stallion blinked in confusion. “I beg your pardon, sir?”

Starfall turned around and started walking towards the stairs. “I believe you have heard me clearly, private. Do as you're ordered.”

Starfall walked down on the stairs, and after he was out of sight, the muscular dark-green stallion tilted his head to the side. “Uh...yes...sir...?” He turned to his companion, who was grinning mischievously at him. “What?” he glared at him.

“Don't let the princess skin you alive, Field,” he stifled a laugh. The muscular stallion blushed while glaring daggers at him.

The stallion sighed in defeat as he turned to the door. “My wife is sooo going to kill me for this...” he whispered, making the other stallion snort.

Starfall exited the large double door of the castle, and walked out to the front gates, where Shining Armor was staring at the direction of the War Planes. Upon his arrival, Armor turned and saluted. Starfall returned the gesture.

“Starfall sir, should I put up the force field?” Shining Armor asked.

Starfall shook his head. “There is no need to waste your effort on that.”

Armor was surprised a bit, but tried his best not to show it. “Ah, but sir, the pegasi are closing in.” He turned back to the direction of the War Planes. “If they're to reach us here—”

“That won't happen, commander,” Starfall cuts him off as he summoned mana energy to his horn.

Shining Armor turned back to him with confusion on his face. He was about to ask why, but he held his tongue after he noticed his surroundings changed instantly. The cool outside air was now replaced by hot cavern air. He looked around and he found the two of them inside a cave of some sort, where the place was fairly lit by glowing gems on the walls and torches. He remembered Starfall's talent of swiftly moving to lower levels of areas with his magic. A seemingly advanced teleportation spell, refined to perfection with his natural talent.

What took his breath and attention was that they were on a highly elevated ground, and below he saw unicorns were running around and making final preparations on each of their metallic ape-like machine that stood three meters taller than an average stallion.

“Wh-what are those?” Shining managed to ask, still trying to figure out what those metal machines where. They look like giant apes, for it stood on two leg-like metallic limbs. On the center was a transparent thin glass that was opened up, and he saw a few of the unicorns were inside, doing something with the gems they were holding. On each side from the center of the machine where hand-like limbs, and on the back was a large powerfully-glowing gem that was firmly attached, and probably to power up the breath-taking machines.

“For our glorious empire to rule over this land,” Starfall spoke proudly yet icily as he stood beside Shining Armor. “Behold your sister's greatest invention,” his horn flared brightly, catching the attention of the unicorns down below.

The unicorns then went inside each of the countless of metallic ape-like machines. With telekinesis, they slid the thin glass down, encasing them inside the machine. Inside, they lit up the gems which were attached to the metallic surface around them. Soon, thin mana streams crawled out from their horns and connected with all the small shining gems inside. The unicorns grunted after feeling themselves as if being pulled and pushed at the same time. Their heads ached from the synchronization process of their minds to the machine they're driving.

Outside, each machine started to move, hissing mechanically. A new metallic limb extended from the back of each machine. It coiled up, and bent on a shoulder-like part of the machine. For Shining, it looked like a miniaturized mana cannon, from the looks of the cylinder-like limb with it's mouth faintly glowing. A few tried to lift their new mechanical feet, and stomped it back on the ground.

Blinking, Shining Armor gasped after finding himself in front of all the machines. Beside him was Starfall, who took a few steps forward.

“Unicorns of Unicornia!” Starfall shouted, his voice echoed all around the enclosed cavern. The unicorns inside the machines — even those who were thrilled like foals — calmed themselves and put their attention at the officer. “Today, we will mark this day as one of the greatest days we unicorns will ever accomplish in history of ponydom! Because this day, we will bring those winged freaks back to the ground!”

Cheers echoed loudly and wildly as Starfall turned back and faced the cavern's vertical wall. Gesturing with his head, Shining Armor managed to get the idea. Shining turned around, and stared at the wall, and he noticed a vertical unnatural dent on the surface of the wall. One side started being surrounded by a field of mana. Turning, he saw Starfall was flaring his horn. He got the idea, and flared his own horn as he aimed his magic focus on the other side of the door of the cavern.

Soon, with two powerful unicorns, they pushed the earthy door open, and the cavern was instantly washed by the outside light and the sound of thunder and hooves getting closer.

Shining Armor had noticed instantly that they are under the drawbridge of their kingdom. Whatever happened to the water, he'd need to find that out later, for his unicorn friends are rushing towards them. He flared his horn and fired a beam of mana at the pegasus ponies up ahead.

“For Unicornia!” the unicorns shouted from inside the cavern.

The gems on the back of each machines glowed brightly, and soon, it sent off a powerful flame-like mana energy, bursting the machines forward. Starfall swiftly ran out of the way while Shining stumbled and almost collided with one of the machines, but he managed to got away from the path.

Chapter 76 - Flying Through

The earth shook violently as I continued running though the woods. I cursed under my breath as I tried my best to run faster. I kicked my hooves hard as I ignored my pony body telling me a few times already that I needed to rest. But I can't... I couldn't... Not with those unicorns inside those robot-like-thingies running towards Pegasopolis and firing mana beams at the pegasi with their bazookas or whatever it was! Everything is starting to look crazy! I mean, how in the world did those unicorns managed to create robots in the first place!? What is worse, the lightning bolts of the pegasi have no effect on them! If this keeps up, then...

“We're almost there!” shouted Sweetie Belle, who was riding on my back, and Spike as well. Her horn was glowing, so she could sense the location of the site where they treated my wounds.

Scootaloo and Apple Bloom were running a few hooves ahead of me. The reason why Sweetie Belle is on me is because she is not that much of a runner.

“There!” Sweetie Belle shouted, and I could see a clearing up ahead.

The three of us skidded to a stop after we got to the clearing. And look, there it was, my flying armor. Well, I stole it, so it's technically mine. Gah, no time for nonsense. Sweetie Belle and Spike jumped off of my back while Apple Bloom and Scootaloo both took the armor and dragged it towards me. I nodded my thanks, took the armor, and wore it.

“Gold,” Spike spoke as I made some adjustments to make myself a bit more comfortable with the armor. “Do you really have to do this? I mean, you could just go home and—”

“We already talked about this Spike,” I cut him off with my nervous voice. Now that I am wearing the armor, I am starting to tremble whether or not this will work or not but...I gotta try, right? I mean, I did try and succeed when I wanted to rid the black clouds.

Spike noticed how nervous I sounded like, so he grabbed my hoof. “Gold, don't do this! This is crazy!”

I chuckled nervously, even though he was starting to get on my nerves. “Don't I know it?”

I then shifted my attention to Sweetie Belle. She and the other crusaders were quiet, merely listening to the mana blasts echoing from the War Planes. They shook and shivered in fear.

“Spike,” I whispered quietly so only Spike, who was closest to me, could only hear. He blinked worriedly at me. “Look at them,” I gestured with my head, and Spike shifted his gaze at the crusaders. “Those are the faces that I hated to see.” He looked back to me, and I stared back at him. “That's the look I don't want to see on my brothers. That is why I work so hard back home, so I could make some money and not see them depressed or scared. And this,” I gestured my armor with a hoof, “is why I need to do this,” I returned my hoof on the ground, “because I don't want you to have this kind of future, where you and the others be depressed and scared.” I sighed through my nostrils and gazed at the direction of the War Planes. “Somepony has to stop this madness. If the pegasi couldn't, then there must be somepony else out there that could do it...”

“But is that pony you?” Scootaloo suddenly asked as she and the two crusaders turned their gazes on me. “I mean, no offense, but did you see those moving piece of metal they got!? What could you possibly do!?”

I felt my ears flattened. I sighed. “I could use a boost on my ego, you know...” I shook my head.

“Seriously, Gold, I agree with Spike this time,” Sweetie Belle spoke. “And with Scootaloo. There is no possible way that you can change everything!”

“And Ah highly doubt that wearin' that armor helps.” Apple Bloom chimed in.

I stared at four sets of eyes staring back at me. Their eyes are starting to make me feel really nervous and doubt about myself...

Darn it! Why do I feel like I need to do something first!? This is the very reason why I don't like to socialize much! I become so attached to the people...and ponies and dragons, that leaving them without helping them dealing with their problems gives me so much guilt!

I was so angry with myself. I opened my eyes angrily and stomped the ground to try and release this anger within me. Nothing, and I am still angry. I stomped and I stomped and I stomped! Gah!

I stopped as soon as my hoof was aching... Ouch... I hung my head low and panted... Heh... It's...kinda weird that a furry creature like myself is sweating. Dogs back home sweat through their noses and tongue...

‘Jay...’

‘What do you want?’ I quickly asked in my head. I think I heard Spike's voice, but whatever... ‘Look, I'm sure you're busy with whatever it is you're doing inside, so just...buzz off...’

‘I am busy, yes, and I think it's about time to tell you about it.’

‘About what is making you busy?’

‘And a few other things, yes. You are now aware that...I'm...Discord, right?’

I didn't answer...

‘This body... This form you're using... Imagine a box, and that box is this body. Inside that box has Dis—has my chaos energy, and Nightmare Moon's curse energy. I am doing my best to control these energies.’

I blinked slowly... I don't know how to respond to that...

‘It's a really difficult process, even for a soul like myself, but with the energies of the Elements of Harmony, I am able to control these energies easier...but...’

I blinked twice. ‘Wait wait... Elements of Harmony...? If this is your body, then I could assume that the curse transformed your dragon-like body into a pony. And from what Spike said, I could also guess that if these energies you speak of are out of control, this pony body would go wild? And what the heck? How did the Elements went inside this body? I destroyed it...which I am not proud of... And Fluttershy told me the story of what happened. The Elements weren't used to defeat Nightmare Moon.’

‘How you connect those pieces of facts are very bright. But your lack of knowledge on magic and mana made you ignorant on those fields.’

Ouch...

‘Upon your...wild act...of destroying the Elements, you released their — shall we say — their energy. If m...my body could hold two powerful negative energies, then maybe five harmonious energies could stabilize them. I managed to absorb them, but it wasn't enough to completely stabilize the curse and chaos energies, but it did help me to handle them easier...’

“Gold?” I heard Spike called my name. He sounded...sad.

‘...you're telling me this...why?’

I soared in the air, high above the ground, and close to the black blanket of clouds in hopes that the ponies down below wouldn't notice me as I glided towards Unicornia. Spike was tightening his grip around my neck, shivering slightly.

It took me a while to convince Sweetie Belle to use her magic to give the armor's gem enough juice to power up.

‘That massive energy from the mana cannon. I'm sure it left m...Twilight drained. If my theory is correct, then she wouldn't have enough mana to use even the most basic of spells.’ Discord's voice echoed in my thoughts as I recalled about it. ‘That would leave Unicornia vulnerable, with their princess powerless,’ I turned my gaze down, staring at the fiery War Planes down below. Vulnerable, right... It really looks like they have sent out all of their might to end this war right now. Which means... ‘They have probably left their kingdom very very vulnerable...’

Chapter 77 - Castle Tower

I was hovering above Unicornia. I was really shivering from the cold air, and the drizzling black clouds did not help at all. I felt Spike shivered, and it signaled me to stop stalling and get on with it. I stared down at the castle. I gulped, as I started my descent, though as I did so, for a split second, I think I heard a faint wail of a horse... Not a pony, but a horse. It was faint, and it made me stop my descent. I looked around, and my gaze landed on the little town of Ponyville far far away. It was once again in flames, and a few of those robots were wrecking havoc there, while the others were tearing down the Everfree Forest.

Okay, darn it all! I'm going down. I tilted my body angle down, and I started my descent towards the castle. As it grew closer, I noticed that only a few unicorns were outside, and were also busy doing whatever. It was a perfect chance for me to slip in without anyone noticing. I just hope it'll stay that way.

I hovered above the tallest tower of the castle. I was about to land quietly until I heard a...moan? Another one, and another... I felt my cheeks were burning up after I realized what is going on inside the room underneath the roof I was hovering.

“That sounded like Twilight,” Spike whispered close to my ear. “She must really be frustrated if she's groaning like that.”

Bless you Spike and your innocence. May you be like that until you're mature or until you're old enough to learn about the facts of life...

I shook my head as I thought and tried my best to ignore the continuous moaning... That is definitely Twilight, and she's on the tallest tower! And what's more, she's...busy...yeah, busy! If I were to attack now to strike her down, then all of this would end, right? I mean, what good is an army if their leader has fallen?

“Spike,” I whispered as I started building my courage, “prepare your spear.” He nodded and spat green fire on his claws.

I hovered away from the tower. Satisfied by the distance, and that I could no longer hear those sounds, I spun, and aimed myself at the window. I was about to fly towards that open window when Spike said something. “Wait,” he said, and I turned my head slightly to see him on the corner of my vision, “wouldn't there be any guards outside the room?”

I blinked... Good point. Whoever those unicorns are must be really skilled. I mean, they are protecting the princess after all. I sighed. I guess I should just burst through the window outside the room and knock the guards first while they're startled.

I hovered around the tower as I suddenly felt weird about flying. I shook my head. I noticed that I wobbled, and Spike quickly grabbed a hold on the armor to keep his balance. The head of his spear was dangerously close to my face.

“Gold, what are you doing?” he whispered as he took his spear away from my face.

“I have no idea,” I wobbled in mid-air as I saw the window I was going to break through. I heard a spark, and I blinked. I tilted my head down, and saw the gem on my armor was flickering and emitting sparky sounds. I don't think that is a good sign though... “Spike, I think we're running out of juice...”

“What does juice have to do wi—”

The gem quickly lost it glow, and I was immediately feeling the connection was losing. This is not good. I immediately threw the remaining mana that I felt on my head to glide towards the window in a very speedy process. I was quickly getting closer, but I was also falling quick, and before I knew it, my hooves managed to grab on the large window's stool while the rest of my body was dangling. Spike's spear fell down as he tightened his grip on my neck, slightly choking me in the process.

If Spike was choking me, then the window opening outward took all of the breath in my lungs as a unicorn head popped out and stared at me with great confusion.

He blinked, and I smiled awkwardly.

“Eheheh...” I gulped, a bit painful 'cause Spike was choking me, “yeah uh, I ran out of mana power.”

He blinked again before he arched an eyebrow. “Are you a new recruit or something? And where's your horn?”

Oh my... This is good. I could use my lying techniques here. “I'm an earth pony, and you must have heard about the earth pony escaping...our...kingdom, right?”

He nodded, and his eyes grew wide.

I quickly continued before he gets any ideas. “I'm not that pony, thank you very much!” He seemed to be taking it, but with high doubts. Time to add some frosting. “You know Mister Starfall, right?”

“Yes,” he replied with doubt. I adjusted my hold as he continued, “and he's a commander.” He shook his head slightly. “Sheesh, earth ponies... No respect whatsoever...”

I flashed him a sheepish smile. “Right, sorry. Anyway, he used me as a test to fly with the flying armors. But maybe he didn't add enough power to, you know, for the gem?”

He nodded slowly. “Yes, I can see that...”

Do you now? “Can you pull me up, please?”

He grinned. “I'd love to see you fall, but,” he flared his horn, and I felt myself being levitated up. He walked back as he pulled me inside, and puts me down on the floor rather harshly. I winced as the floor made contact to my hooves quicker than I anticipated. “Maybe it'll be more fun to see you fall again while you're test-flying.”

I chuckled as I stood up properly. I turned to my left, and his startled face said hello to a piercing green lance. I didn't dare to look. After Spike jumped off of my back, I went to the window and closed it. I shivered after I heard the sound of Spike's lance being pulled off from the unicorn's face. Ugh... I started to remove my armor and gently placed it on the ground.

And now, my attention is shifted quickly from the corpse we passed to the moaning sounds that was almost completely filtered by the large door in front of us. Sheesh... I shook my head to rid of the rising blood around my cheeks. The sooner we get this done, the better.

“So what's the plan?” Spike whispered, preparing himself to run inside with his spear.

Hm... Twilight needs to have someone there if she moans like that. It's kinda difficult to think with all of that noise. I wonder how it feels like. Wait, what? I shook my head. Concentrate, you nitwit! Kill now, and wonder how that feels like later! If there is a later... I shook my head again.

I took a breath, calmed my nerves and mind, and sighed. I stretched my hooves as I cracked my pony neck.

“Let's get this over with...” I licked my lips as I lifted my hoof to the door, “...Rainbow Dash style.” I whispered as I punched the door open, bursting it open, and clenched my teeth to concentrate on my mission instead of the—

Author's Note

According to the internet, the lower base of the window is called stool when on the outside. =/
English isn't really my first language, nor is it my second. It's my third. xD

Chapter 78 - Bound

—beam of green mana that was heading towards me. I gasped as a start and took an awkward step to the side on reflex to dodge it, which I barely did but I bumped on the door's frame. I slipped down on the floor. Broken glass... I guess the beam went through the window...

Spike quickly turned his head to see my condition, and seeing that I was okay, he quickly turned his attention back at the two unicorns on bed and dashed towards them, his spear at the ready.

The green unicorn stallion quickly removed himself from Twilight and casted a thick green barrier around them, protecting the two of them from Spike's attack.

Spike swayed and stabbed his lance, but it couldn't penetrate the barrier the stallion was casting. Spike didn't stop however, and continued his attacks as he grunted.

Twilight grinned evilly as she brought a hoof to wipe her sweating forehead. I groaned and rolled my eyes as I had another weird idea. She turned to me as I ran out of the room. I ignored the dead body lying on the center of the hallway, and grabbed my armor. I pulled it towards the room as fast as I can. When I got back, things were the same as how I left it. The only changes was that the two unicorns eyed me with confusion. I grinned at them both.

“Hey Spike!” I yelled as I tossed the armor flying towards him. He turned and gasped at the flying armor flying towards him. “Special delivery!”

Spike quickly got the idea, and so was Twilight. Spike grinned as he took a deep breath while Twilight's eyes went wide at the realization. Spike couldn't deliver stuff to the purple unicorn anymore, but...

Spike breathed out large fumes of green fire at the incoming armor, instantly turning it into green dusts. The dusts flew above the confused stallion, flashed faintly, and turned into the flying armor. He gasped before it stumbled over him.

The barrier died down, and Spike quickly took his chance at stabbing his lance at the unicorn stallion. Twilight jerked and jumped off of the bed. She was about to run towards the door, but I immediately closed it and stood beside it. She grunted and turned towards the window. Spike was hot on her tail.

The purple unicorn stopped at the room's only window. No way would she survive such a fall if she jumps. She spun around and immediately froze as Spike's lance was at a killing inch away from her throat.

I slowly walked towards them. I breathed in, and breathed out. Twilight saw me, and glared at me. I glared back. I am really lucky that she couldn't use her magic at the moment. I stopped beside Spike and tapped his shoulder with a hoof. He didn't bother looking at me, but he nodded, and quickly swung his lance like a baseball bat, and Twilight's head was the ball.

The purple unicorn groaned as she found herself lying on the floor. Her cheek was bleeding from the fierce force of Spike's lance. But just in case, I stood over her to pin her down. It felt...kinda awkward doing it, but...yeah whatever.

“Heh...” Twilight spoke, “so you're going to have fun with me before you finish me off?”

I growled. “Don't tempt me...” I whispered to myself as I eyed the baby dragon and nodded.

Spike nodded as well, and breathed out a fume of green fire in the air...

Princess Luna's bat-winged pegasi ponies gave me one of their spare dark-purple armor. After I slipped it on, I asked a few of the ponies inside the old castle. I then ran out of the castle and followed the direction of the ponies had given me. Spike was on my back. As soon as I stepped off of the drawing bridge and heading towards the forest, a blue bird started flying close to me and was...following me?

“Gold...” Spike began as I entered the forest, “if by crazy, you mean picking some stupid flower, then you're way beyond crazy! You're out of your mind!”

My only response was a chuckle. It didn't take me long before I found a small patch of blue flowers surrounded by thick trees in the Everfree Forest. I walked towards the field carefully. Reaching the area, I carefully scanned the flowers. I found a lone blue flower, and was safe to pick by the stem and avoiding the petals.

“Hold your breath,” I instructed Spike as I carefully grabbed the stem, and pulled it off of the ground. And as what was instructed by the ponies...the blue pollen flew off. The bird hovered in front of my face and flapped its tiny wings hard, blowing the pollen away from us. “Hey, thanks!”

The bird nodded as its reply as I spotted another blue flower that was relatively safe to pick. I carefully placed the flower on the ground and I pulled the other one. And another one, and another one, until I have gathered quite a few already.

I then turned to Spike. “Now, delivery time, Spike...”

Spike arched me an eyebrow. “I never thought that you're one of those romantic-types, Gold...” he shook his head in disgust as I stared flatly at him. He rolled his eyes. “I should be glad that you didn't ask me for advice on love.” I was about to tell him that this was not for love or anything, but he cut me off... “Fine. Who's the lucky mare for the bouquet of flowers?”

A single blue flower formed from the green fumes. Spike carefully grabbed the flower by the stem with a claw, while the other was covering his nose. “I can't believe you wanted me to send this and those flowers to myself just so you can bring it to Twilight!”

“Oh, how romantic of you, Gold Blitz,” she grinned as I carefully grabbed the flower while holding my breath.

I wanted to say something to her, but not with my mouth holding my breath. Aw well... They do say that action speaks louder than words, right? Right! I slammed the flower with my hoof to her nose and mouth, petal first, of course. I quickly ran towards the door, and Spike followed, while Twilight coughed and spat the flower.

I spun and saw Twilight's red face. Ooh...she's angry now. I chuckled as Spike slapped his face with a claw. He groaned. “This is stupid!” He then turned to me. “Why can't we just kill her already!?”

I patted his head. “There's a reason for that, Spike.” I eyed the fuming mare, who was cursing under her breath.

“I don't know why you're stalling like this, Gold Blitz.” She grinned as purple sparks flared out from her glowing horn. “But I'm feeling my magic returning to me once again!” She stood tall, victorious, making Spike take a step back in fear. Twilight grinned evilly as her horn flared more and more. “You had your chance! Now, farewell, Gold Blitz!”

I blinked and smiled, and gestured to Spike with a hoof. “What about him?”

Twilight actually turned confused and tilted her head to the side slightly. “Uh, yes, and him too!” I actually chuckled at that, making my two breathing companions arch me an eyebrow. Twilight shook her head while Spike decided to save the two of us by trying to open the door, but my rear was stopping him from opening it.

“Gold! Move! Let's get outta here!” Spike yelled as he pulled the door with his might.

The room was washed with purple intense light, and a loud mana-sound-hiss-thing echoed all around. Suddenly, the room was filled with a blinding purple flash, but only for a split of a second, and then, everything became normal and quiet.

Spike and Twilight stood still for the lack of something to happen. They both blinked. Spike recovered quicker than her, and he slowly walked beside me, eyeing the purple unicorn carefully. He then turned to face me after I chuckled. “Wh-what happened?”

I turned to him and patted his scaly little head. “Oh? I was just being kind to Twilight. That's al—oof!”

Twilight tackled me and pinned me to the floor. Her angry face stretched closer to my amused face, but she was then tackled and pinned down by Spike. Twilight flailed her limbs, throwing Spike off of her, but before she could get back to her hooves, I pinned her down.

“Spike,” I smiled at him, confusing him further, ”the blanket, if you may?”

“Get off of me! And what did you do to me!?” Twilight roared angrily as she tried to stand back up, but I guess, even though this pony body of mine is thinner than most stallions, I was heavy for her to get out of.

Spike nodded, although reluctant. Meh, I couldn't blame him. He shoved the dead unicorn body off of the bed and pulled the bloody cover and dragged it towards me. We then tied Twilight's hooves so she couldn't run away or whatever she wanted to do with those hooves of hers. We tied her limbs, from hooves to her legs, just to be safe. It was kinda awkward tying her rear hooves though...cause that's where...uh, never mind.

Anyway, she struggled to set herself free. She was really really angry.

Spike blinked, and then turned to me. “What happened to her horn?”

At that, Twilight froze, and then her stubby horn bent down in between her eyes. She eyed her horn in horror. She screamed.

I turned to Spike and smiled. “It's about time you noticed that.” I then grabbed a small piece of the blanket that we cut and started rolling it into a ball. The mare's loud scream is hurting my ears.

“WHAT DID YOU DO T—mmf!” I stuck the ball of cloth to her mouth. Sheesh, what a mouthful...

I returned my attention back to the purple dragon beside me. “I just thought that she was getting used to not being able to use magic, that I decided to give her a favor for bounding her from it.” I shrugged. Spike stared at me blankly. Twilight glared at me icily.

Author's Note

This chapter was supposed to be much darker and is suppose to be the last chapter but, I have no idea how that idea came inside my head.
I was originally planning that Gold Blitz and Spike get captured, leaving the fic with a dark ending...
Aw well. The story continues~

Chapter 79 - Ending The War

It's been two pony days now since Spike and I captured Twilight in the castle of Unici-whatever. I still can't believe that an earth pony such as myself could stop this damn-forsaken war the ponies were having. But here I am, standing on a wooden platform both the pegasi and the earth ponies made on the War Planes, in the middle of the kingdom of the unicorns and pegasi. I am facing east.

To my left were the army of the unicorns, and their mountain kingdom far away. Staring at them, I notice that most of them were staring elsewhere. Some hung their heads low in shame.

To my right were the army of the pegasi, and their cloud kingdom far away. They're pretty lively, of course, since they have won the war, despite the greatest odds.

In front of me were the earth ponies, both who were under the unicorns and pegasi. Most of them were smiling, simply glad that the war is now over, even Pinkie Pie. I guess I need to go and talk to her later. Some are hugging their beloved. Some are glad that the chaos has finally ended, while some have finally been reunited for a long time.

I looked back, and there I saw Spike, who was chatting with the Cutie Mark Crusaders. Beside them was Cloud Strike and a few of his soldiers. Beside him was Twilight Sparkle, who smiled at me and waved a hoof. I smiled back. Beside her was his brother-turned-female, Shining Armor, who was staring at the unicorns. Beside him was the unicorn-turned-pegasus Starfall, who is also staring at the unicorns while containing his anger.

I turned my gaze up in the heavens. The black clouds were already thin, and we could already see a few of the twinkling stars. The clouds on the horizon in every direction were still thick though, but I'm sure it'll thin out and fade in time.

I took a breath and sighed as I returned my gaze back on the crowd of earth ponies. I still don't understand why I needed to make a speech though. I mean, uh, never mind.

Aw well... Better get this over with. I tapped the wooden surface I was standing on with my hoof. Soon, the murmurs of the ponies started to die down, and their gazes were now focused on me. I gulped and felt my ears droop. And uh, I think my knees are shaking.

Okay, I don't think I can do this... I turned my head over my shoulder, and saw Spike and the CMC were giving me reassuring smiles. Spike even flashed me a thumbs up. Gah, how I miss having fingers. Cloud Strike nodded with a smile. Twilight chuckled at how tense I was feeling. Shining Armor simply smiled at me, while Starfall rolled his eyes in annoyance. Yeah, I still hate that unicorn, or pegasus, whatever...

Fine, I'd better make this quick then. I returned my attention to the crowd of earth ponies. They are on the center, because they are the ponies who were most affected by the war. I took a breath and sighed as I steeled myself.

As I introduced myself, and the ponies plus one dragon who were standing behind me, I remembered the events two days ago after Spike and I captured Twilight. Spike and I carried her on my back, and the little dragon tied her tightly on my back so she couldn't struggle off of my back. We met a few unicorns on our way back down, but Spike threatened them to kill her with his lance. We reached the castle grounds with a lot of unicorns tailing us and eyeing for an opportunity to save their princess, but Spike was too damn cautious. I then asked the unicorns to stop their attacks and return back to the castle. How they asked? I suggested that they'll use their flying armors to deliver the word. I then asked a few of the unicorns to fire mana beams to the heavens.

As Spike and the Cutie Mark Crusaders walked in front of me, I told the ponies around us about their contributions in the war. As I did so, I recalled the castle's gates were magically pushed open in front of me. On the other side were the Cutie Mark Crusaders, as what was planned. The signal for them to come here were those mana beams. Far beyond, I could already see the robots returning to base. To make sure that these unicorns won't be able to do anything on our backs, I asked Spike to summon the other blue flowers. I already told the CMC about it, so they took their distance. Twilight tried to say something, but none of us understood 'cause she still had a ball of cloth on her mouth.

As I called Cloud Strike to stand in front, I recalled the unicorns raised their eyebrows after I told them to sniff the blue flower lying on the ground. They hesitated at first but after Spike poke his lance on Twilight's throat, they quickly fell in line to take a sniff. As they do so, I suddenly remembered that the Poison Joke's symptoms were random. I was too darn lucky to have the magic-cancel-symptom-thingy to happen to Twilight. I'm quite sure that the unicorns will still be able to use magic, though not all of them, I assumed. Still, at least they'll be suffering from something so they'll not do something stupid. I asked Boulder not to participate though, and it gave me arching eyebrows from Spike and the CMC. I trust him well enough anyway.

As Shining Armor and Starfall stood in front, I recalled the pegasi ponies were already surrounding the unicorn's kingdom by the time all the unicorns, except for Boulder and Sweetie Belle, took a sniff at the blue flower. Cloud Strike landed beside me and asked if there was anything the pegasi could assist me. I nodded and turned to the unicorns as I told him to watch and enjoy the show. He arched me an eyebrow at that though. It took a few minutes before a few of the unicorns started having the symptoms. While the symptoms were pretty random and too many to remember, the only note-worthy were those who instantly lost all of their fur, those who became young colts and fillies again, Rarity's mane became green and thick that she couldn't move them off of her eyes to see where she was going. Shining Armor and a few males turned into females. Starfall lost his horn, but grew some wings. It really really scared him that he yelled and cursed in panic.

As Twilight Sparkle stood in front, I recalled the event where we were now inside the chaotic library of the unicorn's castle. We stared at Celestia for a while before she could finally talk to me.

“You have done well, my little pony.” Celestia's voice echoed inside my head.

I shrugged. I wonder if she can see me doing so. “It's no biggie. Though I didn't really did everything alone...” And then suddenly, I saw Celestia slowly appearing in front of me. I gasped a bit, and suddenly realizing what I was doing, I bowed. Although, I noticed, as I was bowing, I could see the hooves of the ponies behind me. I could still see the library's floor.

Celestia's wing reached my chin, and gently lifted my gaze back up to her. It's, kinda strange seeing her though, but as my eyes focused, she's...kinda transparent. An illusion? Magic hologram-thingy?

“It seems that the chaos energies inside of you have calmed the last time we have spoken.”

“I guess the voice inside my head's doing a good job at it.” I blinked. “Which reminds me... Um... Princess Celestia...”

“Who is he talking to?” I heard Scootaloo's rather loud voice from behind. Apparently, she and the others couldn't see Celestia.

“Hush, Scootaloo.” Sweetie Belle spoke, “I can sense a really really powerful energy. It...feels warm, and soothing... Strangely...”

Celestia chuckled at that. She then gave me a gentle smile. Huh, is she always this way? I mean, not that I'm complaining. “Could you tell your unicorn friend that I appreciate her comment.”

I tilted my head to the side for a few short while before turning my head over my shoulder. Spike and the CMC's attention quickly focused on me. Cloud Strike and a few pegasi stallions were more focused on securing the wrapped purple unicorn lying on the floor.

I smiled. “Hey Sweetie Belle,” she jumped a bit, “Princess Celestia said thanks.”

She blinked, and the others followed. She then hung her head to hide her slightly burning cheeks. She scratched her hoof with the other. “Um... uh... y-you're welcome?”

I smiled at them before returning my gaze back at the princess. “Anyway, princess, um... Is, is this,” I gestured to myself, “is this Discord's body?” I heard a few murmurs from behind me. I didn't bother though.

She nodded, her smile slowly fading. “I believe that it is. Though who's inside that body, aside from yourself, is not him.”

I blinked. I scratched my head in confusion. “Uh... So, this voice, this uh, spirit, is not him at all. Right?” She nodded with a weak smile. “I see... So, who's this spirit then?”

She flashed me a small smile, and turned her gaze from me to the ponies behind me. I followed her gaze's direction, and it landed on the purple bound unicorn who is struggling a bit to set herself free. “Wh-what? Really?” I quickly turned back to the princess. “This voice, this voice that's been helping me all this time is Twilight?” Another round of murmurs.

Celestia nodded, with a small gentle smile. “I wanted her back, but with my current situation, I couldn't do so. But with your help, I might be able to return her back to her original body.”

Ooh, another mission, directly from the princess! Wait, why am I excited anyway? Aw heck, whatever. I nodded eagerly. “Sure,” I mean, I don't think my luck has ran out yet anyway. I might as well use it to the limit! “Please tell me what I need to do, and I'll—we'll try our best to do it!”

I was about to turn and tell Spike and the others about a new mission, but Celestia's chuckle stopped me from doing so. “There is no need to trouble yourself with that, Gold Blitz.” Her horn began to flare gently and brightly. “You already delivered to me the five ancient relics that I need to perform the Soul Swapping spell.”

Soul...Swapping Spell?

“Could you hold Discord's rambling for a little bit? I promise to seal him away after I am thru with the spell.”

Discord... The real Discord talking inside my head? I shivered... “Uh...sure, I guess...”

The only things Discord was yelling about were some cursed words, but I didn't understand more than half of the total of what he said. Celestia used her magic to lock Discord away inside this body I'm using. She said something about trapping him inside his own chaos energy, and then layered with the harmonious energy. I still don't understand this whole mana and magic business. Aw well... At least I didn't turn into stone or anything. But there's still something I don't understand though... Fluttershy, who is among the crowd of the pegasi ponies, told me that Discord stopped Nightmare Moon after Celestia couldn't do it herself. How did his and Twilight's spirits swapped places anyway?

“And I hereby declare,” Twilight's loud voice snapped me back to reality, “that this war is officially over!”

Earth ponies and pegasi ponies cheered for joy. I stared at their happy faces for a while before I turned to the unicorns. Almost half of them are cheering as well, though not as lively as the other races. Maybe it's because of their Poison Joke issues. I still haven't found a solution to fix them though. Twilight as well, but meh, she's a studious unicorn. I'm sure she'll figure something out.

Twilight waved at the ponies for a while before turning to me with a big and thankful smile.

“T-Twilight?” Spike's voice reached my ears. I turned and found him standing beside me, and he was staring at the unicorn with a mix of doubt, confusion, and fear. “Is...is that really you?”

After Celestia sealed Discord away, I explained to everyone about what happened. The pegasi were hesitant to remove the bindings of Twilight at that time, but we've noticed a change in her after the Soul Swapping spell. Even how her eyes reflect the light had also changed to...a more friendlier type of, I dunno... Spike didn't really had the courage to talk to her though. Twilight wanted so to embrace him after she stood up, but I managed to let her understand his condition.

Twilight's smile was really really warm, and her eyes are watery. “Yes, Spike,” she wiped her teary eyes with a hoof as she sat down on the wooden platform. “It's me. I'm ba—”

Spike tackle-hugged her. Twilight was stunned momentarily, but after she recovered, she chuckled and returned the hug, rubbing the baby dragon's scaly head.

They said a few words, but the cheering was too loud for me to hear. It felt like a wonderful dream after all those nightmares. Seeing Twilight and Spike together reminded me of myself and my brother. Everything is really perfect now. The war is over. Families are reunited. Friendships are to be made. Snow is falling slo—snow?

I looked up. The moment I did, echoes of horses' cries echoed faintly. That faint noise was enough to slowly silence the ponies. The black clouds are wearing thin, yes but, above the thin black clouds was a dark-blue swirling cloud-like wisps, and as I squinted my eyes to get a better look, the swirling motions looked like horses from my human world.

“T-Twilight,” Spike spoke. I returned my gaze at them. They already broke their hug and were now staring at the snow. “W-what's going on?”

Twilight could only shake her head. “I have no idea, Spike...”

I gulped... Unfortunately...I do...

Author's Note

This was suppose to be two separate chapters, but meh, it's quicker this way.
I apologize for the lack of updates during the weekend. The keyboard of my PC back home wasn't in good condition for writing. The keys were too hard to press, and I'd rather not frustrate myself with that stupid keyboard. I'm buying a new one soon.

Chapter 80 - Windigo Storm

“Everyone!” I shouted before the murmurs would get louder. “Everyone, listen up!” That got everyone's attention. All eyes were on me now. I gulped. “Okay, uh... Go back to each of your homes and start making some fire to warm yourselves up! And oh, find some thick clothing to wear on, too!”

If I remember correctly, Pinkie Pie has been working under the unicorns for...ten years? Has the war been going on for ten long years? If that's the case, then does that mean that the thick black clouds were here for ten years as well? Were those black clouds the ponies' secret savior from the Windigos?

...is it my fault that Equestria's going to become a frozen wasteland?

A hoof on my shoulder broke my train of thought. I turned and saw Twilight was giving me a reassured smile.

“Hey,” she spoke as she brought her hoof back, “everything will be okay.”

I sighed. Typical Twilight... I stared at the ponies. They were slowly breaking away from the crowd now, and were heading towards north and south. I turned back to Twilight. She was studying the weird weather patterns above with a hoof on her chin.

“I've read about strange weather conditions,” she shook her head, “but I've never read anything about this strange snow. It's so...weird...” Eeyup, I nodded to myself, typical Twilight.

“Twilight,” I spoke, catching her gaze, “I think I know what's going on...” ...that is, if the show is accurate about this. Well, the show has been accurate enough about the Poison Joke and the smoke-snoring dragon. So what are the chances that friendship is the only solution to solve this problem?

Twilight actually smiled. “Oh?” she nodded, “do tell. I'd hate to have an early winter with a frozen setting sun not able to provide heat.”

...I'm starting to feel amused of how an egghead she talks. Anyway, I turned to the sky. “I think this is the work of the Windigos...”

“Windigos?” she echoed as she brought her studious gaze on the wooden floor with a hoof slowly rubbing her chin as she thought about it. Eeyup, this is definitely Twilight. “They sound familiar.” She returned her gaze on me and nodded with a determined smile. “Yeah, I think I've read about them before. I just need to freshen my memory at the library, cause right now, my brain is...ugh...” she shivered disgustingly, and I am pretty sure it's not from the chilly air. “...my brain is full of...lustful thoughts...” and she shivered again.

I snickered, earning myself a frown from the unicorn.

“Hey!” she blushed a bit, “just so you know that I've been able to control them ever since I got my body back!”

I...held my tongue. I don't think I'd want to get to her bad side, even if she couldn't use magic. That made me look at her dangling horn, and it looked like...never mind. I shook my head. Anyway, she's going to do some research inside her library? “Isn't the library, uh, you know...destroyed?”

She shook her head. “It's not totally destroyed. Sure, there are burnt books but I can clean them up and restore them to normal.”

But it'd still take her a while to find a solution if she couldn't find the right book. I turned and saw Spike was having a chat with the Cutie Mark Crusaders. Cloud Strike was having an awkward conversation with female Shining Armor and pegasus Starfall. Cloud Strike extended a wing. It looked like he was having a discussion about a pegasus' wings. I returned my gaze at Twilight.

“What were you thinking about?” she asked rather quickly.

I shrugged. “I just thought of giving you a heads-up about this snow.” I turned my gaze up, and my nose caught a snowflake. It melted into a small drop of water though... “I'm not really sure if this is accurate, but uh...my...shall we say, sources, about this world has been accurate,” I returned my gaze to her, “well, except about that war and all, but anyway,” I returned my attention at the sky, “the Windigos are spirits that uh, feed on hatred and fighting and, uh, yeah,” I turned back to her, “they'll keep getting stronger and chillier and snowier—” snowier? “—the more hatred they feed. The only way to get rid of them is through...” wow, it sounds so so childish now that I think about it. I sighed... “...friendship.”

“...friendship?” Twilight asked with an arched eyebrow, but shook her head. She then stared at me and smiled. “Well, if you say so.”

Wait... I blinked... “You believe me?”

She nodded. “Of course! You did a lot for us ponies already, so there's no reason for not believing you.”

That...actually made me smile. Though... “...but I think you also need to read about it in your books.” I nodded. “Books are more reliable sources of information, anyway.”

Twilight nodded. “Right, I'll do that. Though....” she stared off, “...what do mean by...” she returned her gaze on me, “...friendship?”

I blinked. I'm not sure if this is one of those typical Twilight moments, but meh. “By that I mean...hm...” I trailed off as my gaze slowly went to the four small figures talking to each other. They may have been through a lot of nightmare-ic hell but, the way they happily talk to each other shows that they're still little kids deep down.

Twilight followed my gaze, and smiled. We stared at them for a short while before she nodded. “I think I get what you mean now, Jay...” She then turned her gaze on me. “If the three races could only be...friends, with one another, then we could rid the Windigos away, right?”

I nodded, and then I felt a pang of guilt. My ears drooped.

Twilight tilted her head in confusion. “Why? What's the matter?”

I took a breath and sighed. “I should apologize, Twilight...”

She blinked. “For what?”

“I have a theory, which is pretty close to a fact. Anyway,” I turned to the heavens above, “I think I'm responsible for the Windigos invading Equestria...”

“Invading Eques...what now?”

I gazed back at her. “I think those thick black clouds were warding off the Windigos from the start.” I turned my gaze to the Smokey Mountains which was far far away. “But I got rid of the source of the black clouds, and now, the Win—”

A hoof on my shoulder stopped me. I turned and saw the purple unicorn's gentle smiling face. “Hey, if anything, it'll give us a reason to be united.” She removed her hoof on my shoulder as she turned her gaze towards her female brother. I followed her gaze. “That's what Princess Celestia and I have been working on for the past few years now.” She turned to me. “So, thank you.”

And then the unexpected happened... She kissed me on my cheek. Well, it was more like a peck, but still...! I was not expecting that, and my cheeks were burning hot now. What was worse, Spike and the CMC saw it, and they were smiling slyly at the two of us.

I turned to Twilight. She was blushing hard while looking away. I grinned, “I thought you said you had it under control.”

She actually gasped at that. She quickly turned to me and gave me a glare. “That wasn't my...! I mean! No! I wasn't—!”

I chuckled as I patted her head. Still, it felt really nice to have someone having feelings towards you. Not that I'm a hundred percent certain, but, yeah, I don't think I'm ready for a relationship... Human to human or pony to pony or human to pony. That last one felt really weird. How'd that work anyway?

“You know that I'm not really a pony, right?” I was about to let the silence reign to tell her that it was her turn to respond, but a stupid idea suddenly popped in my head. I faked a panicked look. “Wait, does this mean you like Discord?”

How her eyes grew in horror looked hilarious, but unfortunately, her hoof slapping my face was not. ...Ow...

Chapter 81 - Sharing Information

The entire land was now covered in a white layer of snow by the time the others and I have reached the Castle of Unicornia. I had to stay close to the group though, 'cause I'm quite certain that I'd be dead if I don't, judging from the killer glares of the unicorns were giving me. Though they do have a pretty good reason of doing so, but uh...

Anyway, we reached the castle's library uneventfully. The two poison-joked-transformed unicorn guards flared their horns to open the double doors of the library. As the chaotic interior flashed before us, Twilight immediately frowned. She then took a deep breath and sighed.

“Well,” she said as we went inside, “it could have been a lot worse...” she smiled weakly.

Cloud Strike, Shining Armor and Starfall stood near the door while Twilight, Spike and I kept walking towards the table near the other wall opposite of the door. While Spike and Twilight were staring at the chaotic room, I kept my gaze on Celestia's calm features.

I stopped on the very center of the room, while my other two companions kept walking forward slowly. I turned towards the window where Spike and the CMC went through during their rescue mission. Outside, I saw that the snow was still falling, but at least it wasn't a blizzard...yet... I saw a few pegasi ponies flying to and from the unicorn's territory though.

I heard Twilight's groaning voice of concentration. As I turned to see her, she already gasped. She then lifted a hoof to rub her head. “I forgot...” she spoke as she gave the baby dragon a weak smile, “...I couldn't use magic.”

I felt my ears droop. I guess I should let them know of an antidote. I opened my mouth, but nothing came out... I blinked. I don't even know how to cure it! I can't remember if the ingredients were ever mentioned from the show. The only thing I remember was a mud bath...or was it a bubble bath? I shook my head. I don't really like season one though, because it was too childish for my taste. I prefer season two. I think season three's still going though. The last episode I've seen was about Lightning Dust. Huh, I wonder...

I turned around and stared at the only real pegasus in the room. “Hey Cloud,” I caught the attention of the three ponies by the door instead, “do you know a pony named Lightning Dust?”

He raised an eyebrow. “Yes,” he nodded, a bit reluctant, “she's my wife.”

I blinked...twice. “Oh,” was the only thing I could manage to say at that revelation.

“Why do you ask?”

I simply shrugged. “No reason.” I was about to ask if she knows Rainbow Dash, but I held my tongue, though it didn't stop my mouth from opening to prepare the question. I closed them, but Cloud saw it.

He raised an eyebrow. “What is it?”

I only shook my head. “Nothing. Never mind.” And then another question. “What about Spitfire? And Soarin'?”

“They were sent to Cloudsdale to train the new recruits.” He shrugged while I blinked. Cloudsdale, huh? I wonder where it's located... “They should be receiving word about our victory here.”

“I don't remember us unicorns surrendering to you bird-brains,” Starfall spoke coldly, eyeing the pegasus. Cloud Strike sharply turned to him. “We simply declared for the war to be over, and that was simply it.”

“Enough of that, commander!” both Twilight and Shining said in unison, glaring at him.

Starfall took a step back in surprise, but recovered himself and nodded.

Cloud Strike felt like saying something, but decided against it as he remembered what Starfall called him. He grinned, earning himself a curious frown from Starfall. “I suppose you belong to the bird-brain category as well, eh Starfall?”

Starfall growled viciously and was about to march towards him, but Shining Armor stood in between them. Cloud Strike gave himself a laugh.

“I swear to the sun, when I get my horn back, I'll burn you alive!”

“We have said enough already, commander!” Shining's feminine voice boomed.

For a female pony, Shining's quite cute. Unfortunately, I still see him as a stallion.

...not that I want to do anything with ponies...!

I turned my attention back to Twilight, who was already picking a few books on the floor with Spike's assistance. I tilted my head to the side. “Shouldn't you be—” she stopped from picking a book from the ground and stared at me, “—calling some unicorn maids to clean this place up?” I looked around to emphasize my point.

Twilight tapped her lower lip with a hoof as she thought about it. Spike however, quickly liked the idea.

“Yeah, Gold's right! You're a princess, so you can just snap your hooves and—” snap her hooves? “—tell them to clean this place up!”

I arched an eyebrow as Twilight flashed an awkward smile and scratched her nape with a hoof. Typical Twilight. “I—I guess I could do that, but...” She picked up a book and brought it to the table. She then gestured with a hoof for me to get closer, so I did, as curiosity danced within me while Twilight started flipping a few pages. “I just found the book that I need,” she began as I stopped beside Spike, who was trying to climb up the table. I bit his tail and lifted him up.

“Thanks!” Spike said with a smile as I let his tail go.

“No problem,” I patted his head before turning to Twilight, who was still flipping through the book's pages. “So what're you looking for.”

She shook her head. “What and are shouldn't be turned into one word, but anyway,” I rolled my eyes as she stopped flipping the pages, “ah, this is it!” And then she started reading it while talking to the two of us. How does she do that? “Like you said, you wanted me to research about the Windigos to be sure, and I just found the book I needed for my research. Anyway, Windigos are—” both Spike and I lifted a hoof and claw to try and stop her, but she talked away anyway. I don't think any of us can stop her from talking about this kind of stuff. Anyway, I just wanted to point out that I already told her and Spike about the Windigos while we were on our way here. What she's telling us now is nothing new, which was a waste of...eight minutes of listening to the things we already know... “...that's it? But we already know all of those!”

“I know, right?” Spike replied lamely while Twilight began flipping through the pages again.

Twilight, after reaching the last page of the book, sighed as she closed the book. “Well,” she said as she stared at me, “I guess we should start breaking down the barriers that has always been separating us.” I blinked in confusion, making her roll her eyes. “I mean the pegasi and the unicorns.” Twilight then stared at the three ponies by the door. “Cloud Strike, was it?” she asked as I stepped to the side so she can see them properly. The pegasus quickly nodded. “May I ask of you to deliver a message to your rulers?”

“I don't see a problem with that.” Cloud Strike responded as he looked through the window. “The snow isn't that strong to hindrance flight anyway.”

“Why not make Spike deliver a message?” I suggested.

Twilight shook her head slightly with a small smile. “He can't deliver messages to ponies if he's never seen them before though.”

“Really?” I blinked as I turned to Spike, “then how did you sent me that message when I was back in my world?”

Spike simply shrugged. “Meh, I told you that I just sent it to you. I don't really know how it happened.”

“We should research on that later,” Twilight said with a smile before turning to Spike. “Anyway, Spike, take a letter.”

Spike smiled. “I can't believe how much I've missed you saying that, but uh...” he looked around, “...I don't have a quill and paper...”

Cloud Strike stepped up, catching our attention. “No need for a written message, your highness.”

Twilight nodded. “Well then, to the king of Pegasopolis. I would like to request an audience with you and your council to discuss a harmonious future that we: earth ponies, unicorns, and pegasi, will be building. I'd like to...”

Twilight's voice trailed off as a soothing sensation filled my every essence... I blinked as I heard Celestia's voice echoing inside me.

‘Gold Blitz...’

‘Princess?’

‘You have done so many things, that I believe it's time for you to rest. Don't you think so?’

‘Uh... I...guess?’

Celestia chuckled. ‘Since you are carrying with you the key to return to your home, it'll be simple for me to send you back, if you so desire.’

Home. I honestly haven't thought about going back home for quite a while. I was too busy trying to help Spike have a nice world for him to live. But now that I think about it, I think I've already stayed here long enough.

A poke on my shoulder broke my train of thought. I turned and saw Spike with a sad frown. Behind him was Twilight, who was also looking at me with the same expression. I quickly removed my gaze on them. I turned to the door, but nobody was there.

“You're...going home, huh?” Twilight's sad voice reached my ears. I closed my eyes and sighed through my nostrils as I nodded. “I see.”

I turned back to them. “Sorry Twilight,” I flashed them both a weak smile, “you too, Spike. But, I have a family to get back to, and uh...you know...”

Spike formed a small smile, and Twilight soon followed.

“Hey,” the baby dragon began, “it's okay. It's not like we haven't done this before.” He chuckled weakly, and sniffed. “Though, I'm really going to miss you.”

“Hey,” I rubbed his head with a hoof, “at least you have Twilight to annoy.”

“I'm right here, you know,” Twilight frowned, and Spike and I chuckled. She rolled her eyes and smiled. “I'm going to miss you too, you know...”

“Yeah,” I nodded awkwardly. I better say it now though. “Um, Twilight...” I shook my head, “I'm...sorry, but I don't thi—” Twilight's hoof gently tapped my mouth.

She wore a painful smile. “I know, I know.” She shrugged after returning her hoof on the ground. “But you can't stop a mare from having a crush towards another pony. It just...happens. And...yeah, never mind.” She blushed as she shook her head. “We'll handle things from here,” she nodded with a smile, “you've done quite a lot for us ponies. I think it's time for us to stand on our own and fix this problem together.”

I nodded, and Spike chimed in soon after, “but you will visit us when things are okay, right?”

I nodded, “yeah, why not?” I then turned to Celestia, “but it's not up to me. I can't come here all by myself.”

“Oh,” Spike frowned.

I then smiled as I turned to him. “But hey, we can still write messages to each other.”

Spike instantly brightened up. “You're right!”

And...we just stared at each other for a short while before Spike threw his claws around me for a hug. I was about to wrap my hooves around him to return the hug when Twilight joined in. Aw well. A group hug couldn't hurt.

“By the way...” I said after we broke the hug, “if my sources are also correct, there's a zebra named Zecora that can help you make a cure for the Poison Joke infection-thingy.”

“Oh,” Twilight said in surprise as she shifted her gaze on her hanging horn. “Right, I almost forgot about that.” She chuckled and nodded, “thanks for the info. When the unicorns and pegasi could be united, I'll ask if they can send an expedition to Zebrica to look for...Zecora, right?” I nodded. “Thanks for everything, Jay.”

“Jay?” Spike asked as he turned to the unicorn.

I smiled. “That's my real name, Spike.” I turned back to Twilight, “and oh, maybe you can ask for help from the alicorn of love.”

“Alicorn of love?” Twilight and Spike asked in unison.

Huh, weird that they don't know who Cadence is. Wait, has the Crystal Empire ever appeared in this world? “There's an empire in the Frozen North where the crystal ponies live, and is ruled over by the alicorn of love, Princess Cadence. Her expertise on love could maybe help the unicorns and the pegasi from uniting.”

...the only thing needed was the chirping crickets, of the cry of the goat, to accompany the faces these two were giving me.

“I'll...” Twilight began, after slowly recovering, “...send an expedition to the north to look for this, uh, Crystal Empire...”

“Wow, you sure know a lot coming from another world.” Spike chuckled awkwardly.

I nodded with a smile. “I hope that, when I do get back, things here are peaceful.” I then stared at Celestia's calm face through her transparent dark-blue gem-cage. I frowned. I wonder if...nah, I'm sure Twilight can find a way to rescue Princesses Celestia and Luna. I closed my eyes after sensing that familiar calm feeling from Celestia's magic.

I heard Twilight's and Spike's voices saying goodbye. I wanted to say my farewell as well, but, I found it impossible to move my pony body... I feel like my soul's being pulled away, and it's still a pretty scary feeling that I wanted to stop it. Unfortunately, I couldn't...

Chapter 82 - For The Princess

Thunder roared through the sky as the crimson daylight suddenly turned into the darkness of nights in one blink. The moon glowed brightly as it flew towards the burning sun in the heavens. The clash of horns lit the evening sky back to daylight, where the celestial sun burned brightly at its peak.

The chaotic scene was accompanied by the sun princess' cries of reaching through the cursed body of her beloved sister, but her efforts were completely reaching no goals as another squad of pegasi ponies were struck down to the ground by series of lightning bolts leaping out from the darkened heavens as the stars replaced the sun's position in the heavenly sky.

Unicorns were running in to position below the celestial beings. After the moon struck a powerful kick, the sun princess was thrown back and crashed on the earthy ground of the green pasture. As the sky was slowly being covered by dark-purple clouds, the unicorns flared their horns and fired series of mana beams at the laughing moon.

A moon-white barrier formed around the nightmare, dissolving the beams upon contact. She grinned evilly, and laughed like a maniac as murderous lightning bolts danced from the heavens, striking down to the ground. The unicorns shouted in pain, but as quick as the lightning bolts struck them, so were their lives have left them.

Another squad of pegasi ponies flew quietly above her. The nightmare is aware of their presence, but grinned as she eyed the new unicorns arriving in the scene. As the heavens brighten to give way to the morning sun, the unicorns fired fierce beams of mana. However, the nightmare simply hovered away, and the beams struck the pegasi ponies instead.

She laughed as she let loose another series of lightning, but a bright celestial beam struck her on the head, completely losing her ability of flight. Celestia flew and flared her horn to get rid of the nightmare-ish clouds hovering the day-lit sky.

Celestia gasped as she felt a strong magical presence behind her. She spun and flared her horn brighter than the sun, and the shadow of the nightmare screamed in pain. The shadow screeched as it slowly began to fade, but then Celestia heard a flap. She turned her head, and behind her she saw her sister — the alicorn she desired to save. However, Luna's eyes were glowing black, and grinned as she flared her horn and fired a dark-purple beam towards the gasping sun princess.

“NO!!!” Twilight shouted from the balcony of Celestia's room. The scene was far away, yet the eruptions of powerful waves of magic reached even the Castle of Unicornia. She cried as she eyed the falling sun princess from the air. As the sky quickly changed to night, mana beams flew towards the nightmare.

Beside the crying purple unicorn was a snickering serpentine dragon. He lifted a limb to his eye to wipe an escaping tear as he laughed. “I've never seen Celestia so pathetic!” And he laughed again as the sun broke the evening sky instantly. He then bent down so his head could be of the same level of his unicorn companion. He wrapped a limb around the crying unicorn's neck. “Come now, Twi-twi, I don't remember ever inviting you to watch a drama theater.” He snickered. “This is a comedy, so come on!” He gleefully lifted the unicorn with both his limbs, and then another pair appeared hovering in the air, and stretched Twilight's lips into a smiling curve. “Now there's a face I wanted to see!”

Twilight slapped the floating limbs away and covered her eyes as she sobbed.

Discord frowned at her before he put her back down with a frustrated grunt. “Some date you turned out to be! You can't even enjoy watching one of my favorite shows!”

“This is horrible...” Twilight sobbed, making Discord roll his eyes.

“You know, you're really boring...” Discord said lamely as he eyed the unicorn who's slowly getting back on her hooves and stared at the battle scene.

“Oh, princess...” she hung her head low as she sobbed and sat on the ground, “...I'm sorry... I only wish I could be strong enough to help you...”

Discord arched an eyebrow at the unicorn, and then he turned to the scene, where Celestia was once again falling towards the ground with great speed. He turned back to the sobbing unicorn, and then back at the scene. He repeated the process as his frown slowly becoming into a mischievous grin.

He snapped his fingers excitingly. “Aha! I've got it!” He then grabbed the unicorn again and pulled her back to her four hooves. He lifted her gaze at him. “I think I have the most wonderful idea that will definitely add more enjoyment to what we're having now!” He lifted himself up and brought a limb to his chin as his smile turned into a thinking frown. “Hm... Well, to me at least. Since you—” he pointed at the unicorn “—will be playing a part on this.”

“What are you talking about, Discord?” Twilight asked as she wiped her tears off of her eyes.

“I finally know why you're not enjoying this!” Discord gleefully exclaimed the revelation, making the unicorn throw herself into a sitting position. Discord flashed brightly and appeared beside the unicorn in her height. He wrapped a limb around her neck. “Listen, you want to help your oh so good and loving princess right?” Twilight nodded lamely and sniffed. “And I want to watch a more comedic show! And I know how to do just that!” He removed his limb from her neck and snaked his lips close to her ear. “We...swap...places...!”

Discord giggled like a foal as Twilight eyed him with a tearful glare.

“Just think about it! I'll let you use my body so you can save this, uh, princess—” he air-quoted “—of yours, and I'll use your body to watch a good show! Good idea, right?” he wiggled his eyes.

Twilight glared at him some more, but the air suddenly carried Celestia's painful screams to her ears. She broke her glare and gasped as she turned to the scene. Celestia was weakly struggling to set herself free from the nightmare cloud that was covering her, while Nightmare Moon laughed maniacally. Twilight considered Discord's offer. She turned to him, and saw him with a big toothy grin with an outstretched limb, waiting for her hoof to shake it.

She turned back to the scene, and then at the outstretched limb. She slowly lifted a hoof, and eyed it as it was slowly lifted from the ground.

Discord grunted annoyingly and grabbed her lifting hoof. “Do you want to save your princess or not?” Twilight gasped as he lifted her to his face level. “I'm getting bored here, you know.”

Twilight looked down, still unsure of what to do. “If...if I agree to this...will...” she then eyed him, “we'll swap back after, right?”

Discord annoyingly rolled his eyes. “Who's the one with the power to swap bodies, huh?” He blinked twice and his expression became blank and let the unicorn go, dropping her on the ground. “Hm...” he brought a limb on his chin, deep in thought. “Not swapping bodies... It's more like we're just swapping souls, but meh,” he shrugged, “I don't see the difference.” He then glared at the trembling unicorn. “Make up your mind already! The show's about to end and I haven't enjoyed it to the fullest yet! Do you realize how frustrating that is?”

Twilight bit her lower lip as she looked away. She's not really sure if—

“And yes, we can swap back,” Discord added lamely as he sat down on a chair that just appeared out of thin air.

Chapter 83 - Rude Awakening

I felt like I was lying flat on my back against a metal bed, which is annoyingly vibrating. I groaned as I felt the few pieces of my consciousness were stirring me back to wakefulness. Was this bed of mine moving? I shot my eyes open as I felt that I was falling, but before I could think of what to do, my back hit the ground... Ow...

I lifted my...hand, yeah, hand, and rubbed my head as I let out a wakeful yawn. I took a few breaths before I lifted myself up on...my two feet. Man, it feels kinda weird to be standing on two feet. I've been a pony for quite some time. I think I need a few moments to get used to being human once again.

I looked around, and the first thing that I've noticed was that I'm inside a large military camp of some sort. There were strange box-like machines on the edges of the tent. A metal table is on the center, probably the very same one I was lying on earlier. On one side were wooden tables that were full of folders, papers, and other office-related stuff...even a laptop on screensaver mode.

Man, things are pretty darn loud. Where am I anyway? Wait...gun shots... A lot of them! What the hell's going on!?

I turned around, and saw the huge tent-door was open, and it was a bit gloomy outside. A few people were passing by, and they seemed to be in a rush. What is going on? I slowly walked towards the opening, but I stopped for no reason at all. I decided to play it safe for a while. I looked around, and the tent had some small plastic windows. I approached one and took a peek outside. Military men were rushing towards the same direction, and were holding heavy firearms. I gulped.

What I saw were a few more military-like tents, lightposts, a few vehicles, and people running back and forth. I walked to the opposite wall and took a peek through the window, and I couldn't help myself from gasping at what I saw. There was a huge dimensional hole a few inches above the ground, which is meters away from where I am. What took my breath away was that thing that was standing in front of the hole.

It was a giant timberwolf, and damn that thing is huge! It growled viciously as it waved its paws to get rid of the military which were firing their weaponry at the beast.

“Sir!” I jumped in surprise after hearing a very powerful voice. I turned and saw a soldier rushing towards me. “What the hell are you still doing here!?” He then started dragging me out of the tent. “This place isn't safe! You have to leave, now!”

“No need to shout at my ear!” I rubbed my ear as soon as we got out from the tent.

The air was then filled with a mighty roar. The two of us turned our attention at the scene, and the timberwolf slammed both its paws on the ground, creating a shockwave of air and earth, throwing the soldiers away from the monstrosity.

“What the hell is going on!?” I shouted as he ran back and pulled me along.

“No clue!” he replied back as rocks and dust rained down on us.

More vehicles have arrived as soon as we reached the parked vehicles. There was a helicopter from far away, heading straight towards us. These vehicles looked familiar somehow... I turned, and I saw Mount Comet.

We stopped near a police car that just arrived. The police driver opened his door and walked outside.

“Take him away from here, now!” the soldier shouted.

The police immediately nodded his head and went back inside. If it were any other day, I'd laugh, but something is really making me worry. The soldier opened the passenger's seat and pushed me inside, but before he could close the door, I held it with a hand.

“Where's my brother!? And Claire!? And the rest of the people who were here!?” I shouted.

“They've already evacuated! Now go!” He removed my hand from the door and slammed the door close.

The siren of the police car roared as the police drove back towards town. I looked back and saw the timberwolf shaking its head viciously with a military car in between its jaws.

“What the hell were you doing back there, Jay?” the police officer asked as he stirred near the edge of the road to make room for the incoming military forces.

I turned to him and instantly recognized him. He was one of a few of my high school friends. He used to be skinny, but he gained some weight during college, and regularly went to the gym in the city. We used to see each other during our college days, but after we graduated, he was a police-in-training in our home town while I was working in the city.

I'd like to ask how he was doing, but from the current situation... “Mike! My bro, he—”

“He's safe in Sun Ford, but not for long...”

“What do you mean by that!?”

“We watched a lot of sci-fi films, right? So I'm sure you're familiar with the terms dimension holes and portals?” He asked me. We used to hang out a lot back in the day watching the latest movies while eating junk food if we had nothing better to do. I nodded in panic. “Well, hate to break this to you, but a lot of those portals have appeared around the island, summoning weird creatures in the process!”

“What?”

“The residents around the island are being evacuated by air. If we can get back to town in time, you may be able to catch up with your brother. And oh,” he glanced at me and smiled slyly, “you fished out a pretty hot chick.”

I glared annoyingly. “I can't believe you can still make a joke out of all of these!” I suppose he'll never change...

He chuckled, and concentrated on the road as the town appeared over the hill. Chinooks were taking off and landing from and on the center of the town.

“Oh, and Jay,” Mike spoke, catching my attention, “when things settle down, can we go and watch a movie some time?” He glanced at me and flashed me a small smile. “I really miss the old times, pal. And hey, I'm still a bit bitter 'cause you didn't show up at my wedding day.”

Oh...yeah... I nodded. “Sorry about that, and sure. At your place?”

“As usual.”

I smiled at him. I really miss hanging out with my friends. But anyway, I looked ahead. There are far more important matters for us to worry about. Like, what the hell is going on!?

Author's Note

...don't ask...
...I seriously have no idea where this came from...
...so don't ask...

Chapter 84 - Snake Snack

The road was bumpy and slippery at the same time, yet it didn't slow the police car that was heading towards the town of Sun Ford. It started to rain mere moments ago, and it was accompanied by strong winds and fierce roars of thunder from lightning. The stormy air was mixed with rain, the siren of the police car, the warning siren of the town, blades of the choppers slicing through the air, the wheels of the heavy military vehicles, bullets soaring in the air, and growls of different types of monstrosity that came out of nowhere.

Inside the police car were two human beings. Both were looking seriously grim as their eyes were locked on the approaching town. The one on the driver's seat was a police officer, in-training, and an old friend of the one who's seated on the passenger seat.

“Do you have the slightest idea of what's going on, Jay?” asked the officer.

“Slightly, yeah...” Jay nodded. “That wolf—that giant wolf back at Mount Comet is a timberwolf.”

The police officer arched an eyebrow, but didn't remove his focus on the road. “A timberwolf? Quite an ugly name for a Pokémon...”

