Spice in the water

Chapters

Prison of Glass
Dragon's Ire
The Morning inquest
Selfless carnality

Prison of Glass

"Four twenty one... four twenty two... four twenty three..." He counted off as he pulled his head upwards; curling his stomach and burning at his core.

"Four sixty seven... four sixty eight... four sixty nine..." Sweat beaded down his frame, pooling in his shadow below. The sound of dripping echoed in the silence as each drop landed in the puddle beneath him.

"Four ninety eight... four ninety nine... five hundred..." H said, letting his arms waft down above his head, and toward the floor. He dropped himself down to land on his feet, staggering slightly as the burning sensation flared in his stomach. He hit the floor boards with a clack, and looked over to the wall mirror, seeing his reflection. his hair Had grown a bit long and raggedy, and the thin beard that just keeps growing back in every time he shaved it. As the thought occurred to him, he realized he'd just shaved that beard this morning. He walked over to his chair to grab his towel to wipe the sweat from my brow, but as he did he'd realize he'd been walking on his knuckles again.

Standing quickly he dismissed it yet again, brushing it off as nothing more than a rather odd compulsory habit. As he ran the back of the towel over his chest he noticed the callused skin on the back of his hand. Thinking it a bit odd, especially considering he hadn't used the back of my hands for anything. The palms, yes, his feet yes, but when would he have used the back of his hand? In hindsight, he probably should have questioned it more.

"Hey! Big guy!" Said a familiar voice from the doorway behind him. He turned around to be met with a blue pegasus, with a multicolored mane floating in doorframe. The look on her face was typical of when she walked into his training room, heavy lidded eyes, nose actively sniffing the pheromone filled air, an involuntary blush on her face and lips curled into a smile.

"Oh hey babe, what's up?" He returned the smile as hers wilted slightly, and he chuckled a bit at her frustration at her nickname.

"You've been busy all week, but today is our day remember?" She grinned, floating closer to him, wings flapping slowly.

"How could I forget, you erased everything on my schedule and wrote "DATE NIGHT" in it's place." He recalled the bright red ink, circled, and underlined mark on the calendar.

"Good! Because I made plans for tonight that I think you're going to like." She said, turning away from him, looking back over her shoulder slyly.

"Is that so?"

"Yep, this night is going to be...-"

"Awesome?"

"Actually, that was not what I was going to say."

"Oh? Is that so? You've piqued my interest." He said, rubbing his chin slowly. If Dash was using a different adjective then this must be special.

"It is, if you don't believe me, you'll just have to come see for yourself." She said, opening the door and letting in a slight breeze, sending a chill over his body. He grabbed a shirt off the chair, covering his chest and breaking the wind off his chest (not his arms however). He followed her outside, and she walked him into the yard. She brought me out to a tree nearby, and reached into it's hollow.

"I think you're going to like this." She grinned widely, feeling around inside.

"Now turn around, I want it to be a surprise." She said motioning to him with her hoof. He let out an exaggerated sigh, turning and crossing his arms actually quite curious. The sound of cloth shuffling, glass shifting and wings flapping behind him persisted for a few seconds, before meeting an abrupt silence.

"Alright, you can look now." She said, and he half expected to see something wild and crazy like fireworks or something, but as he turned around he was met with a pleasant little picnic blanket on the ground, a couple of glasses and a bottle of cider.

"Wow. I gotta say, I am impressed. You really put a lot of effort into-" He stopped suddenly as his eyes came to meet hers. She was hovering just in front of him, giving him the same sultry look as before.

"This? Oh this was nothing. I just came up with this off the top of my head." She said with a dismissive flick of her hoof.

"Maybe I should take my complement back then." He crossed his arms a smirk creeping across his face. She looked surprised for a moment before she caught on to his teasing.

"Aaaanyways, sit down and let's drink." She said, dropping down to the cloth, and grabbing a glass. He slid down to his knees and grabbed his glass as well.

"You know I never really took you as the romantic picnic type." He said as she opened the bottle. She blushed lightly, lip curled up to pout as she looked away from him.

"Hey just cause I'm not the girliest girl out there doesn't mean I can't do something corny every now and then." She kept her head turned, glancing up at him.

"You're right, you're right, that was insensitive of me. Rainbow dash, thank you for setting up this romantic night for us." He said, and her face changed from it's usual light blue to a bright red.

"D-don't worry about it, really." She stammered pouring them both a glass of cider, and he chuckled faintly. A pink glow burnished her frame as the day's last light fell with the sun.

"You are so cute sometimes, you know that right?" He said raising his glass to his lips.

"I am not cute! I'm way too cool to be cute..." She said, turning her face back to him pouting again, but better this time.

"Oh, come on, you sure look cute to me." He said, reaching a finger over to boop her on the nose.

"Oh yeah?... Well what's about me cute then?" She asked quietly, her tail swishing from side to side, she meant to stub him, but a small part of her was fishing for complements.

"How about the way you stick your lip out when you're mad at me? Or maybe how you have that really sensitive spot right between your wings, and jump every time I touch it? Oh, or that little squeak you make when I pull your tail?" He started to count them off on his fingers, and her face grew darker and darker shades of red.

"Or maybe how when I take your hoof and-" He started, but she reached over to cover to mouth in desperation.

"Ok, ok, you win, I'm cute!" She said, her face was so red steam was practically coming out her ears. He ginned widely, and could sense her frustration.

"But it's not like you aren't cute too!" She said, lifting her glass and taking a drink.

"Oh? Is that so? So then, how exactly am I cute?" He asked skeptically, leaning on his elbow and drinking as well.

"How about the way your nose wiggles when you smell something sweet? Or how you smile every time you see a baby? Or how when you eat waffles you cut them the same way every time, top, bottom, left, right, center? Or when you shower you-" She listed them off, and he mirrored her, covering her mouth. His face was as red as hers, and he knew he was blushing from the fact that he could hear my heart beating in his ears.

"Alright, alright, so I admit I may have some cute qualities... but I don't shake my tail when I cook." He said, turning it back around on her.

"No, but you do blush when I do it." She countered, and they met a stalemate in their red face-off.

"You know we could do this for hours." He stated plainly, and she nodded.

"We could... or we could see which of us is better at holding their cider." She said, holding up the glass.

"Point taken." He said, and finished off his glass.

"Ugh... If you two lovebirds are finished, I need to borrow him for a moment..." Said a gravely voice from off to the side. He practically jumped out of his skin when he heard him, before realizing it was the Captain.

"Oh, hey, how long were you standing there?" He asked, and the Captain crossed his arms.

"I was here from "What's about me cute then?" and I've been waiting for you two to shut up..." He said, and both Dash and the big guy had blushed.

"Well nobody asked you to watch us! This is our date night." Said Dash rather harshly, and the big guy stood up.

"Look, how important is it?" He asked, suffering one of Dashes glares.

"Twilight wanted to see you..." The Captain said, the usual un-amused look on his face.

"Well, Twilight can wait, we're in the middle of something. I'll go to see her later." He said, looking down to dash, who was drinking another glass of cider.

"Hey, I'm just the messenger. She said it was important, something about a comet, magic, and... she was talking really fast." He said, turning and opening his wings. The big guy opened my mouth hesitantly, about to speak, but he'd flew off before he could say anything.

"Eh, whatever it is it can wait... Tonight I'm yours." He said as he turned back to dash, he saw her grinning widely, and leaning on an empty bottle.

"You're mine are you? Well now I gotta figure out what to do with you." She said with a hiccup, letting the last drop of cider fall on her tongue.

"Rainbow dash... did you just drink that whole bottle?" He asked, but she just shrugged it off. He found it pretty impressive how he can still be amazed at how fast she was at everything.

"Hmm... First I want you to carry me home." She said ignoring his question, and he just shook his head. He rolled up the blanket, hiding it back inside the tree before picking her up.

"Honestly, you are adorable." He looked down at her in my arms, walking over to the side of his house.

"Maybe I am, but you're the one that's blushing." She said, flicking her tail up at his face. Even drunk, she never gives up. He walked up to the ladder, and started climbing up to her house. A cloud hovering in the air, that he'd built his house under. He scaled up to it, and walked inside as she wiggled in my arms.

"Bring me to my room, I want to show you somthin..." She said, pointing a hoof over to her room. He had an uneasy feeling in the pit of his stomach as he carried her up to it, setting her down on her bed.

"Alright, what is it you want to show me?" He asked, and she sat up (sort of) and faced him.

"Me!" She exclaimed wrapping her arms around his head and pulling him onto her belly, where she wrapped her legs around his arms.

"Hmm!" He tried to form words but was muffled into her stomach. She ran her muzzle through his hair, awkwardly sniffing at it.

"Yup! You are mine after all." She said, holding him tightly. He felt her grip around him loosen slightly and started to lift his head.

"Yup, you're... mine..." She yawned, rolling over to her side and holding his head close to her chest. He rolled his eyes and wrapped his arms around her waist.

"I really shouldn't let you get away with things like this..."

"No way, you're too nice, I'm gonna tease you for the rest of your life."

"Well... it might not all be teasing." She said, nuzzling his ear. He started to speak up, but was interrupted by her snoring. As she fell asleep, H decided it was time to go and tried to wiggle free from her grasp, but as he did, she clung tighter to him like when petting a cat's belly. Admitting defeat, he simply laid back and followed her to sleep.

That night his dreams were a jumbled mess of livid tendrils coiling their way around his limbs. They seemed to be fighting over him like toddlers with a doll. All the sound seemed muffled like they were under water. Eyes all locked onto him, predatory, he knew that they wanted to devour him, but the darkness obscured them. All but the deformed, clicking fangs which reflected light from the oozing drool. Struggling to try and break free as panic filled him, he swore he'd heard an audible pop in either of his shoulders as his arms went limp. In desperation, he lashed out biting at one of the tendrils. It recoiled and a low rubble shook the air as it cried out. There was a brief moment of pain shooting through his neck before was pulled out of his dream and back into the world.

He started to wake up to a familiar scent, only to open his eyes and have my vision filled with blue fur. He looked to his sides, seeing her legs wrapped around him and remembered the previous night. She apparently rolled on top of him; luckily she wasn't very heavy. He tried to move her legs without disturbing her, shifting her hooves and spread her legs apart to try and crawl out from under her, but about halfway down she decided to slide off her hooves and sit on his chest.

Letting out a sharp breath, he reached down to pick her up by her hips as gently as he could, and slid out from under her. As he sat up, letting go of her hips, she shifted onto her hooves, holding herself there with her rear in the air. He stood up and stretched when he heard a loud "pomf" from behind. He glanced back to see Dash's wings extended out with a bit of drool dribbling onto the bed of clouds.