Both of them suddenly remembered their high school days. They were huge fans of the cartoon called Pokémon that they have spent almost all of their free time playing cards, gameboy, and watching movies, and anything related to the cartoon that they have even started inventing their own original characters and giving them names by mixing two words, or three, depending on the situation.

“That wasn't a Pokémon, Mike...” Jay shook his head slightly. “Though now that I think about it, it does so—”

Up ahead was a road block of turn-over vehicles. Mike suddenly stepped on the brakes, making the car skid on the slippery road and making his passenger shout out of fear. Thankfully, the car skidded to a stop, barely a meter from the closest of the cars. The two started to calm themselves down as they watched the soldiers taking cover behind the wreckage and firing their heavy weaponry at the right side of the road.

As soon as the two have calmed themselves down, they quickly saw one of the soldiers who was signalling them to leave, but before they could hold the door, huge and sharp silver-colored fangs pierced through the door, almost stabbing the two of them in the process. They were then lifted up, and the two held their breath as they saw the many angry heads of a giant serpentine-like monster.

“Where the hell is Hercules when you need him...” Mike muttered as they found themselves up-side-down.

Outside, the soldiers were shouting commands at each other, while the others were firing their weapons at the giant hydra that buried its body under the earth, leaving only its four heads above the surface, flailing and biting at the tiny insects that was attacking it.

One of its four heads was erecting straight up with an up-side-down police car in between its jaws. The siren was already dying when the hydra head started munching it a bit as it turned the vehicle's head directly towards its mouth.

Mike, sensing what's going to happen, stomped on the gas as soon as he turned it to reverse. The wheels rolled on the watery and slippery surface of the creature's mouth.

“God-damn it, do something!” Jay shouted after barely dodging the fangs that came through above the vehicle, leaving holes from its wake.

Mike was shaking, and taking fast breaths. He was afraid for his life, but he's trying to collect himself. After all, he's a police officer. But even so, he was still in training, and none of his instructors nor any of his books gave him instructions on how to deal with fictional hydras that suddenly came to life. He shakily loaded his pistol, and held it with both arms, and kept it that way, for he has no clue what to aim for.

A bazooka's shell flew and exploded on one of the four necks of the hydra, sending a powerful shock wave on all its four heads. The vehicle shook viciously, shaking its two passengers along with it. Mike accidentally fired his weapon, and the bullet went through the windshield and hit the hydra's inside cheek. It hissed as its long snaky tongue started licking the small wound. Then, it started to consume the vehicle whole.

“Not good not good not good not good—” Jay repeated as Mike fired again and again, achieving nothing but going further inside the creature's mouth, and soon, to their doom.

“Gah!” Mike shouted as he fired and fired again until he ran out of ammo. He hastily opened the drawer in front of the passenger's seat and grabbed some bullets, but from his panic and haste, dropped all of them and rolled away from them as they were completely inside the mouth.

Jay managed to grab a hold of one bullet, but what good would it do? He was about to accept his doom when the car's headlights shined on the creature's uvula. The two saw it, and blinked.

“Do snakes normally have those?” Mike asked in pure curiosity.

Jay blinked once again. “Well, this thing isn't really a snake...” He hands him the bullet without removing his eyes off of the dangling muscle.

Mike nodded as he took the bullet without looking at it and unconsciously loaded it to his gun. He shrugged. “Yeah,” he aimed with a vicious smile, “good point.”

A gunshot echoed, silencing everything. The soldiers stood their ground, their weapons all aimed at the giant creature that suddenly stopped moving. An eye on all of the heads twitched, and then the erected head coiled down with teary eyes, and suddenly sprang up like a jack-in-a-box as it tearfully coughed the vehicle flying in the air, filling the silence with the fearsome shouts of the two people inside.

The flying police vehicle landed on the ground, and rolled and rolled as the two men still have yet to conclude their shouting as their world spun and spun as it rolled on the muddy earth.

Soon, the rolling car slowed, until it stopped up-side-down on the ground, and left the two passengers inside completely stunned and shocked, as they stared at up-side-down town of Sun Ford. Once again, their ears was filled with rain, growls and gunshots, and the occasional explosions. The car's headlights flickered, and the engine died.

Jay blinked as he finally found his breath. “Well...” he began, still stunned from all that just happened, “...good thing we're on seat belts?”

Mike was able to nod before the airbag suddenly inflated.

Author's Note

It gave me a smile, seeing the total number of words. xD

Chapter 85 - Sun Ford Town

Two soldiers accompanied me towards the center of town where the chinooks are located. Well, they were pretty much dragging me there through the rain though.

We ran pass my parents' house, and I couldn't stop myself from looking at it. I tried my best to stop. “Wait, wait! My parents—!” I shouted as I started to struggle off of their grip on me. “I can't leave them behind!”

“Sir,” one of the soldiers spoke, “I'm pretty sure that everyone has evacuated to the center of town already!”

I managed to slip off of their grip. I turned and was about to run towards my home when yellow-glowy-eyed timberwolves appeared out of alleyways. I gulped and turned back to the soldiers. “Okay, I'm convinced. Let's go!”

My panic shouts made the wolves growl fiercely as they started running towards us. Several soldiers near the area open-fired at the fast-approaching wolves.

The town square is a huge playground, where it is now turned into the military's base camp. On the center of the playground, the last of the chinook helicopter took off just as the soldiers and myself arrived in the area. They shouted something, but I doubted that any of the persons on that chopper would hear us.

Even with this darkness, I was able to see my two brothers were on it. Xilfer, my younger brother, was beside the chopper's window, and he took a quick glance down, and our eyes locked. I saw him gasp and started to call the attention of the others. But, from the looks of things, I doubt the chopper would land back.

Things were getting louder and louder around me, but I disregarded those things as I smiled and waved my hand at Xilfer, Kronz and Claire. Suddenly, I saw Kronz gave something to Xilfer. Xilfer then stood and ran towards the open door. Several soldiers tried to pull him back, and they did after he threw something towards me. Strangely, it felt rather familiar, seeing my younger brother throwing that ball of clothing at me. It...reminded me of our younger years when we used to play catch all the time. Everything became black as my eyes only concentrated on the ball of clothing soaring through the air. I saw it's descending, so I started running towards it, extending my hand to grab it, which I did as I skidded to a stop.

I didn't bother to look at it. A smile crept on my lips as I returned my gaze back to smile at my brother, but the chinook was already too far away. I sighed as that warm familiar feeling within me faded as everything around me began to take over my senses... I closed my eyes and took a deep breath.

I opened my eyes, and looked at what was happening all around me. The playground consisted of three or four large tents with lights. Soldiers were running as they are carrying and delivering ammo to those who are firing at the timberwolves that were trying to come near us. From the distance, I saw the small tip of Mount Comet, almost completely blocked by the growling hydra. I saw one of the tents, and inside were a few more civilians, crying out of fear. I recognize most of them, yet I don't know any of them.

Things are looking really grim, but, I smiled. So, there was still a chance for me to connect and to reach out for my younger brother. I have thought that it was hopeless, from all the things he's been doing to get himself far away from us. I blinked to hold back that traitorous tear from running down my face. No time for that though. I took a breath and exhaled. Hm... Now how the heck am I to survive this?

I suddenly remembered the ball of cloth that my bro tossed to me. They won't throw something this meaningless, and with the current situation. I ran towards the tent with the other civilians, and after I went inside, a female soldier tossed me a towel. I caught it, but simply hung it on my shoulder as I unwrapped the ball of cloth. Inside was my phone. I blinked as my other hand went to my pocket. Yep, my phone's not inside my pocket.

Two messages receiv—eh, scratch that, now I have three messages. I opened them and the latest one was from my younger brother. Oh? He still has my number? It's been years since he last texted me or replied to any of my messages. I couldn't help but smile at that. I opened the text message, and my smile turned into a frown.

“Kronz said that you need to know what's going on. He said that the portals came from those dudes that took you away from us. Things aren't looking good bro. Get the hell outta there. I don't know why these dudes in uniform aren't flying back to get you.”

Another new message... This time, it's from Claire...

“Jay, thank goodness you're okay! But, we told the soldiers to fly back, but they wouldn't listen! Oh Jay, please be careful there!”

And another new message. This time, it's from Xilfer through his Gmail account.

“Big bro, those portals came from the machines at the base of Mount Comet. Claire and I told her father to stop, but he wouldn't listen! Tell the army to shut down those machines! Shut. Down! Don't destroy them!”

Yeah...uh... I don't think that giant timberwolf likes that idea... These two other messages are from...Spike? I think I'll read the first message that he sent me.

“Hey Gold! Or, Jay! Whatever. Listen, the unicorns and pegasi agreed to help each other to fight the Windigos from freezing the land! Ain't that awesome! It's because of you that things back here are getting okay! Thanks Gold! Uh, Jay. Man, I need to get use to your real name...”

I was about to open the other message when two soldiers came inside, almost bumping into me.

“Everyone to the chopper, now!” One of them shouted.

I blinked before turning my attention outside, and there, I saw another chinook was about to land on the landing field. I was then pushed out by a soldier, and he grabbed my hand and dragged me towards the chopper. I took a quick look back, and saw the other civilians were following close. But as I returned my gaze ahead, the air was quickly filled by shocked gasps and shouts, and a huge and fierce wave of flames covered the entire helicopter.

We stopped as soon as it happened, and the soldiers quickly pushed us away from it. I think I know what's going to happen, so I quickly turned around an—I flew in the air after a powerful explosion erupted from the helicopter, and I landed on the ground with a grunt. Ugh... What the hel—I gasped after a powerful roar echoed from behind, and followed by a thud after something landed behind me.

I quickly crawled forward as I tried to get back to my feet. After I did, I turned and...saw a mighty dragon towering over the burning chopper behind it. It growled as it scanned its new environment. As it did so, I slowly took a few steps back, but I stopped after I noticed that it's one eye was close. Something about this dragon was familiar, and studying it's color from the light of the fire behind it, its scales were dark-green.

“Xelene—!” I shouted, and it quickly stared back at me.

I was about to say something else but then bullets started flying towards her...

Chapter 86 - Dimensional Darkness

Thick gray blankets of clouds covered the sky. Snow is gently falling from the clouds, covering every inch of land and leaves on the earth. But despite the cold weather condition, ponies of the three races flew and marched the lands as they continued living their new peaceful lives. But the three races wore thick clothing for protection. It felt weird, both seeing and wearing such clothing instead of heavy metal armor that they have used to. Still, it was a great change that everypony were willing to accept, for it carried a message that the war has indeed been over.

The unicorns and the pegasi are still a bit sour at each other, however, with the efforts of the rulers of the races, they have started to mingle and trade. It was a good sign, and a good start.

Inside the library of Unicornia, a purple studious unicorn mare was seated on her chair, reading a book lying on her wooden desk. With the rise of a new peaceful era, one would expect to see the ruler of Unicornia to be smiling and looking forward to history's greatest chapter, but there she was, all of her focus was on that book. She has been researching about something as of late, and let his brother, Shining Armor, to act as the substitute ruler.

“Twilight,” a purple baby dragon entered the library through the already open double doors. He didn't receive any replies from the mare, so he took it as his cue to walk towards her.

The library has been completely cleaned and books were already on their respectful shelves, thanks to the efforts of the maids of the castle. Twilight wouldn't have to ask them to clean the library if she still was able to use magic.

The baby dragon reached the other end of the table, opposite to Twilight. Spike stared at Princess Celestia, who was behind the purple unicorn. He then turned his stare on the unicorn. “Twilight?” his worried voice matched his worried look. He has yet to receive a response from the mare though, as she flipped a page and resumed to her reading. “Twilight?” But still no answer. The purple dragon groaned, feeling a bit annoyed, and walked around the table until he was beside the unicorn. He poked her on her cutie mark.

Twilight gasped and sharply turned her head towards him. “Oh, it's just you Spike,” she sighed in relief and relaxed herself. She then flashed a hopeful smile at the baby dragon. “Has Jay replied to the letter you sent him?” She then turned her head and rested her eyes on the window of the library, where beside it was a stone sculpture of a calm-looking earth stallion. She then returned her gaze back at the purple baby dragon, expecting an answer from him, but after studying his worried look, her smile vanished. Her ears drooped. “Not yet, huh?”

Spike nodded. “I'm beginning to worry, Twilight... What if something bad has happened to him? Worse...what if—” he cut himself off by putting both his claws on his mouth.

“Nothing is going to happen to him,” she assured him, although she could use some as well, for she, too, is worried. She turned her attention on the other window, opposite to where the statue was standing. A few feet from the window was a quietly swirling black oval-shaped vortex.

Spike turned his attention at the portal, and remembered that it appeared almost a day after Gold Blitz turned into a statue. He and Twilight, and a few other ponies, dared taking a look on the center of the vortex, but all they have seen was another window. A window that was built quite differently from pony knowledge. Through the window was a town of some sort, and it was under a very gloomy sky.

The other ponies were convinced that it was a strange portal to another world where their world was still covered in the dark thunderous clouds. Never would they want to return to the dark ages ever again. Even though the gray clouds weren't giving them the chance to see the sky, it was still better than a black blanket of clouds, they told themselves.

But Twilight and Spike had an idea of what the other end of the portal was. It was a theory, yet it was a strong one. It was Jay's world, and it made the two of them worry of him.

Twilight has then asked Spike to send him a letter: asking him how he was doing, but they are yet to receive an answer. The wait made their worries grew and grew. Twilight then decided to do some research and see if she can find anything about the phenomenon. She has also instructed the pegasi squadron to fly around the lands and search for other portals. And indeed there were many, inside and outside their borders.

“Nothing's going to happen to him...” Twilight slightly shook her head.

Twilight then returned her attention to her book, and Spike hopped on her back to take a look. It was better, he thought, than doing nothing but to wait. Unknown to them, on the other side of the portal, a black figure slowly passed by the window, leaving sharp spikes on the ground from its wake...

“Xelene!” shouted a young man at the mighty dragon, who stared at him with its one good eye. “It's me! Gold Blitz!” He waved his hands at the dragon, not realizing the armed soldiers were already in position to fire. They are yet to do so, as they noticed that the dragon was calmer than the previous creatures that appeared. Minus the chinook it burned down behind it, however.

The dragon's good eye narrowed, trying to make sense of things. It has suddenly found itself in this strange world, and it has no memory of ever reaching this far after locating a peaceful mountain to sleep. It bent its body slowly towards the man, making him take a step back and the soldiers adjust their aims. As the dragon descent its body, it growled lowly in different pitches, as if trying to communicate.

The man shook his head after the growl died down and he was now a few feet away from the dragon's head, which was almost half his height. “If you're trying to say something, then uh, I'm sorry, but I can't understand you... But Xelene... That really is you, right?” the man asked through trembling lips and shaky knees.

The dragon stared at the strange two-legged creature for a length of time, disregarding all the other otherworldly noises her sharp hearing was receiving. It was strange for her to understand the man's speech, and was even stranger that he couldn't understand her. And the strangest was that he knew who she is, and claims that he was that pony she fought inside the cave not too long ago.

Jay has been staring at those draconic eyes, which worsen his fear of suddenly getting eaten in one sweep. Though his attention now shifted to the few chinook helicopters hovering in the sky. He saw a few soldiers inside were aiming their weapons at the dragon. His eyes went wide at that, and then looked around and saw so many soldiers were at the ready.

Panic filled his mind at the thought of what might happen if they start to shoot her down. “No don't—!” he began, but a vicious earth shake cut him off and made him stumble on the went grassy ground. Several soldiers stumbled down on the ground as well. From the distance, a black crystalized spike rose from the ground, and was then followed by another series of spikes that slowly started spreading and rising from the ground.

Selaro, a neighboring town which was kilometers away from Sun Ford, was now filled with black spikes that broke every houses and structures from its wake. From the tallest spike that rose diagonally from the ground was a black four-legged entity that held an evil grin as it's green glowing eyes stared at its new land to reign on.

Chapter 87 - Security Chief

Dark mists, darker than the dark stormy clouds hanging above the earth, started to ooze out of every tall spikes that rose up diagonally from the ground in the town of Selaro. On the tallest, a dark four-legged figure laughed evilly, it's horse-like voice echoing through the air, and even reaching the neighboring towns on the island.

Far away, in the town of Sun Ford, the military forces were busy dealing with the monsters running around in town. Helicopters recently arrived, bringing down a huge metallic cage from the mainland that will be used to contain the will-be captured creatures. A group of helicopters brought one on the center of the town, meters away from the calm yet curious dark-green dragon.

“We saw on television the things rising up from Selaro Town! Why the hell is Sombra there!?”

Jay read his newly received text message from his youngest brother. He'll have to deal with his brother's choice of words later. He took a breath to calm himself down. It was rough to convince the military that the dragon will not bring harm, however, they do want it to be inside the large metallic cage. Xelene, however, didn't like it, and Jay as well.

The soldiers had no time to argue. If they can't bring the calm dragon inside, then they'll have to deal with the others who aren't as calm as that giant scaly winged lizard.

A chinook helicopter landed on the base camp, and who came out was an important-looking person that Jay recognized as the chief of national security of their region. He, like any other people who was in power on the government, was fat-looking, around in his 40's, semi-bald, a mustache and a beard, and was wearing a white long-sleeved polo and black jeans. Jay has seem him a couple of times on the media, but his name always escapes him.

The chief, as soon as he stepped on the grassy ground, froze in fear after seeing how close and real the dragon was, who was staring calmly at him with her one good eye. A young woman, who seemed to be in her 20's, stood beside him and opened an umbrella over them to repel the rainwater. Soldiers then escorted him, and took the woman's umbrella. The chief snapped back to his senses and then he was escorted carefully towards Jay, who was currently standing under the slightly-opened wing of the dragon for shelter.

“A-are you the one who commands this dragon?” the chief asked as soon as they reached him, his knees shaking yet he tried to calm himself down, but failing.

Xelene growled lowly, but Jay tapped her scaly foot, calming her down.

“She can understand you, you know,” Jay said before shaking his head slightly. “And no, I don't command this dragon. She's just a friend.” The chief opened his mouth to ask something, but Jay immediately cut him off. “Long story, so don't ask.” And even if he did, Jay had no intention of explaining everything to people like him. “Name's Jagold, by the way.” Jay said as he extends a hand.

“Ah, yes!” The chief shook his hand, and Jay noticed how cold and shaky his hand was. “I am Chief of Security Robertorico Adam Niefora.”

Ah, Jay thought, no wonder his name always escapes me... “I'll just stick with sir, to make things simple...”

His young female companion chuckled, only to silence herself after the chief flashed her a glare. She mouthed the words ‘sorry’, though I shivered after she winked at me when the chief returned his attention at me. I then felt my phone vibrating in my pocket, but I disregarded it for a while, since the chief was talking to me.

“We could use a man like you to help us tame these creatures.”

“Eh?”

The chief's head moved, trying to turn to look at Xelene, who was staring at the humans standing under her wing, but he couldn't collect enough courage to do so.

“Uh, right...” he coughed to clear his throat. “I got the impression that you're an extraordinary guy for taming th—”

Xelene growled again, cutting him off and making him yelp in fear. He bent down with both hands on his head, mumbling something. His female companion sighed while Jay rolled his eyes with an amused smile.

“I told you, she's just a friend.” Jay shook his head slightly. “I didn't tame her or anything, and before you go any further, no, and I mean no, I couldn't tame any of the monsters running around town!”

“Not just this town,” the female spoke, “the whole island is infested by these weird...creatures.” She then kicked the old chief lightly in annoyance, probably a signal to man up and stand up. She didn't accomplish anything though... She sighed in annoyance. “Anyway, my name is Raziel,” she smiled.

“Uh huh...” was Jay's only response. He admitted to himself that she looked rather cute and quite attractive, but... “Sorry, but you're not my type...” he smiled awkwardly, contrasting her saddened frown.

Raziel shook her head slightly as the chief slowly stood back up after a few of the soldiers calmed him down. “I wasn't planning on hitting you.”

Sure you weren't...

“Okay, so lemme get this straight,” the chief said as he dusted some invisible dusts off of him. He then straightened himself and stared at me with angry eyes. “I came all the way here just to talk to some guy who I was told could control these freaks and now that I'm here, all I get is a skinny dude who can't even tame a mother-fu—!”

Xelene was about to growl viciously, and Jay was about to punch him in the face, but the two of them were startled after a powerful and feminine palm slapped him on his face, the mighty sound echoing all around, almost instantly stopping all activity around the vicinity.

Raziel huffed in annoyance as she rubbed her palm with her other arm. “That attitude of yours is the reason why mom left us!”

The chief's shocked expression immediately shifted to anger. He sharply turned to face her, his one arm grabbed her by the throat and his other closed shut to punch her. His powerful punch flew towards her scared face, but stopped mere inches away after they heard a snapping sound.

The two of them turned to Jay, who held his phone, covering his one eye while staring at the newly captured photo with a bored look on his face. “Violence against women.” He shrugged as he quickly put his phone back in his pocket, avoiding the fast hand of the chief. He took a step back. “Not to mention your very own child.”

“Give me that phone this instant or—!”

Xelene growled viciously, startling everyone except for Jay, making the soldiers drop their umbrellas. The dragon then doved her head towards the yelping fat man, and bit his polo on his back, and lifted him up, his flailing feet ten feet above the ground.

The soldiers around quickly grabbed their weapons and aimed them at the dragon. Jay's eyes shrunk after realizing what was going to happen, but Raziel then spoke up.

“Put those down this instant!” she shouted at the soldiers around them. “He's my father and I'm willing to throw him inside this dragon's stomach when I want to!”

“Why you traitorous little fu—!”

“Zip it, dad!” she glared icily at him, making the fat man flinch, “I've had it with you and your stupid ways of brainwashing the people all around you!” She turned away from him, and blinked several times to stop her tears from flowing, which she failed. “Mom was right... I shouldn't have stayed here with you... I was wrong to believe that there was something good left within you...”

Jay felt sorry for her. He wanted to pat her shoulder or something, but decided against it. Everyone might get the wrong idea. And besides, a soldier was already calming her down.

“Raziel, I...” the chief spoke, his features dropped after a heavy anvil of realization was dropped from the heavens to him, but his daughter cut him off.

“...I don't want to hear it!”

Xelene then gently put the chief down, and looked at Jay with curious eyes.

Jay stared back, and shrugged. Meh, many people have stories in their lives anyway. Jay thought to himself as he eyed Raziel's father hanging his head low, feeling ashamed or whatever. Ain't like I'm the only one on the spotlight... He thought as he walked beside the chief. “Hey uh, sorry, but...” Jay looked around, seeing and hearing the ongoing chaos, and the growth of number of spikes rising from afar. “...I think I know of a way to stop all of these.”

The chief looked up to him with sad eyes while Jay was looking for his brother's message in his inbox, ignoring his newly received message from Claire and an unopened message from Spike.

“And oh,” Jay spoke after he found the message, “I'll only delete that photo if you and your daughter are in good terms.”

But Jay cursed himself from the inside after he those words left him. He never liked the people in the government, and so he has no idea why he's trying to help the chief be a better man, though now that he thought about it, maybe it's for a good cause.

The chief nodded sadly, with a sad smile across his face, which confused Jay. “Heh, sounds only fair.” He then took a breath and straightened himself up before facing him properly. “All right,” he nodded as Raziel slightly turned her head to see him on the corner of her misty eyes. “Let me hear it.”

Jay blinked. “Hear what?”

The chief rolled his eyes. “Your plan of stopping all of this...”

“Oh, right!” Jay exclaimed and opened the message his brother have sent him.

Chapter 88 - Darkness Spreading

“Yes, the machines!” a soldier shouted on the microphone as several others were also shouting commands with their own microphones as they are seated on a table full of computers inside the military's tent they have called their command center. The soldier, after sensing that he's going to receive a reply, adjusted his headphones on his ears. He nodded once or twice before removing his headphones and turned over his shoulder, where the chief of security, his daughter, and Jay were standing, eagerly waiting for information. “I'm sorry, sir,” the soldier shook his head slightly, “but the machines near Mount Comet has been completely destroyed by that giant wooden wolf not too long ago.”

“Tsk,” Jay grunted as he chewed on an apple. I knew it'll be destroyed... He then took his phone while the chief thanked the soldier.

“What should we do now?” Raziel, the chief's daughter, asked after she turned to Jay, who was texting his youngest brother about the information they just received.

“For starters,” Jay replied after swallowing and while typing on his phone, “you need to get outta here.” He then pressed the send button, but it failed, for he wasn't receiving any signal. “Tsk, darn it...” He took another bite on the apple he was holding with his other hand while sending the message again.

“Jagold is right,” the chief said suddenly, but his daughter ignored him, “you should go back to the city. I'll handle things here.”

At that, Raziel spun to face him with a surprised expression written all over her face while Jay cursed under his breath for another failed attempt of sending his text message.

“Y-you can't be serious!” Raziel exclaimed while Jay bothered one of the soldiers on the computer.

The chief smiled weakly at his daughter while putting his palm on her shoulder. “H-hey now, the people need me here.”

“B-but—”

“Hush now,” the chief gently interrupted her, “this is my job, after all.” He then removed his hand from her shoulder as he turned towards one of the soldiers who was standing near the exit of the tent. “You there,” one of them stood tall on attention, “prepare a chopper.”

The soldier saluted and he went out.

“Dad, I—” Raziel spoke, still not believing what she was hearing from her father, “—no, I can't leave you here!”

The chief took a deep breath and sighed through his nostrils. He then eyed his daughter will a sad yet gentle smile. His daughter's outburst earlier made him open his eyes, and he saw himself—he saw how cowardly and stupid he has become. If there's some way for him to change for the better, then forcing his daughter to come here was the first mistake he'll need to fix.

Jay has finished typing his brother's email address through the computer keyboard. Grabbing the mouse, he dragged the cursor and clicked on the send button. Less than three seconds later, the email was sent. Jay smiled, but he frowned as quick as his smile has appeared. Things are looking pretty serious, and he has no idea how he's going to fix it. Worse, he now has no idea how to help to fix everything.

“Sir!” one of the soldiers on the computers exclaimed. He quickly removed his headset and stood. He spun to face the others in the tent, his panic clouded his vision from spotting his commanding officer or the chief of national security. “We've received reports of our men suddenly...” he took a breath, “...our men in Selaro were no longer responsive!”

A large yet frowning soldier took a few steps towards the reporting soldier, his uniform clearly different from the rest. He is around his 40's, white mustache and beard matching his old-white hair, almost completely covered by his beret.

“Details, private!” he spoke with a dark and cold voice.

“Y-yes sir!” the soldier almost yelped in response, not expecting the high-ranking officer to be almost beside him. “Initial findings was that many of our men went through the black mists and they simply stood without moving.” He swallowed a lump in his throat. “Not only our men, sir, but also those monsters and ordinary animals that were within reach of the mist! A few of our men have already retreated from the town!”

While Jay was reading his newly-received email from his brother, he was also listening to the news the soldier brought up, and he cursed under his breath. But at least his youngest brother, in his email, has reminded him of what Sombra was capable of. Jay, after rereading the email, stood tall and faced everyone.

“Okay—!” Jay exclaimed, unknowingly cutting the high-ranking officer who was about to give a command. “So, uh, those mists are coming from a p—horse-like monster named Sombra.”

“Sombra?” Raziel echoed with a low voice, finding the name quite familiar.

“Sombra has the power to uh...” he went back to the monitor screen, and reading aloud the content of his brother's email. “...blah blah blah, okay here! Sombra has the power to manipulate the thoughts of living beings, making them show their greatest fears in their minds, while unknown to them that they're already moving under Sombra's control!” Is this information canon or fan-made? Jay shook his head.

“How do we stop this Somber then?” the commander asked while scratching his chin.

How in the world am I to explain to them that Sombra can only be defeated by the light of the Crystal Ponies and the Crystal Heart!? Jay thought to himself while rubbing his forehead. His train of thought however, was interrupted by another soldier on the computers.

“Sir! We've received reports that the mists are quickly spreading towards the bridge to the mainland!”

“What!?” the commander exclaimed, turning his attention at the soldier. “Send word to lift the bridge!”

“B-but sir!” the soldier spoke in doubt, whether he should just follow orders or speak his mind out about the obvious. He swallowed a lump as he decided to take the latter. “Aren't the mists...air-borne?”

“If this Somber can control that mist, and if it is air-borne, then why would it go to the bridge, like you have reported, if it could just fly there in the air?” He allowed a few seconds to let his words sink into the mind of everyone in the tent. “Now, raise the bridge!” He shouted, making the soldier rush to do what he was told. “Let's just hope it's not water-borne as well...” he mumbled with a low voice.

While Jay admitted that the commander was right, he asked his brother about it anyway. A few more seconds later, he received his reply.

“I'm not sure. But I do think Sombra can mix himself with his own mist. At least, according to the show, he was. Though his mists are still on land. It wasn't told whether he nor his mists were able to travel by air or water. I doubt the air though, but not sure about the water. I'll do some research, and try to ask Hasbro or Faust herself.”

“Sir—!” spoke a soldier who just came inside the tent. He then saluted at the chief, who returned the gesture. “A chopper is ready for take-off. I apologize for the delay. The, uh, dragon, took its time examining the chopper.”

The chief nodded while the high-ranking officer asked Jay how to defeat Somber. As the chief faced his daughter, who was looking away from him, Jay scratched his head, having no idea how to explain the the officer that his information are all coming from a little girl show.

“Raziel,” the chief spoke, making his daughter cringe slightly. “Time for you to go.” He nodded as soon as he saw his daughter was giving him a side-glance. “Don't worry. When I get back, I'll take you and Cynthia to the beach,” and he finished it with a smile.

Raziel stared at the ground as she bit her lip, and soon, she slowly nodded her head. She wanted to hug him, but she couldn't. Not yet. She sighed, nodded her understanding, and slowly walked towards the soldier that will escort her to the chopper. Before she could step out from the tent, however, she turned and stared at her father for a while.

Raziel, after taking a breath, glared at him. “You better get back. Or else—!” She flashed him a weak smile, contrasting her father's confused frown, and then she walked out of the tent, escorted by the soldier, shielding her from the rain with an umbrella.

“Give me a moment...” Jay said while reading Spike's second message.

“Make it quick, kid,” the officer said. “We're running out of time.”

“I know that!” Jay snarled while replying to Spike's message, which only contained questions of his well-being.

“Spike, I'm kinda in a pretty darn big mess right now. If the Crystal Kingdom is empty, could you ask Twilight to send another squadron of pegasi there and retrieve the Crystal Heart at the top of the Crystal Castle?”

I mean, seriously, Jay thought after he pressed the send button on his phone, the heart was on top of the castle all along? He shook his head slightly, not paying attention to how long the sending message animation was taking. So...now what? The machines that were suppose to close the portals are already destroyed... Even if Spike and the others could retrieve the heart, how are we suppose to close it so we humans couldn't waltz into their world...?

Message sending failed. It was the message written on Jay's phone, and he cursed under his breath. He was about to press the resend button when the letters on his phone's screen jumbled and scrambled, until everything became black. Jay blinked in confusion, and after several seconds, two purple lines appeared on the screen, and opened like eyes, revealing red and green evil eyes, with purple mists that emanate from them.

Jay yelped in fear, throwing his phone forward in the process while taking a few steps away from his phone, making those around him eye him in curiosity.

“Sir—!” one of the soldiers yelled, who just went inside the tent, “the mists are heading straight towards this town!”

Chapter 89 - Evacuate

A soldier was running towards the tent that they've called their command center. “Sir—!” he shouted as soon as he got inside, his panic and need for breath put aside for only a moment to deliver a troublesome information, “the mists are heading straight towards this town!”

Everyone inside the tent gasped, and as they did so, the sounds of bullets and rain from outside were now mixed with cries of panic and sounds of panic footsteps.

“Estimated time of arrival!” the high-ranking officer shouted to the soldier while the others were barely containing their panic.

“L-l-less than f-five minutes, sir!” the soldier replied.

The chief of security quickly grabbed his daughter's arm. “Raziel—!”

“Everyone to the choppers! Now!” the high-ranking officer shouted as he spun to a soldier in the computers. “The bridge!?”

“A-already being lifted, sir!” the soldier replied hastily as Jay dashed outside the tent.

Darn it! Jay thought as he got outside, almost bumping into a retreating soldier. In the middle of the playground, he saw Xelene was already flapping her wings in panic. “Xelene!” he shouted as he ran towards her, but his voice died in the air full of other noises.

Pilots on each chopper were already firing up the engine, on the ready for lift-off, while soldiers were already getting inside. Xelene roared as her feet finally were off the ground, and her wings flapping strong and hard. She was already high up in the air when Jay reached the spot where she was standing merely moments ago.

“Tsk,” Jay spun, scanning the area. His gaze fell on the chief of security and his daughter, who were already inside a helicopter. He wanted to run towards them but he was too far away, and their chopper was already starting to take off. Okay, this is not good! He scanned his surroundings again, seeing that every chopper in the area were already in the air, leaving unfortunate soldiers and civilians on the ground.

A group of people cried in fear, and Jay turned to where the cries were coming from, and there, beyond the sea of houses, wrecked or intact, was a threateningly large wave of dark mists, swallowing everything in its path quicker than Jay had expected.

The group of people then yelped in surprise and fear as timberwolves ran pass them. Jay noticed their scared expressions as they quickly ran pass him as well. He then heard a dragon's faint roar from behind him, but his panic only allowed him to stare at the wave of dark mists that has already reached the edge of the playground.

As quick as the mists reached the edge of the playground, it quickly moved forward, swallowing the panicking people who were trying to run away from it. Jay flinched, hearing their cries of hopelessness, and took a step back, lifting both his hands to cover his head from the fast-approaching sea of darkness.

He heard a mighty flap from behind him, and he yelped in surprise after a powerful grip surrounded his chest and lower body, rainwater was almost hurting him, and the air was running past him, and his feet already left the ground. A scaly claw grabbed him just before the sea of darkness could swallow him, and his gaze of shock were staring down on the ground. What was once a town full of green grasses and brown houses were now but a sea of rippling darkness.

He looked up as soon as his captor was turning away from the towering spikes far ahead. Jay saw Xelene for a brief moment before he moved his gaze on the towering spikes in Selaro. Just before Xelene has completely turned her back from the said town, Jay saw a glimpse of Sombra, jumping off from the tallest spike and being enveloped by dark flames, looking like a black fireball heading straight down to the black misty earth.

Jay then stared ahead where Xelene was heading, and he sighed, calming himself. He did not know what would have happened to him if the dark mist would get to him, and he won't be planning on trying it any time soon. He looked down, and noticed a huge bulge of darkness on the ground directly below them, and seemingly following them. What is more, it was growing taller, as if a balloon getting bigger, and about to explode.

Explode... Jay thought, and gasped after realizing what would probably happen. He sharply turned his head up. “Xelene! Below us!” Jay shouted with all his might.

Xelene turned her head down to try and look at him, slowing her pace a bit. But the instant she did, the huge bulge of darkness below them exploded quietly, sending thick strings of darkness towards them. Xelene yelped in pain after two of those strings passed through her left wing, making her cringe from the incredible pain, although she was not physically hurt.

Her good eye slightly glowed green, but clenched it shut and gritted her teeth as a few more thick strings struck her all around. She lost her flight and was now heading straight down towards the ground.

“No! No!” Jay shouted, punching and pounding his arms on the claws that were still holding him. “Xelene! Focus! Focus!”

The strings faded in the air as the ground became dangerously close, and Jay shielded himself with both hands as he braced himself for impact, but he suddenly found out that he was standing on something. Blinking, he noticed that he was on the ground, and saw his shadow on it. Slowly, he dropped his hands to his side, as he blinked, staring at his own shadow. He took a breath, and sighed. Wh-what just happened? he thought as he moved his gaze ahead of him, and gasped as he saw the gate of his home. He faintly heard the chirping of the birds somewhere. He blinked, and looked up at the sky. What greeted him was the morning sky, barely any clouds rolling above.

Chapter 90 - Dark Island

On the far edge of the island, timberwolves spotted a portal back to their home world, a door to their safety. They cried in joy and hope, as they rushed towards it. One of them who was ahead, as soon as within range, jumped towards the portal, but the timberwolf crashed its body on the portal, as if the door to their home was closed shut. The body of the timberwolf scattered into pieces of enchanted wood. Another jumped, and another, and another, until a huge pile of wood covered the portal. A few of the timberwolves started digging their way through the sea of wood of their own kind. Finally, the path was cleared, and soon, the dark mist swallowed them from behind.

Far away, a few of the soldiers were on the sandy shore, running away from the fast-approaching mist behind them. One of them, daring his luck, moved to the salt water as far away as he could. Turning, he saw a few parts of the mist followed him, but stopped just on the edge of the water. Glad that he was safe, he turned towards the others to shout his discovery, but stopped himself after seeing the whole beach was already covered by the black mist.

Cars were swallowed by the mist that were left on the mighty bridge that connected the island to the mainland. On the very center of the lengthy double leaf bascule bridge, the leafs were already lifted upward, disabling the mist from reaching the mainland.

A dark shadow suddenly crawled up on the tallest spike that rose from Selaro Town. Reaching the peak, the shadow formed itself into a four-legged creature. Opening its green eyes, the creature stared at its masterpiece with an evil grin. It turned and stared at the raised bridge from a great distance. Its plan on expanding has been put to a halt, but it shook its head. No matter. It could start its new kingdom here on this island, and then...

From the distance, the island was now filled with a dark rippling sea of mist, and slowly spikes were rising from the mist, towering even the tallest skyscrapers. The people in the mainland stared at the island in fear and hopelessness. Reporters were standing near the bridge, where behind them was the dark island. Their live broadcast are aired all around the region, for viewers far away from the scene are able to see what was going on.

A mighty fist hit a wooden table, leaving a nasty crack from its wake. Xilfer punched the table in anger again, while Kronz, although worried, was trying his best to search for a solution through his laptop. Claire rose up from her sofa, and walked towards the window. She wore a worried expression as she kept on redialing Jay's phone number as she stared at the dark island far far away.

The playground was suppose to be a source of joy and happiness for young souls. It was why the town of Sun Ford built a very large one in the middle of the town. However, the ground for such happiness was now but an empty land of darkness and fear. Rain and thunder echoed in the quiet air, accompanied by a faint vibrating noise of a cellular phone on a computer table. The phone's lights were flashing as it vibrated, moving a few inches closer to the edge, until it fell on the grassy ground, beside a discarded apple.

Chapter 91 - Gaining Access

Chapter 91 - Gaining Access

Kronz has been too focused on his laptop that he no longer payed any mind of what Xilfer and Claire were doing. He was thankful that he wouldn't be staying in a retreat house, or some shelter the army planned to put the civilians. Now, he wanted to help his eldest brother. He is not aware of his current condition, and has no plan of worrying about it as he is far too focused on reestablishing a dimensional connection from the data he has gathered from his brother's phone and from the machines Claire's father had in Mount Comet.

He suddenly recalled releasing the tiny timberwolves in the metallic box just to escape her father and two armed men. He was thankful that his eldest brother was skinny and light, else he and Claire would have trouble running away from them. Unfortunately, on the ground, he and Claire were forced to leave Jay behind if they wished to escape her father's men who were waiting for them. They managed to escape, and planned on going back to the town and call for help.

He has been sending messages to his brother both through his email and his phone, but he has yet to receive a response. His latest message has been sent for quite a while now. Instead of waiting however, he decided to try and contact Spike. Sending the purple dragon a message would have been easy like a breeze with his data, but he then found out about those portals were somehow closed. Simple solution, open the passage to deliver the message, he thought to himself. The difficult part was to open it.

He couldn't believe that dimensional portals could be controlled by computers. Though he has a basic theory that maybe a portal machine is installed in the island, and has the ability to open and close portals? If his theory is correct, then all he needs to do is to crack the codes to hack it.

He also thought that maybe it's controlled remotely from somewhere. So, if people that he doesn't know can access it remotely, then so can he. Lines of commands are needed to be sent through the air, and he already traced where the machine is possibly installed when he was still in Mount Comet. He just didn't had the time back then to look for it.

So far, he found out that whoever those scientists are, they are using the machine remotely, while his eldest brother could somehow send a message directly through the portal without going to the machine. That is why he wanted to hack the machine, so he could gain access to the other side of the portal. How it works, he didn't know, but he's eager to find out when given the chance.

He felt like he has already wasted a few hours just by trying to crack the complicated code in his screen. He may be knowledgeable to computers and hacking, but he has never encountered such complicated lines of codes before.

Frustrated, he was about to slam his fingers angrily on his keyboard when he stopped as an idea struck him. If he can't hack the machine, then maybe he can hack the computers that are remotely controlling the machine. An evil grin crept in his lips as he began his work, unknown to him that Xilfer already left the apartment room and Claire was still standing by the window, staring at the island far far away.

Chapter 92 - Lost Soul

A man in his early 60's removed his fingers on the buttons. He sighed as he slowly sat down on his comfortable office seat. Above the collection of buttons were three large monitor screens, standing side-by-side. He sighed yet again as a door behind him opened, and an old maid came in, holding a cup of steaming coffee.

“Your coffee, sir,” she said, her voice was old and bored. She then stared at the table in the middle of the small room. “Shall I leave it on the table, sir?” Her eyes are already poor, but from the lights of the monitor screen in front of her master, she could see his nodding head. “As you wish,” she said. She walked towards the finely-crafted table, and carefully placed the cup on it. “I'll be leaving now sir,” but all she received was a sigh. She bowed her head before she went out of the room and gently closed the door behind her.

Minutes passed before he decided to stand up from his seat. He turned and walked towards the table, where his coffee was waiting for him. Slowly, he held the handle and lifted the cup. Inching closer to his mouth to take a sip, he suddenly remembered seeing Claire on Mount Comet. The cup was only an inch away from his mouth that let out a heavy sigh, as he brought the cup back down on the table.

The hand he used to grab the cup of coffee, he moved it to his pocket to pull out his phone. He never liked the new models of phones, and even those new ones that the companies call ‘smartphones’. Browsing through his phone book, he found his daughter's number, and hit the call button.

What he did back there in Mount Comet wasn't very fatherly, he thought to himself, over and over again. He suddenly remembered the day she disappeared. That was a few weeks after his wife died. He found her letter in her room, where her deepest sorrow and anger was written. Claire wrote how he was now focusing more on his work rather than his two beloved daughters. She wrote how frustrated she was for trying to reach out to him, but he would just either ignore her or scold her for wasting his precious time.

He let out another sigh as he moved his phone from his ear to his line of sight. ‘Line busy’ was displayed on his screen. He tried again, while running in his mind of how to ask for her forgiveness. The line was still busy, and he sighed yet again.

He decided to check on his youngest daughter instead. This year, she's already eight. Somehow, a small smile crept on his lips as he approached the only door in the room. Grabbing the handle, he twisted the knob and pulled open the door. Before he went out however, he turned to look at his computer screens, which were displaying various information of his scientists' work, and on one of the monitor, a video image is seen, displaying the current status of the island - now surrounded by dark mists.

After he closed the door behind him, he slowly walked through the long room where his scientists are busy analyzing data after data on their monitors, while others are conducting experiments in another room. He disregarded the noises as he walked towards the other door ahead of him.

Reaching the handle of the door, he twisted the knob and pulled the door open, and closed it behind him. He sighed, after the noises finally have died down. He was now in a rather spacious basement, where it was transformed into a miniature food court. Several scientists were eating while discussing whatever with each other. He didn't pay them any mind as he started walking towards the stairs that would lead him to the ground floor of his grand mansion.

As he walked on the stairs, he thought back of how all of this began. It all started after he and his deceased wife started working on a project of advance science that would benefit both humanity and their dying world. Everything was always about work, and work, and work, until his wife bore their second child.

As she grew, she was fascinated by the cartoon of ponies, and always commented on how wonderful it would have been if their world would be the same. He and his wife instantly got curious about the possibility of another world. Stupid as it sound, they began their little project, until they have actually stumbled upon information that there was a weird distortion of space and time in the far east of the region. He, his wife, and a group of scientists went to the reported location and began their study. If the distortion was caused naturally, then surely, they could study it and be able to make one with human technology.

He reached the ground floor, and found himself inside a small room, where across was another door. On the other side, after closing the door behind him, was the large living room, filled with ancient and expensive furniture of different sizes and purposes. Walls contained paintings of different themes, and the ceiling held numerous chandeliers. He payed little attention to a few maids that were busy cleaning as he walked towards the set of stairs leading to the second floor.

He realized, after his wife's death, and after Claire has left, that he had indeed given no time to his children. He easily found out about Claire working in the city, and was now an independent individual. Even though she held great hatred towards him, he could a least be proud of his daughter's achievement. But his youngest daughter needed him the most. She was the sole reason why he continued working on this project. It was for him to give her a wonderful world to live in. However, as he was standing in front of his daughter's door to her room, he couldn't understand why she suddenly wanted him to stop the dimensional project that could allow anyone to go in and out of dimensional portals.

This project was to save their world from dying through using other world's resources. It was proven to be a success, however, they did not expect that the world they were trying to open was filled with monsters beyond their wildest imagination. Even so, he was determined to continue the project, and even went too far as to use Claire's dimensional-traveling friend named Jay to gather even more useful data.

However, during one of their test runs, his phone rang, and it was his youngest daughter calling him. She asked him to stop the project, for it was no longer needed. He told her however, that it was for her to be able to live a wonderful world, but she held her ground, saying that she could live happily inside their home, thanks to her new companion.

Cancelling their test-run caused major trouble, causing a giant wood wolf to enter and wreck havoc. They have evacuated the area in time with their private choppers, but carried a heavy heart after he was not able to convince Claire to come with him, to return home.

Arriving in his mansion, he wanted to see who his daughter's companion was, but after he was assured by his maids that her companion held no threat whatsoever, he immediately went to his lab and asked his scientists stop the portals from popping in the island. They did so, and were able to close the portals to decrease the number of monsters from getting into their world. Now, they're on the phase of removing them, but it was far too difficult that required quite a lot of time.

Now, as he slowly opened his daughter's door to her room, he immediately noticed how brightly lit the room was. The room was spacious, filled with cabinets, a large bed, books and toys, and in the middle of the room were lots and lots of pillows lying on the floor, where he found his daughter chatting with her companion while brushing its rainbow-colored hair. Both their backs were on him.

“Rose?” he spoke with a doubtful voice as he stepped inside and noticing how blue his daughter's companion's skin was.

The small girl turned her head to her shoulder, and sprung to life with a wide smile after seeing her father. “Hi daddy!” She set the brush down and stood on the pillows, almost losing her balance. “Did you just come back from your uh...field work?” she asked cheerily.

“N—” he held his tongue and smiled at her. “Yes, I just arrived.” He then moved a hand behind his neck with a guilty smile. “Sorry, Rose. I forgot to bring you anything...again...”

“Aw...” she pouted, but immediately erased that as she turned to her blue friend. “Oh right,” she looked at him, “daddy, this is my new friend!” She then turned her attention to her friend and poked her shoulder. “Say hello, Rainbow Dash.”

Now that he got a better look at his daughter's friend, he found out that it wasn't actually a human, but a creature of some sort. The creature seemed to be imitating how a normal dog sits, and he noticed that its height was almost the same as his daughter, where she was barely four feet in height. Panic was slowly creeping through him.

Rose then turned to him with a sad smile. “Sorry daddy. I guess she's just really really shy.” She then jumped in front of the blue creature's line of sight, and leaned her face closer to it, her shining bright eyes contrasting Rainbow Dash's lifeless and lightless eyes that seemed to stare blankly ahead of her. “She's been very quiet ever since she suddenly appeared here, daddy...” Rose said as she stood up, barely seeing her father since Rainbow Dash was in front of her. “D-do you think...you can help her?” She shook her head. “She's always so talkative and full of life in the show...”

Chapter 93 - Street Information

Xilfer remembered the time he saw his family's tricycle running through the strongest storm he has ever known. Even though it was foggy at that time, he saw the clear faces of his two brothers on their trike and were heading somewhere.

He shrugged it off, forcing himself not to care anymore, although as the minutes flew by, curiosity and worry were beginning to consume his mind, which then was the reason his companions began teasing him of how softie he was on the inside.

Xilfer knew them and loved them with all his life, and he simply rolled his eyes at their teasing, although it reached to the point where they started saying that his decision of leaving and not caring about his family was wrong. One of them even recalled the time his eldest brother came in the store where they usually hang out.

No matter how he has insisted that his brother deserved it, Xilfer could now help but feel sorry for what he did. He was...unreasonable that time, and he knew his brother didn't deserve that punch just to f*ck off and not bother his happy times with his friends.

It then reached to the point where his friends finally convinced him to follow his two brothers. Maybe something's going on, and maybe they'll need his help. And indeed they did. After he walked through the storm and found their trike parked near a tree, he saw his youngest brother and a female running out from the forest.

Right now, he needs not to think of those thoughts, for they'll hinder him from concentrating on fighting this group of gangsters that decided not to give him the information he was seeking.

A punch in the face was the last thing a street gangster could take. He was thrown back and his back was slammed against the outer wall of a building in an alleyway. Landing on the ground with a thud, he groaned painfully, his groan mixing with the other pained voices nearby.

In a dark alleyway, numerous members of a gang were lying on the wet cemented path. All but one, who was breathing heavily and wearing an annoyed look.

Xilfer then walked towards the guy he just punched in the face. Bending down, he grabbed the dude's shirt and lifted him up with his right hand. The gangster could barely struggle, shivering from the cold and fear as his feet could no longer touch the ground.

“I'll ask you again,” Xilfer spoke with a cold voice, glaring daggers at the young adult he lifted.

“Okay...” the man choked, and coughed a few times. “Okay... I'll talk... Just, please...put me down...”

Xilfer eyed him angrily for a moment before throwing him down on the ground hard. He yelped in pain as Xilfer put his left foot on the guy's shoulder, and pushed him against the wall, his foot not leaving his shoulder.

“Talk!”

The guy whined in fear for a moment before collecting enough courage to speak. “H-he's living in a pr-pretty huge mansion just outside the city! It even has it's own road from the edge of the city towards his home! You can't miss it!”

“Directions!”

“Eek! Uh, go west from here! Now, please don't hur—!”

Xilfer quickly retracted his foot and kicked his head, throwing him to the side. “Chu... What a bunch of weaklings!” he spat on the ground and walked out of the alleyway, not minding the strong rain as he headed west.

“Y...you could...” the guy spoke weakly, not even noticing that their attacker had already left, “...just...look at the y-yellow pages... Ugh...” He lost consciousness.

Chapter 94 - A New Message

Green fumes of flame floated in the air, slowly materializing into a single blue cursed flower. Still sparkling from the green fumes, the flower slowly descended to a waiting transparent jar that was placed right under it. The flower settled inside, and a purple claw puts a lid on top of the jar, and twisted it close.

“Here Twilight,” Spike said as he grabbed the jar and placed it inside the purple unicorn mare's saddlebag. He smiled sadly at her.

Twilight returned the smile with her own, and wrapped a hoof around the purple dragon, pulling him into a hug. “T-thanks Spike.”

“Do you really have to go?” Spike asked after they broke their hug.

Twilight nodded slowly. “I'm afraid so Spike.” She then stared towards the door of the castle's library, where her brother-turned-female was talking to a few pegasi ponies. “They have found the zebra named Zecora, and she is more than willing to create a cure if she can get her hooves on a sample of the flower.” She then turned back to Spike, who was listening to every word. She smiled as she mentally took note of this. “Unfortunately, she is also the leader of their small village, and she can't leave her people.” She nodded. “That is why we are going there again to bring the flower.”

“I get it...” Spike's features drooped. “I am just...worried...”

Twilight smiled as she brought a hoof to his shoulder. “There's nothing to worry about, Spike.”

“Twily?” a feminine voice called out from the door. Twilight and Spike looked at the owner of the voice, and saw Shining Armor clearing his-her throat. He-She then spoke in a more lower and darker tone, imitating that of a male's voice. “Ahem... Uh, the air-carriage is ready.”

Shining then looked back at the pegasi ponies, who smiled sweetly at him, while one left with a wink before they walked down the stairs.

Twilight giggled while Shining Armor groaned from annoyance. Spike then chuckled, making the stallion-turned-mare blush even more.

“Oh, will you two quit it!” Shining whined as he spun to face them. “It's already embarrassing as it is!”

“I know, I know,” Twilight chuckled. She then took a breath and hugged Spike. “Now,” she said as their hug broke, “Shining will take over my place while I'm in Zebrica. Assist him...or her...” she glanced at her groaning brother, “...in any way that you can.”

Spike chuckled and nodded. He hugged her again, and soon, he, Twilight and Shining Armor walked down to the castle's ground, where a big golden-plated air-carriage, fit for ten ponies, was waiting for them. Ten pegasi ponies were to lift the carriage.

Twilight walked on the carriage, followed by other unicorns to join her. She waved goodbye to her brother and Spike, and soon, the pegasi ponies took flight, swiftly lifting the carriage with ease, heading towards the direction of the tropical land of Zebrica.

Spike was quietly staring at the books on a shelf. He was humming to himself while looking for a book that might catch his attention. He has been feeling tired of worrying about Jay, Twilight, and the portal here in the library, so maybe reading a good book might take his worry off of his head. Reading wasn't really to his liking, but it has been years since he's done so. He felt like he'd almost forgot what it feels like to read a book.

Adventure-themed books seemed to be the greatest books that'd take his worry away, and he settled on finding such a book, or books. He turned to search for the next shelf, and his eyes instantly found a book he was looking for. Pulling it out of the shelf, he held it on his claws and read the title out loud.

“Huh, ‘Daring Do And The Quest For The Sapphire Statue.’” He smiled as he walked towards Twilight's table.

Reaching the chair, he bowed before Princess Celestia before hopping on the chair, and brought the book down on the table. He was about to open the book, but the door opened instead. Blinking, he saw three young mares entering the library, seemingly arguing with each other, judging from their angry faces and loud voices.

“I told you! Reading is just plain boring!” Whined Scootaloo, and she finished it with sticking her tongue, emphasizing her disgust.

Apple Bloom faced her, and annoyingly rolled her eyes. “Readin' ain't really that bad, Scoots. Besides,” she turned, eyeing Sweetie Belle who decided to ignore them and began searching for a book to read. “Ah'm mighty tired from our self-tour of the castle! I feel like reading 'til I get into dreamland.”

Scootaloo groaned in annoyance, but said nothing. She was already tired of arguing about reading some stupid book. She might as well — since they're already here — let her friends read some boring old book and she could just use one as a makeshift pillow.

Spike shook his head in slight annoyance. He was expecting to read in silence, but he's thankful that the three are quietly—

“Hey look!” Sweetie Belle exclaimed, making her two friends and Spike jump. She flared her horn and magically pulled a rather thick book and proudly presented the cover to her two glaring friends.

“‘Advance Magic: Mastering The Elements Of Nature’?” Apple Bloom and Scootaloo read in unison, arching an eyebrow to their unicorn friend after they finished reading it.

“Gee,” Scotaloo said with a huge smile, “that is a good book to read!” Her features then dropped to a bored one. “For a unicorn, maybe.”

Sweetie Belle's huge grin went up-side-down. “You don't have to be a jerk about it, y'know.” She said while Apple Bloom pulled a book with a hoof.

“Hey Scoots, check this out.” Apple Bloom said as she hoofed the book to the doubting pegasus. “Maybe that'd be a helpful book for ya.”

“‘The Art Of The Wing’?” Scootaloo shrugged. “Meh, maybe...” she reluctantly opened the book while Apple Bloom began searching for a book to read.

Apple Bloom was about to turn to the next shelf, but instead, she noticed an annoyed-looking dragon standing on a chair with his claws crossed on his chest.

“O-oh,” Apple Bloom smiled awkwardly, making her two friends stare at the direction of where she was facing, “h-howdy Spike! Didn't see you there.”

Spike glared at them for a while before opening his mouth to speak. “You guys do realize that you are inside a li—” he suddenly stopped himself as he sensed a pretty familiar sense of magic that reached him.

Realizing who it was from, his frown quickly turned into an excited smile, as he burped out green fumes of fire in the air, materializing into a scroll. Shining Armor was about to pass by the library's open door as the scroll landed on the wooden table. Wondering what it was, he walked inside as Spike quickly grabbed the scroll and unrolled it to read the contents.

“Is that how he sends messages from far away places?” Scootaloo asked nopony in particular. Her two friends simply shrugged, having no idea of the matter.

“As a matter of fact,” Shining spoke, making the three mares turn to him, “yes. And from the looks of it,” he stopped for a moment, studying Spike's expression shifting from excitement to worry, “it's from a very close pony of Spike's...”

Chapter 95 - Fear

Jay was bracing himself for a deadly impact, but he suddenly found out that he was standing on something. Blinking, he noticed that he was on the ground, and saw his shadow on it. Slowly, he dropped his hands to his side, as he blinked, staring at his own shadow. He took a breath, and sighed. Wh-what just happened? he thought as he moved his gaze ahead of him, and gasped as he saw the gate of his home. He faintly heard the chirping of the birds somewhere. He blinked, and looked up at the sky. What greeted him was the morning sky, barely any clouds rolling above.

Confused, he looked around, and he noticed that nobody was still up. On the east, he saw the sun has just woken up. Jay arched an eyebrow as he scratched his head. What the heck? What's going on? He stared at the rising sun for a while, but broke his gaze and stared at his home after he heard the door opening, and who came out was his younger brother, smiling innocently as he carried two black garbage bags. Kronz doesn't appear to have noticed him yet.

He slipped on a pair of slippers and walked towards the gate, but stopped himself after he saw who was a few feet outside their gate. Jay stared at him, smiling as he waved a hand at his beloved youngest brother.

Kronz looked shocked, and then his expression suddenly changed to anger, which confused Jay. “What are you doing here!?” he shouted angrily.

Jay flinched from the unexpected greeting. “Kronz, it's m—”

“I don't care!” he threw a large garbage bag towards him. “Go away!”

“Whoa—!” Jay yelped, barely dodging the thrown projectile. It landed several feet behind him, spilling the contents on the ground. He quickly turned back after hearing that his brother was about to throw him the other one, and he jumped to the side to avoid the bag of garbage. “What the heck!?” Jay clenched his fists, “What is wrong with you!?”

“I told you to go away!” Kronz shouted angrily as he pointed a finger at him. “How dare you show your selfish f*cking face back here!”

Jay blinked angrily, confused as to what his brother was blabbering about. “What the heck are you talking about!?”

Kronz was about to shout at him again, but a voice from inside the house cut him off. “What's going on out there?”

Kronz turned back to the house, and he and Jay saw their father going out of the already-opened front door, but stopped himself in surprise after his eyes fell on his eldest son. “J-Jay...?”

Jay felt a bit of hope that maybe, just maybe, things would clear for him to understand. He was about to say something when a female voice, unfamiliar to him, came out from inside the house. “Honey, what's going on?” Who came out was a female young adult who stopped beside his father, and she stared at him with complete confusion. “Who's he? What's going on?”

Jay gasped in disbelief. W-who the hell is that girl? And why d-did she called dad ‘honey’!? Jay took a step back. He couldn't believe what was happening.

“Jay dear,” a female voice called from behind him. Jay slowly turned around, the familiarity of the voice making him sweat. As soon as he turned, his gaze fell on Claire, smiling sadly at him as she carried a sleeping baby. “I told you seeing them was a bad idea...”

“Normally, I'd disagree to what Claire says,” a new female voice came out. Jay turned to the left and saw Raziel, also wearing a sad smile and carrying a sleeping baby. Behind her was an expensive-looking car, where three of its doors were left open. Inside, sitting on the driver's seat, was her father, the chief. “But she's right. Coming here was a bad idea...” Raziel said as Claire walked beside her, staring at him with a sad smile.

“Jay, maybe we should go home now.”

“H-h-ho-home...?” Jay managed to whisper, his iris already shrunk of fear, and was shaky.

Both Claire and Raziel nodded in unison. “Yeah,” Raziel replied with a sweet smile, “back in the city.”

“Com'on” Claire said, her voice sounded impatient, “you promised the two of us that we'll be going to that new place for our honeymoon!”

Raziel turned to face her. “And remember, I'll get him first.”

Claire turned to her, looking slightly offended, “What?”

“Hey, you were the first to have a turn on him when the three of us were wed. It's my turn now!”

The two females continued their quarrel, unable to notice that they were no longer carrying a baby. Claire was now holding a hill of earth, and on the very top was a tomb, and on the tombstone was his mother's name, written as clear as day. Raziel was now holding a prison cell, where inside was his younger brother Xilfer, lying on the ground, and lifeless. Jay was already lost for breath, his mouth hung open in utter disbelief of what was going on. Everything was happening too fast. Everything that he feared was happening all at once.

Chapter 96 - A New Mission

Spike wiped his forehead, as if there were any sweat for him to wipe off. He has been hiking for hours now. He stopped momentarily as he stared at the very steep and narrow pathway along the tall mountains of the Frozen North. He sighed, knowing that it'll take him quite a while to reach his destination. But no. He shook his head. He needed to do this. Jay needed him, and to help him, he shall.

Spike, after reading the letter once again, stared worriedly at the pony statue standing near the window. Slowly, he turned to the other window, where a black portal was quietly swirling. He then stared at the letter on his claws once again, not minding the four curious ponies who were approaching him.

“Well,” Shining Armor asked as soon as he and the three crusaders reached the table, “what does it say?”

After a few seconds of hesitation, Spike spoke up. “Jay's in trouble...” He was going to add more to what he was saying when Scootaloo cut in.

“Who the heck is Jay?”

“Oh, uh...” Spike stared at the statue of the earth pony by the window. “That's Gold's name back in his world.”

“Huh?” Sweetie Belle arched an eyebrow as she and the others turned their gazes on the pony statue. “So like...there's actually another world aside from our own?”

Shining Armor was the first to bring his attention back to the purple dragon who was already standing on the table. “You said that he's in trouble. What kind of trouble?”

The crusaders returned their gazes at the dragon while Spike read the contents again in the letter. “I don't really understand some parts of this letter but, it was sent by his brother.” He scratched his scaly head before continuing, “I mean, at first, I thought this letter was from him, 'cause the sensation was familiar, while oddly foreign as well, and—”

“We get it,” Scootaloo groaned, “move on!”

“Right right, sorry...” Spike flashed them a small apologetic smile before returning his eyes back on the contents of the scroll. “Well, according to his brother, there's this Sombra guy from the Crystal Empire—”

“Crystal Empire?” Shining Armor whispered to himself.

“—who suddenly appeared in their world and started spreading this dark mist of some sort, and apparently, Jay was caught with it. Kronz, Jay's brother, as what he wrote here, said something about him accessing this kompooter-thing so he could send me this letter, asking for help.”

Spike stopped, and took a moment to catch his breath. As he panted, he brought his claw to tighten his scarf around his neck. Glancing behind him, he saw three equine figures who were a few meters behind, doing their best to catch up. Their capes and long scarfs blew with the strong wind.

“Hm...” Shining brought a hoof on his chin, thinking. In doing so, he unceremoniously caught the attention of Spike and the three crusaders. He locked his gaze on the floor as he spoke. “You said...or at least, from the letter, it said that—” he turned his attention to Spike, but he paused after noticing that all those present's attention were on him. “—t-that this Sombra-guy came from the Crystal Empire, right?”

“Yeah,” Spike nodded while searching for it in the letter, and successfully finding it. “That's what this Kronz fellow said.”

“Hm... And...he appeared in their world. How?” Shining Armor asked, making Spike to read the whole letter again.

Sighing, Spike shook his head slightly. “Nothing. Maybe he didn't know. But...maybe the portals?”

Shining Armor nodded. “The team of pegasi ponies who were sent there had reported that they have seen a few portals there.” Shining Armor nodded. “It's probably the reason why nopony where there in the first place. Hm... This needs further investigation...”

“Wait wait! Hold up!” Apple Bloom spoke, turning to Spike. “Ah feel like there's more to the letter than just that. Ah mean, his bro's asking fer help. What can we do tah help?”

Her two comrades nodded in agreement before settling their gazes on the purple dragon.

“Well...” Spike said as he returned his gaze on the letter. “...it says here that the only way we could defeat Sombra is with the ancient crystal artifact known as the Crystal Heart,” he took a breath before continuing, “which is located on the very top of the Crystal Castle.”

“Are we there yet!?” Scootaloo asked as she and her two friends reached the purple dragon.

The pegasus mare turned to her earth pony friend who just finished tightening her saddlebag once again. Apple Bloom rolled her eyes as she pointed towards a direction with a hoof. Following her hoof, Sweetie Belle and Scootaloo saw a grand sea of tall mountains that spreads east and west from their current location.

Snow and air were a bit strong, summoning thick icy fog that almost covered the mountains, yet in the north, two or three mountains away from them was a vast plain white land, stretching as far as their eyes could see. In the middle of the vast snowy desert stood an empire like they have never seen before. Tall structures that seemed to be made out of pure blue ice. Small structures that seemed to look like ordinary houses are the more dominant, which seemed to be made of blue crystalized ice as well. These structures formed a huge circle, and on the very center was a tall castle that glittered from the faintest of light.

Scootaloo let out an awed whistle.

“Are you sure that you want to go there now?” Shining Armor asked, following Spike who walked out of the castle, and into the castle ground. “We could wait for Twilight to come back.”

Spike stopped and turned around to face him. He shook his head, determined to start his quest of helping his brother. “I can't wait that long... Just please,” he eyed him, “call a carriage or something!”

Shining Armor scratched his head. He's been trying to reason with the purple dragon while the two of them were still walking down the stairs, but now, he's convinced that he couldn't stop him. Sighing in defeat, Shining Armor called a commanding officer of the pegasi, who was training a few of the pegasi ponies in the castle's ground.

“Wait up!” Sweetie Belle called as she and her two friends came out from the open castle doors. The three skidded to a stop in front of the purple dragon. “We're coming with you!”

“What?” Spike stared at them with confusion. “But...why?”

Scootaloo took a breath and stood straight. “Hey, he's a cool pony, or alien, whatever. Anyway, as cool as he is, he's in trouble, and he needs a cool pony to save his flank! If aliens do have flank...that is...” she shook her head, temporarily debating in her head.

“Well,” Apple Bloom spoke, “he helped my sister a lot. Ah guess Ah'm just returning the favor?” She shrugged.

“Uh...” Spike then turned to Sweetie Belle. “What about you, Sweetie Belle?”

The unicorn smiled awkwardly. “Well, I don't really have a reason why I'd want to help him.” She shrugged. “I dunno. I got nothing better to do, anyway. And uh...” she glanced behind her shoulder, “I don't wanna talk to Rarity, or be near or around her for that matter...” she shivered, not from the cold.

Spike, Apple Bloom and Scootaloo arched their eyebrows at her.

“Okay,” Shining Armor said, who stopped before them. “The carriage could only carry you on the base of the Frozen North. Pegasi scouts reported that a violent snowstorm suddenly appeared in the northern mountains, making air-travel dangerous.” He smiled, but frowned after seeing the determined looks on the three other ponies aside from Spike. His ears drooped. “Uh...you three aren't going with Spike, are you?” Their toothy grins was an answer enough to make Shining Armor sigh in utter defeat. He'd rather be having an adventure just like this one, but instead, he's bound in the castle under his sister's place, and what is worse, he's a mare.

“Well,” Scootaloo cracked her neck and began walking onward. “It's not going to come close if we're just going to stare at it, right?”

Sweetie Belle and Apple Bloom soon followed, while Spike simply stood, thinking if that was the Crystal Empire. It looked more like frozen than be made out of crystals, he thought. Then again, if it were made out of crystals, he wondered if he could eat them...

“Hey Spike!” Sweetie Belle's voice echoed, making the dragon bring himself out of his thoughts. “Are you frozen back there!?”

“Uh...coming!” Spike shouted back as he ran towards them. He'll worry about it later.

Chapter 97 - Burned Past

Faint sparks of fire echoed around a small cavern on the base of the mountain. Around its warmth lies four sleeping figures, their bodies rising and falling peacefully and...not so quietly.

Scootaloo was lying on her back. One of her hind legs twitched as she snored, slightly drooling from her open mouth. Unknowingly competing with her was Spike, who too, was lying on his back, snoring and drooling. Sweetie Belle and Apple Bloom, on the other hand, were sleeping peacefully, their heads resting on their saddlebags, and made use of their capes as a temporary blanket to warm their bodies.

Outside, the snowstorm turned into a violent blizzard not too long ago, which forced the four young souls to take shelter, until they have all agreed to rest after taking a few bites of food.

Spike and the Cutie Mark Crusaders awoke a few hours after the blizzard was over. The four were now walking on a plain white desert of snow. Their ground was covered by thick layers of snow, and each of their steps would let them sink for about a foot or more.

After Spike and the others rescued Sweetie Belle, who was unlucky enough to sink under seven feet, they have all decided to make use of Spike's dragon fire.

As a dragon, Spike is able to breathe out red fumes of flames like other dragons, which could melt the snow that blocked their path. And, as a magical dragon, Spike has access to the green magic flames, wherein he was trained to use it to deliver letters, and to create a lance, with the help of Sweetie Belle's teachings.

However, both types of fire could wore a dragon out if used frequently, like what they are doing now. After almost half an hour of walking on warm yet damp soil, surrounded by tall walls of snow, Spike, who's leading the way, took a deep yet tired breath, and breathed out thick black smoke which caused him to go into a coughing fit.

The three mares weren't blind to notice how tired the baby dragon was while clearing thick and tall walls of snow that blocked their path on the way to their destination. They let the dragon rest on Apple Bloom's back after Spike recovered from his coughing fit. They were all thankful that the weather was snowing ever so gently, else, they'd be in trouble.

Realizing the calm weather, Apple Bloom blinked and looked over her shoulder while Scootaloo and Sweetie Belle examined the white wall of snow in front of them. The young earth pony mare wondered if the pegasi could fly by, now that the weather is fine. Her hopes were blown like a candle fire under a violent storm however, after she took notice of how gloomy the clouds were over the mountains. She could barely see the tall mountains from the fog and strength of the blizzard going on in the area.

Finally figuring out of a way, Sweetie Belle asked Scootaloo to join Apple Bloom as the young unicorn mare concentrated her mana energy in and around herself, summoning them to her glowing horn.

Suddenly, a loud rattling noise boomed in the area as a bright white flash temporarily blinded everyone which lasted for merely a second. A powerful lightning bolt struck the wall of snow in front of them from the unicorn's glowing horn. However, the wall only displayed a small black dent from the powerful impact.

As the pegasus mare groaned from frustration, and the earth pony mare spoke a few words of encouragement, the unicorn mare thought back of her early years, where she was taught that lightning was a powerful and fierce version of fire. Rubbing her chin in thought, she wondered if she could achieve summoning fire if she casts a weaker energy from her horn? It's been far too long since she magically summoned fire however, yet she's determined to do so.

Closing her eyes, she took a slow and deep breath to calm herself...

“Fire,” a voice, tone and pitch forgotten in time, spoke in the darkness

Sweetie Belle found herself standing on something. Turning her eyes down, she saw the ground was black, but slowly, from her hooves, the darkness was slowly turning into a grassy ground.

“Fire is a powerful element,” the voice spoke once again, making the filly return her eyes ahead of her, staring at the darkness above the grassy ground rolling to the horizon. From the corner of her eyes, she noticed a few more young ponies of her age were appearing, standing in line, facing the same direction she was facing. “Do you want to know why it's such a powerful element?”

A few meters in front of her stood a dark-blue unicorn stallion who appeared out of nowhere. His fierce gaze stared at each ponies who were desperately forcing themselves not to shiver. His gaze were on Sweetie Belle for a mere moment, but it felt like a cold and cruel hour to the young filly, who barely managed to hold her involuntary shiver.

Thankfully, Starfall failed to notice this. With a flashing of his horn, he summoned a blazing fire from the back of the group, immediately running around them until a tall towering fire has cornered the trembling young ponies.

“Fire creates fear,” he spoke, “and those who are weak are easily eaten by the fear this element creates.”

Ponies began to walk back, but stopped after realizing that they got nowhere to run. Soon, with trembling hooves, they gathered into a small circle, fighting back their tears as they stared helplessly at the flames that somehow grew closer to them.

Starfall smirked wickedly, and Sweetie Belle saw this. “Those who can master fire, will master fear. And those who will master fear, will master victory in battle.”

Somehow, the flames grew taller, more fierce, and the air became too hot for a normal young pony to bear. Sweetie Belle sweated, and so were the rest of the other ponies with her.

“Master the fire!” shouted Starfall. “Control it if you want to save yourselves!”

A few ponies, out of fear, flared their horns, trying to control the approaching fire, but none of them achieved such goal. Not even Sweetie Belle, who already had her tears rolling down from her closed eyes.

She wasn't able to control it. None of them did.

“AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!”

...and exhaled as she slowly opened her eyes. Collecting a small amount of mana, she releases it, summoning a deep red fumes of fire, melting down a large chunk of the wall of snow. The wave of fire continued floating for nearly eight meters before it thinned out and faded.

Behind her, her friends cheered for a good work that she has made. She tried her best to use their cheers to drown her frustration inside her heart. Turning around, she flashed them a gentle smile.

Chapter 98 - The Crystal Empire

She was tired, but she disregarded her body's request to rest. Flaring her horn, she fired a fierce wave of flames, melting the towering wall of snow that blocked their path. Warm water tickled her and her companion's hooves. Soon, as the thin steam died down, what greeted them up ahead was a grassy field.

Blinking in confusion, Sweetie Belle wiped her sweating forehead as her two companions stood on both her sides. Spike jumped off of Apple Bloom's back, and all four stared dumbfounded at the grassy plains. The green pasture stretched like a hill, where its base was on the damp ground they were standing on.

“Wow,” Scootaloo finally broke the silence, smiling proudly as she patted her unicorn friend's shoulder. “That's some powerful fire you got there, Sweets!”

Sweetie Belle stared at the pegasus mare, and slowly shook her head. “That's not my handy work, Scoots...”

“Eh?” Scootaloo did a double take while Apple Bloom and Spike took a few steps forward.

The duo stopped mere inches away from the very first green grass sprouting on the base of the hill.

“Odd,” was all Spike could say while scratching his head.

“Tell me about it,” Apple Bloom nodded her head, scanning the small grass that gently danced with the soft cool air. “It's as if it's not even snowing in there...”

Spike thought about it for a while, unable to notice that Sweetie Belle and Scootaloo stood behind him and Apple Bloom, who were also staring at the green fields.

“Hm...” Spike then slowly and carefully extends a claw towards the borderline of green and white. Finally, his claw reached the border, and braced himself as he pushed his claw further into the green territory, achieving... “...nothing.” He pulled his claw back, sighing in relief.

“What were you trying to do, anyway?” Scootaloo asked with a raised eyebrow.

Apple Bloom and Spike spun around to face the other two. The unicorn cleared her throat. “I think Spike was trying to see if there was a barrier of any kind that somehow blocks the snow from entering the green land.” She shrugged, “or something similar...”

“Huh,” Apple Bloom turned her head over her shoulder and stared at the green hill. “Good thinking.”

“Well, whatever,” Scootaloo groaned as she rolled her eyes and trotted around and took her first step on the grassy field. “There's no barrier or any magic-thingies, so it's safe to walk on, right?” She continued walking forward.

“Scootaloo, wait!” Sweetie Belle yelled.

The pegasus stopped and turned with an annoyed look. “What's the problem? Look!” She jumped in place, twice. “Nothing's happening! And besides,” she spun and continued walking ahead, “other pegasi ponies already got here and reported nothing has happened to them, right? So what's there to worry about?”

Scootaloo finally reached the top, and stopped. The other three stared at each other.

“Y'know...” Apple Bloom smiled weakly, “she does have a good point.”

Spike shrugged. “Well, let's go then!”

Nodding their heads, the three walked on the grassy hill and continued until they stopped beside their pegasus friend. Reaching her, the three newcomers held their breaths as they took in the marvelous sight of the empire.

Below the hill they were on was a field of green, stretching a few meters until the green became a dark-blue land where blue crystalized structures stood in different shapes and sizes. The thick gray clouds offered little light, but the empire shone as if the sun was gracing them a wonderful sunlight. The empire also contained wide pathways to trot on, where occasional trees were allowed to grow. Some of the small crystal structures even had small gardens and fences, and even mailboxes. Crystalized statues of ponies also stood in different places, holding different poses.

However, as the four slowly walk on the wide pathway, heads turning left and right, they have noticed that such a beautiful place held no signs of life. Doors were closed, and windows were blocked by curtains, or the darkness of the structure inside.

“Where is everypony?” Apple Bloom spoke to no one in particular.

“More importantly,” Scootaloo spoke, “do ponies even live here, or another specie?”

“Well,” Sweetie Belle spoke, standing and examining the crystal statue of a pony who seemed to be opening a mailbox of one of the houses. She took note of its uniform. “It looks to me that ponies uh, used to live here?”

“What made you say that?” Spike asked as he and the two other crusaders stood behind the unicorn mare.

Sweetie Belle spun and stared at them for a short while before replying. “Well, what could possibly be these pony statues mean?”

While Apple Bloom and Scootaloo thought about it, Spike shook his head.

“Well,” he said as he spun and stared at the very center of the empire, “nothing we can do about it, I guess.”

The three crusaders stared at him, wondering what he was trying to say, until they followed his gaze, their eyes were now staring on a very tall and magnificent crystal castle.

“We came here to get the crystal heart, and that's what we're going to do!” With that, Spike marched towards the castle.

The three crusaders stared at each for a moment.

It was Scootaloo who reacted first, by shrugging. “Well, you heard the dragon.”

The young pegasus mare then adjusted her scarf before following the dragon, who was already a few hooves ahead. Sweetie Belle and Apple Bloom shared a quick glance before following them. Unknown to them that the head of the crystalized statue of a mailpony was already turned, somehow staring at them walking off.

Chapter 99 - Through Messages

“—and everything is still impossible to see what is going on down there...” spoke a female reporter's voice, as her cameraman focused the lenses down on the dark island as their helicopter hovered far above the place. “Even with thermal-detecting lenses, our cameras are still unable to detect any sources of heat in any parts of the island. This is Cheryl, reporting to you live in the skies. Back to you, James.”

“Thank you Cheryl,” the image on the television screen was now switched back to the studio, where a formally-suited man is adjusting his papers on his table. “In a related news, a soldier swam out from the island.” The scene was then changed to a more amateur-ish video capture of a uniformed soldier being lifted to a coastal boat. “He said that he and his fellow soldiers were chased by the mists when he decided to go to the water.” The scene was then changed, where the scene was now showing the main island was slowly becoming closer, and a male reporter stood in front of the lenses, standing on the boat, where behind him was the soldier, seated on a chair and a thick blanket was wrapped around his shivering form. “We will now bring you to Lester for more of this news. Lester?”

The news reported then held his microphone close to his mouth before he spoke. “Yes, thank you James.” He then spun and approached the soldier, and the camera did so as well. He leaned forward towards the soldier, who in turn stared back at the reporter. “Before anything else, sir. What is your name?”

A tiny set of fingers suddenly levitated above a set of buttons on a held remote control. Pressing the next button, the television changed channel, now showing a cartoon commercial about a purple-haired girl with a star-like tattoo on her cheek, and her pet purple dog. The two were walking on an earthy path.

“Rose dear,” said a man who sat on a sofa a few meters in front of the television. “I was watching that.” He turned his head to face a young female girl who was seated in the middle of the sofa, who stubbornly held the remote close to her as she shook her head.

“Nuh-uh!” she playfully glared back at the man. “News is boring! And the pony re-run is about to start in a few minutes!” She smiled brightly at him before turning her head to the other side, smiling even wider as her eyes reflected the cyan-coated pegasus mare with rainbow-colored mane and tail. “I thought that maybe if Rainbow Dash and I will watch it, she'll return to her normal self!” She spun back to her confused father. Opening her mouth to add more to what she was going to say, but her words died in her throat as her ears was graced by the melodic song of the opening theme of her favorite pony cartoon. She immediately turned her head back at the television, eyes sparkling and mouth smiling wide. “Oh! It's starting!” She then hugged the cyan pegasus without removing her eyes on the television. “You're going to love this, Rainbow Dash! I'm sure of it!”

Her father sighed yet smiled as he playfully and gently rubbed his hand on his daughter's little head. “I better leave you two alone.”

“You're not going back to work, right?” Rose asked as her father stood up.

“Sorry Rose,” he flashed her an apologetic smile. “But I'll try and make it quick so I could join you two here.”

“Well,” she thought for a short while before she smiled. “The re-run's going to last for two hours, I think.” She nodded, and then frowned. “You're not going outside for another field-work, right?”

He smiled at her as he patted her head. “I'll be just down the basement, honey. I promise.”

Her daughter smiled back at him. “Tee-hee! That's great!”

“Status report...” Rose' father spoke as soon as he closed the door behind him, now facing the many busy scientists.

A female scientist walked towards him, and bowed. She then opened a folder she carried and began to read the contents of her report. “Sir, there seems to be a portal that was forcefully opened. We've located that the opened portal was the one located on top of Mount Comet.” She flipped a page before she continued. “We have also discovered that it was one of our computers that opened the portal.”

“I told you to close all portals while you work for a way to return those monsters,” the man said, while holding his growing anger.

The female scientist nodded. “Indeed, we have been working for a way as we speak sir. Anyway,” she flipped another page. “It would seem that one of our computers got hijacked.”

“Hijacked?” the man exclaimed in disbelief. “Hacked? H-how?”

“We've assigned a group to block and locate the intruder, or hacker. As of this moment, we are currently tracing his whereabouts. We have, however, managed to close the portal and removed the hacker's ability to open any other portals.”

“How is it?” Claire asked as she pulled a chair and sat beside Kronz, who was furiously gritting his teeth and his fingers almost a blur as he typed great loads of code with his laptop. She has given up her attempts of calling Jay's phone an hour ago.

“They kicked me out,” although having a hard time, he managed to smirk, “but they weren't able to track me. As far as I could tell, at least.” He eyed the Shining Armor-themed shield icon on the right side of his taskbar for a moment and smiled before returning his eyes on the codes he's typing. “Anyway, when we were still in Mount Comet, I found out that my bro's phone was able to open one of the portals just to send and receive messages from the, uh, pony world. So...” he smiled and nodded, “I'm trying to divert my brother's phone's incoming messages to be forwarded to me. And, I'm working on connecting my email to his phone, so if I send a message, his phone will send it instead.”

“Wow,” Claire said in awe, “how do you do that?”

Kronz smiled devilishly. “Hacking his phone's service provider, of course.”

“WHAT!?”

“Um...sir?” one of the scientists who was working on the computer stood and pointed a finger at his screen, catching the attention of Rose' father. He approached the scientist and eyed the screen. “You might need to see this.”

An oval-shaped pattern with distorted colors was displayed on his screen, and on the upper-most part of the oval, the distorted colors suddenly became black, and a few warning messages appeared.

“What is this?” asked the man as the scientist sat back down and began typing.

“The portal on Mount Comet seemed to have opened...” the two then noticed the oval was completely covered by distorted colors again. “...and somehow it closed yet again.”

Spike stopped as he and the crusaders were about to take a step on the crystal stairs that would lead them to the gigantic double doors of the majestic crystal castle. The crusaders took a few steps on the stairs before realizing that their dragon companion wasn't joining them. Spinning around, they saw the dragon's bright smile before breathing out green fumes of flames in the air, and it then materialized into a scroll.

“It's from Jay!” Spike exclaimed as he caught the scroll and immediately unrolled it.

Sweetie Belle, excited, quickly walked down the stairs and stood beside the dragon, leaving Apple Bloom and Scootaloo staring at each other and shrugged.

Spike's smile vanished quickly while Sweetie Belle was reading the contents out loud.

“Spike, this is Kronz. I'm Jay's brother. Anyway, I found a way to access my brother's phone so I could send you messages, and for you to reply back. To test this though, I need you to reply to me A.S.A.P. Where are you at the moment?”

Spike frowned. Nevertheless, he flipped the scroll and charred a claw to write his reply. While he was writing, Scootaloo and Sweetie Belle were leaning, eagerly eyeing Spike's writing, while Apple Bloom decided to look around, studying their surroundings.

“Huh,” the earth pony crusader said as her eyes fell on three crystal pony statues standing a few meters behind her friends. She took notice that those statues were standing in the middle of the pathway that they just walked on a little while ago.

“It's...” the scientist began, but his words died as he and Rose's father eyed the oval image, where a small patch of black appeared once again on the top-part of the image. As quick as it appeared, it then disappeared, summoning new readings from the scientist's computer. “S-something came out from that portal.”

“Obviously,” the man gritted his teeth. “Find out what it was, and report to me your findings immediately.”

“Ye-yes sir!”

“A new email!” Claire exclaimed as Kronz opened the newly-arrived email.

“That was quick...” he whispered as he opened the email.

“Yeah uh, hi. This is Spike. We've just arrived in the Crystal Kingdom. Hey uh, if you don't mind, could you tell us what happened to Gold? I mean, Jay?”

“We?” Kronz blinked.

“Gold?” Claire asked.

“My brother's name is Jagold. ‘Jay’ is just his nickname.” Kronz replied as he began writing an email.

“Oh, well, we got used to call him as Jay at work though.”

Kronz shrugged. “Yeah well, even during high school and college, he never liked other people calling him by his full name. No idea why though. I didn't bother asking.”

“I should try and remember that.” Claire said as she was about to read Kronz's reply to Spike's mail.

“‘We’? I assume that you have company. Anyway, from what I know, go inside the Crystal Castle and work your way to the throne room. There should be a secret switch there if I remember correctly. Reply to me when you find it.”

“You sound so formal in that email,” Claire whispered.

“Heheh...” Kronz chuckled lightly as he clicked the send button and then turned his head to face Claire properly. “Tell me something.”

“Hm?” she blinked as she faced him.

“Are you...and Jay...y'know...”

“Uh...” she blushed, and looked away with a shy smile. “W-well, no. Not really. I mean... We're not...officially...” she trailed off.

Kronz shrugged. It was a good answer, he thought. “Just so you know though... He never had a girlfriend before.”

Claire blinked, twice. ‘Jay...never had a girlfriend before...?’

Kronz smiled as he busied himself with his laptop, researching more about the Crystal Empire. “You're probably his first, if you two will go official.”

Apple Bloom stood near her friends, still eyeing the three crystal statues in the middle of the road, as Spike breathed out another green fumes of fire, materializing into another scroll.

“Hey um, guys?” Apple Bloom spoke, catching the attention of the two other crusaders as Spike busied himself by reading the scroll. The earth pony then pointed a hoof at the three crystal ponies.

Curious, Scootaloo turned and followed her hoof while Sweetie Belle arched an eyebrow, eyeing two crystal pony statues a few feet behind Apple Bloom.

“Were those statues there when we walked on that path a little while ago?” Apple Bloom asked to no one in particular.

“Yeah, about that...” Sweetie Belle chuckled awkwardly. “I'm not sure if those statues were there before...” she pointed with a hoof, catching Spike's attention and following her hoof.

“Nightmare Moon scares me...” Rose embraced herself, leaning her head on Rainbow Dash's shoulder.

The cyan-coated pegasus however, stared blankly at the television screen, where a purple cartoon unicorn pony just revealed to the others that it was Nightmare Moon who now stood on the spot where Celestia should have been.

The scene changed, briefly showed three shivering young fillies of different pony races. That brief moment however, lasted like an eternity for the cyan-coated pony. Her dark and lifeless eyes somehow sparkled a faint light as she managed to let out a barely audible breath. “S-S-Scoo—taloo...”

Chapter 100 - Crystal Shards

“Uh...” Spike slowly rolled the scroll with both claws without removing his gaze on the two crystal statues of ponies a few feet behind Apple Bloom.

“Somethin' weird's goin' on 'round here...” Apple Bloom said as she turned her gaze left and right, scanning their surroundings.

The others began to wander their eyes around at random, also scanning their surroundings. Sure enough, there were already a few crystal statues of ponies around them, and what is more, all of them were facing the four.

Sweetie Belle shook her head slightly. “I don't like the looks of this...”

“Well, whatever,” Spike huffed as he took a few steps towards the tall double crystal doors of the tall castle. “They're just statues anyway.” He then stood a foot in front of the doors while the three crusaders stared at each other. “Besides, it's—” Spike paused after he caught the slightest movement of the crystal pony statues—who were all facing the three crusaders—before all of them froze. “—not like...th-they—” he lifted a trembling claw, pointing at the statues, “—they moved!”

The three crusaders then stared at him. Scootaloo and Apple Bloom both arched an eyebrow at him while Sweetie Belle looked at the statues around them.

“Did you hit your head on the door or something?” Scootaloo asked, taking a step forward. “How the hay could statues move, anyway?”

“But I saw them!” Spike quickly replied while Apple Bloom nodded her support to her pegasus friend. “J-just now!”

“Moving is the only possible way for them to be suddenly standing around us...” Sweetie Belle said as she locked her gaze on the nearest crystal pony statue, unknowingly cutting Apple Bloom who was about to say something. “But...they're not moving even an inch...”

“Exactly my point!” Scootaloo exclaimed with a triumphant grin.

“But they did move!” Spike whined. “They did while you weren't staring...” he blinked, “...and stopped when I stared back...”

“What are you sayin'?” Apple Bloom asked as she and her friends walked towards the dragon.

Spike huffed. “Fine!” he said while still staring at the statues behind the approaching three young mares. “If you don't believe me, then let's make a little experiment, shall we?” Before the mares could say something, Spike immediately added, “first, stand there and look at them!”

The crusaders stared at each other. Apple Bloom was the first to react by rolling her eyes and gesturing with her head that they'd turn around. They did, and were now staring at the crystal statues.

“Do we really have to do this?”

“No complaining!” Spike quickly replied, cutting the pegasus who was about to add some more to her question. “Now, memorize their position! Where they are standing now, and everything!”

“Ugh...” Scootaloo looked over her shoulder to glare at the silly baby dragon. “What are we? Painters?”

Sweetie Belle tapped her pegasus friend's shoulder. “Let's just do it, Scoots.” She received a confused look from Scootaloo. “Maybe Spike's up to something.” Sweetie Belle shrugged before staring back at the statues. “It is weird that these statues suddenly came out of nowhere to begin with...”

The pegasus sighed in defeat. “Ugh, fine...” she stared forward, trying her best to memorize the crystal statues, which she finds a difficult of a task for their crystal surface seemed to blend with the background of crystalized structures and pathways. “...but I still think this is stupid.”

After a minute or so flew by, Spike told them to face him. The three mares did so. “Okay,” he began, his gaze is still on the statues behind the three mares, though he could barely stare at them due to the fact that the three ponies in front of him are taller than he was. “I'm gonna turn around so none of us are staring at any of them. On three, we quickly turn around and compare them from earlier. Understand?”

A nod, a groan, and an arch eyebrow was all he received from the three mares before he spun around. He barely held a scary feeling inside of him, that those statues might do something while their backs are on them.

He didn't bother counting. With a gulp, he quickly shouted. “Three—!”

“AHH—!”

“Sweetie Belle!” Scootaloo and Apple Bloom both shouted in unison as they both turned to save their friend.

The unicorn was dragged down on the crystal stairway, and whoever was dragging her stopped as soon as Spike and her two crusader friends spun around.

Both Scootaloo and Apple Bloom's colors went pale as their snouts touched the crystal noses of two crystal pony statues, while Spike's jaw hung open in utter shock as his eyes fell on a crystal pony statue, who somehow managed to bite and drag Sweetie Belle's tail.

Everything went still and quiet. Spike, Scootaloo and Apple Bloom were frozen in shock. Sweetie Belle was breathing fast, still in panic, as her gaze were on the two pony statues standing right in front of her two crusaders.

Scootaloo was the first to recover, as her shocked expression quickly shifted into a venomous snarl. She quickly struck the statue's head with her flared wing. She winced as the crystal statue flew back, and crashed on the very last step of the stairs. The statue shattered and pieces of crystal shards flew everywhere as a loud breaking noise echoed around. Each shard leaked a faint black smoke that fades in the air.

Recovering, Apple Bloom viciously shook her head before pushing the statue in front of her down the stairs, breaking it in the process, black smoke flew out from the shards. She and Scootaloo then went to help Sweetie Belle while Spike, already recovered from his shocked state, kept his gaze on the statues.

“See? I told you they move!” Spike said, his voice a mixture of victory, doubt, and fright.

“Okay already... Sheesh...” Scootaloo groaned as she held the head of the statue in place while Apple Bloom delivered a mighty double kick on the side of the statue that grabbed the tail of their unicorn friend.

The body shattered, and Scootaloo let go, dropping the crystal head in the process. It hit the stairs, and shattered, freeing the unicorn's light-purple tail.

“Ugh...” Sweetie Belle groaned, rubbing her forehead as she stood up in all four. “...so...what now?”

“Get outta here, of course!” Scootaloo replied, quickly eyeing the rest of the statues.

Apple Bloom nodded. “Right.” She then walked beside the dragon. “Spike, you keep and eye out on these here statues while we try to open that there door.”

Spike nodded without removing his gaze on the statues.

“Can't we just—oh I don't know—break all of them?” Scootaloo suggested as her eyes went to the weird faint glow on the end of the stairs below.

The broken shards were faintly glowing, and soon, the small pieces began to move towards the other. Three piles of shards were now glowing faintly as each pile were slowly forming into shapes of ponies. It only took almost a minute before the glow faded and three crystal pony statues now stood on where the piles used to be. The eyes glowed black for a moment before it went back to normal.

Scootaloo gulped a lump and laughed nervously. “Eheheh... Yeah uh, let's go and open that door now, shall we?”

Chapter 101 - Doors

Spike stood tall, his eyes locked tightly at the crystal statues meters in front of him. He disregarded the double doors that were slowly closing in front of him. He concentrated his eyes outside, until the two doors closed, blocking his gaze from the outside world.

Spike blinked and sighed in ease, while Apple Bloom, Sweetie Belle and Scootaloo gasped in relief as they slid from the door to the crystal floor, panting for breath.

“Man...” Scootaloo coughed, “...heavy doors...”

“You can...say that...again... Phew...” Apple Bloom said in between her breathing as she stood back up and wiped the sweat on her forehead.

“No thanks to mister dragon here,” Scootaloo shot Spike a glare as she stood up.

“Hey—” Spike was about to defend himself when he was cut off.

“It's because of Spike that we figured out about those statues in the first place,” Sweetie Belle said as she got on all four. She ignored her pegasus friend's frown.

“You've been siding with him for quite a while now,” Scootaloo thought out loud, “and I've been wanting to ask about that.”

“Well, I uh...” Sweetie Belle began as she darted her eyes left and right, trying to find a way out of it. Thankfully, she did. “Look! The throne room!” She pointed a hoof towards the opposite end of the majestic hallway, where another set of double doors were slightly opened, revealing a raised platform far beyond the other end of the room, with a majestic crystal chair standing tall. “No use standing around here doing nothing, right? Right! Let's go!” She then marched towards her destination, leaving her three friends by the door with arching eyebrows.

“Is she feeling okay?” Spike asked as he spun to face the other two crusaders, who only shrugged in response.

The three of them soon followed the unicorn filly, while darting their eyes around the hallway.

The hallway was wide. The walls were a lighter shade of crystal blue than the ground. Almost leaning to the walls were different kinds of statues, which were not ponies, the group were thankful about that fact. There were tall windows on each wall, almost reaching the ceiling, which was way too high that the ones back in Unicornia. A single yet large chandelier hung in the ceiling, it's size almost covering the entire ceiling.

Spike let out a low whistle of awe while Sweetie Belle, meters ahead of her friends, leaned her head beyond the doors, carefully looking at the throne room.

The throne room was pretty much like the hallway, except that the room was even more spacious, and two large chandeliers hung from the ceiling.

Sweetie Belle shrieked, stumbling back as crystalized bodies were marching to and fro inside the throne room. Each crystal hooves stomped forcefully, yet strangely, quietly, on the crystal ground. Crystal ponies were marching from one wall to another, somehow failing to notice four sets of eyes staring at them from the opened door.

“Okay...” Scootaloo gulped. “S-so they really are moving!” She quickly slapped a hoof over her mouth for how loud her voice was, but calmed down after, somehow, even her loud voice didn't stop the marching crystal ponies.

“Why are they still moving, anyway?” Apple Bloom asked to no one in particular as she and the others eyed the marching crystal ponies.

“And why haven't we noticed them when we just came inside?” Scootaloo added.

“M-maybe it's because they almost blend with the background when we look at them from a distance?” Spike answered in a doubtful manner.

The three fillies considered this, and studied the crystal ponies and the walls. The crystal ponies are almost blending with the background, they admitted.

“Good point,” Apple Bloom said as she and the others walked a few steps back from the door and stared at each other. “So...what now?”

Sweetie Belle brought a hoof to her chin, deep in thought. “Well, why don't we ask that Kronz guy?”

“Oh yeah,” Scootaloo nodded. “He seemed to know a lot about this stuff.”

Spike and Apple Bloom nodded. The purple dragon then breathed out a scroll and flipped it over to write on after he charred a fingertip.

“Kinda stuck here. Living crystal pony statues are marching in the throne room, and we can't get through without them noticing us.”

He then took a breath and covered the entire papyrus with green fumes of flame, turning it into dust and magically floating away from them, floating out through the tall windows. A full minute later and he breathed out another scroll.

“Wow,” Apple Bloom said as Spike grabbed the scroll. “That was fast.”

“Well,” Spike said, unrolling the scroll as Sweetie Belle and Scootaloo walked towards him to have a look at the contents. “I remember one time that Jay mentioned that the time in his world is slow compared to ours here.”

“Living crystal pony statues? You mean crystal ponies, right? Sorry Spike, but I don't get it. I don't see why they could be a problem. Can I ask what is wrong?”

“I take it back,” Scootaloo said as Spike rolled the scroll and puts it inside Apple Bloom's saddlebag. “This Kronz guy doesn't know a lot about these kinda stuffs.”

“Well, he's the only one we got for answers right now,” Sweetie Belle said as Spike materialized another scroll.

“I hope you gals don't mind me changin' the subject, but,” Apple Bloom interrupted as Spike began writing, “I'm mighty confused about our time here is goin' faster than Gold's world.”

Sweetie Belle nodded. “I think it means that, maybe, a minute here is an hour there.”

Apple Bloom blinked. “Oh. Well, that's easier to understand.” She nodded. “Thanks.” But after a few seconds, she blinked in thought. “W-wait...” she shook her head. “Oh, never mind...” She still didn't get it, but she decided not to bother about it for a while.

“We're inside the castle now. But before we got in, we had some trouble with those ‘crystal ponies’. They seem to be moving, but if we look at them, they don't move at all. We think they only move if we're not looking at them, which we proved after a little experiment. But the crystal statues inside the throne room are different! They're still moving even if we look at them! They can't seem to hear us though, but we're not sure if we want to just waltz inside and find this hidden switch.”

Spike then breathed out green fumes of flame, turning the scroll into dust and flew towards the window. Another minute and Spike materialized another scroll. He picked it up, unrolled it, and began reading with the three fillies.

“Huh, that's an interesting information. I need more time to research about that matter. In the mean time, here's a map of the crystal castle. I'm not sure if it matches the castle there, but it's something to start. It's attached to this email I've sent you.”

Right below the last sentence were three small maps of the castle. On the left was the ground floor. On the middle was the secret room, and the one on the right was the outside tower where the crystal heart was supposed to be.

“What's an ‘email’?” Scootaloo asked.

“We'll bother with that later,” Apple Bloom said as she and the others analyzed the map of the ground floor.

“So there's a hidden staircase right underneath the platform?” Sweetie Belle asked as she tore her gaze from the map and went to the throne room, eyeing the elevated platform on the opposite corner of the wall from the door.

“There doesn't seem to be any other way to get inside the throne room...” Scootaloo said.

“Hm... Maybe there is...” Apple Bloom said, pointing with a hoof at the map where a door to their left would lead them to a small crescent hallway, leading to the left part of the throne room, its door right in front of the elevated platform.

Blinking, Scootaloo looked to her left. Sure enough, there was a smaller and closed double door on the wall. Scootaloo then walked beside Sweetie Belle, who was peaking through the open double doors to the throne room. She dared taking a peak through the door, and studied the left wall. Sure enough, there was a slightly opened door there, just a few meters from the elevated platform.

Chapter 102 - Eyes

“Why do you keep calling it a switch, anyway?” Claire asked as she stood by her window, staring down at the raining streets. “Wasn't it a crystal that reveals the staircase leading down to that weird moving door?” But after seconds of silence, she turned her attention to Kronz, who was still busy with his laptop. “Kronz?”

“Hm? Switch, crystal, staircase...” he nodded, though he didn't remove his gaze from his laptop's screen and didn't stop his fingers from pressing on numerous keys in a very fast pace. “Let's just say that I don't really know what it's specifically called. But if an item has the ability to move things, or something related, then it is called a switch, right?”

Claire nodded. “That is a good point, but,” she brought a hand on her chin as she returned her gaze back on the gloomy and raining world outside. “Why did you mention it as a ‘secret switch’?”

“Well,” Kronz blinked, “was it an obvious switch?”

“Find anything yet?” Sweetie Belle whispered from behind the slightly opened double doors on the west wall of the throne room.

Earlier, Spike studied the marching crystal ponies' movements, and timed his chances to run towards the platform and hid himself behind the large throne that provided only a foot of a gap from leaning against the northern wall. He was now studying the back of the throne, and the wall, as he searches for something that may actually be considered as a ‘secret switch’.

Spike suddenly froze in place, making the three crusaders wonder what was wrong. A second later and he breathed out green fumes of flame and materialized into a scroll, which he caught with a claw before it touched the crystal platform.

“I may have forgotten to mention that the ‘secret switch’ I am talking about is a large purple crystal that is located at the peak of throne's backrest. At least, that's what the MLP Wiki says. Sorry for the confusion.”

Spike rolled his eyes and breathed out green fumes of flame, turning the entire scroll into dust and flew towards the crusaders, and magically materialized back into a scroll in front of Sweetie Belle. Spike then slowly and carefully walked towards the edge of the throne, and slowly took a peek at the center of the room. The crystal ponies were still marching around.

He considered attempting to reach for his claw to try and grab something if there is anything on the throne, but another scroll was coming his way. He went back to hiding behind the throne, and materialized another scroll. Unrolling it, Spike stared at a pretty artistic and colorful image. Below the large image was a text, probably from Kronz.

“Here's a picture of what the crystal castle's throne room should look like. The key is the very top purple crystal at the peak of those stacking crystals.”

Spike blinked, and stared at the image once again. ‘Why am I and Twilight in this image?’ He stared at the ‘Spike’ on the image, and then back at the giant purple gem. “That's one ‘secret’ switch all right...” he whispered, and scratched his head as he looked up. The image was not accurate, for there are no delicious stacks of crystals here, but only a plain boring wall. The throne room didn't even have curtains, not to mention that many windows. He turned around, but only saw the surface of the back of the throne. Above, there aren't any crystals either.

‘There's got to be something around here...’

The sky was covered by gloomy, rainy and thunderous clouds. The air was not strong, yet the rain was enough to bring forth a cold atmosphere in the earth.

However, a lone young man ignored the rain and cold as he stood a few meters from the tall gates of a huge mansion. He looked left at the gate, and saw the guard house, where inside, a fairly-lit little space was occupied by a sleeping guard, his loud snores almost piercing through the rain slamming against the ground, grass, rocks and cement.

There doesn't seem to be any other way to enter, except through the gates, and through the glass of the guard house. Blinking, he slowly looked around his surroundings, and found a large rock.

“This isn't related to the crystal switch, but I think I found a connection as to why the crystal ponies will freeze when you look at them. In my theory, when you conducted your little experiment, you and your companions must have somehow managed to stare back at them, and were able to see their eyes. In turn, they were also able to see your eyes. There's this weird saying that the eyes are the windows to our souls. I don't know if it connects to anything though. So, if I'm guessing this right, you are only staring at these marching ponies at a safe distance. So if that's the case, then it's safe for me to assume that they don't know of your presence. This is probably why they're still moving, because they haven't seen your eyes yet.”

Spike and the three crusaders read the latest scroll that the purple baby dragon has materialized a few seconds after he swiftly and quietly moved back through the door.

“So...” Scootaloo was the first to break the silence, “...what do we do now?” The others then stared at her while Spike rolled the scroll. “The image isn't accurate, there's no giant pink crystal key-switch-whatever, and then those moving statues need to look at our eyes for them to stop. Now what?”

“Well, the crystal must be around here somewhere...” Apple Bloom said while placing the scroll inside her saddle bag after Spike handed it to her. “I mean...it should be around here...right?”

While Scootaloo and Sweetie Belle stared at each other, Spike turned towards the door.

“Well, whatever the case,” Spike said, catching the three mare's attention, “we can't search the throne room with those statues moving around.

“What are you trying to say, Spike?” Sweetie Belle asked, although she and the others already had an idea of what he's going to do. Still, it's better to ask to be sure.

“I'm going to make them stop moving!” Spike said confidently as he stepped out from the door.

Gasping, the three mares ran after him.

“Spike!” Sweetie Belle shouted, “that's crazy! Don't—!”

If the image of the throne room was that sent to them was inaccurate, then how inaccurate could the eye-to-eye information actually be? Sweetie Belle didn't want to find out, but as she and her two crusaders bolted out from the door, Spike spun in surprise, and all of the marching statues stopped and turned to see what was happening.

The instant the statues turned their crystalized heads towards them however, they stopped, and stayed completely still.

Spike blinked, and the crusaders blinked in unison.

Black rippling darkness danced all around, almost silhouetting the dark equine's entire figure. There was a large gap of magical traffic that he received, and it quickly faded, as if a thread had snapped, losing its connection from its owner to a kite. He snarled quietly, revealing his deathly-white gritting teeth as his eyes glowed purplish black.

“Sir—!” a scientist exclaimed, “something large is forcing through a portal, and we can't hold it off for long!”

The air was still and quiet. Unfortunately, it was broken by a loud voice from a purple baby dragon.

“There it is!” Spike exclaimed, pointing a claw at the giant pinkish crystal that was attached to the wall meters above the giant door opposite to the throne.

The giant and brilliant gemstone glowed faintly, and then glowed darker and darker, until the crystal became black and faintly glowing with a faint purplish light.

“What's going on?” Scootaloo asked as she and the others took a step back.

“I don't like the look of this...” Apple Bloom added through a slightly trembling voice.

Then, black beams shot out from the crystal, hitting each of the crystal pony statues as the entire throne room shook as something shifted in the ground.

Chapter 103 - Staircase

A giant and brilliant purplish gemstone glowed faintly, and then glowed darker and darker, until the crystal became black and faintly glowing with a faint purplish light.

“What's going on?” Scootaloo asked as she and the others took a step back.

“I don't like the look of this...” Apple Bloom added through a slightly trembling voice.

Then, black beams shot out from the crystal, hitting each of the crystal pony statues as the entire throne room shook as something shifted in the ground. As the black rays of beams faded, each crystal statues' eyes glowed black, and soon, each one of them started to move as a large portion of the floor a few feet in front of the elevated platform began to move, causing the entire room to shake.

Spike and the three crusaders could barely contain their balance, while the crystal statues slowly worked their way towards them.

The floor continued to shift. Now, two rectangular pieces on the floor began to move from each other. What was under the shifting floors weren't visible because of the gloominess underneath.

Barely maintaining his footing, Spike spat green fumes of flame towards his claws, and created a lance. He swung it in front of him, hitting the crystal statue that was about to...do something to him. He wasn't sure what those statues were going to do, but he was not planning on finding out what. The statue flew to the side, its head shattered when it hit the wall.

“T-the staircase!” Sweetie Belle exclaimed, her voice trembled from the fierce vibrations of the floor. The others followed her gaze, and there, the very first step-hold was visible. It was the first that the four souls have ever seen that was both made out of crystal and was white in color.

A few crystal ponies fell to the dark pit the moving floors have revealed.

The vibrations slowed until the movement of the floors stopped completely. Now, Spike and the three crusaders could stand up properly, but it also means comfort for the crystal statues, which are already running towards them in pony-like speeds.

Spike yelped as he blocked a crystal statue's mouth with his lance. The purple dragon was dragged back from the speed the statue had gathered, adding to its strength that Spike and the others weren't aware of yet.

Another crystal statue stopped beside Spike, but instead of attacking him, it continued to run towards the three crusaders, who decided to scatter. The pursuing crystal statue gave chase to Apple Bloom while three chased after Scootaloo, and another three chased after Sweetie Belle.

Spike grunted, trying his best to push the statue back. His feet were being pushed against the elevated platform. He gritted his teeth as he decided to breath out red waves of fire to the statue that was mere inches in front of him. Thick fumes of red and orange flames swallowed the statue. Spike stopped breathing out fire, but he was still pushing the statue. He mentally slapped himself in the face. Crystals aren't ice, so melting crystals with fire won't be easy...

Another crystal statue gave chase to Apple Bloom. She was nearing the wall, and increased her speed as she grinned. As the wall became closer, she jumped and continued running vertically on the wall. After taking her third step, she heard a powerful crash and the shattering of glass behind her, and followed by another.

Sharply, she turned her head, and jumped off of the wall, and slammed her hooves on a crystal statue's head that was chasing Sweetie Belle. She yelped and winced at how solid the head was, but she grinned nonetheless, for she managed to break the head into pieces. Now, she'll have to bear landing on sharp shards of crystals on the floor, if there are any...

Sweetie Belle wasn't much of a runner, but she's pushing her hooves to run and give distance from her pursuers. While doing so, she was charging up her horn, which was a difficult of a task. If she wanted to gather enough mana energy quickly, then she needed not to move so much, or preferably, to stand completely still. She couldn't do such in her current situation.

She heard a mighty crash, and shattered glass. Glancing quickly, she saw Apple Bloom on a wall. Catching her eye, she ran near the crash site, mentally praying not to cut herself with the crystal fragments that has scattered within the area. She heard another crash from behind her, and she mentally counted that she now have two pursuers after her.

Scootaloo ran, and ran, until she found a corner. Grinning, she gained speed as she ran, and jumped towards the wall. She flared her wing as soon as her hooves made contact on the vertical wall. She then pushed all of her energy jumping up in a somersault, barely making enough time to escape the two statues that slammed themselves on the wall where she was mere milliseconds ago.

Spinning in the air, she braced herself as she gave a powerful pound on the head of the crystal statue with her wing. The crystal head shattered before her hooves returned to the ground.

Finally gathering enough mana energy, Sweetie Belle gulped, ran to a corner, and immediately stopped, turned, and blasted fierce bolts of electricity to her two pursuers which were only inches in front of her. She forced more lightning out of her horn, pushing the two statues away from her in dangerous speeds, and ended up being slammed on the opposite end of the room, the two shattered upon contact.

Sweating, she stopped the flow of mana coursing to her horn as she sighed in relief.

Grunting, Spike pushed his lance sideways, dragging the statue to slam itself on the elevated platform. Spike quickly withdrew his lance from the statue's mouth, and quickly stabbed its head, shattering it in the process.

He grinned. “That outta teach ya!” He then turned to see the goings on, but drooped after seeing three young mares grinning back at him. The black glowing crystal behind them was slowly turning back to normal.

“Took you a while to beat just one, huh Spike?” Scootaloo grinned mischievously, while the others chuckled.

Spike opened his mouth to make a protest, but gasped as the entire room shook once more after a faint growl echoed. “It's closing!” Spike said, immediately trying to maintain his footing and slowly walking towards the stairs as the floors were slowly starting to close once again.

“In position?” Xilfer asked through his cellular phone with one hand and drying his hair with a towel on another.

“Yeah,” a male's voice responded on the phone, “though I still don't understand why you'd want us to do this though...”

Xilfer shifted on the chair, eyeing the unconscious and tied security guard on the corner of his eye. “Just do it.”

A sigh was heard from the other line. “I just hope this is worth the trouble of breaking inside the plant, Xilf.”

“You guys were the ones telling me to help my family more,” he shrugged as he shook his wet shoes off of his feet.

“But how can a black-out help?”

“No questions. I thought you guys want to get the hell outta there as quick as possible?”

Another sigh. “Fine. But we can't be sure how long this power-out would last.”

“It may not be enough to save my bro,” Xilfer said, removing his wet socks with one hand. “But it'll be enough for me to break inside to find some answers.”

Chapter 104 - Statue

Spike wasn't sure if taking the stairway that spiraled downward towards a dark abyss was a good idea. He and the three crusaders braced themselves not to fall off from the crystalized rail-less stairway. The purple baby dragon glanced up, staring at the slowly closing floors. He's been wanting to get back to the surface, but fought his best to ignore such urge.

Finally, as the floors closed, the darkness instantly swallowed the four souls.

“We've been walking for while now!” Scootaloo whined, her loud voice echoed around.

“Oh, stop yer whining!” Apple Bloom said, already too annoyed by her friend's wails and the loud echoes bouncing around. “Yer killin' mah ears!”

Scootaloo grunted as they followed Sweetie Belle, who was leading the way with her glowing horn to provide light in the front of the group. Spike walked behind the group, holding a green lance, where its green faint light was enough to cast enough light.

They have been walking for almost fifteen minutes now. The spiraling stairway seemed to go on forever inside a vertical-like crystalized cave, where the walls reflected their light.

Spike wondered how Twilight and Jay were doing. Now that he thought about it, he never actually thought that he'd end up having an adventure of his own. Well, not really on his own, but still. It was kinda different to have an adventure without the brown earth pony stallion accompanying him.

He hoped that Jay would be okay, and hoped that this ancient crystal heart artifact would be able to save him. He then wondered what to do with the heart. He sighed. He'll just have to trouble with that later when he and his companions crosses that bridge.

Suddenly, he blinked and stopped. A very familiar magical sensation was reaching him. It has been a long time since she sent him a letter, which made him feel weird. He withdrew the magic on his lance, turning it into green smoke and faded in the air. As he breathed out green fumes of flame, the three young mares, who were already dozens of steps ahead, stopped and turned their heads at Spike, who was unrolling a scroll.

“Who's it from, Spike?” Sweetie Belle asked, sounding a bit excited and curious at the same time. “Is it from Kronz again?”

“Not really,” Spike said as he shook his head and walked down the stairs to meet them. “It's from Twilight. I guess she's already cured of that blue flower curse...” He's happy that Twilight is okay now, yet he's not really sure why he sounds like he didn't care. ‘Maybe I'm just tired...’

“Hey Spike. I hope you're doing well there in Unicornia. Miss Zecora made me take a weird purple bubble bath, saying that it'll cure my Poison Joke situation. I didn't believe her at first, but hey, she's an expert on herbal medicine, as far as I've heard around these parts. Anyway, I really can't believe that she got me cured! I am able to use magic again! Isn't that great!? I'm using telekinesis to hold the quill while I'm writing this! So anyway, after I'll take a recipé from her, I'll quickly return to Unicornia. Phew, Zebrica is so so hot! I don't think I've sweated like this in my entire life! Again, we'll soon be heading back to Unicornia. Send my regards to my big sister, by the way. Hahah.”

“Useless information is useless,” Scootaloo sighed as she and the others resumed walking down the stairs.

Spike rolled the scroll back and put it inside Apple Bloom's saddlebag. “Well, at least she's okay now. Maybe we can ask for her help when she returns from that tropical region.”

“Well, Twilight is a powerful unicorn,” Apple Bloom spoke. “Ah bet she can lend us a hoof if things here get outta hoof.”

“Pfft... Puh-lease...” Scootaloo rolled her eyes. “We've kicked timberwolves, manticores, hydras, unicorns, pegasi, and even moving crystal statues! I don't think there's anything that the three of us can't handle!”

‘The three of us...’ Spike thought, failing to notice that his ears drooped lamely as he frowned. ‘More like the three of them...’ He sighed as kept up with them, walking behind the group. Unknown to him that Sweetie Belle glanced at him with sad eyes before returning her focus on the stairs ahead of her.

The humming fluorescent lights of a busy room flickered. Monitors faintly turned black. Soon, the entire room became dark as all the light source died. But then a loud mechanical hum echoed faintly from somewhere as the lights and monitors came back to life.

The scientists paused for a moment, muttering what was going on until a few seconds later, a maid came inside the room, announcing that the powers were out, but the generators quickly provided electricity for the entire mansion.

Outside the mansion, that short death of power was enough for a lone guy to quickly reach the mansion from the guard house. He thought that maybe there are security cameras around the mansion. He didn't find any outside the mansion's walls, so he assumed that the focus were more inside the wall, and inside the mansion.

Hiding underneath a tall bush by the main stairway leading to the massive double doors of the mansion, Xilfer took a peek outside, scanning his surroundings. Despite the gloominess, the ground had a few electric lanterns lighting up the place.

‘Hm... If I were a rich guy's generator...where would I be...’

He kept that thought in his head for a minute or two until he sighed and took out his phone.

Kronz was too busy typing with his laptop that he failed to notice his phone vibrating on the table right next to his laptop. Thankfully, Claire, who was seated on a sofa and watching television about the latest news of the island, noticed the flashing of lights on the corner of her eyes. Turning her head, she saw Kronz's phone was flashing with lights.

“Kronz,” she said, “I think you got a message...”

Blinking, Kronz stopped what he was doing and glanced at his phone. “Huh,” he said as he grabbed his phone and read who it was from. “F-from my bro...”

Hearing those words, Claire felt happy, yet a cold shiver ran through her body. “J-Jay?”

Kronz shook his head as he opened the message. “Nah. It's from Xilf—” he cut himself off as he turned his gaze to Claire. “W-where is Xilfer, anyway?”

Claire blinked. “Uh... Now that you mention it...” she slowly turned her head towards the door. “I think...he left?”

Kronz shrugged and read the message.

“Finally!” Scootaloo wheezed as she hopped to the crystalized ground and lied down, panting.

Sweetie Belle and Apple Bloom sat beside their friend, breathing heavily to recover their strengths.

“Phew...” Spike wiped his sweating forehead with a claw. He chuckled weakly as he sat on the steps, rubbing his aching feet with both claws. “Remind me not to walk down these stairs ever again...”

“You know what the worse part is?” Scootaloo groaned, pushing herself into a sitting position. “Walking back up...”

The four souls groaned tiredly at that news. They are more likely to walk back up after they retrieve the crystal heart down there.

“Well,” Apple Bloom said, staring at the large pony statue with flared wings, facing a closed door on the crystal wall. “At least there's only one way we have to go from here.”

Spike, wondering what she meant, followed her gaze and saw a tall pony statue with wings and a horn. “I-is that...” Spike said, standing up. “...an alicorn?”

Chapter 105 - Pure

“Kronz, we just reached the end of the long stairs. We're now inside this small room where there's a brown wooden door with a crystal on top of its frame. We tried opening the door, but it won't open. And oh, there seems to be a crystal statue of an alicorn right in front of the door, by the way.”

“An alicorn? So far, there are three alicorns that I know of: Celestia, Luna and Cadence. Can you describe that statue for me?”

“Well, the statue looks like it's surprised or something. Maybe she used to be...not a statue...? And then she gasped and turned into a statue? Wait... What if the door does that to a pony? Will it work on dragons as well? I don't like to find that out...”

“Calm down Spike. Take a breath and ask your companions not to use magic on the door. For now, tell me the features of that alicorn...”

“Okay, okay. That was a close one. Sweetie Belle was about to use her magic on the door. Phew... Glad I got your message before she tried her magic on it though. Anyway, she has a long mane, almost reaching her hooves, but the tips curled up like a small ball, or something. Her tail is also long and curls up on the tip...or end. Whatever. I'm not an expert on pony hair. I'm a dragon! And oh, she has a cutie mark that sort of looks like a heart. Wait... Is she the crystal heart you are talking about?”

“Sweetie Belle is there!? Cuteness!!! Ahem, sorry... Anyway, no, that is not the crystal heart. That is Cadence, the alicorn of love. I don't know why she's turned into a statue, or if the door has something to do with it. As far as I know, that door can show you your greatest fear in your life. In theory, if you are locked by the door's curse, maybe—just maybe—that it slowly turns you into a crystal statue. I'll write you back after I make some more research... 'Till then, don't touch or use magic on that door. And oh, say hi to Sweetie Belle for me. Both from me and Claire.”

“Uh...yeah... Sure... She says ‘hi’ back, by the way...”

“Awesome! I hope one day we can meet you guys. Anyway, I've read a few...shall we say...‘articles’ about the Crystal Empire. From what I've discovered, the stairs leading to that area can only be accessed through applying dark magic on the crystal key in the throne room. How...exactly...did you activate that key? Does Sweetie Belle know dark magic?”

“Uh, yeah, about that... The crystal just sort of...happened to glow black and revealed the stairs, but it also somehow made the crystal statues move even though they could see our eyes.”

“Maybe Sombra has something to do with it. Since I am forcing a portal to open, maybe he sensed it and sent a few of his powers there to try and stop you? It's all theory yet though. Anyway, this time, you guys need to apply ‘pure’ magic on the crystal on top of the door frame to open the door properly. I'm not sure how Cadence ended up turned to stone...or statue... Since I think ‘love’ is one of the ‘purest’ of ‘magic’ there is. Does Sweetie Belle or any of your unicorn company know how to use pure magic by any chance?”

“No. She doesn't seem to know what that kind of magic means. All she knew is simple levitation, fire, lightning, and barrier magics. And there are no other unicorns with me here. Only Apple Bloom and Scootaloo. Anyway, maybe I should ask Twilight.”

“Yeah. That sounds like a good idea. She does know a lot about these things related to magic than I do, or any of us here in my world. Say hi to Twilight for me though.”

“Hey Twilight, it's Spike. Sorry if I didn't respond earlier, but I received your letter. Anyway, can I ask you a question? What is ‘pure’ magic?”

“Hey Spike. Wow, I didn't know you're interested in magic! It's kinda difficult to write while in mid-air, not to mention how cold things had become ever since we reached our land's snowy borders. So I hope you don't mind how messy I'm writing. Anyway, pure magic is a kind of magic that is unique in everypony. Yes, even non-unicorn ponies have that kind of magic. I haven't really studied more about that though, so the only things that I know about it is that when one pony's heart and mind are pure, then that pony can share that special magic with others. Unicorns however, can easily release that kind of magic through our horns, like any other kinds of magic. Hm... Now that I think about it, maybe it's pure magic that we need to dispel the curse of these Windigos. Anyway, why can't you just do some research about this in the library? I'm sure there's a book there about it.”

“Twilight's reply doesn't make sense to any of us though, so I'm sending her letter to you.”

“Okay, you just officially sent me an official letter from Twilight Sparkle! The greatest unicorn ever! Claire is sooo jealous right now, by the way! Ahem...anyway... From what I could tell, it means that you guys should concentrate on feeling that pureness inside yourselves. It's like...searching through yourself, and appreciating everything that you have in your life. Yeah, I suck at these kinds of heart-to-heart topics, but you get the point. And from what you've told me, it looks like Sweetie Belle only knows magic that can do harm and protect herself from harm. I'm going to ask you a lot of stuff about your world later when all of this is over, if you don't mind. It's got me pretty curious. Anyway, her magic is kind of...fueled by negative energy. If we're talking about pureness, then it's all positive energy. A light kind of magic, if you will. And oh, Claire pointed out that it's like what you guys feel like about friendship. The magic of friendship, if you will. It's worth the try, right?”

“The magic of friendship?” Scootaloo arched an eyebrow after she and the others finished reading Kronz's latest letter. “And even those without horns can do it!?” she exclaimed as Spike puts the scroll inside Apple Bloom's saddlebag. “That would be totally cool, if it's not such a lame magic like pureness or love or friendship or something lamer...”

“Hm... I agree with Scoots...” Apple Bloom nodded. “It sounds like one of those stories for little colts and fillies before heading to sleep.”

“Or to remember somepony during a funeral...” Scootaloo whispered lamely.

“We could at least try it,” Sweetie Belle said, already closing her eyes and taking a deep breath to calm herself.

“What are you doing?” Scootaloo arched an eyebrow.

“What does it look like I'm doing?” Sweetie Belle whispered, although her voice carried a tone of annoyance. “I'm concentrating... Looking inside myself... Sensing positive energy... Feeling our...our...” she trailed off for a few short seconds, “...friendship...”

While Scootaloo rolled her eyes, Apple Bloom smiled warmly at what she heard from her friend. Even though she was unicorn, and from Unicornia, Apple Bloom never would have thought that the unicorn would treat her and Scootaloo as her... “...friends,” and somehow, she liked it. “Yeah, I guess it's worth a try...” She then walked and stood beside Sweetie Belle, who was in front of the door.

“You too?” Scootaloo asked, startled a bit from hearing those words from Apple Bloom. They have been helping each other ever since she lost one of her wings from that dreaded day. Even though Sweetie Belle became allies with them years after Scootaloo and Apple Bloom met, she still didn't consider the unicorn as her friend, let alone be friends with anyone. To her, it's like an annoying hindrance that pulls one's self back, disabling one's self from concentrating on the battlefield. But still...there's a weird feeling inside her heart, and no matter how hard she ignores it, it still reminds her that of all the things she has encountered, Apple Bloom and Sweetie Belle were always at her back, because the three of them are... “...fine...” She stood up and walked beside Sweetie Belle. “It's better than doing nothing, I suppose...”

Spike simply stood a few feet behind the three young mares, beside the crystal statue. Although he felt really left out, he smiled. Staring at the three ponies reminded himself of how he feels towards Twilight and Jay. He was ultimately crushed when Twilight, a few years ago, started not to care about him, and how overjoyed he was when the old Twilight he knew back then came back. And now, Jay is in trouble, and he needs him. Jay has saved him a few times, and helped him return Twilight's true self. Now it's time to return a favor. Because, that's what brothers are for, right? ‘Huh, I wonder if I should call Twilight my big sister as well...’

“Spike?” Sweetie Belle called. She turned over her shoulder and flashed him a gentle smile. “You are also our friend. You know that, right?”

Spike blinked. “Uh...”

Apple Bloom then turned her head over her shoulder to look at him with a smile. “Yeah Spike. We're yer friends, right?”

Spike blinked again, feeling weird that they called him their friend. He never actually made friends before, not with the war going on back then. It felt...really strange for the baby dragon. Somehow, it felt really nice to have friends and they call you their friend as well. He couldn't describe it, even though he was a studious little dragon.

“Would you hurry up already?” Scootaloo groaned, staring at him lamely. “I don't like how sappy we're getting...”

Spike smiled, and chuckled as he stood beside Apple Bloom. He looked at them with a smile, and the three smiled to him in return. Then, with a determined nod, the four faced the door, and closed their eyes to concentrate on this strange feeling of friendship, while unknown to them that the four of them were faintly glowing in white as the crystal on top of the door frame glowed in white as well.

Chapter 106 - Heart

With closed eyes and genuine smiles, Spike, Apple Bloom, Scootaloo and Sweetie Belle were faintly glowing in white while they were all standing in front of the wooden door. On top of the door's frame was a crystal that was also glowing faintly in white. The quiet air was then filled with a low melodic hum as the four souls glowed brighter and brighter. As they glowed fiercely, the alicorn crystal statue behind them was starting to glow as well from inside, while its crystal surface was beginning to break.

The melodic hum however, was broken by a painful shriek from a unicorn in pain. As her horn glowed brighter than the rest of them, the three others opened their eyes in shock and to see what was happening to their friend. However, they couldn't see anything, other than white.

Their cries of concern were soon drowned after the melodic hum suddenly became louder and louder, although it didn't seem to hurt their hearing. It was as if the painfully loud hum weren't reaching each of the four souls' ears, but only the painful cries of the unicorn.

Soon, Sweetie Belle's entire body became stiff as a magical aura pointed her horn up, and a powerful magical beam was fired against the unicorn's will. The intensity of the beam brightened the entire chamber, and it broke through the thick crystal floor of the thrown room. It kept on going up vertically, breaking through ceilings and floors, until it finally broke out from the castle.

The bright beam flew up until it broke through the invisible barrier that protected the empire from the harsh snow. It exploded in a graceful manner, literally flashing a brilliant white light that even Twilight and her companions had to shield their eyes to avoid being blinded for mere seconds.

When things returned to normal, Twilight and the others, who were still on the large air-carriage that was hovering in the air which were driven by startled pegasi stallions, looked around, somehow trying to search for the source of where that bright light had come from.

One of the pegasi spotted it first, and quickly pointed a hoof directly towards the Frozen North. The thick gray clouds were slowly separating apart and fading as it gave way to a brilliantly-shining heart-shaped physical mana. The others stared at it, while Twilight stared with great interest and confusion. It was something that she has never seen before. What is even more strange is that it was somehow giving off a strange positive aura. Somehow, it made her, and the others, smile. Not a fake one, but a genuine one: a real one. It filled their hearts with joy and understanding.

Twilight took a breath and relaxed as she sighed. Unifying the ponies would be pretty much a simple task now, thanks to... Twilight shook her head, and stared north. ‘Just what is that giant white heart mana-thing, anyway?’

Spike, Scootaloo and Apple Bloom were staring worriedly at Sweetie Belle, who was weakly leaning on Apple Bloom with her horn's glow dimming slowly. As soon as the light on her horn vanished, Sweetie Belle weakly opened her eyes and groaned.

“Ugh...” the unicorn mumbled as she lifted a weak hoof to her head. “Whu...what happened...?”

“You tell us...” Scootaloo said with a small smile as she pointed a hoof up.

Sweetie Belle blinked. She was suppose to be the one lighting up the place so she and her friends could see, but now, she noticed that there was enough light for her to see everything around her. Looking up, she saw a hole high above where the floor had closed. That, and light was also coming in from the opened door right in front of them.

“And that's not the only thing that you did!” Spike said cheerfully as he pointed at the opened door.

Sweetie Belle blinked, and allowed a few seconds for her eyes to adjust. Through the door, she could see the vast white lands and mountains, and gray clouds.

“Ah bet it's just an illusion an' all...” Apple Bloom said while Sweetie Belle decided to try and stand up on her own. She assisted her unicorn friend with a hoof. “Ah mean, the throne room was on the ground floor, and we went down, so that means we're underground. It just doesn't make sense if we somehow got ourselves outside all of a sudden.”

“Good point,” Spike said, nodding in agreement.

“Actually,” a female voice said from behind them, making the four jump and shiver.

The four quickly spun around, preparing to defend themselves, but only to be stunned in surprise as they saw a gently-smiling pinkish alicorn, who was dusting herself from a few small shards of crystals.

“You certainly are staring at the outside world.” She then returned her hoof on the ground and bowed before the four curious souls. “My name is Cadence, and I thank you for freeing me from...” she trailed off. She blinked, confused, and brought a hoof to her chin. “Hm... I don't really know what happened after I tried opening the door,” she closed her eyes and shook her head slightly. “It does not matter.” She opened her eyes and smiled at the four. “Whatever you did just now, is something I have never seen before.”

“Uh...” Scootaloo shifted uncomfortably and looked at Spike. “Is she the alicorn-love thing that guy Kronz told us about?”

Spike crossed his arms and thought about it. “She must be...” He then looked at Cadence, who was stretching her wings. “So uh...why were you down here, anyway?”