"Well I know what kind of dream she's having..." He whispered to himself as he stepped out of the room, and down to the kitchen. He started preparing breakfast for the sleeping Dash keeping in mind that she will be hung over. Some french toast, and banana, with orange juice.

He set up one place for himself, and one for her. He started to eat alone, when he heard a grumbling from upstairs, and couldn't help but grin. She slowly hovered down stairs, her bedhead ruffling her mane out in every direction. As she made her way to the bottom of the stairway, she saw him and her eyes widened with surprise.

"Oh... Hey Big guy... When did you get here?"

"Get here? I never left." he chuckled.

"But you-" She started, a blush creeping her way back onto her face again. He continued eating as she attempted to pieced it together.

"You mean we... You spent the night here?" She asked, and he nodded with a bemused look. He seemed to be making her blush quite a lot lately.

"That explains that dream." She said, sitting at the table a bit of shame on her face. She shifted in her seat uncomfortably.

"We must have been pretty drunk..."

"You were, I wasn't."

"You weren't?! Then why would you-?! I mean I can't say I wouldn't, but still!" She said, and he quirked a brow at her.

"What?" He shook his head in confusion.

"Nothing!" She said quickly, dropping her nose into her toast.

"...Look, you told me to carry you home, so I brought you to your room, and put you down on your bed. Then you hugged me and we fell asleep. That's all." He rolled his eyes deciding that was enough teasing for now. She blinked with a puzzled look on her face, before a wave of relief washed through her and she relaxed.

"You know for somepony supposed to be hung over, you are pretty well off right now." He said, finishing off his breakfast and taking the dishes to the sink.

"I recover quickly." She said, and he instinctively chuckled.

"I should have known." He shook his head. "What don't you do quickly?"

"Well there is one thing..." She mumbled, gazing off to the side.

"What's that?" I asked, looking back over my shoulder.

"Nothing." She said dismissively, flying over to the door.

"Well, I gotta go, I have weather patrol this morning." She said, glancing back at him.

"Alright, later babe." He said, with a grin.

"Bye, love you!" She said quickly, darting out the door. He nearly did a spit take, but wasn't drinking anything fortunately.

"Did she just say-" He started with a simper as I finished the dishes.

He shook his head, trying to dismiss it as nothing. Making his way down the ladder, he walked down the path into town to see if he'd been commissioned for any jobs today.He walked down the street, waving to ponies as they passed, making hisway down to the market district. When he came to his stall and saw a few fliers left there for jobs.

"One from Rarity, more heavy lifting. One from the crusaders, something about hunting monsters. One from Aloe, wanting my help with massages, and one from Lyra... again." He nodded, looks like a full day of work ahead.

He took the fliers, and started towards Rarity's boutique when he remembered Twilight had called for him yesterday, and probably make a quick stop by her place before getting too busy. He made a short detour to the library, and knocked on the door. He heard a bit of shuffling followed by Spike's grumbling.

"Yes?" Spike said, less than amused. As he opened the door, a cascade of paper followed behind him.

"Umm, Twilight wanted to see me?" He asked, and he motioned me in.

"She's downstairs working, and I've got to sort through all these papers... again." He said, parting the sea of paper as they waded through it.

"What happened here...?" The big guy asked, watching his step as he trudged through behind the little dragon.

"Twilight's been obsessing about something she figured out a couple weeks ago. She connected the dots on one thing, which led to another and another. Now look at the place!" He motioned to the massive dunes of ink and parchment.

"And who has too clean it up? Spike, that's who." He grumbled, opening the door to the basement.

"Well, on the bright side, no one can say you never did anything for her." The big guy said, ducking through the door, and headed down stairs. Spike on the other hand went back to wrestling the great white mountain.

"Twilight?" He called, walking downstairs and seeing her, writing at her desk.

"Hmm? Oh! It's you! Perfect!" She said, dashing over to him.

"What is it you wanted to tell me?" He asked, looking at the veritable flood of loose paper around the room.

"I've been studying your element intensely, trying to find out what it means. After all, the elements of harmony represent harmony, but yours is one of the elements of order, but what does that mean? How is it different from harmony? Anyways, after a lot of studying I realized each element of order is twice as powerful as any individual element of harmony, which makes sense, since there are half as many, but they are also unstable! I was confused by this so as I looked into it further I found that it's because it's not native to Equestria! Wherever you are from, the elements of order have been disconnected from it and now they're in a transitioning phase since they've all been united! Not only that but-" She would have continued on like that for an hour had I not interrupted.

"Twilight, summarize!" He exclaimed, and she bit her lip.

"You're turning into ponies!" She returned, and the room fell silent.

"Wait... what?" He shook his head like he'd just taken a punch to the jaw.

"You're becoming a pony, and so is the captain... That's why your hair's been growing faster, and you've been running around on all fours." She said, only raising more questions.

"You remember shallow? He had the most exposure to magic, and he walked around as a pony all the time. You've been exposed to a lot of magic since you've been here..." She said, and I thought to myself for a moment in silence.

"What about the Captain, he's been here longer than I have. Why hasn't he changed?" I asked, looking down at her, and seeing the look of concern in her eyes.

"He was exiled most of his time here, and still I've even noticed it on him too." She said, and he started pacing back and forth as thoughts raced around his head.

"Well... is there anything I can do to stop it?" He asked, turning away from her.

" A few... You could always abstain from all sorts of magic, but that will only delay the inevitable. Or..." She started, hesitant to continue.

"Or what?" He asked looking back at her, catching a glimpse of the pain before her words.

"Or you return home..." She said, and he felt his knees shake slightly.

"Oh..." He said, his hand sliding across the back of his neck.

"Well I suppose being a pony isn't that bad, and besides, it would make things less complicated for me here I guess." He said, sitting down on my a stool.

"Yeah, and besides, we know plenty of shape-shifting spells that can turn you back into a human." She said, and he nodded picing his gaze up off the floor.

"That's true, maybe this is no big deal after all..." He said, wiping his brow, his initial nervous sweat dissipating.

"Anyways, If you have the time, there are a number of tests I wanted to run on you." She said, as he stood up.

"Thanks Twilight, but I have work to do. Next Wednesday I have some of your tests scheduled anyways." He said with a smile, standing back up.

"Alright, but if you grow hooves in the middle of a job don't blame me." She turned to a book she had open, levitating a pen over and continuing her work.

"Thanks again Twilight." He said climbing the stairs to the doorway.

"Remember, no magic!" She yelled up at him as he left.

Stepping outside and headed for Rarity's again, he made sure to stay up on two legs. As he came to her door his mind was preoccupied with what Twilight had told him, or to be more accurate how to tell Rainbow dash about it... or if he even should. He knocked, hearing a brief sudden clatter inside.

"Come in." He heard her singsong-y voice as he reached to open the door. As it swung open he was met with a mess of fabric and boxes. There seem to be a lot of messes around Ponyville when he's around, though this one was at least organized.

"Oh! Perfect timing, I was hoping you'd be here soon." Rarity said, a quick sigh of relief escaping her.

"I take it I'll be carrying these boxes then?" He asked rhetorically, leaning to one side.

"Actually... no. You see I have this crate out back that I need to move." She said clearing her throat.

"Alright. Let's get this job done." He said making his way to the back room.

"Yes but, do be careful, it's a very large box, don't to hurt yourself." She said with a look of concern on her face, but he dismissed it as nothing.

"Don't worry so much, I can lift anythi-he-he..." I opened up the back door and saw the crate. It was standing almost as tall as her house was.

"Oh... I see what you mean now." He said, walking up to it and wrapping his arms around it giving it a test lift. It wasn't as heavy as expected, but still far to heavy to carry.

"Yes, you see I need to get this to sweet apple acres, and it's. A trial to say the least." She cleared her throat.

"What is it?" He asked, scratching his head.

"A totem pole from Appaloosa." She said, and he was tempted to ask why she had it, but he was pretty sure he'd get the story from Applejack anyways.

" Shouldn't be too much of a problem." He said, patting the side of the crate.

"Thank you so much for this darling, how much will you cost for today." Phrasing it like that made him feel a bit sleazy, but he shrugged it off.

"A job like this the usual twenty bits should do." He said, and she immediately shook her head almost like she'd been insulted.

"No no no that won't do! I insist that I pay you at least fifty." She said, throwing her nose up in the air.

"It's fine, twenty bits is enough. It's just one crate." He said, raising up his hands as she levitated out her wallet.

"Rarity, there's no difference between ten small crates and one big one. Twenty will do."

"No I insist. Fifty bits." She put her hoof down.

"Twenty five."

"Forty five."

"Thirty."

"Forty."

"Can we meet at thirty five and be done with it?"

"Forty is my final offer.

"Fine forty it is then." He conceded, ending their little game of reverse haggling.

"Good, here you are. Forty bits." She had a smug grin as she levitated the payment into his bag.

"Thank you, now I better get going, Rainbow dash hates to hear when I've been lingering around here too long." He chuckled, moving to the other side of the pole.

"I know, I know. She can be so suspicious. Anyways, thank you for this." Rarity said turning to walk back inside.

"No problem." He said as he eased the totem down onto it's side. "Have a nice day." He said, waving briefly before returning his hand to the crate.

"You too darling~" She said as she shut the door, returning to her own work.

Letting the mass of wood down onto his shoulders, he let out a short stifled breath and started walking towards Sweet Apple Acres. Trudging down the path to the orchard wasn't extremely long, but it felt a whole lot longer to him with the weight of a small car on his shoulders. It was almost too much for him, almost. It took just short of half an hour to get there, and his arms and back were protesting the entire way. He had pulled the mass of wood down in front of the barn and dropped it with as much care as he could. Sitting on the edge of the crate he let out a haggard breath, trying to calm the burning soreness, but oddly it seemed to subside rather quickly. Brushing it off yet again, he knocked on the door waiting for one of the apples to open up. After a while with no answer, he let out a call, to see if he could get somebody's attention.

"Hello? Applejack? Granny smith? Big mac?" He called out with no answer. There was a brief moment of worry in his mind, but he didn't really believe something was wrong.

"Family outing I guess?" He thought out loud, and running the tip of his shoes through the dirt.

"Or they could all be dead couldn't they, my good man?" A familiar voice sent shivers down his spine as his eyes shot up, searching feverishly for the source. He looked all around but there was no sign of the speaker.

"Shallow?! Where are you?!" He called out, but there was no answer. He'd wondered if it were only in his mind but something about the clarity of his voice made him doubt that. After a few moments of deep calming breaths he looked back at the barn and decided it'd be fine to just leave the totem pole here. He'd just have to go without hearing the whole story behind it. He just had a sudden, need to... check on something.

Dragon's Ire

Deciding that the crusaders could hold off for a bit while he cures his suspicions, he headed for the Ponyville cemetery. All cemeteries were naturally a bit depressing, but something about this one in particular left him with a knot in his chest. It was a bit unsettling, but the feeling of unease that had been on his mind since Sweet Apple Acres was worse. He walked down to the furthest row of graves and then down four more empty rows to find a plot in the far corner of the yard.

"Here lies Shallow Graves. May he be remembered fondly and his trespasses forgiven." It read, and there was a red orange red flower growing at the base of the stone. An Indian paintbrush if his memory recalled. But to his relief the grave was covered with a layer of grass, still undisturbed, as he'd hoped. A long dawn out sigh later, he set a coin on the tombstone and turned to walk away.

Just as he did he was sure Shallow was gone for good. Nopony... Nobody comes back from the dead. He started to walk away with a renewed confidence, realizing how silly he'd been. That was something he might have done when he was fourteen, back when he still worried about his dad's ghost stories.

A short walk later, he'd found himself coming up on the cutie mark crusaders HQ. There was already a commotion going on inside, so he knew that he was about to get into a bit of a mess. So, steeling his resolve, he climbed up to the clubhouse and knocked on the door. At first there was no answer so he'd thought they hadn't heard him, but soon realized it had good quiet. He knocked again and was followed by a few short whispers.

"Who is it?" Called out one of the crusaders, instantly recognizable as Applebloom.

"It's the big monster you asked to help you hunt other monsters." He returned, and was followed by one sigh of relief, and a few more still agitated whispers.

"Can you keep a secret?" Asked scootaloo, and he opened his mouth before even considering the consequences of what he was saying.

"Sure, of course I can." One last round of whispers later and the door opened with all three standing in the doorway.

"You can come in but you can't tell anyone what you saw here this day." Said Applebloom, attempting to sound ominous. He ducked inside the doorway and saw an open book on a desk already opened to a marked page. He walked up to it and leaned down to read what was written.

"The fire ants are creatures living in the northern caves of Everfree forest. They are a variation of giant ants that have been genetically modified, and their name comes from their ability to expell a flammable acid from their mandibles. The fire ants of the Everfree forest were created by a unicorn named Lesko who was attempting to shrink giant ants to normal size through genetic manipulation and accidentally created the fire ants. Lesko's ambition was to make the ants exponentially smaller through generations, meaning the offspring is born smaller than its parents for generations to come. But one small tweak of an error in his spell has left the ants with a completely different mutation. The fact that Lesko used dark magics in his experiments in order to produce a quicker result may also help explain the "error." " The book goes on to further explain in very technical terms that the ants breathe fire by expelling flammable venom from what was their venom sacks, then igniting it with a spark made by clicking their mandibles. He calls this process "pyrosis."

"Why are you showing me this?" He asked looking back at the girls who were fidgeting slightly.

"Well you see... You took a while to get here, so yesterday while we were waiting for you... we decided to go ahead and catch one." Said Sweety belle, and it was obvious what comes next can't possibly be good.

"And?" He prompted them to continue, but they seemed not sure how.

"Well we caught one. A big one." Said Scotaloo, chuckling lightly and pointing out the window. I looked out and saw a large makeshift, and mostly wooden cage, surrounding the giant insect.

"I'm... not going to ask how... but why?!" He asked, rubbing his finger and thumb into his temples.

"Cutie mark crusader monster hunters?" They all grinned awkwardly up at him.

"And did you get your cutie marks?" He asked, the answer though obvious, he felt needed to be asked.

"No..." They answered in unison.

"You want me to get rid of it?" He asked, and they all nodded silently.

"...Alright. If you promise, never to do anything like this ever again." He knew the promise itself was probably meaningless, but at least he could hold it over their heads.

"We promise..." They said, hanging their heads dejectedly as he hopped down to the ground. The ant circled slowly to face him, mandibles clicking together making a sickly sound.

"Alright, option one, send it home. Option two, just toss it. Option three kill it." He thought to himself as he got into a ready stance.

"Option one is ideal, but with no way of leading it, and no idea where it lived, not viable." He thought to himself as the ant started spitting fire to burn down the wooden cage and get to him.

"Option two puts everyone here and everyone in Ponyville in danger not to mention the damage it would do to the forest." He thought to himself as the cage collapsed into smoldering scraps.

"Option three, I'm in danger, and the ant is dead, but everyone else is safe..." He thought to himself as the ant started toward him.

"They aren't going to like this..." He sighed, and started strafing to the side as the ant struggled to turn with him. It spit out a torrent of flame, trying to torch him, but it wasn't fast enough to catch him. He lept forward as the flames licked at his arm. It didn't actually touch him, but the heat coming off of it made him wince. Coming up to step on the ant's thorax, it immediately started struggling and frantically spitting flames. He couldn't hold it down as it tried to throw him off, it was strong enough to lift him. It turned and spit fire onto the base of the tree where the girls were and a rush of emotions flooded into him.

He perched up on it's back and started violently beating it's head with his fist. It cried out with a shrill unnatural sounding trill, shaking to try and throw him off. He latched onto the creature's torso, planting his feet on the ground to lift it up off the ground. He tossed it down head first, and it flailed wildly to get back to it's feet. He looked at the flames as they'd just started to spread up the tree, and his if his adrenaline wasn't already pumping it was now. He sprinted toward the an't crying out in anger as he picked up a large stone. Just as the insect had made it back onto it's feet, he tackled it back to the ground. It's legs kicked wildly, scratching his torso and face as he brought the rock down onto it's head again and again. Once it'd stopped moving he ran over toward the tree and started stamping out the fire. With the flames quelled, and threat neutralized, he could finally let his heard slow down. He could feel his pulse though his legs and arms as he collapsed onto his back looking up at the tree house.

"You girls alright up there?" He called out to them, but there was no answer.

"Girls?" He called out again.

"You killed it." The voice came from behind him, seeing the two of them standing a ways away as Scootaloo touched it with her hoof.

"Yeah, yeah I did." He said, waiting a short while on his back before turning over and staggering to his feet.

"Did you really have to?" Asked Applebloom, looking back at him as he walked up to it.

"Unfortunately, yes." He said with his hands behind his back, a somber look on his face. A brief moment of silence later, Sweety belle spoke up.

"We won't be doing that again." She said and he couldn't help but feel a bit guilty.

"I'm going to bury it if you want to stick around." He said, but was met with silence. He picked up the ant and took it over to the tree, digging around it's roots.

"Why here?" Asked Scootaloo coming up behind him.

"If I bury it here, then the ant will fertilize the soil and help the tree grow... Kind of like a last gift." He said looking back at her as he dug.

"It's a normal tradition among my kind to bury loved ones, pets, or anyone you want to remember beneath a tree." He said placing the ant in the grave. They stood for a moment in silence and he reached down to pat Applebloom's head.

"Let's get out of here, I'll buy you girls some ice cream." He said as he stood up.

The four of them went to town, and got ice cream like he said, cheering them up a bit before they ran off to return the book they'd gotten to twilight. The big guy on the other hand had a couple more jobs to do today, the first of which being to go help out at the spa. Ever since he'd started lending out his services, the spa sisters had been asking him to come down and help out with massages, mostly because of the obvious, hands being quite dexterous. They usually called him to come down about once a week, or when somepony important rolls through town. This was most likely the former.

Starting towards the spa, it wouldn't take long before he got there. He came to the door and ducked down, but as he reached for the handle an odd sense of anxiety crept over him, an he hesitated to turn the nob. He shook it off as nothing, turning the nob and stepping into the spa. He quickly met eyes with the two spa ponies, and was approached by Aloe.

"Oh, thank you for coming by on such short notice, we are having a hard time sing we have..." She stopped, looking up at him wide eyed.

"What, what is it?" He asked, looking around, and behind him.

"Y-you're bleeding! You're absolutely covered in scratches!" She said and he looked over his arms, seeing the scratches and chuckling.

"Oh right, it's nothing, I just fought with a giant bug." He wiped away the stray flecks of blood.

"Are you alright?" She seemed skeptically concerned.

"Of course, it wasn't hard, just..." he searched his mind for the right word. "troubling."

"If you say so." She smiled warmly and turned away walking toward the massage room. "We'll have to cover those scratches to keep from scaring the customers so you can barrow a couple rolls of gauze." She said, motioning to the cupboard.

"Why do you have gauze?" He asked, running the many services of a spa through his head.

"Let's just say, we weren't always good at acupuncture." She said, eliciting a shudder from him.

"Point taken." He said, pun intended. Taking a roll of gauze, he wrapped up his arms, covering them as best he could without being able to see all the dozens of little scratches.

"Now you just wait here, and we'll send in the customers for you." She said as he finished wrapping up.

"Will do." He gave a thumbs up as the turned to leave, he'd done this enough to know the protocol. He didn't wait long before she'd sent in the first customer, a mare he'd seen in tow but never known the name of.

"Hello there mam, and what will we be having today?" He asked, as her gaze drifted slowly up to meet his.

"O-oh! Um... I was... going to have a deep tissue massage." She said, a bit of anxiety in her voice.

"Deep tissue, that should be easy enough. Just step up here and lay on the table, and we can start." He said, motioning to the table. He heard her stepping up onto it as he turned to the cabinet, and pulled out the massage oils.

"So, how has your day been so far?" He asked as she laid down.

"Not bad, just a bit stressful is all." She let out a sigh, and he picked up that it might have been more than a bit.

"A lot going on, or just something heavy?" He asked as he'd poured the oil into the heater.

"A lot going on. I'm getting married next month, and my mother came down to help." She said, and he chuckled.

"Congratulations." He said and she returned the chuckle.

"Thanks, I really needed to relax a bit." She said as he walked up beside her with the oil vessel.

"In my opinion, every bride should have a massage before her wedding. It would keep the pressure off their shoulders for a day, let them calm down you know." He said as he poured the warm oil over her back.

"It would stop a few fights at least." She said and he grinned.

"Which is why you're here." He said and she nodded.

"Oh yes, I can't tell you how much I've wanted to snap at somepony over just the littlest things." She said as he set down the oil.

"Well I am glad I can help." He said, leaning in to start rubbing in the oils.

"Mmm..." She took a few deep breaths as he simply spread the oil across her back and forelegs. There was a calm silence as he'd gently ran his hands across her back feeling for knots and spots of tension.

"The stress here in your back is really bad, but that's a wedding for you. It'll all be worth it once it's over." He said as he started to knead at the muscles of her back. It was a lot like human muscles, but smaller, and shaped a bit differently.