Cadence folded her wings back to her side and smiled gently at them. Spike recalls that even Celestia also smiles gently before she speaks. Maybe it's an alicorn thing, he thought. “The very same reason that you are here,” she answered, “the Crystal Heart.”

“Oh, that's great!” Apple Bloom nodded, “we could team up and go get it!”

“Wait!” Scootaloo eyed the alicorn suspiciously, “how did you know that we're here for the Crystal Heart?”

Hearing her question, Sweetie Belle and Apple Bloom grew suspiscious of the alicorn standing before them, however, Spike was busy with his thoughts.

The purple dragon scratched his head and spoke before anything else might be said that they'd regret sooner or later. “I read a book that beings turned to stone could still be able to hear things.” He looked at his confused companions. “M-maybe it's the same for being turned into a statue?”

“Ah,” Cadence smiled, “quite studious for a dragon.” She nodded. “Indeed, I could still hear from a small radius of my surroundings, thus I heard about you looking for the Crystal Heart.” Her gaze then fell on the outside world, beyond the opened door, and her gentle smile vanished, and was replaced by a serious frown. “I came here to retrieve the heart. I believe that it has the power to stop Sombra's reign and control over this empire.” She then walked around the four and walked outside, her mane and tail blew gently with the constant cold wind. She turned to look at them. “This door is magical, for it leads you to a secret part of the castle where the heart is located.”

“Magical door?” Sweetie Belle asked.

“Is that why there aren't any air coming in from outside?” Apple Bloom asked while Scootaloo walked outside, turned her head to her left, and immediately shivered.

Spike and the others took note of her trembling form. They looked at each other before stepping out of the door.

“Sheesh, Scoots,” Sweetie Belle chuckled as she turned to her pegasus friend. “It's not...that...cold...”

She and the others stared at the white set of stairs that seemed to be spiraling upward on a tall white pillar.

Spike, Apple Bloom and Scootaloo deflated.

“Great,” Scootaloo groaned, “more stairs...”

Cadence was being cautious, for she doesn't know what sort of traps lie ahead, however, looking at her four companions, she couldn't help but chuckle as she wondered how long was she turned into a crystal statue. Her ears suddenly flickered as she caught the faintest of angry grunts. She turned her head to the white mountains, and frowned.

“Let's make haste,” Cadence said, already walking the stairs, “I do not know where Sombra is, but there is no doubt that he'll do everything in his power to stop us.”

“Y-yeah, about that...” Spike said as he and the others followed the alicorn. “This Sombra dude is in another world at the moment...”

Cadence stopped, blinked, as she tried to understand what the baby dragon had just said. Has she heard him right? She turned to him. “I beg your pardon?”

Chapter 107 - Mansion

Claire was watching the news on her television screen across the table as she sat on her sofa. She turned her head on the arm-rest of the sofa, and grabbed the remote. Extending her arm, she pointed the remote at the television as her thumb prepared to push the button of increasing the volume.

Loud sirens were reaching her apartment, and she could barely hear the news.

Just as she was about to push the button, the television died as her vision dimmed. Blinking, she stared at the remote, thinking that maybe she might have accidentally pressed the on/off button.

“Oh...” Kronz spoke, a bit surprised as he momentarily stopped whatever he was researching in his laptop. He was seated on a wooden chair, busy with his laptop on a small desk on the corner of the room. He blinked, and sighed, before returning to his task. “...so that's why he asked about the location of your home's generators...”

“W-what?” Claire asked, standing up and walking towards the teenage male. “Y-your brother seriously sneaked into my dad's mansion!?”

“Relax,” Kronz replied as he went back to his internet browser. “I'm sure he knows what he's doing...” He typed a website's address, and hit the ‘Enter’ key, and immediately, he was greeted with an error page. With force, he planted a palm to his forehead. “I forgot... No power means no wi-fi...”

He pulled back, dragging the chair with him. He stood up and stretched that lasted for a few seconds before sighing in relief. He then turned to Claire with an awkward smile.

“Do you happen to have some unused USB cords, pliers, electric tape, an unused wi-fi stick, screwdrivers, an old phone, and some wires?”

Claire blinked...twice...thrice...

Xilfer was thankful for the rain, for it somehow drowned the sounds he makes as he swiftly moved towards the garage located at the west-side of the mansion, while hiding behind the tall garden bushes that lined the walls of the mansion. He needed to duck, to avoid being spotted by someone on the other side through the large glass windows.

He was about to round a corner when he stopped as he saw, through the gaps of the bushes, a large guard dog lying down under the large doghouse resting at the very wall that surrounded the mansion. He held his breath, and sighed quietly after realizing that the dog was fast asleep. The rain must have also drowned his scent somehow. That, or the dog is too old for guard duty.

He took a few steps towards the garage, and he was thankful that the large metallic door was left open. However, something heavy slipped off from his pocket. He stopped and turned slightly to grab the gun. He stared at it as he remembered how he easily pulled it out from the guard he knocked off earlier in the guard house. Shaking his head a bit, he decided to just hold the weapon as he swiftly moved inside the garage.

He walked inside, and sighed in relief as he stood up. Finally, he could stretch his legs, but before he could, he froze after a terrified gasp reached his ears. He quickly turned to the source and pointed the gun at the trembling maid.

He held guns before, and even had the experience of firing at other gunners who were enemies of his gang back home and on neighboring towns. He held the gun firm, aimed at the maid who was now too terrified to even move or breathe. “Don't move, and don't shout,” Xilfer warned with determined eyes as he walked closer and closer to the helpless maid.

Finally, he stopped, after the gun was now within an inch away from the female's skull. Pointing the gun this close wasn't a good idea, for only those who know how to handle these kinds of things, but Xilfer knew all too well that at her current situation, her mind couldn't think of anything other than follow his orders.

“Follow my orders, and I'll let you live. Deal?” he smiled with killer eyes, and he received a terrified breath as her response. He eyed her for a short while, admiring her sexy form. He guessed that she was probably around twenty-five to thirty. She had nice curves, but unfortunately, he came here for other reasons. “Turn around,” he said, pulling the gun away for a few inches before she slowly followed what she was told. As she did so, Xilfer stared at her rear. He admired the scene for a second or two before pulling his arm that held the gun behind his back and pounded her neck.

And the air in her lungs escaped her mouth as she fell unconscious. Xilfer grabbed her falling form and hid her behind the stacks of boxes. Looking around, he saw pieces of dirty clothing and some rope, and other stuff that he didn't need. Grabbing the rope, he tied the maid's feet and arms. Then, after whispering his apology, he slightly opened her mouth and slid the dirty cloth before wrapping it behind her neck.

With that done, he needed to continue with his task. He looked around, but found no generators. He sighed. Maybe he took the wrong way? He continued looking around and saw a door that could lead him inside the mansion. He eyed the door for a second before nodding to himself. Before he stood up however, with his free hand, he grabbed the unconscious maid's chest, and squeezed it a bit before walking towards the door. What he just did, he wasn't sorry.

He stood before the door, and leaned his ear on the wooden door to listen at the sounds on the other side. It was quiet... Too quiet. He stepped back and stared at the door. He thought that maybe the door was just too thick. Shrugging, he grabbed the handle and slowly and quietly twisted the knob. As soon as he could no longer twist it any further, he slowly pulled the door open, however, he found out that the door wouldn't move. He tried pulling a little harder, and a little more, and a few more, but the door just wouldn't move.

He arched an eyebrow as he wondered what kind of a door was he dealing with. A stupid idea came to his head, and he tried to slowly push the door, and presto, it worked. He blinked in confusion and he made a small opening and took a peak. For long years of robbing other people's homes, he never encountered a garage door to open the other way around.

The coast was clear and he found himself in a large tiled room filled with faucets and washing machines and other stuff for cleaning cloths. He let out a low whistle of awe, as he now added to his wishlist to add a room specifically for washing clothes only in his future dream house. He looked around for a bit before his gaze fell on white lab coats hung on cloth hangers. He vaguely remembered that Claire's dad had a few scientists working here in this mansion, so if he were to sneak in, he'd need to look like one of them. That, and he need to take off his soaking clothes as well.

Kronz plugged a USB cord to his laptop's USB ports, and soon, an icon on his taskbar made him smile.

“B-but how's that possible!?” Claire said in amazement. She couldn't believe that Kronz was able to create a device to connect to the internet using an old phone's signal chip, or whatever it was that Kronz had said. She tried to pay attention while Kronz built his very own device to connect to the internet, but she fell lost from all the foreign words the young genius was babbling.

Kronz only grinned as he checked his mail. “Well, the only downside is that the speed will be slow, since I'm only using a mobile phone's signal...” And after a few more seconds, his inbox had loaded, and there, he received a new message. “From Spike?” he whispered to himself as he opened the mail. Claire leaned closer so she could read Spike's message.

“Kronz, we just reached the end of the long stairs. We're now inside this small room where there's a brown wooden door with a crystal on top of its frame. We tried opening the door, but it won't open. And oh, there seems to be a crystal statue of an alicorn right in front of the door, by the way.”

Kronz then clicked the reply button, and began to type his response while Claire was reading what he was typing.

“An alicorn? So far, there are three alicorns that I know of: Celestia, Luna and Cadence. Can you describe that statue for me?”

He then clicked the send button, and he then stared at the ‘sending’ window, and waited for it to vanish. He sighed. After all of this, he'll never go back to slow connections again.

Xilfer looked at himself, and smiled as the entire lab coat could safely seal the gun he hid. He now wondered if he needed to fix his hair, but he saw a few movies where scientists are always busy with their brains, and always ending up with messy hair. With a shrug, he decided to walk towards the other door.

He was about to grab the doorknob when it suddenly twisted. He stopped, stunned, as he realized that someone else was twisting the knob from the other side of the door. He instinctively pulled his hand to grab the gun, but he wasn't fast enough as another maid pulled the door open, almost hitting him in the process.

“Ah!” the maid said in surprise, and immediately bent forward into a bow. “I-I'm so sorry, sir! I didn't mean to...I mean... I didn't know that you were...”

Xilfer blinked as the maid mumbled an apology. He forgot that he was wearing a lab coat. He mentally slapped himself as he pulled his arms to his coat, as if trying to fix himself. “It's fine, I'm fine...” he said as the maid stared back at him.

He guessed that she was in her middle forties. He frowned a bit. He didn't like old females. Who does, anyway? His lame older brother, perhaps. He never actually understood why his brother had a soft heart to old people. He shook his head slightly.

“I was just heading out anyway,” he smiled as he thought of something to say that wouldn't sound suspicious. She probably came here for a reason, and he's not going to let her find that cute unconscious girl in the garage. Now that he thought about it, he needed to be quick before that girl wakes up. “Might I ask what is keeping you to your nerves? You know that opening doors like that could hurt someone, right?”

“Oh... I know... And I'm really sorry...” she bowed again as her form of apology. “...but the young miss wanted me to look for Elly.”

Elly? Young miss? “Does this Elly perhaps have blue gorgeous eyes and long golden hair reaching down to her shoulders?”

“Why yes!” the maid said cheerfully. “Have you perhaps seen her?”

“Indeed I had,” Xilfer was growing tired of talking like a gentleman... “Though I apologize, but I just recently asked her to get me a few things in the city for our work...” he trailed off. He wanted to add the area of where the scientists work, but he doesn't have a clue where that is.

“Oh, I see...” the maid frowned slightly. “I'll let the young miss know.” She nodded her thanks before walking away.

Xilfer smiled gently as he closed the door behind him, while eyeing her in the corner of his eye. He now found himself in a spacious hall. It was probably the living room, but he had to stop the urge to whistle in awe at how grand the place was. There were a number of maids walking to and fro, and all were not minding his presence. He grinned inwardly that his disguise made him blend well, but with these many people walking around, one of them is bound to find that unconscious girl.

He saw her taking the stairs up, and as soon as she disappeared, he looked around, and as soon as he was convinced that no eyes were on him, he went back inside and leaned his palm on top of the doorknob of the door leading to the garage. He exerted his strength to push down the doorknob, until he heard a faint metal-snapping sound. With the door jammed, it'll buy him some more time before anyone could discover the girl.

With that done, he now wondered if he should go directly to the place where the scientists are working, or go and look for this young miss for an impromptu plan. He doesn't have a clue where the former is located, but he has a good idea where the latter is.

Chapter 108 - Hostage

With simple analysis of his current whereabouts, he easily decided to walk forward from the door that leads to the washroom. Nobody seemed to mind his presence, which suited him just fine. He passed by the large sets of stairs leading to the second floor of the mansion, where he got a glimpse of the maid she spoke earlier was walking down from the stairs that were connecting the third and second floors.

Reaching his destination, he grabbed the doorknob, twisted it, and pushed it open. The moment the door opened, he heard the mechanical hum of the generators which were standing in the middle of the large garage-like room. The air felt warmer here than back in the spacious living room. With a determined smile, he closed the door behind him and walked around the generator slowly.

From what he could see, it looked like two generators standing side-by-side. It's deep-blue metallic body vibrated as it let out a mechanical hum that echoed in the room. It stood almost twelve feet in height and almost seventeen feet in width on all corners. On the walls of the closed room were metallic tables where tools, papers and other uninteresting items were sitting on them. There were also a few boxes stacked.

Xilfer stared at the generators, as he figured out how to shut this thing off. As his eyes fall on a small screen with a few buttons before them, he momentarily recalled the reason why he wanted to shut this thing off. He remembered hearing his younger brother, Kronz, saying something about ‘Claire's’ father's scientists were behind all of those monsters back home. He remembered him saying that they were controlling them by their computers. He wasn't really paying that much attention though, so he might have missed a few points here and there. But those aren't important now. If these creeps do control those monsters back home with their computers, then it would be obvious that they'd lose control if they lost power, right?

Right, he nodded to himself. With that in his head, he read the labels on each buttons as he searched for a way to shut this large piece of metal junk down. After a minute, and already read the labels a few times already, he sighed, as he failed to located the right button to shut the generators. He looked at the large metal block in front of him, and wondered to himself if generators really do run with only buttons. A quick glance to his left, and he found a lever that was firmly leaning against the metallic surface of the generator. It blended well, so he thought that maybe he missed seeing that while he was walking around the generator earlier.

He stood in front of the lever, and grabbed it with his hand. After creating a gap, he finally manages to get a good hold on the warm metal rod. He smirked as the feeling on his grip made him remember a few fond memories. Sweeping those memories aside for a while, he took a breath and—

—the door opened and a middle-aged man wearing a lab coat walked in, and quickly stopped—surprised—to see one of them in this room. “Excuse me, sir...” he trailed off as he didn't recognize the messy-haird guy who was grinning at him while holding the lever. “...but uh, what exactly are you doing here?”

Xilfer grinned wider. Things are going to be exciting. “Light's out, doc!” He yelled as he pulled the lever down, instantly killing every lights and electric-depended devices in the mansion.

The scientist gasped as his vision went pitch black. As soon as he stepped back, a powerful fist hit his face and threw him back. The maids gasped at the sudden sound of a man collapsing on the floor. Xilfer quickly went out, slammed the door closed, pulled his gun, and fired at the knob to jam it. The loud bang echoed all around the mansion, summoning fearful shrieks from the female maids as they brought their hands over their heads and kneeled down while others fled to other rooms.

He quickly ran towards the stairs, and as soon as he took his first step on the second floor, a door was slammed open from the ground floor, and he took a quick glance to see a few more scientists emerged with flash lights. He fired at them, intentionally not hitting anyone but the floor as he skipped towards the higher floors.

From what he remembered, Claire's father owns the place, and that maid mentioned a ‘young miss’, so perhaps he could use her to lure the guy he's looking for.

“What was that noise!?” the black-suited man yelled so his voice will go over the shrieks of his maids.

“Probably from a gun, sir!” a female scientist spun to face him with a terrified look.

“Damn it,” he cursed as he looked around, “damn that lazy son of a bitch! I should have hired more—”

“AAAAHHHHH!!!!!! DAAAADDDDYYYY!!!”

He choked as his pupils shrunk. He sharply turned his head up towards the stairs. “ROSE!!!” He yelled in horror as he ran towards the stairs, while other scientists tried to call him as others ran after him. Everything inside the mansion was dark, but his vision was slowly becoming darker as terrible thoughts began to dance around his head. He heard his daughter shout for him again, and he pumped every energy he has on his feet to run and climb stairs faster.

Finally reaching the last floor, he heard his daughter's shout for help one last time before he tackled the door open, slamming it loudly on the wall. As he stopped, and as if on cue, a powerful lightning flashed, allowing him to see the scene in front of him.

Xilfer stood in the middle of the room, with a maniac-like grin as he wrapped his arm around the small girl's neck and limply hung his other hand with the gun on his side.

Rainbow Dash lifelessly watched the scene happening before her eyes as she quietly sat on the foot-edge of the large bed. Her lifeless eyes didn't even reflect the fierce light from the lightning bolt.

As the light faded, a powerful crackling sound roared, making the child yelp in pain.

“Rose!” her father yelled as he was about to run towards them.

Xilfer somehow knew that the old man must have forgotten something, so he gladly reminded him about it by quickly pointing the gun and firing at the floor a foot in front of the stunned man. He saw the terrified looks of the scientists at the door, and he grinned further.

“Let her go!”

“Let her go!” I shouted as the unicorns above the hill were walking down, levitating the struggling filly along with them. The unicorns just laughed at our struggle.

Rainbow's mouth opened slightly, and closed, as if mumbling something, but nothing came out. Rose was squirming while crying for help, and Xilfer was growing tired of hearing her whines.

“Ain't happening,” Xilfer smiled. “Let's make a deal,” he said, catching the man's attention, for only half of it. “I won't kill her if you convince her to shut the f*ck up and stay still.” He studied the man's expression, and as fun as this was going, he had a tight schedule to follow. “Ten seconds.”

“Very good,” a voice from a unicorn who just came out from the forest spoke. I turned my head and glared at the newcomer. He looked older than the unicorns that captured me and Scootaloo. “It seems that the four of you have been trained quite well.” He smiled genuinely at them, but it was an evil smile for my taste.

“Darn it...” he cursed. “R-Rose dear,” he said, with a trembling voice, as he desperately tried to force a smile as his daughter stared back at him. “E-everything's go-going to be all right, honey... J-just...do what the guy asked, and stay still and st-stay quiet, o-okay?”

I struggled to break free from the magical aura that is pinning me down on the ground. Gah!

Rainbow Dash was shivering slightly... Her breath was quietly, but were slowly starting to go fast.

Xilfer studied the man as he said all of those to reassure his daughter. The man's eyes...he didn't understand them. They were frightened, that he was certain, but they were also...reassuring... Strangely, it made him feel like a total idiot of doing all of this...just for the sake of his stupid older brother. What is worse, he already knew what his brother would say about this, if he remembers him right.

Nonetheless, he needed to focus. “See, ain't that an easy thing to do?” he smiled at the young girl, who was too terrified to even shiver. She was easy to handle now, but he still kept a firm hold of her neck, just in case. He then turned back to the man. “So...let's start,” he grinned. “Ask away.” He noticed a few scientists with phones, probably calling the cops. However, he saw their puzzled, confused, and angry expressions, and he smirked even further as he thought that they couldn't connect.

“What shall we do with them, commander?”

The tiniest of light reflected on Rainbow's eyes.

The man glared at him. “What do you want?”

“My...aren't you an unfriendly type...” Xilfer teased. “Very well,” he nodded, “let's go straight down to business, shall we?” He sharply tilted his head left and right, cracking his neck bones in the process. Somehow, his eyes fell on the strange blue dog sitting on the bed as he lowered his hand, that was holding the gun, to his side. He arched an eyebrow at it as he tapped a rectangular metal under his pocket before returning to the man. “Answer me this: what were you doing on Mount Comet?”

The man clenched his teeth and his fists. He didn't want to answer, but he's couldn't do anything about it. Would a lie suffice? “My scientists and I were conducting research...”

“If you're going to answer vaguely, then I'll be cancelling this deal...” he slowly lifted the gun towards the child, but stopped after the man begged him to stop. “...oh? Sorry, I lost my interest. Maybe you can wind me back to the deal?” He saw the man's eyes twitched, and he grinned.

I brought my hooves on the ground, and started pushing myself up, but it's too darn difficult! Ugh... My own sweat is stinging my eye!

“Please let me go!” Scootaloo cried.

“Sc-Scoota...loo...” Rainbow whispered with a very low voice that even her ears couldn't pick it up.

“I am aware of those monsters from your so-called portals,” Xilfer said, breaking the silence as lightning brightened the room with white light. “There, I made things easier for you. Now I want to know is, why did you summon those monsters, and why aren't you doing anything to bring them back?” He then planted the mouth of the gun on the girl's head.

The man and a few others behind him gasped.

“Like I said, I'm on a tight schedule, and I'm getting bored and tired. So make it quick or say your goodbye.” He shrugged. “Your choice.”

“D-daddy...” Rose whispered with trembling lips and with tearful eyes.

The higher-ranked unicorn shrugged. “Meh. What makes pegasi ponies special?”

The other four unicorns thought about it while Scootaloo was crying in fear and I was trying to free myself.

“Their wings?” One of the unicorns spoke.

The higher-ranked unicorn nodded. “You catch up fast.” He grinned. “Now here's another question.”

Rainbow Dash shivered as she panted slowly and quietly.

Chapter 109 - Answers

“I am aware of those monsters from your so-called portals,” Xilfer said, breaking the silence as lightning brightened the room with white light. “There, I made things easier for you. Now I want to know is, why did you summon those monsters, and why aren't you doing anything to bring them back?” He then planted the mouth of the gun on the girl's head.

The man and a few others behind him gasped.

“Like I said, I'm on a tight schedule, and I'm getting bored and tired. So make it quick or say your goodbye.” He shrugged. “Your choice.”

“D-daddy...” Rose whispered with trembling lips and with tearful eyes.

Rainbow Dash shivered as she panted slowly and quietly. No one seemed to take notice of her current condition.

The man was confused by now with so many emotions running inside of him. He can't tell him what is going on, yet he also doesn't want to lose his daughter. Sighing, his features dropped as he accepted his defeat of keeping the secrecy of his work and to accept that being a father is more important at this situation. Before he could speak however, the silence was loudly broken by a piercing gunshot. His heart stopped and his breath froze as he sharply returned his gaze back at the two persons in the middle of the room. He sighed in the greatest relief after seeing Xilfer's hand was outstretched towards the side of the room, where he fired the gun at the balcony's already-opened glass door, shattering the glass in the process.

“That was just a reminder, old guy. Also,” Xilfer gestured with his free hand, pointing at him, disregarding the fact that he was still holding the gun. “What should I call you anyway?”

“C-Cortes...”

Xilfer smiled viciously. “So, Mr. Cortes. Are you planning on answering my questions or do you w—”

“I will answer them!” Cortes cut him off, his voice louder than he wanted it to be.

“How rude of you of butting in to what I was saying,” Xilfer said, grinning wider, “I like that. Now then,” he tapped the gun's mouth on the sobbing girl's head. “Grace me with your wisdom. And oh, please try not to lie. If you do, I'll kill her quickly.”

Cortes gulped, but nodded nonetheless. “J-just promise me you'll return my daughter...”

Xilfer grinned even wider.

“...alive...”

Xilfer frowned, and shrugged. “Fine, fine,” he rolled his eyes.

“I'll answer your first question...about us summoning those monsters... Truth is...we didn't.” Cortes explained, and Xilfer frowned. “Those monsters managed to get through the portal by accident. After we escaped the island, we searched for a reason why they came to our world. It turns out that it was our fault... The portal simply appeared fine in our side of the world, but on the other side, it acted like a vacuum, sucking those nearby, hence why they appeared here... T-though...not all of the portals acted that way... Some were neutral. We worked hard to block the portal, to stop anything from going in and out...”

Xilfer withdrew the gun from the girl's head and tapped the weapon's mouth on his chin as he thought of what Cortes had just said. Cortes, on the other hand, wished that he'd accidentally pull the trigger.

“Like a vacuum...” Xilfer said, “...right...” he didn't sound convinced.

Cortes gulped, and continued. “And as f-for your second question... We are...or rather, we were in the process of figuring out how to bring them back, until...you showed up.”

“Oh?” Xilfer said, sounding surprised, yet his frowning face didn't change a bit. “So it's my fault then?” He waved the gun recklessly as he shrugged. “I guess I'll take that blame then.”

“T-there, I've answered your questions... C-ca—” Cortes said, with a slight shimmer of hope, however, Xilfer quickly shut that shimmer down.

“Not so fast, pops,” Xilfer returned the gun pointing at the girl's head. “I ain't satisfied yet,” he grinned.

“B-but you—”

“Oh, zip it,” Xilfer said with a lame tone. “You're in no position of going against me, are you?” After a few moments of silence, he spoke again. “Glad that you see things my way. Now then, another question, and oh, don't forget to answer truthfully.”

“I don't plan on losing my daughter because of a lie,” Cortes glared at him.

“Good, good,” Xilfer grinned, “then answer me this: where did this stupid idea of portal-things came from?”

Cortes sighed. He didn't want to remember the past, for it only reminded him of her... “It...came from...my youngest daughter...”

Xilfer blinked. “What?” He arched an eyebrow. “If this is a joke, then you better end it right now, pops.” He glared at the old man, but Cortes countered with his own, and Xilfer knew that from those eyes, he could tell that he was telling the truth. Still, he held his glare.

“It was a few years ago, when my wife and I were still young and alive. R-right after Rose came into this world...”

“Who's Rose?” Xilfer asked.

“Your hostage,” Cortes replied lamely. “My wife and I, as scientists, worked day and night to try and find a solution to save our dying planet. As the years flew by, Rose grew up and became fascinated about the world of...colorful horses.”

“P-ponies...” Rose whispered, correcting her father.

Xilfer still had an eye raised as he listened to Cortes' explanation.

“That is when we got the idea of another world. It sounded silly, almost stupid, at that time. It was a fictional fantasy many of us think, but after we received a report of a strange phenomenon happening at the far east of our country, we went to investigate.” Cortes allowed a few moments of silence as he smiled warmly, remembering the good years.

During that short time of silence, Xilfer heard a faint sound of breath, though as if someone is struggling of breathing. Xilfer was about to turn to the bed when Cortes continued, so he disregarded that sound.

“It turned out that there was a strange magnetic disturbance occurring in the area. Staring through it was like staring at a distorted windscreen of a car. It was oval, it was in mid-air, and it made us all thought of the possibility of a portal going through other worlds. We've conducted research, and we found out that the fabrics of time and space on that ‘portal’ could potentially be opened. Unfortunately...” Cortes hung his head low, “...that was when they arrived.”

“I've seen a few stupid sci-fi movies in my early days,” Xilfer said, “and I am guessing that this is the part where the government appeared, correct?”

Cortes sighed and nodded lamely. Xilfer took note of the shamed looks of the other scientists behind him. “Our government were interested, after we've explained to them our findings. We only wanted to save our world by getting the natural resources of that other world, but the government had other plans.”

“...and I'm guessing it has something to do with money...” Xilfer said, sighing after the words left his mouth. He saw Cortes nodding, and he sighed yet again. “Damn those fools,” he tightened his grip on his gun. “And now, answer me this: why are you still working?”

“...we can't stop...”

“...b-but daddy...” Rose spoke up, catching her father's and Xilfer's attention.“I...I thought you stopped it...”

Cortes sighed, but flashed her a small smile. “I'm sorry, Rose, that I lied...”

“Listen, kid,” Xilfer spoke, making the girl look at him on the corner of her frightened eyes, “if your daddy stops, he'll be killed.” Rose gasped, and her father hung his head again. “...and not only him, I'm afraid...” Xilfer added as he eyed the scientists behind the man. He then grunted as he scratched his head with the gun. “Well, this sucks.”

Cortes looked at him curiously.

“So, you keep on working to try and fix this so not only you get funded, but also to save your lives, and your daughter's future, correct?”

Cortes blinked, and nodded with doubt.

“I came here to find some answers, and in the hopes of you restoring the island.” Xilfer explained as he looked at the bed. There, he saw the strange blue dog again, somehow having a terrible time breathing while sitting still. “But I guess I'm on check at the moment, so...”

Xilfer moved his gaze to the balcony, and pointed his gun again at the glass door again, and fired. The loud noise pierced the ears of all those present. Even Rainbow's ears twitched as she gazed confusedly at the gunner.

After the ringing of their ears died down, everyone heard a loud screeching noise from outside. It sounded like tires harshly being dragged on a cemented road. Then, a powerful engine reached their ears, and then a loud crashing noise.

A roofless car crashed through the mighty gates of the mansion, waking the tied guard inside the guard house. It landed on the wet ground, and skidded to a stop right below the balcony of where Xilfer was.

Grinning, Xilfer picked the girl up and pointed the gun at Cortes. “Now you're in check!” he said as a dog's barks and Rose's cries echoed in the room. “If you want her back, then fix the island!”

“Wait, no!” Cortes shouted desperately as Xilfer ran towards the balcony.

My eyes shrunk in fear of what they're about to do! I gritted my teeth harder as I forced myself back up. I quickly turned my gaze back at the—

—running man as Rainbow Dash suddenly shot up into a standing position and quickly flared her wings.

“DADDY!!!”

“ROSE!!! NO!!!”

“SCOOTALOO!” Rainbow Dash shouted as she furiously flapped her wings and shot forward like a bullet, heading straight towards the leaping man who was carrying a crying orange pegasus filly.

Just as Rainbow Dash's two front hooves were about to crack the man's skull, gravity pulled Xilfer down and landed on an unoccupied space of the four-wheeled vehicle.

“Go! Now!” Xilfer shouted as he fired his gun at the annoying dog, killing it instantly.

“With pleasure!” a muscular man wearing a bandana on his head licked his lips as he slammed his foot on the gas, sending the car flying towards the crumbled remains of the gate.

Meanwhile, as Cortes and the other scientists got to the balcony, a fast blue blur flew passed over their heads, heading directly towards the escaping vehicle like a blue missile.

“We've got company,” one of the three men, aside from Xilfer and Rose, said as he stared at the fast-approaching blue-thing towards them. “What the hell is that thing, anyway?

Xilfer turned his head and saw the blue thing. Rose, currently being tied by another man, turned and gasped at the blue blur. “R-Rainbow Dash!” she shouted, “Rainbow Dash! Help me! Hel—mmf!” a ball of cloth was stuck on her mouth, disabling her ability to speak and spat it out.

“Shut up,” the man grunted as he continued tying the girl up.

Xilfer sighed as he pulled a recorder from his pocket and hit the ‘stop record’ button. As the screen displayed the ‘saving’ message, he put it back inside and stood. Turning, he eyed the blue blur, and aimed with one eye closed. As he took aim, he mentally counted the times he pulled the trigger. First was to jam the door to the generator. Second was to call the attention of the scientists. Third was to the balcony to signal his comrades of his location. Fourth was to signal them to get their asses over there. Fifth was for the loud dog. Now, he had one bullet left.

Rainbow Dash disregarded the stinging of her eyes caused by the rain. She locked her gaze on the moving metal that the unicorns must have invented yet again, and what is worse, they held Scootaloo captive. She flapped her wings even faster, even gaining more speed than earlier. She was getting closer. There was no way that she'll lose Scootaloo again! There was no way she'll fail her again!

And then, a loud bang echoed, followed by a bright lightning flash.

Chapter 110 - Fled

And then, a loud bang echoed, followed by a bright lightning flash. Xilfer had already pulled the trigger, but his gun didn't fire. Blinking, he held on the vehicle tight as his comrade warned him half a second before the vehicle made a sharp turn. Xilfer turned, and before the buildings could obscure his sight, he saw a police officer pointing his gun at them. That must have been where that gunshot came from.

“Y-you're bleeding!” one of his comrades said.

Xilfer blinked, and suddenly, his brain registered a sharp pain behind his right shoulder. He clenched his teeth as he sat down. He brought a hand to try and see if it really was bleeding. It was.

Rainbow Dash however, wasn't slowing down a bit. Her angry gaze was locked on the fleeing box of metal as it avoided other box-like metal with wheels on the concrete road.

While Xilfer's wound was being treated, one of them took out a gun and started firing at the blue blur that was following them. Xilfer cursed under his breath as he miscalculated the number of bullets he used inside the mansion. He was sure that there were only six bullets. He must hav—he remembered firing at the floor to stop Cortes from coming closer in Rose's room... He cursed yet again.

After he was treated, his comrade then turned to a small box-like machine sitting beside where the small girl was sitting on. “Should I turn the signal jammer off now?”

Xilfer shook his head as the one firing his gun ran out of ammo. “Just what the hell is that thing!?” He was about to sit back to grab a few more rounds when police cars appeared chasing after them, meters away behind them. “Shit...”

“Leave that thing on, Seth. The police won't be able to call for a blockade...” Xilfer said as he eyed their driver. “Blade, get us outta here.”

“Workin' on it!” he grinned as he made another sharp turn. “I could use a distraction on my next turn though.”

Xilfer nodded and turned to the one who was reloading his gun. “Bug, throw the smoke bombs.”

“Aw...” Bug grunted. “...smoke bombs are boring, but fine...”

Rainbow saw the ones inside that moving metal box were throwing something behind. Were they trying to distract her? What was more confusing was they weren't throwing those things at her, but whatever the case, they're only wasting their time.

The black round objects hit the concrete road, and soon, they leaked large amounts of black smoke that covered an entire area. The police slammed on their brakes, skidding to a stop before they could enter the cloud of smoke. Inside, a few police officers were trying to use the radio, but all they were getting were static noise.

Meanwhile...

“That thing isn't slowing down...” Bug complained as he took aim with his gun.

Xilfer grunted, and pulled him back down. “Stop wasting bullets, idiot. You're not good with guns, anyway.”

“But this is a perfect chance for me to practice!” he argued with flailing arms, unknowingly pointing the gun at Seth.

Seth grabbed his arm and the gun, and pulled the weapon off of Bug's grip. “Are you tryin' tah shoot me, fool?”

Bug turned to him, and shivered as Seth's glare struck him. “Uh...sorry bro...”

Xilfer sighed as he took out a metal rod, and clicked a button on it. He then tossed it behind, and a short second later, a blinding flash of light covered the entire area. He looked up and stared at the window of Claire's apartment before their vehicle made a sharp turn.

“Gah—!” Rainbow Dash yelped as she was blinded. She tried to stop, but she hit her head with something instead.

“What the hell was that?” Kronz asked as the flash of light swallowed the entire room of where he and Claire were. He was about to complain about the lost signal, to let out his frustration, but then the light suddenly appeared. At least he was able to send his latest email to Spike before he lost his internet-through-mobile connection.

As the light died, Claire's window suddenly flew open inwardly as something slammed onto it and rolled on the floor while pulling the curtains with it. Claire and Kronz immediately jumped away before the ball of curtain could hit them.

“Ugh...!” a muffled voice came out from the ball of curtain as soon as it collided with the wall.

Claire and Kronz stared at the thing, blinking in confusion. Then, the ball stirred, making Claire jump in panic.

“I'll get the broom!” she shouted as she ran towards her kitchen.

Kronz just stared at the weird thing. Then, he saw a blue...limb? It was poking out from the curtain. He concluded that whatever the thing was inside, it was probably struggling to get out. As soon as Claire came back with the broom however, the creature's head popped out.

Rainbow sighed in relief, then scanned her surroundings, and saw two stunned two-legged creatures standing in the same room. One of them, a female, maybe, lost her grip on the broom, letting it land on the floor. Rainbow blinked a few more times. She was certain that they were unicorns earlier. With her free hoof, she rubbed her head as she groaned. Maybe she was just seeing things, and a hit on the head was the cure? Yeah, that happened a lot a few years ago, she remembered. Somehow, Scootaloo enjoyed smacking her head back then...

“Uh... Hi?” Rainbow said awkwardly, not sure what was going on.

Kronz recovered first. He was furiously happy to receive an official email from Twilight Sparkle. He was glad that his latest email to Spike was sent before he lost his connection. He was frustrated that he lost his connection. He was startled for a ball to jump inside the apartment room. And he was shocked to see Rainbow Dash in real life. He shrugged. It was time to be neutral, he thought.

“I guess she loves getting inside through windows, huh?” He then turned to Claire, who still looked stunned with her mouth wide open in shock. Kronz walked closer and waved a hand in front of her face. “Uh... You okay?” He remembered how they both wanted to meet the ponies, but maybe it was too soon to meet one?

Rainbow stared awkwardly at the two creatures, and then decided to try and free herself, without success, unfortunately. “Uh, hello?” she stared at the two with an annoyed expression. “Little help over here?”

At that, Claire blinked, her eyes shrunk, and she took a deep breath. Kronz took a careful step back. “OH MY GOD IT'S RAINBOW DASH!”

Chapter 111 - Sensation

Spike, Cadence and the Cutie Mark Crusaders have taken the spiraling stairs that would lead them to the tallest point of the Crystal Castle. When Cadence has informed the four of their current location, Scootaloo groaned and complained that they have wasted their precious time inside the castle, just to get outside. Apple Bloom and Sweetie Belle however, told her that at least they have rescued Cadence in the process.

Aside from that, nothing else was said as the five walked on the brilliant-white crystal stairway. They have been walking for almost an hour now. While Cadence still looked as fresh as they first laid their eyes on her, the other four however, were ready to just lie down to catch their breaths. Climbing up stairs was too difficult than walking on a field. It's probably because that they apply less effort on walking on a straight path. Walking up staircases require effort to pull one's hoof up and carry the body's weight while the other hooves climb up.

Spike was sweating furiously. His sight was starting to dim from tiredness. He was just glad that both Kronz and Twilight weren't sending him letters. He doubt he could materialize one at his current state.

While they continued their climb, Cadence, who was leading the party, will occasionally glance back, and often times stay standing still for them to catch up. Aside from a few words of encouragement, she said nothing else. She was busy in her mind, thinking of that painful day when her beloved husband became obsessed with gathering more power. She had tried to reason with him, but he wouldn't listen.

Years flew by, as she painfully watched him acquire more and more power. What made things worse, their people were suffering heavily from it. What made things worst, he wanted more.

One day, as she stared down from her balcony, she realized that her people would suffer greatly if he kept on going with his obsession of power. She was starting to doubt that the Crystal Heart would be enough to at least ease their pain and suffering from their...king...

As Cadence reached the final steps of the stairs, she walked on the flat crystal circular surface. As she did so, her eyes fell on the small pedestal standing on the middle of the circular floor. The ancient Crystal Heart, made by the purest of crystals and enchanted with the purest of magic, lay lifelessly on top of the pedestal. The hope and light it used to shed were absent, making her frown and sigh.

The Crystal Heart was an ancient artifact that unifies all of the Crystal Ponies' positive energy. With their positive energies mixed together as one, the heart will shine upon them, easing their troubled minds and restore their tired bodies. It was as if each pony were helping each other in a magical way. However, the king has been merciless towards them the more power he had gathered. As the years flew by, only a few positive energies were collected by the Crystal Heart. It was Cadence who kept charging the artifact, for her people.

When he decided to fuse his power with the Crystal Heart, that was when Cadence stood her ground. However, for all those years that she kept charging the artifact, her powers could no longer match against him. As she made her way to secure the artifact, the king had crystalized her, turning her into a crystalized statue. But before the spell was complete, Cadence casted a spell on him as well.

She doesn't know what that spell was. The only thing she knew about it was that, when Celestia payed their empire a visit many years ago, she taught him that spell. Celestia called it a just-in-case spell. The sun princess' worried look when Cadence's husband was around was enough to let her know who to use it to.

Now that she thought about it, being the princess of love herself, she finds it ironic that she blindly fell in love with him. Now however, she wasn't sure if she still feels the same at this current time.

Cadence's train of thought was broken as she heard four collapsing bodies behind her. Turning, she saw Spike and the Cutie Mark Crusaders, lying down on the crystal floor, panting for breath and soaked in their own sweat.

“Can't...feel...hooves...” Apple Bloom wheezed.

“Can't...feel...any...thing...” Scootaloo wheezed.

Cadence couldn't help herself to smile of pity at them. It doesn't seem to bother her though. What was important was that they were already there. Although, she can't understand one thing.

Spike had told her that Sombra was in another dimension. How did her ex-husband got there?

“Uh, hello?” Rainbow Dash said in annoyance after her failed attempt of removing herself from the curtain that tangled her up into a ball. “Little help over here?” She gave an annoyed look at the two alien two-legged creatures who were staring in shock at her...or at least, one of them was.

Claire blinked, her eyes shrunk, and she took a deep breath. Kronz, knowing what'd happen, took a careful step back.

“OH MY GOD IT'S RAINBOW DASH!” Claire shrieked with a big and wide smile plastered on her bright face, paired with sparkling eyes.

She dashed towards the startled pegasus, literally ripping the curtains and instantly pulling her into a tight brony hug. Claire could not believe how furry and warm Rainbow was. While she couldn't believe that she was actually hugging the real-life Rainbow Dash, the pegasus on the other hand, could believe that if this keeps up, she'll die from the lack of air.

Thankfully, Kronz poked Claire's shoulder, slightly catching her attention.

“You can't have her!” Claire shouted, “she's mine!”

“Yeah, sure, whatever,” Kronz rolled his eyes having a difficult time fighting the urge to let his fanboyish nature coming loose. “You're killing her, by the way.”

“Oh my gosh!” Claire then pulled her in front of her view. Rainbow however, limply hung her pained head down as she had a difficult time recovering her breath. Claire started shaking her in panic. “Oh no oh no oh no oh no oh no—!” she chanted while she ran around her apartment in full-panic mode.

Kronz sighed...

The city was quiet. The only noise present were the faint sirens of the police cars, the gentle raindrops, splashing noises from shoes on puddles, and the soft yet worried murmurs of people near the bridge.

It has been hours since the darkness has taken over the island. No one actually knew what was going on. Other nations with high technology had arrived, carrying with them advance unmanned machines that they sent to the island. There were flying machines, and amphibious machines. The people controlling those machines were able to navigate the island for a few short minutes until their machines somehow lost their communication. They weren't able to get anything, other than the fact that there is something going on in the island.

The calm silence of the gloomy world was broken however. The people near the bridge, and in any other parts of the city, stopped after they have heard an odd faint sound that came from the island. The sound was gentle, and constant. Several eyes fell on the island, and soon, out of all the sea of black mist, a pair of large blue wings came out, and then dived back into the mist. It appeared again, and disappeared once again. People got curious, and they stared at those strange blue wings.

Somehow, it got bigger, like it was getting closer, until finally, with one powerful flap, a crystal blue dragon emerged from the sea of black mists. It roared as it hovered in the air. As the dragon's roar died down, silence reign once again. And then, panic exploded.

While the people ran away from the bridge in panic, the dragon angled itself towards the vertically-raised parts of the bridge, and flew straight towards it with a mighty roar. As it's powerful crystal head slammed on the vertical concrete, the iron cables snapped, instantly bringing the raised part of the bridge back down.

As the dragon began flying towards the other end to bring down the other raised part of the bridge, nearby soldiers started firing their weapons at the dragon. Bullets, rockets and explosions filled the air.

The dragon hovered on the other half of the bridge, and it didn't seem to be affected by any of the attacks. As it flapped its wings to turn its back on the army, a black equine figure jumped down from its back, and landed on the concrete bridge.

Grinning, Sombra flared his horn with dark energy as he started running towards the city. Soldiers divided their attention, and started firing at Sombra as well, however, a black barrier protected him as he got closer and closer.

As Sombra got to the end of the bridge, where the soldiers were stationed, he made a giant leap forward, literally jumping over all the stunned soldiers below him. Landing on the ground, he quickly turned with a grin, and raised his front hooves up and slamming them down, creating thick black strings which struck the very hearts of nearby soldiers.

Twilight, who just got out from the air carriage, was walking towards the castle's double doors as she was escorted by her furiously-blushing brother. She was about to set a hoof on the first of the few stairs to the doors when she stopped. While Shining Armor wondered what was wrong, Twilight's sight slightly dimmed as a very negative aura of magic ran passed her, almost making her faint.

“Twilight!” Shining shouted, catching his sister before she could collapse on the ground. “A-are you okay!?”

Rarity, who was waiting for them at the door, fell on the ground as well. Unicorn guardponies helped her back up, as she rubbed her head with a hoof.

Grunting, Twilight rubbed her head as she shut her eyes. “Ugh... W-what the hay was that just now...?”

Inside the Apple Family's barn, Applejack just pulled out a freshly-baked apple pie from their wood oven. With a thick piece of cloth on her mouth, she carefully bit the tray where the pie was sitting on, and turned to place it on their dining table.

Things are starting to look up for her and her family. Big Mac was slowly returning to his old self, and she was so ha—

“Applejack!” Braeburn shouted in panic as he and Big Macintosh jumped from their seats and pulled the mare back up to her hooves.

“AJ!” Big Mac cried in concern.

Applejack groaned as she rubbed her head with a hoof. “Ugh... What in t-tarnation just happened...?”

Pinkie Pie smiled warmly at her family's rock farm. It had been many many years since she was captured. It was really nice to be back home.

The air was cold, but it didn't stop a few sweats from running down her face. With a tired hoof, she wiped her forehead while her two sisters were walking towards her, holding tired smiles. The three of them have been working hard to remove the thick blanket of snow on their farm.

Her sisters were only a few hooves away before a powerful negative sensation struck her. Her sight darkened as she unceremoniously collapsed on the ground.

Fluttershy was helping a few mares in preparing food for the ponies inside the old castle of the alicorn sisters. She and the mares were mixing up a delicious tomato soup for everypony.

While the other mares chatted happily with one another while cutting vegetables, Fluttershy was humming happily as she stirred the soup inside the very large cauldron.

The mares called her attention, stating that the vegetables have all been cut and diced nicely. With a smile, Fluttershy called them over, and suddenly dropped her large spoon as her vision dimmed.

Cadence gasped as she felt a powerful feeling creeping through her. At that very moment, Spike who just got back to his feet, coughed green fumes of flame, making him stumble back on the ground with a groan while a scroll materialized in the air.

Apple Bloom caught it before it fell on the floor, and unrolled the scroll.

“Spike, I don't mean to sound like I'm rushing you, but we seriously need help right now!”

Chapter 112 - Confusion

Rainbow Dash groaned and let out a pained breath as she tossed and turned on the sofa. She was getting dizzier, and she doesn't know why. Claire and Kronz might have a slight idea why though. They stared—shocked—at the events that was happening outside Claire's apartment's window.

People were running away from the bridge in panic. The air was filled with frightened cries, bullets, explosions, and the roar of the giant blue crystal dragon.

The two stunned humans recovered after the dragon slammed at the vertically-raised part of the bridge, instantly bringing it back down and connecting the bridge.

Gasping, Kronz quickly ran towards his laptop and furiously began typing a message to Spike.

“Spike, I don't mean to sound like I'm rushing you, but we seriously need help right now!”

Kronz then quickly clicked the ‘Send’ button, not even bothering to check if he has an internet connection. Luckily he did. Claire gasped in surprise. Kronz then ran to her side to see what was going on.

The cloud of darkness was slowly crawling on the bridge. In a much faster pace however, blue crystal equines marched out from the clouds, their feet stomping on the concrete bridge in unison. The army of crystal equines were heading straight towards the city.

Finally recovering for a bit, Rainbow Dash rose up, groaning, and turned to the window while rubbing her aching forehead. Her eyes were still foggy, so she blinked a few times before her vision returned to normal once again. She saw buildings. She saw cemented roads. She saw light posts and traffic lights. She saw vehicles. She didn't know any of those, and she was growing curious as to where she was. The last thing she remembered however, was that she was trying to stop that gigantic beam of mana that unicorn princess threw at her.

She finally regarded the panicked screams of the two-legged creatures. She had no clue what was going on, however, something blue and shiny caught her attention. Turning her gaze, she saw large numbers of blue, shiny and marching ponies. “What the hay is going on?” she asked to nopony in particular. She suddenly yelped when a large blue dragon landed on top of the nearest building near the bridge, and let out a mighty roar. She blinked, for she somehow understood what the dragon roared about. Turning, she saw the two weird ape-like creatures, who were both shivering in fear. “Hey! You two!”

Hearing Rainbow Dash's whines, Kronz and Claire snapped back and turned to her.

“Can any of you...uh...tell me what's going on?” Rainbow Dash asked, gesturing with a hoof at the scene outside.

Claire and Kronz blinked at her, and then they looked at each other, and then back at the pegasus. Claire then bit her lip. “I-is she trying to tell us something?”

“What the heck!?” Rainbow groaned, “are you deaf or something!?”

“I believe...” Kronz said, looking at Claire for a short moment before looking at the pegasus. “...that she is...and unfortunately...we can't understand you...Rainbow...” Kronz shivered weirdly. It was weird to say the pegasus' name out loud...to him, at least.

Rainbow blinked, and arched an eyebrow in confusion. “What?”

“Forgetting the scary things happening outside for a short while...” Kronz took a breath. While doing so, the whole apartment shook as a powerful explosion erupted near the bridge where the chaos was happening. “Rainbow, nod if yes, shake your head if no. Okay?”

Rainbow blinked. She wasn't sure what the hay were the two were going with this, but nonetheless, she nodded.

Claire was amazed. “W-wow... So she really can understand us!”

“While we can't understand her...” Kronz sighed. “Rainbow, can you completely understand each and every word we're saying?”

Rainbow nodded, still doubting about everything.

“A-are you really Rainbow Dash...?”

The pegasus shot them with a ‘wtf’ look.

Kronz chuckled nervously. “I'll take that as a ‘yes’...”

The pegasus rolled her eyes. “Whatever. I'm gonna je—ow!” Rainbow winced as she tried to flare her wings. Clenching her teeth and shutting her eyes close, Rainbow fell back on the sofa as the powerful wave of pain rain through her body.

Gasping, Claire quickly ran to her and began running her hands on her back.

“What the hay are you doi—gah!” Rainbow gasped as another pain shot through her brain when the female weird-thing grabbed the base of her wing.

“H-her wings are injured!” Claire gasped.

“Gee,” Rainbow panted, glaring weakly at her, “what gave you that idea?”

“You can tell?” Kronz asked, amazed. “H-how?”

“Rainbow, don't move!” Claire said as she stood up and quickly walking towards her kitchen. “I took up nursing for two years before...” she trailed off for a short moment. “...before I decided to work.” That was when she met Jay. “I may not be a vet, but,” she said as she took a few items from her medicine and first-aid kit drawer. “...I know a few about injuries, and how to deal with them...”

“What is she talking about?” Rainbow asked, turning her gaze at the male who sat on the sofa beside where she was lying on.

Kronz smiled at her. “I'm guessing you're asking what she's going to do to you? Well, she's going to patch your wing up...I think...”

Rainbow blinked. “Y-you think!?”

“What was it about...?” Spike asked through tired breaths. He sat on the crystal floor while Apple Bloom placed the newly materialized scroll inside her saddlebag.

After she closed her saddlebag, Apple Bloom sat down and looked at the purple dragon. “It was from Kronz, saying that we need tah hurry 'n help them.”

“R-right...” Spike was breathing tiredly, but nodded as he tried standing up.

“So...” Scootaloo spoke as she pulled herself into a sitting position. “...h-how are we going to help them?”

Apple Bloom nodded. “Scoots is right, Spike. They're in another world, fer cryin' out loud...”

Cadence's ears twitched.

Sweetie Belle then pulled herself into a sitting position as she joined their little meeting. “W-well, maybe Spike could just breathe fire on the crystal heart and send it to them?”

Spike, Apple Bloom, Scootaloo, and even Cadence—who was a few hooves ahead of them—all turned to the young unicorn mare. The three smiled, while the alicorn frowned.

“Y-yeah, that's a great idea!” Spike said, momentarily forgetting how tired he was. He then turned to the pedestal, where the artifact was lying lifelessly. He couldn't believe that their mission was a success! He can't wait to be able to talk to Gold Blitz again and tell him all about his adventure.

Spike ran towards the pedestal with excitement pumping him energy. However, when he was half-way there, Cadence stood in front of him, completely blocking his path. Spike stopped, and curiously looked at the alicorn's frowning face.

“Uh...” was the only thing Spike had said.

Cadence shook her head. “I could not believe that he sent you here to deliver the Crystal Heart to him...” Slowly, her horn started to glow as her frown turned to anger.

Spike suddenly felt fear was replacing the excitement running around him. He took a few steps back, while the Cutie Mark Crusaders were both curious and frightened.

“You four were able to use pure magic, breaking me free from my imprisonment,” Cadence said calmly, yet her voice carried venom as her horn started glowing brighter. “I really thought you had good intentions for the Crystal Heart, but now I see you were only deceiving me!”

“What the hay are you talking about!?” Scootaloo finally managed to ask after collecting enough courage. “We'd barely even talked to you!”

“Do not act as though you are clueless of what I am talking about!” The alicorn yelled, stomping a powerful hoof on the floor, leaving a nasty crack from its wake.

“We ain't actin' clueless, featherbrain!” Apple Bloom spoke. “Yer jumpin' to conclusions! An' just who is this ‘he’ that you speak of!?”

“Silence!” Candence yelled, firing a powerful beam of mana towards the four souls.

Chapter 113 - Unconscious

Cadence summoned a fierce beam of mana towards Spike and the three Cutie Mark Crusaders. Despite their tired states, they were able to scatter and evade the fast stream of mana that threatened to end them.

‘She's powerful!’ Sweetie Belle said through telekinesis, as she ran alongside Scootaloo. ‘Her magic felt really really powerful!’

Cadence then charged her horn as her gaze followed Spike and Apple Bloom, who ran on the opposite direction.

‘I bet it has something to do with her being an alicorn and all...’ Scootaloo rolled her eyes as she sharply turned towards the alicorn with haste.

Cadence quickly flared her wings and gave a mighty flap that instantly sent her in the air, dodging Scootaloo's powerful slamming attack in the process. Aiming, she quickly fired a powerful beam towards the startled pegasus.

“Gah!” With exhausted concentration, Sweetie Belle managed to grab the pegasus with her magic and pulled her away from the attack mere seconds before impact.

Cadence clenched her teeth and flapped her wings, making her fly to her right to evade a green lance that flew towards her. She locked her eyes on the purple dragon and quickly tilted her angle, diving towards him.

‘We can't beat her like this...’ Spike tiredly thought, though he has no idea if his thoughts channeled towards the three young mares. He quickly created another lance as he jumped to the side to avoid Cadence's hooves. Turning, he quickly saw the alicorn flying pass the edge of the circular platform.

Cadence then made a sharp turn to return. In doing so, she managed to dodge three thin beams of mana that were fired by the white unicorn crusader. She reached the platform again, hovering meters above the floor. She flew over the baby dragon as she summoned magical aura around him, and pulled him with her. She made a full stop near the pedestal, and swayed her head viciously, throwing Spike towards the yelping unicorn mare.

Grunting, Scootaloo braced herself as she arched her full body towards the alicorn. With haste, Apple Bloom summoned all her remaining strength on her hooves as she ran and used the pegasus as a ramp. The earth pony mare kicked her hind hooves on the pegasus' shoulders, sending her flying towards the alicorn.

Quickly, Scootaloo kicked her hooves and flared her wing. She then twisted her whole body, slamming her wing on Apple Bloom's hind hooves, giving her more boost towards the alicorn.

Sensing the danger, Cadence spun, but she was too late. With a mighty shout, Apple Bloom delivered a powerful tackle on Cadence's side.

Pound. Punch. Kick. Apple Bloom managed to land powerful blows on the alicorn before she was surrounded by a magical aura.

Still hovering, Cadence, breathing sharply, summoned a powerful jolt of mana, instantly throwing the earth pony like a cannonball.

Quickly, Sweetie Belle summoned her own magic aura around her tossed friend. She gasped as she was dragged towards the edge of the platform as well. She was meters away from the edge when a green burning lance landed in front of her. She grabbed the lance to hold her steady as she pulled her friend back, but the alicorn's toss was too powerful, and she soon lost her grip on the lance. She was pulled towards the edge, and a sharp pain on her rear made her cry, which almost made her lose her magical grip on Apple Bloom.

Scootaloo had grabbed the spear as soon as she bit the unicorn's tail. She endured the pain on her mouth and neck as she tried to stop the force of the pull. Finally, after seconds of enduring the pain, her head went down, following the unicorn and the earth pony. Grunting, she began to pull them back to the platform.

While the Cutie Mark Crusaders were busy saving each other on the edge of the platform, Spike was dealing with Cadence, throwing smaller spears and evading her powerful beams of mana. He continued doing this until he saw Scootaloo and Sweetie Belle finally managed to pull Apple Bloom back on the platform. However, that little distraction was enough for Cadence to surround the dragon with her magic.

Lifting him up, Cadence immediately slammed Spike back down on the platform, immediately extracting the air in his lungs as he fell unconscious. She flapped her wings, allowing her to hover higher to dodge a thin jolt of electricity.

“This ends now!” the alicorn said with a mighty shout as her horn glowed fiercely. She fired a powerful beam of mana towards her right, and then turned her head to her left, creating a powerful exploding sweep that the three mares were unable to evade the attack.

Smoke and dust filled the battlefield as the alicorn flapped gently as she hovered lower and lower beside the pedestal. Finally, she landed on the ground. She winced as her hooves shot powerful waves of pain.

The alicorn took deep breaths to calm herself down. She could no longer sense the four's consciousness. As the smoke and dust started to fade, the alicorn sighed. Did she really jumped to conclusions? She might have been, but she knew what she has heard. First was that the purple dragon had clearly mentioned that Sombra was in another dimension, and then they planned to send the crystal heart there. For whatever reason, she didn't know, however, it was clear that the heart could easily fall to the dark equine. Only she and the crystal ponies are able to use the heart properly.

As the smoke and dust finally cleared, she saw before her the three unconscious mares. Turning, she saw the purple dragon, also unconscious. Turning once again, she was now staring directly at the lifeless crystal heart. She was about to take a step towards the pedestal when her vision dimmed. Blinking, she looked around, and noticed that everything dimmed.

She then sensed the large heart-shaped magic hovering above the castle was fading. The heart's large amounts of pure magic was decreasing in a rapid rate. It only took seconds before the energy finally vanished. The snowy clouds then took it's place.

Sighing, Cadence summoned mana on her horn, making it glow in the process. She then approached the pedestal as her eyes were locked on the faintly-glowing crystal heart. She stood inches away from the pedestal as she channeled her magical energy towards the heart.

After a few minutes, the heart finally managed to lift itself, flowing and spinning slowly on top of the pedestal. Smiling, Cadence then grabbed a hold of the crystal heart with her magic.

She pulled it towards her. However, as soon as the heart left the pedestal, the entire platform shook, startling the alicorn in the process. Then, as quick as the shaking started, large chunks of tall and black crystals began to encase the pedestal, along with the alicorn.

Gasping, Cadence quickly spun to flee, however, a sharp black crystal grew under her hoof, sending jolts of pain to her brain. She yelped and lost her magical grip on the heart, that managed to roll away from her and managed to roll in between large black crystals.

As the tremors stopped, the crystal heart still kept on rolling, until a purple scaly tail blocked it's path. Finally, the crystal heart then fell on top of the tail, owned by an unconscious purple dragon.

Chapter 114 - Tears

With a groan, Spike pulled both his claws to rub his aching eyes. As he did so, his mind started to receive signals of pain all over his body. He clenched his teeth as his claws froze into place when he realized how painful they were. He coughed and wheezed for a few seconds before letting his claws fall back on the ground.

With another groan, Spike slowly brought a claw over his eyes to block the intense brightness that was washing over him. He decided to stay lying on the ground to let his body recover more. While doing so, he tried to recall the events that had happened.

He remembered that he and the three young mares had a battle against Cadence. He gasped as soon as he remembered that event. He then quickly pulled himself to stand on his feet while he completely ignored how tired and painful his body was.

Finally on his feet, Spike quickly noticed that he was on a grassy field. He shook his head. The Crystal Empire did had green grassy fields. He looked around, but he did not find any signs of the crystal castle. He did not find any signs of any kinds of crystals. Gulping, he looked around once again, but he did not find any signs of the three crusaders.

Something isn't right. That, he was sure.

He decided to look at his surroundings again, studying his whereabouts. Aside from the green grassy fields, he noticed large numbers of trees on random locations in the field. He noticed that this field was surrounded by thick trees that somehow resembles a forest. He concluded that he must be in a large clearing. Tilting his head up, he noticed the sky was a beautiful morning blue, where the sun just recently risen up. Thin wispy clouds lay fixed on random places in the morning sky. He stared at the sky longer than he realized, and with a smile. It has been years since he last seen the sky this beautiful.

He blinked and gasped. How long was he out? And why is he here? Did something happen?

He quickly looked around as he tried to find anything that might give him any clues to whatever. He faced west, and he gasped. There was a flat rock-thing standing up from the ground that he didn't notice earlier. Curious, he approached the rock that was meters away from him.

As he walked, he could feel the tickle of the gentle blades of grass on his feet, and he would hear the soft crunch noises from each of his steps. Taking a few more steps, he felt a cool gentle breeze that almost soothed his troubled mind.

Despite how peaceful everything was, Spike was still doubting everything around him.

He finally stopped and stood a foot in front of the flat rock-thing. He noticed the rounded corners of the rock, and how flat its face was. There were also symbols that were carved onto the rock that he couldn't understand. He had never seen such symbols before in his life, aside from two symbols, which he recognized were a small cross carved above the group of symbols, and a flower carved below the group of symbols.

He may not be able to understand the other symbols, but he had a clue of what he was staring at: a tombstone.

He studied the tombstone for quite some time that he hadn't realized that there was a tall shadow behind him. He only took notice when the tall shadow had completely covered him. Blinking, he turned around and saw a tall two-legged creature. It's face was covered by the shadow, since the morning sun's rays were behind the creature.

“Hey Spike...” said the tall creature, with a very familiar voice.

Spike's eyes shrunk after he recognized that voice. “J-Jay?”

The creature's head nodded. “It's been a while...”

Spike felt weird. That voice was Jay's, but it felt...empty?

Without him knowing, Spike took a few steps to the side. Jay nodded his thanks, and sat down on the ground where Spike was standing moments before. The purple dragon studied the human. Jay was closely resembling that of an ape, with a lot less fur. Spike finally stared at the human's face. Although Jay was staring at the tombstone, his lifeless eyes stared at nothing, and Spike had noticed it.

“J-Jay?” Spike called as he felt weird to finally be able to see him again in this weird place. “C-can I ask where we are?”

A full minute flew by without any movements from the human. Finally, Jay let out a soft exhale as he slowly shook his head. “No idea, Spike...” After a few seconds, he added, “things change... Things always change... I don't know anymore...”

Spike blinked, confused at what he just heard. He didn't understand what Jay had just said. He wanted him to clarify, but Jay spoke again.

“Mom's gone...” Jay quietly said, “...again...”

Again? Spike wanted to ask what he meant by that, but his words died in his throat after he saw streams of tears flowing down from Jay's eyes. He wanted to comfort him, to tell him that everything's going to be okay, but before he got the chance, a feminine voice called out from behind them.

“There you are Jay!”

Spike turned around, and saw a female creature of Jay's species. As she approached, the purple dragon noticed that she was carrying a baby with both her hands. Her smile was beautiful and her eyes were full of life and beauty, but Spike felt that there was something wrong. Something was wrong in this picture.

He then turned back to Jay, but he gasped after he found himself standing on a soft bed, and Jay was sitting on the edge, his back was on him. Before he could react however, the female had reached him and quickly bent down to his level to kiss Jay. Spike's eye twitched at the mushy scene. It was a quick kiss, which he was thankful about. As she stood back up, he noticed her stomach was bigger than usual.

“We're going to have a new baby soon, Jay! Aren't you excited?”

Jay said nothing and kept on staring at nothing. Just then, a door swung open. Spike turned and saw another female human wearing absolutely nothing. He didn't understand what was going on. As the new arrival cheerfully approached them, the other female walked to the side to give her room. Without stopping, the new arrival tackled Jay with a hug, and both landed on the bed as she kissed him passionately. Spike would have turned away in an instant if he didn't notice how Jay was reacting to this: nothing. His lips didn't even move.

“Are you ready, Jay?” asked the female after she broke the kiss. She smiled at him seductively as she started pulling his pants.

Spike wasn't sure what was going on, but he has a vague idea of what is currently going on right in front of his eyes. Blushing, he turned around, and the scene before him resembled that of Unicornia's prison cells. He was now having the urge of finding out what was going on. Turning, he gasped in shock after his gaze fell on a skeleton of an unknown specie lying on the dark prison floor meters in front of him. He shivered as a deathly cold ran pass him.

“My brother is dead...” Jay's voice echoed from his left.

Turning, he saw Jay was standing lifelessly behind iron bars, where he leaned his head on.

“Y-you're brother's—!” Spike gulped, slowly turning back to the skeleton. But as he did so, he realized that his surroundings had changed once again. He now found himself standing on a front lawn of a small house.

Finally, Spike saw a simple small house, and a closed door stood where the skeleton was once was. He sighed. Finally, things are peaceful, for the time being at least. He then turned back to Jay.

“Jay, uh, what's going on? And where exactly are we?”

Jay hung his head low. “My father found another woman...”

“Jay, please...” Spike begged as he took a step towards him. “...s-snap out of it... This isn't like you...”

Spike was about to take another step towards him when the iron bars of the gate vanished into thin air. Jay fell forward. Spike was about to try and grab him, but stopped as he noticed that a brown earth pony stallion fell on the ground in front of him instead of the human.