"I know, and it wouldn't be this bad if my mother didn't micromanage everything." She said as he started to work his thumbs up between her shoulder blades. She winced a bit before relaxing again the anxiety melting away like snow off a rooftop.

"That... feels good." she said, as he'd worked into the small of her back with his palms.

"When it comes to stress relief, one of the best things anyone can do is to handle things gracefully. And by the looks of it, you've got that down." He said, managing to wrest a giggle from her.

"Well sir you don't know me, graceful I am not." She allowed the complement as he moved to massage her foreleg. He found that ponies tended to keep a lot of tension in their shoulders and by their hooves.

"Could have fooled me." He smirked, rubbing into her shoulders. Another moment of silence passed as she simply enjoyed the massage. After a moment he'd go over to pick up the oil again, and start pouring it over her back legs.

"Umm, you mind if I ask you a question?" She asked. He set the oils aside again, and nodded.

"Ask away." He said as he ran his hands along her legs, to set the oil in again.

"Have you ever been married, or had a marefriend?" She asked, and he was taken a bit off guard.

"Well married no, but a marefriend yes." Marefriend still felt awkward to say, but hey it was true.

"Was it ever hard to deal with all of your... issues?" She asked, as his hands glided over her thighs.

"Oh yeah, all sorts of problems came up. Mostly my fault too." He said with a shrug as his hands met her haunches.

"Did you ever... hate her?" She asked, and he hesitated to respond, focusing a bit more on the massage.

"No, never hated her. Hated myself a lot though." She looked back, a bit confused.

"I don't have too much experience with relationships but I'll tell you this. Thousands of things go through your head every day, but the only ones that they know about are the ones you tell them, and vice versa." He said, pressing his thumbs into the thick of her calf. She sat silent, waiting for him to continue as he raised up to the thick of her thigh.

"You can sit there mad at yourself for a week, but then finally talk to them about it, and it turns out they forgave you long before you forgave yourself." He said, and something about it resonated with her.

"Wise words, was that from experience, or-" She started, and he shook his head.

"No, no, my preacher told me that. He was a wise man." He said, as he pressed his palms up on her rump the both of them blushed uncomfortably.

"So long story short, talk to your husband-to-be about your problems. If the burden ever gets too heavy, nobody said you'd have to carry it alone." He said as he massaged the base of her tail, making her shiver a bit.

"That's pretty good advice, kind of corny, but good." She grinned awkwardly.

"And with that I think we're done." He said as he handed her a warm washcloth. "Just continue down the hall, and Lotus will take care of you next."

"Thanks again, it was really nice talking with you." She smiled, standing up slowly as her knees wobbled a bit.

"You too, make sure and come back again sometime." He said, getting the door for her and watching as she left.

"Don't worry I will." She smiled, continuing down the hall without looking back.

He had a few more customers come in, but none were quite so talkative. After he was done for the day, Aloe paid him for his time and he'd be on his way, off to finish his list. Oh right... Lyra. A brief moment of exasperation later, he'd brushed off his shirt and headed for the residential district. Lyra didn't live very far from the market so it had been easy to find the first time, but as many times as he'd gone down there now, he could make it with his eyes closed... walking backwards... while doing the cha-cha.

But he won't.

There wasn't much he could really do for Lyra in terms of heavy lifting or manual labor, but despite that he was called out to her home every so often. At first she would simply make up something for him to do, like moving the furniture, organizing her clothes, or something equally menial, but at some point she must have simply run out of ideas, because now he always finds the same thing when he comes out.

He knocked on the door and after a second he'd heard her call out "Coming!" followed by the sound of hoof beats as she descended the stairs. The lock clicked open and the door swung open hastily, with Lyra standing there tossing a comb back behind her. Something told him that today was about to get even longer.

"Hey there big guy, I wasn't expecting you so soon."

"It's like three in the afternoon, why would-"

"Aaanyways, come on in, I've got drinks set out for us."

"I thought you said you weren't-"

"Oh, and Bonbon's out for today, so we have the house to ourselves." Running his hand over his face, he simply submitted to the story and followed her inside. He closed the door behind him, as they stepped into the living room, drinks set out on the table in front of them just like she'd said.

"So we'll be doing the usual bit today?" He asked, as they both took their usual seats. Though something was a bit odd about Lyra at the moment. She seemed both relaxed and anxious at the same time... if that's possible.

"...Oh! Yes, the usual." She said reaching out both hooves and taking his hand.

"You must have been doing a lot of hard work recently, your nails look awful." She looked his hands over pulling out a nail file.

"Well, just today I've had to carry a massive totem pole all the way to Sweet Apple Acres, and fight a giant fire breathing ant." He shrugged.

"That explains the, umm," she cleared her throat, "Smell?" She glanced to the side and he seemed puzzled for a moment.

"Oh right, I'm probably sweating a bit huh?" He sniffed at himself, but he couldn't smell anything.

"Maybe just a bit." She said filing away at his nails.

"It's not bothering you is it?" He asked and she quickly shook her head.

"No, not at all! ... But if you, you know, want to use my shower, I wouldn't mind." She said sounding a bit flustered.

"Nah, I'll just wait it out. Can't get me into too much trouble can it?" He thought aloud.

"You might be surprised..." Lyra said, squirming a bit in her seat.

"What do you mean?" He looked puzzled yet again.

"Well, I don't mean to be rude but... You kind of have an effect on us mares." She said holding his hand with both hooves.

"Yeah, I've noticed..." He smirked.

"If you've noticed, haven't you thought that maybe it might be a bit weird for us?" She asked, and his puzzlement turned to intrigue.

"Weird how?" He asked absentmindedly.

"Let me be frank." She sighed. "How would you feel if any time you were around a friend of yours, you felt... horny?" She said, her face turning a bright pink.

"I think I'd feel... a bit sick to my stomach actually." He stared into the empty fireplace.

"I for one find it a bit unfair." She hesitated a moment, looking up at him. "But hey it's not your fault either. You can't help how you smell." She finished, setting the file down.

"It's weird that I'd never thought about it much before." He laid back, despondent at the fact that such a simple thought had never occurred to him. Some element of wisdom he turned out to be.

"Hey, cheer up buddy, have a drink." She said handing him a glass of blue punch. "It's not the end of the world right?" She chuckled.

"Thanks for pointing it out to me Lyra, you're a good friend." He said taking a drink, blind to the slightly disappointed look on her face.

"Right, that's me. A good friend." She chuckled again, but halfheartedly.

"Still I wonder... Just how bad it must affect Rainbow dash." He said looking down into the glass. "She's around me all the time, not to mention being my marefriend. She's gotta be getting the worst of it."

"I'm sure she doesn't mind, it's not like she can't-" Lyra stopped suddenly catching what she was about to say.

"Can't what?" He asked setting down his glass.

"Nothing! Nothing! It's not important." Her face flushed pink again as she waved her hooves in front of her.

"Alright. If you say-" He was interrupted by a knock at the door.

"I'll get it!" She said, glad to change the subject. She darted off toward the door, with the big guy following her. She swung the door open and was standing in the shadow of a large figure.

"Hello?" She said in a more timid tone.

"Where is he?" Said the familiar gravely voice. The Captain again.

"I'm right here el Capitan." The big guy said rounding the corner. He immediately met the glare of the Captain, but this time more intense.

"You come with me." He said with a wave of his arm.

"Ooohkay...?" The big guy followed him outside.

"Look, I don't know why I've been turned into a messenger boy, but apparently this is for you." He said, handing him the scroll.

"Who's it from?" He asked, and the Captain's baleful look didn't falter even slightly.

"I'll give you three guesses."

"Twilight."

"Bingo."

"Don't know why I even asked." The big guy opened up the scroll, which was filled with words that he would need a dictionary and an hour to decipher it all, but the gist of it was just about the elements of order and the meaning of their instability.

"I'm going to need a while to decipher all of this technical jargon, and even then I'm not sure why she wanted me to see this." He said slipping it into his belt.

"She said it was important for something, but I never understand any of what these ponies are talking about." He said curling his wings over his shoulders. The big guy kept reading, but one part in particular stood out.

"The elements themselves seem to have a unifying effect, similar to the elements of harmony, but with a very different result. While the elements of harmony have been seen on several occasions coming together to create harmony and by extension friendship, the elements of order almost seem to oppose each other. I've deemed it likely due to the difference in the natures of ponies and humans, but the effects of the tests have left me baffled. Each of the opposing forces are supposed to create order, but in opposition with each other they inadvertently create chaos. It is from here I realized that each individual element worked by spreading it's influence instead of working directly off one another. Once signs of shown that the influence has spread, it's effectiveness of control is not only completely natural but immutable." Something about those last words stuck in his head, making him feel as if they'd dug up a lingering uncertainty.

"I think I'm going to go home for the day. I've got... a bit of thinking to do." He said turning to Lyra.

"That's alright, I understand. Important human business." She nodded.

"Then I'll be on my way." Said the Captain, spreading his wings and picking himself off the ground. He flew off, and Lyra headed back inside.

"We'll continue another day, alright?" He said as she turned, her hoof resting on the door.

"I'll hold you to that." She called back, as she closed the door.

He 'd started walking, making his way home, running that word through his head again and again. Immutable. Why had that part bothered him so much? It's not like it really mattered, it had no noticeable effect on anyone. At the very least there was nothing he could do about it. It's not like he could control it even if there was, so why worry about it?

His feet fell over the dirt path as he sauntered down he way towards his house. It would have seemed casual had he not looked so crestfallen. He repeatedly attempted to simply brush the feeling off his shoulder, but it just wouldn't let go... like that one piece of tape you find crawling on your arm. You try and swat it off, but then you see it on your hand, and try to shake it off. You know what I mean. He'd walked up to his door, reaching for the knob when a cold chill ran through the air.

"It's just tearing you apart, piece by piece isn't it?" Snapping around to look behind him, he looked around for the unnatural voice again. The unease had returned to sit on his chest, making his breath more shallow. Alas nothing was there, just grass trees, a couple flowers and not a pony in sight. He wanted to turn around and walk inside, but didn't want to take his back off the door. So in one nimble move, he'd opened the door and stepped inside to close it in one single smooth motion.

"Oh! Umm. Hey big guy... Back so soon?" Just as soon as he stepped inside his eyes had fallen upon the bright blue pegasus he'd known so well. However he hadn't expected to see her like this.

The Morning inquest

Shifting slightly Rainbow dash had roused from her sleep after one particularly nice dream, opening her eyes tentatively, and finding herself in her own bed. She couldn't quite remember just how she'd gotten there, but the throbbing headache was a clue. Turning her head to the side, she was bet with the sight of her own flank raised high up in the air. Recalling portions of her dream she quickly brought her rear down onto the bed.

"My head is killing me, every time with that Manehattan cider..." She grumbled to herself as she slowly hovered down stairs, her bedhead ruffling her mane out in every direction. As she made her way to the bottom of the stairway, she saw him and her eyes widened with surprise.

"Oh... Hey Big guy... When did you get here?"

"Get here? I never left." he chuckled.

"But you-" She started, a blush creeping her way back onto her face again. He continued eating as she attempted to pieced it together.

"You mean we... You spent the night here?" She asked, and he nodded with a bemused look. He seemed to be making her blush quite a lot lately.

"That explains that dream." She said, sitting at the table a bit of shame on her face. She shifted in her seat uncomfortably.

"We must have been pretty drunk..."

"You were, I wasn't."

"You weren't?! Then why would you-?! I mean I can't say I wouldn't, but still!" She said, and he quirked a brow at her.

"What?" He shook his head in confusion.

"Nothing!" She said quickly, dropping her nose into her toast.

"You know for somepony supposed to be hung over, you are pretty well off right now." He said, finishing off his breakfast and taking the dishes to the sink.

"I recover quickly." She said, and he instinctively chuckled.

"I should have known." He shook his head. "What don't you do quickly?"

"Well there is one thing..." She mumbled, gazing off to the side.

"What's that?" I asked, looking back over my shoulder.

"Nothing." She said dismissively, flying over to the door.

"Well, I gotta go, I have weather patrol this morning." She said, glancing back at him.

"Alright, later babe." He said, with a grin.

"Bye, love you!" She said quickly, darting out the door. Just as soon as she'd said it, her hooves covered her mouth. She sped off into the cover of the clouds, (The ones in the sky, not her house) and sat there practically kicking herself.

"Why did I say that?! I'm so stupid!" She grabbed a bunch of cloud, covering her face with it. She growled into it thrashing around a bit before laying back and uncovering her face.

"No, it's okay. This isn't a problem, so what if I said I lo- if I said I looo-" She couldn't bring herself to repeat it.

"H-he probably didn't even notice, right? He'll just pass it off like it was nothing... right?" She felt anxiety bubbling up in the back of her throat. Or that could also be vomit.

"No he's too smart for that, he's probably thinking I'm too clingy or something." She said to herself rolling around a bit before bringing up her head with a gasp.

"What if he thinks I'm one of those crazy marefriends?" She started nibbling on her hoof.

"No, Rainbow dash, don't loose your cool. It's fine, you're fine. Just go, do your job, and stop thinking about it. He'll probably forget you said anything by tonight anyways." Something about that thought actually made her feel worse.

"Why did I have to go off and say something so stupid!" She buried her face in her hooves for a second before she actually took off towards the town. Her duties for today was to clear out the clouds for a completely sunny day, and move them out towards the hills for a drizzle tomorrow.

"Hey! Hey Rainbow dash!" A voice called out from below, bringing her skidding to a stop (...in the air... somehow). She looked down to see one Pinkie pie waving frantically to her.

"Hey Pinkie!" She shouted back to her before she made her decent downwards.

"Okay Dashie you absotivly posolutly have to come with me right now!" Said Pinkie, grabbing Rainbow dash by the shoulders.

"Whoa whoa, Pinke, what are you talking about?" She asked, stepping backwards.

"The prank! If you don't come quick you'll miss it!" Pinkie said as she trotted in place.

"A Pinkie prank huh? Well this I have to see." Rainbow dash said, noticeably intrigued.

"Goody goody! Follow me!" Said pinkie curling into a ball and rolling off into the bushes. Rainbow dash followed her on hoof. They'd walled down an alley and were peeking through another bush to look out at the busy street.

"What am I looking at?" Asked Rainbow dash, looking for the source of the prank, but it looked just like any other street.

"Oh you'll see." Pinkie snickered into her hooves as her friend searched. Few seconds later one of the ponies passing by stopped in the middle of the street and lifted his hoof. A rope snapped and sprung from the grass trailing up to a lamp post, and dropping a large bag.

"Waaaait for it..." Said Pinkie with a building anticipation. As the bag hit the ground, it bounced a bit sloshing as it settled.

"Looks like it was a dud Pinkie." Said rainbow dash.

"Aww, what happened?" Pinkie poked her head out of the bush. Just then one grey pony walked up to the bag, lowering her muzzle to sniff at it.

"Sorry Pinkie, you can't win em all I guess." Said Rainbow dash. As she stood, the grey walleyed pony poked at the sack watching it jiggle.

"I wonder what happened. I thought I mixed everything ri-" She was interrupted by a loud boom and a cloud of white bubbles filling the air. The entire street was obstructed by the suds as it cascaded outwards.

"There we go!" Pinkie started cracking up as she stepped out of the cloud, a thick white beard of bubbles on her face. Rainbow dash stumbled out after her, shaking the bubbles out of her fur and mirroring her laughter.

"Okay, I gotta admit, I did not see that coming." Said Rainbow dash brushing the last bit of froth from her mane.

"Me either! I was supposed to be cotton candy, but bubbles works too." Pinkie said, shaking her head and sending the bubbles up into the air.

"Thanks for showing me, I always love a good prank." Rainbow dash looked back at the mass of suds, hearing the confusion of ponies trying to find their way out.

"Well with the sour look on your face, how could I not try and make you smile. It's kinda my thing." Said pinkie putting on a pair of Groucho glasses.

"Look? What look?"

"The look. You know!"

"No, no I don't."

"Yeah you do."

"Pinkie, just tell me what look you're talking about." Rainbow dash slightly irked at her hyper friend.

"This one!" Pinkie stated mimicking what Rainbow dash had looked like with alarming accuracy. Fretting back and forth and biting her hoof.

"Oh... that." Rainbow dash cleared her throat.

"What was that all about anyways?" Pinkie asked sitting up in front of her.

"It was nothing, I was just..." She glanced to the side then back to Pinkie.

"Just what?" Pinkie cocked her head to the side.

"I was just stressed over something, it's not important. I'm cool." Rainbow dash trotted a few steps away.

"Oh, okay! Glad I could cheer you up!" Pinkie beamed brightly.

"Yeeeeah, anyway; if that's all, I kinda gotta go. Got weather duty and all." She said, flapping her wings and piking up off the ground.

"Aww so soon?" Pinkie looked somewhat disappointed, but not to bothered by it.

"Sorry Pinkie, I got a job to do." She shrugged as she slowly ascended up into the air.

"Okie-dokie-loki! See you later!" Pinkie waved up to her and started hopping down the path. Rainbow dash turned and started flying up into the sky towards the clouds. She shook her head trying to focus on the task at hand and not her previous mistake. She pushed each cloud through the air and towards the fields outside of town as she thought to herself. Wait... did she say mistake? Was it a mistake? They'd been together for months yes, but was she just entranced by that wonderful scent, or did she really like him? He wasn't even the same species as her, and was by no means good looking, but at the same time he was sweet and caring, and defiantly liked her. But he didn't quite trust her fully, heck she didn't even know his real name! She asked herself these questions dozens of times before, but every time they'd come up the same way. She'd forget about the questions and just let her actions speak for themselves.

Before she knew it, she'd cleared out all of the clouds around town and just laid on the massive pile of cloud looking up into the clear blue sky. She lie there wondering to herself. What is it about her that he liked anyways? From what he'd told her there weren't any ponies where he'd come from, and the two of them were so radically different. He was furless, his eyes were tiny, and stood on two hooves... feet. That's another thing, fingers and toes, how weird is that? I mean sure other animals have them, but that doesn't make it less weird. She thought he was weird when she first saw him, but he didn't seem to mind them at all.

What are humans exactly? He'd explained to them before that they were kind of like a mix between a monkey and a bear, but he took that back when Twilight started asking a bunch of questions. Any time Rainbow dash would ask he would go into a story about the history of where he was from which usually left her more confused than when she'd started. In fact at times she'd felt she'd had more questions about him than answers. And even weirder he usually had almost no questions for her! The whole thing left her with a headache.

By the time she'd found herself coming full circle it was almost noon, and she was on the verge of simply giving up and taking a nap. It's not like there's a surplus of humans just walking around that she could ask there was only... two. She suddenly remembered that she could always ask the captain about the humans, but shook her head, trying to forget the thought. There was no way, the man was more abrasive than the rough side of a sponge. He didn't like anyone, and even the ones he tolerated he didn't talk to. He was an antisocial ball of living callous... but on the other hand he was her only shot too.

With a long drawn out sigh she conceded to at least trying to get some information out of him. She started to pick herself up and stretch, flapping her wings slowly. She took off towards town, but came to an abrupt halt, realizing she had no idea where he would be, or where he might be, or where he even lived. Guess it's up to just searching for him the old fashioned way. She looked down onto the road flying over and scanning for him below.

She'd seen several large figures, but none were the odd Captain. So she decided to ask around a bit; maybe somebody else had seen him. She'd asked about a dozen ponies if they'd seen anything, but had come up empty... You'd think it would be easier to find a giant winged creature just walking about. Then she got an idea. She could ask Fluttershy, with all her little animal friends allover the place she'd be able to find him. Bolting her way down to the small shack she'd slowed just in time to stop short of the door, but as she raised her hoof to knock she heard a voice inside.

"Now now, there's no need for that. Come on, let's get you washed off." It was Fluttershy's voice, but who was she talking to?

"I can do it myself, you don't have to-"

"You don't worry about it. You've already done so much for me, it's the least I could do." Fluttershy was talking to... the Captain? Rainbow dash was not only bewildered, but shocked that she of all ponies wasn't scared of him.

"T-thank you, mam." Rainbow dash's jaw hung low. He was actually being nice? That was a first.

"You're very welcome. Would you like another drink?" She asked, an Rainbow dash couldn't simply sit back anymore. She knocked on the door.

"Coming." Called out Fluttershy. A second later she'd opened the door.

"Hey Flutters."

"Oh hello rainbow dash, how are you?"

"I'm good, I've been looking for the Captain everywhere though."

"The captain?" Fluttershy glanced to the side, where she was looking was obstructed by the door.

"O-oh umm... I'm afraid I haven't seen him." She said, further bewildering Rainbow dash.

"Really, are you sure? Cause I was sure that I'd heard him..."

"I'm sorry, I wish I could help but-"

"It's alright let her in." Said the Captain from behind the door, stepping out from behind it.

"B-but you said-"

"I know, but I don't want you lying for me."

"What's going on here?" Rainbow dash walked inside, and he shut the door behind her.