Spike recognized the pony as Gold Blitz, the pony that Jay was using to roam in the pony world. He was about to help him up when he felt a powerful chilly breeze. He shivered as he now found himself in a snowy area. Behind the earth stallion, far far away, Spike saw the Crystal Empire, completely destroyed.

“Wh-what the...?”

“Kronz and Spike are gone...” Gold mumbled as he slowly rose up in four hooves. He trembled slightly, but he managed to catch himself before he collapsed.

“W-what do you mean I'm gone!?” Spike exclaimed worriedly as he ran in front of the stallion. “Gold! Jay! It's me! Spike! I'm Spike! Remember!?”

Gold Blitz hung his head low as a thundering noise echoed in the area. Large collection of concrete crumbled to the ground from the tall mountain of Unicornia. Spike turned to the scene slightly, taking notice that Unicornia was falling apart in blazes. He then turned back to Gold Blitz.

“Gold! What's going on!? Please, tell me!” Spike asked frantically as he grabbed and shook one of the stallion's front hooves. “This isn't happening! Gold! What's going on!?”

Just then, another set of thunderous noises echoed. This time, Spike saw the majestic kingdom of Pegasopolis, breaking apart and falling towards the Everfree Forest.

“Gold!” Spike cried as the scene changed yet again. He clenched his eyes shut as tears ran down on his face. He was now too confused and too heartbroken at the scenes that he had seen. “This isn't real... This isn't real...” the purple dragon sobbed as the scene changed yet again.

As the scenes rapidly changed, Gold Blitz stared at the sobbing baby dragon. The scenes and their surroundings changed even faster for him to take notice, but he no longer cared. He was feeling confused...too confused. He didn't understand everything anymore. What was going on, and who is this creature right before him.

He felt a heartbeat. Was it his?

He felt warmth. Did it belong to him?

Everything around them was rapidly changing in great speeds that their surroundings were now nothing but a noisy blur. Jay blinked, and he finally noticed how bright everything was now. The blurry surroundings are turning into white. He felt tears... Was he crying? Was he crying all this time?

He brought a hand below his eye. He was crying. But he no longer cared about himself. No. He was crying, but it was not important. He sniffed as he knelt down and slowly wrapped both his arms around the sobbing baby dragon.

Spike shivered from the sudden touch, but he didn't pulled him away. Something in him was returning. He wasn't sure, but he felt it.

Jay lay his head on Spike's scaly head. He remembered. He remembered why he was sacrificing a lot of himself. Everything he was doing was not for him. No. He remembered.

“Spike,” Jay whispered, and Spike felt that his voice has truly returned. He felt that he returned. Spike hugged him back. “...I-I'm sorry...”

Jay promised to do everything he could for his family, to see them smile again, and to avoid their sorrowful tears.

As their surroundings became white and quiet, the brightness slowly wrapped the two brothers, and slowly, they joined the brilliant whiteness.

Distant voices then echoed in the area...

Chapter 115 - Mumble

A loud metallic-like howl echoed in the city under the dark raining clouds. As soon as it stopped, sounds of weaponry and chaos returned to the dark chaotic city.

Soldiers of the nation and in neighboring countries joined forces to hold off the monsters from spreading in the city. So far, they held the creatures at the Rentelbud Pier, where the large bridge was located, and was a third of the city's size.

The soldiers were accompanied by tanks, firing their weaponry at the large numbers of crystallized creatures. In the air, fighter jets and helicopters aided the soldiers below, as they tried to take down the massive crystal dragon and the giant crystal wolf.

While the soldiers were busy holding off the monsters, the police were busy in different parts of the city, evacuating the residents through land and air transportation.

Behind a curtained window was an occupied apartment room, where two humans and a pony were staying.

“S-stay still, Rainbow...” Claire said, having a difficult time wrapping a bandage on the base of the pegasus' wing.

Rainbow Dash clenched her teeth and shut her eyes from the horrible pain the human was giving her. She understood that she was trying to patch her up, but it was too difficult to hold herself still from the pain she was trying to control. “Ugh...” she panted, slightly moving her injured wing once again. “W-wo-would you just hurr—”

“Done!” Claire said happily as she tied a tight knot to hold the bandage in place. She pulled her hands away from the wing and stared at her handiwork.

Rainbow blinked, and sighed in her greatest relief as she finally enjoyed how soft and comfortable the sofa was. Clouds are still better, but this'll do, she thought.

“Now, Rainbow,” Claire spoke, and the pegasus' ear turned to her, “you need to lay down and avoid using your wing for the time being.”

Rainbow's eyes opened and slightly turned her head towards her doctor. “The heck? How long should I ‘lay down and avoid using my wing’?”

Claire only blinked, and Rainbow planted a hoof on her face as she groaned.

“I'm assuming that...” Kronz spoke, but paused after a powerful explosion rocked the apartment building. He was still busy with his laptop. “...I'm assuming that Rainbow asked of how long will she stay grounded...”

“Oh, ah...” Claire raised a hand to give the pegasus the information, “uh...” she dropped her hand back to her knees. “...I have no idea...”

“No idea!?” Rainbow exclaimed, rising up on all four and glaring at the female. “What kind of a doctor are you!?”

Claire's eye twitched as she rose up, easily towering over the pegasus, even though Rainbow was standing on the sofa. She countered the equine's glare with her own. “I never said that I'm a doctor! I only took up nursing for two years! So don't blame me if I don't have a clue how long would your wing heal! Got that?”

The two females held each other glares for a moment, before Claire blinked and gasped. “W-wait...d-did I just...”

Rainbow blinked and arched an eyebrow. “So you do understand me!”

The two stared at each other again, completely ignoring another powerful explosion that violent rocked the room.

“Okay,” Claire broke the silence, “what you just said right now, I didn't understand. B-but earlier...”

“Hm...” Kronz loudly interrupted. “Maybe it's like...” he shrugged as he caught the two females' attention. “...I dunno...like Pokémon, maybe?”

“Poke a what now?” Rainbow arched an eyebrow at him in confusion.

Claire only stared at him with a confused look.

Kronz shrugged. “Hey, I'm just saying.” He returned his attention back on his laptop. “Maybe it's like the Pokémon show, where trainers can't understand the creatures until they create a bond or something...”

The two stared at him for a while, who was busy typing on his laptop's keyboard. After another loud explosion, the two turned to each other with arching eyebrows.

Just then, Kronz's phone rang.

“Everything's shit right now...” Bug groaned as he closed the thick metallic door behind him. After locking the door, he walked towards the nearest chair in the dimly-lit room and sat down. He stretched his legs and arms as he eyed his comrades in the room.

Blade covered his eyes with his bandana as he slept on a chair and leaning his head on the wall behind him, snoring loudly. Seth sat on a chair and was polishing his gun on the table. Xilfer was sitting on a chair, his eyes locked tight on a small shivering body of a female, who was tied on the far corner of the room.

“Tsk,” Xilfer rubbed his wound behind his shoulder. “We should have brought that cure maid with us...” With a sigh, he turned away from the shivering little girl and towards Bug. “Police are still around?”

Bug nodded. “Yeah. They're busy evacuating everyone to hell-knows-where instead of looking for our arses.

“Can't we just shoot them and throw explosions everywhere?” Seth snickered as he took aim on a wall and pretended to shoot. “Tchew, tsew!”

“Yeah, you'd love that,” Xilfer sighed. “They're already dealing with that anyway.”

“You mean the military are dealing with that,” Seth pointed out with a smile.

“I see no difference,” Xilfer responded as he took out his phone. “Time for the next phase of the plan...” he stood up as he browsed the names on his phone book.

“And that would be...?” Bug asked, eyeing Xilfer who was heading to the door.

“I'll tell you the details later,” Xilfer said as he opened the door. He turned to his comrades as he hit the call button on his phone. “And oh, none of you touch that girl,” he then glared at the pouting Seth, “don't even sniff her.”

“Aw...” Seth said, but Xilfer didn't hear it from the loud slamming noise of the door.

A crystal equine rushed towards the large blockade the soldiers have created. It's crystal figure glittered from the faint lights from the flashes up in the heavens and from the explosions in the area. It continued running towards the firing squadron, as it ignored the bullets that bounced off from its tough crystal body.

Finally, it leaped into the air, jumping over the tall barricade, and landed on the ground with a loud thud. Quickly, it turned towards the startled soldiers. Hissing with a mechanical-like voice, the crystal equine sprinted towards the soldiers.

Suddenly, the crystal equine stopped dead on its tracks mere meters away from the frightened soldiers. It hissed, sounding in pain, as it glowed in white. Several soldiers recovered from their shock, and took aim, as well as those nearby. Suddenly, a cracking noise echoed from the equine as it's blue crystal body began to glow into white. It fell on the ground, flailing it's crystal limbs.

As curious as they were, the soldiers still took aim.

Finally, the area was filled by a powerful shattering noise as the bright white glow faded. The soldiers gasped and froze. Before them, in the middle of the shattered blue crystal fragments, was a naked young man, lying unconsciously on the spot where the the crystal equine was flailing mere seconds ago.

He stirred, shivered and mumbled something as a soldier shouted something. As several soldiers ran to escort the young man away, Jay groaned, and mumbled yet again. “Sp—...”

Chapter 116 - Even

Chilly winds flew pass a slumbering purple baby dragon. He groaned, and shivered slightly. Just then, a thick and maroon piece of cloth, wrapped in a magical aura, blanketed the sleeping dragon.

While Apple Bloom smiled at the gesture, Scootaloo rolled her eyes in disgust. Sweetie Belle ignored her two friends however, as she settled on a sitting position right next to Spike as they rode the air chariot, driven by four pegasus pony stallions.

They weren't sure how long they were unconscious, but after half an hour after the three mares recovered their consciousness, they saw, from the horizon, the chariot. The ponies bravely fought through the raging blizzard in the mountain range. Sweetie Belle signaled their whereabouts through firing a harmless bolt of lightning up in the air, and it worked.

The stallions, upon arrival, informed them that they were sent by Twilight Sparkle herself, after she learned from her brother about Spike's adventure.

The Cutie Mark Crusaders pulled Spike and the Crystal Heart on the chariot. Before they left however, the three young mares wondered about the thick black crystals that covered the area of the floor where the pedestal was. What is more, the alicorn was nowhere to be found, and strangely, she left the heart.

They were flying towards the blizzard now, and Sweetie Belle took a breath before summoning a large barrier, surrounding the entire chariot. The stallions stared at the barrier forming around them, and doubted if it could help them fly through the storm in ease. They had no time to test however, as the barrier-protected chariot flew straight into the raging blizzard.

A powerful whine of a horse echoed in the dark city, cutting through the noise of explosions, gun fire, and screams. A dark crystal spike rose from the ground near the docks, where on top, a dark equine cried mightily as it towered everything in the vicinity.

The equine's white and evil toothy grin sent shivers to the two-legged creatures who were fleeing from him. Slowly, while ignoring the chaos down below, it turned towards the bridge, and its smile vanished as it thought of how slow its dark mists are crawling towards the city.

No matter, it thought. It jumped off towards the concrete road. Upon it's landing, it flared it's horn with a dark purplish aura, and quickly let out a powerful wave of darkness around it, throwing the nearby soldiers away from it. Then, the dark equine began to ran towards the edge of the city, creating black crystals from its wake. Each growing crystals are slowly rising, threatening to go even beyond the tallest building in the city of Rentelbud.

Since the mists are crawling ever slowly, Sombra decided to cover the edges of this grand city with crystal walls, to negate the possibility of the two-legged creatures the ability to escape. He thought about them fleeing through the air, but the crystal dragon is handling that problem perfectly.

“You did WHAT!?”

Kronz's voice boomed from the small cellular phone that Xilfer held a few meters away from his ear. He anticipated such a reaction from his nerdy younger brother, so he took extra precaution. And then, as Xilfer guessed, Kronz began to babble things he didn't care about. Also, he was sure that he heard Claire's voice over his bro's loud nonsense mumbles.

After minutes of loud voices coming out from his phone, he heard Kronz's heavy breathing replaced his earlier babbling.

“Are you done?” Xilfer asked in a bored tone after he pulled his phone to his ear. “I have something to ask of you.”

“Big bro...ugh...” Kronz sighed. “This is the first time in forever that you called me, and you kidnapped Claire's sister!?”

“You have your laptop with you, yes?”

“Don't ignore me!” Another sigh. “Yes, I have it. And no, I won't let you laptop-nap it!”

Xilfer arched an eyebrow as he walked towards the edge of the roof of the three storey building where his comrades are currently occupying. He stared at the crowded road, where cars are on a stand-still, and huge numbers of people are panicking away from the chaos. He eyed the police officers, who were having a difficult time controlling the crowd.

“Is the power there back?” Xilfer asked.

“Wha? N-no. Not yet... Why do y—wait... You're behind the black out, too!?”

Xilfer smiled. “Was that a clever conclusion, or a clever guess?”

“Xilfer...” Kronz groaned.

Xilfer took a breath and sighed. “Look, here's what we're going to do.”

“Wait what!? No! I won't work with you!”

“Look, you don—” Xilfer paused after he heard a faint sob from the phone. He guessed that it must be from Claire. He sighed quietly. “Look, I know who's behind all of this chaos.”

“It's Claire's father, yes we know... And oh, to add more impact, I'm giving you a deadpan look right now.”

“He was used.”

“Whu—?”

“They got the power to open portals and call out these weird creatures,” Xilfer explained, “but of course, you already knew that. I also knew that you're busy trying to save Jay, so I went out to dig up more info about the goings on.” He took a breath and sighed. “Look, Claire's dad, Cortes, is also capable of closing it and returning these monsters back.”

“A-are you saying he chose that he didn't because...”

Xilfer nodded. “He's being threatened by the government.”

“What? B-but that doesn't make sense! Why would the queen want the capital city to be attacked?”

“That is why I'm calling you... I don't know...” With his free hand, he pulled his rectangular voice recorder out from his pocket. “I have the evidence of Cortes' confession. We could use this to blackmail the queen and the government.”

“Wait, no,” Kronz blurted out, “no, we're getting off the road here... First, let's talk about Claire's sister. What wi—”

“She's unharmed and she will be released—both alive and unharmed—after all of this is settled.” Xilfer turned his back from the scenes below him. “Cortes has our brother, so I am just making things even. If he's...if he's a good father, then he'll know the right thing to do...”

Silence...

Kronz then asked with a low voice, “w-what if he won't...?”

Chapter 117 - Odd

“Rainbow Dash”

My wing hurts... Okay, not really all of my wing. Just the base. Y'know, on my back. The joint that connects my back and my wings together. Augh, whatever. I'm not good at this whole...uh...watchamacallit.

Anyway, this Kronz dude said something about a “bond” thing. I dunno what he meant, but I think he said it to this Claire girl instead of me. If Claire wants to understand what I'm saying, then she needs to bond with me? Really?

There was a weird ringing noise that suddenly flared in this small weird room. It was an annoying sound, but I was thankful that Kronz stopped it. Apparently, it came from that small rectangle box thing.

Oh yeah, Kronz and Claire are weird creatures that I have never seen before. I mean, they look like monkeys... but taller... less hair...and I really mean that these two have very less hair than a monkey. And they wear clothes. I haven't really seen monkeys wearing clothes before. I guess they count?

Anyway, Kronz placed that noisy rectangle thing to his ear and started talking. I think he's starting to lose it. Whatever...

As much fun as it was hanging with these guys, I had places that I needed to go. Unfortunately, they couldn't understand me, so I am pretty much all alone. I sighed as I turned my attention to the outside world.

What the hay is happening in this place anyway? Why are things so dark here? Is this a part of Unicornia? I shook my head. No, it's probably not. This must be a place that wasn't conquered by neither the unicorn freaks nor the pegasus yet.

And judging from that weird black horn-head from far-away, I'd say that he's making a pretty good job at conquering this place. I mean, what the hay? How powerful is that unicorn!? I've never seen a unicorn able to make large shiny rocks come up from the ground, and still be able to run around!

What is worse, he's the only unicorn doing all the job! Unicornia must be pretty darn confident of his abilities if they sent him and only him...oh wait... He has an army of blue shiny ponies with him... What's with that, anyway? What kind of a cool and evil unicorn brings along blue shiny ponies? Wait wait wait... Did I just said cool!? Augh...

I rubbed my head. Think, Rainbow, think! I need to get outta here. As much fun as it was to kick that dude's flank, I wouldn't last a second without the aid of my wings... Ugh, that stupid wall... I thought it only gave me a headache... It also gave me a wing ache as well... Sheesh...

“You did WHAT!?”

I jumped and quickly turned back to the two monkeys. And no, I wasn't scared or frightened or anything! Yeah, sure, my eyes shrunk and my heart rate increased, but no, I wasn't scared!

I could barely hear their voices now. So I have no idea what's going on. What is worse, Kronz and Claire are talking rapidly at the same time towards that box. What is worst, the loud goings on outside is also making things pretty difficult for me to hear anything.

Hear...anything...huh...

I turned back at the outside world. There's a blue shiny dragon flying through the sky, dodging those fireballs from the flying metal with wings thing.

That dragon, it's crying for help... I wonder why? If it's asking for help, then why isn't that thing just...I dunno, fly away? If it's scared about the things here, and all of that.

“Let go of me!”

I heard a voice down below. I tilted my gaze downward, and saw three hairless monkeys. Two of them wore the same thing. It's probably a uniform. Huh, earlier, the roads down there were packed by those creatures. Now, it's just the three of them down there.

Anyway, those two uniformed monkeys are holding...another one of them...with less clothing.

I...don't know why...but I feel...I really feel like I know that dude. But this is the first time I saw creatures like these! So there's no way I met any of them before. And I have a good memory! Well, I forget things sometimes, but that's not important...

“Sir,” said the other, “this place is dangerous! We're just trying to send you to the police so they can send you to safety!”

“I don't need to! Let me go!”

Finally, after the familiar dude's desperation, he managed to escape his captors' hold. Sheesh, and here I thought that creatures with fingers could hold stuff better than ponies. Anyway, the familiar dude ran forward, stopped, and faced his two captors. What they hay? If you're trying to flee, run! Wait, why am I thinking like this?

“Please listen to me! I know how to stop all of this! But I need to get back to the island!”

His captors tried to catch him, but he was too quick for them. “We don't have time for this!” a uniformed monkey said to the other.

“I need to get back there!”

“This guy is a lunatic! Something must have happened to his mind when he was still in that horse body!”

I blinked. What? Horse body? Uh...no...that couldn't be...

“H-hey, wait!” the familiar dude said, but his captors already ran back towards the chaos.

I stared at him. He doesn't look familiar...but he feels very familiar... Which is...odd...

I looked back, and saw Kronz was still talking to himself, while Claire sat on the ground, sobbing for some reason. I shook my head. Whatever. I needed to be somewhere than here, and who else might be able to do just that?

I turned back and stared at the familiar dude down below. He was pacing around, maybe thinking of a plan. He even didn't mind the rain! Sheesh, I might as well snap him back to his senses.

I brought my front hooves on the frame of the window, stared down, gulped because I was feeling slightly nervous. O-okay, I'm really feeling nervous about this. What if...aw hay. I jumped.

“Look out below!!!”

Gold Blitz stopped and quickly turned his attention at me. Damn, his small eyes went wide in horror at me falling to my doom...

“Rainbow Dash!?”

Author's Note

It has been quite a while since I wrote a first-person PoV chapter...

Chapter 118 - Recollection

“Claire Cortes”

M-my...sister...

I...I really can't believe that my sister has been kidnapped...by someone I know... I don't know what I should feel. I don't even know what I should do...

M-my sister... I haven't seen her for a long time now. It was as if...I already have forgotten about her...

My dad spent too much time in his work, and it left me and my sister all alone. We longed for his love, but he never gave us any of it...until I left home to live by myself.

I...couldn't really remember how I convinced myself to leave and live by myself. I guess it all started during my third year in college. College life was tiring. There are too many things I needed to focus on. I needed to concentrate on my studies if I wanted to have a nice life.

Back then, I swore to myself to graduate, so I can leave the house and live by myself. I...couldn't really remember why I just suddenly decided to leave, but the only thing I remember was the thought of waiting. Why am I waiting and punishing myself like this if I can leave right now?

It was also a week after mom was gone. I guess, with her gone, it added to my frustration towards my dad. It took me a week to convince myself to leave. I wrote my frustration on a piece of paper, and after that, I wrote that he shouldn't bother looking for me. Then, I left my room and left the house. Now that I think about it, I also didn't bother to check on my sister before I left... I didn't even considered how she'll deal with it...

I went to the city and started to look for an apartment. You could say that we were rich. I guess, since we live inside a huge mansion. Although dad didn't gave us any attention back then, he always remembered to put money in my credit card. After I found a nice apartment, I went to the mall to buy myself some clothes and other stuff that I could use, since I'll be living alone.

After that, I settled down inside my apartment. I still remember that I was lucky that I have bought that microwave for a cheap price. While I was waiting for the oven to finish cooking my dinner, I lied down on the sofa, aimlessly changing the channels on the television. After minutes of aimless switching, a thought hit me: I needed a job.

I decided that the next morning, I'll go out and look for a job. And I did. The next morning, I went out and walked around. I still had a few cash that I withdrew yesterday, and I believed that it was enough for me to survive until I could actually find a job.

I walked inside stores and establishments, asking if they were hiring. I read a few posters on walls, trying to see if there are any job opportunities written. This went on for hours until the clock hit noon. It was a cloudy day, which I was thankful for, but it still drained a lot of my energy.

I stood in front of an appliance store while I ate some hotdogs in the street. Through the glass, I watched the local news on the many displayed television sets. I didn't mind the people walking in front and behind me though. Rentelbud's a busy city. Anyway, I couldn't remember what the reporter was reporting at that time before she switched to another. And it was about the city's infamous scientist's daughter gone missing. My breath froze as I saw my picture displayed on the televisions.

I was starting to panic back then. Thankfully, no one seemed to be paying any attention to the news. Everyone were occupied by their own thoughts, I assumed. But still, it was best to stay and hide for today. I just hope the apartment owner wouldn't recognize me when I walk back inside.

I quickly walked inside an alleyway. A few meters in front of me was a dead end. Not that it mattered at the time, since I only wanted to hide and calm my nerves before I quietly go back to my apartment. It was a few blocks away, if I remember correctly.

I suddenly felt a large arm around my neck. As quick as I felt it, it was already around my neck, and the other covered my mouth before I could get the chance to scream.

“Hush, doll,” a cold voice whispered near my ear. I felt the man's cold breath, and it sent shivers down to my spine. My heart was pounding hard and fast, and my mind was racing with lots of thoughts that it left me unable to move. “Now, why don't we walk forward, shall we?”

We walked slow, and the more we got closer to the end of the alleyway, the more frightened I felt. I saw large trash bins leaning on the walls of the buildings, and whatever the guy planned to do to me, I feared that he could do it while we were behind those bins. He was strong, muscular, and I had no chance to fend him off. I felt my eyes started to water.

“Aw, don't cry, doll,” he whispered, but I felt his grin and excitement.

Quickly, he pushed me against the wall, knocking my senses momentarily. He took that chance to tie a handkerchief around my mouth before putting me down on the ground, completely hidden behind the tall bins. I regained my consciousness, and saw him already pulling my jeans off. He looked at me, and grabbed my neck with his one hand.

“You try and do something doll, and you'll be dead,” he smirked as he moved his gaze down to my... “Don't you rather want to feel good before I finish you off?”

I heard a faint voice from somewhere, but my mind was more worried about the guy's other hand, completely pulling my jeans off of me. He then wriggled his fingers in excitement, and just as he was about to grab it, the faint voice I heard earlier became loud—very very loud.

“—yeah, that's the address, now please hurry and send some police over here, quickly!”

“S-shit!” the guy sharply turned his gaze back to the street as he gritted his teeth and fist.

“The poor girl's gonna be raped!” the voice shouted loudly as the guy started running towards the street, leaving me behind. “Oh shoot, he's gonna hit me—no wait, he's running away! Hey!”

I was still stunned from the events that I didn't realized that I stopped breathing. I felt a tear rolling down my face as soon as I realized that I was okay... I was okay!

“H-hey miss, you oka—oh shoot!”

Another guy ran beside me and as soon as he laid his eyes on me, he quickly turned around and walked back to the street.

“Uh, no, I didn't see anything!”

I...don't know why but, his voice and his claim made me smile. Finally, I realized that I wasn't wearing my jeans anymore, so as soon as I calmed my nerves down, I slid on my jeans and stood up.

“Rainbow Dash!?”

A loud voice from outside made me blink. It sounded familiar. Very familiar. I saw Kronz's expression, and he too, recognized it. We both quickly stood on our feet, and as soon as we did, we heard a painful thud, followed by a low groan.

Kronz and I turned to the sofa, and Rainbow Dash was missing, and the window was wide open! We quickly ran towards the window, poked our heads out an— “J-J-Jay...!?”

It really was him! I can't believe it! It's him! It's really really him! Kronz and I called out his name, but he doesn't seem to hear us. He was lying on the wet sidewalk under the rain, rubbing his head, while Rainbow Dash was on top of him, probably unconscious. What the hell did Rainbow do to him!?

I quickly ran towards the door, flung it open and threw myself down the stairs to the ground floor. Kronz was following behind, and as soon as he caught up with me, I was already outside the building, and there I stood a few meters from Jay. He only has a plain white t-shirt and black shorts below his knee level... I wanted to say something, anything, but...

“Ow... R-Rainbow Dash... What the heck...?” Jay groaned as he opened his eyes, and blinked a few times.

...Rainbow's rear was on Jay's groan...

“Uh, bro...” Kronz said, and then a white light flashed from his phone. Jay turned to us. At first, I saw his smile, but after he saw our shocked and amused expressions, his smile evaporated.

“W-wait! No!” he hastily shoved Rainbow off of him, making the pegasus groan and recover her consciousness. Jay bolted up on his feet. “T-that wasn't what it looked like!”

Today was like the day I first met him. He denied he saw anything back then, and now, he's denying about what he just did. Of course, he didn't do anything to Rainbow, but it's sometimes fun to poke some fun on him...but that'll be for later.

Just like what I did back then, I hugged him, and thanked him as I let my tears roll down my face.

Author's Note

I wanted to give Claire a background story...but I don't think I did it nicely. Aw well...

Chapter 119 - Squeak

“Spike”

Cold...

W-why is it so cold...?

Brr...

I groaned as I slowly opened my eyes... Ugh... Everything was too white... Where am I, anyway?

“Oh, you're awake!”

Sweetie Belle? Yeah, that definitely sounded like her. It sounded pretty close, too. Wait... I'm lying on my back? I was about to collect some strength to rise up when Sweetie's head popped in front of my vision with a smile.

W-wow... I don't know why, but seeing her made me smile as well. It makes me feel all warm inside, almost making me ignore how cold the air was.

“Hi Sweetie Belle...” I greeted her before I rose up into a sitting position. After that, I saw that we were in an air chariot. Sweetie Belle sat beside me. On my other side was Apple Bloom, and beside her was Scootaloo.

The cold air made me shiver again, so I grabbed my thick blanket with both my claws and wrapped them around me. Wait, blanket? I stared at the thick cloth around me, and it resembled very much like the crusaders' capes. Bloom and Scoots both have theirs. I turned to Sweetie Belle and...yeah, she wasn't wearing any.

“Thanks Sweetie Belle,” I smiled at her, and she smiled back at me.

“Sheesh you two...” I heard Scootaloo groan weakly. I turned to her, and saw her lazily leaning her head on the edge of the chariot, lazily staring off at the passing white mountains. “You keep that up and I'm gonna puke.”

Apple Bloom chuckled lightly and poked the pegasus with a hoof. “Aw... Someone's feeling jealous...”

I heard Sweetie Belle giggle while Scootaloo slapped Bloom's hoof away. I don't understand what Scootaloo meant. I was going to ask, but Bloom said something before I could open my mouth.

“Anyway, so Spike,” Bloom said, turning to me while holding the crystal heart on her other hoof, “any ideas what happened after the girls an' Ah went down?”

“Huh... Hm...” I blinked as I brought a claw on my chin to think about it... “W-well, the last thing I remember was that the alicorn slammed me down on the ground...hard...” Huh, I wonder if I got another bump on my head from that... I raised my claw from my chin and rubbed my head. The only bump I felt there was the one that Gold gave me during the time Twilight was sending me lots of scrolls... Wow, that was a long time ago. Oh, that made me remember something... “Oh yeah, should I send the heart now to Gol—uh, Jay?”

Apple Bloom was about to answer when Sweetie spoke, “I think we should let Twilight decide.” Bloom and I turned our heads to her. “She was the one who sent these pegasus stallions to get us back to the castle. Maybe she knows a proper way of sending the heart to Jay.”

Huh, that's actually a good idea. And it also answered a question I was having about where we were going, and how we ended up in a chariot. Er... I guess that's three of my questions answered. I smiled and nodded. “Yeah, that sounds like a good idea.” I then turned back to Bloom. “Want me to hold the heart? Maybe you've been holding that thing for too long...”

Bloom just smiled and shook her head. “Nah, I'm good. Besides,” she stared at the heart, “it kinda gives me this weird soothin' feelin'... An' it's kinda nice.”

Oh yeah... I don't know why, but after I heard what Bloom just said, it made me remember that weird dream I had. I wonder if that was really Jay. Well, it felt real, even though it was just a dream... “Wish we could get to the castle soon.”

“Why's that, Spike?”

I turned to Sweetie Belle, and saw her confused look. “Well, other than to know a good way to send the heart, I also want to ask Twilight about the strange dream I had before I woke up...”

She blinked. “Oh? What kind of dream?”

“Probably about you and him under a big old tree...” Scootaloo snickered, and she was joined by Bloom.

Sweetie Belle glared at her two friends while blushing. Uh, yeah, no idea what's going on... I looked at them, blinking. Nope, I don't get it.

“Anyway,” I said, “maybe you guys can help me figure out what my dream meant.”

“Is Sweetie Belle in it?” Scootaloo asked, and snickered with Bloom.

“Will you two quit it!?” Sweetie Belle...squeaked.

Chapter 120 - Photo

“Xilfer”

“w-what if he won't...?”

My bro's question made me feel colder than the rain that showered down upon me. His question consumed my thoughts. I had no idea what I would do if Cortes would not return the island back...if he would not return our stupid brother back.

I lost track of time. It felt like I stood still in years. Everything around me became a blur. Every sound no longer registered in my head. My brother's question echoed in my mind endlessly.

“Rainbow Dash!?”

Th-that voice!? I gasped as I blinked. Could it be? It was faint, but I heard it loud and clear. It was his voice... It was his! But how!?

“Jay!?” That was Claire's voice...

“Bro!” And that was Kronz's... “Hey bro! God, bro! You all right!?”

“Jay! Jay! It's really you!”

“Bro! Drat, I don't think he can hear us...”

My throat felt dry all of a sudden. Claire's and Kronz's voices kept on calling Jay out through my phone. If they're making a prank, then this is a sick joke. With that in mind, I was finally able to speak.

“Kronz, what's going on?”

There was no answer. I assumed that my brother carried his phone away from his ear. It makes sense, if Jay's really back for unknown reason.

“C-Claire! Wait up!” I heard my bro's voice along with loud footsteps. I then heard a loud slamming noise. That was probably the door. “D-darn, I need to work out some more...” My bro said to himself, likely, as sounds of feet against stairs echoed through the phone. Somehow, his realization made me smile. It made me remember the good ol' days. I was exercising daily, and my two bros would join me during the weekend.

“Oh, hey, you still there Xilf?” Kronz asked, and I could hear his hard breathing.

“Yeah. So what's happening?”

“Wait, hold on, I'll send you a photo. Y'know what they say, photos deliver thousands of messages than words alone...” Kronz explained, and while he did, I could swear that I could hear Jay's faint groans. What the hell's going on back there?

Before I could say something however, Kronz ended the call. Darn it.

No sense standing out here under the rain. I went back inside the building, walking down the stairs. The sounds of my descent on the metal stairs echoed in the gloomy walls of the building. My mind was full of questions. It was unusual for me, but I held a straight and serious look as soon as I entered the room...where...

“Seth...what the hell are you doing?”

“What?” Seth asked, turning his head at me while suspending both his arms in front of the girl's terrified face. “I wasn't touching or sniffing her!”

“Hey Xilf!” Bug called, and I turned to him. He was putting bullets inside his gun. “I've been wanting to put a bullet inside that crazy dude's head for a while now...” He sounded annoyed, and he glared at Seth's shivering form. “May I?”

I was about to reply when I felt my phone vibrating. I held it in front of my face, and I saw that I received a photo. I opened it...

“What are you reading?” Bug asked.

I smiled as I put my phone back to my pocket. “Porn...” I then walked towards the table, and sat on a chair. “Seth, get away from her.”

Reluctantly, Seth stood up and sat on a chair near the table.

“Where's Blade?”

“He took a piss somewhere,” Bug shrugged.

The door behind me opened, and closed.

“Yo!” Blade took a seat. “We havin' a meetin' or somethin'?”

“Something like that,” I nodded with a serious smile as I felt my phone vibrating again. I pulled it out and opened Kronz's message. “Next phase...” I said after I read the message.

After I put my phone down on the table, I eyed my crew, noting their serious expressions...minus Seth...

“And...that would be...?” Seth asked impatiently.

I stood up and turned towards the door. “Prepare everything. We're going to the bridge.”

“Whoa!” Seth's voice echoed in the room as I walked towards the door. “We're gonna blow up the bridge!?” I could feel how excited he was about that idea of his.

I turned and gave him a glare. “Blow yourself up for all I care.”

Blade snickered as I opened the door.

“What about the girl?” Bug called out before I could walk out of the room.

“We're bringing her with us,” I walked out and turned to the room, eyeing the girl on the far corner of the room. Her eyes showed clear signs of uncontrollable fear. “There's going to be a reunion soon...”

I saw Blade's and Seth's confused looks before I closed the door.

“Two, in fact...” I whispered to myself with a small smile.

“We're not taking the car?” Bug asked as I led them to the basement.

I flicked the switch and the lights flared, giving us light to see three motor bikes. They look bulky and heavy, but they'll do.

“I'd love to see you drive the thing through that dead traffic,” I replied without looking at them. They could be dense sometimes, but whatever. I pulled the girl's hand as I walked to a corner of the room. She was hesitant when I removed the ropes around her hands. “Stay there.” I glared at her. She was shaking, and it... I shook my head slightly. “You'll be seeing your big sister again, if you promise not to do anything stupid. Got that, kid?”

She was trying hard to blink her tears back. She gave me a weak nod. That's good enough.

“Didn't know you were such a softie, man.” Blade said, and the others snickered.

“Says the guys that told me that I should give more time to my family,” I glared back at them as I pulled my phone out. I decided to let them know we're going there. I doubt they'll call the police, anyway. I think that maybe I caused Claire great distress. I don't want that.

Chapter 121 - Clang

“Kronz”

“W-wait! No!” My older brother said in a tired-panicky voice. He then pushed Rainbow Dash off of him though, prompting the pegasus to groan as she recovered her consciousness. “T-that wasn't what it looked like!” Jay said as soon as he stood up.

I gave him a mischievous grin as I hit the send button. After I saw that the photo was successfully sent, I brought my phone back in my pocket. I was about to say something when Claire quickly threw herself towards my bro and hugged him. The look on Jay's face made me want to steal a photo again, but I guess...my memory will be good enough to save that one.

“You all right?” I asked as soon as I got near Rainbow Dash, who was rubbing her head with a hoof. I knelt down so she wouldn't have to tilt her head up when she looks at me.

Rainbow whined about something, but I couldn't really understand what she just said. She then regarded me with a confused frown, and let out a series of horse whines. I think she understood my expression, so she stopped and gave herself a facehoof.

With a hoof, she pointed at the couple-to-be, and then she pointed at herself. She then stood on all four, and jogged—er, trot in place.

“...what?”

Rainbow growled as she rolled her eyes. She sat down in front of me with a cold glare. She pointed at Jay, and then flailed her two fore hooves in a circular motion, and then she pointed at herself.

“...Jay was swirling around you?”

Rainbow groaned and was about to do another facehoof when my bro spoke up.

“I think Rainbow's asking if I am the guy who transforms into a horse...”

Rainbow rolled her eyes, but nodded with a sigh. She then looked at Jay with questioning eyes.

“Let's head inside,” Claire spoke as she stared at the heavens.

“I wish I could but,” Jay said, making us regard him with confusion, “I need to get back to the island...”

“Jay, listen,” Claire spoke, “I'm glad—we're all glad to see you again but...”

“Look, I need to get back,” Jay turned his back on us. He stared at the direction of the island. “I left my phone there. I need to contact Spike...”

“That's not a problem,” I said as I stood up. Bro turned to me and gave me a confused look. “I hacked it so I could connect to your phone.”

He blinked, and then he smiled. “Still a nerd, huh?”

“Shut up,” I smiled as I approached him. I was about to give him a playful punch to his shoulder, but he suddenly wrapped his arms around me, giving me a tight hug.

“I miss you bro...” he whispered.

“I was...expecting this kinds...of hugs...from Pinkie...y'know...”

“He did WHAT!?” Jay exclaimed while the four of us were walking up the stairs.

Aside from the four of us, no one else seems to be inside this apartment building. Now that I think about it, I don't remember that we were getting evacuated. The police, or whoever was in charge of the evacuation, sure did a lousy job.

That, or maybe the area was already evacuated when we arrive here after we got off from the helicopter.

“Kronz...” Jay spoke as we got to the floor where Claire's apartment room is. “Y-you're kidding, right?” I turned and I was about to reply, but he wasn't done with his rant yet. “I-I mean, yeah, Xilfer might do something like that, but I never would have thought that he would actually do it! And Claire's sister, of all people!”

I noticed Claire's downcast expression as she opened her apartment's door. She went inside without saying a word. I stopped outside, and gestured to Rainbow to go in and to leave the two of us for a while. She looked at us for a while before she let out a sigh and went inside. Her ears drooped. I wonder why.

I took a breath before I faced my bro. He was having a lot of emotions, and he's trying to control each one. I flashed him a weak smile before I told him about what I know.

“Xilfer kidnapped Claire's sister to get even with her father, since he and his group where the ones behind the chaos happening in the island. To get even, because Claire's dad ‘somehow’ took you away from us, and he took our home away, so Xilfer took her sister to get even.”

He blinked. He then tsk-ed as he rubbed his head. “Darn it...” he then looked at me. “You got his number, right?” I nodded, and he nodded. “Your phone, now...”

While Jay was busy texting Xilfer, Claire was fixing us something to eat. We haven't eating anything since we decided to investigate Mount Comet. Kinda strange that I'm not hungry. Meh, I guess I'm used to it.

Jay was seated on the sofa, and beside him was Rainbow Dash, curiously staring at my phone. It's kinda cute to see the two of them together. It also strangely reminds me of Pokémon. Hey, who knows, maybe a human will be given a pony as his partner. I can dream, right? That's the main theme of my game that I'm secretly developing. I'm not yet close of releasing an alpha or beta though...

“This is called a cellphone...” My bro explained to Rainbow as I turned to my laptop. I opened my browser and clicked on the email tab. I needed to talk to Spike. “Oh yeah, before that,” Jay spoke as a helicopters flew above us, “Rainbow, how did you end up here, anyway?”

“She came through the window...” I replied. I doubted that Rainbow could answer that question.

“I...see... But that's not what I meant...” There was a small pause. Ah, now I knew what my bro wanted to know. “Rainbow, I don't know if Scootaloo had told you this, but when you first met me, I was an earth pony, right?” Another pause. Maybe my bro waited for Rainbow's nod. “I don't know if she told you this, but back then, I kinda told them that I was from another world.” Another pause. “Y-yeah, this is my world. My home world, where humans like myself dominate the world. I don't really know everything yet, but from what I know, there are two worlds: yours and mine.”

I blinked. Something about how my bro and his questions made me think of something... I slowly turned to him and stared at the two of them with a confused look. Jay looked at me, and gave me a smile before staring back at the pegasus.

“Do you remember how you got here?”

Rainbow brought a hoof to her chin. She was probably thinking about it. Huh, actually, Claire and I also didn't ask her how she got here, and why she went through the window. Was she chasing something?

Minutes later, and Rainbow let out a sigh as she slowly shook her head.

Jay frowned. “I...see...”

That would have been a pretty useful information. Maybe, just maybe, there's another portal that Rainbow went through that isn't located in the island.

I'll trouble with that later. “Bro, email's ready...”

Jay looked at me and arched an eyebrow. “You're exchanging emails with Spike?”

“Well, yeah.” I nodded. “I hacked our mobile service provider.” His eyes twitched. “I only hacked your connection to connect to my email!” He blinked and tilted his head to the side in confusion. “You don't get it, do you...?” He chuckled nervously. I sighed.

“Anyway,” Jay spoke, “tel—or rather, ask him if he got the Crystal Heart already.”

I nodded as I typed the message.

“Anyway, Rainbow,” I heard Jay talking to the pegasus, “the last time I saw you was when you created that Sonic Rainboom to counter Twilight's mana cannon.”

I blinked as my fingers froze in the air. And there was a loud clang-noise from the kitchen. I looked at them, and Rainbow was eagerly listening. I saw Claire poking her head from the kitchen on the corner of my eye. Jay looked at us, and sighed.

“I think I remember telling you guys that the unicorns and pegasi were on war against each other...” Jay then faced the pegasus. “It's a long story, Dash, but to make things short and precise, Spike and I defeated Twilight, we found out that Discord's spirit was inside Twilight's body, and the body I was using as Gold Blitz was Discord's cursed body. That voice I kept hearing in my head back then was Twilight's spirit. Anyway, after a quick soul-swap spell from Celestia, Twilight was back to normal and the war was finally over.”

There was a weird silence in the apartment. Not really quiet though, not with all the explosions and other chaos happening outside.

Rainbow then broke the silence by blowing raspberries in the air and then she fell on the sofa on her back while laughing hard.

Chapter 122 - Growl

“Jagold”

“Sp—”

I felt my consciousness returning, yet, at the same time, it's slipping away from me... I felt cold, weak, and in pain. I wanted to grit my teeth to ease this headache, but I lost all energy I had within me, as if I was nothing but a doll lying on this wet and cold surface.

There was a very loud crashing noise earlier, but my ears were too tired to ache about it... After that, I felt like I fell on this cold and wet surface, and then I heard faint noises. Splashes of water... Heavy footsteps... Gun shots... Shouts and screams... Explosions... Choppers...

Finally, I felt my consciousness returning more and more, and I finally saw images through my half-lidded eyes. Concrete road... It was running below me... Am I hovering?

There were loud yet muffled voices on my sides... My ears were still tired, probably, yet I somehow recognized the manner of those voices. I felt like turning my head. I slightly did, and I caught a glimpse of those beside me.

S-soldiers were carrying me... I don't know where, but probably to safety, I suppose.

“W-wait...” I wanted to shout it, but I only managed a whisper, and it barely broke through the shouts of my two draggers...

I decided to take deep breaths. That's a good way to circulate one's blood flow. Sooner than I expected, I finally recovered enough strength for me to move. My ears were working now.

“W-wait,” I managed to say loudly, but they didn't stop, although one of them regarded me with a question...a stupid one, though...

He asked how I was doing. I wanted to roll my eyes at that, but I tried to struggle to get myself free from their grasps. I wasn't able to, however, so I pleaded and pleaded. I needed to get back to the island. After a few failed attempts to make them stop, I hung my head low and saw what I was wearing. I don't remember wearing a plain white t-shirt and black short pants...

I blinked at that. No, I didn't feel my cellphone there in any of the pockets... I struggled again, trying to tell them that I needed to go back. My cellphone was left behind, and I needed it to contact Spike!

Finally, by miracle or whatever, I did manage to get myself free from them. I don't actually remember how, but the important thing was that I did. I tried to talk to them, but after they tried to catch me, they left me alone and went back to...somewhere.

Darn it, I need a plan! And fast! I looked around, and things aren't looking good here. From the far distance, I could see tall walls of black crystal rising from the earth. I caught a glimpse of a black horse, and I felt a cold shiver running down to my spine. Darn it... Darn it darn it darn it!

This is bad! This is really really bad! I need to get back to the island. Yes, I need to get back. I need to...what's that weird sound?

I looked up and...my breath left me. “Rainbow Dash!?”

I don't know if I'm seeing things, nor do I know why there's a Rainbow Dash falling towards me, but I tried to raise my arms to catch it, but it fell too quickly, and it hit my head...

...ow...

I can't believe that Xilfer went too far this time... I just can't... I don't want to believe it, but when I saw Claire's face...it made me hurt inside. Never had I seen her so down and sad, yet she tried not to let it bother her... I pretty much envy her strength. I can't possibly imagine what I'd do if one of my brothers were kidnapped...

I shook my head. No, there's no time for that. I needed to slap some sense back to my stupid brother.

I sat on Claire's sofa as I vigorously typed a message on Kronz's phone. I noticed Rainbow Dash was curiously staring at the cellphone on the corner of my eye. I might as well tell her a few things about my world though.

“This is called a cellphone...” I faced her as I turned the device to her so she could have a clearer look at it. She took a curious look at it though, and lightly tapped the buttons with a hoof.

It's kinda strange to see a real-life pony in...real life... Hm, that didn't sound right. W-wait... That reminds me...

Rainbow's here. How? Last time I saw her was when...she stopped that huge mana beam. And she just...disappeared. I...no...we thought for sure that she was dead... Scootaloo's sad face returned in my memory. I can't wait to tell her the good news... If I get the chance, that is. I might be able to, once I learn where Rainbow had come from...or rather, how Rainbow had appeared here. Did she just got here? How long was she here? Tsk... I hope she didn't went through that portal on top of Mount Comet...

I blinked as I finally returned my attention back in reality. I saw the cellphone was on the sofa, in between me and the curious pegasus, who was poking it with a hoof.

“Oh yeah, before that,” I caught her attention, and I flashed her a small smile. “Rainbow, how did you end up here, anyway?”

Rainbow Dash didn't seem to believe me when I told everyone about the war was over. Even though I couldn't understand her, it was obvious that she was laughing her lungs out. I tried to convince her, but typical Dash, just shoving it away with a hoof. I gave up trying when Claire finished her cooking.

She made noodles and pancakes.

Damn. When was the last time I ate, anyway? I couldn't quite remember. Also, her cooking was so good. I think Kronz and Dash agrees with me. Judging from their shiny clean plates and bowls. Heh.

I saw a small smile on Claire's face though. Dunno why, but I'm really glad to see it. I smiled and thanked her.

I decided to write the email myself. I needed to inform Spike that I'm okay now, and that I needed the Crystal Heart to stop Sombra. But as I wrote the email though, I wondered: how was he suppose to send the heart here? Could he use his green fire to send it to me? But, won't that destroy my cellphone or something?

...and...would I be able to defeat him though...? I don't know how to use the heart... I needed to figure that out sooner than later...

Maybe Twilight can help with both problems: sending the heart and how to use it, but I'm not sure if she is able to. After all, she was unable to use her magic when I left. Maybe she's still looking for Zecora? I dunno, but I felt that so much time has already passed. Also, time in the pony world is faster than in my world, so there's a chance that Twilight's already cured. I hope...

“Spike, it's me, Jay. Yeah, I'm okay now, and I hope you are, too. Hey listen, I wish I could say something more, but Sombra has caused great damage here already. Do you have the heart now? If you have, could I ask you to get Twilight and ask her of a better way to bring the heart here? I don't think your green flame would be a good idea though... Unless Twilight says otherwise. And oh, could you ask her if she knows how to use the heart? Also, be careful out there as well!”

“Uh...bro?” I heard Kronz calling me. After I hit the send button—and hoped that Spike would get it—I turned to my bro.

Kronz was staring at the window, and...I don't like the worry in his tone.

“...big trouble...”

Rainbow got up from the sofa and turned to the window behind her as I stood up and walked beside my bro. Far away, on the pier, soldiers were already retreating while huge numbers of blue ponies were marching at them.

A powerful roar echoed in the sky as a blue dragon flew overhead, firing black beams at the evading helicopters.

“Jay!” a familiar voice shouted from below.

I looked down and saw Xilfer, climbing down from a big motor bike with a young girl in tow. He then tilted his head up at me as two more bikes stopped near him.

“Rose!” Claire shouted. I didn't even notice that she was beside me.

“B-big sis!” the young girl called.

Rainbow said something, but I didn't understand what it was. Claire ran to the door and opened it. Kronz and I stared at each other before running after Claire. I heard loud clopping noises following behind me. Rainbow probably decided to follow us.

By the time the three of us reached the ground floor, we saw Claire and the young girl were hugging each other in tears. Xilfer stood at the opened door, staring at me. Rainbow growled for some odd reason. She was about to march forward, but Kronz stopped her. What's her problem?

“Rainbow?” I panted as I stared at the pegasus. She was growling at Xilfer for some reason. She didn't even looked at me when I called. I wondered what was wrong. I turned to my bro. “You know each other or something?”

“Something like that,” Xilfer replied flatly as he stared at the pegasus for a short while before he stared back at me. “Hey,” he said suddenly.

“H-hey...” I panted... Man, I need to work out some more...

Three men suddenly went inside. One of them closed the door in a hurry.

“Soldiers are comin', man!” the one who closed the door said. “I-I'm starting to doubt if this was a good idea!”

“The soldiers aren't the ones we should worry about,” Xilfer replied, giving him a side-glance.

The noises outside were muffled by the walls and the door and windows of the apartment building, but it was getting louder and louder...

Chapter 123 - Calm

“Rainbow Dash”

Oh my sides! My sides! Damn, that was a good one! I can't believe that Gold Blitz was this funny! Heck, he's even insisting that what he told me was true! Like that wou—oh, my sides...! They hurt!

I waved a hoof at him to stop. I couldn't handle it any longer! Hahahah!

I wiped a tear. Damn... I hadn't had a good laugh in ages!

Claire called the three of us over. I jumped down from the wide comfy chair and went to another room where my nostrils smelt something pretty darn delicious. D-damn... I feel my mouth is starting to water... When was the last time I smelt something so so good?

Jay pulled a wooden chair and asked me to sit on it. I rolled my eyes before climbing up. Sheesh, I could have pulled it by myself, y'know. After I sat down, I saw him doing the same for Claire. What is this dude anyway?

We-well, whatever... There was a bowl of hot steaming noodles and a plate full of sparkling pancakes... I heard a chuckle. I turned and saw this Kronz dude.

“You're gonna flood the room if you keep that up, Dash,” he said before taking a huge bite of his pancakes.

I closed my mouth shut, and I felt a large pool of saliva inside, and a few bits streaming down my jawline... H-have I been drooling the whole time!? I swallowed...and I wasn't blushing from embarrassment!

Whatever! Food is important for now! I brought my two fore hooves on the table, and I dived at the delicious pancakes. While I was munching though, I saw the three monkey-like dudes staring at me. I stopped and stared at them while I was chewing. They were using those sort of metal thingies to hold their food.

Well, whatever. Good for you to have fingers than hooves. I dove back down.

Damn this three two-legged freaks! Haven't they ever heard of settling down after a good meal!? Ugh, I swear... If this is going to be a norm here, I'll bite their legs off!

We were running down the same stairs we used to climb back up earlier. Sheesh, what's the rush, anyway? If those blue ponies are to invade, isn't it safer to stay inside?

I-I mean, it's not that I'm scared of them! I'm just not able to fight them off! Not with my damaged wing, I couldn't... Ugh, it sucks to be unable to use my wings to fly...

Finally, we reached the ground floor of this weird house. Now to figure out what's all of the exci— “YOU!” I shouted when I quickly saw that two-legged creep standing at the door! I was about to run and tackle him or give him a one-two punch, but my tail got caught up into something. I glared at him as I tried to pull myself forward.

“Rainbow?” I heard Blitz's voice.

Sheesh, what the heck!? I looked back to see what's going on, only to see this Kronz dude was holding my tail!

“You know each other or something?” Jay asked.

I looked back at that creep and tried to pull myself forward. Damn, that skinny Kronz guy could hold me off!

I swear, when I get to you, you creep, you'll be so darn sorry!

“Something like that,” the creep said while staring at me with that stupid bored expression of his!

Grahh... “Let me go!”

“Rainbow,” Kronz knelt down so he could look at me at eye-level. I glared at him in return. “What's gotten into you?”

I opened my mouth to say something—anything—but none came... I blinked angrily as I looked elsewhere. W-why do I hate that Xilfer dude anyway? Did something happen? Did he do anything that made me hold a grudge against him?

I took a breath and exhaled as I took a side-glance on that small female...creature. At first I thought she was Scoots, but, as I fully turned my attention at her, I realized that she wasn't. Damn, how's Scootaloo doing anyway...?

I saw those two females whispering to each other, while the small one was looking at me. The older one looked at me, and then back at the small one. Are they sisters? I am not good at reading faces or whatever, but they look kinda identical.

And what the hay are those noises outside anyway!? It sounded almost like the war back home. Home... I wonder if Scootaloo's safe... I sighed as I hung my head low...

Darn it... I'm so confused!

“Rainbow?” I heard a quiet and squeaky voice. I looked up and saw the small female knelt down in front of my vision. She wore a small smile and her eyes were kinda red and teary. “Are you okay?”

I blinked. “Shouldn't I be the one asking you that, kid?” Of course I'm not okay... I sighed... Of course she wouldn't understand a single word I just said. I hung my head low again.

“We-well,” she spoke. I didn't bother looking at her. “I was really really scared when they took me, b-but I'm okay now.”

I blinked. What's...going on? I slowly raised my head, looking at her with a confused frown. She was still giving me a small smile though.

“I am with my sister. And I am with you again,” she nodded slowly, “so, I'm okay now.”

I stared at her, and that was the only thing that I did. I didn't even realize how quiet everyone else was. They were all staring at the two of us.

She...she... “...you can under...stand me...?”

She blinked and her small smile was gone. “Of course I can.” She said with confusedly and innocently.

B-but how? I thought...

I looked at everyone else. Jay and Kronz were both staring back at us with a deadpan. Claire was blinking, thinking, I dunno... That Xilfer guy stared at us with disinterest. That creep. The other three...

“Oh great!” one of the three exclaimed as he raised both his front—er—upper...arms...in the air. “We're trapped in here. Soldiers and weird mobs are outside killing each other. There's a blue giant lizard with wings destroying the choppers outside. And we have a kid and a weird blue horse-thing that can understand each other!”

“Zip it, Seth,” the creep turned to the paranoid dude. “I'm trying to think here.”

“Hey Seth,” another one called, “you forgot that we have a good lookin' chick here.”

Claire sharply turned her head at the guy and glared at him. The dude just grinned, and the other one as well, except for the paranoid one.

“You guys are crazy! We need'a get outta here!”

“You wanna die outside, then be my guest,” Xilfer calmly said as he walked towards the door and was about to grab the knob.

“Wait wait wait, okay okay, I'll calm down!”

A guy laughed. “So anyway, Xilf, what's the plan?”

“First,” creep dude took something out from his...uh...clothes...as he turned to Gold Blitz. He threw a black rectangular thing and Kronz barely caught it. “That's the evidence I was talking about earlier.”

“Evidence?” Gold and Claire asked at the same time.

“So...Jay,” the creep gazed at Gold, “from the way I see things here, you're the only one who knows how to stop and turn things back to normal, until Cortes could send the monsters back.”

“Wh-what?” Gold...or uh...Jay...seemed to be surprised.

He was about to say something more when the ground suddenly started shaking like crazy! That, and a very loud explosion almost made me go deaf.

The small girl lost her balance, but I caught her on my back. It's quite nice to have four hooves rather than two, I suppose. Looking around, the earth was still shaking, but Xilfer appears to be the only one who is standing calm and tall, as if nothing was happening! What the heck, this dude's confidence is ticking me off, and I don't even know why!

“What a bunch of amateurs,” he whispered, but I was able to hear it.

Seconds later and the earth stopped shaking. He turned to the door and opened it wide, enough for me to see outside as well from where I stood. The instant he opened the door, a large crystal-blue dragonic head roared a hoof's length away from him! Augh! It cried for help, but damn it, it's loud roar was echoing around the room.

There was a weird whistling noise, and then the dragon's side exploded and it was consumed by red, orange and black smoke.

Xilfer calmly closed the door and turned back to us. And he still kept that annoying calm face of his! “So, Jay, what's the plan?”

Chapter 124 - Sister

“Sweetie Belle”

Spike shared his dream with me and my friends. It was about him, where he found himself in a clearing within a forest. He said that he saw Jay, or Jay saw him. It wasn't really that important though, he told us. Anyway, the scenery were changing rapidly for him to understand what was going on. There was a scene where Jay stared quietly at a tomb stone, and then on a bed, and then on a dungeon, and then outside a house.

For a dream, it was too confusing to understand. I've had weird dreams before. That's not unusual, but Spike explained that it was weird because he really felt like he was really talking to Jay.

“Well,” I spoke, catching my friends' attentions. “I did hear about special kinds of dreams where somehow, you can be inside the same dream of somepony you really wanted to talk to...or something like that.”

I've tried that before though. Being a unicorn, you can use your magic to help you with almost anything. Anyway, I called it dream magic. Every time I try and go to sleep, I always try and use my dreams to seek out my parents. ...I couldn't reach any of them though... They disappeared one day... I couldn't really remember exactly when, but I guess it was when I was still a small filly. The war back then was pretty scary.

There were also times when I tried to reach out for my big sister, but her dreams were...uh, never mind. I could count the times I tried reaching her through my dreams though, but I always quickly end the connection. Her dreams were...

“Why are you blushing like that?” Scootaloo asked, but her grin spoke something else. I tried glaring at her. “I just asked you how those special kinds of dreams work, but I guess I got my answer,” she snickered.

“N-no! It's not like that!” I blurted out, “you got the wrong idea!”

“Suuure...” she snickered, and Bloom joined her.

Ugh, these two are horrible!

“What are they talking about, Sweetie Belle?” Spike asked, blinking at me. Is he really this innocent? I find that hard to believe though. He could stand his ground on the battlefield, so I thought that he's old enough to know these kinds of things. I guess that's what makes him...cute... “Uh, Sweetie Belle?”

“I'm fine, I'm fine!” I replied hastily as I looked away to hide my blush. I heard my two friends snickering back there. Ugh, those two...!

The rest of the travel was spent by pointless teasing here and there, and some small talk about random stuff. And oh, Spike got another mail. It was from Jay this time, which gave him a really cute smile. Anyway, the pegasi stallions landed on the castle ground of the Castle of Unicornia when he was about to reply. We jumped out of the carriage and went towards Princess Twilight and Prince Shining Armor. The latter was staring at us neutrally, while the former was glaring at Spike, who was looking down on the ground. I wanted to say something, but uh...

“Spike,” Twilight spoke icily, her voice felt colder than the calm snow falling down from the sky. “You left the castle without informing me. Care to explain?”

“Um...” Spike slowly looked up, and met Twilight's glare with his gaze. “...Jay needed...help...?”

The air was quiet for a few seconds before Twilight sighed, closed her eyes and rubbed her head with a hoof.

“Figures...” Twilight murmured as she turned around and trotted inside the castle.

I turned to Shining Armor, who was looking at Twilight entering the giant double doors of the castle. When she was gone, he sighed and smiled.

“Whew, glad that went well than expected...” He then faced us with that same smile. “Anyway, Twiley will be expecting the four of you in the library.” He nodded, and I noticed his smile went wider than it's suppose to be.

“You seem to be so happy,” Scootaloo pointed out, “it's good being a stallion again, huh?” She snickered.

Shining frowned and his ears drooped. I turned and glared at my pegasus friend.

“Not meaning to be sexist,” Shining spoke with closed eyes, “but I'd rather be a stallion. Thank you very much...” He then turned and followed Twilight.

“Phew...” Spike sighed in relief. He took a few steps forward and turned, giving us a smile. “Well, we have the heart. Let's go and ask Twilight of how we should send it to Jay.”

“She was here a moment ago,” Scootaloo pointed out.

Spike stared at her flatly. “Didn't you notice how angry she looked?” He shook his head slightly. “Anyway, let's go!”

The three of us nodded. Spike turned and led the way, but after a few steps, I heard a familiar voice from the opposite direction. I stopped and looked, and I saw my big sister was talking with a few unicorns at the castle's gates.

“Sweetie Belle,” I turned and saw Apple Bloom and the others were already by the castle's door. “You comin'?”

“Um...” I bit my lower lip as I glanced back at my sister. It has been a really long time since I last talked to her. I vaguely remember why we grew distant though... “I uh... I'll catch up with you guys...”

When I turned back at my friends, I caught their gaze was on my sister merely seconds before they looked back at me. Apple Bloom smiled at me and nodded. Scootaloo frowned and her ears drooped.

“It's okay. We understand...” Apple Bloom nodded again and turned.

Spike looked at me curiously, so I smiled at him and nodded. He smiled and trotted inside the castle. Scootaloo sighed again and followed Spike and Apple Bloom.

Oh, right... Rainbow Dash... I think I need to come up with something to cheer her up again. I mean, it's not like I wanted her to feel like that again. I just...miss my sister, I guess...

I turned and took slow steps towards Rarity. Her coat was almost as white as the snow covering the ground. Her bluish-purple mane was falling straight down, as well as her mane. I guess she just recovered from the Poison Joke incident.

As I got closer, I caught a few of her conversation with a few unicorns.

“—and don't forget to check the houses around the base of Unicornia.” My sister said, and the four unicorn mares wearing saddlebags nodded. “I heard that there are a few unicorns living there, for reasons beyond my knowledge. Anywho, please be on your way. Princess—er...Miss Sparkle would want every unicorns recovered within an hour.”

I stopped a few hooves from her when the four other mares nodded and trotted out of the castle's vicinity.

“Oh?” Rarity turned to me and gave me an awkward look. “Um, hi Sweetie Belle...”

“Hi...”

...and then we went dead quiet... I sighed.

“Look, Rarity,” I looked down at the snow-covered ground. I never would have thought that it would be this difficult to talk to her. It feels so...awkward... “I uh...miss you...”

I slightly looked up, and I saw her mouth hung slightly open. I think she wanted to say something, but I guess I took her unprepared for what I just told her. She sighed as she hung her head low.

“The war really separated the two of us, hadn't it?”

I nodded. I doubt she could see it though...

“...and things got a little awkward between us...”

“W-well...” I stammered as I looked elsewhere to avoid her curious gaze, “m-maybe more than just a little...”

I took a glance, and I saw that she had a small smile. “Well, yes, probably more.” I faced her, and she smiled. “I missed you too, Sweetie Belle.” She then frowned. “Where on Unicornia had you run off too for all these years?”

Oh... I shyly looked away. “We-well, you know...”

“Minus the time that you took off with your, um, companions, the last time I saw you was during that fire training you had with that cruel Starfall.”

“He was being a jerk, and you weren't...you weren't there to help me that time...” I said in whisper, but she still heard it.

Rarity's slightly angry look became a sad look as her ears flattened. “Believe me, Sweetie Belle... I realized too late of how he treated you fillies,” she sighed. “Yes, it was training, but he shouldn't have acted to be so cruel to you.”

I blinked. Y-yeah, I guess that part was true, but...

She sighed again and stared at me with a sad frown. “B-but it was my fault as well... I should have been there...”

That was true as well, but... “...it was also my fault. Instead of telling you, I ran off...”

“To Unicornia knows where...” she sighed and I winced. She then flashed me a small smile. “So, shall we...start over...little sister?”

“Y-yeah,” I smiled warmly at her as I took a step closer. “I'd...I'd love that.”

Even though I'm a young mare now, there's still a small and longing filly deep inside me. I woke her up and let her hug her dear sister that she missed for years now. It felt so...strange, but it feels safe, somehow...

“But I don't want to talk about stallions and sex and stuff...” I spoke while we were still in a sisterly embrace.

Rarity chuckled sadly. “Aw... You just had to get rid of the fun things we could talk and do together...”

“Rarity...”

She chuckled nervously, and rubbed my head down to my mane. “I was kidding, Sweetie Belle...”

“Sure you were...” I teased.

Chapter 125 - Intrigued

“Scootaloo”

Stupid emotions being so stupid and making me think of stupid things and making me lose my focus. Darn it... It's not it's Sweetie's fault that I'm feeling like this. Okay, maybe she did, but she didn't mean it! I know that she didn't, but it hurt...it really hurt... Argh!

“Scoots?”

I...must have slammed my hoof on the ground too strongly... I quickly looked ahead and saw Spike, Apple Bloom and Shining Armor. The three stood before the the opened doors to the library, where inside, I saw Twilight was staring at us in confusion...

I sighed.

“I'm fine, I'm fine...” But they still kept on staring at me. My eye twitched in irritation. Argh! I stepped forward and kept on trotting through the library, completely ignoring their worried looks at me. I turned and stared mindlessly at the stacks of books on this tall bookshelf standing in front of me. My eyes fell on one title to another, pretending to read them.

I heard their hooves stepping on the ground behind me, and beyond me. They trotted slower than I wanted, but at least they were with that purple unicorn now. I needed to be alone, to have my thoughts to myself for a while...

“Is she...gonna be okay?” That was Spike's voice. Ugh...

“No,” came Apple Bloom's simple reply as I pulled a random book and opened it to a random page.

“She seems to be just busy looking for something...” came Twilight's response...

“No. She's just tryin' tah look busy so we could'a ignore her,” ...darn it.

I sighed as I returned the book. With that done, I looked and glared at them. “Could you just help Jay or whoever already? Sheesh,” I rolled my eyes as I trotted towards the window where Blitz's statue stood beside it. “He needs immediate help, remember? So stop delaying and get on with it!” I lifted my two fore hooves and rested them on the window's frame. I rested my head over my hooves and stared at the gray world outside.

The ponies behind me murmured something. It was too low for me to hear, but whatever. I'm a tough pony, and I can deal with these stupid sappy emotions! ...yeah, I can deal with it...like how she deals with them all the time...when she was still here... Argh! Darn it! Darn it darn it darn darn it—

“Stop slamming your head!” Apple Bloom cried as I felt a magical aura wrapping around my whole body.

I looked down and saw the magenta and bluish-white hues of magic surrounding me. It was a weak kind of magic, so I easily broke it with my mind. I turned and glared at the two unicorns, but I closed my eyes and sighed instead.

“Wanna talk about it?” that Armor dude asked.

I shook my head. “No. I can deal with this. Just...go and help Jay.” I sat and looked at them with a brave face. “I'll just sit here.”

“Um... Okay, if you're sure...” Twilight stared at me with doubt before nodding and turning her attention on the heart that was on top of her table. “So, what am I looking at?”

“That's called the Crystal Heart,” Spike answered, “w-well, at least that's what Kronz and Jay called it.”

“Kronz?” Twilight blinked. Before Spike could answer though, she spoke again. “Ah! Jay's younger brother. Yeah,” she nodded, “I remember him while I was trying to connect my thoughts and soul to bring him here.”

“Uh...” Spike blinked at that. Apple Bloom as well. Sheesh, all of these magic stuff is too complicated. “R-right, anyway,” Spike shook his head slightly, “Jay wanted to ask you if there's a better way for us to send it to him, since he's not sure if using my fire would work.” Twilight brought a hoof to her chin as her horn glowed, levitating the heart in front of her vision, and slowly rotating it as she observed it. Sigh... This is gonna take us a while... “And he also wants to know if you know how to use it against this Sombra dude.”

“Sombra?” Armor echoed, catching everypony's attention. “That sounds familiar.” He ignored the looks he was receiving as he trotted towards the bookshelves. “I think I have read about that in one of the books here while waiting for Twiley to return with the potion... Hm... It must be around here somehow...”

“Try the Crystal Empire,” Spike announced, “he is, after all, related to that deserted kingdom...”

“Not really a deserted kingdom is ya ask me,” Bloom smiled at the dragon, who blushed and laughed nervously.

“Oh, yeah, right...” Spike scratched his other arm as he faced Bloom. “I should maybe help and go look for that book.”

After receiving a nod from Bloom and Twilight, Spike went to the shelves and started reading at a few pages before closing them, returning them, and pulling another book. While he and Shining were searching though, Twilight levitated the heart again, rotating it as he took a few notes with his quill and papyrus. Wow, she can lift multiple items all at once.

“How're ya holdin' up, Scoots?” Apple Bloom asked. I didn't even notice that she already sat beside me.

I groaned before I faced her. “I'm fine. Just not really up to being all sappy again, like that one evening in that forest...”

“Hm...” Bloom and I turned to Twilight as she eyed the heart. “This is a weird artifact, indeed... I could feel that this is some sort of container, or something similar, that could hold large amounts of mana. Kinda strange that I could feel small amounts of mana that is somehow similar to the mana I used to contact Jay in his home world while I was trapped inside Discord's body...”

“Does she always talk to herself?” I asked, a little too loud, but she didn't seem to notice. Heh, she must be so absorbed by that thing.

“Yeah,” Spike responded, while flipping a few pages with a book on his claws, “she's always like that if she's figuring out something that really intrigues her.”

I looked at Apple Bloom, but she was in deep thought about something. Finally, she spoke up as she gazed at the purple unicorn. “Twalight,” the unicorn regarded her with a side glance, “you just said that you, somehow, sensed a similar magic that you used to contact Jay, rayt?”

“Yes?” She smiled at her. “Wow, for an earth pony, you sure are attentive at these kinds of stuff.”

Bloom only shrugged. “Ah learned how to listen an' analyze. Anyway,” she then turned to Spike. “Spike,” he looked at her, “you said that yah had a strange dream about you an' Jay, right?”

Spike arched an eyebrow, but nodded anyway.

“Oh?” Twilight sounded interested as she turned to Spike. “Spike, was that true?”

“Yeah? Why?”

“What was the dream about again?”

Spike stared at her with a deadpan. “Apple Bloom already told you: it was about me meeting with Jay. What's the big deal, anyway?”

“This is a big deal, Spike!” she announced as she turned to Bloom. Where is this heading, anyway? “Anything else, um...”

“Just call me Apple Bloom, or Bloom, whichever you feel comfortable with,” she shrugged. “Anyway, hm... Well, we had a fight against an alicorn...”

“An alicorn?”

“Yeah,” I answered. “She said that she was the alicorn of love or something. Nothing lovely about how she kicked our flanks back there though,” I chuckled. I still felt kinda sore from that battle. “She called herself Kadanz or something...”

“You mean Cadence, right?” Armor asked. I turned to him and saw that he was reading a book that was held by his magic. “I found the book about Sombra. Apparently, he and Cadence were the rulers of the Crystal Empire many years ago, but a catastrophe happened, making each ponies who lived there to suddenly vanish.”

“Wait wait wait...” Twilight spoke. “Too much information running around here. Let me sort things out first...” She looked at us as we all nodded. Oh, Sweetie Belle's here. “Okay, okay...” she said as she wrote furiously on a papyrus.

“His Spike,” Sweetie Belle greeted Spike with a smile, which he returned with another, and the two of them trotted towards us. I rolled my eyes while Bloom held a grin. “What? Did I miss anything?”

“Oh, yah just got him, actually,” Bloom and I snickered, ignoring Sweetie's blush and glare.

“Spike,” Twilight called.

“Yeah?”

“Where was this artifact during your dream?”

Spike only shrugged as he slightly shook his head. “The hay should I know? I was knocked out at that time...”

“If we're talking about the heart,” Sweetie Belle spoke, “the girls and I found it lying on the ground, pinning Spike's tail.”

“Huh?” Spike turned to Sweetie Belle. “It was?”

“Eeyup,” Bloom answered.

“I see. Fascinating...” Twilight said as Shining Armor stood near us. “So this heart can connect thoughts to anypony, even through different dimensions.”

“Eh, I'm not sure about that, Twilight,” Spike shook his head. “It was just a dream anyway, though...”

Twilight smiled when Spike trailed off. “Exactly.”

Spike shook his head again. “How does that information help Jay, anyway?”

“Um...” the quill hovered still on the air. Twilight turned to us and gave us a sheepish grin. “Whoops?”

Spike sighed. “When she get's intrigued by something...”

Chapter 126 - Trace

“Apple Bloom”

“The Crystal Heart is a magical artifact that the crystal ponies used to revitalize themselves by sharing their light. The Crystal Heart will then use that light, magically converting it into positive energy, and shares it with the crystal ponies within an undetermined diameter.

Queen Cadence, the alicorn of love, has been using the heart to help the crystal ponies while under the rule of King Sombra, who ruled over the Crystal Empire. His greed for power has caused many kingdoms to fall. In his years of rule, he grew more and more curious of the true power of the Crystal Heart, however, Queen Cadence wouldn't allow him.

One day however, when Cadence wasn't strong enough to power the heart, Sombra tried to gain the power of the heart. Cadence tried to stop him, but she was turned into crystal by Sombra's magic, and was hidden below the castle. Just before Cadence's form was turned to crystal however, she manages to cast a spell that trapped Sombra, making him unable to obtain the Crystal Heart that was located at the very top of the castle.

Sombra however, like Cadence, managed to cast a spell just before the queen's spell was complete. It was rumored that he did not want anyone else to get their hooves on the artifact, so his spell cursed all crystal ponies in the empire.”

That was Twilight just now. Earlier, she asked us a few questions of what we knew and what happened back there in the Crystal Empire. And after that, she read a few books about the matter. Spike and Shining Armor were the ones looking for the books that she needed. Thankfully though, the duo only got three books, including the one that Armor took earlier upon hearing Sombra's name the first time we have gathered in this here library.

“But why did Sombra went to Jay's world if he's originally going after the artifact?”

Twilight was writing down all of these summaries and lists and whatever, and she kept on muttering to herself. So, we left her alone for a while. Scootaloo and Sweetie Belle sat near the earth pony statue. Armor stood beside his sister. And Spike an' Ah are just staring at this weird portal-thing. Ah guess Ah'm starting to believe that our time here is faster than what's on the other side of this here portal, since that lightning just now flashed really really slow. It was mah first time to have ever seen how a lightning would look like: forming a white an' bright crack on that black wall of clouds.

Spike suddenly touched the portal. Ah was about to try and yank him back, but his claw...for what it seemed like he just touched a solid wall. Ah was expecting that it'd — I dunno — go through or somethin'? Ah mean, despite me and the gals were all runnin' 'round and fightin' 'n stuff, Ah still had some time readin' some old books back in the old castle inside the Everfree Forest.

Spike pulled his arm back and turned to me. “I wonder why this thing feels like a solid wall...”

I shrugged. “Do Ah look like a pony who knows all of these weird stuff?”

Spike cracked a smile and chuckled as he scratched his head. “G-good point, Apple Bloom.”

Ah smiled back. “Ya know ya could just call me ‘Bloom’, right?”

He shrugged. “I'll try and get used to it.” He smiled before facing the portal once more.

Heh, he's actually quite nice. Sad he ain't a pony though. If he was, maybe Ah'll ask him out. Ah'm not really into an inter-specie relationship, or whatever it's called. Well, Sweetie has mah approval for this dragon. Uh...yeah, speakin' o' which...

“Hey Spike,” Ah caught his attention. “Ah was wonderin'... Since you're a dragon 'n all, you would, uh, one day grow up to be a giant dragon?”

He arched an eyebrow, then he smiled bitterly. “I wish I would, but I did some research, and I'm a different specie of dragons.” Ah was about to ask, but he spoke too soon. “Oh, I know. Let me show you girls!” He then turned to the bookshelves behind us. “Now where was that book again...”

While he was searching for the book, Ah was wondering if I should tell him that ‘let me show you girls’ somehow sounded dirty. Heheh. That, or mah mind is no longer as innocent as Spike's. Ah well... It's kinda fun to have such a mind, anyway.

“Found it!” Spike cheered as he pulled a blue book.

Well, that was quick. I motioned to the girls to gather as Spike sat in front of me and opened the book. He was flipping through pages by the time Scoots and Sweets sat beside me.

“Ah, here it is!” Spike turned the book for us to read the texts. There were also images of dragons that somehow resembled him quite a bit. Of course, the dragons on the images looked much older than he is. “You know how I am able to send letters, right? That's because my specie of dragons can learn magic. Well, some kinds of magic, at least. We can't use teleport or levitate, but you get the idea...”

“Says here that an average adult dragon's height is almost as twice as big as an adult earth pony,” Sweetie said, sounding a bit happy.

“If I stand on my two legs, like I'm used to do, yeah, but if I stand like you ponies, maybe I'm just about the same height.” Spike smiled. He sure is proud of sharing his specie with us.

“Booooring...” Scootaloo teased as she pushed the book towards Spike, receiving a glare from him. “You should have been those dragons that can be big and strong an—”

“And gets weird smoke-like diseases that could darken the sky of an entire world?” Spike interrupted with a deadpan.

“Um...” Scootaloo gulped a lump and laughed nervously. “W-well, when you put it that way...”

“I like Spike the way he is.” Sweetie Belle nodded with a big smile, and then she gasped and covered her mouth with both her hooves.

Scoots and I shared mischievous grins while we looked at our unicorn friend. Spike seemed oblivious though. Sheesh, that kid...

“No no! I mean, uh, what I was trying to say was...uh...”

“Busted,” Scootaloo snickered.

Sweets was about to argue, but Spike suddenly caught our attention by burping those green fires again, and turning into a scroll in mid-air.

“Sorry,” he chuckled nervously as he caught the falling scroll. “I couldn't hold it. It felt urgent, so yeah...”

“Spike?” We heard Twilight's voice as Spike unrolled the scroll. “Who's it from?”

“It's from Kronz,” he replied, sounding worried. The girls and Ah walked beside him to read what was written on the scroll. “He said that Jay, Xilfer and Rainbow Dash went to—”

“Rainbow Dash!?” Scootaloo exclaimed, snatching the scroll to herself, almost ripping it in the process, and read the entire scroll to herself. “R-R-Rainbow is...alive? She's alive?” she repeated the question over and over, sounding more and more hopeful as she repeated her own question.

Spike snatched the scroll back with a grump. “That wasn't very nice, you know...”

“Sorry sorry,” Scoots' ears flattened, but it stood back up quicker than a blink of an eye. “But Rainbow's really okay, right? Right?”

“Scootaloo...”

“Right, right, sorry Twilight...” she flashed Twilight an apologetic grin, but she dropped it and turned into a frown. “But you were the cause of...never mind...”

Thankfully, she said it with a low voice that Twilight wasn't able to pick up. Sweets, Spike and I heard it, but the three of us didn't say anything. It might cause a huge argument, so we kept it to ourselves. Besides, didn't Gold already told us that it was Discord who did it while inside Twilight's body?

“Anyway,” Spike coughed to clear his throat. “Kronz said that Jay, Xilfer, and—” he faced Scootaloo, “—yes Scootaloo, Rainbow Dash as well,” he then went back to the scroll, “decided to head back to the island. Jay mentioned that, if possible, we should send the heart through the portal that's located on Mount Comet on their world. He suggested that maybe you—Twilight—could trace where his—Kronz's—messages are coming from.”

We turned to Twilight, and saw her shaking her head. “I don't think that would be easy...”

“Well,” Spike said as he suddenly began opening my saddlebag. Oh, right. Ah'm the one keeping the scrolls. “I could trace it, if you'd help me.”

Twilight rubbed her chin with a hoof as she thought about it. “Well, we haven't been able to do some magic together for the longest time,” she looked at us, or specifically, she looked at Spike, and smiled. “I guess that could work. With my magic and your mail delivery service,” she chuckled while Spike rolled his eyes, “we could trace it.”

With a nod, Spike trotted towards the two unicorns, and the girls and I followed behind.

“I wonder why I never thought of looking at where it's exact location was while I was inside Discord's pony-formed body...” Twilight asked herself, staring at the pony statue.

Chapter 127 - Map

“Spike”

“Well,” I said after the scroll was rolled, and as I opened Bloom's saddlebag. “I could trace it, if you'd help me,” I placed the scroll inside and locked the bag. I looked back at Twilight and flashed her a smile. It's been so long since the last time we did magic together. And...I miss it. No offense to Jay, but I love Twilight as much as I love him. She's like a sister to me, as much as he is like a brother to me.

Twilight rubbed her chin with a hoof, and then a small smile appeared. “Well, we haven't been able to do some magic together for the longest time,” her small smile went wider and warmer. “I guess that could work. With my magic and your mail delivery service,” she chuckled, and I rolled my eyes. Really? She is still calling it that? “...we could trace it.”

Well, whatever. I nodded and started walking towards her. I heard the crusaders were following close behind.

A few more steps though, Twilight looked at Jay's statue. “I wonder why I never thought of looking at where it's exact location was while I was inside Discord's pony-formed body,” she frowned.

As we stopped in front of Twilight's table, she stood up and her horn glowed bright.

“What are you doing?” Scootaloo asked, stepping back.

Twilight continued to concentrate on her magic, her horn glowing brighter and brighter. She closed her eyes and pointed her horn up. “I can still remember that mapping spell that I read long ago, before the war even started. Nnnggg...!” Suddenly, the purple glow became white, and then it exploded...gently? ...and quietly? I'm not sure how to describe it. I mean, it appeared as if it exploded, but no sound came, nor did it look like one of the explosions during the war.

I heard Sweetie Belle gasped in surprise. That's when I noticed the fragments of the white magic explosion hung suspended in the air. They looked like...stars... The quiet air was suddenly filled by faint chime-like noises, which sounded really, calming, for some reason. Do stars sound like this?

“Pretty...” Apple Bloom whispered, touching a nearby twinkling fragment. Just as her hoof was about to touch it, it floated higher, as if trying to avoid her hoof. As it moved, it let out a noisier chime-like noise.

“Careful: don't touch them though,” we heard Twilight's voice, and we all looked at her. Her eyes were closed as her horn began to glow in white again. “Those may appear harmless, but they could still shock you. Not in a killing effect, but would still be pretty painful.”

Suddenly, the many star-like fragments started moving. As they moved, the air was filled with their chime-like noises that somehow made me think that it's what twinkling noises would probably sound like. They floated above towards the ceiling, forming what appears to be a familiar map. Huh, it looks really really familiar...

“A map of this region?” Shining Armor's voice broke the serene chime-like silence.

Twilight nodded with a tired-smile. “Phew... Haven't tried that for a long while...” She shook her head slightly before smiling at me. “Now then, send a letter to Kronz.”

I nodded and grabbed a scroll from Bloom's saddle bag. Twilight levitated a quill just as I was about to char my fingernail.

“I don't want you doing that.”

“And I was already getting used to it...” I sighed, but I'm thankful anyway. I don't want a burnt fingernail all the time.

“Hey Kronz. Twilight and I are going to trace where the portal is located in our world. I guess you can write back to me.”

With that done, I stuck the quill behind my ear, and rolled the scroll. As I inhaled some air, I saw Twilight's horn was glowing white again.

“I'm going to add the mapping spell on the green flames, so we could trace it.” Twilight explained, as if she read my question on my mind.

With a nod, I breathed out green fire that instantly consumed the scroll and turned into dust. As it slightly swirled in the air, Twilight immediately fired a fast jolt of white dust-like beam. It mixed with the green dusts, and soon, it flew away.

Twilight then tilted her head up. “All all we need is to wait for it to disappear...”

Blinking, I looked up and saw a bright white dot flashing on the magically-created region map. The dot was flashing on and off, and was moving down south in a slightly diagonal direction to the east.

“Now that's cool,” Scootaloo said in awe.

The flashing dot was over the War Planes...

“Wow,” Sweetie Belle chimed, “I can't believe we could do all of that sort of stuff with magic!”

The flashing dot was over Ponyville now.

“We can do a lot of stuff with magic,” Twilight beamed, “aside from trying to kill another pony, of course.” She laughed quietly and nervously.

Mere inches south from Ponyville was a small field that was surrounded by the edge of what looked like trees further south. That was the last time we saw the dot before it didn't blink anymore.

“The rock fields?” Shining asked to nopony in particular. I looked at him, and saw Twilight was as well. Shining then turned back to us, and smiled. “I've heard about that place during one of our invasion meetings...d-during the war, that is!”

I saw Apple Bloom raised an eyebrow, but shook her head as Twilight giggled lightly. “Well, the girls 'n Ah have seen that place.” All of us turned to her. “It's called a Rock Farm, where...ponies farm...rocks?”

“Well,” Twilight spoke, catching our attention, “rock farms are usually what earth ponies do to grow gems in a much quicker pace. They ‘fertilize’ the soil, so to speak, for rocks to be ‘planted’ in a proper manner so the gem inside them can absorb the nutrients outside it's rock shell.”

Aside from the chime-like noises up above, there was no other sound. Scootaloo broke it, however.

“Wow,” she turned to me as we turned to her, “is she like a walking library or something?”

Twilight frowned as I chuckled and shrugged. “Nah, more like a magical walking library.”

Twilight's frown went further down as the four of us chuckled. Shining Armor soon joined us, earning himself a glare from her.

“Isn't that the place where that pink pony wanted to go?” I asked as the sky chariot lifted off towards the location. This time, I brought along a thick blanket. The crusaders, Twilight, Shining and I were seated comfortably inside. Cloud Strike is the one leading the chariot, since he offered and all.

“Yeah,” Apple Bloom nodded as she brought a hoof to her chin. “Now that Ah think about it, she did told us that she was in a hurry to get there.”

“What are you guys talking about?” Twilight asked, blinking innocently.

“Oh, it's nothing,” Sweetie Belle smiled. “We just remembered a pink pony mare we came across a long time ago.”

Chapter 128 - Bridge

“Kronz”

I stumbled back the moment a blue dragon head roared mightily in front of the front door Xilfer had opened. I lost my balance, and I think I bumped into Jay as well... My heart was still racing when loud explosions struck the dragon. The loud sound echoed and bounced around the apartment, hurting my poor ears.

Closing the door calmly, Xilfer turned around. “So, Jay, what's the plan?”

“H-how could you be so calm!?” asked one of his lackeys who was shaking on the floor. “There's a f*cking dragon outside! A. F*cking. Dragon!”

And then the ground shook, followed by a mighty roar from outside. And then loads of gunshots and a few explosions. Are we in a middle of a war zone here!? And how the hell could Xilfer be so calm about all of these!? I quickly shot myself up into a sitting position.

“It's okay, it's okay...” I turned towards the voice, and saw Claire was embracing her little sister, who was sobbing quietly. “E-everything's gonna be all right...” ...but she sounded really doubtful about her own words.

As I pulled myself up, I saw Xilfer helped one of his lackeys getting back on his feet. Another earth shake, and a few dusts fell down from the ceiling. I turned again, and saw Jay. He fell the same time I fell when that dragon head roared at us. He was still on his back, mumbling something. I saw his eyes, and I already knew what was going on: he was in panic, but not because he could die, but because other people he care about might die.

He always cared about me...about us. He never had time for himself, even less after he got a job...

Another explosion, this time it sounded distant from before, but it still sounded close. And then, a whine of a horse. I turned and looked at Rainbow Dash who stood beside the sisters. I saw her just before the whine died in the wind. Her mouth was closed, and one of her eyebrow was raised questioningly. Suddenly, her brows furrowed and she glared at me. I...think she read my mind. I smiled nervously.

I heard a set of footsteps. I turned and saw Xilfer walking towards Jay. He stood beside him, and extended a hand, waiting for Jay to grab it, but he didn't. I heard a sigh, and it came from my older brother.

“Kronz,” Xilfer spoke, staring lamely at our eldest brother, “he zoned out again?”

“O-obviously...” I replied quietly. The last time I saw him like this was when I was hanging for dear life on a cliff. That was a long time ago, and Xilfer did something back then to snap him back.

“I guess it's your turn, then...”

I looked at him, and his expression was still the same, however, his voice had a mischievous tone to it. I guess he remembered that time as well. I'm not sure if I should be doing this, but after another earth shake, I knelt down and grabbed Jay's ear...and pinched it with my fingernails.

“Ah!” he screeched as he swatted my arm off. “The heck was that for!?” He glared at me as he rubbed his ear.

I smiled apologetically. “Love you too, bro.”

“Stuff a sock in it.”

We, except for Xilfer and his crew, rushed back to Claire's room to see if Spike wrote us something. Unfortunately, there was nothing. It would have been okay if Claire didn't notice the tall and black crystal-like walls that suddenly appeared on the edges of the city. Actually, now that I think about it, no, even if she didn't notice those, it was still not okay for us to stay here.

The lights of each flash of lightning from the heavens and the lights from buildings and street lamps reflected on the mirror-like surface of the black wall. What is worse, Sombra was jumping on top of buildings, leaving black crystals from his wake, and black mists were oozing out from each crystal.

“This is getting worse and worse...” Jay mumbled, starting to panic once again.

I'm panicking as well, but unlike him, I can still concentrate on things that were needed to be done instead of giving in to panic. But I'm still panicking...

“Okay, okay okay...” he mumbled to himself as he took deep breaths.

I heard a whimper, and I guessed that it was probably Claire's sister. It was then followed by a few words from her, but she was talking too quietly that I couldn't make out the words. Rainbow was just sitting on the sofa, shifting her gaze from Claire, to me, and to Jay.

“T-Twilight's great in magic, right?” Jay asked as he faced me. His question was met by a growl from Rainbow Dash. He turned to her with a frown. “So you didn't believe me, I take it?” He sighed. “Look, Rainbow, we don't have time for this! As I've said, the war's over and the unicorns and pegasi are in peace now!” But Rainbow still didn't look like she was willing to accept that through mere words alone. “N-not in pieces!” Still nothing. “Look, whatever. I know you want to go back, and we want all of...” he gestured at the scene outside, “...that to disappear, so let's help each other here, okay? We need all the help we could get, and right now, we need the heart that is still in your world! I asked Spike to retrieve—”

“Bro, you're wasting time,” I cut him off.

“Right, right...” he sighed and turned to me. “Twilight's good in magic. And he was able to track me down here.”

“He?” I arched an eyebrow.

“Okay, ‘she’!” he rolled his eyes. “Sorry, but I'm a little nervous here!” An explosion was heard from somewhere. “Okay, I'm really nervous, but... Ack, just tell Spike if Twilight could send the heart through the portal on Mount Comet!”

I turned to my laptop and began writing the email. “But why Mount Comet?”

Jay was already running towards the door, but stopped after he opened it. “'Cuz that's the only portal I know about, and probably the only one high above the mists!”

That made me blink. I turned towards the window, and stared at the island far far away, and there, above the sea of mists was Mount Comet poking out, aside from the tall towers of black crystal spikes.

“Kronz! Claire! Rainbow! You guys stay...there's a basement here, right!?” I turned to him, and saw him staring at Claire, who nodded. “Good! Then stay down there! If this building collapse, then at least you're safe underground!”

“Wait, bro!” I called as soon as he stepped outside. “How the hell are you going to go to the island without going through the mists!? We don't even know what happened to you while you were in the island!”

“I-I...” he tsk'ed and glared at the door frame. “I'll cross that bridge when I get there!” And he ran off.

I stared at the opened door with a deadpan. “But you are gonna cross the bridge to get there...”

Shaking my head, I silently wished him luck and continued typing my short email. As soon as I was about to click the send button, I heard hooves running towards the door. Turning, I managed to catch a glimpse of Rainbow's colorful tail before it disappeared entirely.

“R-Rainbow!?” Claire's sister called, but she was ignored.

After a quick edit on my email, I pressed the send button, and then lifted my laptop with both hands. “Okay,” I turned to the sisters, “where's the basement located?”

Chapter 129 - Masks

“Xilfer”

I watched them go as they hurried back to the higher floors of the apartment. When they were out of sight, I listened to their footsteps, and waited for it to be gone. Despite the loud noises outside, I could still hear their footsteps.

Finally, I turned back to my crew, and my attention quickly fell on Seth, who is pathetically shivering on the floor, arms on top of his head.

“Ignoring the ladybug here,” Bug spoke, who cleared his throat a bit before continuing, “what's the plan?”

I was about to answer, but Blade spoke too quickly.

“Ya know,” he began as he scratched his head while he leaned on the door frame, “I never expected that we would be doing something crazy like this.”

“It'll get crazier,” I replied, “I have a feeling that it will. Knowing Jay,” I turned back to the stairs, “he'll do things that even I couldn't imagine he would do, just to see me and Kronz safe.” ...and probably that Claire girl.

“Heh, I don't know your brother that much but,” I turned and faced Bug, “he's quite popular back in Sun Ford, huh? Even more popular than you.”

“I prefer that he is ‘quite well-known by our small town,’” I said as I glared at Bug.

Blade then grabbed the window curtains and took a peak outside as Bug chuckled and shrugged. “Well-known or popular: those two are the same for me.” He shrugged again. “I'm just not really sure why he rejected all those girls back in town who asked him out over the years.”

“He was...” I trailed off. Busy? Gay? Not interested? I'm not quite sure. Kronz might know. The two of them do hang out more often, even more after I left home. “He has his reasons...”

Bug just shrugged. “Anyway, back to the things at hand... What's the plan?”

“We wait for Jay to come up with one. He's the one who knows what's going on. Hopefully, he'll shed some light to the goings-on around here.”

Bug nodded, then looked down at Seth. He kicked him lightly in the arse. “So, how about Miss Princess over here?”

“Xilfer?” I heard Jay's voice from the stairs. In truth, I already knew someone was hurriedly going down, but I just kept my back on the stairs. There was still a much louder set of footsteps from above though. Anyway, I turned and faced him as he continued running down the stairs. “I need to go back to the island.”

That took me a bit of a surprise. I was about to say something about that, but Blade was once again too quick for me. “If that's going to be the plan, then call me out.” I turned to him, and he shrugged. “Hey, no offense, but I value my life more than a crazy act of stupidity.”

“M-m-me-e too!” Seth cried out, who was still on the floor, shielding himself. “I'm not going anywhere but here!”

The heavy footsteps stopped behind me with a low growl. Oh, that blue colored dog is back...

“I won't force the two of you then,” I replied calmly, even though I was irritated by Seth's cowardice. I don't mind Blade though. He had good reasons. After all, his kids still need him, even though how pathetic his life is. I turned to Bug. “...and you?”

He shrugged. “Meh, I'm bored. Crazy sounds fun at the moment.”

I nodded with a small smile before turning to Jay, but my gaze fell on the rainbow-colored hair of the weird dog instead, and the things I wanted to ask my brother went back in line for a stupid question. “Mind telling us what that thing is?”

Jay blinked before looking to his left, and saw the blue dog standing beside him in all four. “Oh, right...” He slowly turned back to me with one of his signature stupid chuckles. “Um...yeah uh... This is...a pony...”

“A pony?” I deadpanned, and he nodded. “A pony? From that stupid kiddy show you and Kronz kept on watching?”

“It's not a stupid show!” he countered in slight anger. I then heard sets of footsteps from upstairs again.

“Whatever...” I shook my head. I don't even know why I bothered asking. “Let's push that aside for now.” I paused for a moment as the earth shook violently after we heard a powerful explosion a few blocks away. “So you need to get back to the island...”

I trailed off as Kronz, Claire and Rose appeared on the staircase. They began their descent, but I ignored them.

“...how exactly are you planning on going there? The bridge was raised, remember?”

“The blue dragon dropped it back down,” Kronz answered my question as he stood beside Jay. Claire and her sister took a turn and went towards another door, revealing a set of stairs heading downward.

“I-it's dark down there...” Rose complained, clutching at her older sister's clothes.

“It's okay, Rose, it's okay... See that light down there?” Claire waited for her sister to look down and nod. “There's an emergency lamp down there, so it's not dark.”

I decided to ignore them, and returned my attention to Jay. “Okay, so we can cross the bridge,” I nodded before turning to Bug. “You brought the gas masks, right?

He smiled and pointed a thumb outside. “In the bikes, yeah,” he then turned to the window and took a peak outside. “And are still in good shape, despite everything...”

“You have gas masks?” Jay asked as I turned to him. “Why do you guys have gas masks?”

“The mists gave me that idea.”

“Oh, uh... T-that's clever thinking there, actually...”

“Naturally,” I grinned, and Kronz rolled his eyes.

“We don't even know if those can filter Sombra's magical slash evil mists...” Kronz said.

Jay thought about it as I shrugged and turned to Blade. “Blade, keep an eye out for my little bro—”

“I'm not little! I'm fifteen!” Kronz interrupted, but I ignored him.

“...Jay's girlfriend and her sister—”

“G-girlfriend?” “W-what?” Jay and Claire blurted out at the same time, but I ignored them as well.

I pointed lamely at Seth. “...and Miss Princess Ladybug here...”

“Yeah yeah, laugh all you want!” Seth complained as he threw me a glare. “Cowards live longer, and I'm gonna laugh while pissing at each of your graves!”

Blade and Bug snickered.

Blade then grinned and stared at someone. “Babysitting huh? Sounds fun—”

“Do NOT touch my bro's girl, and her sister.” I glared at him. He already has a wife and kids, but he's such a womanizer... Annoying...

He shut his mouth as I grabbed the door knob and twisted it while I kept my glare on him. After he mouthed the word ‘okay’, I pulled open the door slightly and looked outside. The street was empty of life, but it was full of broken concrete roads, flipped cars, fallen streetlamps, shards of broken windows, and some other useless garbage. One of our bikes fell to its side however, which pissed me a bit.

“All right,” I hissed slightly as I turned, ignoring Claire's and Jay's blushing faces. “This plan of yours better work.”

“I hope the gas masks work as well...” Jay whispered, but I ignored him, as he turned to Kronz. “Text Xilf if something comes up.”

Chapter 130 - Chase

“Jagold”

Xilfer made sure that the coast was clear outside before he and one of his friends went out to prepare the motorbikes. I was...still feeling rather uncomfortable that Xilfer thought that me and Claire were...uh...um...a-are we...?

I slightly turned, enough for me to take a side glance at Claire. She was assuring her sister that things will be okay. I hadn't realized that I was staring at her for a long time though. Then, our eyes met, and the last thing I saw was her blush before I looked away.

“Just ask her out already,” I heard my little bro's comment before he hastily walked away from me, “sheesh, you two act like little kids...” he shook his head as he walked pass the sisters, and walked down towards the basement.

It was useless to glare at him though. And then my gaze fell on Claire's smiling face. I tried to smile back but uh...I'm feeling nervous all of a sudden... Okay, okay... Calm down me, calm down an—

“Catch!”

“Eh?” I quickly turned back to the front door and, “oof!” a black thing hit my chest. I caught it before it fell on the floor though. It was a gas mask. I looked up and glared at Xilfer. “A little warning next time?”

“I did...”

“Then warn me earlier than what you did!”

“You caught it, so it doesn't matter.” He smirked at me before facing his other two friends.

“Damn you...” I whispered as I heard Claire and her sister walked down the stairs. I turned, but they were either further down or the darkness obscured them.

I smiled sadly, but at least they'll be safer there than up here. Right. I looked at the mask, and found the strap. I was about to try it on when I felt something nudging my foot. Looking down, I saw Rainbow Dash staring at me.

“Um... Dash? I think you should join Claire and Kronz down below...”

Rainbow furrowed her brow and glared at me.

“No way I'm babysitting that pegasus.” One of Xilfer's friends announced as he grabbed the shirt of the other guy who was shivering on the floor. With a low grunt, he easily lifted him off the floor and threw him on his shoulder - carrying him like a sack of rice. “Com'on, princess, stop squirming!”

“I would if you'd put me down!” He tried pulling himself off, but the muscular one was stronger than him, so his attempts failed pathetically. But he still kept on struggling, as they went towards the stairs.

“I don't trust him,” I said after turning the Xilfer.

He only shrugged. “He's a man of his word. He doesn't break promises, like someone else I know...”

At first, I thought he meant me. But after I followed his gaze, mine fell on the squirming dude, who was still being carried down the stairs.

“Anyway,” I turned back to Xilfer—

“Oof!”

“...if your pet wants to come along, then put on that mask on her as well...”

I glared at him after I grabbed the new mask that was thrown at me.

“Now hurry up.” He commanded before stepping outside the door.

“What the hell happened to you, bro...?” I whispered to myself as I sighed. “Where's the fun and nature-loving brother I used to know?” I sighed yet again before I knelt down in front of Rainbow. “Dash, are you really really sure you want to come along?” Her nod was all I needed. “Then I want you to put these on...” I handed her the other mask. She sat down and grabbed the mask with both her front hooves, and stared at it. I smiled sadly. “Y-yeah, I know it doesn't look cool, but uh, we need to use it to avoid being um...controlled, maybe, by Sombra's magic...”

She looked up at me and blinked.

“I guess I need to explain further... Th—”

“No time for that, bro...” Xilfer's voice called from the door as one of the bike's engine roared to life.

I nodded to him before facing Rainbow again. “Just trust me on this one, 'kay?” I grabbed her mask and helped her wear it on her face. Unfortunately, the mask is designed for human faces, and Rainbow's snout is longer than that of us humans... But at least the air filter fitted her nostrils. That's good enough, I suppose? Her frown doesn't approve, however. “Just bear it until we get through the mists...” I said before putting on my mask. My entire face is covered by the black mask though. I rubbed the eye lenses a bit to get rid of the cold residue that fogged the lenses. “Okay, let's get going!”

Another engine of the bike came to life as soon as Rainbow and I stepped outside. I closed the door behind us and walked towards Xilfer.

“You're gonna carry that thing?” Xilfer's friend asked, his voice muffled a bit by his mask.

I looked at him and nodded. I then faced Rainbow Dash, and nodded to her before I turned my back on her and knelt down. “Climb on my back.”

...I think a full ten seconds flew by... I turned my head to see what was going on, and Rainbow was giving me a deadpan look. I sighed.

“Rainbow, I don't think you can keep up by running. These machines are faster than you...” her eyes glared at me. “Um... No offense, but please, we don't have time to argue!”

She rolled her eyes, and grabbed both my shoulders with both her front hooves, and then she climbed on my back. But just when I was about to stand up, she kicked her back hooves on my back, almost sending me flat on the concrete road.

“Ugh... W-what the heck!?” I stood back up and spun around, and saw Rainbow Dash was now seated behind Xilfer. “Uh... That works as well, I guess?”

A chopper flew above the buildings near us. Staring up, I saw just in time the chopper firing missiles towards a building far away. An explosion erupted from the roof of the targeted building, and from the bright fire jumped a dark grinning equine down towards the road.

“Uh oh...” I gulped as Sombra touched down a few buildings away from us. He didn't seem to notice us yet though, which was a great relie—

“You down there!” A voice amplified by a megaphone boomed from above as a bright white light surrounded us. “What the hell are you still doing there!?”

I squinted my eyes to see, but it was hopeless. The light was too darn bright for me to see the chopper. I looked back at where Sombra was, and his green evil eyes locked with mine. I think I actually felt my pupils shrunk as I stared at his evil gri— “Whoa!”

“Stop wasting time, you dumbass!” Muscular arms grabbed me and placed me on Xilfer's bike. I was now seated behind a grinning pegasus.

“About time you joined us!” Xilfer glared at me before suddenly sending the bike forward like a missile.

“Whoa!!!”

“What the hell!? You are heading the wrong way!” The voice from the chopper shouted.

As my ears were bombarded by the loud engine noise and my skin was pierced by the ice-cold air and raindrops, I turned my head to look behind us. Xilfer's friend was catching up, and the chopper far far away hovered up in time to dodge a black beam from an incoming blue dragon. And oh, Sombra seemed to be chasing us as well, with speed that matches the bikes...

Seconds later, I realized that my vision dimmed a bit. And then I noticed how dark and misty the area was now. I looked ahead and saw that we were already running through the black mist. The gas masks worked! That's a huge rel— “Bah! Whoa!!!”

I clutched my arms on the bike as Xilfer suddenly made a sharp turn to dodge a suddenly black spike that appeared on the road ahead of us.

“Gah!”

Another one tried to stop us. A small piece of concrete hit my shoe or something...

“This feels like—whoa!—like that third Pok—gah!—Pokémon movie with Charizard and Entei!!! Gah!”

“Stop talking and let me concentrate!” Xilfer yelled back as he made another sharp turn.

I think I heard faint flapping sounds up ahead. Squinting my eyes, I— “TURN! NOW!!!”

A huge beam of darkness erupted up ahead and hastily approached us. Luckily, Xilfer took my warning and turned, barely hitting a street lamp and almost slamming us on the building walls and stalls as we hit the sidewalks. I quickly looked back, and saw Xilfer's friend was on the other side of the road. Suddenly, a shiny blue dragon flew by from the opposite direction we were heading.

I was about to sigh in relief when Xilfer suddenly turned back to the road, dodging a few flipped cars.

I looked ahead, and saw Rainbow Dash was standing on her hind legs. One of her front hooves was on Xilfer's shoulder, and the other was stretched up. And I think she was cheering?

A huge spike erupted from the concrete road ahead of us. Xilfer made a sharp turn, and now, up ahead, a few blocks away, was the bridge...which was complete blocked by piles of spikes and flipped cars... And what is worse, “X-Xilfer...” my brother isn't slowing down, “Xilfer...!” and I think he's going even faster... “XILFER!!!”

He turned a bit, and was heading straight towards a flipped car that looked like it was turned into a makeshift ramp...

“You're not seriously going to—!”

“Just shut up and hold on tight!”

“Ahhh!!!” I shut my eyes and tightened my grip, as I tried to ignore Rainbow's howls...

Chapter 131 - Forward

Rentelbud City was under chaos. The whole city was now surrounded by a thick layer of black crystal walls that completely blocked any ground exits. On the northern part of the city, the remaining people were in panic, and were also too difficult to control. Chinook helicopters flew above the crystal walls, and landing on small vacant spaces provided by the police and military people.

Crowd control was difficult. Each one feared for their lives, and tried to cut in line to be first to get inside a helicopter, in hopes that they'll be flown to safety; away from the chaotic city.

The military were driven there, where the evacuation was taking place. They had no other ways to run, and now, they needed to fight off the marching crystal horses that kept on approaching them. They were running low on ammo, and there were still a huge number of people that were needed to be evacuated.

A lone helicopter flew away from a massive mansion on the western part of the city. The said mansion was being invaded by crystal-coated horses, absentmindedly walking in and out, with purposes unknown.

A grim-looking middle-aged man looked down on his beloved mansion, as the chopper he was on continued to soar up in the sky. He closed his eyes with a sigh, and slightly shook his head. No, he thought, there were far too many things that needed his attention. His mansion was a small price that he needed to pay for everything that he had done.

Looking ahead, where the chopper was heading, he locked his eyes on the mist-covered island south from the city. He ignored the blue dragon that was busy with something on the southern-part of the city. He prayed that the dragon won't become a hindrance to his plans.

“Rainbow Dash”

“Awwwww yeahhhhh!” I howled as I tossed one of my front hooves in the air! “This is so AWESOME!!! Yea—whoa!—ahem... YEAH!!!”

Oh, great Hurricane! Xilfer is awesome! He's got moves! Well, technically, this weird machine-thing has the moves, but still, Xilfer's doing the controls! And damn, is this thing sick! And fast! Too bad I couldn't actually feel the cold air on my face directly. Not with this stupid mask on me, but anyway, the rest of my body can! It felt almost like flying! And damn how I missed flying!

“Whoa...!” I tightened my hold as Xilfer made a quick turn to dodge that emerging spike-thing. Seriously, what the hay's going on!? No! Deal with that later! Right now, enjoy the fun!

“X-Xilfer...” I heard Jay's faint and worried voice behind me. Sheesh, I can't believe he and Xilfer are brothers. I mean, what the hay? Xilfer's cooler and awesomer than Jay! No offense to him. “Xilfer...!” What's he so worried about any...oh, a boring road block's up ahead? Xilfer isn't slowing down... What the hay? This is fun and all, but I don't wanna turn into a pancake by slamming into a thick road block! “XILFER!!!”

Is the mask covering his ears or something!? I'm totally panicking here now! I was about to smack his head when he suddenly made a turn, and up ahead was a weird metal-vehicle thing that looked like a ramp. Uh...

“You're not seriously going to—!”

“Just shut up and hold on tight!” Damn! Awesome, cool, and a quick-thinker! Hot-damn, this dude's over a hundred-an'-twenty percent cool!

“Ahhh!!!” Jay shouted his lungs out as I howled in excitement!

There was a rough bump when Xilfer ran on the ramp, but we completely brushed it off after the air suddenly changed it's angle while rushing passed us. The entire metal-vehicle thing literally felt like it was flying in mid-air! The speed, the air that ran passed us and whistled in our ears, dang, it felt like everything went slow-mo!

We flew past the pile of metal blockade, but behind those was a taller crystal wall block, and I think the adrenaline I had was completely gone, now that I doubted that we'd get over those things.

Despite the loud whistling air on my ear, I heard a metal flick up ahead... “Hey Jay,” it came from Xilfer, and I saw one of his fingers flipped open a metal-cover thingy and pressed a button from it. “I hope you're a fan of Burn Out.” His voice sounded really confident. I liked that. I really liked that.

“What do you me-EEEEEEEEEEEAAAAAAAAAAAAANNNNNNNNNNNN!!!!!!!??????” Jay screamed after an explosion of sorts erupted from behind us, and sent us flying forward in speed that only I could achieve!

“AAAWWWW YEEEEAAAAAHHHH!!!” I howled, my voice mixing with Jay's terrified screams! But mine was louder! Before I knew it, we were already meters away from the tall blockade, and gravity is already starting to do it's job on pulling us back down towards the black-mist covered bridge down below.

“Aw shit! Shit!” Jay cursed. “We're gonna die!”

“Stop being a pussy!” Xilfer growled while the three of us were already falling back down diagonally. Aw yeah, I'm scared a bit, but I'm excited to see what else does Xilfer has in store!

Unfortunately, Xilfer isn't doing anything, and it's starting to make me feel panicky as well... I gulped as the flat ground was getting closer... “Y-you've done this before, right!?” And no, I didn't squeaked that last word out!

“No,” was Xilfer's simple answer. Well, Jay's right... We're going to die...

Suddenly, Xilfer pulled up, as if trying to level the front and rear parts of this metal thing evenly. What good would that do!? Just before we hit the ground, I wrapped my hooves around his neck as I shut my eyes. There was a loud smacking sound as my hind hooves slipped and my butt slammed on the chair-like thing. Before I yelped, I felt the rush of air running from ahead of us, and suddenly, it stopped.

I heard a painful cough as two pairs of hands grabbed my hooves. “You're choking me...!” Xilfer wheezed as I shot my eyes open.

“Oh my gosh, I'm sorry!” I yelped as I let go. He coughed some more as another heavy object landed behind us. It was another machine-vehicle thing.

“Yo, Xilfer!” the guy on the other vehicle called. “Invite me the next time you'll be doing this!” His face was covered by his mask, but I could tell how large his grin was.

I felt a hand on my shoulder, and I turned to see Jay's masked face. Wow, his hand feels really really cold! I think he wanted to say something, but maybe he's still too nervous to actually say anything yet. He was shivering, and I doubt that it was caused by the cold air and rain.

I smirked at him. “Too much for ya to handle, Jay?”

“Shut...up... Rainbow...” he replied lamely, and it made me chuckle in triumph! Aw yeah!

I quickly turned back to Xilfer. “Sorry for strangling you dude, but damn! That was awesome! You're awesome!” I punched his shoulder playfully.

He brought a hand on where I punched him, and despite his face was covered by his mask, I could tell he was smiling while looking at me... And it made me feel kinda warm inside... Eh?

“Hey bro...” he said, turning to Jay, “pushing everything else aside for a while... Is it normal for me to suddenly just understood what this pony just said to me?”

Wha? Oh? H-he understood me? I grinned. “Well, if you really can understand me now, then I'm gonna say it again! You. Are. Awe—”

A loud explosion erupted from behind us. We turned and saw the large blockade exploded and sent large chunks of debris flying around. The red bright fire brightened the area, and soon, the blue dragon flew through the broken wall. Its shiny blue body was reflecting the fire, and it was not a nice thing to look at the moment.

“Looks like that thing won't give up, huh?” Xilfer's friend said while he opened the metal part where he sat on the vehicle-thing. He pulled a weird metal thing that resembled nothing that I have ever seen before.

“A-a grenade gun!?” Jay exclaimed, before sharply turning to Xilfer. “Gas masks, these motor bikes, and then a grenade gun!? Seriously!? Where the heck are you getting these things!?”

“Aim and fire,” Xilfer calmly said, and completely ignoring Jay's question. What's a grenade gun, anyway?

Xilfer's friend pointed the metal thing at the dragon that was slowly flapping its wings and hovering towards us. Seconds later, the flapping noise of its wings was accompanied by sets of marching hooves. Thanks to the light from the fire, we saw the shiny blue ponies marching on the bridge, and were heading towards us, tailing the dragon.

“Geez,” Xilfer's friend groaned, “things are getting pretty, huh?”

Those ponies don't sound like ponies at all... I mean, they look like ponies, but with crystal bodies instead. But I could, somehow, hear their quiet whispers. I dunno, but they don't really sound like ponies at all!

“T-they're not ponies...” I whispered.

“What?” I heard Xilfer's voice.

I turned to him and furrowed my brow. “They're not ponies! They may look like one, but I can feel that they're not!”

I can't tell if Xilfer was staring at me in disbelief or he thought I'm nuts, or maybe he didn't understand what I just said. Suddenly, he sighed. “Not ponies, huh?”

“Small update, but they're getting closer, not to mention that dragon...” Jay said.

“Break their path!” Xilfer shouted.

“You got it,” and with a nod, his friend aimed the metal thing on the ground meters in front of the ponies. With a click, a bright reddish-yellow light lit from the metal-thing, followed by a loud whistling noise, and then another explosion. I looked back, and the black mist was now mixed with black smoke.

The dragon yelped and flapped its wings harder, making it soar higher and higher. Suddenly, something exploded again right below us, making me jump. “Let's get going!” Xilfer said and then the vehicle-thing we were on started moving forward in a very fast speed.

Chapter 132 - While

“Apple Bloom”

It sure is cold up here. Ah'm just glad that Ah'm already used to these kinds of weather temperature an' all. Poor Spike's havin' a hard time with the cold though. But he brought a thick blanket with him this time, which was clever thinkin'.

“Hey Sweetie,” Ah heard Scoots from beside me calling Sweetie Belle. “Spike could use a warm hug, by the way,” she snickered, and so sorry Sweetie, but that was really funny, especially how red your face just became.

“Would you two just zip it already!?” Sweetie squeaked, and Scoots an' Ah laughed some more.

“Oh?” Twilight's voice broke through our laughter. “Sweetie, do you...have feelings towards Spike?”

“No I don't!” Sweetie Belle whined, and quickly crossed her hooves on her chest.

“What about you, Spike?”

Spike shook his head. “I still don't get what the hay is going on...”

Really? Seriously!? Ah looked at Spike in disbelief, an' then at Twilight. The unicorn and Ah stared at each other for a while, and from there, she passed me a silent message that Ah received pretty clear: Spike's still too naive or too ignorant about love. Judging from Sweetie's drooped ears, she felt sad about it as well.

“Aw, cheer up, Sweetie Belle,” Ah offered, catching everypony's attention. “Look on the bright side: you'll be his very first.”

“Yeah,” Scoots nodded her head at her. “You could...uh, I dunno... Take good care of him, and things like that?”

Leave it to Scootaloo to give some advice. “You give advice just like Rainbow, Scoots.”

“Shut up!” she turned and glared at me, and Ah snickered as Ah playfully punched her shoulder.

“I can take care of myself, you know,” Spike spoke, crossing his claws on his chest. “I'm not a baby!”

“But you still are a baby dragon, right?” Shining Armor asked with a smile.

Spike frowned. “You had to point that out, didn't you?”

Ah turned and stared at the ground below, since Ah was seated on the edge of the carriage an' all. Huh, that town down there sure looks familiar...

“It's alright, Spike,” Sweetie spoke, “to me, I think you're a very brave and sweet young dragon.”

“You...you really think so?”

“Yeah!” Scoots cheered. “Knock him out, Sweetie Belle!”

“Wanna test if you can fly, Scoots?”

“Um... Eheheheh... I think I'll pass on that one, Sweets...”

“Scootaloo, right?” Twilight spoke, and after a while, she continued. “I'm really really sorry about what happened to your wing...”

“Nah, don't sweat about it, princess.”

“I'm not a princess...”

“Besides, that was a long time ago, and like you guys said: it was Discord who did all those, so don't worry!”

“Can we land this thing, though?” Ah asked as Ah turned to Twilight. “Please? Ah wanna visit mah family an' see how they're all doing.”

Twilight thought about it for a short while before nodding. “Well, I don't see why not. But I need to ask you to make it quick.”

Ah nodded. “Right. Jay needs us on the other side an' all that. Thanks, Twilight!”

Shining called the pegasi stallions' attentions and ordered us to land. Soon, the carriage flew downward in a spiral-like fashion, and before we even knew it, we finally landed right in the middle of the huge red barn and the apple orchard.

Several workin' ponies in the orchard gasped and wondered what was goin' on. Their nervous looks was gone when they saw me jumpin' out of the carriage and greetin' them all in general. They greeted back, which made me smile. It really feels nice to feel welcomed in home.

“Apple Bloom!” and then came the mare Ah was lookin' for. Applejack just got through the small crowd of ponies and began trottin' towards me. Ah met her halfway and we gave each other a hug. “How ya doin', ya little filly?”

“Ah'm not a little filly anymore, Applejack!” Ah argued as we pulled out from the hug and glared at her. “Ah'm a young mare now!”

Applejack just chuckled and rubbed her hoof on mah head. “Ah know, Apple Bloom. Ah just find it hard to believe though... Mah little sister, all grown up...”

Ah playfully batted her hoof off of mah head. “Sheesh, never thought you'd be one of those sappy-type ponies too, big sis.”

She chuckled, and Ah joined her. “Ah can be sappy if Ah want to, li'l sis.”

Ah was about to say somethin' to that, but we heard a few voices from behind. An' judging from Applejack's angry look, Ah'd say it ain't pretty. Ah turned and saw the other gals were behind Twilight and Shining Armor. The two unicorns were talkin' to mah brother.

“Now what in tarnation's going on over there?” Applejack mumbled as she trotted pass me and was heading towards the unicorns.

Ah wanted to follow her, but Spike and the gals, upon seein' mah sister approachin', decided to come to me instead.

“What's goin' on?” Ah asked as soon as mah friends were now with me, and when Applejack began talking to the unicorns.

“Huh?” Scoots asked. “Oh, well, your brother confessed his undying love to Twilight over there...”

“HE SAID WHAT!?” Applejack and Ah shouted in perfect unison. Even Ah was amazed by that.

“Now just hold a freakin' stinkin' minute here!” Applejack continued with an angry frown. “Did Ah just hear that correctly!? Mah brother, loves, Twilight!?” Ah'm not quite sure if Applejack should be carryin' her voice that loud though. I glanced back, and saw the pegasi stallions were ushering the workin' ponies to return to their work. They allowed Braeburn to trot towards us though.

“Think this will end well?” Braeburn asked as he reached us.

“I don't think so,” Spike shook his head. “Shining Armor's a very protective brother, and judging from Bloom's sister, I'd say Applejack's also a very protective sister.”

“Ya got that right...” Ah whispered...

“What do ya mean ya don't know!?” Applejack's voice cried out.

“Could you keep your voice down, please?” Shining's voice broke through. “And as my sister said, she doesn't know if she feels the same way to your brother!”

“Ya hear that, Mac!? So quit yer stupid fantasy and start thinkin' realistically!”

“AJ, don't you tell me what Ah should and shouldn't do with mah feelin's here! Ah like Twilight, no, Ah love her! That's why Ah decided to stay by her side durin' the war!”

“Big Mac, sir. During those times, my sister was possessed by Discord!”

Spike, Braeburn and the girls an' Ah looked at each other with worried faces as the four ponies were still arguing at each other.

Braeburn suddenly flashed a sad smile. “Aw well... That would definitely take a while.” He then looked at us with a happy smile. “Anypony hungry? There were still freshly baked pies inside the barn last time Ah checked.”

Chapter 133 - Pie

“Spike”

“Ugh, we don't have time for this!” I groaned as I kicked the ground, sending a handful of snow powder forward.

“So sorry 'bout this Spike...” Apple Bloom suddenly said as she hung her head low.

“Huh?” I mumbled. Why is she even apolo—oh... I shook my head and patted her shoulder. “Hey, it's not your fault.”

I was about to add something more, but Sweetie Belle cut me off. “Yeah, Spike's right, Bloom. It's not like you knew that this was going to happen the moment we visit your family.”

“Yeah,” Scootaloo nodded with a smile. “I got nothing more to add to what they just said, but they're both right!”

Apple Bloom rose her head back and stared at us with a warm smile. “Thank ya kindly, guys. It-it means a lot.”

“Twilight Sparkle”

I did not expect this! I didn't have any idea that Apple Bloom's brother was Big Macintosh! I mean, sure, we did...kind of...um...made out...quite a lot of times...for years now but... Shining has a good point! It wasn't me that was with Macintosh! I mean, technically, it was me, but...ugh...!

While the three of them weren't paying me any attention, at least, for a moment, I looked back and saw Spike and the other mares hugged each other. From the four, Apple Bloom's teary eyes and warm smile stood out the most. I furrowed my brows and faced the three again.

“Quiet!” I shouted, and the three stopped their blabbering, thank Celestia! “This argument is leading us nowhere! And what is worse—!”

“Pie anyone?” a very warm and delicious pie suddenly appeared right in front of my face. I jumped, startled, but the smell, the aroma... Oh my... W-when was the last time I ate again? It was probably when I was still in Zebrica...

“Braeburn, get outta here,” the orange earth pony mare named Applejack snarled as she glared at the yellow earth pony stallion who was holding the pie.

“A-actually,” I spoke, and it was kind of difficult to do so with a slightly watery mouth I was suddenly having... I eyed the pie as the stallion pulled it back closer to him. “M-may I have a bite?”

The stallion named Braeburn's sad frown was gone, and was quickly replaced with a big smile. “Why, o'course you can have some, miss unicorn!”

I used my magic to cut a piece of pie and quickly started eating. Oohhh... Delicious! I know the three other ponies with me were giving me strange looks, but I didn't mind them. I was hungry!

“Big Macintosh”

Braeburn just came out of nowhere, but I was really thankful that he showed up with that pie we baked. Ah don't think the argument we were having would stop if it weren't for him. Ah smiled and nodded towards him, and he returned it with a nod of his own.

“Care for some pie, anypony?” Braeburn offered, but it would have been a nicer offer if he had something for us non-magical ponies could use to have a slice...

Shining Armor cleared his throat awkwardly though. “I uh... I guess I'll have some, if you won't mind?”

“No problem!” Mah cousin smiled brightly as Shining Armor lit his horn and took a small slice from the pie. “We Apples stick together, ya see, and we always take care of each other!”

Shining looked as if he wanted to comment, but he was busy chewin', and so was his sister at the moment.

“You unicorn ponies should get used to it, ya know?” Braeburn spoke an' nodded. “Of course, since you two will be part of the family once Big Mac here and this here pretty purple unicorn gets married.”

Twilight and Shining Armor choked on their food and started coughin' painfully, and mah ears rang painfully as well when Applejack, who was standing right beside me, shouted her lungs out...

“Applejack”

“Braeburn!” Ah screamed at the top of mah lungs at mah stupid cousin! The two unicorns went into a coughin' fit, but Ah didn't mind them for a moment, for it was a great opportunity o'mine to dig mah thoughts onto theirs! “Nopony's gettin' married here, ya hear!?” Ah stomped mah hoof on the ground to show mah point. It didn't do much, since it was covered by snow...

“Oh? There aren't?”

Ah gave 'im a deadpan look. “No there ain't! Big Mac here's just delusional an' the war made his brain think of silly stuff! You know how that's li—on second thought, you don't, so never mind!”

“AJ, we've through this—” Big Mac began, but Ah cut 'im off with a glare.

“You. Ain't. Gonna. Love. A. F*ckin'. Unicorn!” I shouted every bit o' word. “Have you forgotten how these here freaky horn-heads caused granny's life!?”

“The way Ah remembered it, she died from a disease!” he argued. Oh, so that's how yer gonna go, huh?

“An' if it weren't for these unicorns, we could have got ourselves some medicine!” Ah argued back!

“Shining Armor”

“STOP!” I shouted as soon as I recovered from my nasty coughing fit. “Just—stop! Right now!” I glared at the two earth ponies, who glared back at me. “Stop, just...stop...” I sighed and rubbed my forehead. “We won't get into an agreement here with all of this shouting...”

“An' just what do ya mean by that, white flank?” the orange mare asked, her glare still fierce.

“Look, I'm sorry,” I looked at Macintosh, “but like I said, Twilight wasn't herself during the war. She explained it to everypony, and you—” a raised a hoof and pointed it at the red stallion, “—you should know that!”

It was quiet for a short while, but Macintosh broke it a few seconds later.

“Are ya suggestin' that Ah fell for Discord, and not on yer sister?”

“Uh, er...” in all honesty, I was really really really tempted to say yes, but I don't think they'll take that as a light joke. “...um...” but if I'll say no, then he won the argument...

“Look,” Twilight spoke suddenly, “I appreciate that you um...have feelings for me, Big Mac, but...” we looked at her and she turned her gaze to Spike and the crusaders, who were all staring back at us. “...we're setting a bad example of how we adults should handle a problem to the young ponies and a dragon...”

I hate to admit it, but Twilight's right. The four of us have all been acting like...little foals... I felt my two ears drooped when that realization struck me. I looked back and saw Macintosh and his sister's ears also flattened while the two of them were looking at each other...

“Applejack”

Ah hate to admit it, but Twilight's right... We're actin' like a bunch of fools in front of the 'oung ones... In front of mah dear sister, of all ponies! Ah shook mah head. Ah feel so ashamed of mahself...

“Ah'm sorry, Big Mac...” Ah suddenly blurted out. Ah didn't care... Ah was at fault here...

“No AJ, Ah should be the one sayin' sorry to ya...” he frowned and placed his hoof on mah shoulder. “But please AJ, Ah love Twilight, an' you should support me for it...”

Ah glared tiredly at him. He still won't give up, ain't he? “Ah'm not lettin' you go and live the rest of your life to some tyrant unicorn mare, Mac,” Ah whispered icily, but the other two unicorns still heard it, consarn it...

Ah quickly turned at the to prepare mahself, and Ah saw white flanks opened his mouth to say somethin', but the purple one spoke quicker.

“Applejack, to make something clear, I am not a tyrant, nor am I a ruler!” Twilight explained.

“You are the ruler, at the moment, the last time I checked...”

“Not helping, Shining...” Twilight sighed. “Look, can we discuss this in another time? We only stopped by just so Apple Bloom could pay you a visit before we head to the rock farm.”

Ah arched an eyebrow. “Just what in the hayseed is Apple Bloom gonna be doin' in a rock farm?”

“Apple Bloom”

“We're gonna head there an' find this portal-thing so we can send the crystal heart to Jay!” Ah answered her question as soon as me, Spike and the gals stood before 'em. Earlier, we noticed that they became quieter, so we thought that it was safe enough to approach them. It was kinda mah fault that we were gettin' delayed anyway...

“Jay-who now?” Applejack turned to me with a confused frown.

Ah rolled mah eyes. “Jay is Gold Blitz's name in his world.”

Mah sister arched her eyebrow. “Apple Bloom? You believe in those stuff?”

Ah deadpanned. “Ah saw 'em with mah very own eyes, sis. Sheesh...” Ah shook mah head. “Ya need to get outta the farm some more...”

She frowned. “An' you, young missy, should be stayin' more in the farm to help out with the buckin' and the chores!”

Ah waved a hoof dismissively. “Sorry, but Ah'm not gonna be doin' all those borin' stuff.”

She glared at me. An' Ah glared back.

Suddenly, we heard mah cousin callin' us. Blinkin', we turned to his voice and saw him waving his hoof at us. He and a few of our cousins were seated 'round a wooden table just outside the barn house. An' the table had all these sort of apple dishes.

“Spike”

I licked my lips as I stared at the many delicious-looking food at that table... Mmm... When was the last time we had a decent meal? I couldn't remember, but whatever! Sorry Jay. I know we need to hurry but, hey, we can't do anything on an empty stomach, right? You said so a long time ago, so...

“Last one there's a rotten egg!” I shouted as I ran pass Twilight.

“Hey, no fair!” I heard Sweetie Belle shouted back, followed by her hooves close behind. I looked back and saw the other crusaders were following us now, and Twilight and the gang were also following in a slower pace.

Well, they say a hungry pony is a grumpy pony. Maybe all of them are just hungry? I chuckled as I climbed up on the chair.

“Twilight Sparkle”

“Last one there's a rotten egg!” Spike shouted as he ran passed me, and he was followed by the three young mares, and one of them shouted ‘Hey, no fair!’.

Just looking at their foalish behavior made me smile. When was the last time I just sat on a chair and read without a care in the world? I closed my eyes and let out a breath.

“Ah sure miss the ol' times...” I heard Applejack spoke. “Just runnin' 'round without a care in the world... What Ah wouldn't give to have that life back...”

I turned to her with a smile. “It's not too late to bring that back, you know.”

She turned to me with an arched eyebrow. “Sorry, but Ah don't see that happenin' any time soon.” She shook her head. “An' even if it does, Ah don't see mahself runnin' in the field like a foal...”

“Does that mean yer an old and wrinkly pony, AJ?” Macintosh faced his sister with a smirk.

Applejack glared. “Ah dare ya to repeat what ya just said, Mac...”

Shining just chuckled, shook his head, and walked pass us towards the table. “I believe in the saying that there is still a foal living inside each one of us.”

I turned to the Apple siblings again, and they both turned to me as well.

Macintosh gave me a smile. “Well, maybe Ah should start with a clean plate, princess.”

“I'm not a princess,” I frowned.

He chuckled. “Well, ta me, you are.” His sister rolled her eyes. “May Ah escort ya to the table, princess.”

I glared lightly at him with a small smile. “If you'll stop calling me a princess, then I'll let you.”

“Deal.”

“Oh, pulease...” Applejack groaned.

Chapter 134 - Twinkle

Metal rotor blades cut through the cold air, lifting the heavy chopper over towards the island that was covered by the rippling black mists. Inside the mechanical vehicle were groups of scientists. Some were murmuring to each other, while others stared from the gloomy scenery as far as their eyes could reach.

One of them, a middle-aged man wearing black, was staring glumly at the island, as he tried his best to control the many emotions that were rampaging inside him. His youngest daughter was kidnapped, and something will happen to her if he will not fix the nightmare that he had brought into the city and into the island. He was going against the government's plans of running this chaos around the city, with goals unknown even to him.

His gaze on the island was broken however, when the uniform noise of the chopper's rotor, being carried by the chilly air, was broken by a loud explosion from a distance away. Turning, he and the scientists saw a large explosion from the long bridge that connects the island and the mainland. Large red and yellow bright fumes of flame rose up, followed by a dragon that roared and soared up from the fumes.

“Jay”

I looked back from the explosion, but as I did so, the blue dragon roared once again. It caught my attention, and I saw it charging up another beam, and judging from how angry it's eyes were locked on us, I have a feeling that things will not look very very pretty...

“Incoming beam!” I shouted at Xilfer's direction.