"The Captain comes by here every day to feed Sam." Fluttershy said nodding to the eagle sitting on a perch nearby.

"You have a pet eagle?" She questioned and he'd nod.

"Yes, Sam here's probably the only thing that kept me sane for the past ten years." The eagle hopped off it's perch and landed on Fluttershy's hoof.

"That's actually how we met. When I found him he'd hurt one of his wittle feet, so I nursed him back to health." Said Fluttershy nuzzling his beak into her muzzle.

"And we met when I'd come looking for him." Said the Captain soon after.

"Sooo, does that make you two friends?" Asked Rainbow dash, and Fluttershy nodded hastily.

"Yes, we're friends." She cleared her throat. "He came by every day to visit Sam while he was getting better." She looked up at him with her patented brand of warm smile.

"But anyways... what was it you wanted? What could you have possibly been looking for me for?" He asked, changing the subject rather quickly.

"Oh right!" Rainbow dash flew up to eye level with him. "I was coming to ask you about... wherever you came from." And he looked inquisitively at her.

"What do you want to know?" He said as he crossed his arms.

"Really? You'll just tell me?" Rainbow dash was a bit taken back by how easily he gave in, especially given how standoffish he usually is around her.

"Yeah yeah, but you have to tell me why you want to know." He answered, and their's the catch.

"I just want to know more about where you guys come from, that's all." She said, and he took in a deep breath.

"Okay. So where do you want me to start?" He asked, opening his wings up slightly to curl them over his shoulders.

"Umm..." She thought for a second, trying to find the best question. "Alright, first, what are humans anyways?" She asked and the Captain smirked.

"Literally or philosophically?" He asked, and she opened her mouth for a second, but stopped to think.

"Both I guess?"

"Literally speaking humans are like the ponies of our world, but we've dominated the planet in a very different way. Where ponies are friendly by nature and naturally nonviolent, humans are just the opposite. We are specialized pursuit predators. Our history is very bloody." He said, getting a wide eyed look from both ponies in front of him.

"Philosophically however humans are extremely tenacious, creative, and durable. We've taken surviving hardship after hardship, and made it a staple of what it means to be human. When it comes to humans the best way to describe us is passionate, in both the good ways and the bad." Surprisingly he had quite a lot to say, but now Rainbow dash wondered, why it was he was so open now?

"Did that answer your question?" He asked, shaking her from her silence.

"Not really, but I guess that's the best answer I'm going to get." She shrugged.

"Next question?"

"What about where you're from?"

"America? It's a bit bigger than Equestria from what I gather. About three hundred million people, and we elect our leaders by voting for whoever we see fit for the job. It's got the world's largest military, which I was a part of, and we were pretty much in charge of keeping most of the world safe a lot of the time." It'd seemed he'd tried a bit harder to recall this time, but still managed.

"What about ponies, I know there weren't any where you're from, so what other creatures did you have?" She asked as she and Fluttershy sat next to each other.

"We had lot's of animals."

"No I mean, like things that talk."

"None."

"What?"

"None. There aren't any others. Humans are the only things smart enough to talk where we're from." He said flatly.

"You can't really be the only ones... right?" Fluttershy interjected.

"No we are. It's just humans and animals." He shrugged.

"And by the way, there are ponies where we're from, but not like the ponies here." The two ponies looked at eachother.

"We have ponies, cows, donkeys, and the like, but they're all grazing animals. None of them speak." Rainbow dash looked skeptical, but honestly there were crazier things the big guy had told her.

"You're joking right? I mean what would ponies be like if they couldn't talk?" She chuckled.

"Miniature beasts of burden." He answered with not even a hint of a smile.

"Dude, what's your deal?!" Rainbow dash glared at him, flying up just inches from his face. He always seemed to go out of his way to insult her for some reason.

"It's the truth." He seemed completely unfazed by her reaction.

"Are you trying to make me mad?!" She 'd flown close enough that he could smell her breath.

"You think I care?" He'd glared back at her.

"Rainbow dash is right." Said Fluttershy, catching both of their attention.

"But it's tr-"

"It doesn't matter if it's true, you shouldn't try to deliberately make people angry." Said Fluttershy, giving him an adorable angry look.

"I'm-... You're right. "He sighed dejectedly. "I'm sorry Rainbow dash. I shouldn't have antagonized you." He said respectfully. Rainbow dash looked more than shocked, she was completely aghast.

"N-no problem?" She wasn't sure how to respond.

"Much better." Said Fluttershy.

"How did you do that?" Asked Rainbow dash, landing in front of her.

"I believe you'll find he's very polite when you show him some patience. He just has a bit of a short temper." She smiled at him, and he turned his head away. Fluttershy flew up to him, put a hoof on his shoulder.

"He can be really sweet once you get to know him." She said, hugging around his neck, his face flushing bright red. More than ever before Rainbow dash was awestruck. Mouth hanging agape.

"Can we go back to asking questions now?" He asked, going back to his typical gloom.

"Um, yeah... what was I going to ask?" Her train of thought interrupted by the oddity in front of her, she couldn't remember exactly what she was going to ask next. So she decided to cut to the chase.

"Well... why the heck does the big guy like me?" She asked, and he turned to face her, arching a brow.

"What do you mean?" He asked, uncrossing his arms.

"Well if there aren't any other talking species where you're from, and especially if ponies are just animals where you're from... why would he like me?" She asked. The Captain and Fluttershy both looked at each other.

"Honestly? I have no idea." He shrugged. "At most, I could make a few guesses, but there's no way I could know."

"But you've still probably got the best guesses." She insisted.

"If it were anyone else I'd say it's a combination of loneliness, desperation, and abundance of options."

"But?"

"But this kid is... odd. He talks about everything but himself. Every time someone brings up a question about him, he'll answer quickly and change the subject. I don't want to say he's hiding something, but we've known him almost a year and we still don't know his name."

"Yeah, he does kind of keep to himself a lot." Rainbow dash said.

"Maybe he's just shy?" Asked Fluttershy.

"Could shyness keep you from telling someone your name for nearly a year?" The Captain asked rhetorically.

"Actually you might be surprised." Rainbow dash retorted, looking to Fluttershy.

"Rainbow dash, If you want to know more about him, you're his marefriend, if he's going to tell anyone it'd be you." Fluttershy said.

"You're probably right, but he's just been acting so weird lately." She said, catching the Captain's ear.

"Weird?" He asked.

"Yeah, kinda jumpy, kinda tense."

"Speaking of tense. I have to meet with Twilight today." He said, checking the time.

"Oh! Don't forget, tomorrow we are moving the turtles from the lake to the river." Fluttershy said as he walked to the door.

"I won't forget. Evening ladies." He said opening his wings out fully, an impressive thirty foot wingspan.

"Goodbye!" Waved Fluttershy, and Rainbow dash simply raised a hoof.

"I guess I'll be going too. I'm going to head home and wait for the big guy." Rainbow dash said flapping her wings slowly.

"I hope you find what you're looking for Rainbow dash." She said with a nod.

"Thanks, and good luck with your new coltfriend too." Said Rainbow dash forming a sly grin.

"Thanks I- wait... what?" Fluttershy stopped to think for a second before she understood, burying her face in her hooves. Rainbow dash chuckled as she flew off headed towards the big guy's house.

It didn't take long to get there but with the sun still high in the sky she had plenty of time before he came home. She stepped inside, and naturally his smell was in the air, drifting through the slight breeze as she closed the door behind her. He didn't have a very big place, i didn't have much in it. all of about four rooms and a ladder up to her house. He didn't even have very much furniture; a couple chairs a couch, and he didn't even have a bed.

Trotting over to the kitchen, she opened up the fridge to look inside. He had nothing really out of the ordinary besides a basket of strawberries, chocolate syrup, and whip cream. She was sure he wouldn't mind if she had a few. She brought them out into the living room, setting them on the coffee table. Tossing one into the air, she filled her mouth with whip cream and caught the strawberry in her teeth. After a couple more tosses, she looked over at a small bookshelf on his wall suddenly filled with curiosity.

She pulled out a couple to see what he was reading. Canterlot journal of medicine, Myths and legends of Equestria, Supernaturals, A couple history books and one unmarked book which Rainbow dash opened. It was a hand written diary by one Cordwainer Cobbler. She put the books back, none of the books he had were really all that interesting to her. She sat back on his couch and ate strawberries as she waited for him to come home. Needless to say she was bored, so she tried to entertain herself.

She went into his room, and laid down on the blanket where he slept, curling up in it and burying her face in his pillow. His scent was strongest right here, obviously because he spent so much time here. She bit her lip slightly as her body felt warmer and warmer, swishing her tail from side to side letting her thoughts run a bit wild. She heaved her chest in an out with each breath, a single hooves casually sliding down her body and resting on her inner thigh. It was then her eyes shot open and she hastily sat up, shaking her head, but failing to clear it.

She sat on his pillow, her forehooves both clacking together in front of her as she tried to think of a way to sate her boredom but her mind was filled with thoughts brought on by his scent she so wanted to entertain. Looking at the strawberries, she started eating again but more slowly, deliberately, as she tried to distract herself. She started spraying the whip cream onto the berry... then directly into her mouth... then onto her face... letting it drip down off her tongue a bit before she swallowed.

Quickly shaking her head again, she tried to think of a better distraction, and headed off into the bathroom. She looked in the mirror at the whip cream all over her face, and started washing it off in the sink. Splashing the cold water on her face helped her calm down a little. Grabbing a cloth off the floor, she picked it up and dried off her face. As soon as she opened her eyes, she looked at the shower, the one he'd always use to clean up after a workout, and she'd started to heat up again.

It was then she looked down into her hoof at the cloth she was holding. It was a pair of his shorts, but none he'd ever seen him wear. They were very short, and had an elastic band around the waist. She'd wondered why he never wore them, or why he even had them if he didn't... but they were pretty soft. She stretched them with her hooves then thought for a moment. She flew up in the air and slid them on with a snap of the elastic. She was sure he wouldn't mind her trying them on. Looking into the mirror, the shorts came up just under her tail, making them fit a bit awkwardly, but they were still very comfortable.

She looked at her flank in the mirror and how well they actually fit her, they kind of looked good on her even if they didn't fit perfectly. She imagined him chuckling and telling her she looked cute like he always did, and couldn't stifle a grin. She reached back garbing at the waistband and slid them down, feeling a bit provocative as she watched herself in the mirror for some reason. Maybe that's why humans always wear cloths?