Another roar, and I felt the hair on my back stood as I felt a very nasty cold shiver. Before I could react however, a very loud and weird noise was rampaging from behind me, and before I could close my eyes and gulp, Xilfer sharply turned the motor bike to the very edge of the bridge.

And before I could even get a breath to shout, a thick black beam struck the middle of the bridge, and continued running all the way ahead. The bridge shook violently, causing Rainbow and I to hold on tighter as Xilfer had a hard time balancing the thing as large chunks of debris flew around us.

I heard loud snapping noises around us. Looking up, I saw the thick suspension cables were snapping, and then the road shook violently and felt like it was waving in a random way. Suddenly, out of nowhere, the bike hit a ramp and we flew in the air. It was a small jump, and we were heading back to the concrete road, but before the bike could touch down, the road below us broke up and fell into the sea.

Acting quickly, I grabbed Rainbow Dash below her armpits, at least I think that's what they are called, and it's the closest that I could think of at the moment, and I threw her up towards solid ground. I grabbed my bro's hand just as the bike went through the hole. I was about to jump, but he jumped instead, “ack!” and carried me with him.

I heard Rainbow's painful whine when I felt that Xilfer and I were swinging in mid-air. Looking up, I saw Xilfer's left was grabbing my arm, and his other arm caught Rainbow's tail. Rainbow, on the other hand, was having a hard time remaining still on the concrete barrier of the bridge.

The swinging is making me sick, but I shook my head. I need to think of something fast and—why am I swinging like this?

“Gggh—!”

“Whoa—!” I panicked as Xilfer swung me one last time before he threw me towards the barrier. I was shivering, but I forced myself to grab hold and— “oof!” my chest hit the barrier harder than I anticipated...

I felt a hand grabbing on my foot, and I slipped, but I grabbed a hold of the barrier before I could slip completely and fall. I looked down and saw Xilfer was now grabbing my foot and Rainbow's tail. Looking at my side, I saw Rainbow was clenching her teeth and was sweating furiously as she tried to pull up.

I looked down again.

“Xilf!” I tightened my hold, as I tried to ignore the snapping and cracking noise around us. “Let go of Rainbow's tail! I think it's hurting her too much!”

Rainbow whined about something, but I couldn't understand what she said. It was strange. Earlier, I was able to understand a few of what she was saying, but now, I couldn't.

Xilfer nodded and let's go of Rainbow's tail. It took him a couple of tries before his free hand could grab my foot though. Okay, how do I do this? I ah, no, I can't pull myself up... Xilfer's heavy, and ugh...

“I guess I'll be climbing up then?” Xilfer called.

Before he could even begin though, there was a mighty roar from above. I literally felt my eyes shrunk as I found it suddenly difficult to turn my head up, and when I did, I saw the blue dragon was flapping its two massive wings as it hovered lower and lower in the middle of the bridge. It's eyes were locked murderously onto us.

I wanted to turn to Rainbow, to tell her to run to the island and work her way to the mountain, but I couldn't. My eyes were fixed on those eyes, and my breath stopped, and my lungs were starting to hurt. But I couldn't move... I couldn't...

I felt something pulling my arm. There were rainbow strands on the corner of my vision, but I couldn't move. Finally, the dragon was no longer on my field of vision... But I could feel that it was hovering behind us...

“Ack—!” I shouted as Rainbow pulled her head back after “the hell did you bite my ear for!?” I glared at her.

Before she could say anything however, the dragon roared at us. I turned the furthest my neck could do, and I saw the dragon pulled its head back a little while it opened its mouth wide.

“Ah...shoot...”

Before I could close my eyes, I thought about letting go and just wish Xilfer would remember that I couldn't swim, but before I could, I heard a weird chime-like noise getting louder and louder, but it was still a faint noise. Suddenly, a white wisp-like cloud struck the dragon from its side, and the cloud exploded into tiny twinkling stars?

The dragon suddenly roared, and it strangely sounded like it was in pain as it flapped its wings awkwardly. As it did so, its wings struck the twinkling stars, making them explode and let out this weird electric-like noise, and I don't know if I saw it right, but I saw tiny electric sparks from the dragon's wing.

The dragon thrashed violently in the air, its wings and tail slamming against what remained of the bridge. I tightened my grip as the dragon flew further and lower, until finally, it fell into the water.

Everything became quiet as Xilfer began to climb up. After that, he helped me up and the three of us sat on the barrier and busied ourselves with catching our breaths.

“What just happened?” I heard Rainbow's question as she panted for breath.

I slightly shook my head. “I have no idea...”

Xilfer suddenly stood up and whistled, and soon, a faint whistle from somewhere rang back. “Bug's okay...”

“Bug?” I echoed. “Your friend's name is Bug?”

Xilfer turned to me, and even with his mask, I could tell he was glaring at me... “It's an alias.”

I frowned. “I...I knew that...” I sighed as Xilfer looked away. “So...what now?”

“We continue, of course,” Xilfer answered before walking on the barrier towards the island, but he stopped when a large part of the bridge was missing. “Tsk...”

Tsk, is right... Now what?

...Huh...? I turned, and I knew it. That sound really was coming from a helicopter. I saw, from a distance, a chopper, that headed towards the island?

“Looks like we need to hurry...” Xilfer spoke.

I faced him, and despite the fact that I was wearing a mask, I arched an eyebrow. “And how are we suppose to do that!?”

He shook his head. “No. Not ‘we’.” He sat down. “It's a dead-end for me here.”

“What?” What the heck is Xilfer talking about?

He raised a hand to stop me though. “First, you're a lightweight.”

Ouch... I'm busy with work, okay? I got no time to keep in shape...I think...

“Second, your pet seems like it can only handle a one-flight trip...”

I blinked. My pet? Fligh—oooohhh... I turned and stared at Rainbow, who stared back at me with an arched eyebrow.

“What?” she asked.

Chapter 135 - Field

“Pinkamena Diane Pie”

“A-are you sure you're okay, dear?” Ma asked after she once again stopped me right before I was about to head out of the front door. I closed my eyes and sighed lightly before I turned to face her. I opened my eyes again and stared at ma's wrinkled face. She's growing old...and...no, I need to stop thinking of these things.

“Yes ma, I'm fine,” I nodded as I slowly trotted towards her. “Really, I am...” Ever since that time when I suddenly collapsed out cold for no reason at all, ma's been bugging me every so often, and it's gotten annoying and tiresome, but... I...smiled...as I hugged her. “Don't worry. I'm fine.” I pulled out from the hug. “Really, I am.” I repeated, again, for her sake.

She stared at me with a look of worry that lasted for a few seconds before she sighed and smiled. “Well, all right dear. But please don't push yourself too much...okay?”

I nodded. “Of course!” I smiled, a bit wider this time. “Don't worry ma. With Blinkie, Inkie and I, we will have our farm back up and running before you know it!” I said it again... I tried to sound like I'm excited about it. Really though, I am but, seeing ma so old and weak like this is just...too much...

Ten years... I've been away from my family for ten long years... I wasn't there to witness ma growing old. I wasn't there when Inkie got abused by some of the pegasi ponies... I wasn't there when pa—

“You alright, Pinkie?”

“Uh?” I blinked.

“You've been clearing the same spot for a while now...” I turned and saw Blinkie was looking at me with concern. I blinked again and looked at the ground around me. There wasn't any snow in this spot now, but there are signs that I even shoved the very earthy ground that I wasn't meant to shove...

“S-sorry Blinkie...” I sighed. “I guess I was thinking too much again...”

Blinkie opened her mouth to say something, but a foal's sudden cry stopped her. We turned to the source and saw Inkie sat on the snowy ground and started shushing her little pegasus foal... And then, when the baby stopped crying, she began to gently rock the little foal on her hooves as she hummed him a tune. Inkie, while doing all those things, was...smiling... And it broke my heart. She was...used...and now she has to...to...

“I'm so sorry...” I whispered as a tear rolled down my face.

“Pinkie...”

“If only I wasn't stupid back then to leave the farm...” I brought a hoof to cover my eyes as I wept. I felt a hoof on my shoulder... It was...warm...and felt like I was safe...but... “It's—”

A hoof blocked my trembling lips. “Pinkie, we've been through this...” I slipped my hoof off of my eyes, and saw Blinkie's smiling face. She then removed her hoof on my lips. “It wasn't your fault that dad was so abusive and angry all the time...”

I sobbed and nodded. It may be true, but I shouldn't have left... If only I didn't, then maybe I could have helped more in the farm... Maybe I could have stopped those pegasi from harming Inkie... Maybe I could have said a lot more reassuring words to ma... I could have been with them. I could have smiled with them... I could have—

“There you go again, Pinkie...” Blinkie sighed with a smile. She looked back at Inkie, and so did I. Inkie smiled at us before she went back to shoving the snow off of the farm while carrying her little foal. “Maybe you should try and be strong from now on, yes?” Blinkie turned to me. “Instead of crying, yes? We could use the old you back.”

That's true, but I couldn't help but throw a hurtful frown at her. “He-hey... I'm a lot stronger now than before, you know...”

She nodded with a smirk. “So I see. With all of your crying and self-pity and all that, yes?”

I glared at her. I didn't need to be told that, but, I know she's just trying to lighten the mood for me, even though everything she just said were all true. But, I guess she's right. “I guess I've been crying like a wimp for too long now, huh?”

“You could write a book about it, yes.”

I glared at her again. “What's that suppose to mean?”

She chuckled before trotting away from me. “Just pull yourself together, Pinkie,” she stopped and turned her head over her shoulder to look at me with a smile. “I want my little sister back.”

I rolled my eyes. “I'll call you when I meet her.”

Blinkie just chuckled and trotted back to the area where she was shoving the snow. I grabbed my shovel with both hooves and went back to removing the snow. I'll need to remember fixing the damaged ground later. The rocks underground sure are taking their time growing gems inside of them... Sigh...

As I continued shoving the snow and ignored the sweat that were running down from my forehead, I wondered if this will be how my entire life was going to be. A decade ago, I left not only because of how abusive pa was, but also because I didn't want this kind of life...as my life. A rock farmer. Back then, I guess I never realized how profitable the gems were back in the days. It's kinda funny, now that I think about it. I left the farm because growing gems was boring, and then I was caught by the unicorns and forced me to dig up gems.

I guess my life does revolve around gems. I wonder if I should just accept that fact and live with it. I mean, it's kinda obvious that I'll be sticking here for all my life. But... I still don't have my cutie mark. They say that a cutie mark will mark a pony's destiny; of what a pony does in life.

My sisters both have cutie marks that are related to the farm. While I don't... Is that why I left the farm a long time ago? To find my place in the world? It was a stupid time to find my place in the world though... Sigh...

I shook my head. Cutie mark or no cutie mark, I should stay committed to my sisters and ma. They need me. They said that only a few more months, and it's harvesting season. Now that the war is over, I wonder who would purchase our gems. They said that the blasted pegasi ponies used the gems to use lightning against the unicorns. With the war over, what are the uses of these gems now?

“What is that?” I heard Inkie's concerned voice.

“Huh?” I stopped shoving the snow and turned to where Inkie was. She was staring at the sky, where far in the distance was a black dot, growing bigger and bigger. “A... A carriage?” I blurted out in confusion. I've seen lots of those back in Unicornia, but why would one be flying here? Wait, no. Maybe it'll just fly by. I sure hope so. Then again, if they're here for trouble, then at least I have my shovel.

As the carriage was about to fly by, which I hoped it would, it hovered in place, just above our farm. I heard Blinkie tsk'ed and asked Inkie to go back inside. Inkie nodded and trotted back to the house while Blinkie and I prepared our shovels. It's weird that pegasi are the ones flying a unicornian carriage.

The carriage began to lower as I trotted to Blinkie's side, shovel in tow.

“Oh, hey look!” I heard a vaguely familiar voice from the carriage. I have heard that voice before, but where? I squinted my eyes and saw a purple little dragon on the carriage, waving his claw at me. “It's the pink pony!”

“You know them?” Blinkie asked as a few pony heads popped out of the carriage and were all looking at us.

“I...guess so...?” I replied awkwardly. “Yeah, yeah I do.” I looked at my sister. “I just hope they won't cause trouble...”

Blinkie arched me an eyebrow before facing the carriage again, which just landed a few hooves from us. The purple little dragon jumped off as soon as the pegasi stallions groaned and sighed in relief and began their stretching. I felt my eye twitched.

Soon, there were more ponies trotting out of the carriage, and now all stood behind the smiling little dragon. I then heard our house's door creaked open. I turned and saw Inkie and ma trotting out side by side. I smiled at them, and hoped that it was reassuring enough for them, before I turned back at our unexpected visitors.

“We are very sorry to have arrived unannounced to your property,” spoke Shining Armor, “but we came here with the belief that a portal's located around here.”

“A portal?” Blinkie asked. She shook her head and stared angrily at them. “I am not comfortable with your presence in our farm,” she continued, and then glared at the pegasi stallions, who regarded her with curious stares, “especially with pegasi,” she hissed before facing the unicorns, “so state your business clearly, else I swear, snow will turn red from this day forth.”

Shining Armor and Twilight, who were standing side by side, winced, and so were the rest of the ponies.

“We promise that we didn't come here for trouble,” Twilight reasoned out.

The little dragon nodded. “Yeah. So, please believe us! We're just looking for the portal to help Jay!”

“And why should we be concerned about this ‘Jay’?” I asked with a glare of my own. The dragon and his few friends behind him might have helped me return to my family, but they brought many ponies that I don't know of.

“Jay is... Ah, sorry. I meant Gold Blitz!” the dragon pointed out. Gold Blitz? That brown earth pony? “Jay is Gold Blitz's name from the other side of the portal...” He then rolled his eyes. “Sheesh, do I really have to repeat saying that over and over again?”

Chapter 136 - Wing

“Rainbow Dash”

“What?” I asked when I noticed that Jay and Xilf-dude were both staring at me.

Jay looked back at Xilf-dude and then turned back to me. “Rainbow, can I ask if you can uh, fly?”

I arched him an eyebrow. “What the hay is that suppose to mean? Of course I can fl—” A sudden thought popped in my thoughts, and it made me remember that my wing is injured, or something... “...fly...” I frowned as I turned my head to look at the bandages around my wing. “I... I'm not sure...” I whispered, more to myself, as I slowly tried to move my injured wing.

So far, there was no pain as I managed to stretch my wing halfway to it's full length... I took a deep breath before I stretched it further and further an— “Ack!” I gritted my teeth as I quickly shut my eyes closed when I felt a stinging jolt of pain.

I felt something that grabbed both my shoulders. I opened my eyes and saw that Jay was holding me still. Was I about to collapse? It was painful, yes, but I didn't thought that it was that painful. Was it?

“M-maybe you should fold your wings back, then,” Jay whispered through his stupid black mask. I sighed and nodded.

“Wait...” Xilf-dude spoke just as I was about to fold my wing. Huh, weird. It was painful when I stretched it to reach this length, but it wasn't painful if I hold it like this. If I stretch it further, or fold it back, would it be painful? I can't hold my wing like this forever though...

Jay and I looked at Xilf-dude, who turned and stared at the direction where we were supposed to be heading right before this whole metal bridge-thing collapsed.

“I can't jump all the way to the other side but,” Xilf-dude said as he turned back to us, “we're on a higher height than the other side. Can't that pegasus glide you there?”

Glide? Can I glide? I blew a raspberry. “Please, even newborns can glide!” I blinked. “Uh, pegasi babies, I mean, in my world...uh, yeah, you get the picture...”

They merely stared at me. What? They didn't understand? What is this, anyway? Are their ‘understanding me’ turned on and off constantly like a torch or something?

Xilf-dude shook his head. “Whatever. If your pegasus can't flap it's wings, then maybe it could bare the pain by extending it's wings' full length so you two could glide to the other side.”

“Uh... Isn't there another way?” Jay asked as I stood up. I could glide, yeah, but that depends on the wind, and the distance and the height of my landing point. I walked pass Jay and Xilf-dude to stare at the other side of this broken metal bridge-thingy...

I heard Xilf-dude sigh as I felt the strength of the air. “You're afraid of heights, aren't you?”

“No! B-but...” Hm... The air isn't that strong. I could barely even feel it...

“Ah! You can't swim...”

“N...ye-yeah...”

Xilf-dude sighed again. “Bro, you're pathetic.”

“Thank you. I try.” Jay groaned.

Hm, well, the other side of this bridge is reachable through gliding. Yeah. I'm just not sure if I could reach that with an additional weight on me... Judging from my estimations, the distance is around fifteen meters. It'll be an easy glide, but, I just hope Jay is a lightweight like Xilf-dude said.

“Can't we just climb and crawl on the main cables of the bridge?”

“You can't even climb the mango tree in the backyard.”

“Hey! That was a tall tree! And there wasn't anything I could put my hands or feet on!”

“Kronz didn't had any problems. Also, if you're complaining of holdings and footings, what makes you think you can climb up to the cables?”

“Uh...”

“How heavy is Jay?” I asked as I spun to face the two arguing siblings. These two remind me too much of Cloud and Soarin'... Always arguing.

“Uh, last time I checked my weight, I was...forty-five kilos...” Jay replied, looking away.

Kilos? “In pounds, please...”

“You're still forty-five kilos?” Xilf-dude asked. “You had that weight since high school, if I recall...”

Jay groaned. “I think forty-five kilos is around ninety-five to a hundred pounds, Rainbow...”

I blinked. Not too heavy, and I'm glad he understood my question. “A hundred pounds?” I turned back to our landing point, and nodded. “Yeah, I can glide us there no problem.” I lifted heavier stuff before. A hundred pounds is no sweat to carry or glide.

“You sure, Rainbow?” Jay asked, and I turned to him. “With your injured wing? You still didn't fold it back, by the way.”

I nodded. “I knew that.” I looked at my stretched wing. “It's painful when I stretch it, but there's no pain if I hold it still, like I'm doing now, so...” I turned to him. “I'll just stretch my wing, and then give me a moment to recover... I guess?”

Jay tilted his head to the side, but nodded soon after. “I...I guess so. If you're up for it.”

I smirked. “Hey, I can handle this.”

I turned to my stretched wing, and gritted my teeth as I slowly began stretching it to its full length. Gah, stinging jolts of pain were running through my brain as I continued. I actually felt like I was under a waterfall from the amounts of sweat I was having. B-but I finally managed to stretch my injured wing...

“J-just take deep breaths,” Jay said as I panted. He was holding my shoulders again though. Sheesh, what a softie.

“I'm fine, I'm fine,” I panted as I tiredly shook his hands off of me. He pulled his arms back, which I was thankful for. I turned to my other wing and stretched it no problem.

“So, how do we do this?” Jay asked.

“Simple,” I turned to him, still taking large amounts of breath. Phew... “Stand on...the edge and...carry me... And then walk over the edge so I...can glide us to the other side...”

Jay just stared at me that lasted for a number of seconds. “Um... W-will...that work?”

“Don't be such a coward, bro,” Xilf-dude said as he poked Jay's shoulder with this cellular phone-thing. “You might need this.”

“Huh? O-oh, right...” Jay took it and inserted it...somewhere on the clothes he was wearing. Oh yeah, why are all of them wearing clothes, anyway? “And I'm not a coward! I'm just...”

“Scared. Frightened. Doubtful. Or any other words around that meaning falls to the word ‘coward’ in my book, Jay.”

“Thank you so much for your words of wisdom, Xilf...” Jay sighed. “Fine, let's get this done. The sooner we get this done, the thankful I'll be...”

I nodded as Jay stood and walked near the edge of the bridge. I looked at Xilf-dude and smirked at him. “See you later, I guess?”

Xilfer stared at me. “A pegasus is a mythical creature, at least in this world. Whatever's happening, another world is the cause of this. And if that is so, these weird creatures, including you, are from that world. So...” Sheesh, he talks a lot... “...this is goodbye.” ...just to say goodbye. Huh, I forgot that Jay and I were going to a portal-thing so I could go back...

I nodded. “Y-yeah, uh, bye?” But why am I feeling weird about this? I shook my head. Yeah, need to focus...

I walked beside Jay and tilted my head up to look at him. He was shivering. I gave him a deadpan. “Stallion up! Sheesh.”

He sighed. “Yeah, whatever. So, how do we do this again?”

“Carry me and lift me up, and then walk over the edge, and I'll take over from there.”

“R-right... Okay...” He clapped his two hands together and turned to me. I arched an eyebrow as he shakily wrapped both his arms around me. “Nnggg!” He pulled, and I no longer felt the ground on my hooves. “D-damn it, Rainbow... You're...heavy...” I was now over his shoulder, so I smacked my tail on his mask. “Rainbow?”

“Have you never heard of the phrase that you shouldn't hurt a girl's feelings because of their weight?”

“Geez,” he groaned as he stretched both his arms above his head. “A-and here I thought that you're a tombo...tomcolt? Yeah, that...”

I roll my eyes. “Yeah, whatever.” I stared at our landing point. I then turned my head to look at each of my wings. Yeah, we can do this. “Okay, let's go!” I cheered for his sake.

I actually felt him shiver. Sheesh... I can't believe that this is the Gold Blitz who was crazy enough to go inside Unicornia with Applejack.

“Hello? You still there?”

“Yeah, yeah, just...” Jay shivered again. “O-okay... I can do this... We can do this...” He took a breath. “Okay, you ready up there?”

I rolled my eyes. “A century ago, Jay...”

“A-all right...then...”

I looked down in time to see him lift one of his feet, and he slowly—

“GAH!” “WHOA!”

We gasped at the same time when something somehow pushed him over. I gritted my teeth and tried my hardest to make my wings stay in place, but I forgot the air pressure of gliding while carrying something... Ack! It's too painful to bear!

“Gah!” I gasped as I lost my hold on my painful wing. It felt numb, painfully numb, and the air was rushing from below us.

“Ahhhhh!” Jay screamed.

D-darn it. How could I forget something lik—

“Oof!” Jay gasped as I fell on his head.

“Nnggg...” I gritted my teeth as he lets me go, and I fell on...solid ground?

“W-what the?” Jay spoke, sounding surprised.

I opened my eyes after the pain was bearable a bit, and the first thing I saw was we were on...a scaly surface on top of the water... Huh?

Something was emerging from the water up ahead, and it's big. I gasped when a large amount of water emerged from the watery surface. And when all of that water fell back down, a scaly neck stood ahead of me. I yelped. W-what the hay is this thing!?

“X-Xelene?” Jay spoke. I saw the neck moved, and a head appeared... A dragon head. “Y-you're all right! Wait... Y-you were that blue dragon!?”

“You...you know this dragon?” I quickly turned to Jay, who was in the middle of removing his mask.

Jay got rid of the mask, and smiled. “Darn, I'm glad you're okay, but...did, did Sombra turned you into that blue dragon or something?”

I looked back at this ‘Xelene’ and she just nodded. “S-so...you two know each other, right?”

Jay looked at me with a smile. “Yeah. Don't you remem...oh, right...” He shook his head. “Never mind. Anyway... Dash,” he gestured towards the dragon with an arm. “This dragon is Xelene. We fought before, but we became, uh, acquaintances afterwards.” I arched an eyebrow at him before turning to the dragon. “Xelene, this is Rainbow Dash.”

“A pleasure...”

I blinked. I gasped. “Y-you can talk!?” I think she gave me a deadpanned look. “Oh, uh, sorry... N-nice to meet you?” I chuckled nervously as I looked around. “Um... Nice backside, I guess?”

“Don't get used to it...”

I gulped. “R-right...”

“Xelene,” Jay spoke, and finally, the dragon's gaze was no longer on me. I sighed in relief. “Can I ask a favor and carry us back to the island?”

“No...”

“Huh... Strange that I understand you this time. But,” I turned and saw Jay shook his head. “I ah, need to get back there. Look,” he showed the dragon the mask on his hand. “This will protect me from the mist!” Huh, I forgot that I was also wearing a stupid mask.

“No...”

Jay groaned. “Fine, but can you at least carry us near the island?” He then looked around. “I...I don't think the mist can float above water, or the ocean, whatever... So, it's safe for you to swim us over there?”

The dragon was quiet for a while.

“Jay!” someone shouted from up above. I looked up and saw the bridge far far up. Wow, I forgot about that thing there. Xilfer was poking over the edge, with his buddy beside him. “You two okay down there!?”

Chapter 137 - Cruise

Despite the chaotic echoes of explosions, bullets, and thunder from the city far north, the sea seemed like it didn't care and decided to ignore everything that was happening on the surface.

Swimming on the calm sea was a huge dragon, it's maroon scales faintly reflecting the lights from the small bolts of lightning from the gloomy heavens. The calm and quiet sea was only broken by the quiet strokes of the dragon's paws and it's slowly swishing tail as it swam forward towards the island, which was completely covered by a thin layer of black mist.

On the dragon's back were three humans and a cyan pegasus. The four sets of eyes were fixed on the slowly growing island. Gulping, one of the humans, who was wearing a simple, dirtied white t-shirt and plain shorts, turned to the other humans, who were wearing a more proper set of clothing for the cold and drizzling weather.

“O-okay,” spoke Jay, eyeing the two humans with worry, “we're getting close, so we should wear our masks once we set foot on the island.”

“Obviously...” Xilfer frowned.

Jay frowned. “Ye-yeah, sorry... I just...wanted to say something...”

“Whatever,” Xilfer shook his head. “We are to go to the mountain by foot. So it's best that we prepare.” He then turned to Bug, who was busy with sorting out the few items that he and Xilfer could carry before they jumped on the dragon's back earlier. “What do we have?”

“Well,” Bug spoke, without even glancing up at Xilfer as he held a gun, “five guns and some magazines. A few grenades, and some other nifty stuff.” He grinned wide as he finally glanced at Xilfer.

Jay tilted his head to the side as Xilfer nodded.

“What nifty stuff?” Jay asked, completely lost.

Xilfer turned to his older brother. “Stuff that might be useful later on...” He then stared at him sternly.

Jay rolled his eyes. “Fine... Whatever.” He shook his head. “But, just where do you guys get all of those weapons? It looks like you are some sort of terrorists or something...”

“I don't think the details are that important,” Xilfer spoke, and was about to add more, but Jay cut him off.

“It's important to me!” He glared at his younger brother. “Xilfer! You could get into trouble with those!”

“None of your concern.”

“It is my concern!” Jay stomped his foot on the scaly back of the dragon.

Xilfer glared back. “Since when?” he calmly asked.

“Since forever!” he replied angrily. “What the hell happened to you!? Where is the brother I used to know, huh!? Where is he!?”

They both held their glares for a while before Xilfer withdrew and turned his back on him. “Why don't you ask our beloved dad, bro...”

Jay's eye twitched. He opened his mouth to say something, but the words died in his throat, and was instead replaced by a disappointed sigh. “I...see...” he whispered.

“What the hay's going on with you two?” Rainbow asked with an arched eyebrow.

“Mind your own business,” the brothers replied quietly at the same time.

Rainbow frowned. “Sheesh, whatever...”

After a few more seconds, Jay sighed and rubbed the side of his neck. “Okay, look. We'll talk later.”

Xilfer wanted to comment, but decided against it.

Jay turned to face the island, which was already close. “Let's concentrate on stopping whatever's going on for now...” He eyed the approaching shore, but he could barely see the sand due to the thin layer of mist that covered the area.

“Do I have to wear this stupid mask again?”

“Unfortunately, yes,” Jay replied to the pegasus' question without removing his gaze at the approaching shore.

“Question,” Bug raised a hand over his head, “why do we even need the masks, anyway?”

Jay turned and was about to answer, but Xilfer cut him off.

“The masks filter the black mists from, whatever it did to Jay.”

“What does that mean?” Rainbow asked, turning her head from the brothers back and forth.

“I...” Jay looked away, “...can't really remember what happened exactly but...” he returned his gaze back at them, but when he noticed that Xilfer was looking at him, he immediately stared at the pegasus. “...I began to see my fears... And...I faintly felt my body having this...strange feeling, but I dunno.” He shook his head. “I was just...trapped in the world of my fears...”

Rainbow arched an eyebrow as Xelene slightly turned her head to stare at them with her one good eye.

Jay shook his head. “I don't want that to happen to anyone, especially not to my...” Jay gasped. “Oh, shoot...”

“What is it?” Bug asked.

“D-darn it, the mists!” Jay gasped as he hurriedly pulled Xilfer's phone from his pocket. “W-why haven't I thought of this sooner!?” he asked, more to himself as he rushed in typing a text message.

“What are you doing?” Rainbow asked, but Jay ignored her.

It didn't take long for Xilfer to figure out what Jay was so worried about. “Shit,” he cursed under his breath as he turned to the city far away.

“Ack!” Jay gritted his teeth as he pushed the call button. “Why the heck am I even trying to text him!?” he muttered as he brought the phone to his ears.

A dark and quiet room was suddenly, yet slightly, brought to life by a sudden flashing light and the faint noise of vibrations from a cellular phone on a metallic table. The light flashed upward, but it couldn't penetrate the thin black mist that lay dormant on the air.

As the phone vibrated, it moved closer and closer to the table's edge, until it finally fell on the solid cemented basement floor. As it fell however, the light it emitted was reflected back by a shiny blue body nearby.

The phone landed on he floor, it's lights still facing upward. Suddenly, from the mist above the phone, a blue hoof was descending slowly towards it, until it touched the phone. The hoof however, kept pushing down to the ground, despite the phone blocking its path, that began to crack and spark, until it was totally crushed.

Silence and darkness governed the dark room once again.

Chapter 138 - Quarrel

“Where the hell are you going!?” Xilfer shouted at Jay, who was already working his way towards the shore.

Jay ignored his brother as he continued walking on the shallow water. He gritted his teeth for he was annoyed of how slow he was moving due to the water restraining his movement. When he was a few feet away from the shore, he strapped the mask on his face and hurried out of the water.

“That guy is nuts,” Rainbow groaned as she hopped off from the dragon's back and into the water. She sunk, but stroked her hooves and swam out of the water. She gasped for air and shook her head, her rainbow mane splashing water all around.

“Is your brother always that troublesome?” Bug asked before he wore a mask.

Xilfer sighed. “Only when Kronz is in trouble,” Xilfer eyed his brother for a short while before wearing his mask. He and Bug jumped towards the water as soon as Rainbow began swimming towards the shore.

Jay finally reached the shore, and completely ignored the sand he unintentionally collected in his shoes and the thin layer of mist that hung in the air. He began to run towards the bridge, but stopped after taking seven running steps from the shore. “Darn...!” He clenched his fists and glared at the ground after he realized that the bridge was broken. ‘I'm such an idiot!’

Jay quickly turned and ran back to the shore, and he ran passed the pegasus who called his attention. He immediately went back to the water, and wanted to get back to the dragon, but as he was about to walk pass Bug and Xilfer, a hand grabbed his and held him in place. Turning his head, Jay glared at Bug.

“Not so fast, kid,” Bug spoke, his voice muffled a bit by the mask.

Jay struggled to set his arm free from the muscular man. “Let go of me!”

“Jay, calm down,” Xilfer spoke, who stood beside him.

Jay turned to him with a glare, although Xilfer wouldn't be able to see it from his mask. “Calm down!? Kronz's is in trouble, and Claire and her sister!” He then turned towards the dragon, who was a few meters away, and began to pull his hand off of Bug's grip. “Nnggg! T-they're in trouble and I need to go back there and—”

“And what!?” Xilfer cut him off with an angry snarl, “do something stupid until you save them!?”

Jay turned to him with a glare, and although they couldn't see each others' faces, they countered each others' glares with their own.

“We came here for a reason, and now you want to go back!?” Xilfer continued. “And for what!? Be caught by the mist or whatever again!?”

“I will think of something, Xilfer!” Jay snarled back. “I care for Kronz, and unlike you who doesn—”

A quick punch struck Jay's cheek, throwing his head to the side from the pain and impact. He was stunned, shocked, from the sudden action that Xilfer did.

Xilfer pulled his fist back to his side while he kept his glare fixed on his brother. “While you are in the city working, who's there to watch over Kronz in high school, huh?”

Jay did not move, even though Bug already let him go.

Xilfer continued, “so you think I'm just a happy-go-lucky guy who always hang around with his buddies and doesn't give a crap to his family, huh? Well, think again. I only left 'cause I can't stand being around our stupid father!” He paused for a moment. “Kronz is being bullied at his school for being a nerd, Jay! And I may not be always there, but at least I'm there to stand up and beat the hell out of them. What about you? What have you ever done to Kronz, huh?”

“He...” Jay whispered, still not moving besides his lips, “...never...told me...about that...”

“Of course he didn't!” Xilfer quickly replied. “I asked him how you were doing one time, and he told me that you're always tired when you get back home, and then you go to work early! You're working all day to give a crap of what's going on with Kronz's life!”

“Stop...” Jay whispered.

“Why would he trouble you with his problems if you can even barely stay up and eat dinner when you get back, huh?”

“Stop!” Jay snapped as he turned to face his brother, though he was thankful for the mask to at least shield his teary eyes. “I g-get it, okay!? I'm...”

“Always busy,” Xilfer finished for him, even though that wasn't what Jay was about to say. “Even during the weekend.”

“...sorry...” Jay whispered as a tear finally rolled out from his eyes.

They fell quiet for a short while. Xilfer broke the silence by turning his attention to the shore. “Whatever,” he said coldly. “Stop being stupid for at least a moment. We came here to stop this hell, all right? Don't go scrambling your priorities.”

Jay opened his mouth to complain, but decided against it. Kronz was more important to him than anything else, but as Xilfer pointed out, what could he even do?

“And once this hell's all over, well, let's just hope that things will return to normal.” Xilfer continued, while he ignored the large number of very faint yellow dots from the mists on the shore.

‘Xilfer's right...’ Jay sighed. He still felt a heavy feeling for ignoring their youngest brother's situation, but a realization made him smile, and warmed his heart. Xilfer does care about them, despite everything.

“Guys?” Rainbow called, who stood on the shore, her back on the three humans who were still in the water. Her voice was absent of her usual tone of confidence. “If your little heart-to-heart drama talk is over, we could deal with something more problematic now...”

Arching an eyebrow, and still not quite believing that he could actually understand what the pegasus just said, Xilfer wondered what the pegasus meant. Just then, he realized that the faint yellow dots were now getting clearer and brighter, like twinkling stars in the evening sky, only, the air was also mixed with a low growling noise.

Chapter 139 - Wolf

Crystal blue wolf-like creatures walked out from the thicker parts of the mist. Their vicious growls sent chills in the air and their golden-yellow eyes struck the three human beings and a pegasus.

Rainbow Dash gulped and took a step back, her hind hoof struck the watery surface of the shore. The splashing noise jerked the wolves' ears up, and all eyes fell on her.

A few wolves barked before — one by one — they kicked their legs on the sandy ground and rushed towards the pegasus, who jumped in a gasp and slipped on her hoof.

“Oof—!” Rainbow grunted, but gasped again, “I mean, AHHH!!!”

“Rainbow!” Jay shouted as he began rushing towards the pegasus, but his speed was greatly reduced due to him being on the water.

Rainbow flailed her limbs and managed to crawl back into the water. By the time a wolf was about to dig its sharp crystal claws on the cyan pegasus however, Rainbow managed to kick the ground, sending her into the deeper parts of the water.

“Rainbow!” Jay called as he was about a few feet away from where Rainbow had sunk. Soon, the pegasus emerged, gasping for breath. Jay sighed in relief that the pegasus was okay.

Turning quickly, Rainbow swam towards Jay in a rush, and quicker than a second, the pegasus swam and hid behind the human, who was merely standing there, stared at the shorelines.

“Weird...” Jay whispered as he eyed the huge number of growling crystal wolves, who were standing on the shore. He turned slightly, enough for him to see the other two humans approaching him, and way behind the two was the maroon dragon, who was in the middle of scratching its scaly neck. “Huh...” Jay stared at the dragon for a short while, and then turned his gaze back at the wolves, who were desperately wanting to kill them, but somehow, something was stopping them.

“I was about to fire but,” Bug spoke when he and Xilfer were close enough to Jay and Rainbow, “I guess there's no need?” He shrugged and spun the gun with one finger.

‘I doubt that would even leave a scratch...’ Jay thought as he scratched his neck. Seeing the dragon scratching its neck made his neck a bit itchy.

“What are they doing?” Rainbow voiced out after she finally collected herself and gave herself distance from Jay. She eyed the wolves questioningly. “First, they chased after me like a piece of meat in the middle of a forest, and now they're just looking at us like a live show. I don't get it.”

“Kronz said that,” Xilfer paused for a second, “that the bridge was pulled back down before the mist could reach the city.”

“So, it's clear that the mist hates the water?” Jay asked.

Xilfer shook his head. “More like the salt water.” He looked up. “If it was any water, they would have trouble with this drizzle.”

Jay turned to him, and then looked up at the gloomy sky. “Huh, that's a good point...”

Bug sighed. “Well, that was anti-climatic.”

“Shut up,” Rainbow groaned.

“The other half of Mount Comet is on a beach,” Xilfer explained, “it would be easier to get there if we swim.”

“Can't we just hitch a ride on your dragon?” Bug suggested. “It's a bit cold to swim...”

Jay nodded. “I'll go and talk to her.”

Bug arched an eyebrow as he and the rest stared at him walking towards the dragon. When Jay was out of earshot, he turned to Xilfer. “The dragon's a ‘she’?”

Xilfer ignored his question.

“It sounded like a good idea at first...” Jay groaned as he and the others sat on the dragon's scaly back. “But...” Jay sighed as he eyed the shorelines.

Xelene agreed to carry them all the way to the base of Mount Comet. It would have been easier if she could fly, but her wings were still aching from the electric star-dust that struck her from out of nowhere.

On the shoreline however, were the large number of crystal wolves. They have been following them ever since they swam away from the bridge. Their claws were quietly touching and digging on the sand while the silence were broken by their growls and barks.

“Go away!” Rainbow shouted at them.

“They didn't go away...” Rainbow groaned and sighed.

The group has finally reached their destination, however, the wolves were on the shoreline, and what is worse, they have increased in number.

“Well, this is troublesome...” Jay grumbled.

“Ready the grenades,” Xilfer said, and Bug obliged.

Jay sharply turned to his brother. “The what!?” He jumped to stand when Bug simply tossed a grenade to Xilfer. “Ack! You can't be serious!”

“Any better ideas, bro?” Xilfer stared at him with a bored expression.

“I ah uh...”

“Then be quiet while we clear the path.” Xilfer then stood up and turned to the shore.

“No, don't!” Jay was about to grab his brother's hand, but Xilfer already pulled the pin.

He froze when Xilfer tossed the grenade at the group. It was then followed by another one from Bug.

Rainbow's eyes followed the thrown objects and blinked when it landed and seemingly nothing was happening. “So...uh...what's gonna—”

Two large explosions made her gasp and jump, almost slipping off of the dragon's back. Sand and crystal flew everywhere as smoke and dust covered the area where the wolves were mere seconds ago.

“Ugh...” Rainbow rubbed both her ringing ears. “I swear, t-that was even louder than unicorn heads exploding...”

Xilfer closed his eyes and took a deep breath. When he opened his eyes again, the shore was now absent of smoke and dust, and wolves. Two blackened craters were on the shore, and were slowly being filled by the saltwater. Crystal fragments littered everywhere.

“Again,” Bug smiled as he carried the bag, “anti-climatic...”

“I wouldn't count on it...” Jay mumbled as he eyed a few pieces of blue crystals that were faintly glowing in green. “W-we should probably hurry and get inside the mountain before all of those pieces stack back into more wolves...”

Bug and Xilfer turned to him with arching eyebrows.

There was a faint buzz-like noise. Bug and Xilfer both turned back at the shore, and stared at the glowing pieces of crystals were slowly moving into a spot.

Jay sighed. “Should we move, or should we wait for a ‘climatic’ event?”

“Moving sounds good!” Rainbow hastily replied as she jumped to the water.

Chapter 140 - Fang

The chilly air was filled by a foreign hum-like noise as the green-glowing blue crystal fragments flew towards a spot on the sandy shore. Clicks and clanks echoed as each fragment stuck together, and appeared to have combined with each other as they magically began to form into something tall. Four tall things, to be precise, as far as the three humans plus one pegasus have noticed so far.

The four were still inching their way towards the ground. Despite their effort to hurry, they could do nothing but to wish that the water would grant them even more speed.

A maroon dragon, who floated on the water meters away from the struggling four, inhaled sharply and exhaled, only to fall into a nasty coughing fit. Black smoke erupted from the dragon's mouth and nostrils as she coughed. After she has recovered, she tried again, only to achieve the same result. Another try, and she managed to cough out red sparkling fumes of fire. It was tiny, but she considered it progress. She continued.

Jay turned his head slightly to see what was going on with the dragon, but before he could start to connect things in his mind, his thoughts broke down when a sharp gasp reached his ears. Turning his attention back at the nearing shore, he saw Rainbow Dash was the first to reach the shore, and her shocked face was directed at the four towering blue crystals.

He looked at the crystal pillars, and wished he hadn't. He almost slipped when his mind suddenly went black at the sight his eyes were giving him through his mask. Those four crystal pillars were now the large and tall feet of a giant crystal wolf. “S-shit!” He cursed, though he didn't want to.

Hurriedly, Jay and the other two humans exerted more force into their climb out of the water. Rainbow turned and was nervously fidgeting as she chanted “com'on com'on hurry up hurry up” at the three incoming humans.

Bug and Xilfer got out of the water and hurried to Rainbow's side. Jay was about to walk out when a crystal fragment struck him from behind. It didn't hurt that bad, but it pushed him forward and made him stumble and fall on the watery shore. He blinked awkwardly at what just happened, but two sets of hands grabbed him and pulled him up.

“Stop messing around!” Xilfer hissed.

“But I wasn't!” Jay countered.

“Enough sappy talk let's go now!” Rainbow shouted in one breath before she turned and gallope—

The sandy ground shook violently, causing the four to stop and stumble. The massive crystal wolf pushed it's body towards the four and let out a boom of a roar.

“Go!” Xilfer shouted loudly, “go go go!” He pulled Bug and Jay back in an instant with both hands and pulled them as he ran towards the trees, Rainbow Dash following close behind.

The giant crystal wolf turned its head and hissed, it's yellow-glowing eyes followed the four smaller creatures. It quickly pulled itself down, preparing to leap after them, when it's crystal ears tilted to the side when a burning-like noise was getting louder.

A fireball struck the wolf's side, pushing the crystal wolf towards the forest and fell over a large number of trees. Thankfully, Jay and the others weren't on that part of the forest, though they shivered at the thought if they were.

The wolf quickly flailed its large limbs a bit before it finally pulled itself up and growled at the coughing dragon. It barked once, twice, and leaped towards the dragon, disregarding the salty water that was now but a tiny problem for its giant being to worry about.

Xelene eyed the fast approaching wolf, and quickly pushed it's claws, throwing herself forward. The two giants' heads clashed, but the wolf had the upper hand, and pushed the dragon back. Quickly, it opened its jaws and struck at the scaly neck of the dragon. Xelene growled and struggled as she flailed her claws, scratching the neck and shoulders of the crystal wolf, but they appeared ineffective.

The scene couldn't be viewed inside the thick layers of trees and leaves where Jay and the others were running through. The dragon's pained growl reached Rainbow's and Jay's ears, and Jay felt a huge weight of regret and felt like turning back to help, ‘but what can I do?’ he argued to himself.

“Is that it?” Bug asked, as he and the others could see a mountain's base through small gaps of trees up ahead.

Xilfer nodded. “Ye-yes, that's Mount Comet!” He panted with a small hint of a smile. Bug and Rainbow had small smiles as well. Finally, they were nearing the end of all of this chaos. “There should be a cave on the other side.” He added as they were about to reach the clearing.

As soon as they got out from the trees however, a loud noise — as if a huge pile of metal was rolling down a solid cliff — was heard from up above. Turning up—

“SHIT!” Xilfer shouted and hurriedly grabbed Bug's and Jay's shoulders as he ran back towards the trees. The other two, if only they weren't stunned, would have been thankful.

Rainbow, after finally recovering, gasped and ran back just as soon as the broken helicopter broke down on the flat ground, and exploded, sending large chunks of fire and metal all around. The pegasus landed behind a large root with a yelp.

Xilfer took a breath before he turned, his eyes reflecting the lights from the blaze. He was about to walk out of the forest again when a flat metal-piece landed flat on his head with a dull clang. His eye twitched as the metal object tilted to the side and fell, bumping on his shoulder before landing on Jay's head.

“Ow...” Jay winced slightly, grabbed the metal that landed in front of him, and pulled himself up. He turned as he studied the metal. Seeing that it was nothing now but a piece of junk, he was about to toss it thoughtlessly, but instead he gasped at the burning scene on the foot of Mount Comet.

Xilfer walked out of the line of trees, his head tilted upward, as he tried to see what happened, but the thin layer of mists hanging in the air blocked his vision to reach further than the height of the trees.

Rainbow slowly walked out and stood beside Xilfer, and wondered what had happened to the flying metal thing.

Jay and Bug walked out soon after, and the earth shook, though faintly. It was followed by another, and another, and then another. Each one felt stronger than the earlier, and soon, the burning noise was accompanied by a low growl.

“Tsk,” Bug looked around, “what is it now?”

Jay turned, and saw the area of where the campsite was, of where he woke up. It was now nothing but a complete wreck, and from the mists on that area, something blue reflected the light of the burning chopper. A thick and massive blue foot emerged from the mists, it's firmed step shook the earth ever so slightly.

Jay and the others' eyes slowly worked their way up, following the tall creature's body, up until the many necks and heads, and pairs of glowing eyes locked hungrily at them. And another step, and the earth shook lightly.

While the others were frozen, Xilfer sighed. “Oh, you've got to be f*cking kidding me...” he groaned.

Another step, and the massive creature stopped, its crystal tail moving slightly as it pulled its many heads down as far as it could manage. The four large crystal heads reflected the fire, and four pairs of glowing yellow eyes were all fixed on the four smaller creatures. Their crystal tongues slithered out occasionally.

Jay and the others, after finally snapping back, slowly took a step back. Nothing. They took another step. Nothing. Another ste— Rainbow stepped on a fallen twig, and it snapped, painfully breaking the silence. Three human heads turned to her, and the pegasus' ears drooped as she smiled nervously and apologetically.

Four serpentine-like heads roared.

Chapter 141 - Cave

Four serpentine-like heads roared at the four smaller creatures. As the large hydra roared, one of its heads stopped roaring and flew immediately towards them with a wide-opened mouth.

Acting quickly, Xilfer grabbed both Jay's and Bug's shoulder and pulled them down with him. The gigantic head flew over them, but its crystal chin struck Rainbow Dash.

“Oof—!” Rainbow gasped as she was pushed along. The head slammed against the many trees, pinning the pegasus with it. The air in her lungs escaped and she almost lost her consciousness there and then. As soon as the head pulled itself back, a hand grabbed her hooves and pulled her out. The next thing she knew, she was on Bug's back, her two front knees on both the human's shoulder, and two hands gripped tightly on her two front hooves. Her underside was bumping on the human's bag, and it felt annoyingly uncomfortable.

The earth shook violently as the hydra roared ferociously and as it awkwardly ran after the four creatures.

“Stop!” Xilfer shouted, and immediately he stopped and pulled his two companions back just before a large head slammed a few feet in front of them. Rocks and sand exploded from the impact, but he didn't care as he quickly turned his head back, and saw an opening. “This will look stupid, so no complaining!”

“Wh-what!?” Jay shouted in panic as Xilfer grabbed his shirt, as well as Bug's, and the two were pulled back towards the hydra. “Y-you're insane!”

An explosion-like noise erupted from behind them. Pebbles, sand and rocks rained around, but Xilfer didn't care and continued, until he pulled the four of them in between the hydra's legs.

“Run faster!” Xilfer panted, and soon, Bug took over and ran quicker, pulling him and his brother along. A loud roar erupted as soon as they ran through, and as soon as they did, the earth violently shook behind them.

Turning his head, Jay saw the hydra attempted to squish them. He winced at the thought, and gasped when another head slithered towards them in haste. The head opened its mouth wide and suddenly flew straight at them. Jay felt his eyes shrunk, but he felt something else on his hand. Mindlessly, he threw whatever it was he was holding at the hydra.

The metal plate flew like a boomerang, and flew inside the large mouth of the hydra. The mouth closed, and a painful choking noise came out from it.

“There's the cave!” Xilfer shouted, letting go of his brother and Bug. “Now hurry a—”

“Ack!” Jay stumbled and fell on the ground after he stepped on a metallic tent pole on the ground.

Suddenly, the earth shook, more violent than ever, as the hydra angrily marched towards them.

“Hurry up hurry up!” Rainbow Dash shouted as she and Bug stood at the entrance of the cave.

Xilfer arrived and pulled Jay up. “You are too much trouble!” he mumbled as he pulled him immediately and ran towards the cave. “Get outta the way!” Xilfer shouted as he was mere meters away from the entrance. Bug and Rainbow quickly spun and ran further inside the cave.

With a roar, three serpentine heads flew towards the two humans.

Xilfer sent all of his energy on his feet and ran faster, but suddenly lost his footing caused by the trembling earth. But before he could fall, Jay ran ahead and pulled him, dragged him, as everything behind them felt dangerous. Cold air rushed from behind them, and the earth shook violently, not just below them, but around them. They were inside, finally, and Jay didn't even noticed it until a few rocks started falling off from the ceiling.

The three heads struck the entrance, shaking the entire mountain in the process.

With a grunt, Xilfer pulled himself up, and ignored the pain on his knee. “Move!” he shouted, and the four of them ran further, ignoring the darkness of the cavern.

Chapter 142 - Frame

“Spike”

It took us a lot of explaining to the Pie family, but in the end, we managed to convince them that we're only here to help out a friend in need. Or rather, to help a friend to restore his world. Whatever. I don't really know all of the details, but the important thing is that, after the Pie family understood, they let us start our search on their field.

Everypony scattered around, searching for the portal, after Twilight explained to everypony of what it looked like, for the Pie's sake, since they didn't want to just sit around and watch us all walking around randomly.

They wanted to know what it looked like, but they told us that they have never seen something by what Twilight has described. Still, after that, we began our search.

Pegasi ponies were flying around the area, scanning the sky and those above the trees. Huh, that reminded me... The Pies seemed to be really angry about us bringing along pegasi ponies. I wonder what's up with that.

No no... I shook my head. I gotta focus.

“Mind if I take a look inside your house?” I asked the old-looking earth pony, who sat on the wooden stairs in front of their front door.

The old pony looked at me with tired-looking eyes. She took a while to stare at me, which kinda crept me out, but then she closed her eyes and slowly shook her head. “No...”

I was a little taken aback from her response. “B-bu-but I thought you agreed t—”

“No means no, 'ung fellow...” she cut me off, and I actually felt my ears droop.

“There's nothing inside,” said another voice from behind me. I turned and saw the pink mare, her angry eyes stared at me. I was about to say okay, but her ears suddenly drooped and she sighed. “That would make us look suspicious...” she mumbled to herself, and I kinda agree with her on that, now that I think about it... “Fine, I'll take you inside.”

“R-really?” I immediately asked if she's honest. She nodded as soon as Sweetie Belle started walking towards us from a nearby tree beside the house.

The pink mare turned and saw Sweetie Belle approaching. “I'm only taking you, and nopony else,” she glared at Sweetie, who regarded it with a stop and a confused frown, before the pink mare turned the glare on me. I fought the urge to take a step back. “Got that?”

“O-okay, okay...” I replied.

Needless to say, the house was just...an ordinary house, at least, as far as the ground floor is concerned. They had a simple living room, kitchen, bathroom. Their house is mostly made out of wood, except for their lit up fireplace, which was made out of brick and stone, I think. Anyway, I checked every inch and corner of the ground floor, but I found no signs of any portal.

We stood at the foot of the stairs when a sudden thought popped into my head. “Hey uh,” I spoke, stopping the pink mare who was about to put her hoof on the first tread of the stairs. “Can I ask a question?”

She only regarded me with her usual slightly-angry stare.

“Um, have you, or any of you, saw something uh, sparkling flew around here?”

She arched an eyebrow at me. “No, I haven't seen something like that.” She then turned her attention on the stairs and started climbing up. “Maybe my Ma or my sisters did.”

Huh, well, okay. If the second floor turns out to be nothing, then at least I have something else to do afterwards rather than poking through trees around the area.

“This is my...Pa's room...” Pinkie explained as we stood in front of the last door that we haven't checked yet. Huh, I found it strange that she had a little difficulty explaining what the room was about.

“Something wrong?” I asked, turning to her with concern.

“No, just...go inside and hurry up.” And after that, she took a step back.

I blinked at her. She was the one who pushes the doors open and enters the rooms inside first, but now she wanted me to do it by myself this time. What's up with that?

I shook my head. Whatever. I grabbed the knob and twisted it. I pushed the door open and let go of the knob. I gasped quietly, taking my time for me to let everything sink in. Out of all the rooms in this house, this room is...really really messy, and dusty... It looked like it wasn't even visited in years! There were so many cobwebs around, mushrooms here and there. The bed is full of dust that I don't even wanna touch. Broken wood splinters, a broken cabinet. What the heck happen—

Crack!

I jumped back, and saw a broken picture frame on the floor. I...must have stepped on it. I wonder what this is? I walked closer to it and grabbed it with my claw. I lifted it up on eye level, but I couldn't see anything but dust. I inhaled and blew at it, sending a cloud of dust away. I carefully rubbed it with my other claw, and after that...

An old image, of five ponies. It looked like a family portrait. Out of everything, only the pink mare stood out the most, because, well, her coat stands out the most. Unlike the other four ponies, who's coats looked dark and dull, hers looked bright and...happy... She even looked like she was smiling. No, everypony on this image is smiling.

“That was taken a long time ago...” the pink mare's quiet voice broke the silence. I actually jumped a bit, but thankfully, I didn't drop the framed photo. I turned and saw her sad look, her eyes fixed on the frame on my claws. “This room...” she slowly looked around, “...reminds me...of old...old memories...” After a while, she turned to me with a sad smile. “...old...and happy memories...w-when Pa and Ma used to be so so happy and loving...but...” she frowned.

“But then the war happened...” I finished for her, and she sighed and nodded with closed eyes.

“Pegasi ponies started demanding that we'd help them. It forced us to work even harder than we should, and we were threatened repeatedly...”

She sniffed a bit. “Hey, hey, it's gonna be...” ...gonna be what? Okay? All right? I frowned.

She wiped her eye with a hoof and sighed. “What's done's done...” she opened her eyes and stared at me with a frown. “...There's nothing here, right?”

I looked at the photo on my claws. Nothing... Yeah, I guess there's nothing here... But, looking at the pink filly on the photo, I...wouldn't say that...

“Let's go then,” Pinkie said. She turned and walked out of the door. She turned, and frowned at me, since I haven't moved from my spot yet. “Is...is there a problem?”

“Well,” I looked at the photo, before I turned back at her. “What do you think?”

She blinked. “What?”

I'm not sure if I should be bothering myself with this. It's not really a problem I should trouble myself with, but, what would Jay do? I remember his little speech when he was going home for the first time in the old castle. He says some things that would help ponies, right?

I looked around the room. “What do you think?”

She shook her head.

“I mean, this room. What do you think?”

She arched an eyebrow. “It's nothing. Now, get out.”

“This isn't nothing...” I shook my head slightly. “Don't you think that there's something here?”

“Dust and thrash...” She deadpanned.

I shook my head. “Look closer.” I asked her. “What do you see?”

She looked confused. She shook her head, and looked around the room. “S-still dust and thrash...”

“Really?” I asked, as I stared at her. She stared at everything for a while, and her confused frown slowly went away, and turned into...normal, I guess?

“There's...only dust...and thrash...” she finally said, as she turned to me with a small smile and teary eyes. “Nothing...more...”

“Really?” I asked softly with a smile. “Nothing?”

She smiled warmly, and nodded slowly. “Really. N-nothing... Now get outta there.”

I smiled and went out of the room. I turned, and saw her grabbed the knob, and stared at the room for a short while before slowly closing it with a sad smile. When she turned to me, I gave her the photo.

“Thanks,” she sniffed, as she slowly grabbed the framed photograph.

Chapter 143 - Cloud

“Spike”

Pinkamena and I walked out of the front door of their wooden house. Her mother's still seated on the stairs, so I walked beside her and jumped down on the snowy ground. After that, I spun and faced the old mare.

“Ahem... Hm. By any chance that you saw something sparkling earlier before our arrival?”

Pinkamena sat beside her mom, as the elderly mare arched an eyebrow.

The old pony shook her head. “I was mostly inside, 'ung one.”

“Oh,” I guess that kinda makes sense, “uh, thanks then!”

I then looked around, and spotted the pink mare's sister. She was talking to Scootaloo by the time I reached the two of them. Scootaloo broke her gaze on her and shifted at me, and she smiled.

“Heya Spike,” she greeted me, and the pink mare's sister turned to me, “so, you found anything?”

“Not yet,” I shook my head slightly before turning to the older mare. “Anyway, by any chance that you saw something sparkling earlier before we arrived?”

“Sparkling?” the mare frowned in confusion.

I nodded. “Yeah, y'know, like how gemstones shine and twinkle in the light.” Saying gems kinda made me feel hungry all of a sudden. Which was kinda weird, since I ate a lot back in the apple farm.

She frowned further. “I know what ‘sparkling’ meant,” she glared at me for a short while before she shook her head slightly. “Anyway, no. No, I haven't seen anything that sparkled, aside from a few of our dug-up gems.”

Maybe it's just a dragon thing? Gems are delicious though. I wonder when was the last time I had a gem? I shook my head. Focus Spike, focus! I looked up at the mare and nodded. “Well, thanks anyway.”

“Spike,” Scootaloo called, catching my attention. “Are you...” she trailed off, and then she nodded with a smile. “Wow, you're a genius!” Yeah, well, I do try. She then started looking around. “Somepony is bound to have seen that twinkling dust fly by.”

I chuckled. “Yeah, maybe. But there's only one pony left who actually lives around here that I haven't asked yet.”

Scootaloo stared at me with confusion. “Huh?”

I shook my head. “Anyway, you wanna come along?”

She shrugged. “Sure, I guess.”

I nodded, and then I looked around.

“If you're looking for my sister Inkie,” the older mare spoke, and Scootaloo and I looked at her. “She is probably behind the house.” She pointed with a hoof. “That's where I last saw her with some of your friends.”

“Thanks,” I nodded, and turned to Scootaloo. She nodded and we both started walking towards the wooden house. “So uh, Scootaloo...”

“Haven't I told you to just call me ‘Scoots’?” Scootaloo interrupted.

“Uh, I'm not really sure, but anyway,” I paused for a bit. “What were you and her talking about earlier?”

“Hm? Oh, nah, it wasn't anything important.”

“Really?”

Scoots blew a raspberry. She then looked at me with a smile. “What are you so worried about? We just talked about how the ponies were doing in other places and something...”

Scoots and I turned and saw Inkie, who sat on a wooden board and cradled a little foal. Twilight, Shining, Apple Bloom and Sweetie Belle were standing around her. Scoots and I looked at each other, wondering what was going on, before we started walking towards the group. Bloom and Sweets noticed us, and smiled, before looking back at Inkie, or maybe they're all looking at her foal?

“Heya Twilight,” I said quietly. I don't really know what's going on, but at least there's no heavy tension here. “What's going on?”

Twilight and Shining looked at me, and both of them were having this weird smile of some sort. I don't know, but I guess it's a kind of warm...smile, I guess? “Oh, nothing really, Spike.”

Shining nodded and the two of them looked back at the sleeping foal.

“We were just talking about the joys of having a foal and all...”

Scoots rolled her eyes, while I groaned lightly. “Really Twilight?” I asked, catching everypony's attention unintentionally. I grinned. “While we were busy looking for a portal, you were just chillin' out here doing nothing?”

She gasped quietly and frowned. “Wait, no, I didn't mea—”

I chuckled. “I was just kidding, Twilight! No need to work yourself up.”

She frowned, and sighed as she shook her head.

I coughed and looked at her with a serious frown. “But seriously Twilight, you wanna have a foal of your own so soon?”

Her jaw fell open as the others laughed.

“Wh-what!? NO!” Twilight denied. “I mean, sure, every mare maybe wants to have one in time, but I don't want one now! I mean,” she trailed off, while the rest of us continued laughing. Twilight groaned and glared at me.

“Sheesh Twilight,” I said after my laughter died down. “I was just teasing!”

“Sure you were,” she deadpanned, and then a white hoof rubbed her mane.

“Aw, Twiley wanna be a mommy?” Shining chuckled as Twilight batted his hoof away.

“A heavy sleeper, huh?” Apple Bloom spoke, and we turned at the still sleeping baby. “Must be quite nice to do things without ever riskin' of waking the li'l one up.”

Inkie chuckled lightly. “You could say that.”

Things were quiet for a short while. We were just looking at the sleeping foal. Suddenly, as much as I hated to break the happy atmosphere, it's needed to be done. I coughed lightly to clear my throat.

“Uh, anyway, Inkie,” all eyes turned to me again. “I wanna ask if you saw a cloud of sparkles flew by earlier?”

Everypony blinked, and Twilight tilted her head to the side, and then she smiled. “Ah, that's good thinking, Spike.”

“Hm...” Inkie brought a hoof on her chin. “I don't think I did, but,” she looked at her foal, “earlier today, while I was making myself some coffee, my little one here said ‘sparkly’ or something.” Inkie then looked at me. “She was by the window that time, and I remember her looking...there.”

We followed the direction of where her hoof was pointing. Was she pointing at the mountains further south from here? I looked back, and saw Twilight nodded her head.

“So I guess the portal's further south from this rock farm.” She turned and smiled at Inkie. “Thanks for the information. Inkie, was it?”

Inkie nodded. And Twilight smiled.

“You know, no offense but, you're nicer than the rest of your family.”

Inkie just smiled and looked at her foal. Twilight must have gotten her answer, even though I didn't know what it was. But at least we now know where to look. After saying our goodbyes, we hopped on the chariot and the pegasi ponies lifted it up and we flew straight towards the mountains.

Author's Note

if there are grammar or spelling errors, please point them out. i'm feeling ill at the moment, and looking at the monitor screens is giving me a headache... >.>

Chapter 144 - Peak

A sea of green leaves blurred below the fast-flying sky chariot, where Spike and the others sat. Ahead, miles away, were the mountain range that separated the southern parts of the region from the sea. As they got closer to the mountains however, the clouds became thicker and hanged lower, and the air became colder.

“I'll cast a barrier,” Sweetie Belle said after she noticed Spike's shivering form. Closing her eyes, she concentrated as she collected some mana energy that lingered in the air to help her cast the spell faster. With a grunt, she began to cast the spell as her horn lit up.

Spike, despite his thick blanket that cocooned him, shivered from the cold, but he smiled as he looked at Sweetie Belle.

“You still got the heart, Bloom?” Sweetie Belle asked.

They were already nearing the mountains, and the barrier she casted not only helped Spike against the cold, but it also helped the pegasi ponies to fly the chariot in ease.

Apple Bloom opened her saddlebag and the ancient artifact poked out from the bag, it's crystal surface shined from the small amounts of light. The young earth pony mare closed her bag after a while, and smiled at everypony. “Eeyup. Still here, safe 'n sound.”

Just then, they noticed that the chariot was flying lower than it should have been. Twilight turned to the pegasi ponies to ask what was wrong, but she saw her answer. The thick grey clouds were already above them, and if they were to fly through, they might not be able to see where they were going, or worse, maybe they'll crash on the solid mountain wall.

“We're going to land on the foot of the mountain!” Cloud Strike shouted as he turned his head over his shoulder to see their passengers. He was the pegasus who was leading the chariot. “The clouds are too thick for us to see anything further ahead!”

Twilight and Shining nodded their heads, and the chariot quickly began its descent.

After the chariot landed on the foot of the mountain, Spike and the others hopped off after Sweetie Belle turned the barrier off.

“We should probably start looking around here,” Twilight said while she looked around, studying the mountain and the surrounding trees. “The portal might be around here, but if not,” she turned and looked at the others, “we'll search at the peaks of these mountains.”

Just then, a blue bird flew out from the forest and hovered curiously in the air. The ponies turned and regarded the bird in curiosity as well. Then, the bird saw someone familiar, and it chirped merrily as it flew and landed on top of Spike's head.

“Hey,” Spike said, pulling a claw out from his blanket and let the bird land on his claw. “I know you,” he smiled as he brought the bird to his eye-level. “You're that bird that Flu...uh, with that yellow pegasus pony, right?”

The bird chirped and nodded.

“You mean Fluttershy?” Scootaloo asked as she, Sweetie Belle and Apple Bloom stood around the dragon.

Suddenly, there was a rustling noise from the forest, and everyone turned at the source, while the pegasi, Shining and Twilight stood at the ready.

From the shadows of the forest, the rustling noise stopped, and was then replaced by a feminine gasp. Pegasi stallions looked at each other with slightly arched eyebrows.

“Fluttershy?” Apple Bloom called, as she took a step towards the forest. “Is that you?”

“She must be scared by our company,” Scootaloo said as she gestured with the other ponies.

Sweetie Belle nodded. Even though they knew how scary Fluttershy may be, they also know how much of a scaredy cat she could also be. “It's all right, Fluttershy,” Sweetie Belle called. “The war is over, remember?”

“Yeah,” Spike joined in, “we're just here to look for something.”

Silence hung from seconds to minutes, and after what felt like forever, a yellow coated pegasus mare slowly walked out from the shadows, her face slightly hidden from her pink mane. A low whistle of awe came from the group of pegasi stallions, making her stop and blush slightly.

“I-if you hurt me...th-there will be snakes that'll jump right at you!” she spoke softly, and tried to glare at the many ponies.

Twilight suddenly froze in fear as she darted her eyes left and right to spot any slimy slithering monsters in the area.

“Snakes again?” Spike frowned as the bird flew from his claw and landed on Fluttershy's shoulder. “But anyway, we're not here to hurt you.” He turned to Twilight. “Right Twi—uh, something wrong?”

“Huh?” Twilight snapped back and blinked at the baby dragon. “Oh, uhm...” she inhaled to calm herself. After she exhaled, she turned to the pegasus mare. “Well, we're not here to hurt you,” Twilight said with a small and weak smile, “or anypony for that matter.” She cleared her throat. “Hi. I'm Twilight Sparkle, and,” she looked around, “we're here to look for a portal.” She looked back at the pegasus mare, who was slightly arching an eyebrow at her. “Um, by any chance you've seen a portal around here?”

Fluttershy shook her head slowly. “I don't think so, but...” She looked at the blue bird on her shoulder.

“Yes?” Twilight asked, hopeful.

Fluttershy looked back at her. “A few of my animal friends who were living here told me that they saw a strange cloud of stars and—”

“Really!?” Twilight exclaimed, too sudden for Fluttershy's liking.

Fortunately, she only gasped a quiet ‘eep’ and hid behind her mane, slightly. “Y-ye-yes...”

“Twilight,” Spike called, pulling Twilight's hoof back, “you're scaring her.”

Twilight looked back, and noticed Spike's serious face. Her ears drooped as she turned back to the pegasus mare. “S-sorry about that. It's just that, we've been looking for the portal for a while now, so we could help Jay fix whatever trouble he was having in his world.”

Fluttershy accepted the apology, but raised an eyebrow at her explanation. “Huh?”

Apple Bloom took a step forward. “Jay is Gold Blitz's name in his world, Fluttershy.”

“Oh? Oh...” Fluttershy's ears drooped. “Him...”

Scootaloo arched an eyebrow. “Did something happen between you two?”

Sweetie Belle leaned to Scootaloo's ear to whisper. “I think she's still upset about what happened to them in the Smokey Mountains...”

“Oh.” Scootaloo nodded. “So...they had sex or something?” Fluttershy and Twilight gasped and blushed a bit while a white hoof pounded the one-winged pegasus mare's head. “Ow...” She winced as she rubbed her aching head with her own hoof.

“You sound like my big sister,” Sweetie Belle glared at her pegasus friend. “And that's not a compliment.”

“Sheesh, I didn't mean to pull your hoof...” Scootaloo mumbled.

“Aaanyway,” Spike said, shifting his eyes from the two to Fluttershy. “So, the sparkly cloud. Where did your animal friends said they saw it?”

“I...I thought you're looking for the portal?”

Twilight nodded. “Oh, but we are. You see, that sparkly cloud thingy was a tracking spell of some sort, that would hopefully lead us to the portal.”

“Oh...” Fluttershy's ears drooped as she looked away. “I see...”

“Come on, Fluttershy...” Spike said as he approached the pegasus mare. “I'm sure whatever Jay did to you, he didn't mean any of it.” He stood before the pegasus and smiled. “I'm sure that he only did whatever he did because he was desperately trying to get back home...”

“It's...it's not that...”

Spike blinked. “Huh...?”

“He...he already apologized...”

“Oh. Well, that's great! But, what's the problem then?”

The pegasus took a breath and sighed as she closed her eyes. “I...I should be...the one apologizing to him...”

Spike blinked. ‘That's it?’ He mentally slapped himself. ‘No no. Okay, I managed to let her say what's wrong, so time for uh, encourage her that everything's okay, I guess?’ He took a breath. “Hey, Jay's, uh, Gold's a good pony...” he blinked. “...or whatever specie he's called in his world... Human, I think?” He shook his head. “But anyway, he's good. So, you shouldn't feel sorry for yourself about whatever happened, 'kay?”

Fluttershy bit her lower lip for a moment. “I'll... I'll try...”

“Hey Flutters...” Apple Bloom called, and Spike and Fluttershy turned to her smiling figure. “Ah don't really know what happened, but think of it this way, we're lookin' for this portal-thing to help Jay, so, can you help us out? Consider it an act of apology for 'im...or somethin'.”

Fluttershy thought about it for a while, before looking back at the earth pony mare and nodded. “Okay...I guess?”

“Great!” Spike nodded. “So uh, where did your animal friends said they saw it?”

Fluttershy looked at the dragon for a while, before she looked at the base of the mountain, and slowly tilted her head up, her eyes following the mountain up until the peak, even though the thick gray clouds covered half of the mountain.

Spike slowly turned and looked up at the imaginary peak of the mountain. “Up there, huh?” he lamely asked as his ears drooped.

The blue bird flew from Fluttershy's shoulder and landed on Spike's head with an affirmative chirp.

Chapter 145 - Portal

Fireflies flew in the dark and quiet cavern, their tiny lights provided enough light for ponies to see their surroundings. In front of the group was Twilight, her horn lit up and provided a faint purple light ahead, while Shining was behind the group, his horn also lit up. Aside from the echoes of each of their hooves, the silence was occasionally broken by distant water droplets.

In the middle of the group of ponies, Spike and the crusaders allowed their eyes to wander around, observing the ancient-looking cave. Dark brownish rocky walls and jagged stalactites and stalagmites that most towered taller than the traveling ponies.

Faint flapping of wings echoed. Looking up, ponies saw a few bats flying to and for, catching a few insects, and some even tried to catch the fireflies.

“Looks creepy,” Sweetie Belle whispered.

“Not really,” Scootaloo smirked.

While the two crusaders argued quietly, Spike glanced over his shoulder and saw the yellow pegasus mare following close behind.

“So um, are we getting closer?” he asked.

Fluttershy looked at him for a short moment before she whispered something that failed to reach the ears of anypony close by. A bat hovered close to her, and started talking to her. With a nod, the pegasus smiled at the bat, and the flying mammal flew away.

“We're getting close,” the pegasus replied.

Spike groaned. “You said the same thing, like, half an hour ago...”

During that time, Spike and the others told Fluttershy about the recent goings-on, and their little mission of helping Jay. She didn't believe it, but she didn't voice her opinion about it. But Spike and the others looked serious about this whole mission, so she thought that they weren't lying about it. Besides, she owe Gold an apology. She just hoped that joining Spike's crusade would be enough of an apology, even though she knew it wouldn't be.

“I'm...sorry...” she quietly said, eyes staring down on the ground and her ears drooped.

“Huh?” Spike glanced at her. “What was that?”

Fluttershy took a deep breath and faced him. “I'm sorry...”

He blinked. “About what?”

She exhaled and looked away. “Well...I uh...”

He smiled. “If it's about what you did back in the snowy mountains, then don't worry about it.” He then waved a claw at her before returning his gaze on the path up ahead.

“B-but,” she stammered. She couldn't believe that she was forgiven so easily like that. “I tried to hurt you...and Gold!”

Spike only shrugged. “Nah. I don't like holding grudges and things like that.” He glanced back at smiled at her. “Besides, you had good reasons, I think...?” He shook his head and looked ahead. “But that's all in the past now! And I'm sure Jay also thinks the same way! So don't worry.”

Fluttershy stared at him in disbelief. Really? That was it? That easy? If she were to be honest with herself, she actually wanted it to be easy. She sighed, and hoped that Gold Blitz would also forgive her as easily as how Spike just did. She smiled weakly. “I hope you're right...”

“But seriously,” Spike said, and he paused after he shivered from the cold temperature. “Are we getting closer?”

“Too excited, aren't we?” Apple Bloom poked his shoulder teasingly.

Spike batted her hoof.

“Can you walk?” Jay asked, and felt stupid for asking such a question.

Xilfer gritted his teeth as he leaned against the wall, with only one foot as a support. Earlier, while Jay dragged him inside the cave from the chasing crystal hydra, Xilfer's knee painfully struck a rock on the ground.

“I...can manage,” Xilfer replied, though it was clear that it was a lie.

“No you can't,” Rainbow Dash argued, glaring at his wounded knee. “You need help.”

“Rainbow's right,” Jay said, “...whatever she just said, but I think she said that you can't walk on that condition.”

“I've been through worse than this,” Xilfer grinned. He then tried to put some pressure on his wounded leg, but the sharp pain almost made him lose his balance. “Tsk...”

“I've got you,” Bug said as he walked towards Xilfer, turning his flashlight off before he grabbed Xilfer's arm and put it over his shoulder to support him. “There we go,” he grinned.

Xilfer sighed in defeat and allowed him to help him.

“I'll lead the way then,” Jay said, turning around and faced the inclined path. “We good to go?”

Rainbow Dash glanced back, and saw Bug and Xilfer were already walking towards them. “Looking good over here,” she said.

“Right,” Jay nodded, and with a flashlight on one hand, he led the way slowly, Rainbow Dash and the others following behind.

After a while, Rainbow Dash slowed, until she was now walking beside Xilfer. “So,” she said, looking straight ahead as Xilfer regarded her with a glance. “Uh...” She shook her head to get rid of the annoying-stalling weird feeling. “What do you do for a living here?” Before Xilfer could answer, she looked at him with a smile. “Do you always do something crazy like what you did back in the bridge?”

Jay arched an eyebrow, but kept walking onward.

“Sometimes,” was Xilfer's simple answer. He then looked ahead. “I used to work as a clerk in a department store until I got bored of it.”

The pegasus nodded, despite having no idea what a ‘clerk’ or ‘department store’ meant.

Bug smiled awkwardly. “I find it weird that you two can understand this little horse with wings.” He laughed weakly. “You two really are brothers.”

“Shut up,” Xilfer gave him a side glare, even though he and the others were still wearing masks. “That reminds me,” he looked at Jay, “there aren't any mists inside this cave right?”

“I'd rather play safe, Xilf,” Jay replied without looking back.

Rainbow shook her head. “Is he always that boring?”

“You have no idea,” Xilfer grinned.

“Har har,” Jay lamely spoke. He wanted to tell them that he managed to fly with an armor with wings, and fought unicorns while falling in mid-air, but decided against it. Would they believe him? Despite everything that was happening lately, he still doubted it. He sighed. ‘I guess I really am boring...’

After a while, Rainbow continuously broke the silence by asking random stuff on Xilfer, and Jay grew more and more suspicious of why she was interviewing his brother like that. He had a random thought, but shook it off after a simple fact that a pony and a human can't be together...like that. He found it rather weird as to why so many bronies in the internet were so into that sort of fiction.

Or maybe it's possible. There is, of course, a saying ‘love knows no boundaries’, but he cringed at the thought. He slightly looked back, and saw Rainbow's large grin, and, despite the mask, he could clearly see Xilfer's frustrated frown.

“Something wrong?” Bug asked, startling Jay for a bit.

He shook his head slightly and turned his attention back on the path up ahead. “Nothing. Don't worry about it.”

Rainbow's voice broke the silence once more, this time, aimed at Jay. “Jay, if you looked at us because I asked your brother if he likes mares,” Jay stopped and froze in place, “then don't worry! He turned down the offer,” she said with a clear hint of sadness.

Jay turned at them. Xilfer waved a hand at him. “Let's not talk about that again.”

Jay sighed with a smile. “Well, that's a relief to hear.”

“But hey,” Rainbow spoke, “I'm still gonna bother him until he agrees.” She grinned.

Jay glared at her. “I won't let you.”

“Can you stop me?”

“Enough,” Xilfer calmly said. “I don't even know why we're having this discussion. Aren't there more important matters at stake here?”

Jay glared at the pegasus for a while, until a thought hit him. He turned and continued to walk as he smiled at the thought that Rainbow's going back into her world anyway, so there's nothing he should worry about.

“What were you guys talking about, anyway?” Bug asked, only to receive a sigh from Xilfer.

“Oh, hey look! The exit!” Jay said, sounding way too excited. “I'll go on ahead to see if the coast is clear.” He looked back and saw his brother shook his head.

“Don't be stupid,” Xilfer spoke. “Remember that a chopper rolled down from there.” Jay suddenly felt a very cold air swirling around him. “Whatever caused it, it might still be there.”

“O-on second thought,” Jay coughed awkwardly, “let's go out together.” He nodded quickly. “Yeah, sounds good.”

“What's the matter Jay?” Rainbow grinned at him. “Chicken?”

Jay glared at her. “Shut up.”

Jay took a breath and sighed, trying to ease his nervousness. After that, he looked at everyone for a while before he turned and walked onward towards the exit. As they got closer, Jay turned off his flashlight and brought it inside his pocket.

‘I hope Spike's on the other side. That way, things would be easier from here. I hope the heart will finally stop everything that's happening here...’

And then, they were out, and the scene before them shocked all of them. Crystal ponies, after noticing their arrival, started standing up as their black eyes were locked on them. Jay quickly turned back to the cave, but two crystal ponies already stood in their way.

Thinking quickly, he turned to where the portal was located, and there it was, but it was bigger and taller than it used to be, and what stood in front of the portal was a figure he didn't want to see.

“But of course you would be here...” Jay groaned.

Chapter 146 - Struck

Sombra stood on all four, grinning devilishly at the four pathetic creatures who just went out from the cave.

“Well,” Bug said as he took off his mask, “looks like things will be messy from here.” He dropped his mask on the ground and cracked his fists, as he eyed a few crystal ponies that surrounded them. He mentally counted, and there was only eight crystal equines.

Xilfer gritted his teeth as he stood on one leg, and pulled his mask off. “This is annoying,” he hissed.

“At least I don't have to wear this silly mask from now on,” Rainbow smirked as she dropped her mask on the ground. She licked her lips and turned towards the cave. “I'll deal with these two over here.”

Jay gritted his teeth as he stared at the portal behind the black equine. Time was flowing faster in the other side of the portal than in his world, and if Spike really was on his way, then all he could do was to wait and stall time. How? That was the question that troubled him the most.

As Jay pulled his mask off, Sombra's horn glowed black. Each of the crystal ponies' eyes glowed, and suddenly rushed towards the four.

“Yo!” Bug tossed a gun at Xilfer's opened palm. He had no time to pull another gun for himself from his bag. He instead swung the bag at the head of an incoming crystal pony, sending it flying back. There was a loud bang, but he ignored it as he used his turning momentum to deliver a kick at another crystal pony. He cringed at how solid and painful they were.

Xilfer grabbed a hold of the gun and immediately took aim at an approaching crystal pony. He fired, hitting a hoof, and shattering the crystal shell, revealing a human arm. He ignored it for a while as the pony stumbled on the ground. He took aim at another pony, and fired at the head.

Rainbow grinned as she quickly turned her back on the two crystal ponies. Immediately, she lifted her hind hooves, but as she was about to kick, a loud bang startled her, yet she at least managed to give the two crystal ponies a nasty kick on their chests.

Jay gritted his teeth, and kicked his mask on the ground, sending it towards a crystal pony's face. He then prepared himself for the other pony, and kicked its lower jaw. It strangely reminded him of the time he was chased by a street dog years ago. Pushing the memory aside, he retracted his leg and kicked the pony again that was still in the air, sending it towards the face-covered crystal pony.

“Ow...” Jay grunted as a sharp wave of pain from his foot reached his brain, making him wince.

The two equines lied unmoving on the ground. Xilfer took a moment to look at the second equine's face that he shot. The crystal face was broken, revealing Cortes' ‘hypnotized’ face. He took a second to listen, and knew that the other crystal ponies were being dealt with. He then took aim at the grinning dark equine, and fired.

Sombra grinned further as the bullet struck his invisible barrier, and reflected the bullet back at the owner.

Xilfer was stunned at the unexpected event.

The air was suddenly filled with torn flesh and blood spatter. Jay's eyes shrunk as he saw Xilfer's collapsing body on the corner of his vision.

“There it is!” Twilight announced happily. She then galloped towards the large portal near one of the walls of the cavern.

“Finally...” Spike sighed in relief as he and the others rushed after the purple unicorn.

Twilight smiled as she neared the portal. She noticed that things were black on the other side of it, but didn't care. They could finally send the heart to help Jay's troubled world. Unknown to her, Spike also thought the same thing.

“XILFER!!!” A loud yet familiar voice echoed in the cavern, making every soul inside the cavern to stop.

“Oh no!” Spike's heart pounded fast as he quickly resumed running towards the portal.

Twilight snapped back into her senses after Spike ran passed her. She galloped, and the two of them got to the portal at the same time.

“XILFER!!!” Jay shouted as he rushed towards his brother.

Xilfer was lying on his back, his mouth open as he breathed for air to calm himself down, yet failing at it.

Rainbow was shocked at what she saw, and a flare of rage erupted when two crystal ponies started pinning her down. With a shout, she pulled herself up and managed to kick the two ponies off of her, and continuously pounded and kicked them, ignoring her pained hooves.

“Xilfer,” Jay gasped as he knelt beside his brother. He bit his lip. He didn't know what to say.

With a grunt, Xilfer quickly extended his arm to his side, and fired at the fast-approaching crystal pony. “Jay...” He fired at the other one. “...you're...a very annoying...liability...”

A tear rolled out from his eye, yet Jay didn't care. He felt angry at Sombra, yet he felt angrier at himself. Xilfer protected him so many times, while he couldn't.

“Rraaaahhh!!!” Rainbow Dash shouted as she rushed towards the dark equine. She jumped and launched her front hooves at him, but an invisible barrier blocked her attack, and sent her flying back. “Gah!” She gasped, and briefly saw a familiar orange pegasus mare from the portal before she shut her eyes when she landed on something human.

Bug stumbled back when the cyan pegasus struck him from behind. He looked up, and saw a crystal pony squirming towards him. He grunted as he pulled himself up, the pegasus slid off of him in the process.

“Look at me, Jay,” Xilfer hissed through pained breath. He glared at his older brother. “I'm down, yet I'm...still helpful.” He paused for a short while. “Do me a favor...and be useful for once in your god-damn life...!”

“The heart, the heart!” Spike shouted, fidgeting nervously on where he stood as Apple Bloom hurriedly pulled the artifact out of his bag. Grunting in annoyance, Spike instead grabbed the heart and pulled it out with ease.

“S-sorry,” Apple Bloom apologized, and raised a hoof. “Hooves, 'member?”

Spike ignored her and suddenly climbed on Shining Armor's back. “He-hey!”

“You're the tallest, and I need the height!” Spike suddenly replied as he turned to the portal, and waved the heart over his head. “Jay! Jay!”

Chapter 147 - Voice

“Can you hear me!?”

Jay blinked when a familiar voice reached his ears. Mentally apologizing for his brother, he tore his gaze from him and looked back at the portal, where the first thing he was the shining crystal heart being waved by a frantic purple baby dragon, who was standing on a white unicorn stallion.

He held his breath when he noticed that Sombra also looked over his shoulder and was probably eyeing the heart as well. His guess was proven true when Spike and Shining Armor gasped and took a step back.

“Not good,” he mumbled to himself as he quickly stood up.

The crystal heart was suddenly surrounded by a black aura of magic, and started pulling itself towards the portal. Spike was pulled along, but stopped when he bumped behind Shining's neck. Grunting, he tightened his grip on the heart.

“Oh no you don't!” Twilight lit up her horn and started pulling the heart back.

Sweetie Belle and Shining Armor used their magic as well to pull the heart back.

Apple Bloom and Scootaloo looked at each other when Cloud Strike and a few pegasi ponies flew towards the heart, grabbed it, and pulled along.

“We need to distract him!” Scootaloo suggested, glaring at the grinning black equine on the other side of the portal.

“An' how do ya propose on doin' that?” Apple Bloom asked.

Scootaloo looked back at her. “It's a portal, right!?” She looked back at the portal and prepared to run. “So, like, we could just, run through it!”

“I-I don't think that's a good idea,” Fluttershy voiced out from where she hid.

Apple Bloom and Scootaloo looked back, and saw the pegasus mare's trembling form behind a large stalagmite. They ignored her and looked back at the portal, in time to see several black rays of magic flying through. Shining, out of instinct, immediately casted a protective spell around them, but his barrier wasn't fast enough to shield the few pegasi ponies above who were pulling the heart.

The beam struck the pegasi stallions, and shrieked in pain as they fell on top of the unicorns.

Losing their magical grasp, the heart floated towards the portal.

“Oh no you don't!” Scootaloo shouted and jumped, biting on the heart just before it went through the portal, along with the pegasus.

“Scootaloo!” Apple Bloom shouted, and was about to run towards the portal when she heard Fluttershy's shriek. Glancing back, she saw the struck pegasi ponies quickly turning into winged crystal ponies. “What the devil!?”

Sombra hovered the heart in front of him, and arched an eyebrow at the nervously smiling pegasus mare.

“You leave her alone!” Rainbow Dash shouted as she ran towards the dark equine.

With an annoyed grunt, Sombra turned around, waving the heart along, and threw the orange mare towards the yelping cyan pegasus mare.

“Oof!” Rainbow gasped as Scootaloo struck her, and pushing her back.

“Gah!” Jay immediately leaped towards Sombra, and grabbed the heart with both his hands and started yanking it off of his magical grip. He pulled, and pulled and pulled, but the heart doesn't seem to budge. As he pulled, he glared at the grinning equine, his horn glowing darker and darker, yet it looked brighter and brighter.

Suddenly, a loud bang erupted, and the dark equine gasped and winced.

Xilfer exhaled, and dropped his hand on the ground. “Useless...and thoughtless...as ever...” he hissed and coughed. ‘At least, this time, I didn't lost count...’

Sombra shook, and knelt down in pain, his magical grip weakening. Finally, Jay pulled the heart, breaking Sombra's magical hold that sent a powerful wave of pain to his horn and head.

Jay jumped back, and panted. He looked at Sombra, and then at the heart. ‘Okay...now what...?’

“Jay!” Spike shouted from the portal. He then looked back, and shivered from nervousness as he saw the pegasi and unicorn ponies fighting the crystal flying ponies. He then looked back at Jay. “Wh-what are you waiting for! Use the heart! Finish him off!”

“I uh...” Jay looked at Spike, and he couldn't believe that the baby dragon still looked the same even through his human eyes. He kicked the thought away and looked back at Sombra, who was gritting his teeth as he tried to stand back up, and then he looked at the heart.

Spike slapped a claw on his face. “You have no idea how to use it, huh?”

“Whatever, he's weak!” Scootaloo said as she helped Rainbow Dash up. “We can kick his sorry flank by our own!” She licked her lips and glared at the dark equine, while ignoring the hoof that patted her head.

Rainbow chuckled. “I can't believe I missed you, squirt.” She then prepared herself. “But let's save the reunion for later!” She the turned to Jay. “Jay! We'll hold him off! Figure out how to use that freakin' thing!”

Rainbow and Scootaloo rushed towards Sombra, who surrounded himself with a barrier.

Jay looked at the scene, where the two pegasi struck hoof and hoof at the invisible barrier, only shining and became visible temporarily at each hoof strike. He then looked at his brother, and noticed his shallow breaths. He then looked at Bug, who was busy wrestling with a crystal pony. He then looked at the heart, and simply had no idea how to use it.

‘What to do!?’ He clenched his eyes shut as he gritted his teeth in annoyance. ‘What to do!?’ he asked himself again and again, vaguely hearing Spike's shouts. He kept asking this question to himself while he ran through his thoughts of possible ways to use the heart, but reached nothing.

Suddenly, he gasped and opened his eyes when noticed that everything became strangely quiet. He blinked a few times, and found himself in a weird world of stars.

“L-Luna?” he called out, hopeful. His voice echoing through the sea of stars.

He felt something behind him, and turned. There, a few feet in front of him sat the three alicorn princesses.

Luna smiled. “It has been a while.”

Jay felt really happy to see them. “Please, you've got to help me!” he pleaded. “I-I don't know how to use the heart!”

“Gold Blitz,” Celestia spoke, her voice calm through her smiling lips. “What you hold there on your hooves...er...hands...is a magical artifact that resemb—”

“Please!” Jay cut her off. He shook his head. “I...I don't have time for deep words or whatever!” He looked back at them with teary eyes. “Please tell me how to use the heart!”

Cadence sighed. “The heart is a magical artifact that reflects the life and light, and more importantly, the will of one's heart.”

“If you would just let me finish,” Celestia smiled, “to add what Cadence just said, the Crystal Heart is a symbol of uniting everypony's hearts, empowering it, and—”

“Ack!” Jay shouted when Rainbow Dash was flung towards him and hit his face. He was thrown back, and landed dangerously close to the edge of the area.

“Whaaa!” Rainbow shrieked as she fell off the edge, only to feel a sharp pain on her tail. Hissing, she looked over her shoulder, and saw Jay grabbed her by the tail.

‘Uniting everypony's hearts...’ Jay grunted as he pulled the pegasus back up.

“Aaahhh!!!” Scootaloo shouted as she was helplessly levitated in the air. She couldn't believe how strong Sombra's magic was, that she wasn't able to break free from his grasp.

“Leave her alone!” Spike shouted as he jumped out of the portal, wielding a green lance, and struck Sombra's back, but a barrier blocked his attack, and reflecting the force back. “Wah!” He shouted as he was tossed up in the air.

Rainbow, after getting back on the flat surface, quickly growled and ran towards Sombra, only to be stopped by a baby dragon landing on her back, the two stumbled on the ground. Rainbow hissed painfully, her wounded wing was struck by the falling dragon.

Chapter 148 - Faith

‘When everypony's hearts are united...’ Jay thought, gritting his teeth, as he still didn't get it. He snapped out of his thoughts when he heard Scootaloo's painful cries. “Scoo-Scootaloo!” Jay took a step forward, but stopped when he saw Spike and Rainbow Dash's groaning on the ground in front of him. “Sp-Spike?”

“Th-that was...painful...” Spike groaned, not noticing Jay was looking at him with concern.

Scootaloo gasped in pain when a powerful wave of magic struck her mind.

“S-stop it!” Jay shouted, and Sombra glared at him. “J-just stop!” He looked down, and stared at the heart. ‘Why does he want this heart?‘ He looked back at the dark equine. ‘Do-does he know that it's the key for us of stopping him? B-but, we don't know how to use it!’

Painful grunts echoed from the portal, making Jay's train of thoughts to stop as he looked at the scene on the other side. He gasped, and saw winged crystal ponies overpowering a few pegasi, and giving Sweetie Belle, Apple Bloom, Shining Armor and Twilight a hard time.

He heard a grunt. He turned, and saw Bug was pinned down by a crystal pony. ‘D-darn it!’ He looked back at Sombra, who was now grinning at him. He gritted his teeth, and sighed in defeat. ‘This isn't fair! We were so close... So close...and...’ He sighed yet again, and stared at Sombra with a defeated frown. “Sombra...stop this... I beg of you!” He then extends the heart towards him. “I'll-I'll give you...” a thought hit him, and he put all hope on that thought alone, as he forced himself not to smile at that single thought. “...I'll give you the heart.”

What he just said made everypony gasp and turn to him.

“Jay, are you nuts!?” Rainbow gasped out, but was having trouble standing back up.

“Jay, what are you thinking!?” Spike asked, as he slowly stood back up.

Jay noted how small Spike was. He looked back at Sombra. “On one condition,” he glared at him. “You let my friends go of your magic!”

Sombra blinked, and grinned. Suddenly, Scootaloo fell on the ground, and a loud breaking noise echoed from the portal, around him, and faint crashing noises echoed from afar.

Jay blinked, and looked back at the city far away, and noticed a few tall spikes were crumbling down, as well as the tall spikes around the island.

“Ack!” Bug gasped, and pushed the unconscious scientist off of him. “Wh-what the hell!?”

‘Huh, didn't know he'd actually do it...’ Jay thought as he turned back to Sombra. ‘Then again, maybe he'll just do it over again when I hand him the heart.’ He then noticed that the battle inside the portal was no more, and a few pegasi ponies helped the others. Twilight and Shining however, were looking horrified at him.

He couldn't blame them. After all the trouble they've went through just to give him the heart, and here he was, easily giving the heart to Sombra. Sharp claws grabbed his lower leg.

“Jay,” Spike glared at him, “I'm really considering of burning you right about now.”

“Don't do this, Jay!” Twilight shouted. “You're giving him the only thing that could defeat him!”

Jay looked at Spike, and smiled bitterly, and then shifted his attention to Twilight.

Spike removed his grip on him and stepped back in disbelief. “N-no... Jay, you can't...!”

“Jay!” Rainbow hissed, trying to stand back up with shaking hooves. “When I get back on my hooves, I swear I'll break you!”

Jay closed his eyes, and sighed, before he smiled with hope and stared at Sombra. “Don't worry,” he then tossed the heart towards the startled dark equine. ‘I've got another stupid idea...’

All eyes were on the heart that sailed through the air. Black magical aura surrounded the heart, and finally hovered in front of Sombra.

“Twilight!” Jay shouted, “Shining Armor! Cast a protective spell on Sombra, quick!”

Twilight and Shining were shocked at his sudden command, but Sweetie Belle quickly surrounded Sombra with a powerful barrier, enough for her to trap the equine, but not for long. She grunted as she forced all of her magic on the spell.

Twilight then followed suit, mixing her magic with Sweetie Belle's, and then Shining joined.

Sombra growled and pounded at the barrier trapping him, but he found himself powerless. he then charged his horn with black magic and created a barrier of his own, expanding it and trying to push the other unicorns' barriers in the hopes of breaking it. The sudden powerful pain from his wound reminded him that he shouldn't exert himself. He clenched his teeth as he tried to ignore it and focus more on his magic.

The three unicorns grunted.

“We can't hold him for long!” Shining shouted, sweating furiously from the magical strain.

Jay looked around. “Everyone else!” He then pointed at the heart. “Believe in the heart! Believe in each other! Believe that things will be back to normal!”

After a few seconds of nothing, Jay lamely dropped his hand back.

“What!?” came Rainbow Dash's question, mixed with a hidden message of how stupid Jay suddenly turned into.

Jay sighed. “Look, the show said, and Cadence and Celestia said, that we can power the heart with the unity of our hearts!”

Everyone blinked at him.

“I don't know how, but,” he looked at Spike, “we...we should have faith!” Rainbow turned, and she and Scootaloo looked at each other with confused frowns. “We...we should trust each other!” Fluttershy and the rest of the pegasi ponies looked at each other. “We should believe in one another!” Apple Bloom brought a hoof at Sweetie Belle's shoulder, and the unicorn risked to open an eye, and smirked at her smiling friend. “We humans aren't capable of such things, but I know you ponies can! Your hearts are pure and you are open for change and acceptance, peace and harmony!”

The heart shined, making Sombra gasp.

A loud yet pained whine of ghostly-like horses echoed, both from the portal, and from the gloomy sky.

“By working together, we can accomplish many impossible things! Things great and...” he blinked, and tsk'ed. “Darn,” he whispered, “I lost my train of words...”

Spike chuckled. “And here I thought you're always great with words.”

Jay smiled, knelt down, and patted the dragon, while strangely feeling weird about his scales.

Spike was about to say something else to tease him, but he gasped instead. “J-Jay, you're shining!”

Jay blinked, while he ignored Spike's shining form. He gasped “What? I turned into Shining Armor!?”

“No! That's not what I—” the rest of Spike's words died from the loud melodic hum coming from the brightly shining crystal heart.

Everyone, except for Sombra and the unconscious scientists lying around, were shining, and somehow, couldn't move, even if they wanted to.

Sombra gritted his teeth, and after he noticed the three unicorns' barrier were gone, he removed his barrier and decided to run away. But his first step shot a powerful pain coursing to his brain, making him grit his teeth and him stumble on the ground right next to Xilfer.

“I...don't know what's going on,” Xilfer whispered, and despite the shine he was giving off, Sombra could swear he saw the human grinning devilishly at him, “...but I'm...quite sure...you're in for a lot of...magical pain...”

Suddenly, the crystal heart let out a powerful explosion of white waves all around. Sombra was struck, and he roared in pain. The wave pierced the gloomy sky, and the black clouds faded, giving way to the setting rays of the sun.

Another wave, and Sombra roared again, as white magical orbs circled around him. Sweating, he lit his horn, and casted a barrier around him, but the increasing number of white orbs broke it quite easily.

The heart exploded waves after waves of white harmonious light, reaching everything in great distances. Black mists faded, and those who were unconscious slowly recovered their senses, and felt the strange sensation of peace and serenity.

Soon, Sombra found himself glowing in white. He thrashed his limps weakly, as the harmonious magic slowly evaporated him. Finally, after one last wave, Sombra exploded quietly into white sparkling dusts.

The loud harmonic hum slowly died down, but the heart continued to glow, although not as intense as before. Everyone stopped glowing, and after they all opened their eyes, they gasped in horror.

“Eek!” Jay gasped, looking at his hands. “I'm... I'm...! I'm a crystal human!?”

The others looked worried as well, but after realizing that they weren't feeling anything except for the welcoming feeling of peace, they settled down and started laughing.

Unknown to them all that a mechanical fly built with a camera saw everything that happened.

Something landed in front of Spike. He and Jay looked at it. It was a small part of Sombra's red horn, and it was smoking slightly. Jay and Spike looked at each other, as they wondered what to do with it. After seconds of nothing, they shrugged it off and chuckled, and hugged each other.

They couldn't believe it: it was over.

Bug, feeling weird of being crystal, walked over to Xilfer and helped him up. Xilfer cautiously accepted the help, and was surprised to find that he was no longer wounded. He smiled as he looked at his brother and lots of other ponies, laughing and saying things. He shook his head with a smile.

“I gotta admit,” Bug said, “aside from turning into a shiny vampire from that movie, I'd say I had a lot of fun.” He then looked at Xilfer and grinned.

Xilfer said nothing, as he just enjoyed listening to the laughter of his brother's company.

Final Chapter - The End

I can't believe that all of those chaos happened on just three darn days! I mean, come on! It felt longer than that! Right? Or maybe it's just me? But still, I couldn't believe it!

I mean, really. It was Friday, and it was a city holiday. Festival and all that. Claire and I rode the bus to Sun Ford. Note, that was Friday! And then, Kronz, Claire and I went to Mount Comet around midnight. So, it was a Saturday, and then, I went to Equestria again...

But after I woke up, it was still Saturday? I couldn't believe it, but I guess it was because I couldn't see what time of day it was because of the thick and black clouds.

Then the mist. I was caught in the mist for...God-knows how long. But Kronz told me that it was a Sunday when they suddenly saw me being dragged by those military people.

And then Xilfer, Rainbow Dash and I went back to Mount Comet, when we finally defeated Sombra, everything almost came back to normal, and I saw the beautiful Sunday sunset. It was beautiful at that time, but now, it felt weird. Because really, a lot of things happened in just a span of three days?

Well, I guess a lot has happened to me in the span of three days. And that's just unfair. After everything though, I felt really really tired. I always am, but, it's hard to explain, but after everything, we went home and I fell on our sofa and instantly fell asleep after Xilfer assured me to contact Kronz and Claire.

I then woke up from the sounds of repairs outside, and the news reporter on tv. A few houses were broken and needed repairs in Sun Ford. Our neighboring town, Selaro, had a lot of fixing to do, since, I think Sombra summoned large spikes in that area, destroying a lot of houses.

And then there's the bridge. I cringed at the thought that the people living on the island will be trapped there. Fortunately, the government provided free boat rides from the island to the city, and vice versa.

And oh, speaking of the government, Xilfer and Kronz sent the ‘recording’ to a lot of television channels. I was asleep during the live broadcast at that time, but I woke up in time to see the news about me and a few others fighting Sombra above Mount Comet. It was difficult for me to believe that someone else was there, but after a while, the news was turned to a teen guy who invented the robot spy fly thing, or whatever he called it.

I turned off the tv, but my mom, who was in the kitchen, told me to turn it back on, since she wanted to hear the news. I was about to roll my eyes that time when I realized that I haven't seen my mom for a long time. So, after turning the tv back on, I went to the kitchen and gave her a hug. And damn, it felt great. Unfortunately, she scolded me for doing all of those crazy stuff. She told me that I could have hurt or get killed. I couldn't blame her. It was true.

But anyway, after that, a few small talks about it, I went outside, and from the colors of the morning, I could tell it was around ten in the morning. Mom was still preparing breakfast, so I had time to walk around that time.

While I was out walking, lots of pipz recognized me now as the ‘hero’. And although it was flattering to hear, it was also annoying. I don't like being on the spotlight, so my plan of walking around town became a walk towards the beach. That time, I thought that maybe the pipz are busy settling back to their homes, and I was right. There was nopon—no one in the beach other than myself.

Pony...huh...

Anyway, I walked around, busy with my thoughts, until I found a large rock for me to sit on. How I missed the cold and salty breeze, and the relaxing and peaceful waves of the beach.

Pony... Twilight stepped out of the portal that time, and giggled like a little filly for ‘having stepped into a totally new world’. Spike and I rolled our eyes at her. And then somepony growled. It was Rainbow Dash, and she stood protectively in front of Scootaloo.

It took us a lot of convincing for her to believe that the war was indeed over, and when she finally did, she was ‘too awesome’ to apologize. I forced my bro to force her to apologize though, and she did, though she gave me a glare afterwards.

I knew there were lots of things that we could have talked about, but unfortunately, the portal was starting to close for whatever reason. It was...very hard to say goodbye to those ponies, especially Spike. Never had I thought that I'd be so attached to the little guy. After our hug, I helped him back to the portal, and tossed Sombra's horn to Twilight, who caught it with her magic.

We said goodbyes, and we waved hands and hooves and claw at each other until the portal totally closed and vanished...

...and all of those were recorded by the damn robot spy fly thing! During my conversation with my mom, I could hear the news switched to the ‘bronies’, where the whole world, apparently, cheered for the ‘evidence’ that ponies and the pony world actually exist.

Bronies really is a large and weird fandom. Aw well. I'm glad I'm a member of this weird fandom though. Unfortunately, they were disappointed when the international group committee thingy decided for Mr. Cortes, Claire's dad, to close all the remaining portals, for ‘security and safety’ reasons... The military of different regions rounded up the strange creatures though, but the creatures obediently followed orders to return to their world. Even that giant hydra! I said my farewell to Xelene though, and I reminded her of her snoring smoke problem. She slapped the tip of her tail on my head as her reply. Damn, I could still feel how painful that was...

After the last of the creatures finally went back home, Mr. Cortes and his scientists closed the portals with their machines. After that, the military destroyed everything, even their paper works and computers. I thought they would be looking hurt about it though. They must have spent an awful lot of time and effort on their project. But I was proven wrong when they smiled and cheered. I guess they weren't really researching about it if our government was demanding them to do it.

And about our government, all of those involved in the project were now on the wanted list. A lot were arrested, while some surrendered, but a few fled and was never heard of again. That's a bit scary to think about, but the whole world is looking for them, so I guess I shouldn't worry about it.

Hm... What else... Oh yeah, I asked Kronz about his bullying problems, and Xilfer did told me the truth. Kronz never mentioned them to me 'cause I always looked worn out, and he didn't want to trouble me for his problems. Well, whatever the case, he seemed to have a lot of friends now after everything that happened. And I'm glad for that. He could really use the outdoor exercise than being a shut-in computer geek or something.

And as for Xilfer, well, he's still the same. Although, a lot has changed as well, but he prefer to make it look like nothing has happened. I respected his decision though.

As for myself, well, the dudes who beaten me into a pulp all apologize when working day resumed. I shrugged it off and simply asked them to work an honest job each and everyday. I forgave them as well, but they still look frightened when I walk by. Sheesh... Well, other than that, my parents seemed to be more...close now. I hope that'll last forever though. Aside from that though...

“Jay?” Claire's voice called out from the kitchen, where she was busy cooking. “Food's almost ready. Can you prepare the table please?”

Jay smiled from the sofa, as he pulled his attention away from his notebook and looked at the kitchen. “A moment, Claire.”

“Okay, but don't take too long!” Claire replied. “Our families' gonna be here any moment.”

Jay smiled. “I know, I know... Let me add just a small bit on my notes.” He then leaned back to the notebook and continued writing.

...apparently, Claire and I are a thing now... I guess?

“Jay?”

“Coming, coming!” Jay replied as he stood up and hurried to the kitchen. Claire smiled at him, and he returned it with a smile as well. ‘It still feels kinda weird though, Claire and I, I mean, but so far, I...kinda like it.’ Jay took out a few plates and placed them on the table. ‘I just hope that, whatever we are now, we'll continue to be ourselves, and love each other for who we are. Yeah, that sounds mighty cheesy, but oh well.’ He was about to grab a few forks when he felt his phone vibrating. He took it out and saw that he received a new text message.

Claire stepped beside him to take a look. “From an unknown sender?” she asked with a knowing smile.

Jay chuckled. “Yeah,” he opened the text message, “unknown indeed.”

Spike breathed out green fumes of flame, and was then materialized into a scroll.

“What's it say, Spike?” Twilight asked, her voice having clear signs of eagerness and worry, as she eyed the baby dragon who rolled his eyes in annoyance as he rolled his eyes.

“Sheesh, Twilight, you need to chillax!”

Twilight raised an eyebrow. “Chillax?” She shook her head. “That's not even a word.”

“It is to Rainbow Dash,” Spike chuckled. “Anyway, uh,” Spike's smile turned into a worried frown, and then arched an eyebrow. “Jay said that Cadence is probably a...”

“Twilight Sparkle,” Cadence called, stepping inside the castle library, and startling a few ponies inside. Her eyes boringly gazed at the two purple beings on the other side of the library. “There you are. I need to ask why we are holding off my wedding with Shi—with your beloved brother?” she asked as she approached them.

Twilight and Spike turned to each other, and the dragon smirked as he turned the scroll so the unicorn could read it's contents. Suddenly, Twilight's eyes widened, and an evil grin spreads across her face. She then faced the alicorn, who arched an eyebrow as soon as she noticed the unicorn's grin.

“Oh, I'm so so sorry, dear Princess Mi Amore Cadenza,” Twilight said as Spike rushed out of the library with an evil grin. The unicorn teleported beside the alicorn, and ushered her to walk with her out of the library. “Why don't we go to your dressing room so we can prepare while Spike sees to it that the ceremony will be ready?”

“Finally,” Cadence groaned, her eyes glowed green for a split of a second, and Twilight noticed it. “The quicker the better. I need to return to the Crystal Empire, remember?”

Twilight nodded, looking very excited. “Oh, of course!”

“Have you ever met Chrysalis in Equestria, Jay?” Claire asked as she prepared the food.

“Eenope,” Jay replied.

“Well, do you think they can handle them?”

Jay smirked. “Eeyup. Sad I couldn't be there to see it though” he chuckled, and Claire sadly smiled for the world of pain the changeling queen has walked into.

Author's Notes

Hello and good day everypony.

Quest For Harmony has finally reached the final chapter. Finally. >.>

In all honesty though, this fic should have ended on Chapter 20, since I plan on making a sequel where another human in the human world will be selected to help the war but, hm... Actually, I forgot the reason why I decided to continue the story.

And then, as I went on, I planned to end it when Gold Blitz and Spike finally captured Twilight and stopped the war, but then the randomest idea of adding the Windigoes popped up out of nowhere, and so, there, the fic continued.

Sombra causing chaos was far too long for the heroes of the fic to stop, and I've desperately wanted Sombra to just, disappear already, but I didn't want the fic to look bad. So there, finally, he's defeated! <.<

Anyway, the fic was far too long for my liking, yet I decided not to abandon it nor to end it shitty like or crappy or whatever. I think, the ending was, acceptable, I guess? Not entirely sure, but meh. :3

Then I want to talk about other stuff of the fic...

Since I decided to continue the fic longer than what I originally planned, I decided to have Gold Blitz be partied by each one of the Mane 6. Like how Applejack joined Gold Blitz towards Unicornia, or how he and Pinkie tagged along while digging up gems, with Fluttershy in the Everfree, and Rainbow Dash in the human world. I've had the idea of Gold Blitz and Rarity tagging along in a mission or something, where Rarity will learn the value of Generosity, like how Blitz told Pikie to remember to smile, or how he told Fluttershy to always be kind to everypony. =/

There's a chapter where the Mane 6 fainted when Sombra roared or something. The original plan was that the Crystal Heart will force him and other creatures back to their world, but then it gets destroyed. Then, Gold Blitz will resume DIscord's ponified body to give the elements to their respective bearers, but I had no idea how Gold Blitz will handle Discord's chaotic spirit in control once the last Element Spirit be given to the bearer. =/

And then the Cover Art. If you noticed, there's a parasprite. There's a random idea I had that will make the Crystal Heart be useless. So instead, Blitz will ask Twilight to enchant a parasprite to devour crystals. Apple Bloom will then tell Twilight that the Cutie Mark Crusaders fought and broke a few crystal ponies, so Twilight will perform a scanning spell on them to get a few small fragments on their coats. Twilight will use that small fragment for her enchanting magic, and then send the parasprite to the human world. Unfortunately, I have no idea how to pull the story's path that way.

Also, I had a leftover story, if ever I once again decided to continue the fic. In it, Kronz and Xilfer will be accidentally be warped to Equestria, and turned into a Unicorn and a Pegasi. Here, Gold Blitz will hunt down his brother Xilfer the Pegasus and convince him to return home. Xilfer always hated his father, and always wanted to start a new life, and now that he have it, he'll try his best to protect his new life, even against his own older brother.

Unfortunately, there's a conflict. Jay's consciousness was only sent to Equestria, not his whole being and suddenly turned into a pony. Secondly, Rainbow Dash and Spike went to the human world, but they didn't change form. So, the idea was scrapped.

I also planned to have the six introduced humans carry the Elements of Harmony, if only for a short while. These would be Jay, Xilfer, Kronz, Claire, Rose, and Raziel. But, that was only it, an idea. I had no story as to why they'll wield it, so it was scrapped.

There was also an idea of mine that, after everything calmed down, and if the fic does continue, then Raziel will be appearing more, and will try and force Jay to be with her rather than Claire. But, the theme is way out of the original fic's theme, so, cancelled.

And there's also an idea that while Twilight and the gang went out to help Jay, Starfall would take over Unicornia and resume the war. However, Twilight is far more skillful than he is, so he'll be defeated quite easily, so idea was cancelled. That, and the Windigoes could just easily freeze him to death, I guess?

Also, the original reason for why Big Mac decided to stay with Twilight during the war was, I planned for him to be secretly the one leaking the unicorns' plans to the pegasi. Originally, I wanted him, Shining, and Could Strike to be into some sort of team, where they secretly plan their move to overthrow Twilight. Unfortunately, I wasn't able to pull the story to that direction...

About Boulder... Originally, when I began the story, I wanted him to be a unicorn with parents of a unicorn and an earth pony. That is why he shows concern to earth ponies than other unicorns, but, after the CMC rescued Gold Blitz from Unicornia, I somehow, forgot all about him... My bad, I guess? (I only remembered him when I was editing Chapter 3).

I planned to introduce Trixie, Soarin', Spitfire, and Lightning Dust, but, I haven't thought of a story for them. So, cancelled... Although I planned to have Trixie cast illusions to delay the heroes, but I never got the chance to insert her into the story. Aw well...

And... I think that's all, I guess.

Anyway, it was a fun ride, and I hope lots of readers enjoyed reading this fic of mine. This fic, Quest For Harmony, is the first fic I ever wrote that had far too many chapters and I still forced myself to finish it. :3

So, thanks to everyone who liked, disliked, and shared their opinions on this fic. :3

Deleted Scenes

Chapter 66 - Testing The Ties

The dragon returned its gaze back to the stars. "I am Xelene, and from your words I could see that my cherished Fluttershy is at fault. You harmed her because you cared about this Spike, and not because you are with the unicorns that gave you such an order of doing so... You have told her that you are heading to my resting place, yet she did not stop you."

Gold Blitz actually sighed in relief that the dragon could actually see reason.

"...however," Xelene spoke, eyeing him, making Gold Blitz tense, "that does not excuse you of hurting her."

The earth pony gulped.

Suddenly, Xelene arched her whole body downward. With a mighty roar, she dove downward in terrifying speed. The ground was coming closer, but the earth pony didn't notice for he was clinging for his dear life.

As the ground became dangerously close, the dragon flapped her mighty wings hard, instantly jolting herself upward, and making the earth pony slip, the dragon's dangerous speed while its dive all went to the falling earth pony.

Gold Blitz screamed as the earth became closer and closer. But no matter how much he flailed his limbs and shout his lungs out, there was no way he'll survive this fall. Bracing himself, he held his two front hooves up, shielding his head. He closed his eyes tight and—

Chapter 74 - For Ponyville

A few of the ponies quickly helped Gold Blitz after Spike caught their attention. Gold Blitz coughed and wheezed. He sat down on the ground as he hastily began removing his hot armor. “Ugh,” he groaned after he removed his body armor, “these stupid things, all for Ponyville...” He chuckled weakly, and coughed. “Heh, I didn't do much, anyway...” He coughed again as a familiar blue bird landed on his head.

“Just stop talking and concentrate on breathing, will you?” Spike spoke with anger and worry as the earth pony went into a coughing fit.

Cloud Strike flew above the burning town, eyeing the pegasus army striking lightning bolts at the fleeing unicorns that were running towards the direction of Unicornia. It would seem as though the pegasi has recovered their spirits back in fighting, for they have managed to ward off the unicorn's attempt of taking over the land of Ponyville.

It would be something to smile about, unfortunately, the unicorns weren't running back to Unicornia. No, they were running towards metallic machines of sort that moves slow, yet it looked quite fierce, tough, and scary. As the unicorns and pegasi were close to the numbers of moving machines, the mechanical machines started firing beams of mana at the pegasus.

The pegasi dodged a few incoming attacks, and countered with their lightning rods, summoning lightning bolts at the machines. A perfect hit, and electricity danced around the metallic armor, however, it kept on moving forward towards Ponyville, and kept on firing mana beams at the pegasi ponies flying above.

He cursed under his breath, knowing that big trouble are coming their way. He stared off to the War Planes, and noticed that great number of those machines were on the War Planes as well, assisted by flying armored unicorns. The pegasi ponies in the said area had realized that they have no match against the steel behemoth, and started to pull back while trying to strike lightning bolts in an attempt to slow them down.

Chapter 78 - Bound

The purple unicorn groaned as she found herself lying on the floor. Her cheek was bleeding from the fierce force of Spike's lance. But just in case, I stood over her to pin her down. It felt...kinda awkward doing it, but...yeah whatever.

“Heh...” Twilight spoke, “so you're going to have fun with me before you finish me off?”

I growled. “Don't tempt me...” I whispered to myself as I eyed the baby dragon and—!!!

“Ha!” Twilight shouted, her horn glowing brightly as I was yanked off of her.

Before I could recover my footing, I suddenly felt the sudden rush of air from my back. Bef—

“Gah!”

“Gold!” Spike shouted as he flung his gaze back. He saw the earth pony's back was smashed to the wall of the room, and he collapsed to the floor, seemingly unconscious. Spike suddenly realized that he's open, so he quickly spat green fumes of fire to his cl— “Gah—!”

A fierce beam of mana struck the baby dragon from behind, and exploded, throwing him face-first to the wall and fell to the floor beside the earth pony, who hissed as his consciousness returned slightly.

“Tough luck, Gold Blitz,” Twilight laughed as the earth pony moved his head forward, his hazy gaze staring at the purple unicorn a few meters from him. “You had your chance, and you blew it! Tsk, tsk.”

Her horn glowed fiercely, smiling evilly at the two weakened figures in front of her.

His vision became a blurry yellow and red, but he weakly shook his head, and opening them once again, his vision became normal again.

Twilight laughed. “I see someone's trying to save you. Or...is it something?” she grinned as she stepped closer to the two.

Gold Blitz cringed. He has no idea what she was talking about, but he has no time to worry of such things. He needed to think of a way to save himself, and he needed to think of one quickly. Looking around in desperation, he sear—

A set of purple feet stepped in front of his gaze. Gasping, he looked up and saw Spike, breathing heavily while barely managing to stay on his feet.

“I won't...let you...” Spike hissed, glaring weakly at the unicorn, who arched an eyebrow.

“You're seriously going to sacrifice yourself for this earth pony?” Twilight asked, confused. She studied the baby dragon's determined look, and she grunted. “Fine, so be it then!” Her horn flared brightly.

“Spike—!” Gold Blitz shouted, desperately trying to shove the dragon away, but his limbs weren't cooperating. “Get away! Don't do this—!”

Spike yelped as his feet left the ground. As quickly as he was hoisted up, he was flung towards the window in murderous speed. Screaming, he crashed through the window, where his voice became distant.

“Now that that's out of the way,” Twilight wiped her forehead as she eyed the shocked expression of the earth pony lying on the floor in front of her. She levitated him, eyeing him seductively. “You killed the stallion who was giving me a wonderful time, Gold Blitz,” she spoke, staring at the stallion, who's head hung low. “And you're going to be his replacement.”

Spike...

Chapter 97 - Burned Past

“Master the fire!” shouted Starfall. “Control it if you want to save yourselves!”

A few ponies, out of fear, flared their horns, trying to control the approaching fire, but none of them achieved such goal. Not even Sweetie Belle, who already had her tears rolling down from her closed eyes.

Suddenly, the burning sparks of flames became a sizzling noise. Sweetie opened an eye, and immediately noticed the black patches of burned grass on the ground. Thin gray smoke flew up from the drenched ground. Looking ahead, she saw the shocked expression of the dark-blue unicorn stallion.

“That is enough!” spoke a familiar voice. She didn't need to turn where it came from however, as a white unicorn mare trotted towards the fuming unicorn stallion. “I refuse to stand by and stare at how you torment these young ponies a—AH!”

“Rarity!” Sweetie Belle exclaimed as she leaped towards her sister, who was telekinetically lifted and smashed back to the ground on her side. She stopped by her side, nuzzling her neck as her older sister groaned from the pain.

“How dare you interrupt my lectures, you filth!” Starfall shouted angrily, somehow managing to summon fire in his angry eyes as he lifted the white unicorn mare once more.

“Don't hurt my sister!” Sweetie Belle pleaded, reaching only deaf's ears.

“Sweetie Belle—!” Rarity caught her teary-eyed sister's attention, “don't worry about me, y—”

Her words died in her painful screams as she was suddenly burning in flames. Sweetie Belle watched—stunned—at what was happening right in front of her eyes. The earth a few inches in front of the young filly was bulging quietly, and soon, a sharp gem erupted from the earth, striking the dark-blue unicorn stallion directly on his face.

“Gah—!” Starfall yelped as he brought his two front hooves to his face.

Rarity fell on the ground as the flames that enveloped her vanished. Hissing through gritted teeth, she stood as quickly as she could. “B-Belle...” she hissed, snapping her sister's attention back to reality.

Chapter 109 - Answers

“Like I said, I'm on a tight schedule, and I'm getting bored and tired. So make it quick or say your goodbye.” He shrugged. “Your choice.”

Rainbow Dash shivered as she panted slowly and quietly. No one seemed to take notice of her current condition.

“I...We...we're ordered by the...government...to conduct an experiment on the island and...to see if we can control those monsters...” he trailed off as he took a breath. “And...our world is dying...so we're also trying to see if we can safely open the portal without any side-effects before we can go through and get their resources...”

Xilfer frowned. “You conducted those experiments while knowing the dangers it may bring to the island. Is that what you're saying?” He received a slow nod from the man. “I can't hear you.”

“Yes...” he then glared at the hostage-taker. “But I couldn't stop it even if I wanted to. If I did, they'll tear my whole life apart! OUR whole lives apart!”

“Does the queen knows this?” Xilfer asked, his tone venomous and his face serious.

The man sighed and nodded. “Y-yes. I was there when she signed it. You must know about the region of Bosaris threatening to wage war against us.”

Chapter 111 - Sensation

While they continued their climb, Cadence, who was leading the party, will occasionally glance back, and often times stay standing still for them to catch up. Aside from a few words of encouragement, she said nothing else. She was busy in her mind, thinking of that painful day when her beloved husband became obsessed with gathering more power. She had tried to reason with him, but he wouldn't listen.

When the two of them have heard of Nightmare Moon's return, Cadence's husband wanted to acquire the Nightmare's power to strengthen his own. He achieved such feat, surprising Cadence, for she didn't know it was possible, and didn't know of how he did it. But he did, and what was worse, he wanted more.

As she stared down from her balcony that day, she realized that her people would suffer greatly if he keeps going. She was starting to doubt that the Crystal Heart would be enough to at least ease their pain and suffering from her...king...

Chapter 111 - Sensation

Pinkie Pie and Fluttershy were busy chatting with a few ponies inside the old castle in the Everfree Forest when they suddenly collapsed to the old castle floor. Nearby ponies rushed, concerned, to see if they're okay. They did manage to get back on their hooves, however, as the two of them found each other's eyes, they knew that they felt the same strange sensation.

Chapter 113 - Unconscious

Gasping, Cadence quickly spun to flee, however, a sharp black crystal grew under her hoof, sending jolts of pain to her brain. She yelped and lost her magical grip on the heart, that managed to roll away from her and managed to roll in between large black crystals.

As the tremors stopped, something poked Spike's tail, and then that certain something lied flat on his tail. Groaning, Spike finally recovered his consciousness. He coughed and wheezed for a few seconds before lifting a claw to rub his aching head.

He pulled himself into a sitting position, and his gaze fell on the glowing crystal heart on his tail.

Chapter 118 - Recollection

You could say that we were rich. I guess, since we live inside a huge mansion. Although dad didn't gave us any attention back then, he always remembered to put money in my credit card. After I found a nice apartment, I went to the mall to buy myself some clothes and other stuff that I could use, since I'll be living alone.

After my little shopping, I went to the nearest phone booth, and called my dad. A maid picked up the phone, and it took a long time for my dad to pick it up. Hastily, I told him that I left, I won't be going back home, and told him not to send me cash and not bother looking for me. Before he could reply, I hung the phone.

After that, I settled down inside my apartment. I still remember that I was lucky that I have bought that microwave for a cheap price. While I was waiting for the oven to finish cooking my dinner, I lied down on the sofa, aimlessly changing the channels on the television. After minutes of aimless switching, a thought hit me: I needed a job.

Chapter 120 - (Bridge)

“Yo!” Blade took a seat. “We havin' a meetin' or somethin'?”

“Something like that,” I nodded with a serious smile as I felt my phone vibrating again. I pulled it out and opened Kronz's message. “Next phase...” I said after I read the message.

After I put my phone down on the table, I eyed my crew, noting their serious expressions...minus Seth...

“And...that would be...?” Seth asked impatiently.

I faced Bug with a grin. “Ready the explosives.”

Bug grinned widely, while Seth shook excitedly.

“So where's the party?” Seth asked as Bug stood up and walked towards the few boxes, probably to prepare the tools.

“We're gonna play that little nursery rhyme song...” I replied as I stood up. I turned towards the door as I ignored Blade's and Seth's confused faces.

Chapter 137 - Cruise

“Well,” Bug spoke, without even glancing up at Xilfer as he held a gun, “five guns and some magazines. A few grenades, and some other nifty stuff.” He grinned wide as he finally glanced at Xilfer as he waved a transparent plastic bag that contained small amounts of white salt-like substance.

Jay tilted his head to the side as Xilfer sighed.

“What is that?” Jay asked, completely lost.

“Is...is that what I think it is?” Rainbow Dash asked as she was about to poke the plastic with a hoof, but Bug pulled it away from her reach.

Xilfer rubbed his forehead. “I'm serious here, Bug,” he glared at him.

Bug sighed with a smile as he returned what he carried inside the small backpack. “I was just teasing. No need to be serious all the time, Xilf...”

“Seriously, what was that?” Jay insisted.

Xilfer sighed. “You don't need to know.” He then stared at him sternly. “Trust me.”

Jay rolled his eyes. “Fine... Whatever.” He shook his head. “But, just where do you guys get all of those weapons? It looks like you are some sort of terrorists of something...”

Chapter 140 - Fang

The sandy ground shook violently, causing the four to stop and stumble. The massive crystal wolf pushed it's body towards the four and let out a boom of a roar.

“Move!” Xilfer shouted loudly, “move move move!” He pulled Bug and Jay back in an instant with both hands and pulled them as he ran towards the trees, Rainbow Dash following close behind.

The giant crystal wolf turned its head and hissed, it's yellow-glowing eyes followed the four smaller creatures. It quickly pulled itself down, preparing to leap after them, when it's crystal ears tilted to the side when a burning-like noise was getting louder.

Chapter 40 - Dream Recollection

We continued our walk in complete silence. And when I say silence, I mean that the three of us were really really quiet. None of us said a word after their little quarrel. I don't even know why they started arguing. Though if I were to judge, I'd say that it was Applejack's moody self's fault. But I am not willing to point that out. I think that crack she left back in her barn's enough warning for me not to get to her bad side forever and ever.

Anyway, I am not sure how many minutes or hours had passed before we reached the exit. I wasn't focused on counting the time, for I was and still am so lost to find a way to avoid meeting up with Twilight. Applejack is not willing to trade items. I am tired, both physically and mentally. I don't have a solution to avoid my meeting with Twilight. I'm hungry. All those facts are really really making me feel so annoyed and frustrated. I am just a bit glad that I still have the tiniest bit of self control, else, I am quite sure Applejack will see to it that she'll put me to my rightful place...which is ten feet below the ground, if I'm lucky enough.

Boulder stopped after taking a few steps outside, and Applejack and I stopped as well. Boulder was saying something, but I didn't hear him, because my ears were locked on two unicorn ponies talking to each other. Why them? 'Cause they have brightened up my day, and have taken the heavy load off of my back.

"...why don't you just skip him and go directly to the castle?" asked a younger-looking unicorn before taking a bite off of his levitated piece of bread.

The older-looking unicorn sighed. "I can't do that, for if I do, he might cause me quite a lot of trouble." He shivered slightly. "You do know what'll happen if he's angry."

The younger pony shivered at the thought. He said something, but I wasn't focus on any sound now. I finally have a solution, and damn it, it was quite a simple one, too! And heck, why didn't I thought of that! I've wasted a lot of brain cells just trying to come up with a solution! I am finally able to b---"Ow!" I yelped after a powerful hoof hit my shoulder.

"Were ye listenin', brownie?" asked Applejack with a lame look.

I gave her a glare...a tired one, in fact. "Hit me again, and...and... never mind." I sighed before turning to Boulder, who seemed to be struggling to hide a smirk. "What's so funny?"

"Oh? Nothing. Ahem, anyway..." he looked around before continuing, "Commander Armor should be near the falls." Falls? I just noticed the tall walls of the Unicornian Empire surrounding this tall mountain. Heh, so we really were inside the empire. Weird... I must be on the other side of the base of this big ol' mountain. "It'll take us ten minutes or so to get there, so we should make haste." I nodded, while Applejack didn't say or do anything.

As we followed him though, Applejack and I were turning our heads around as we stared at a few quiet wooden houses we pass by. There were a number of earth ponies walking around, but only a few. They were either heading back home, or heading to a small shop to buy items or food. There was also a small group of earth pony fillies and colts playing and running around.

"Ah'm mighty glad ye got rid of those unicorns back in Ponyville, Brownie," Applejack whispered. I really need to stop her from calling me with that name before I'll get used to it.

"Indeed," Boulder said suddenly, cutting my attempt to correct Applejack. He didn't turn his head, but kept on walking. "To be honest, I didn't really liked it when we were about to take over that town."

"Sure you were..." Applejack hissed quietly.

Boulder seemed to simply ignore her though. "Before we attacked, I saw how happy the ponies in that town from the distance..."

I...suddenly felt my head hurt...slightly, at least...

From the treeline, I was secretly peeking at the small town that is near the Everfree Forest. I...hate that town. Why?

"Why do you hate that town?" I suddenly said, and I immediately slapped a hoof over my mouth as Boulder stopped. Why the heck did I said that out loud!?

"...Pegasi..." Boulder simply replied after a long sigh, and we soon resumed our walk.

I eyed a flying cyan pegasus, who was hovering above the town. The longer I stared at the flying pony, the more this rage within me is building up.

Ugh...these weird flashes of image memories in my head is starting to really give me a headache... Why am I seeing these in my head all of a sudden, anyway? Wait... I all saw these in a dream, right? Did...Does this mean that, in that dream, I saw Boulder's point of view? But...I also felt how he felt in that dream. Though, that was one weird dream, if I could still remember correctly. I mean, it was jumping from one point to another...

We stopped near the staircase that was spiraling around the mountain, leading up to the city of the horn-heads... Yey... Sigh...

"I guess this is where I'll leave the both of you," Boulder said as he turned to face the two of us. "Gold, I think there are a few unicorns up there that knows who you are." Thanks for pointing the obvious. I was really about to start thinking of a way to solve that problem. "Also, I think Commander Starfall's in the city as well." He shook his head slightly. "He has said some nasty things about you after the incident in Ponyville, so I suggest you watch your back."

"Sounds like yer a mighty popular pony right in these parts of town." Applejack grinned at me.

I rolled my eyes. "Gee, ya think? Don't worry though. I had enough exercise to give them all my autograph."

Applejack's grin vanished as a confused blink started to change her features. "...autograph?"

"Never mind," I immediately cut her off after seeing her mouth was about to add some more words. I turned to Boulder and nodded my thanks. "By the way, thanks, and before we go," I scratched my nape with a hoof. I wonder if it's okay to ask. Aw well...

"Yes?"

"Why do you have an earth pony name?"

He blinked once, took a breath after, and sighed long and hard. "I'd rather not talk about it..."

I think I felt my ears flattened. "O-oh... I see."

We exchanged goodbyes before Boulder left us. By we, I mean that it was only me and Boulder, since Applejack was looking elsewhere. "Ah still don't trust 'im," Applejack whispered as we faced the loooooong stairway... "Well, let's go then," and she started walking up the stairs...

"Ugh..." I kicked the ground, "you've got to be kidding me..."