Kicking away the boxers, where they'd land back down onto the floor. She stepped out into his room again, and was hit by his scent much to her chagrin, and trotted quickly back into his living room. She tried to shake her head clear, but failed yet again. Embarrassing thoughts filling her head, she jumped up onto his couch, rolling over to lay on her back and look up at the ceiling. Her eyes were heavy lidded as a bit of sweat formed on her brow. She almost didn't notice her hooves grazing her inner thighs. And then, right then, the front door quickly opened and shut, with the big guy standing there in front of her.

"Oh! Umm. Hey big guy... Back so soon?" She gulped, seeing him standing, staring wide eyed at her in her, and turning from bright blue all over to a dark red. She hadn't expected him to see her like this.

Selfless carnality

The two of them both sat in a long strained silence, with the both of them stunned by the unfortunate timing.One might think they'd turned to stone if it weren't for the occasional fidgeting. It was almost a full two minutes before the silence was broken.

"Uhh... I could come back later..." He'd cleared his throat, looking away from her.

"Oh! No! It's not what it looks like!" She quickly sat up fleetly, moving her hooves behind her, before looking down and immediately bringing her hooves back in front of her.

"Umm o-okay... I trust you." He gulped, walking into the kitchen. There was another long silence as he opened the refrigerator.

"Where are my strawberries?" He asked himself aloud.

"Oh, they're in your room." She answered happy to change the subject.

"My room?" He walked out past her and toward his room with her following behind him. As he walked inside he saw the strawberries strewn about and the small white flecks of whip cream dotting the mat. Rainbow dash was a bit of a messy eater.

"Huh..." He almost questioned it, but decided it was best he didn't.

"This. This isn't what it looks like either." She came up beside him and he nodded.

"It looks like you got whip cream all over my bed." He said.

"Oh, then it's exactly what it looks like." She said and he picked up a strawberry, popping it into his mouth.

"You... are surprisingly okay with this. " She trotted up behind him as he flipped the mat over, and laid down the covers.

"It's no big deal, it's just cream, it'll wash out." He waved his hand dismissively.

"Is something wrong?" She'd wondered if she'd crossed some sort of line.

"What? No, nothing's wrong. Why would you think that?"

"I mean usually we'd start teasing each other about something like this."

"It's nothing really. I'm fine." He said, seeing the concern in her eyes.

"Come here." He motioned her over and she stepped closer. "I've just been a bit off my game today, that's all."

"So this really doesn't bother you?" She asked, sitting in his lap.

"Well I wouldn't say that." He scratched his chin, and she gave him a look of shock. "Kidding, kidding." She glared up at him before kissing his cheek.

"Ha ha, very funny." She said rolling her eyes. He responded by hugging her tightly, as they both snickered.

"You know, when you walked through that door, I thought you were going to throw up." She glanced up at him.

"I wasn't about to throw up. I was about to have a heat stroke if anything." He smirked.

"You look pretty good now for someone with heat stroke." She elbowed his side.

"And you look pretty cool for someone who was just mas-" She elbowed him harder. There was a long quiet moment, but much less awkward this time. He held her into his chest and she cuddled up into his lap, her tail brushing across his stomach. The dock rubbed at his stomach tickling him slightly; he tried to keep from laughing by shifting under her, but her tail started swishing past his face, and he realized she was doing it on purpose.

He retaliated by bringing his arm around her back, and grabbing her tail by the dock, rubbing it with his thumb. She let out a squeak in surprise, wiggling in his lap and feigning trying to free herself. He knew how sensitive her tail was and if she was going to tease him, he'd get her back. After a second or two she stood up, a shiver running up her spine as she looked back at him. They exchanged challenging looks with a grin.

"You know this means war." She said casually slapping him in the face with her tail.

"Funny, I thought that it meant love." He fired the first shot, hitting a weak spot with his preemptive strike. It was a dirty move, but all's fair apparently. Turning to face him, she pushed on his chest, "forcing" him to lay down and sat on his stomach. He'd watch as she grabbed a strawberry in her teeth and lower it down to him. He opened his mouth to take the strawberry as he expected she was going for, but she ambushed him with a kiss instead.

Breaking from the kiss seconds later, he was left with the strawberry. She looked down at him with a smug superior look, and he acknowledged that he may have underestimated her. However he still had a couple tricks up his nonexistent sleeves. He'd reach around her back gently running a finger down between her wings, and she'd instinctively jumped straight up in the air.

"Hey no fair!" She poked his nose, he looked up at her returning her previous smugness.

"Oh so we're being fair now?" He asked sitting up and grabbing strawberry.

"Not anymore!" She said swiping up the whip cream. The two of them seemed evenly matched. Rainbow dash with her skill in the art of teasing and taunting, and the big guy with natural aroma and his willingness to rely on dirty tricks. Rainbow dash shook up the can of whip cream and sprayed it at him, covering his face and neck. He lurched back, to able to react in time.

"And that helped you how?" He chuckled, wiping some stray cream away from his eye.

"Oops, let me get that for you." She said with mock guilt as she flew around behind him, licking the cream from his neck. He shivered, his hair standing on end. As she raised her muzzle to his cheek, licking the cream away slowly, he could hear her short breaths sniffing at his hair. With that he'd felt the knot in his stomach return. He felt the lapping at his cheek pulling up the corners of his mouth, but the sound of sniffing tugging them back down.

"M-maybe... we should stop." He said, but she remained skeptical, expecting an ambush.

"What? You giving up so easily?" She started, catching a gimps of the forlorn expression. "Hey, why the long face big guy?" She tried to shoo away the heavy air.

"I kinda-" he paused, looking back at her. "Have you ever felt like... I was taking advantage of you?"

"Dude, if someone's being taken advantage of it's you." She punched him in the arm.

"Seriously though." He insisted and she picked up that this might be a bit more serious of a question.

"What are you talking about?" She'd wrapped her arms around his neck in an attempt to comfort him, her chest had pressed into his back and she could feel his heart beating just barely out of tune with hers. The air grew heavy around them but she couldn't help but smile.

"The whole olfactory situation I'm in." He'd run his fingers through his hair, wiping away the lingering sweat resting on his forehead.

"The old factory situation?" Her tail had slowed it's swaying to a near stop.

"The way I smell." He clarified.

"Oooh, why didn't you say so?" She rubbed a hoof into the top of his head, rustling his hair in all directions.

"Doesn't it bother you?" The big guy asked, he'd worried about how it must make her feel, and confronting her about it certainly felt uncomfortable but he'd hate to find out he'd been a burden to her.

"What? No, in case you hadn't heard, I am Rainbow dash. It'll take more than a little funky air to bother me." She'd said, whether it's true or not he should have expected that response.

"But of course, how could I be so foolish." He stroked her ego.

"I know, I know, it's hard to wrap your head around all this awesomeness." She'd bask in how he'd feed her pride. He'd just chortle in response returning to a more relaxed demeanor.

"You really are too cute you know that?" He'd look back at her, but she'd shoved his face with a hoof. A knock at the front door broke the quiet of the room, and made him jump a little.

"I'll get it." He jumped up to his feet.

"Get what?" She asked.

"The door. You didn't hear the knock?" He asked and she shook her head. He shrugged, not thinking anything of it. He'd made his way to the door with Rainbow dash close behind him. He'd pulled it open, and started to speak, but was greeted with the wind.

"Umm... big guy? Are you okay?" Rainbow dash had started to pick up on the odd tension in the air.

"Nah, I'm fine. Guess I just... misheard." He said, looking from left to right, checking just to make sure there was no one there.

"Are you sure? You seem kinda jumpy." She said as he shut the door, scratching at the top of his head.

"I'm fine, it was just a mistake. I-" There was another knock on the door. For a moment he felt his heart pounding harder, seeing how Rainbow dash hadn't reacted to it at all. Was he actually hearing things? Looking back he wasn't surprised, but now faced with reality he was forced to see it. Auditory hallucinations aren't the worst thing to deal with, or so he told himself. Just stay calm, and try to keep from stressing out Rainbow dash.

"- I just need to get some sleep is all. I've had a long day." He'd put on a decent look of dismissal, but Rainbow dash had been around him enough to know he was faking it. The air growing heavier, she decided not to peruse it. The big guy was a thing of mystery. At that thought she'd remembered, after all the muddled confusion she'd forgotten why she was here in the fist place, and now would be the perfect time to change the subject.

"You know... Big guy... About this morning." She choked out the words, but you couldn't hear it in her voice, in fact she'd feigned calmness better than he had.

"This morning?" He tried to recall, but the sound of knocking distracted him.

"Yeah, the thing I said."

"Thing? What thing?"
Knock Knock Knock

"You know, the thing."

"We talked a lot this morning, you'll have to narrow it down."
Knock Knock Knock

"When I said... I love you."

"When you said what?"
Knock Knock Knock

"When I said I love you."

"You're talking really quiet I can't-"

"When I said I love you stupid!" The previously blue pony was now red in the face with either frustration, embarrassment or both. The big guy on the other hand was too stunned to be embarrassed. As much time as they'd spent together he hadn't expected her to be the first to say the three infamous words. He'd planned on being the first to say them many times, but always put it off in favor of another nickname. She just never seemed like the type to say it at all.

"Oh. That thing. Uh..." He paused, the knocking interrupting his thoughts, and even if they weren't he would be unsure how to continue. "What about it?"

"What about it?" She echoed in an offputt manor.

"No, no I mean, what did you want to say about it?" He stumbled over his words trying to correct himself through the noise in his head.

"I wanted to hear what you have to say about it."
Knock Knock Knock

"What I have to say?"

"Yes! What you have to say!"
Knock Knock Knock

"Well I mean, it's really unexpected."

"And?"
Knock Knock Knock

"And I'm really at a loss for words."

"And?"
Knock Knock Knock

"And nothing. At a loss for words means I don't know what to say."

"I know what it means! Is there really nothing you want to say to me?"
Knock Knock Knock
Knock Knock Knock
Knock Knock Knock

The moment seemed to last forever, his heart was pounding loud enough that he genuinely wondered whether or not she could hear it. As much as he tried to rack his brain for the answer she was looking for every time he got close there was another loud knock at the door. Usually a pretty patient guy, he'd grown more irritated as it eluded him, like trying to catch fish with his bare hands.

Nevertheless to Rainbow dash, he'd simply been standing in silence. She felt her own heart pounding in her chest as she awaited a response, the wait itself clawing at her insides. What was taking him so long to answer? He must know what she wants him to say, but he'd just standing there. Could he just be embarrassed, like she was? No, his face said he was taking this very seriously. Maybe he had a problem with her saying it first? No, he's a laid back guy, he wouldn't care about something like that, would he?

The knocking grew louder, diverting yet more of his attention. Why was it now of all times that he had to deal with this? Yes he was a little stressed out, but he certainly he wasn't crazy. So why now of all times would he start hearing things? His breath was a bit more labored, and his hand was resting on the doorknob behind him. He could see the look of growing resentment in Rainbow dash's eyes as he tried so hard to focus.

"You want to hurt her?" whispered a voice in the back of his head.

"No." He instinctively answered aloud.

"No?" Rainbow dash looked up at him a twinge of pain in her voice.

"Wait, I didn't mean-"

"It's fine. You don't have to say anything." She said flapping her wings and darting toward the window before he could say a word. Suddenly disillusioned with him she flew up into her house, and planting her face straight into her pillow.

"Rainbow dash wait!" He'd lunged after her to late, and failed to grab her hoof before she disappeared. Following to the window, he leaned out in time to see her tail enter through her own window. The knocking had only grown louder as time passed, and his patience had run out. Tired of hearing that incessant knocking, he'd walk resolutely to said door and throw it open. He underestimated his strength, the door hits the wall with a loud crack, but he didn't care right now.

"Rainbow dash?" He called out to her from below, looking up at the cloud. He wasn't quite sure what to say, a quick wit wasn't really one of his virtues, but he still had to try, and with that knocking gone he might have a chance.

"Rainbow dash. Please come out and talk to me." He looked up at the window she'd flown into but there were no signs of movement inside. She buried her face into her bed, grumbling to herself quietly. She knew she'd give him plenty of time to talk, how could he not know what she wanted. He could't really be that stupid, and she knew he wasn't insensitive, maybe he just really doesn't...

"Rainbow dash? Rainbow dash!" His calls grew gradually more frustrated, with himself, with her, and this whole situation. He thought about just climbing up there and talking to her, but whatever would come out of his mouth and hers was likely to be pretty harsh at this rate. So he, being finally able to think decided to do just that. Think. What is it that she wants right now?

"She wants you dead." The whispers in his ear almost chuckled the words, but he ignored them trying to think. He recalled the conversation in order, and pieced it together pretty quickly.

"I'm a moron." He punched himself squarely in the forehead. She'd obviously wanted him to say it back, but he didn't say it. His blood started to boil at the whole situation.

"This is all her fault." The whispers said, but he'd shook his head. It wasn't her fault it was his, he should have tried harder, he should have known.

"You want to tear your own eyes out." That was one he almost agreed with. The cold air stung his arms as the wind blew across them, when he noticed the sun getting close to setting. His fist clenched tightly, the heat in his skin fighting off the cold.

"Foolish." The whispers sounded like they were coming from just behind him. He could almost feel breath on the back of his neck, but he knew there was nothing there.

"Pathetic." He'd turn his eyes down toward his feet as the wind died down. As he turned away from the house, he'd look down at his hand. He was squeezing his fist so tight his fingernails were breaking through his callused skin.

"Monster." The whispers had struck a cord, and he lashed out, kicking a rock and sending it flying off into the distance. It felt surprisingly good to watch it sail through the air, but not enough to calm him. With that it crossed his mind as less than a thought than a feeling that it would be best to vent a little.

He sprinted off at full speed, and though he hadn't run full speed in a while it felt like he was faster than ever. As he ran across a large rock, about the size of his head, he'd grab it off the ground and toss it as far as he could. It sailed through the air until it crossed the treeline and out of sight. He followed after it, leaping and scaling a tree like it was an uphill walk. Once he'd kept to a sturdy branch he would leap from tree to tree, traversing the wood like the Disney version of Tarzan.

It felt good to vent, but despite all his thrashing and flailing about, he couldn't rid himself of this dread that filled his mind. He'd land in a small outcropping and catch his breath, and feeling his heart pumping blood through his entire body. He'd catch his eye onto a random tree, and clenched his fist, stepping in to burrow his knuckles into the bark. At the first weak layer of bark fell away the hard wood beneath was exposed, and his knuckles ached.

"Weak." The words chuckled in the back of his mind, taunting him, fanning his anger. He growled under his breath, beating his fists into the tree again and again pummeling the timber and scraping the skin off his knuckles. It shook and shivered with every strike, with each blow his ferocity grew. The tree groaned as he blindly swung his fists into it, he'd even turned a deaf ear to the sound of splintering and cracking, but one particularly fierce blow had left him staggering, as he'd put all his weight into it, and the tree had given way toppling in front of him.

He stood wide eyed as he regained his footing, looking down at the white wood stained red. His eyes followed down to his hands, seeing the blood from his battered knuckles, but he didn't feel any pain any more. He couldn't feel the cold of the wind, or the pumping of his heart, but instead, an unnatural calm. It was like the whole world had suddenly gone silent around him. That feeling, he didn't like it. It was hard to describe it, because it wasn't like something was there, but something was missing.

It was then he noticed the whispers were gone, and that uneasy quiet seeped away with the sounds of crickets surrounded him in the woods. As odd as it sounds, wave of relief filled him as his body started to ache again, the pain in his hands was particularly sharp, and the heat that emanated from his skin was being slowly sapped by the air. The first thought that entered his head then was that he had to go see twilight tomorrow, the second was that he needed to talk to Rainbow dash, but he was suddenly very exhausted. He'd sit down at the stump of the tree, and toppled over into the soft grass, letting his eye lids grow heavy.

Darkness. He was surrounded by darkness in all directions. He started to open his mouth but his breath escaped into a mass of bubbles in front of him. Cupping his hands over his mouth, he started swimming upwards, but after a short while he'd wondered if it was upwards at all. All he could see was an inky black abyss. From the depths he heard a low rumble, that shook the water and vibrated inside his chest. Whatever had made the sound was big, impossibly big, he didn't want to see it. He tried to swim faster, but his limbs only grew heavier. He started to see movement in the darkness and froze.

If he wasn't holding his breath already he would be now. He'd seen only movements at first, but the creature either grew bolder, or had somehow found him in the dark. He had to move now, get away from this abomination of a creature. He started swimming in the opposite direction, but his shoulder had bumped into something rough and slimy. He recoiled at the touch, turning to see what it was. It looked like a stony wall covered with a viscus ooze, but that clearly wasn't the case as it retracted and revealed a luminous white orb the size of a building, a solitary black dot in the center. It was an eye. Panic shot through him as the massive orb lurked past him and into the void.

He frantically tried to pull himself into what he appeared to be upwards, desperately trying to escape from these horrors. The water shook again with the call from below, and daring to look down he saw the tendrils of some massive terror creeping up on him. He tried to escape, but the water resisted him like he was swimming in cement. As the coils gripped him, the air was squeezed out of him, and his lungs were filled with water as he was pulled down into the endless black.

He awoke with a gasp, sitting up sharply, and gripping his chest. Glad to feel his breath again, he didn't even care how much his hand stung. His nightmares had been getting worse for a while, but usually he didn't care because he couldn't remember them, but these nightmare were more vivid than they used to be. He'd remember them with stark clarity.

Looking around and seeing the trees and grass, he'd remember that he had slept outside. He rose to his feet, brushing the dirt away when he took a whiff of himself and recoiled slightly. He was excessively sweaty, and stunk to high heaven. He had to get home and take a shower, badly. He had no idea how any ponies could like how he smelled, but it must smell different to them. He's heard on more than one occasion where they said he smelled sweet, but Twilight had described it as an odorless pheromone. Confusing as it was to him, he usually doesn't give it much thought, but he'd prefer to think about the science of stink then how stupid he was.

He started walking back down his path of destruction, seeing the broken limbs and torn bark, making it easy to follow back. He was actually surprised at how much ground he'd covered in the span of a minute at most. It took him about ten minutes to walk back, seeing his house in the distance. His stomach grumbled, reminding him that an empty stomach wasn't fun to hike on early in the morning. He almost wanted to run home, but that would probably be short sighted.

He filled the time walking home with plans for the day, shower, eat, talk to Twilight, check jobs for the day, and talk with... Rainbow dash. He looked up at the cloud above his house and shook his head, trying not to think about how he'd messed up. Instead he tried to think about how he'd fix it.

He tried to open his door, but his hand slid off the handle. It was damp from the morning, so he'd wipe it off on his shirt, only then noticing the blood from his knuckles had stained the fabric. He opened the door, into his living room, illuminated only with light through the open window. He passed through, and into his bedroom, the only light inside being that eking in through the cracks in the closed window. He guided himself to the bathroom, and stepped slowly inside, trying not to stub his toes on anything. He turned on the light, closing the door and shedding the bloody shirt.

Looking at himself in the mirror, he'd really needed to shave again... He also had blood on his face. He'd gotten blood on just about everything apparently. Odd, cause he wasn't bleeding all that much. He'd pull off his shoes, and untie his sash before starting the water for the shower, letting it get nice and warm. Finally getting out of his pants, he'd step into the shower with a long drawn out sigh of relief. All the dirt, grime, and sweat melted away with the comforting touch of warm water on his flesh.

For a good long while he'd just stood there standing in the hot water, until actually picking up a bar of soap. Or rather a bar of shampoo, since ponies were covered in fur. He'd taken a deliberately long time to wash himself clean, only actually stepping out once he'd run out of hot water. He grabbed a towel and dried himself offhandedly, shaking his head to dry his hair. It would poof out into a fluffy mess, and he'd give it a few more shakes to get it to lay down. He'd grab his old barber's razor and cut away the scraggly beard, as carefully as he could. His hands weren't very steady at all, the stinging in his knuckles made him shake just enough to make him worry, but not enough to make him actually mess up.

He stopped for a moment to look at his face, clean shaven, but downcast. He'd told himself just to move on, to try and solve the problem instead of dwelling on it, but that wasn't the face of someone who had moved on. He ran a hand over his face, stepping out of the bathroom, tired of looking at himself. He stepped out into his room, the initial cold air on his bare skin made him regret not bringing his clothes into the bathroom with him.

Cracking a window to let the light in, he searched his drawer for his clothes, picking them out and setting them onto the ground. The window creaked open behind him, the wind blowing in and chilling his back, encouraging him to hurry up and get dressed. The window creaked again and he glanced back at it, seeing it blown open from the wind. Walking over to the window to close it enough to stop the wind, he'd stopped just short, hearing the breathing from just outside. His initial feeling was that of confusion, but quickly turned to one of lost patience.

He stepped up to the window, simply waiting for his little peeping tom to poke their head out. He wanted to hear what they had to say for themselves. He could have just leaned out the window and grabbed them, but he felt they would be less likely to run if they realized the'd been caught themselves. He wasn't even sure who in Ponyville even fit the M.O. of a peeping Tom, but luckily the window came up to his torso, so he could stand there without being seen himself. After about a minute, he saw a pair of ears poke up from behind the windowsill, and he was honestly not expecting what he found.